Half-Life: Alyx fully playable without VR even on Steam Deck thanks to a mod

Quoting: TheSHEEEPBut playing the VR-free version is just going to make you feel bad about it, VR and non-VR games are just made differently and you'll lose so much while not gaining anything, really.

What people are gaining is the ability to play the latest (and let's face it, quite possibly the last) chapter in only the best game series ever. Apart from being willing/able to shell out money for a VR kit, lots of people are simply unable to use it, because glasses or nausea or other problems.

I fully agree Alyx without VR is bound to be a fraction of its glorious self, but if the choice is to never experience the brilliance or to experience its shadow on a cave wall, I'll say go for it and kudos to these guys for making it happen.


Last edited by damarrin on 12 April 2023 at 9:00 am UTC

FINALLY you can play it without VR, yeah i understand its not optimal and whatnot but: Since i will never own a VR System, simply because its too expensive also the only game which interests me is HL-Alyx. Also i probably have not enough space in my Room to set up such system with how many things you need to use it optimal.

As it seems there isn't a .dll or .exe within the script. Can anyone try it with the native version? I really want to play this one without VR nonsense natively.

I'm not trying to be an "elitist" here (I am one of those who live in an "undeveloped country", after all) and I don't want to diminish the community effort behind this project (I love messing around with game mods!), but I would highly advise against playing the game this way. Besides all the immersion and tactility that is lost going from VR to "pancake" (traditional monitor), the level design, enemy AI and difficulty curve were all specifically fine-tuned with VR in mind, which translates into much more compact levels with easier and fewer enemies that works great for VR (your movement is slower and you can get overwhelmed by enemies much more easily otherwise) but become too easy and very boring outside VR. Not to mention all the puzzles that require very precise motion controls, which would be either unplayable or awful to control on pancake with mouse+keyboard or gamepad controls.

It's also worth noting that HL:Alyx is very well optimized, so you don't really need some crazy rig to play it. My friend used his Dell laptop with a GeForce 1060 (which is slower than the desktop version) and a first-gen Oculus Quest with Virtual Desktop (to play wirelessly) and managed to beat the game without many issues while still looking very good. Compared to the Steam hardware survey, these specs should be covered by the majority of PC gamers nowadays. Now about the VR headset itself, if you can't afford a new or used one, you could try to borrow it from a friend (which probably hasn't used it very often these past years, let's be honest) or search for a place that can rent it for a week or so. Yes, second-hand headsets are not ideal, but considering how lackluster the offering of good VR titles has been, it might be a better idea to get a headset just temporarily (maybe the PSVR2 could help change that in the near future, though).

I'm probably very biased on this subject, since I'm a big Half-Life fan, but first impressions matter a lot and playing this game without VR will for sure make the experience considerably worse and taint your experience even if you manage to play it in VR later on, so if you're determined to not use VR, I'm almost inclined to suggest you to just watch a let's play of the game on Youtube. You won't get be benefits of playing in VR but you also won't get all the problems of the translation from VR to pancake.

Quoting: rea987As it seems there isn't a .dll or .exe within the script. Can anyone try it with the native version? I really want to play this one without VR nonsense natively.

I understand "I can't afford it", "I get nausea" and even, to a lesser degree, "I don't want it". But "VR nonsense" is, well... nonsense. I don't own a VR device, but having tried it, it feels like climbing into the monitor and being inside the action after decades of just sitting on front of it and watching it. It's not suitable for everything, but where it is, it's a new level of gaming, comparable maybe to the change from pure text to images and from those to moving graphics. But I guess there's been people complaining about these "moving graphics nonsense" as well...

Quoting: EikeBut "VR nonsense" is, well... nonsense.

Are you seriously got offended by someone else considered a tech nonsense? I did not call out people who use it nonsense or using it nonsensical. I find it nonsense and that ends there. Like it? Cool, use it but please don't take a tech personal, that's what tech giants want you to do.


Last edited by rea987 on 12 April 2023 at 1:40 pm UTC

Quoting: Eikeit's a new level of gaming, comparable maybe to the change from pure text to images and from those to moving graphics.

Pffft.

At best, it's a new level of immersion. I'd only call it an improvement even there, but whatever.
But game mechanics themselves actually suffer because they have to accomodate the restrictions of human head & limb movement as well as the restriction of having to be in first person. Alyx itself is the best example - game's a walk in the park when you remove the need to fumble around with your hands and get superior mouse aim movement instead.
So much so that people keep saying about this mod "please only use it if you have to, it kinda ruins the game".

Like the Wii games of old, "difficulty" here mostly just comes from an input method that is inferior to what already exists in many ways. Of course, unlike Wiimote, there are definitely some advantages to VR controls and some concepts that are not possible outside of VR.

If a game makes you think "this would be so much easier if I was just using a mouse", you know something's fishy.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 12 April 2023 at 2:18 pm UTC

Quoting: rea987Are you seriously got offended by someone else considered a tech nonsense?

Belittling something that people have paid money for, enjoy and want to defend or promote is insulting and offensive, yes.

Quoting: TheSHEEEPIf a game makes you think "this would be so much easier if I was just using a mouse", you know something's fishy.

This makes no sense.

Obviously, reloading a weapon is so much easier if you just press a button instead of ejecting the clip, taking another one and inserting it. If only soldiers on the battlefield could do that.

REVIII is obviously so much easier with a pad or k/m than in VR. You just press buttons and your character does things automatically. Still, the VR version exists and has very different mechanics and is great. If you want to just sit on the couch and press buttons go right ahead, don’t diss people who enjoy doing something else.

Quoting: TheSHEEEPLike the Wii games of old, "difficulty" here mostly just comes from an input method that is inferior to what already exists in many ways. Of course, unlike Wiimote, there are definitely some advantages to VR controls and some concepts that are not possible outside of VR.

Wolfenstein 3D is another example. It's lot easier if you can strafe and turn (with a mouse) at the same time instead of being stuck with the strafe modifier key.