Virtual Hunter News

Exactly one year ago today, we released Virtual Hunter for early access. It was exciting to finally put out our game that we had been working on for so long. We also knew that this was just the beginning and our real work was just starting. Through the year we have added several new species, tons of features, fixed issues reported by players and improved the graphics and performance. Our biggest update has been animal taxidermy and trophy mounts, which was well received and gave players freedom to show off their most treasured trophies in the lodge. It’s been an amazing journey so far and we want to take this time to thank everyone who has played. We have read every comment, appreciated all feedback and enjoyed the discussions in our Discord community. Our goal is to create the best VR hunting experience and chose early access so we can do so with the players. The game would not be what it is today without all of you. Cheers to all of you virtual hunters!

We'd like to also give you an update on what is going on with Virtual Hunter’s development since our last update. We started a big process of moving the game from SteamVR to OpenXR and updating our engine and tools to newer versions. This way we future proof the game for other platforms, improve useability and performance for headsets on Steam that doesn’t use SteamVR and simplify the process on our end to work on different versions of the game. This is a massive task and requires us to completely rewrite big parts of the game regarding interactions and rendering. Good news is that we are making good progress but it will take us sometime to get it fully done and ready for you guys. This is necessary for us to do because it gives us more flexibility, more tools and features to work on the upcoming content faster!

Even though we are mainly working on this big change, we have a content update planned in between. You can expect teasers of it when we are getting closer to it as always! I’m sure you'll like it :)



- The whole Virtual Hunter's Team

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/gGmSAA8Prd
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Website: http://virtualhuntervr.com

Steam Autumn sale has arrived and Virtual Hunter is on -15% discount! This is a great time to hop on the game, pack your gear and put your hunting skills and tactics to the test in the open wilderness!



[h2]Prepare for a hunt of a lifetime. Get Virtual Hunter now![/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549850/Virtual_Hunter/

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/gGmSAA8Prd
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Follow us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3DDP0QV
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Website: http://virtualhuntervr.com

Ready your gear since it’s time for another update! This time we have a complete rework for our deer species with new animations, new behaviors and much more! This rework focused on bringing more life to the deer species and to give players more cues how aware they are of their surroundings. You can spot them stomping the ground if they know something is wrong, sniff the air when you are badly positioned and a wounded deer slowly walks with its head down, making it easier to spot from the group. They also have a chance to quickly drop down when shot at with a bow, so take this into account in your shot placement and aim lower, so you won’t shoot over the deer!

The update also includes several improvements, especially to animal footsteps and call spatialization. This makes locating animal sounds a lot easier and accurate in game.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Deer Species Animation Rework[/h2]

• Reworked all deer species animations to be more realistic
  
• Added new animations for animal feeding, resting and idling to give them more variety
  
• Added hurt behavior and hurt walk animation when a deer is lethally wounded
  
• Added a dodge behavior when shooting a deer within bow’s spook distance. This is random but the chance is higher the more aware of the player the animal is.
  
• Added ground stomp animation when deer is aware of the player
  
• Added random ear twitching to deer species and european hare

[h2]Animal Changes[/h2]

• Increased deer species running speed to match new animations
  
• Added audio cues when animals spook in the forest
  
• Added variation for spook time for all animals
  
• Added smoother animation transitions for all animals
  
• Lowered footstep sound distance to improve performance
  
• Changed pheasants integrity check to pass if animal was shot 2.5m (2.73yd) or higher above the ground with the correct ammo
  
• Added a minimum run distance to animals before they start trotting when spooked

[h2]Improvements[/h2]

• Improved 3D audio spatialization for animal calls and footsteps
  
• Improved animal performance when out of view
  
• RAM optimization
  

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Increased weapons spook radius from 300m (328yd) to 400m (437yd)
  
• Increased bows spook radius from 20m (14,4yd) to 35m (38,2yd)
  
• Adjusted small rocks, objects and vegetation in several biomes
  
• Added more big rocks to several biomes
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed several issues with sliding animals
  
• Fixed an issue where trophy images weren’t displayed in the harvest screen
  
• Fixed an issue where mobile tracker could pick up an animal call that you couldn’t hear
  
• Fixed an issue where clouds were moving too fast in tutorial and lodge
  
• Fixed an issue where small trees were missing in leaf tree forests
  
• Fixed an issue where volumetric lights were on even if they were turned off
  
• Fixed an issue where volumetric clouds were on even if they were turned off
  
• Fixed an issue where falling leaves would render behind the clouds
  
• Fixed an issue where trees were missing colliders
  
• Fixed an issue where vegetation didn’t react to player
  
• Fixed an issue where several objects and vegetation rotation didn’t follow the terrain
  
• Fixed an issue where hunting stands roof would disappear from view in the distance
  

Thank you all for playing and the support, we read and appreciate every comment and feedback we receive. If you run into any issues, please let us know in the Steam forums or join our discord where we can help you out!

Happy hunting!

Found an issue or want to give us feedback? Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/gGmSAA8Prd

Subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/VirtualHunterVR
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Website: http://virtualhuntervr.com

In the next update we bring you reworked animations for deer species! New animations, new behaviors and more! New animations will provide more feedback to players and you can see easier if animal is hurt, aware of you or smelling you. Check out the teaser trailer and have a great weekend!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Found an issue or want to give us feedback? Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/gGmSAA8Prd

Subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/VirtualHunterVR
Follow us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3DDP0QV
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Website: http://virtualhuntervr.com

This update brings you improvements to animals, fixes several bugs and minor optimizations! Animals' spines will now bend when they turn, making their turning look much more realistic and smoother.

[h2]Animal Changes[/h2]

• Improved animal turning by making their spines bend and slowed down their turn speed a bit*
  
• Optimized wild boar’s CPU usage
  

[h2]Improvements[/h2]

• Optimized several objects LOD distances in Bulgaria map
  
• Improved the LOD distances for grass
  
• Improved falling leaves and slightly increased their spawn rate
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where birdshots could easily kill bigger animals than intended.
  
• Fixed an issue where animals group behavior didn’t work as intended, making some species walk back and forth in a small area
  
• Fixed an issue where smoke coming from the chimneys were glowing in the dark
  
• Fixed an issue where hay piles didn’t follow the terrains orientation
  
• Fixed an issue where the monastery didn't have walls after certain distance
  

* So far our animals have been very stiff when turning, making them look more like robots than animals. Now their spines will bend when they turn, making them much more realistic and smoother looking.

Enjoy the update, let us know if you find any issues and thank you for playing!

Found an issue or want to give us feedback? Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/gGmSAA8Prd

Subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/VirtualHunterVR
Follow us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3DDP0QV
Follow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3wyOt15
Website: http://virtualhuntervr.com