Fallout 4 (2015), Bethesda’s beloved post-apocalyptic open world RPG, is now in VR, letting you stalk the Wasteland as the sole survivor of Vault 111 from the immersive point of view of the HTC Vive headset. This comes with most of the important trimmings and trappings of the original; a seemingly endless number of interesting and varied quests, multiple causes to join, base building, and plenty of guns and armor to scrounge. Fallout 4 VR successfully provides all these things along with the promise of holding a gun in your own hand, but fractures somewhat as it mutates from its native 16:9 aspect ratio to the new land of VR.

Fallout 4 VR Details:

Official Site

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher:  Bethesda Softworks
Available On: HTC Vive (Steam)
Reviewed On: HTC Vive, Tested on Rift (see note below)
Release Date: December 11th, 2017

Note: I have over 70 hours logged in the PC version of ‘Fallout 4’, but I’m attempting to set aside my personal affection for the non-VR version to put ‘Fallout 4 VR’ on the same plane as any other modern made-for-VR game.

Gameplay

If you’ve already played the PC or console version of the game, you’re probably looking forward to experiencing the world you know so well in the most immersive format available. If you haven’t, then your impression of the game will be entirely based on this version. It won’t be a ‘VR port’ to you, but rather a native VR game judged on its own merits.

As an action RPG, you’ll have to fill out your stats first to push you in the desired direction you want to pursue: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. You can grow these areas using the associated abilities and by spending XP to make them even stronger, which in turn gets you ‘Perks’ that can unlock abilities like master-level gunsmithing, better accuracy when shooting, master lockpicking, etc. It’s really a fun system that lets you play the game you want to just by being that person and by pursuing the sort of gameplay and abilities that you want to specialize in.

‘Fallout 4’ Perk Chart

Like Skyrim VRFallout 4 VR underperforms in a few areas specific to the VR medium while at the same time drastically outperforming many of its VR contemporaries thanks to the game’s overwhelming size, variability of quests, numerous AI, and gameplay length. Now for something you haven’t heard a zillion times before: the nuts and bolts of VR gameplay.

Fallout 4 VR’s default teleporting locomotion scheme can be pretty tedious when moving around the Wasteland overworld. Although I found its precision much more useful when moving around a building’s interior during dungeon clearing, I still opted for the free locomotion option in the end. If you stick with the default teleport scheme, you’ll quickly find out that long teleports will drain your action points (AP) which are useful to have when you engage V.A.T.S., the game’s bullet-time mode. The AP drain is true for running at top speed in free locomotion mode too, so both locomotion styles end up offering an AP cost for faster movement. You can technically do as many ‘close’ teleports as you want, as there’s no cool down period because of the lack of AP cost, making teleportation the fastest way to travel across the Commonwealth (besides actual fast travel, that is). That’s a lot of trigger presses though.

Head Controller-relative free locomotion is the only other option. Snap-turning is an available option, but most Vive-owners are probably running a full 360 setup (while most Rifters are likely rocking the standard front-facing setup), so while it’s a welcome addition, some users simply won’t want or need snap-turning. I’ll speak more about locomotion in the ‘Comfort’ section below.

SEE ALSO
'Skyrim VR' Review – The Other Side of the Immersion Equation

If you haven’t heard yet, Fallout 4 is mostly about wielding guns, although there are some melee weapons like machetes, baseball bats, bayonets, and (my favorite) Grognak’s axe. It’s safe to say then, if Fallout 4 VR can’t nail the shooting aspect, it’s failed in a pretty big department. Shooting is mostly a positive experience, although there are some hitches.

On my way through the world, my first gun was a 10mm pistol. Upon picking it up, I was happy to see the developers didn’t paste in an omnipresent laser pointer aimer, which always cheapens the shooting experience for me. That’s a big plus. While at close range, using a gun’s iron sights isn’t really an issue either, but the game’s occasional drabness demands at very least a glowing sight so you can get a good sight picture in low light conditions. Thankfully, the base game is the gold standard of gun modding, letting you alter every gun you come across to make it stronger, take larger magazines, change sights etc. The VR version is slightly less effective in this regard though for one reason currently.

While a glowing iron sight made the shooting experience much easier, to my ultimate dismay I found that optical scopes simply don’t work. You can construct them, attach them, collect them, find guns sporting them, but when you try to use a gun outfitted with a scope, you’ll be presented with a dead, matte surface where you should be seeing a zoomed-in view of the world.

