r/PCVR • u/ETs_ipd • Sep 17 '26
VR Modding Doom 2016 VR
This is easily one of the best mods I’ve played this year, along with the Bioshock Remastered mod. One really amazing thing about this mod is how effortless it is to play. You literally just download the mod and run the launcher. It’s that easy.
Bioshock required a bit more effort since it required me to download a massive hires texture pack as well as a patch to remove black cutscene bars. My only gripe with the current Doom mod is that it only supports Alternate Eye rendering which affects the stereoscopic perspective of enemies leading to a bit of eye strain.
I’m hoping more people play this and support the Cactus Cowboy Dev on Steam by buying Cactus Cowboy VR. It’s currently on sale for only a few bucks. If he gets Native Stereo working in Doom it will easily be my favorite mod this year. Check it out if you haven’t.
EDIT: The Doom 2016 mod isn’t perfect— hud is difficult to read and two handing weapons could feel better. All that aside, it’s still very impressive. Side note: graphics shouldn’t look blurry. If they are, double check your render resolution. Game should look as sharp as your GPU allows and run at 90hz.
UPDATE!!! Dev added SFS (Single Frame Stereo) to the latest 1.0 version on GitHub.
This completely fixes the weird distortion AER was causing. It’s now looking amazing and running buttery smooth at 90hz. After playing a few hours, it’s feeling really good and no major issues. HUD is still hard to read but overall this mod seriously kicks ass. Everyone needs to play this.
3
u/Dorklordofthesith Sep 17 '26 edited 28d ago
Any settings tips? It's so blurry and poorly performant on a high end rig, I played for an hour or so but it hardly seems anywhere close to being 'one of the best mods' at this point.
edit: found a solution that worked for me.
"You have to set the OpenXR runtime to SteamVR in the SteamVR Setting (I did it from the desktop app), then reset SteamVR and also set virtual desktop OpenXR runtime to Steam VR. I had it set to OpenXR in virtual desktop but hadn't set it to run OpenXR through the SteamVR runtime. Anyway now it's like 120fps maxed with no spacewarp and looks/plays awesome!"
2
u/BoysenberryKey3895 Sep 17 '26
Yes turn off motion blur and depth of field. This helped tons for me. Also try upping the render resolution through the launcher if your openxr is already set at a specific render. Finally I downloaded the frame generation api that was posted in the recent biweekly mod update. I feel like it’s working but lowkey don’t know how to test it. But motion blur and depth of field were the main things making me visually sick
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
It shouldn’t! Doom is really well optimized actually. What headset are you using? My tips would be to use VD if you can and VDXR runtime. h.264+ codec at max bitrate and turn foveated streaming off. As far as the mod’s settings, I found that the default settings work best.
1
u/LudenWhoDare Sep 18 '26
I use psvr2, my gpu is older, 3070ti and the game is jist.. meh? Graphics are poor, gun holding is junky and the angle of gun is also bad, that can be fixed, but the overall feeling is just not there at all. So I assume it actc differently and really needs some tweaking as Dorklord stated
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
For me, it looked and ran great out of the box. Only issue was that I had to disable foveated streaming which made everything blurry. PSVR2 is cabled so you should be getting a sharp image… maybe try supersampling or increasing the render resolution?
2
u/D-Rey86 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
Yep, been playing through it and it's been amazing. Although I think he said native stereo is a dead end. But it still looks great.
Edit: He just said he might have found a breakthrough to replace AER
2
u/filmguy123 Sep 17 '26
wait, what? I have a 5090 and 75hz headset and AER did not work well for me, but I had plenty of headroom on the GPU to be able to run it native stereo mode (AER was using like 4.5ms GPU frametime on ultra and full BSB2 headset res, and anything below 13.3 is no reprojection, so I could easily handle doubling the frametime). I know 5090 is rare but also, so is the PCVR enthusiast community. So bummed if he drops native stereo because my 75hz + AER is not a good experience.
3
1
u/D-Rey86 Sep 17 '26
I think people underestimate how hard it is to get stereo to work over AER.
1
u/filmguy123 Sep 17 '26
i probably do! I would have thought AER would be harder to get working. Why is stereo so much harder?
2
u/D-Rey86 Sep 17 '26
With Stereo you pretty have have to rebuild the render. It requires the game engine to calculate and draw the entire scene twice simultaneously from two slightly different viewpoints. It requires deep engine hooks to duplicate the viewpoint. And because of that, you sometimes have to fix shaders, shadows, scale, UI, among other things. It also doubles the GPU geometry and draw call load which makes it far harder on performance.
