ChilloutVR News

[h2] New VR Login Room [/h2]
We have created a new VR login room from the ground-up when logging into ChilloutVR

[h2] Steam Sign-up [/h2]
New Players can now sign-up using the Steam account they are currently logged in to when launching the game for the first time!

[h3] Changes: [/h3]

• Added Facetracking interpolation for remote clients
  
• Added Modern Procedural UI Kit to the Spawnable whitelist
  
• Added the ability to login with the Steam account linked to you ABI account (you can associate in the hub)
  
• Adjusted Main Menu in VR to have a slight pitch to better center within view (15 degrees)
  
• Adjusted Main Menu in VR size to not engulf the entirety of your view (75% of og size)
  
• Adjusted mute sound to be deeper in pitch
  
• Adjusted one handed VR controls to open Quick Menu with press and Main Menu with hold
  
• Adjusted Quick Menu on Desktop to scale with aspect ratio like Main Menu
  
• Adjusted Show Distance Avatar setting to Enabled by Default
  
• Adjusted the default blinking interval to be between 3 and 8 seconds instead of 0.4 and 8 seconds (only affects the CCK 3.10+)
  
• Changed the login screen to always present the 2D UI on the desktop display, even when starting the game in VR
  
• Cleaned up slight hiss in mute/unmute audio clips
  
• Completely replaced the VR Login room
  
• Destroy duplicated animator controllers
  
• Disabled rotateChestByHands for Halfbody VRIK
  
• Disabled saved cal by default as Universal Calibration persists between restarts since last update
  
• Enforced culling settings on all Magica Cloth 2 components on Avatars
  
• Fixed a bug allowing a new blink being able to start while a previous blink was still progressing
  • Resulted in the current blink being cutoff
    
• Fixed a Cohtml crash
  
• Fixed a crash issue with Steam Audio on Props by rewriting the fix for Worlds
  
• Fixed a potential race condition that would result in cohtml native crashes
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause the avatar/world loading stuck
  
• Fixed an issue where AAS was being needlessly applied to distance hidden avatars
  
• Fixed an issue where a remote player camera indicator would not be updated if an avatar is hidden
  
• Fixed an issue where an avatars head-hiding would still run on occluded mesh
  
• Fixed an issue where an avatars Shadow Clone would not reflect the visibility state of an occluded mesh
  
• Fixed an issue where Beautify and AzureFogScattering components persisted between world changes
  
• Fixed an issue where CVRMovementParent would calculate fixed velocity when not in use & when not using Parent Velocity Inheritance Mode
  
• Fixed an issue where menus could be interacted/opened during the initial load
  
• Fixed an issue where remote avatars playing Emotes did not disable NetIK
  
• Fixed an issue where some camera settings were not reset properly when going from a world with a reference camera specified to one without
  
• Fixed an issue with Audio Processor disposal not working properly
  
• Fixed an issue with BBC sometimes not retrying connection
  
• Fixed an issue with CVRObjectLoader throwing errors and breaking Instantiation Queue
  
• Fixed an issue with DarkRift sometimes failing to Finalize Connection
  
• Fixed an issue with DarkRift's UnityClient.ConnectInBackground when Connection fails
  
• Fixed an issue with Disconnect HUD Notification throwing an NRE
  
• Fixed an issue with Distance and Loading Avatars not scaling to the user properly
  
• Fixed an issue with GameInstanceController Erroring on World Load
  
• Fixed an issue with GameServer and Host Resolve timeouts causing voice to not reconnect
  
• Fixed an issue with HUD Communications Indicator becoming desynced
  
• Fixed an issue with Interactables Erroring when using SetComponentActive
  
• Fixed an issue with Loading Avatars not showing on first join
  
• Fixed an issue with Magica Cloth 2 Gravity Interaction not working as expected in some cases
  
• Fixed an issue with Menu Headlook breaking VR Input
  
• Fixed an issue with Opus Bitrate calculations being incorrect
  
• Fixed an issue with Opus causing a crash due to race condition
  
• Fixed an issue with Opus Encoder not having the appropriate Default Values applied
  
• Fixed an issue with Opus handling leaking memory
  
• Fixed an issue with Player Voice AudioSources getting stuck Mute
  
• Fixed an issue with Player Voice Volume Curve Generation not generating a new curve when Falloff Distance gets changed
  
• Fixed an issue with PlayerPhysicsProxy running for players who were distance hidden
  
• Fixed an issue with Props being Spawned & Deleted at the same time breaking CVRObjectLoader
  
