ChilloutVR News

We have just released a new update for ChilloutVR on the stable branch.


ChilloutVR 2022r167


Voice Chat
We changes some fundamentals of the voice chat which should lead to better connectivity and Tweaks the voice chat fall-off so you should be able to follow conversations better in crowded areas.
IMPORTANT! The voice chat changes are not compatible with past versions so we urge everyone to update if you want to be able to hear each other properly.


VR Experience

• Mouse rotation is now blocked when 2 controllers are present
  
• Rotation is also blocked while pointing at menus
  
• The menu tilting now has an adjustable threshold
  
• Arm IK is now disabled when a controller is missing/losses tracking
  
• Sliders are no longer stuck when releasing the pointer while outside the menu
  

UI

• Download percentage of worlds is now displayed properly
  
• Worlds will now display a player count for players in public instances of that world
  
• Players that are connected but are not in an instance will no longer be displayed as in a private instance
  

Safety Options

• Video Player Permissions are now fully implemented (only available in instances created after this announcement)
  
• Advanced safety can now be disabled for friends
  
• Hiding avatars at a distance can now be disabled for friends
  

Bugs

• Fixed a bug where Advanced Safety would remove spring joints to aggressively
  
• Added the following missing RCC Components to the prop Whitelist: RCC_Light, RCC_Exhaust, RCC_TruckTrailer, RCC_TrailerAttachPoint, RCC_SuspensionArm
  
• Fixed some issues that lead to increased memory usage
  
• Fixed a bug where Avatar distance disable would hide wrong components when returning to view
  
• Fixed a bug that rendered the in-game youtube search unusably
  

We just released a new Update on the stable branch.





This update contains the following changes:


Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue that would result in users not being able to connect to our real-time API network.
  
• Fixed an issue that would render UI elements unusable on some worlds
  
• Fixed a bug where the local avatar would be culled in some situations
  
• Fixed some crashes related to concave mesh colliders
  
• Fixed some crashes related to menu-related actions
  

This update is meant to resolve all remaining issues connecting to our API network.
This means those of you who had problems seeing friends online in real-time or receiving/accepting invites and friend requests should now be able to use those features.

We have just released a new update for ChilloutVR on the stable branch.


This patch is adding support for the new API and game server network.


##ChilloutVR 2022r166


API
We completely reworked the API in order to be more responsive and scalable in the future and also lay the groundwork for real-time communication for future functions.


Safety
We implemented the following Safety Measures:

• Bundleverifier: Unity Victim process that loads avatars/props into it before loading them into the game. Prevents crashing from corrupted asset bundles
  
• AdvancedSafety: Scans components of Avatars/Props and removes malicious/excessive ones, prevents a lot of crashes
  
• True Shader Anticrash (TSAC): Filters shaders to stop most malicious ones from crashing you
  
• Option to replace all shaders for avatars and props
  
• Animation and Unity event sanitation for props and avatars
  
• A URL Whitelist was implemented, which is used by the Video Player by default
  

Performance
The following changes were done to increase performance:

• Fixed an issue that lead to reduced performance when using an avatar with a lot of advanced avatar values
  
• Added an Option to disable Avatars at a set distance
  

Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue where the menu was unusable on screens with narrow aspect ratios
  
• The Main Menu position will now update when changing an Avatar
  
• Fixed narrow aspect rations not being reflected properly in the Camera Mirroring mode
  
• Fixed a Bug where all pointers could trigger world UI elements for other people
  
• Fixed a Bug where local Interacteables could be triggered over the network
  
• Fixed a Bug that lead to large lag spikes when unloading avatars with many dynamic bone components
  

New Features

• The MovementParent Component can now be used on avatars and props. A dedicated setting can be found in the menu
  
• Avatars now also have a generated "grab" pointer which is active while grabbing with the corresponding hand
  
• Avatars and props can now be downloaded simultaneously
  

Known Issues
We know of some people having issues with establishing a WebSocket connection to our new API service. Those people can still play ChilloutVR as before but the following functions are not available:

• Seeing friends as online in the overview
  
• Sending friend requests
  
• Unfriending
  
• Accepting/Denying friend requests
  
• Sending/Receiving Invites
  
• Receiving Global Broadcasts
  We are currently still investigating this issue and hope to have a final solution in the following days.
  

Some safety settings may be a little bit too harsh. We will gather feedback and will make necessary changes accordingly.


Currently, only US Region is open for instance creation in order for us to collect data on how the new infrastructure behaves.
EU and AS game server regions will follow tomorrow.


Please note that this update has a high impact and feedback is very important. Please contact us at [email protected] for now.
A dedicated feedback site is coming tomorrow.


Future Plans
We plan to expand our Network over the following days and try to release several updates over the next days to ensure a great experience on the weekend.

