Does Portal 2 work in VR after all? This modder thinks so.
Valve thought the Portal principle was too wild to bring into VR. A modder sees it differently and is working on a VR mod for Portal 2.
A recent message from the Flat2VR community should please all Valve fans who eagerly wish for a VR port of their favorite puzzle game. Their dream might come true in the not-too-distant future, as hobby developer "Gistix" is working on an unofficial VR mod to bring Portal 2 to virtual reality.
The ingenious puzzle classic with wild portal jumps and its distinctive humor comes to life as a variation of the VR mod for Left 4 Dead 2.
A VR mod for Portal 2
There is one hurdle. Unlike the VR mod for Half-Life 2 and its episodes, which is available on Steam, the Portal 2 mod has not yet received the green light from Valve, according to the Flat2VR community's Twitter page.
🔥 Portal 2 VR Mod 🔥
AdAdThough we'd love to do a more official Portal 2 VR port, Valve has unfortunately yet to give their blessing for that.
Gistix, however, has been hard at work porting the L4D2 VR mod code to Portal 2 to get the game working in 6DOF VR w/ motion controls 👀 pic.twitter.com/LUffbYMYkb
— Flat2VR (@Flat2VR) May 20, 2023
"Though we'd love to do a more official Portal 2 VR port, Valve has unfortunately yet to give their blessing for that," Flat2VR's tweet reads. "Gistix, however, has been hard at work porting the L4D2 VR mod code to Portal 2 to get the game working in 6DOF VR w/ motion controls."
Flat2VR posted early gameplay scenes (without sound) as proof to gauge first impressions. So far, the Portal Gun's crosshairs remain fixed to the line of sight as players search for targets, levitate cubes, or activate switches. Exceptions include the menus, where shown index controllers already aim at the options like laser pointers.
The video also doesn't show any portal mechanics, but they should work already. However, even the usual jumps from launch pad look like a lot for the stomach.
On Github, Gistix warns that the required unofficial mod "L4D2VR" could lead to a permanent ban from Valve's Anti-Cheat System (ACS). Interested parties should therefore think twice before taking this risk.
No blessing from Valve yet
The developer has already adapted the mod to work with Portal 2's classes and signatures. He is currently looking for support to further develop the mod.
"A lot was broken at first, one thing I know won't work is the function for weapon firing," Gistix explained. The portal gun and other weapons in the game work differently, so bringing them both to VR requires different processes. "Controls are working, you can move, jump, fire, etc from your VR controller."
The first game in the Portal series has also had (limited) VR appearances. This collection of Portal mods for Half-Life: Alyx, based on the "ApertureVR Source Pack", is one of them.
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