Reaching out to Bethesda, I was told usable scopes would come in a later update, but wouldn’t be available at launch. Reflex sights, the type of device that gives you a floating cross-hairs, work just fine though (hmph).

Otherwise, I’d say the game’s shooting experience is hampered by the lack of two-handed weapons, the lack of intuitive holstering mechanic, and a few comically-scaled guns. On the flip side, despite knowing two-handed weapons will never quite feel real with a dual-controller setup (not Fallout 4 VR‘s fault), the effect of shooting two of the game’s justifiably large weapons—the Fat Man tactical nuke launcher and the 5mm Minigun—was exactly as I predicted: pretty fucking awesome. Those certainly don’t make up for one of the most important gun mods being broken at launch, but you certainly can’t argue with being able to pistol-whip enemies in the face when they get too close.

V.A.T.S in VR | Photo courtesy Bethesda

My most favorite moments in Fallout 4 VR is battling two of the world’s medium-to-large menaces; nuclear football-wielding Mutants, and Deathclaws, the scaly behemoths that pop out of the ground to cause havoc. These hulking tank-beasts will make you practically drop your controller in fright as you try to run away, engage V.A.T.S., and cycle through your Pip-Boy hoping to find your highest-powered weapon that you forgot to favorite on your quick inventory list. There are larger baddies to battle, but those are usually boss-level fights that only happen every so often.

I don’t do companions besides Dogmeat, my mostly non-judgmental doggy pal. There are a number of companions available to befriend (and use as pack mules) though, but I find they get in the way more than anything. You can go it alone, or with any number of Wastelanders to make attacks a little less lonesome. Seeing these companions in real life was a bit jarring at first; from the whole new POV of a VR headset, the artificiality of the game’s NPCs comes to light—but I talk about this more in the ‘Immersion’ section below.

In any case, difficulty levels are variable, and can be changed on the fly during gameplay, making it as easy or as hard as you like at a moment’s notice.

It’s hard to beat getting a chance to walk around the more densely-packed areas like Diamond City either, which feel appropriately sized and filled with enough quests to satisfy several hours of losing yourself to the game. Yes. Side quests are abundant, but even the primary quest line will require tens of hours to complete—a main attraction to the game for sure. If you can overlook some of the less immersive bits (detailed below) you’ll find Fallout 4 VR mostly delivers on its job of plugging you into the Commonwealth.

A note about Rift support in Fallout 4 VR: As it is now, you can technically play the game on Rift (thanks to its inherent compatibility with SteamVR), but buttons aren’t appropriately mapped to make browsing in-game menus easy, or to make locomotion simple. Most interactions are based on touchpad swipes, which translate poorly to Rift’s thumbsticks. The game can be run on the Rift, but Bethesda doesn’t officially recommend it at this time.

Immersion

Even though you’re carrying a trusty map, genuinely massive games have a way of letting you figuratively lose yourself in the fabric of the story as its elements are strewn across an open world. Making your way into new territory for the first time can be a harrowing event, fraught with Ghouls, Mutants, and Raiders looking for blood. While the acute anxiety fades as you obtain higher levels, having a place as richly detailed as the Wasteland in VR is a major boon to immersion (despite the few ways it’s stretched to fit VR), if only for the fact that there’s always a challenge ahead, or a mystery around the corner to uncover.

While the game is both interesting and massive, I wouldn’t call any of the actual interactions within the world particularity immersive. That may be a harsh assessment, but as a two-year old game originally targeting flat screens, it feels too simplistic in some areas that a made-for-VR title would either do better, or avoid altogether.

Since you don’t have actual hands, which are replaced with floating controllers, hand presence is effectively null. This isn’t really a terrible thing, but the lack of meaningful object interaction in a world full of lootable buildings is. You won’t get a chance to do some of the things common to native VR games like manually inject a stimpack, physically reload a gun, or even pet a certain German Shepard (and tell him he’s a GOODBOYE). There simply isn’t any real object interaction to be had, as talking, eating, looting, and commanding your companion to do an action is all done through a single emotionless button press, often from a 2D menu. This may be convenient, but it isn’t really immersive.

Creating an inventory system for VR isn’t an easy thing either—nor is adapting one from an inherently menu-based game. Because a physical backpack full of 300 items wouldn’t exactly be practical, Fallout 4 VR definitely gets a break when it borrows a majority of its UI from the flatscreen version for its more utilitarian purposes. It does make a few VR-specific overtures when it can so as not to be entirely choked with floating 2D windows, but you’ll find those are pretty few in number.