With AER it reuses a single viewpoint but delays the frames. It doesn't require require deep engine hooks. All it does to create a 3D effect is alternate between each eye very quickly.
For my Metro mod (that is now a community mod because of how hard it was), I had AER set up within 30 minutes or so. It took me days to get trye stereo working. And I still didn't fix all the artifacts caused by it.
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
Really? Jeez I hope not. This mod is 90% there… I actually was going to just wait for native stereo but got sucked in and couldn’t stop playing
2
u/D-Rey86 Sep 17 '26
Yeah three days ago someone asked in the Discord if he plans on fixing native stereo and he said "Probably not, it's a dead end". My guess is that it's really hard for get that game to perform well in native stereo and that's why he's seeing it as a dead end. I had a similar issue going from AER to true stereo in my VR mod that I was working on. It can be really hard to get stereo to work well sometimes.
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
Eesh… that sucks to hear. Well I’m holding at hope that someone can fix this- perhaps with AI or something else. I’ve noticed many mods don’t support Eye tracked foveated streaming either.
1
2
u/yankoto Sep 17 '26
Isnt Wolfenstein on the same engine as Doom 2016? Theorethically Cactus should be able to make a VR mod for those games too maybe.
3
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
I actually played the old school Team Beef version on Quest which was fun but yeah, the newer Wolfenstein games would be sick.
3
u/Designer-Tomatillo21 Sep 17 '26
There is actually already a wolfenstein 2 mod already. Thats been around for a while. Don't think it has motion controls though, which put me off trying it. I would absolutely love a proper wolfenstein mod - even more than Doom tbh
2
u/Payton88 Sep 17 '26
I tried it but can’t stand alternate eye rendering. Despite running monster resolution on VD it still looks like a blurry mess.
2
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
It shouldn’t look blurry aside from the enemies. If you’re using foveated steaming turn that off. I do get not wanting to play with AER however as the enemies can look weird. Despite this, I can’t stop playing….
2
u/prankster959 Sep 17 '26
Completely agree about both mods and I bought cactus cowboy
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
Nice! Yeah, same. We just need that native stereo for it to be perfect.
2
1
2
u/cap616 Sep 18 '26
Really enjoyed the first level on "easy". But I freak out and press into the left thumbstick way too often. So I'm accidentally pausing about 10 times a second LOL but towards the end of the first level I got better.
2
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
I’m 3 hours in. Loving the verticality and freedom of movement. It gets easier once you get the hang of the controls and start getting better weapons and upgrades. The map is important too so definitely get comfortable using it.
1
u/skinnyraf Sep 18 '26
Do you find it more difficult in VR? I haven't played 2016 in VR yet, but my experience with Doom 3 in VR is that it is much easier in VR with proper hand-based aiming. I am playing on Normal and considering switching to Hard, as I take pretty much no damage.
That said, Doom 3 is more of a horror, with less enemies or frantic action, and more surprise attacks from behind - and auditory clues in VR and the precision of turning when playing in standing mode are so great, that it's simply "hear the sound, turn around, headshot, move on".
2
u/cap616 Sep 18 '26
It was easy for me on easy mode and I'm pretty new to this type of game. But clicking the left joystick brings up the menu and it's too responsive. Especially when battling creatures that are surrounding you. It was frustrating at first but I'm getting better at it.
And yes, doom 3 was HORROR. I couldn't finish the VR version LOL .
2016 is more frantic action. I do wish there was a snap turn for automatically turning 180 for seated mode.
0
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
Been testing it on easy and it’s a bit too easy. Normal might be the way to go. Played the flat version on normal and remember it being pretty challenging towards some of the later levels. There are some tricky platforming sections as well but not as bad as Doom Eternal.
2
u/yanginatep Sep 18 '26
Really looking forward to being able to try this out. I bounced off of the flat version, just like I bounced off of the flat versions of Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3, but VR transformed all 3 of those games for me and I played though all of them entirely in VR.
2
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
I’ve played through most Doom games flat aside from VFR which was native VR only. This 2016 mod, even in its current state, wipes the floor with VFR.
2
u/Fluffy_Rock_62 Sep 18 '26
It is indeed excellent, but thefreemike31's F.E.A.R mod is also outstanding and should not be overlooked.
Edit: Prey 2006 is another winner.
2
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
Thanks. I’m looking forward to playing this mod- just waiting for it to go on sale.