We have just released a new update for ChilloutVR on the stable branch.



The next game update will include the engine switch to Unity 2021.3. Due to the huge amount of changes needed, the next stable update will take significantly longer.


The Gamekit
We added the GameKit to the game. this first implementation aims to give creators the tools to create minigames in ChilloutVR. At the moment the following components are supported in-game:

• GameInstanceController: This component allows the definition of teams and the overall game flow. Teams can have player limits and balanced team joins can be enabled. The system also has a ready-up system, so players can ready up after joining and the game will start once everyone is ready or a configurable timer runs out. The game can be split into rounds and played until a certain team won a number of rounds. You have access to a big number of events to customize your game experience. You can also decide if you want to have manual score management or if the server should manage the score via the combat system
  
• CombatSystem: The combat system allows you to define the health pool of the player and the respawn behavior. The player can have up to 3 health pools, health, armor, and shield. Those are just internal names, you can use them how you see fit
  
• Damage: This component can deal damage to the player either directly or as damage over time. You can also define how each health pool is affected.
  
• GunController: This component allows you to set up guns easier by providing functionalities like shooting modes, ammo management, and reload mechanics. Shots are also Synced over the network separately to allow for more accuracy
  
• ObjectHealth: This allows you to give a health pool to an object, similar to the player health pool
  
• ScoreBoardController: This allows you to display team members, team score, game state, and game timers using Unity UI Text elements
  

New Movement System
We have completely reworked the movement System. The new movement system aims to give a smoother feel to the locomotion and allows us to make more extensions in the future. The most meaningful changes are as follows:

• The Movement Framerate is now independent of the physics tick
  
• The System still uses a two-way physics interactions, meaning you can push objects and be pushed by objects and particle systems
  
• The Force that is applied to the player is limited before the get applied to eliminate the issue of getting catapulted too far away by certain particle systems
  
• Movement parenting is now available using the CVRMovementParent component. You just simply add this component to an object with a collider and the player will be moved and rotated on the y axis together with the object
  

Ingame Search
You can now access the search in-game. You can use the search to find users, public avatars, public props, and public worlds, but also your own and shared content. Currently, the results are limited to 30 entries per category. This will change with the implementation of the new main UI later down the road.


General Changes

• The CVRMaterialDriver now also reacts to changes from non-animation sources
  
• Added CVRGlobalMaterialPropertyUpdater to the prop whitelist
  
• Independent Head turn now also return the vertical axis
  
• Pickup Objects are now respawned when they fall out of the map
  
• Added an option to ignore minimum character collider size. This could lead to falling through small gaps with smaller avatars
  
• We greyed out all buttons without function in the current main menu in order to reduce confusion for new players
  
• Headbobbing is now split into 3 options: enabled, reduced, and disabled in order to provide a mode with 0% animation influence (https://forums.abinteractive.net/d/552-headbobbing-toggle-still-not-helping-much, https://forums.abinteractive.net/d/541-head-bobbing-with-headbobbing-disabled)
  
• Pickup Objects now also reset their main collider state when getting respawned by height
  
• The main menu can now be used with the mouse like the quick menu
  
• Pickup AutoHold is now working in-game. You can drop such objects on Desktop by pressing G and in VR by holding the right grip button and pulling your right stick back
  
• Interactables with custom triggers will not be executed when the GameObject is disabled
  
• The Interactionray will no longer be blocked by players, when no menu is open
  
• World Objects and Props now have their movement synced with 20Hz instead of 10Hz
  

Video Player Changes

• Added a setting for maximum resolution allowed for youtube videos
  
• Added a setting to disable the video stream for youtube videos
  
• Added a launch parameter (--disable-videoplayers) to disable video players throughout the game
  

Bugfixes

• Fixed a bug where CVRTexturePropertyParser could lose its global reference when changing world
  
• Fixed a Bug where Some interactable -> Variable Buffer Setups would break (https://forums.abinteractive.net/d/528-interactable-loses-reference-to-variable-buffer)
  
• Fixed a Bug where Objects would be highlighted in VR by the gaze interaction
  
• Fixed a bug where pickup components were detected from sub colliders
  
• Fixed a Bug where the controller rays would visually separate from your hands while moving too fast
  
• Fixed a bug where the video player would start playing at maximum audio for the first frames of the video
  
• Fixed a Bug that led to onEnterTrigger Interactables firing multiple times for playerlocal
  
• Fixed a Bug that lead to Log spam while sitting on a seat
  
• Fixed a Bug where Objects stood highlighted even after a new one was highlighted
  
• Fixed a number of bugs connected to duplicate Animator LAyer and PArameter names for the Avatar Animator
  

If you encounter any issues please be sure to report a bug. You can find information on how to do so here: https://forums.abinteractive.net/d/5-how-to-report-a-bug


If you would like to request a feature, you can check up on how to do so here: https://forums.abinteractive.net/d/7-how-to-request-a-feature

Hi there and thank you so much for checking in!