Floating status bars aren’t really the most elegant of solutions for VR. There, I said it. Usually a developer would tailor the guns to give you some sort of indication that bullets were running out, or attach the counter directly to the gun so it doesn’t limit the field of view any more than it has to, but the blaring HP/AP bar and the ammo counter combined with the barrage of on-screen commands (looting, talking to NPCs, etc,) take away from the experience by being front and center most of the time. While navigation is neatly tucked away below your line-of-sight, everything else demands your immediate attention. It seems like a cheap fix to what rightly should have been overhauled entirely for VR.

The Pip-Boy arm computer tries to make up for all this PC-to-VR port-ness by being right there on your wrist, ready to flip through in a moment’s notice, enlarging somewhat as you bring it up to view. I liked using the Pip-Boy because it’s really the only place a 2D UI element makes sense. If you get tired of raising your wrist, you can make it function as a regular menu, although you’d be missing out.

Pipboy in VR | Photo courtesy Bethesda

Another big factor in immersion is the game’s NPCs and how you interact with them. NPCs move their heads and eyes to follow you as you move about the room during dialogue, but you won’t see anything like subtle reactions of getting too close, or any variable dialogue outside the game’s strict dialogue tree. Because VR is more immersive than traditional monitors, these things stick out more.

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I know we don’t live in a time where perfectly realistic NPC characters are actually possible—but if the NPC interactions we see in Lone Echo (2017) are the best we can manage right now, Fallout 4 VR is showing its age.

On the more positive side of things, base building really helps the game feel more like ‘home’, and works really well in VR. Perusing a carousel of 3D objects on your left controller and placing them in the world just feels right. Once I was sufficiently impressed with my base, I set up a chair on the top of the Red Rocket station, turned on the radio and kicked back to watch the sun go down. It’s honestly what VR is all about.

[gfycat data_id=”FrailSpanishJackal”]

Like its non-VR forbearer, there aren’t many display options to turn up the visual quality of the game. Bethesda’s minimum requirements says you should be running at very least an Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350, 8GB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 / AMD RX Vega 56 GPU. The recommended spec specifies an Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, 16GB RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 / AMD RX Vega 64 GPU.

My Exemplar 2 system meets those recommended specs, so while your mileage may vary, I found the game’s visual detail to be pretty incredible considering it’s supposed to run at or above 90 fps. NPCs don’t appear significantly worse than the flatscreen version, textures seem high enough quality, and draw distance seemed to be impressively far. The odd radioactive storm and night/day cycles really tie it all together nicely.

Comfort

As always, teleporation is one of the most comfortable locomotion options outside of natural room-scale walking. Even the controller-relative forward motion is good enough to be called comfortable though, thanks to an adjustable ‘comfort vignette’ that reduces your FOV while moving to keep you comfortable. You can of course turn this off to get the full FOV while moving.

Snap-turning is also adjustable, allowing you to pick the angle and type of transition; instant or ‘smooth’, the latter of which tosses in a few frames to better blend the normally jarring snapping transition. There is no smooth-turning to speak of though.

There’s no ‘seated’ option in the game, which might artificially raises your POV when playing sitting down. When I play longer games, I tend to stand up for the first hour or so, but then naturally sit down to give my feeble, lazy legs a rest. If you are physically seated, you’ll be continuously lower in the world.

Update (12/12/17): Clarified the capabilities of the Rift regarding two-Sensor front-facing vs. 360 configurations. Thanks bobzdar.


Update (12/11/17, 5:00PM ET) : It appears I mistook the controller-relative free locomotion for head-relative, which would explain some of the strangeness I initially perceived.


We partnered with AVA Direct to create the Exemplar 2 Ultimate, our high-end VR hardware reference point against which we perform our tests and reviews. Exemplar 2 is designed to push virtual reality experiences above and beyond what’s possible with systems built to lesser recommended VR specifications.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Overall
7.5
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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • PJ

    As a Rift user it’s still on my wish list, but sadly unless modding comes in and some one cleverer than me can patch in Oculus Touch support I fear it’s going to stay on my wish list for quite some time sadly

  • Ryan

    Sure feels like controller relative to me.

  • Pete

    I’d still get it despite its flaws, but the Oculus-Bethesda issue kills it for me (and is very bad for VR in general).

    • Rob Fitch

      As bad as the Oculus-everyone else issue?

