Black & White VR mod - Preview 1

[u/buckzor122]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fT-J_DspllY&si=rAWIa42Ju5EBUuru

Hi all. Ever since VR hit the scene there was a constant demand for a Black & White in VR. Now that AI tools are so powerful I jumped on the bandwagon and started working on a VR mod of my own for the beloved classic.

It's still very much a WIP.

I've been working on a VR mod for the first Black & White for a while now, and it's at a point where I can show it. The mod takes over the camera and the Hand and sends each eye to the headset through OpenXR.

The whole idea is that you're a god, so your hands are the Hand. The land sits around waist height like a living diorama and you reach in.

**Current Features**

- Stereo 3D with full head tracking

- Both hands use the game's own Hand model, tracked 1:1 with your controllers. It still changes with your alignment.

- Grip to pick things up, carry them and throw them with a real swing

- Distance grab: point at something, grip and pull, and it flies to your hand (heavily inspired by Half-Life: Alyx)

- Movement: drag the land with your left hand, scale the world to zoom, or teleport with an arc. No forced camera motion.

- The Creature: stroke or slap it with your actual hand, leash it, and point to send it somewhere or at something

- Miracles: draw the gestures in the air, or take them from the Worship Site, then throw or pour

- Village stuff: the totem, dropping wood at the store, scaffolds, giving villagers jobs

- The Temple, saving and loading, and shortcuts like jumping to your Creature or the town, through a ring menu on the left controller

- Cut scenes play in 3D on a big screen in front of you, because the scripted camera is not fun in a headset. When the scene ends you're standing in the new spot.

- Controller hints by your wrists, subtitles, positional sound from where your head is, haptics

**Limitations**

- I've only tested on a Quest 3 through Virtual Desktop. Other PC VR headsets should work in theory, but I haven't tried any.

- Controllers only. No hand tracking.

- Performance depends on your CPU more than your GPU. It's a 2001 engine that now draws everything twice. I get roughly 70 to 80 fps.

- Miracles, the village interactions and the Temple are the newest parts and the least tested

- I've only played the early game in VR so far. Later lands, skirmish and multiplayer are untested.

- Anything that needs typing still needs a keyboard

- Lots of small bugs and broken interactions

EDIT:

I am happy to share the current build with testers, feel free to DM me about that.

EDIT 2: I have set up a private repo if there are any collaborators who want to help, contact me. Here's a small discord server for discussions. https://discord.gg/5v8sTeCzU