Hello there, and thank you so much for checking in!
During the month of February, we released two new public Experimental builds for members of the community to test out brand new features coming to ChilloutVR ahead of the official Stable release. We’re very happy with the reception we’ve received thus far, and have seen some amazing use of the new creator tools!
Here are some of the highlights currently available:
- Camera Indicator Camera Lens to indicate where other users’ camera is located
- Desktop IK Provides more animated leg movement for Desktop players
- Gravity Zones A new way for players to create, move, and interact with Worlds and Props The Gravity Zone component is freely available in the CCK
- Improved Content Cache Management Content Cache has been moved to a unified directory Now limited to 20GB
- libVLC Implementation Alternative, experimental, rendering method for videos May be enabled via the launch option: --enable-libvlc
- New Character Controller Physics based controller that allows for object collision where possible Adjusted automatic step height to take avatar height into account Improved Holoport to allow both the local and remote users to see smooth player movement
- New Shadow Clone and alternative Visual Clone implementations Reworked local player Shadow Clone to be more robust and performant
- Refactored Avatar Eye Movement Eye movement is now much more reliable, consistent, and adheres to set limits A new setting is available to force all subjects to look at the Portable Camera when held
… and much more! The full changelog, and beta access code, for ChilloutVR 2024r174 Ex1, Ex2, and future updates can be found in our community Discord using the invite link available at the end of this post.
Gravity Previews
Since the release of the new Gravity Component, creators have already been putting it to good use in both Props and Worlds. Gravity allows for new experiences and interactions never before seen in ChilloutVR, such as those shown below.
”Relativity” by Racush - Makes use of individual input for self-controlled Gravity
“Gravity Applicator” by Noachi is a prop that enables Gravity to be used just about anywhere
Voice Chat Updates
Since the introduction of the Vivox voice chat system, many issues were identified and reported to us by the community regarding inconsistent voice communication. In response, several hotfixes have been issued in an attempt to resolve these issues, but unfortunately they still persist.
As such, we are currently investigating other viable solutions. Ideally, unlike the current solution, we do not wish to continue relying on third-party hosting services, but rather one which we can take full control of to host and maintain ourselves.
We hope to share more information soon, when a final decision has been made. Thank you for being patient with us throughout this process, and we hope to deliver the reliable experience that the community deserves.
Game Server Updates
For the past 6 months, we have been monitoring and analyzing the game traffic and disconnects frequently in order to locate possible issues. We have since started to rework parts of our network protocol and incorporate those changes alongside many other improvements such as partial prop sync, better reconnection handling, etc… into a new version of our game server software.
We are nearly ready to begin internal testing and evaluation of the changes and will keep you informed about further changes and possible downtimes when the update goes live.
Final Notes
As always, thank you for your continued interest and support of ChilloutVR's development.
Social media
Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord: https://discord.gg/abi
Twitter (company): https://twitter.com/AlphaBlendNET
Twitter (status): https://twitter.com/AbiStatus
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@AlphaBlendInteractive
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChilloutVR
Support Alpha Blend Interactive
Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are grateful 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!
Not in our Discord server yet?
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.