      • Anthony Hunt

        Totally. Platform exclusivity on such a small subset of gamers (halving the market place) is beyond dumb. Oculus and HTC/Steam are both short-sighted and will kill their own products by limiting software availability. This tit-for-tat “my exclusive title” crap is just childish.

        • Suitch

          Oculus ensures no updates ever kill revive again so I am still amused any cucks think they have anything other than an analogue to the steam store–and Oculus has a better array of AAA games. They are pumping millions into finding VR and steam takes a shitton from developers as royalties. Steam is not on a high ground here.

          • Chris7

            I agree….. Valve and HTC should be kissing the ground oculus walks on but they’ll be content to pick up the pennies that fall out of oculuss pocket. Zip zilch no content from valve no excuse other then they dont care… They been working on three nameless VR games for two years…. Not even a screenshot Until the numbers look good for them .. Viveport does exclusives too but no notable games . Well if it’s any help…. On a brighter note We def know know oculus did not steal shit from Zenimax If doomvfr and fallout VR are the culmination of everything they knew w about VR

          • David

            The fanboyism is strong with this one.

          • Suitch

            Not really. Yours might be fanboyisn but since I own both a Vive and Rift, I use the better one: the Rift. It is better in EVERY way.

          • BeehiveRound

            Well; except for Fallout 4 VR.

          • Suitch

            Nah, I still is my Rift to play it.

          • BeehiveRound

            That doesn’t in any way mean it is the better experience; which it isn’t. Fallout 4 VR was built for the Vice. Hence the awful menu control situation with the Rift. But if you enjoy torturing yourself, have at it.

          • Justos

            Its common knowledge that Zenimax sues anything with a heartbeat and hopes it sticks.

          • Joe Banes

            The Vive was never going to ride on what Valve did or didn’t create for VR. They were focused on the SteamVR software. HTC is also pumping millions into VR (Vive X accelerator) to allow creators to make games. Valve has nothing to do with that and many games that work on both Vive and Oculus have benefitted from this money because HTC does not stipulate that the developer has to only develop for one platform. As I’ve said to others, I own both and I prefer the Oculus for personal reasons, but that does not make Vive bad, it works excellently, the tracking solution is better, period, and has a great mix of game.
            I personally have no issue with Oculus exclusives or them wanting limited exclusivity for games they invest in. I think it’s a great plan, but to be misinformed that HTC is also pouring tons of money into the VR ecosystem means that you simply don’t have all the facts, or you don’t want them. We need both Vive and Oculus to do well, we need all VR to do well so it’ll go more and more mainstream. It’s dumb to poo-poo any of them. So you don’t like the Vive. Okay, that’s your prerogative. Others love it and dislike Oculus. Neither is wrong. They are both great. Talk about petty? This Oculus vs Vive is petty and dumb and counter-productive.
            I agree with others, Zenimax lawsuit was dumb and sour grapes. They didn’t take VR anywhere and Oculus did. Oculus was my first headset (when it was made out of duct tape and DK1 was a hopeful kickstarter) and will always have a special place in my heart, but we need VR to grow and with other companies making HMDs there is more room for breakthroughs that will be good for all of us and all of VR. People thinking Vive is not doing well are only paying attention to gaming (and even then it’s a stretch).
            HTC, unlike Oculus, is not just focusing on consumer. They are focusing on, and are the predominant HMD right now, in education, business, DoD, and industry. Oculus has been very reticent to work with industries outside of gaming and social areas (not to say they haven’t done anything, but I know from personal experience that they aren’t as willing to work with industry as HTC is) but HTC is heavily marketing towards those other industries. Those industries will likely help VR and AR grow much more mainstream than gaming alone. Those industries are a lot less fickle than dealing with gamers and there is a crap ton more money to be made.
            In the end I love them both and I love what they have done to bring VR to where it is. Will either of them be dominant in 5 years with new HMDs coming out? I don’t know, but I know they’ll continue to push each other and others to make better HMDs which will be a win for the entire VR community gaming and industry.

          • BeehiveRound

            Generally speaking their “array of AAA games” is terrible; and usually shoehorned. The mass majority are shallow experiences. The worthwhile ones are like finding francium.

  • Jean-Sebastien Perron

    Oculus now has 75% of the PC VR market. Bethesda’s stubborn decision to target only the dying Vive is the most stupid decision in the history of gaming. No one will be surprised when they close their door in 2 years. I will play it only when they release it on the Oculus store. Microsoft’s Mixed Reality is already dead and buried. Now I need a PSVR back to play Wipeout VR.

