We are Steam Frame verified!

major update

Half-Life 2: VR Mod · published · build 24558777

Greetings everyone!

It's been a while - but today we are happy to announce that Half-Life 2: VR Mod has been verified for the Steam Frame.

It was not a straight-forward journey; when we began our testing on the Frame, it would not start at all. Then we managed to boot it up, but performance was poor and the experience riddled with bugs. We fixed the bugs and optimized our frame timing - now we had a playable build with decent performance, but still some way from hitting the required frametimes consistently. From here it took careful selection of suitable performance settings, further optimizations and the addition of eye-tracked foveated rendering to get it over the threshold.

Today's patch is the culmination of all that work. But we also fixed a number of bugs and snuck in a few improvements that we hope you will enjoy no matter if you get a Steam Frame or not.

Summary of changes

  • updated built-in dxvk version - might fix some startup issues

  • significantly improved performance on lower-end CPUs

  • potential fix for an issue where the headset view keeps shaking on uneven ground

  • new sniper scope for the crossbow and added stabilization when holding it with both hands

  • smoothed controller poses for hand movement

  • the gravity gun will now show a weapon laser if enabled

  • loading screens are now visible in VR

  • fixed a startup issue with the episodes on Linux

  • hands will no longer disappear when holding something

  • added Steam Frame controller bindings

New sniper scope

The crossbow now features a very "chunky" scope with actual depth that should make it more comfortable to use. We also added smoothing to the controller tracking and additional stabilization when holding the crossbow with both hands to make it easier to aim.