• Fixed an issue with Remote Player Visemes staying open when Muting
  
• Fixed an issue with Rich Presence spamming logs
  
• Fixed an issue with Scene Unloading happening too early
  
• Fixed an issue with SkinnedShadowClone throwing an error
  
• Fixed an issue with Steam Audio causing crashes from not unloading Scene Objects properly
  
• Fixed an issue with Steam Audio not having it's used Camera set
  
• Fixed an issue with SteamAudioSource throwing an NRE if it doesn't have an AudioSource
  
• Fixed an issue with SteamAudioStaticMesh causing a Crash on World Unloadchanged
  
• Fixed an issue with TTS Initialization causing crashes on some Windows installs
  
• Fixed an issue with World Transitions not checking for Setting changes
  
• Fixed an issue with Worker Thread MTJob Task Disposal stalling threads
  
• Fixed an issue with Worker Thread MTJob Tasks causing abnormal CPU usage on certain systems
  
• Fixed Avatars uploaded with disabled Animators causing issues
  
• Fixed CVRDistanceLod measuring from playspace center instead of player position while in VR
  
• Fixed CVRDistanceLod not measuring 2D distance correctly when player is rotated via Gravity
  
• Fixed CVRParticleSound simulateSpeedOfSound option to use player camera position instead of playspace center for determining distance from sound
  
• Fixed DistanceTo core parameter defaulting to 0 when remote player is created (now defaults to -1f)
  
• Fixed Download Percentage Indicator not properly over-rendering UI
  
• Fixed Error spam With FluidVolume Materials
  • Stream material properties will now apply to the entire renderer instead of the first material
    
• Fixed hard limits for blink interval and blink duration being swapped
  
• Fixed leaking materials
  
• Fixed LocSwimmingBackward CCK animation clip
  • Swimming backwards no longer rotates legs sideways
• Fixed not being able to disable CVRBlitter
  
• Fixed not being connected properly to the API after logging out and then logging in
  
• Fixed OnFailedVRModeSwitch disabling all input instead of returning it
  
• Fixed OnVRModeSwitchRequest being invoked after force closing the UI
  
• Fixed Post Processing not rendering properly
  • Fixed color banding on photos
• Fixed remote clients incorrectly cancel emote when player is ungrounded
  
• Fixed remote player collision being plump and round
  
• Fixed remote player collision not being scaled correctly prior to first avatar load
  
• Fixed SceneLoaded Job
  
• Fixed Shadow Clone breaking in certain scenarios (thanks NotAKid)
  
• Fixed SkinnedShadowCloneFallback not casting shadows in some setups
  
• Fixed spawnable subsyncs not being interpolated properly
  
• Fixed standing on Non-Convex Mesh Colliders that were read/write enabled nuking performance depending on how complex the mesh was
  
• Fixed sub sync pickup locking on props when moved with physics
  
• Implemented Global and Per-User Settings for Player Voice Normalization
  
• Implemented noise suppression
  
• Implemented normalization for player voices
  
• Implemented optimization where SkinnedTransformHider will not constantly check for runtime bone changes if Magica Cloth is not used on the loaded avatar
  
• Implemented StateMachineCallbackSender State Behaviour & CVRStateMachineCallbackManager to handle it
  
• Implemented Steam Sign-Up
  
• Improved BBC Client, Multi-Threading, and Connection Handling
  
• Improved network IK latency
  
• Improved the Avatar loading and Avatar hiding by distance
  
• Improved the initialization process, resulting in slightly faster loads and smoother loading screens from starting the game to joining the your home world
  
• Listen for DesktopVRSwitch binding manually instead of using CVRInputManager so Virtual Keyboards can use the binding
  
• Matches local player collision scaling again
  
• Potentially fixed legacy standard in VR (which caused some worlds to show up weird)
  
• Prevent the initial load fade out and the vr switch transitions from being disabled by setting transition to none
  
• Reduced the number of allocations we're doing in the update loop
  
• Refactored WorldTransitionSystem to allow to add new cameras easily
  
• Removed global textures on updater destroy
  
• Replaced Opus SoftClip with Manual Clamping
  
• Switched Player Voices to use a Generated Logarithmic Volume Curve instead of a Preset Volume Curve
  
• The video player domain whitelist/blacklist system has been rewritten.
  • The json file structure has been changed. There is a migration process that will take your current configuration and update it properly. The native whitelisted domains will be removed from the user configured whitelist.
    
  • During the Migration, a backup of the old configuration will be created on the folder ConfigBackups next to the config.
    
