Update 31 is live! Support for Valve Index Controllers (Finger Tracking!), Hands, Major refactoring of controls, SteamVR Input System!

Hey everyone, Update 31 for cyubeVR is live!

This Update is very much about giving the game the best possible support for the new Valve Index Controllers, but it also adds completely new control schemes for Oculus Touch Controllers and Windows Mixed Reality Controllers, and no matter which controller you use, you now see hands in the game that make use of SteamVR Skeletal Input to move your fingers as accurately as possible depending on how accurate your controller can track your fingers. The new SteamVR Input system also means you can rebind all cyubeVR controls through the SteamVR Input Bindings Dashboard now!

Here is a new official video showing how Valve Index Controllers work in cyubeVR, and also showing the great new hands with finger tracking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbKpVV1ppJY

As usual, here's a very quick overview of the things changed in Update 31, with some more details below:

• Instead of seeing controller models, you now have hands in the game
  
• Controls are now using the SteamVR input system, allowing rebinding
  
• Added new control scheme built for Valve Index Controllers
  
• Added new control schemes for Oculus Touch Controllers and Windows Mixed Reality Controllers
  
• Added telekinesis using finger tracking, only working with Valve Index Controllers for now
  
• Added setting for hand size
  
• Major modifications to the tutorial
  
• Added new "Bindings Overview" to the bottom part of the inventory briefcase, telling you what every button on your controller does
  
• Added setting for making that "Bindings Overview" visible or hidden
  
• Main Menu is now looking better and sharper
  
• Bow feels better now and has better haptical feedback
  
• You can now adjust the block placement distance by grabbing the preview block of the block placement tool with your left hand
  
  

You now have hands in the game! Depending on which controllers you use, you also have (close to) perfect finger tracking! Real finger tracking only works with Valve Index Controllers, and the second most realistic finger movement representation you get with Oculus Touch controllers, as those also have a bunch of sensors to detect where your fingers are. Vive Controllers support basic finger movement (Grip - Not Grip, and thumb on touchpad). Windows Mixed Reality controllers do not support SteamVR Skeketal Input currently, so with WMR controllers, you will see fully static hands.

The game uses SteamVR Skeletal Input for the finger representation, you can see some examples of what the different controller types are capable of in this announcement post from Valve about SteamVR Skeletal Input:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/250820/announcements/detail/1690421280625220068



There is a fully new control scheme in the game, added from the ground up for Valve Index Controllers. Not only Index Controllers are using that though, but, with some modifications, also the Oculus Touch controllers and WMR controllers. With this new control scheme, the thumbsticks are used for movement and turning, and grip is done with grip buttons or, in the case of Index Controllers, natural gripping objects. For seeing how the new control scheme works, definitely watch the video linked above!



The game now uses the SteamVR Input system. This means you can actually yourself rebind all controls in the game through the SteamVR Input Bindings Dashboard which you can access by going to Devices -> Configure Controllers in SteamVR. So, if you don't like some binding, you can actually change it yourself, and everyone can even share bindings for the game through Steam Workshop! This also means that the game will "automatically" be compatible with all new upcoming controllers now, even if I as the dev would never actively add support for those, as the community would always be able to create perfectly fitting bindings for any new controller that SteamVR supports.



Since there is a completely new control-scheme in the game, the tutorial had to be adapted to still explain everything correctly no matter which controller you are actually using. To accomplish this, there are now basicalyl 4 different versions of the tutorial - one for Vive Controllers, one for Oculus Touch Controllers, one for WMR controller and one for Valve Index Controllers. Also, the first 3 tutorial pages are now about the "First steps in the game", and hopefully make it easier for someone new to understand what the first steps are when playing the game. At the end of the tutorial, a new page has been added about moving blocks after they are placed, as that's a great feature of the game that was never explained in the tutorial before!

Additionally to that, in the bottom part of the inventory briefcase, you now see a quick overview of what every button on your specific controller is doing. There also is a setting that allows you to disable this overview if you do not want to constantly see it because you are familiar with the controls already. Just as an example, this is how the button mapping overview looks like while using Oculus Touch controllers:





As usual, thanks very much to our great beta testers in the official cyubeVR discord who tested this update as part of 14 separate beta builds! In the case of Index Controller support, testing was obviously not done as in-depth as usually with other features, as not many people had Index Controllers yet! If you also want to test new features earlier when they come out in the beta branch, make sure to join the discord and take a look at the #beta-build-patch-notes and #beta-build-discussion channel!

That's all for today! If you like the game, don't forget to tell other people about it and write a review on Steam if you haven't done that already, even if its just a few words. Writing a review and spreading the word is the easiest way you can support the game!
Thanks for caring about the game and as usual, make sure to report all issues you see and give me as much feedback as possible in the official forums or the official discord server, join it before its full ;) We're almost 500 people strong there already, come and join us! If you don't like something about the game, tell me there and I'll try to improve it! I'm available to chat with anyone in discord :)

There's also a cyubeVR subreddit available on Reddit, if you're active on Reddit, make sure to subscribe to it and maybe post some great screenshots there!

Also, don't forget there's an official roadmap with voting features.

Looking forward to hearing what you think about the new update :)

Cheers!