Board Games VR - Version 1.4.0 Available Now!

Hey everyone,

This update includes major improvements and bug fixes to the game core as well as user experience. The full list is available below.

What's new

New:



• Input Action support for all VR controllers (Valve Index, Vive, WMR, Oculus, etc.) supported by Steam VR.
  
• Users can re-assign/override the VR controller actions for buttons/touchpads/joysticks using the built-in Steam client settings for this game.
  
• Oculus users who installed the game via Steam, can launch the game directly via either Steam client or Oculus PC app, without depending on Steam VR, yet benefit from Steam and Steam Workshop content for the game.
  
• Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) users (as well as other platforms supporting OpenXR) who installed the game via Steam, can play the game without depending on Steam VR, yet benefit from Steam and Steam Workshop content for the game.
  
• Users using WMR controllers can use the built-in menu button to open/close the main menu.
  
• Freshly written XR Interaction System to handle actions, haptic, interactions as well as upcoming (in future releases) hand models. No longer depending on the built-in systems provided by Unity.
  
• By default, users can grab objects using either trigger or the grab button on the VR controller, instead of having to choose only one button in the main menu.
  
• Physical mouse object is now visible in local multiplayer mode as well as Non-VR mode.
  
• Command line support to select vr mode: `-xrmode`. Options: `none`, `oculus`, `openvr`, `openxr`. Example: "board-games-vr.exe -xrmode openxr" will force the app to use OpenXR.
  
• Radio and the small table with the radio on top in the default environemnt.
  
• Waterfall SFX and lake water SFX in the default environment.
  

  Update

  
  
• Using the latest Universal Render Pipeline (URP version 12.1.4). As a result all previous 3rd-party environments (scenes, skymaps, shaders, materials, etc.) must be updated by their publishers to use the latest URP.
  
• "The Void" environment is renamed to "Green Nebula" with id "green-nebula".
  
• The dynamic day/night cylce in the default environment is replaced with fixed daylight.
  
• Reduced game runtime memory usage.
  
• Reduced game assets loading times.
  
• Reduced overall game size to require less than 1GB of disk space (used to be almost 2GB).
  
• Improved all textures in the default environment.
  
• Improved responsiveness of the main menu.
  
• Updated icons in the main menu.
  
• Removed the menu option for grab, since the game is now supporting both trigger and grab buttons on VR controller.
  
• User can drag objects using mouse in Non-VR mode against surfaces, instead of only in a straight line.
  
• Reflection probes now use box projection to allow more realistic reflections based on object position within the probe.
  
• Improved locomotion/teleportation using joysticks and touchpads (where controller supports it) to allow users to cancel the action by turning the stick around to the back.
  

  Fix

  
  
• Rendering issues in skymaps of the built-in environments.
  
• Rendering issues when using WMR headsets.
  
• Occasional post-processing issues when starting the game.
  
• Light intensity, shadow, ambient occlusion, reflection and baked textures in the built-in environments.
  
• Touching the Valve Index (Knucles) touchpad accidentally teleports the user.
  
• Touching the Vive wand touchpad teleports the user (instead of clicking the touchpad).
  
• Snap turn immediately (accidentally) turns the user, as soon as the controller stick is slightly moved to either left/right.
  
• Menu button on Oculus and WMR controllers do not work as intended.
  
• Haptic feedback only works correctly on Valve Index and Vive controllers, but no other devices.
  
• Backgammon board triangles are not correctly positioned.
  
• Sometimes the main menu disappears right after it becomes visible to the user.
  
• Some texts in the scene flicker when being rendered, based on type of headset and VR video resolution.
  
• In Non-VR and local multiplayer mode (where supported by user's machine and VR platform), mouse interactions might have an offset to the actual position on display.
  
• Interacting with interactable objects do not work after a teleport, where the user hand ends up inside that object.
  
• Grabbing an already grabbed object with another hand, causes the object to jump and incorrectly change position.
  
• Grabbing an object containing multiple colliders is not easily possible.
  
• Throwing objects using Oculus controllers has extremely reduced velocity, in compare with Valve Index controllers.
  
• Throwing objects using WMR controllers has reduced velocity, in compare with Valve Index controllers.
  
• Sometimes the game log file gets filled up with errors related to Unity XR Interaction.
  
• Sometimes the user could not scroll the list in the main menu, using the laser pointer.
  
• Sometimes the user teleportation blink does not work.
  
• Teleport anchors are positioned incorrectly with a small vertical offset below the ground.
  
• Sometimes audio/sfx does not play from the correct world position and instead plays back at the player's head position.
  

Known issues

• Core: Chess AI takes between 3 to 10 seconds when making decisions. This is too long in compare to other chess games available on the market. Chess is only available in multiplayer, until the AI is fully improved.
  
• Core: The score system is disabled. This will be published once it is decoupled from Steamworks.
  
• Core: The hand models and interactions are disabled in this build (will enable them again once the new input system and custom interactions are fully implemented).
  
• Multiplayer: Players cannot create private rooms. This feature is disabled in the current release due to bugs. It will be released once the bugs are fixed.
  
• Multiplayer: In online multiplayer, the interactable room objects might disappear when the room host leaves the room.
  
• SFX: When interacting with checker pieces and boards the SFX is not audiable!
  
• VFX: Guide poster does not show the Tic-Tac-Toe rules (side note: this might change in the near future with the upcoming tutorial content).
  

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop a line in any of social platform of your choice. For urgent cases or if you just want to chat, visit the artArmin Discord server or livestreams.

Discord: https://discord.gg/qPx3g98
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/artarmin
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/artarmin
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/artArmin
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/artarmin
Instagram: https://instagram.com/artarmin
Github: https://github.com/artarmin
Website: https://www.artarmin.com


Thank you for playing the game and your continuous support.

Armin