    • Mike

      Fanboy eh?

    • bobzdar

      I’m an Oculus owner, but this is a dumb position. It works on Oculus and who cares if you have to buy it on Steam, as long as it works. I buy from both stores and software in both works on all headsets, so I go for whichever is cheaper. Good software is good software and I applaud Bethesda for doing AAA VR ports. Variety is the spice of life, don’t take such a narrow view of things.

      • BeehiveRound

        Problem is that it doesn’t work well in terms of gameplay; menu nightmare is a huge issue in a game like Fallout 4.

    • David

      Where the Hell are you getting this figure? Last time I checked the Vive and Rift were neck and neck. I know we live in confusing times but just because you say something doesn’t make it true.

      • Justos

        neck to neck on steam. Inaccurate representation of total rift owners to say the least.

    • Joe Banes

      I’m not sure where you get your information but you are off. Firstly the Vive and Oculus are pretty even market share wise. Vive has been coming back a bit lately. Vive isn’t dying and it’s not going anywhere, that’s just silly and you are talking out of your rear. Full disclosure, I own both the Oculus and the Vive. Considering being first gen VR devices they are both doing very well. MMR is already dead and buried? Cite your sources. It’s not even really gotten started yet. With games like Arizona Sunshine available and no need for external cameras it might do very well during the holiday season (we’ll have to wait and see, but to make your strange comment is a stretch this early in the release cycle). I know, it’s the internet, you know stuff and stuff.

      Not putting this on the Oculus is the most stupid decision in history of gaming? You must not have been around for much of gaming’s history then. This is far from the dumbest thing (both crews have made exclusives). The Oculus and Vive are not always easy to make work together. They require different code and you can’t just wish the code for different controllers to appear all magic like. Since Doom VR now works on the Oculus I would assume that Fallout 4 will as well. You are just mad because you have the Oculus and can’t play. Typical gamer response. I know you think these companies can just pull stuff out of their rear and make it all work to make you happy, but the work requires people that have to be paid. This was a risk for Bethesda as they had no idea how this would really take on for VR. There is a lot that could go wrong porting this well known game. Games that weren’t made for VR are not as easy to port over to VR as you seem to think. Still Bethesda want’s money, they’ll get it worked out for Oculus or a modder will and it’ll be all good.

      I see some of your other comments on other sites and so I see your position is pretty much skewed, but your facts are simply off and since none of them have released any real sales figures lately you can’t know. You mentioned in another article your dissatisfaction with the Vive controllers. While the current Vive controllers are actually very good (though I too prefer the Touch controllers) HTC is creating the knuckle controllers which will track all of your fingers and allow for you to completely open your hand. At that point those will be the dominant controllers once game support comes for them (unless Oculus comes up with something similar, or goes away from controllers to haptic gloves as Zuckerburg seemed to be hinting at once).

      I personally prefer my Oculus over my Vive due to comfort, the Oculus/Vive fanboyism and PC/Mac XBOX/PS level of argument is just dumb and premature. Both are great platforms, neither are dying, and both companies continue to work towards pushing VR forward along with others.

      • Danny Fautz

        i AM NOT A Fanboy but this summer spread it to lioke 63-35 for rift & i haved both. I just like the rift better because of thing that the vive should have included from day 1 The headset strap&hheadphones are great on the rift for being included & i know you can (as i alreay spent the extra money on the better strap for the vive headset. Also the touch conteollers are I am sry but so much better than the my vive’s except for a few games.
        On the bright side the setup for vive is still easier and works great. The rift you will have to buy another cam to have ideal roomscale and then they become bot h great atg roomscale although I just prefer the vive for it.
        All in all the headsets to me & i do not know if it is me but the rift is more comfy for long periods (even after i bought the vive headstrap I still like the rift.
        Guuys Both are great & well the rift made a great summer deal that really pushed them ahead the vive is still right there & its a matter of whichever you feel more comfy in. the screen I wont go into b/c they are so close that wont matter as much as comfort. Buy the one you like as you can play all the title as steam hasa made it open for the rift too. & with my Vive i just use revive to play my rift exculsive to compare & listen since they dropped the Vive to $599.00 it is more on a fair playing feild biut until the Vive release the new controllers I would gert the rift. & i bought the Vive when it costed an arm & a leg =p.. Happy gaming in VR no matter which one you choose. it is a great VR experience. Get Lone echo it is simply amazing sci-fi game. it is Goty to me in VR.

