Developer Builds Unofficial Oculus Rift Mod for Elder Scrolls Online
Chris Gallizzi, a game developer, recently created a successful Oculus Rift mod for Elder Scrolls Online. The game is currently in closed beta phase, but Gallizzi nonetheless was able to create a mod that allows users to interact with the MMORPG virtual environment by looking into the revolutionary new headset.
There are a few problems with the mod, and it doesn’t quite utilize all of the headset’s capabilities; however, this represents a step forward for Oculus in gaining mainstream attention, since Gallizzi has shown how well it can work with other games that have not even thought about adding support for the Oculus Rift.
Gallizzi posted a five-minute YouTube video demonstrating himself using the Oculus Rift and his mouse to create a character, navigate the virtual game environment, and even successfully engage in combat with a game enemy.
Gallizzi used his own version of the Vireio Perception Driver. He developed the driver himself and has previously used it to make an Oculus mod for N64, and one for Skyrim.
The mod isn’t a “full mod”, as he told Polygon, however, because the user can’t turn his or her head to make the screen move—vision is still tied to the mouse. But he did it all on his own.
Gallizzi has written plenty of code for the Oculus, including both drivers and outputs. He said that he had to seriously change the video settings on the game, however, to achieve the best results with the Oculus. 60fps is the standard for VR, so, as he said, “keeping all settings low were required.”
Gallizzi went to game developer Bethesda, requesting early developer access so that he could create Oculus support for the game this past August. When the company didn’t get back to him fast enough, he just went and signed up to beta-test the software and built the mod all by himself. But, since he’s posted beta game content online with his YouTube video, a clear violation of his beta-testing agreement, he said he may lose access to the game.
He’ll nonetheless continue to ask Bethesda for permission to create full Oculus support for the game, once the full version is released.