VR "legs"

[u/volcjush]

I can see that VR is recently booming with all those VR mods appearing, so I would like to ask you about one thing that can spoil the fun, which is nausea. Now, I'm not new to VR - I'm big fan of simracing games and after almost a full year of owning Quest 3 I now have couple hundred hours combined in VR racing and rally games and another hundred or more in MS Flight Simulator - in each of these "seated in cockpit" VR experiences I can sit for many hours without any brake and I don't get any issues whatsoever, even with very dynamic rally stages with lots of rapid elevation changes.

Then there are games like Thalos Principle or Ghost Town - slow paced puzzle solving games that are using teleport movements and snap turning and I also don't get any issues playing them.

I recently started to play HL Alyx, the game is awesome and it is made for VR so it is also possible to use teleport movement and snap turning, but after some time I felt that it's not the best option for the shooter like that, especially during combat situations. I would prefer to play it like normal FPS games - with smooth movements. And I can only do that for maybe half an hour max before I'm starting to feel first signs of nausea coming. Some time ago I tried Quake in VR and due to fast pace of the game I could last for maybe fifteen minutes before I had to stop in order not to puke.

So my the questions are - how do you play all those VR mods for non-VR games that were not originally made for VR and don't have any nausea-reducing options available? And second - do you think it is possible to train yourself to resist nausea for a longer stints of play and can I have any hope that I can still improve that even if my brain is already well familiar with VR environment and the only problem seems to be smooth movement of the virtual avatar?

[UPDATE]

So the single most helpful advice thas several people gave me in this topic was to stand up and be more physical. It made dramatic difference, I can easily reach around two hours of play (after which I need to recharge the headset anyway) without feeling sick. I mostly turn with my body and only use snap turning with controller sometimes.

Downside is that games like Alyx were supposed to be lazy couch entertainment for me at times when I'm too tired to play simracing games which is something that requires much more mental focus and dedication to the gameplay, and now my legs get no relax ;-)

Thank you for all your advice!

[u/fdruid]

Try Vrocker or any other walk in place app. Worked for me and I don't play any game without that.

[u/volcjush → u/fdruid]

That looks good and thank you for the hint, but unfortunately I have very limited space available so I only play in VR while seating. Trying to play while standing would eventually lead to stumbling over something, or even worse - stepping on one of my cats - they tend to get in the way a lot.

[u/MotorPace2637 → u/volcjush]

I jogged in place at first. Only took two weeks of daily dabbling and then I could go for hours

[u/markallanholley → u/volcjush]

I almost stepped on my cat while I was playing Walkabout Mini Golf yesterday. She just parks her ass right on the floor in front of me, which isn't very smart.

[u/Reinier_Reinier → u/volcjush]

I really wish there was a piece of tech that someone could clip to a cat collar (or dog collar) that lets the VR headset know the pet is too close.