Powerboat VR News

Today's update...

1. Added fully GPU instanced trees to the terrain.
2. Added some coast line rock formations around Mahon harbour.
3. Fixed the boat reset position so that you will restart in Mahon harbour correctly and not 50 miles out to sea!

This is a 1st pass at adding some much needed detail to the coast line. Menorca is a volcanic island and has quite a rugged coast line so I am trying to capture that as much as possible.

The rocks are all placed by hand which is quite time consuming, but I think the results look good without causing any major loss of frame rate.

I think it is pretty unrealistic to think I'll be able to cover the entire coast line of an island with these kind of rocks, so each island will have a handful of "Places of Interest" which will be either a port, cove, sea cave, reef or some other kind of area which I shall cover in more detail.

Other areas won't be as detailed but should still be pleasing to sail along.

New update today!

You can now rebind your controls from within the game!

Please note that the control binding menu system only works in Non-VR mode, but once you've configured your controls then they will be used next time you start in VR.

I have setup the default controls to work with an XBox 360 pad...

Throttle = Triggers
Steering = Left Stick
View Control = Right Stick
MFD Control = D-Pad
Engine Toggle = A
Anchor Toggle = B

But you'll probably want to change those to something you prefer.

Binding controls doesn't effect your VR virtual controls or the controls bound to your VR hand controllers. Changing the VR controller bindings is still done via SteamVR's control binding interface.

I have now completed the initial terrain generation for the first real world location - the Balearic island of Menorca and you can try it out by opting in to the RealWorld beta

To optin...

1. Right click on "Powerboat VR" in your library and select "Properties"
2. From the new window select "BETAS"
3. Then select "RealWorld - Real World Terrain" from the list.
4. You should then receive a new update for the game.
5. You should choose "Freeplay" from the in game menu as races have currently been disabled and you will start in Mahon harbour.
6. Fish spawning has been increased so you should see more shoals and sharks as you drive around.

The entire island terrain has been imported at a scale of approximately 1:1. So far I have done a 1st pass of the main port of Mahon and a couple of other areas of interest along the inland water way. However, it is possible to circumnavigate the entire island (although there are some odd terrain formations in the sea that I need to fix) and spot the main coves etc but it is quite bland at the moment.

The main focus of future updates will be to populate the main ports of Menorca (Mahon & Ciutadella) and then some of the other main towns and coves. Again, all areas will be approximations of the area using the assets that I currently have so don't expect a true representation with accurate buildings etc - I'm only one person :D

Once these areas have been completed I will be adding a mission board to each port/cove allowing you to pick randomly generated mission using specific boats. Things like...

1. Passenger/Cargo transportation
2. Coast Guard Duties (Boat/Person rescue)
3. Wildlife spotting
4. Treasure hunt
5. Finding places of interest

I will also be adding some different boats into the game such as larger powerboats, super yachts, ferries & cargo ships to add a lot of variety. Other water craft such as hovercraft, sail boats, canoe's and jetskis are all possible but the change in physics mean they will be coming later in development and I can't rule out that they will need to be paid DLC - it really depends on how well the game sells...

Other islands will be added to give an "Ultimate Hits" of boat driving areas with enough space for the BIG boats! So, no matter what boat your driving - from a tiny Canoe all the way up to a Super Container Ship - you should be able to find the perfect place :)

Other things I want to add...

1. Buoy navigation
2. RADAR
3. Weather systems
4. Tidal/Water flow
5. AI boats
6. Boat damage

This should show the direction this game will be going i.e. a more encompassing, realistic, simulation rather than just a racing game.

Racing will still feature but, at least for the moment, it will take a lesser priority.

As always, please join in on the forums as your ideas and suggestions really are driving this game!

Game should now start in VR correctly!

A strange bug has occurred where VR is not being started correctly.

I've rolled the current version back while I investigate...