VR Revolution: Praydog UEVR mod turns favorite games into VR (FAQ and list of compatible games)

What if you could play games like Tekken or Ninja Gaiden in VR?  Praydog’s UEVR mod has been released and it lets you play hundreds of games for Unreal Engine in VR.  UDPATE: beginners’ guide to using UEVR here.

VR games generally aren’t as polished as AAA non-VR games.  Part of that is because VR is a smaller niche and the production budgets can’t match the budgets for non-VR games.  But what if you could play those same AAA games in VR?  Praydog’s Unreal Engine VR mod (UEVR) converts about 90% of games created with Unreal Engine into VR games.

There are tons of AAA games that were made with Unreal Engine, including the Mass Effect series, some of the newer Mortal Kombat games, Injustice, and some new games such as Lies of P, Black Myth: Wukong, Unrecord (the shooter that went viral with its very realistic graphics), and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, to name a few.  Many of those games may be playable in VR with this mod.

UPDATE: Lies of P and Tekken 8 work perfectly.  Tekken 7 works ok.  Mortal Kombat 1 works poorly.  Gears 5 doesn’t work.    See list of compatible games in FAQ below.

But how good are ‘flat’ (non-VR) games when converted to VR?  First person games convert very well and can feel like native VR games.  Third person games also look great in VR, which enhances the experience and makes you feel like you are accompanying your character.  As for the Praydog team, they have a very good track record for their flat-to-VR mods for the RE Engine such as for Devil May Cry 5, Monster Hunter Rise, and the Resident Evil series.

The UEVR mod works even better than Praydog’s VR mods for the RE engine.  Gamertag VR got to try the UEVR mod and his hands-on video below shows that for some games, you can switch between first person view and third person view.  Some games can also be used with 3DOF motion controls (which will detect rotation along the X, Y, or Z axis, similar to a Nintendo Wiimote) and some can even work with 6DOF motion controls (similar to typical games for Meta Quest).

UEVR was released on December 31.  Here’s how to use UEVR.  If you want to be able to use UEVR, you need to be familiar with PCVR.  Here’s a guide for using Quest with PCVR.

Here is Tekken 8 with UEVR:

UEVR FAQ

Here is a summary of Alex’s answers:

1. What is UEVR?
   It is a mod that turns non-VR games made on Unreal Engine into VR games.  You’ll be able to look around with your VR headset.  For third person view games, it will seem like you are looking at a diorama.
2. HOW DO YOU USE UEVR FOR QUEST?
   Here’s a beginners guide for using UEVR on Quest.
3. Is UEVR mod real?  Does it really exist?
   Yes UEVR is real.  It’s already been released and I’ve used it.
4. Does it work on every Unreal Engine game?  Is there a list of compatible games?
   So far it works with most games made with Unreal Engine 4 (4.9 and above) and Unreal Engine 5. Generally, Unreal Engine games from 2016 and after should work.  If a game has an anti-cheat feature then UEVR will probably not work.  Here is a list of games tested on UEVR.
5. What rendering method does it use?
   Usually it uses Native Stereo.  Each eye is fully synchronized, and uses the actual stereo rendering pipeline in Unreal Engine.  If there is a problem with Native Stereo, you can switch to Synchronized Sequential which renders two frames within one ‘tick’ of the game clock and therefore the frames will appear synchronized.
6. What headsets work with UEVR?
   Anything that supports OpenVR and OpenXR.  If your headset works with either of them, it will work with UEVR.  This includes Quest 2, Quest 3, Pimax. Valve Index.
7. Which controllers work with UEVR?
   Gamepad.  Some games support motion controls.
8. Are motion controls supported?
   Partially.  Most games will use gamepads.  Some games support 3DOF motion controls, similar to Nintendo Wiimote or Samsung Gear VR.  This means the game can detect if you rotate the controller, but if you lift it or drop it, the game graphic will not change.   Some games also allow headlock aiming which means your character will fire in whichever direction you are looking at with your VR headset.  You can create your own customized settings for a game to add motion controls.
9. Can you change the perspective in VR?
   Yes.  You can change the scale (e.g. giant scale or ant scale) and you can move the camera distance (how near or far from the subject).  You can also enable or disable effects such as depth of field and motion blur.
10. Can you use UEVR with other mods?
    Yes.  For example, you can use UEVR mod to turn the game into VR, and use another mod to turn the game from 3rd person to 1st person.
11. What problems do you encounter when using UEVR?
    If your PC is not powerful enough, the game can crash or it will appear jittery.  Another issue is that sometimes a graphic element appears on one eye but not the other (e.g., a life bar).  If this happens, you can switch to Sequential Synchronized and the issue goes away.
12. What kind of PC do you need to run UEVR?
    Alex recommends RTX 3080 or above but even a 3060 laptop works.  On my GTX 1070, it struggles (I get jitter on games with more advanced graphics.).
13. Does UEVR work only with Steam games?
    The UEVR team tested with Steam but it should work on 64-bit executables that use Unreal Engine, even if they’re not on Steam.  Alex said UEVR has worked on games on GamePass or the Epic store.
14. When will UEVR be released?
    UEVR was released on 12/31/23.
15. How much is UEVR?
    It will be free and open source.  However, you can support the developer Praydog on Patreon if you want.
16. Where to get more info on UEVR?
    Flat2VR on Twitter and the Flat2VR Discord.