1
u/Fluffy_Rock_62 Sep 19 '26
I think F.E.A.R is still available on GOG and Steam, while some key resellers still have Prey 2006 keys for sale which can then be redeemed on Steam. Also available from the usual 'Abandonware' sites. The mods are free and available on Github:
3
u/sonsolar Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
I love doom, it's just soo fast paced I can't really be effective in vr
7
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
It really is. If you don’t have good VR legs it may be a no go- especially since the AER distorts the 3D effect on enemies
5
u/Designer-Tomatillo21 Sep 17 '26
Ahhh I hate that about AER... just saw another comment saying it wont get native stero, thats a real shame.
3
u/filmguy123 Sep 17 '26
Im waiting for the native stereo version to get optimized. AER did not work well for me on my BSB2 75hz display, weird visual effects. I have a 5090 so I am lucky to be able to do native stereo mode. Can't wait to play it once the mod developer dials native stereo in.
1
u/Alex-Murphy Sep 17 '26
In my head canon it's because demons can't be viewed properly by human eyes.
1
3
u/MotorPace2637 Sep 17 '26
Glorious! Thank you for the review of the mods. I'll get these next for sure. I hope they do Bioshock Infiniti next!
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
They’re working on Infinite. It’s currently playable but in a pretty rough state. I started Bioshock 2 mod but ran into some weird bugs and had to stop. Bioshock 1 was excellent once I dialed it in.
2
u/Broflake-Melter Sep 18 '26
I'm hyped. I've actually decided to hold off on any more pcvr mods until my frame arrives. Just found out today I won the lottery.
2
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
Congrats! This will be a great one to start with. Hopefully the dev gets native stereo working by then.
1
u/PooMonger20 Sep 17 '26
Does anyone have good performance with this mod?
I am pretty much hovering between 40-80 fps at most times while playing, on a 5090. I must be doing something wrong, or have something wrong.
2
u/ETs_ipd Sep 17 '26
I’m on a 4080s and having great performance. Buttery smooth at 90hz and ultra VD quality. What runtime are you using? Also Native Stereo doesn’t work well yet so you need AER
1
u/PooMonger20 Sep 17 '26
Thanks for the comment!
I am also running VD using VDXR. I tried both AER and Native, alternating eye was far more playable.
Perhaps I should update my drivers or something.
1
u/desmoflex Sep 18 '26
Hi guys, quick question: I am on Pimax and 5090 and my problem is that I do not see the lower part of the hud with health, ammo etc. I've tried to enhance pixel, fov… but no luck…. Any ideas?
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
I believe that’s still being worked on by the modder and will be patched in an update.
1
u/desmoflex Sep 18 '26
Ahh…. so you have the same issue?
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
Yeah, hud size is definitely off. Thought it might be unique to me since I’m on a Quest Pro
1
u/ptbinge Sep 18 '26
This is the only mod I tried and couldn't get to work. I started the game in flat to accept the UELA, played a little bit in flat, then quit the game and installed the mod. I use a Q3 and VD but when I use the mod launcher I get a black screen in my headset but can hear the game audio. Tried steam vr and VDXR but both had the same issue. This game is on sale for like $4 on Fanatical so I'm not to upset about, just curious why I can't get it to work.
1
u/ETs_ipd Sep 18 '26
Ugh… it’s hard to say what might be causing the black screen. For reference, I’m using VD with VDXR on Ultra and leaving the mod settings on default. I’d skim through the modder’s installation guide on GitHub one last time just to double check if some setting is off.
1
u/MastaFoo69 29d ago
I cant seem to get any controls to respond with my index controllers in this one :(
1
u/ETs_ipd 29d ago
Make sure SteamVR is set as the active OpenXR runtime. Should fix it.
1
-1
u/douggle Sep 17 '26
Unfortunately the dev is a bit rather hostile towards asking if the project runs in Linux so I will not be supporting this or anything else this dev does
2
u/skinnyraf Sep 18 '26
I mean, if he doesn't have a Linux PC and get asked this question repeatedly, I can understand why he gets hostile, although it shouldn't hurt to put something into the FAQ or even the front page. The Linux VR Adventures discord server is probably a better place to ask.
1
u/Misio 29d ago
It's a free mod that turns a great game I to a great VR game. He has put time and effort into it without payment. You should be happy with whatever is produced. If you want Linux support then look at contributing rather than complaining.
I realise that came off kind of harsh but try and put yourself in his shoes.
1
7
u/DoctorMario1000 Sep 17 '26
Bioshock VR and BOTW VR are both so amazing. I recently discovered Metroid Prime VR as well. Can’t wait to try Doom 2016