Hello everyone! We've just released VRChat 2023.1.1 (1277) _live_!

This update is now live on all platforms!

⚠️ This update is NOT network compatible, so you will not be able to see your friends until they update. Users who are on older versions will not be visible to those on the latest version, and vice versa. Please ask your friends to update VRChat!

In this update, we introduced several quality-of-life features, many improvements, and some fixes for issues bugging people over the holiday break! There's so many that we decided to make a quick video for you, in case you don't like reading big walls of text:




This is a summary, and does not include all changes. Check the full patch notes for more information.

• Multi-layer camera! Take pictures that separate out into individual layers for later editing
  
• Grab-To-Adjust FBT calibration! Fine-tune your tracker calibration by directly grabbing and moving your tracked points

• Audio sliders are now logarithmic instead of linear, which more closely models how you perceive volume
  
• World and user search filters and sorting have been improved, are now persistent, and the search flow has been improved
  
• Check full patch notes for more

• Fixed vote kick notifications not coming through
  
• Fixed performance drop when blocked users are in the same instance
  
• Fixed wrong microphone being used when starting in VR, differing from what UI shows
  
• Fixed broken scrolling on camera UI in VR (allows easily selecting Focus option again!)
  
• Fixed a bug where avatars sometimes initialize with incorrect playable parameter values (fewer wardrobe malfunctions!)
  
• Check full patch notes for more

The VRChat Early Supporter Badge is getting retired at the end of the month.

That's this guy:



This badge is the one that appears in your profile, as shown above. It’s been active since December 2020, so needless to say, I think we’ve given everyone a fair chance!

Of course, if you already have the Early Access profile badge, you’ll keep it.

And don’t worry, VRCat will continue to pester you for treats from their vantage point on the quick menu.

You have until the end of January to nab 'em before he's gone forever!

New Year’s Eve – VRChat’s biggest event of the year – is again upon us!



Once the event is live, you'll be able to join in by launching VRChat and finding the VRChat Square world in your Worlds menu at the top! There are two versions -- one is normal capacity at 16 for a comfy event, and a MAXIMUM capacity version at 40 if you want to bring in all your friends!

The event will start at the first New Year in the world -- UTC +14, the earliest time zone on Earth!

Check your Worlds menu to find the "New Years 2023" category! Click on it to see both worlds! Hop in an instance with your friends, or spin a new one up!

Ring in 2023 with your friends as it arrives across the world! We’ve given our New Year’s Eve world a brand new coat of paint, as well as invited in a brand new set of community creators to make it extra special!

They’ve brought in their food trucks, stocked their booths, and helped hang their billboards all around VRChat Square. There’s a ton to explore – you’ll probably see a few familiar faces, as well as some brand new ones! (And don’t forget to keep an eye out for new Groups to join!)

And of course, there’s also the brand new VRChat Entertainment Network, presented on the Tundra Stage, which will be streaming DJ sets from some of the most talented performers in the VRChat community throughout the day. Check the lineup below!



But the VRChat Entertainment Network isn’t just about music – throughout the day we’ll also be playing hundreds of video submissions from the community! If you're curious to see who's got a video lined up, check out the schedule.

In VRChat Square, the ball drops for every timezone from UTC+14 through UTC-12, with fireworks for everyone along the way! And yep, we've got the half-hour ones. And the three-quarter hour ones! ... and yes, we accounted for ongoing daylight-savings offsets. Wow, time zones are confusing.

(PS: The best place to watch the ball drop might be on top of the tower – and if you’re a fan of Hololive, you might see some familiar faces up there…)

We hope you can come and join the VRChat community as we celebrate yet another year gone by, and look forward to the future!

We’ve just released VRChat 2022.3.1, the UI 2.0 Update!

Hop into VRChat right now to try it out!



View the full blog post here. As always, the full patch notes are available in our docs.


The Main Menu has a new look! This update has been a long time coming, and we have a lot to tell you about it.



The new Main Menu isn’t just an aesthetic upgrade – it’s a functional one! The new Main Menu is more organized, offers more customization options, gives users more information, and allows us to add more features to VRChat in the future (things like customizable, skinnable menus for world creators! Localization! Quality of life improvements! Tons of stuff we haven’t even thought of yet!).

On top of that, core upcoming systems like groups and the creator economy couldn’t happen without it.

…and that’s all before we get into the new HUD!

There’s so much new here that we couldn’t possibly cover it all in this blog post. Instead, we’ll first run down our thinking behind the new Main Menu, and then we’ll go through some of the new features that you can expect to see when you hop into VRChat.


The old Main Menu was the product of necessity. To be blunt, for a long time VRChat was being built by a very small team. We didn’t have the time to put together the perfect UI – good enough was all we needed.

After all, crafting a beautiful UI that looks good (and performs well!) in both desktop and VR is a challenge. Over time, though, the team grew, and we were able to sketch out and build a UI that would be aesthetically pleasing, fast, and easy to use, yet customizable for power users.

You’ll notice the new Main Menu looks a lot like the Quick Menu – that’s intentional! We wanted to make sure that VRChat has a consistent design language, both for aesthetic reasons and practical ones. Likewise, you navigate them in similar ways.

