Someone ported a scene from Half-Life: Alyx to Quest 3, and we tried it out
A developer ported the opening scene of Half-Life: Alyx to Meta Quest 3. We gave it a try.
Reddit user u/lorendroll has posted an interesting experiment in the Unity3D subreddit. The developer has ported the opening scene of Half-Life: Alyx from the Source 2 engine to the Unity engine and made it run on Meta Quest 3. A three-minute YouTube video shows the scene in action.
On Reddit, u/lorendroll writes:
"Managed to port the first scene of HL: Alyx to Meta Quest 3 with some physics interactions (Hurricane VR framework), animations, and re-created shader effects. My goal was to see how far we can push the graphics of a mobile VR headset.
It turned out that Quest 3 is a powerful device that can handle a full PBR scene with 4k textures at 1x resolution, 2xMSAA with depth buffer, realtime shadows, and fake volumetric effects (kudos to Akidevcat for MicroAVL)."
Performance drops to 36fps in some areas with dense geometry, but 72fps is achievable with simplified geometry, the developer adds.
If you want to try out the port, you can find the download link in the comments section of the YouTube video. The file is 1.7 GB and must be sideloaded via Sidequest or other means.
MIXED is in contact with the developer. We will update this article with his input as soon as we hear from him.
This is how the ported scene plays on Quest 3
I tried out the port and recorded a short video of it (see below).
Although Meta's metrics tool showed a relatively stable 72 frames per second, the game felt more prone to stuttering. Unlike in the developer's video, the resolution was significantly reduced to 1,024 x 1,024 pixels. Some effects and shaders had been simplified, and certain moving elements and hand interactions were removed. Asynchronous Spacewarp is not enabled, leaving some room to improve the frame rate.
Despite these shortcomings, the ported scene is an impressive proof of concept. It shows how far mobile chips have come since the release of Half-Life: Alyx five years ago. Back then, there was only the first Oculus Quest, which was based on a 2017 smartphone chip. A Half-Life: Alyx optimized for a standalone headset seems no longer inconceivable and could become a feasible reality with the next generation of mobile chips at the latest.
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