        • Phil_NYC

          Rift is less immersive due to sensor limitation that is a fact. Fixing that limitation by buying more gear, doesn’t put it on equal footing. People buy Rift because it is better advertised. I have both and the Vive is a clearly superior product.

          Some fanboys complain about the built-in headphones being in Oculus and not on Vive. Lets put it to rest. The built-ins on the Oculus suck.

          • AndyP

            Rift is great, Vive is great: it’s virtually the holodeck in our lifetime – so why are people still talking about this zero-sum game shit?

    • Phil_NYC

      fake news

    • Duane Locsin

      Oculus fanboys are really starting to earn their reputation as one of the most annoying sales people in games, along with EA defenders and F2P apologists.

    • johngrimoldy

      This post significantly reduces your credibility on other posts. Can you back up your claims of 75% of PC VR market and Microsoft MR being already dead/buried?

      • Jean-Sebastien Perron

        Sorry can’t rewrite history, facts are facts.

        • johngrimoldy

          Who’s asking for a rewrite? Can you back up your “facts”?

        • BeehiveRound

          Historical facts have evidence.

    • BeehiveRound

      I have an Oculus Rift, but even I find that very hard to believe. Do you have a credible source to go with that?

    • gothicvillas

      Devs are free to do what they want. To be honest, I wouldnt release my game on Facebook too. Zuck can bugger off.

      • Mei Ling

        Mark Zuckerberg has actually indirectly affected the virtual reality space by generating more publicity around it through the purchase of Oculus Rift (years ago) and thereafter a massive injection of cash into R&D and of course marketing. Without him, most likely Oculus would have continued their risky venture alone with, at the time, impatient investors and subsequently fail to deliver a more refined product than the one that you see today. As a result this would have lead to a timeline where VR would not gain any traction with the wider public and once again head into deep hibernation.

    • DukeAJuke ✓σοφός

      What the heck you talking about? Vive and Oculus are about dead even in market share on PCs.. Do some research before you post nonsense.

    • Jason Mercieca

      Vive old hardware ? Eh, its certainly newer than rift, and well the positional tracking system (lighthouse) is num1 in tracking, u hate vive why ? I was originally interested in buying the rift (forget price difference it was not an issue 4 me), but after trying hands on the vive i had to get the best, regadless of brand, vive won by far in many fields :)

      I dont dislike rift or vive or psvr, everyone can spend there money according to there liking, even if its not the best choice, its u r cash & u r choice too, but i dislike giving away false comments putting down excellent hardware done for roomscale / seated / standing from day 1 unlike rift, and cameras cannot track as perfect as the lighthouse system vive uses.
      I do not win anything whatever u buy but if u reading this and thinking which one to buy, if u can afford it buy the vive, u won’t regret it as i did.

  • VRgameDevGirl

    Confused…. this game is a blurry mess. I have higher than recommend specs. What am I missing here????

    • VRGuy

      A lot of people have this problem. There are some fixes, that solve it for most. Look at https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/7j7947/fix_for_fallout_4_vr_blurriness/

    • Niklas Persson

      Fixes (Mega?)thread.
      I take no credit for these fixes. Just trying to get them all in one thread and post. Feel free to add fixes and I will update them as I see them.

      Blurryness:

      Lower resolutions on NVidia can use this:
      Manage 3D settings -> DSR Factor -> tick 4.00x -> change windows display settings to new super sampled resolution. 3840×2160
      4k monitor:
      go into folder steam/steamapps/common/fallout4vr then find the fallout 4 exe and right click. go to compatibility. then enable the option “overide DPI scaling behaviour. set that to application. this will fix the blur if you have a 4k monitor.
      or AMD users goto:
      Radeon settings > display
      then turn on virtual super resolution
      goto display properties in windows
      you should now be able to set your monitor display higher then the native res. 3200 x 1800 suggested starting point.

      Unable to Set Name:

      Go to steamVR in library. Right click and bring up properties. Go to beta tab and opt out. Restart steam after it updates.

      Height fix (change the scale to taste.):

      Documents>My Games> Fallout4VR>Fallout4VrCustom.
      Once there, directly under [VR], I inserted:
      fVrScale=75.0

      Poor mans laser sight:

      Not a fix but you can order a companion to do something and it creates a laser. Stays till you finally cancel ordering them around.

