3dRudder announced VR Unleashed mode, which brings smooth locomotion to room-scale VR games. With Unleashed mode, you never have to use a teleport function to move around open world games.
If you’re one of the many people who isn't impressed with teleportation mechanics in VR games, you may want to pay attention to 3dRudder’s latest driver function. 3dRudder created VR Unleashed mode to bring smooth locomotion to room-scale VR games that don’t have native support for linear movement, such as Valve’s free VR game The Lab.
The new mode lets you enjoy the comfort of your chair or sofa while you play room-scale games. 3dRudder maintains that seated gaming minimizes fatigue and allows you to play your favorite VR games for longer periods of time. A 3dRudder in VR Unleashed mode can also help you play room-scale games in confined spaces.
3dRudder built VR Unleashed mode with Valve’s OpenVR and SteamVR APIs. The software is compatible with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive HMDs, but with SteamVR games only. It will eventually support Oculus drivers, but Lighthouse is the only validated driver in the first release.
The initial release of VR Unleashed mode is a standalone open-source application that you can find on Github. 3dRudder said VR Unleashed mode will eventually find its way into the 3dRudder Dashboard software, but the company wants to sort out the bugs before integratingit into the dashboard update pipeline.
3dRudder also wants to offer a list of pre-configured game profiles before the software goes mainstream. The VR Unleashed application allows you to adjust the input speeds and axis tolerance, and you can also adjust the input mapping to suit your needs. You can also save and load custom configurations. 3dRudder offers a selection of pre-configured profiles, but if you send your config files to 3dRudder, it will add them into the next release of the software.
We’ve tried 3dRudder several times (see our lengthy hands on here), and each time we’ve had the same impression: It has plenty of potential, but hardware is only as good as the software that supports it. VR Unleashed mode gives 3dRudder a much wider array of compatible content.
If you have a 3dRudder peripheral and you wish to be ahead of the curve, you can find the VR Unleashed installation instructions here. If you don’t have a 3dRudder yet, maybe the new mode will give you a reason to consider one. 3dRudder sells for $179.
