Pavlov VR Update 29 - Unreal Engine 5.1 + OpenXR = Performance Woes
19Update 29 for Pavlov VR has been released, upgrading the game to Unreal Engine 5.1 and adding OpenXR in place of OpenVR.
Welcome to today's video, where we dive into the highly-anticipated Update 29 for Pavlov VR! This update brings significant changes, including an upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.1 and the introduction of OpenXR, replacing OpenVR. However, it seems that this update is not without its fair share of issues and frustrations.
One of the noticeable changes is the appearance of a UAC popup every time you start the game. If you don't have Virtual Desktop, you'll find yourself having to take off your VR headset to click "Yes" on the popup from your PC, which can be quite inconvenient.
Unfortunately, the performance in Update 29 leaves much to be desired, especially after a hotfix that introduced some new problems. Regardless of the resolution, the FPS now struggles to go above 35, primarily due to one or two threads maxing out the CPU cores they are executing in. As a result, the gameplay experience suffers. To make matters worse, while recording this video, the dashboard broke, freezing whenever it was accessed while the game was open.
Another aspect worth discussing is the game's rendering and anti-aliasing techniques. Although not confirmed, it appears that Pavlov VR now utilizes deferred rendering and temporal anti-aliasing (TAA). Unreal Engine 5 documentation suggests that opting for forward rendering with MSAA could have potentially boosted performance by approximately 22%. It's unfortunate that deferred rendering, which is often suboptimal for VR games, was chosen instead.
Furthermore, control issues have arisen in this update. Pressing the button to eject magazines (e.g., touchpad click on Vive wands) no longer functions as expected. Instead, an annoying menu to purchase weapons pops up, rendering it impossible to reload pistols or the double-barreled shotgun. However, guns where you physically grab the magazine by pressing the trigger can still be reloaded.
The grip buttons also exhibit peculiar behavior. Objects picked up using these buttons are no longer held permanently, dropping as soon as the buttons are released. Consequently, you can now only pick up weapons permanently by pressing the trigger. Additionally, if you accidentally drop a weapon on the ground, it becomes impossible to pick it back up permanently, as it can only be retrieved using the grip buttons.
It's disheartening to see that this update, and particularly its hotfix, appears to have undergone inadequate QA testing. Users with VR devices that rely on Vive Console encountered significant problems, with the devices not working at all until a beta update for Vive Console was installed—a crucial detail absent from the troubleshooting guide and update announcement. Moreover, the Vive Cosmos Elite experienced complete incompatibility before the hotfix, as the game lacked an OpenXR plugin specifically for that device.
Despite these frustrations, Pavlov VR continues to offer a compelling virtual reality shooting experience. We can only hope that the developers address these issues promptly and provide a smoother gameplay experience in future updates.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts and experiences with Pavlov VR Update 29 in the comments section below. Stay tuned for more gaming content, and I'll see you in the next video!
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