      Console:

      Shift ` while the game is not paused and no pip boy or anything.

      TAA:

      People are getting a boost from turning TAA off using Shift ` and typing TAA off
      or changing (goes under the stuff about Vats)
      C:UsersusernameDocumentsmy gamesFallout4VRFallout4VrCustom.ini
      [General]
      sStartingConsoleCommand=cl off;taa off

      2

    • Niklas Persson

      http://steamcommunity.com/app/611660/discussions/0/1500126447407113565/
      Oh just found this…

      //Pavlov Death__By__Pony

    • Jona Adams

      A patch just came out to fix that.

    • Kyle Biggs

      Have a look at r/vive. Basically, the game bases its resolution (and aspect ratio!) on your existing display.

      If you have a 4k screen, right click on the game’s exe and go to the compatibility tab. Check the ‘dpi’ box. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it’s the only one with DPI in the name.

      If you have a normal 1920×1080 monitor and Nvidia, go to the Nvidia control panel and enable DSR. Set it to at least 2x and switch to your new, higher resolution.

      If you have Nvidia Surround, disable it.

      Once in game, bring down the console (~) and type taa off (To disable temporal anti-aliasing). You can turn on another method, MSAA I think.

      This SHOULD resolve the blurry issue, but google around for a better guide if not.

  • Luke

    I’m a huge Bethesda fan, I have economic problems but I love VR and Fallout. This summer I had a job and I used all the money to buy Oculus Rift (what I earned from the job was not enough so I used all I had in my pockets). My goal: I wanted to play Fallout 4 in VR, I never played the game before.
    Then I have found another work and bought a Nvidia 1070 used. I tought, I’m close, finally. But I wasn’t. Now I think I did all I could have to do.

    • bobzdar

      Dude, there are some problems in the menus and that’s it, go enjoy it on Oculus if that’s what you have, it works.

      • AndyP

        Thank you!!!! Ordered/downloaded at midnight last night but had no chance to check and been away with work today, nearly home and dying to play :o)

      • BeehiveRound

        Fairly constant and aggravating problems. Sounds like a massive PITA.

      • Jayb0n3rluvsu

        I’ve been playing on rift and it is not bad at all. I have a front-facing setup but direct movement and snapturning work great. The menus suck but I plugged in an old wired Xbox 360 controller and just have it next to me to navigate the menus. Don’t even have to take of the HMD to use the controller. It’s a lot of fun I’d say just play it!

    • Joe Banes

      Gabe has nothing to do with Vive pricing, regardless of what he may want. HTC is the company that creates and sells the headset. Valve helped with the software side. So you can’t blame Gabe for the price. The Vive is a bit more expensive to make due to it’s tracking scheme. Oculus will be playable soon enough I am sure. Though if you are going to use this with Oculus you will want the third camera to have a sure 360 tracking system.

      • Yongster

        Actually, Vive is using Valve’s proprietary technology, so basically HTC is doing the manufacturing as well as being allowed to have a store (Viveport, which IMO, is lacking in so many ways).

        Trackers are still being worked on in house at Valve for future SteamVR devices that are motor-less so that they are cheaper to manufacture and perform better (look up steamvr tracking 2.0) and also can cover way bigger play area. Though there are rumors that these new trackers won’t work with current gen HMD and controllers, it shouldn’t be a problem what with new and improved HMDs are coming out early 2018 along with knuckles controllers.

        Either way, HTC only worked with Steam on Vive which is using the “old” technology. The up and coming knuckles and base stations will be more affordable since they are not sold under HTC anymore and if you backed up Pimax 8K on kickstarter, then you’re set for whatever comes out from Steam in 2018! I, for one, am excited!

    • ummm…

      this hobby is expensive. you have much more than most. i have a vive, but i hear the rift works well enough. Its a good game. Get it when you can and enjoy it. good luck my friend.

      • Luke

        thank you!

  • bobzdar

    “most Vive-owners are probably capable of hosting a full 360 setup (unlike stock Rift-players)”.

    This is untrue, Oculus with touch (which is the only way you can play this game right now as it doesn’t support gamepad) has been able to do full 360 with 2 sensors for 9 months or so. You only need the 3rd sensor for larger areas (>~10’x10′) or if you don’t have a space that lets you get the sensors up high. Otherwise it works very well with 2 sensors.

    • benz145

      You’re right about that, thanks for pointing it out. A less popular configuration, but certainly possible. We’ll update the piece with that correction.

