POOLS News

[p]Hello, PC & PCVR players, you haven’t been forgotten! The VR experience has gotten a complete graphics overhaul. The new version of VR mode on PC is now much more performant so if you’ve had any issues running it before, now is a good time to give it a new try.

On flatscreen mode we decided to roll back to using Unity’s own SSGI instead of the previously implemented GI solution. This leads to the lighting looking a bit different in some areas. The decision was made because of unsolved compatibility issues on some systems and to make the project easier to maintain.

If any of you prefer the look or feel of the earlier version of POOLS either in flatscreen or VR, we will leave it up to be downloaded from Steam (instructions at the end of this message). Personally we prefer the look and performance of the latest update though!

Along with this update we want to wish happy holidays and new year to all of you who celebrate! Thank you so much for supporting us!

Full changelog:
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• [p]VR: Complete performance overhaul with URP rendering pipeline[/p]
• [p]Updated lighting to Unity’s SSGI instead of HTrace WSGI[/p]
• [p]Updated Unity engine version (Fixes CVE-2025-59489 Unity Runtime Vulnerability)[/p]
• [p]Added barefoot footstep sounds for all missing surface types[/p]
• [p]Fixed dods diver achievement activating in a wrong spot[/p]
• [p]Chapter 0: Fixed a bug where VR player up direction would sometimes have unintentional rotation applied on startup[/p]
• [p]Chapter 0: Fixed a bug where player could get stuck in a room with lots of chairs and a speaker[/p]
• [p]Chapter 0: Disabled auto save in few places in where you could get stuck by loading auto save[/p]
• [p]Chapter 0: Fixed level restart not working properly sometimes (fixes number of the beast achievement)[/p]
• [p]Chapter 2: Fixed several lighting artifacts on lowest lighting settings[/p]
• [p]Chapter 3: Added invisible colliders to help prevent moving through some railing objects[/p]
• [p]Chapter 3: Fixed pool glitching near start of ch3, if you go under the metal railing and walk the stairs down[/p]
• [p]Chapter 4: Updated materials to some objects[/p]
• [p]Chapter 4: Fixed invisible water at the start[/p]
• [p]Chapter 5: Fixed footstep sounds when walking over glass windows[/p]
• [p]Chapter 5: Fixed a bug where player would jerk upwards when stepping on the bottom part of a ladder in flatscreen mode[/p]
• [p]Chapter 6: Updated audio for the hallway event[/p]
• [p]Fixed audio volume setting not loaded correctly sometimes[/p]
• [p]Fixed water dripping sounds being dependant on frame rate and not working correctly with crouch[/p]
• [p]Fixed black lines in duck texture[/p]
• [p]VR: Fixed a bug where snap and smooth turn rotation pivot position was not perfectly centered to the head position[/p]
• [p]VR: Added more detailed colliders, and hand touch sounds for different materials[/p]
• [p]VR: Fixed a bug where an invisible teleport snap anchor would be created in the game world at position (0, 0, 0)[/p]
• [p]VR: Added water dripping effects on camera lens[/p]

• [p]VR: Added recovery logic for if a VR hand model gets stuck within the environment[/p]
• [p]VR: Fixed incorrect footstep sounds on glass floors (Ch2)[/p]
• [p]VR: Fixed footsteps sounds repeatedly playing when standing still on an escalator[/p]
• [p]VR: Fixed a bug where crouching activated water dripping sound even on dry land[/p]
• [p]VR: Fixes to waterslides, to prevent getting stuck[/p]

[p]
How to access the previous version[/p]

1. [p]Right click the game in Steam and open the “Properties” window[/p]
2. [p]Open Betas-tab[/p]
3. [p]Choose "pools-old" from the dropdown menu[/p]
4. [p]Steam will now download an update[/p]
5. [p]You can switch between the versions from the “Beta participation” drop down menu whenever you like[/p]

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[p]Hello everyone,[/p][p][/p][p]We’re proud to share that POOLS is taking part in the WDC World Ocean Day Charity Steam Sale, which runs from June 5 to June 12.[/p][p][/p][p]This special event supports the wonderful folks at Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), the leading global charity dedicated to protecting whales, dolphins, and the oceans they call home. Proceeds from the sale will help fund critical global conservation work, including missions to remove deadly ghost fishing gear from the sea, and operations where divers clear lethal entanglement hazards from reefs, the seabed, and shipwrecks in UK waters - protecting both marine life and scuba divers.[/p][p][/p][p]By picking up POOLS (or grabbing a copy for a friend), you’re not just diving into liminal spaces, you’re helping protect the real world too.[/p][p][/p][p]If you want to read more about WDC, you can do so here: [/p][p]https://whales.org/ [/p][p][/p][p]The charity sale goes live June 5 at 10 am PDT | 7 pm CEST.[/p][p][/p][p]Let’s save some whales and dolphins![/p][p]
[/p][p]Tensori[/p][p]
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PC VR mode is now available for free in the Demo version of the game (Windows only). Thank you for your patience & keep your feedback coming so we can keep improving the VR mode to be as enjoyable as possible! ːfancyduckː

Full changelog:

• Chapter 0: Fixed hotel doors sometimes opening to wrong directions
  
• Added "deletePlayerPref" command to the developer console - Example: "deletePlayerPref vr-tracking-origin-mode" command restores the VR tracking mode back to seated mode
  
• (VR) Improved standing / roomscale VR tracking mode - reduces the chances of camera getting stuck on the floor when enabling the setting
  
• (VR) Fixed bugs related to water slide entering: players could get stuck inside the environment, players wouldn't be teleported to the exit position when the "skip water slides" setting was enabled
  
• (VR) Added a tiny bit of smoothing to free movement to help eliminate judder
  
• (VR) Optimized some volumetric effects in Chapter 0
  
• (VR) Added "haptics intensity" slider to gameplay setting
  
• (VR) Disabled transparent material screen space reflections because of compatibility issue with water surface shader
  

We are investigating and pursuing performance optimizations with the goal of switching the rendering mode to multi-pass rendering in the future. Screen space water reflections do not have the misalignment issue when using multi-pass rendering, but it does come with a larger performance overhead when compared to the currently active single-pass instanced mode.

Thank you very much for the VR related feedback and every bit of support we've received thus far! We'll continue fixing bugs and working towards those performance improvements.

Also - VR support will be added to the Demo version hopefully tomorrow. We'll post an update about it once it is available.

PC VR mode is out now as a free update!

Full changelog

• Windows: Add PC VR support
  
• Add view distance setting
  
• Chapter 2: restored "Look At" event functionality to the statue surrounded by plastic chairs
  
• Chapter 2: possibly make Anatidaephobia easier to trigger
  
• Linux: Fix crash at the end of chapter 6 which caused ch0 to not unlock
  

Note: For Linux and Mac users; the VR is not officially supported, but might work. Feedback appreciated