  • Policies can now use regex when using urlHost that start with ^ and end with $ (The \ characters need to be escaped by adding a second one). Example: ^(www\\.)?example\\-regex\\-deny\\.com$
    
  • Policies can now use wildcards, if the wildcard is preceded by a ., the . becomes optional. Example:
  • .example-wildcard-deny.com
    
  • Policies will default to exact match if both those cases were not used. Example: example-exact-match-deny.com
    
  • Reworded bad URI error to be more informative
    
  • Note: The urls defined on the whitelist are just the host part of the url. Basically subdomain and domains. It doesn’t include the protocol (eg: https://), nor anything after the top level domain (eg: .com)
    
  • Added Kick to the native whitelist
• Updated Magica Cloth 1 to v1.12.13
  • Release Notes available here

We have just released a Hotfix update to ChilloutVR that addresses crash-related issues primarily affecting systems that use AMD CPUs.

We have just released a Hotfix update to ChilloutVR that addresses some voice chat related issues, in addition to the reintroduction of Text-To-Speech, and more.

• Added TTS
  
• Added Voice Noise Suppression
  
• Added Voice Normalization
  
• Fixed Voice connection creation
  
• Fixed VR Menu Headlock
  

Hello there, and thank you so much for checking in!

Summer is finally upon us, and we’re certainly bringing the heat with it. This time around, we’re introducing a brand new landing page for new players to get acquainted with the game, an easier way to jump right in to the game with a Steam account, public testing builds for the much anticipated Lua Scripting feature in addition to a new way to interact with objects, and finally our plans to address those pesky voice chat issues.


We now have a brand new landing page for ChilloutVR that includes all of the basic information anyone would need to know about the game before jumping in, including features, versions, system requirements, frequently asked questions, and a full archive of all past and latest blog posts.

Outside resources can also be easily found and accessed from here, such as the Content Creation Kit, feedback site, roadmap, and documentation.

If a friend or loved one is interested in checking out ChilloutVR, this would be the best place to direct them to learn about what we have to offer.

You can access ChilloutVR’s landing page here: https://abinteractive.net




As a quick reminder for those who don’t keep up with our community Discord announcements…

Last month, we released the first iterations of our brand new Lua Scripting feature with two public Experimental builds of our next release. Since then, we’ve received a lot of useful feedback from the community and are working on ironing out any remaining issues and implementing suggestions.

For those interested in working with Lua in ChilloutVR, documentation is available here. We have also opened a new Scripting channel in our community Discord to discuss and ask questions about Lua development.

We would greatly appreciate any and all feedback leading up to the stable release of 2024r176.


In addition to Lua Scripting, another feature that may have been a bit overlooked is a new way to pick up and interact with objects.

Previously, the only way for a player to pick up objects in VR was by aiming a laser from your hand to the object, and gripping with the controller, which could be done from close or far away. As many have noted, this isn’t a very immersive way to interact with props and items in the world, and can even lead to unintentional pickups. With that said, it is now possible to grab objects in a more direct manner with your hand in close proximity, or inside, of it.

For those who still prefer the old method, picking up objects with the laser will still be possible, so users may choose whichever they wish to use.

The Proximity Visualizer is shown for demonstrative purposes, and can be disabled.


In our previous May Status Report, we discussed the inclusion of a new way to log in to ChilloutVR via a Steam account. It was also mentioned that signing up with a Steam account would also be possible later, making it significantly easier for new users to quickly try out the game without having to create an ABI account through our Hub website, and we are happy to say that this feature will be available in the next release!

For those on the bleeding edge of our Experimental builds, Steam sign up will first be available with version 2024r176 Experimental 3 very soon, but everyone else will have access to this feature with the stable release of this upcoming update, along with Lua Scripting and many other improvements, as soon as it is ready.

Now, you may be wondering, “how does a Steam account differ from an ABI account”? Well, if all you’re wanting is a basic gameplay and social experience, then you’re not missing out on much. All basic features will be available to Steam users with essentially no restrictions. However, creating an ABI account will be important for users interested in uploading any worlds, avatars, or props to ChilloutVR, and managing such content. Doing so does require an ABI account to access our full Hub website and log-in to the Content Creation Kit. But this can be easily accomplished by migrating your Steam account to an ABI account via the Hub website along with the stable release of 2024r176.

We’re looking forward to welcoming any new users who make use of this new feature to stop by and visit our platform and community!


We are aware of issues that have been impacting our new voice chat system these past couple of months, which include occasional stutters and reconnections and while we have already made significant improvements to resolve all past issues, some new ones have come up. To address these, we have been working on some major improvements of our voice server software that aims to provide more stability to player communications.

