Half-Life: Alyx is one in every of 2020’s most anticipated games, however its nature as a VR unique makes it tougher to stream in comparison with most games.
This is true for Half-Life: Alyx, in addition to different VR games, in fact, however Valve has a number of options to this downside. To assist make watching Alyx streams extra fulfilling, the developer launched a number of pointers for streamers to assist them create a clean, jitter-free expertise for viewers.
This is why Half-Life: Alyx has a customisable spectator mode, particularly designed as a way to management how the game interprets VR visuals to a flat, 2D display.
Spectator mode eye settings
The very first thing you’re going to resolve is the perspective of the the spectator. You can select between left or proper eye for this. Valve recommends choosing the attention you’re going to purpose down. So decide proper in the event you have a tendency to shut your left eye whereas aiming down sights.
Spectator mode clean settings
In the identical menu, you may also select to show smoothing on or off. The setting smooths out the jitter that outcomes from turning shortly in-game. When turned on, you may decide from low, medium or excessive. This solely applies to the spectator view, in fact.
This impact is utilized in real-time, and comes with a really small efficiency hit.
Spectator mode HUD settings
The HUD is one other ingredient that won’t all the time make sense to point out viewers. This possibility permits you flip sure HUD parts on/off particularly for the spectator view. By default, the HUD exhibits well being, ammo, resin depend and any gadgets you’re carrying.
But you may flip the HUD utterly off, or management the dimensions of it from small, medium, and large.
Outside of the straightforward settings outlined above, Alyx additionally provides deeper customisation by way of the superior menu. These choices are discovered within the game’s dev console, which is introduced up by hitting the tilde (~) key. Before that, nevertheless, it’s essential allow entry to the console by including “-console -vconsole” to the game’s launch properties on Steam.
Here’s what you get by enabling the console.
Full in-camera smoothing
This is a extra aggressive type of smoothing that’s designed for a extra cinematic look. It smooths all three axes of rotation, however its massive draw back is that it additionally applies to your personal view in addition to the spectator view.
To allow this function, convey up the console (~) and sort these instructions:
- vr_camera_decay_roll_halflife 0.5.
- vr_camera_decay_yaw_pitch_halflife 0.09.
These values could be adjusted additional, and the numbers symbolize seconds. For instance, it takes your digital camera 0.5 seconds to get “halfway between the currently-displayed amount of camera roll and your actual head position.” In different phrases, the upper this goes the extra it can tune out small rotations, including extra lag.
You can disable each of those by typing “vr_camera_decay_roll_halflife 0”, and “vr_camera_decay_yaw_pitch_halflife 0”.
Advanced spectator mode HUD settings
Likewise, the spectator HUD can be additional tweaked from its default choices. You can convey up the console and sort “hlvr_spectator_hud_size 100” to vary the dimensions of the spectator HUD. You can go between 50 and 150, or Zero to take away it solely. Keep in thoughts that that is solely seen to viewers.