This months status report will focus on major upgrades to ChilloutVR and changes for creators as well as insight in our short term plans for the game.



With CCK 4.0 we will release new options to create interactive content in ChilloutVR.
The first of many features to come is a fully featured combat system.
We will release a demo of the combat system in the upcoming days, in the form of a playable game in ChilloutVR.



Glad you asked!
The Game Kit will be updated frequently and aims to make the creation of games of several types possible.


The current plans for the Game Kit include the following:

• Combat system
  
• Economy system
  
• Building system
  
• Advanced vehicle controllers
  
• Persistence
  

We are currently working on a feature called server side scripting. With server side scripting users will be able to run code for their worlds and games on the game server allowing for full control over parts of the Game Kit as well as better control of persistence and the like.


Server side scripting will be available to reserved instances only, which can be purchased or received as a patreon reward.
This feature is currently in heavy development and not publicly available yet but we aim to provide the first users with access to this system later this year.


We have several game modes coming, that will show the power of server side scripting.
We will release the first of those game modes in the new "Staff picks" tab in the worlds list within the next weeks.


Interested in server side scripting? Follow us on twitter to stay up to date.
Patreon supporters will receive early updates about progress on new features like server side scripting.



The Game Kit is an option we want to provide to creators. It will not replace client side scripting.
We still plan on adding client side scripting down the line, but due to the enormous efforts required to make it happen, this will take a while.



Over the past months we were investigating the options regarding an upgrade from unity 2019.4 to 2021.3.


Due to the technical differences between the two versions and their different approaches regarding the implementation of XR support,
we have been looking for ways to make sure old content remains mostly intact and found a solution to go with.


Unity 2021 offers us great ways to improve on the performance of the game as well as open more ways for ChilloutVR to involve as a general product in the near and far future.


ChilloutVR 2022r165 will be released on the current version of unity. Shortly after, we plan on releasing the first experimental branches on 2021.3 to make sure creators can test their content early.
Please note that updating your content to support Single Pass Instanced requires CCK 4.0. Content updated once CCK 4.0 is available will still remain compatible with the stable branch.



The content in general will remain functional.
The difference mostly affect shaders. For old content or content with incompatible shaders, we will replace them on load.
This will ensure that the content itself remains functional.


Auto-replacing shaders will cause a loss of visual detail in some cases, which is why we recommend updating your content.


If you are able to re-upload / update your content we recommend that you do so once CCK 4.0 is available



If you are a shader developer, you can adjust your shaders according to this guide: https://docs.unity3d.com/es/2021.1/Manual/SinglePassInstancing.html
If not, contact the authors of the shaders you are using to ask them if it is possible for them to support Single Pass Instanced.


We are currently evaluating options for auto-conversion tools.
We can not guarantee that CCK 4.0 will contain a tool that can convert shaders to function with Single Pass Instanced, but we are currently trying to make it happen.



CCK 4.0 will tell you if one of your used shaders is not supported.



No, at this point in time we do not plan on supporting HDRP or URP. This is not a definitive no for the future.



We deeply apologize about delays in publication. We have been working on better publication tools along with testing to ensure content published will remain compatible when we do the engine upgrade.


We have just published all worlds and avatars that were waiting for publication.


We are currently testing automated publishing in-house and should have this done by the release of the Content Creation Kit 4.0 (details below).
This means that from CCK 4.0 on the majority of the content will be published in less than 24 hours.
Accounts with low trust or content that was flagged will still be manually reviewed.


Long story short, get ready for more content!



We aim to have CCK 4.0 released about 1-2 weeks after this announcement with several other improvements and changes included.



The world list in the game will be expanded to give a better overview over exciting content everyone should see.
Below mentioned categories will be added / adjusted with the next update of the API.



This new category will feature worlds the staff team recommends to users. They can be official or community created worlds.
We will use this category to feature worlds that show off new features such as game system integrations.



Formerly known as trending worlds, is now automatically populated by the system. This category will show the 16 most-visited worlds in the last 24 hours and will be refreshed every day at 00:00 UTC.



This category already existed but was not populated with appropriate worlds.
All known avatars worlds are added to the row and creators can request their world to be added to the avatar worlds row using the community hub.
The hub update to adjust the world search tags will be available within 48 hours from this announcement.



Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord: https://discord.gg/abi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlphaBlendNET
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8toTHzEER6PXoJyZcTFjg
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/661130/ChilloutVR/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChilloutVR/
Forums: https://forums.abinteractive.net



Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are greatful 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!



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.