We expect to begin testing within the next two weeks, and hope to push these server changes to live soon after.

Thank you for your patience during this ongoing process, and to all of those who have provided feedback related to these issues thus far.


For those of you who regularly keep up with ChilloutVRs development, or even for the occasional or first-time readers, thank you for tuning in to our monthly Status Reports. We try to keep the community up to date on our plans and activity as much as possible, and these reports allow us to provide a steady and consistent stream of information related to our progress on a month-to-month basis.

While we do our best to keep things here relatively interesting, we're always looking for ways to improve. Whether it be the information provided, the content included, or anything else related to these reports, we want to hear what you think, be it positive or negative. If there's a way we can do better, don't hesitate to let us know! Ultimately, these status reports are for the community, so your input is very important to us when putting these together.

Feel free to provide any and all feedback in the comments below on Steam, or email us at [email protected] . Thank you!


As always, thank you for your continued interest and support of ChilloutVR's development.

[h3]Social Media[/h3]
Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord Twitter (Company) Twitter (Status) YouTube Reddit

[h3]Support Alpha Blend Interactive[/h3]
Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are grateful for every bit of support we get.
If you want to support us you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/AlphaBlendInteractive

We are more than thankful for your support!

[h3]Not in our Discord server yet?[/h3]
Use the link above to join our discord server and get in touch with our wonderful community, get help with creation-related topics and find people to play with.

Hello there, and thank you so much for checking in!


April was quite the busy month. We released a major Stable update, which included a brand new and much more reliable voice chat system along with many other great improvements and fixes, as well as a few hotfixes to follow-up on some lingering issues. Overall, feedback on the new voice chat system has been wonderful to hear, quite literally, and we’re very happy with the results. We’re continuing to work on adjustments as needed, but in the meantime, our development team has been working on some exciting new features.


Brush off your “Lua for Dummies” books and get ready for the much anticipated new set of tools being introduced for creators in ChilloutVR!

We’ve been working on Lua scripting for some time now, first revealing the details of our implementation all the way back in June of last year, and are excited to say that it is finally closing in on a public test release very soon!

To briefly recap; ChilloutVR’s first client-side scripting language will be Lua. Scripting will be available for all forms of content creation, including Worlds, Avatars, and Props. We plan to add more scripting languages over time, but for now, Lua is what we have settled on beginning with.

Definitely give the Scripting section of our June 2023 Status Report a read if you would like more information on the topic.

Lua Scripting is planned to be available for public testing with the next Experimental release, so be sure to join and keep an eye on our community Discord server for future news and updates on new features like this. We’re thrilled to see the new creations that our community will build.

Example of our Lua implementation in use


A popular feature request that we often receive is the ability to log in with a Steam account. It can really help new players quickly jump into the game without being required to go through the ABI account creation process first, as well as provide a simple way for existing users to sign-in with a linked ABI and Steam account.

All things considered, the convenience is a major benefit for both new and existing users. So, we are adding a button to log-in with a Steam account to the login screen!

At the moment this feature is exclusive to ABI accounts already created and linked to a Steam-ID, but we aim to provide a sign up with Steam option in the near future as well. Do keep in mind that only users with an ABI account will be able to upload content to ChilloutVR, and access the Hub.


Lately, we’ve been working on various smaller updates and improvements to the CCK alongside other major features, such as Swimming, Gravity, etc… in an effort to further streamline our creative tools with suggestions from the community.

One such improvement that will soon be available is a redesigned Advanced Settings customization UI, which features the following:

• Separately named menu and parameter names
  
• Better initial setting types
  
• Automatic generation options moved to a dropdown
  

May be subject to change during development



Finally, we’ve also been cooking up some helpful quality of life improvements for the Main Menu, particularly when it comes to visibility and positioning. The menu’s size has been reduced by 25% in order to increase visibility of the environment, and can now be grabbed and moved to any position as needed. Both can be seen in the preview below:

May be subject to change during development


As always, thank you for your continued interest and support of ChilloutVR's development.

[h3]Social Media[/h3]
Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord Twitter (Company) Twitter (Status) YouTube Reddit

[h3]Support Alpha Blend Interactive[/h3]
Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are grateful for every bit of support we get.
If you want to support us you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/AlphaBlendInteractive

We are more than thankful for your support!

[h3]Not in our Discord server yet?[/h3]
Use the link above to join our discord server and get in touch with our wonderful community, get help with creation-related topics and find people to play with.