Paint the Town Red VR is here! Available now on Steam as DLC for PTTR, PTTR VR gives you a whole new way to experience the carnage of the Scenarios, Arena and Beneath. If youre reading this then you probably dont need to be sold on what PTTR is, so lets dive into the VR specifics. Note: We're aware that many players using Quests are having head jitter issues with in the game. We are looking into it and will aim to resolve all issues as soon as possible, but right now our recommendation is to set the Meta Quest Link app as the OpenXR active runtime and to try different Refresh Rates for your headset. [previewyoutube=O8aUuuWb59w;full][/previewyoutube]

Is it DLC or is it a separate game?

Its both! PTTR VR is a separate game, but weve made it DLC on Steam so its part of the same base application. This way Workshop levels from PTTR can be accessed in PTTR VR. When you own PTTR VR and run PTTR from Steam, you will be presented with the option of launching regular PTTR or PTTR VR.

Unique VR Features

We didnt set out to make something vastly different from PTTR. For one, if we changed the game too much and added too many VR-centric mechanics then the design of the game would be different enough that the Scenarios, Arena, Beneath and User Levels would no longer play as originally intended. What you can do in the game is not necessarily different, but how you do it is. The main differentiator is the hand controls. This allows dual wielding, it allows more freedom in your attacks and, honestly, its just way more fun. To help onboard new players into VR we also have a short Tutorial level that teaches the basics, and there are many small changes throughout the game where weve tweaked things to improve the experience in VR.

VR Headset and Controller Support

The range of headsets we support is mainly dictated by their controller type. Our goal was to basically support anything that has hand controllers. Oculus style controllers with their range of physical buttons work well. We also have a custom input config for HTC Vive controllers which is not the greatest way to play the game due to their limited buttons, but they will work. Note for HTC Vive users: The in-game control help text will not give correct button prompts currently, but this will be fixed very soon. Valve Index controllers work well, but at least in the launch version of the game, the way the grip buttons are pressed is different than other controllers so: Note for Valve Index users: We highly recommend changing the in-game setting to require the grip button to be held for weapon holding. Well continue working to see if theres more nuanced grip button data to be pulled from those so we can improve this. If you have a headset or controller you believe should work, but doesnt, please let us know on the Steam forum or Discord.

VR Options and Accessibility

We have a wide range of accessibility features and options to tweak. A fast-paced game like PTTR VR can be challenging if youre not well accustomed to VR gaming, so options like Teleport movement, Snap Turning, and Vignetting are available. There are many other options available including Arm Extension, Laser Sights for ranged weapons, different Block indicators, Height adjustment, Throw and Attack Velocity Multipliers, etc. Theres even a difficulty setting that lets you make things a little easier in non-Leaderboard relevant parts of the game.

Future Updates

Its also important to note that this is only the beginning of PTTR VR. Developing and self-publishing a VR title for a wide range of platforms with varying performance, and all to launch on the same day is not a simple task. So its definitely fair to say that theres a lot that is still possible to be improved and added to the game, especially on the higher end platforms like here on Steam. One area that will see improvement in coming updates is the visuals. Lighting and post processing effects are not yet where wed like them to ultimately be, and we will be improving those with more graphics settings to support different levels of hardware. There are other optimisations in the game that are essential for ensuring high performance on lower end PC hardware in VR and well look at adding more options to adjust these.

Workshop Levels and Future Updates

Workshop levels are supported at launch, although with relatively limited testing time there will still be some issues. Also, levels with high numbers of enemies or other demanding aspects will currently run too poorly for VR play. These types of levels are of course very common on the Workshop and currently there is no way to easily tell which levels will and wont run well in VR without trying them. To try to resolve this we will be putting time into understanding the primary performance bottlenecks of larger Workshop levels and making what optimisations can be made to improve those. With 12,000 Workshop levels even small improvements we can make could make hundreds more levels playable. Beyond that we will be exploring the possibility of having a separate VR-ready set of restrictions in the Level Editor that could be used by anyone looking to make levels that should run well in VR. This may not happen, and ultimately it might not be necessary here on Steam. However having such a feature would open the possibility of bringing those levels to the other platforms PTTR VR is on so map makers could have the opportunity to have PSVR2 and Quest players experiencing their levels also. This is more of an idea than a plan at this stage.

Future Multiplayer Support?

Right now we have no firm plans for co-op multiplayer support, but of course it would be a great addition to the game. There are too many differences between PTTR and PTTR VR to ever support multiplayer between those two games, but cross-platform multiplayer with the other VR platform versions is a possibility. Its something well be exploring over the coming months. If it changes from a maybe to a definitely then well let you know.

What about regular PTTR?

Throughout development of PTTR VR theres been a lot of fixes to existing bugs in PTTR and these fixes will be brought across in an update soon on Steam. Because its a separate project with separate code it will take some time to identify and port across these changes.

What Else?

Jump in to the Steam discussions or our Discord server to chat with other players and find out answers to any other questions you may have.