      • PRGuy69

        I haven’t been in this website long but good on you guys for addressing feedback, definitely earned my respect.

    • Thomas Van Iseghem

      Personally own a rift and my game space is “moderate” and spent a lot of time trying to get 360° as good as possible with 2 sensors. And i have to say it works great! But vive still takes the cake with roomscale tracking tbh. But that’s the only thing better about it haha

  • Ragbone

    Scopes don’t work? Has this been released unfinished? Hopefully they will add a re-center button that can adjust height for seating. They need to have a setting for smooth turning, I’m surprised they didn’t. I would like to have an option to allow for arms and hands to be present, that would be cool. I’d love if there was a setting to reload the weapons manually. Voice commands would also be cool. Hopefully they will finish the game before they release it officially for rift without having to wait for updates, and i hope they have the latest textures.

    • Joe Banes

      Yeah, scopes not working is a big issue for me too as I love to snipe in Fallout games, clearing out some high overpass and hitting mutants that can barely see me. Heheh. So I hope they get this fixed very fast. That is definitely something that should have worked day one for a game like Fallout. Maybe they need to speak with Dante over at Onward to add good scopes and making rifles feel like rifles by using both controllers…

      • Ragbone

        Yeah, I assumed they would have the functionality to hold weapons with 2 hands but it looks like they might only have basic stuff in.

  • Chase Elliott

    So Bethesda wants me to spend ANOTHER $60 on a game I already own just to play it in VR??? WT LITERAL F they made OVER A BILLION DOLLARS on the first Fallout 4 release.

    Guess I have to wait for a steam sale next summer, the greedy f#*ks.

    • BeehiveRound

      Yeah; $60 is robbery for a game that has been out years at this point. If this was Fallout 5 in VR that would be one thing. But it most certainly is not.

    • Jani Raipala

      “OMG I NEED TO PAY FOR THE WORK GAME DEVS DID WITH THE GAME!!!!” You think software engineers did the work for free while doing the VR version? It’s not like there is a software where you just push “build VR version” button and your game magically changes to VR game. I’m pretty fucking sure you would also ask money for a product your company made.

    • Thomas Van Iseghem
  • Jona Adams

    I’ll wait for it to get all patched up for the Oculus. Probably sometime in January or February.

  • AndyP

    Yes,
    it works in Oculus. Great to be immersed in the world of Fallout 4. Although
    movement and shooting are fine, Bethesda appear to have made the menu controls tricky
    deliberately, as you can stop the annoying jumping when you move up and down
    through items using an Xbox controller – so why not Touch? I’ve been playing Bethesda
    games since Doom 1, and think they really need to stop biting the hand that
    feeds them over their ‘war’ (pun intended) with Facebook. I’ll be playing the
    game anyway, that I’ve paid £40 for, in addition to buying the original and
    countless other titles over the years. I’ll just be annoyed at Bethesda for
    making the experience a bit less immersive. It’s clearly easy for them to fix –
    so sort it out Bethesda!

  • DukeAJuke ✓σοφός

    I think I’ll be skipping this one and will wait for Skyrim VR early next year (unless they decide to bring the price does to $20 or under. .

  • NooYawker

    What the hell was bethesda thinking?? No hands? Controls are so badly thought out. Everything looks great but not very happy about the controls

  • Great review, as always! The tl;dr is: the game is cool, but it is still a porting of a PC game of some years ago.

  • yag

    The game is pretty playable and enjoyable on Rift now thanks to matzman666 and his last fix for his OpenVR Input Emulator :
    https://github.com/matzman666/OpenVR-InputEmulator/releases
    There are also a few interesting mods to get better performance.

  • John Horn

    The only issue I have with Fallout 4, is that the game **itself** is shit. So I doubt adding VR to it would do much. I played the game on PC up until the very end, when you make the final choice for “who to back” – and I just quit it at that point because I knew it wasn’t worth it. I had played that long because I was patiently hoping that the game would show itself worthy eventually. And… because I’m patient. When someone says to give something a chance, I do. I did the same with SW: TOR, when everyone I know told me the game gets so much better after Level 20, so I played to Level 20… and it was still as shitty after Level 20, as it was before Level 20. It was merely one more WoW-clone.

    Bethesda has to shape up or ship out. They have a lot to learn from CD Projekt Red, about writing dialogue, about writing story, about graphical user interface design, etc.
    I enjoyed Fallout 3 and New Vegas.. but number 4 was an atrocity.