We wanted to make sure that the menu was intuitive to VRChat users. This way – even without having used them before – you should easily be able to find the information or features you’re looking for.

Most of the tabs can also be customized. It’s possible to minimize the left-side bar on some of them, which should let experienced users see more information while hiding descriptions or text boxes they don’t need. There are a bunch of new Main Menu Wings, too. These can be customized just like Quick Menu wings, and should help you navigate VRChat a lot faster than before.



We’ve also baked in some other new ways to customize the Main Menu. One of these ways is the ability to change the image in the background. While all users will have the option to change between 3 different images, users with VRChat+ will be able to choose between 37!

As you can see in the gif below, all of these backgrounds are parallax – which should make them extra fun to play with in VR.




The new Main Menu has been broken down into tabs, much like the Quick Menu. You can see these here at the bottom:



When you click them, you’ll be brought to individual sections, some of which are upgraded sections of the old Main Menu, and some that are brand new.

While we won’t be going over every tab, here’s a brief overview of some of them and what they do.


The first thing you’ll notice when you open the Main Menu is the Launch Pad. The Launch Pad is an entirely new section that shows you a bunch of useful information at a glance.



You’ll be able to quickly see how many friends you have online, how many pending invites and friend requests you have, what worlds you’ve been to recently, if any of your favorite worlds have received an update, and who you’ve recently hung out with.

This way, there’s less friction between you and the stuff you want to do when you sign into VRChat.


The world menu has been completely redesigned. Our main goal here was to improve discovery, and to encourage users to explore more.



The first thing you’ll notice is VRCat’s Variety Box! This new landing page features a random world from many different categories, giving lots of worlds a chance at the limelight. Click the "Shuffle" button in the top right to get a new selection of worlds, or dig into an individual category on the right side.

As mentioned earlier, you can minimize the left-hand side menu here to see more displayed worlds. If that’s still not enough for you, you can click the top right grid icon to squeeze even more worlds onto the page.

We also have more room for categories, giving creators more chances users will discover their worlds.


The social menu has also changed! Just like the world menu, you can see far more of your friends at once now. We know users with a lot of friends often have trouble scrolling through all of them – which can make it difficult to figure out who you might want to hang out with.



Now, you can see at a glance who you can join, as well as who is hanging out in private worlds.

Just like with the world menu, power users can minimize the menu on the left side. This way, you can see even more of your friends at once. You can also quickly navigate through your friend groups, as well as your offline friends, and any users you’ve blocked.


Search in VRChat is changing – a lot!



First, when you first enter the search page, you’ll be presented with a series of random queries. When you reload the page, the queries will be randomized. We want to get users into worlds they might not have otherwise found, and we want world creators to have a better chance of users stumbling across their creations.



The search results page is different now, too. You should see more results, and you can also filter them with more options than before, giving you a better chance of finding what you’re looking for.

This should also make searching for users much less painful, too.


Joining VRChat for the first time can be overwhelming – we haven’t done the best job of explaining how to do things in the past to new users. The Help & Info section goes a long way to solve that issue.



In this section you’ll see how-to guides on just about everything in VRChat. Need to know how to add a friend, find a world, or an avatar? There’s an article for that.

Looking for how to configure your microphone, or tweak your movement settings? Once again, we’ve got an article for that.

When we add new features to VRChat, we can also put guides here for users. That way, there’s no need to dig into an external source to figure out how something works – it’ll all be right here, in app and catered specifically to every platform that’s currently compatible with VRChat.

We’ll also be posting patch notes here, so users can read about what we’ve changed in VRChat without having to go to the Discord or the website.


In the past, there hasn’t been a singular place to find all of the settings and options you can adjust. You might have some under Safety, and some under Performance, and a few others scattered everywhere else.



The new Main Menu solves that by adding a dedicated tab just for Settings.

Here, you’ll find almost every setting condensed into this one tab. We’ve also organized the different types of settings, so it should be easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.


The Avatars Tab has a few new tricks up its sleeve. One new feature we think users will love is the "Recently Used" category. This category holds any avatars you’ve recently worn in VRChat. If you’ve ever worn an avatar, loved it, and then switched to another before realizing you’d forgotten to favorite it, then this feature is for you.



The new Avatar Details window features a lot more information, too.

You’ll be able to see what platform the avatar is for, as well as what features it has (eyelook, visemes, what version of the SDK it uses), who the author is, and much more.


We’ve received a lot of feedback on the HUD over the years – we figured that now was the best time to incorporate as much of that as possible.



Not only does the HUD look different, but you can now adjust the opacity of the whole thing, or the individual elements. For those of you who’ve wanted to disable just the microphone icon, you finally can!

We’ve added in new notifications, too. You can choose to have one displayed in the center of your screen when you receive an invite or friend request. You can also choose to have a notification displayed on your screen when someone joins or leaves the instance you’re in.

The new HUD is way more customizable than the old one. We think you’ll be able to make it way more comfortable for you, regardless of if you’re in VR or on desktop.


The Main Menu is a major part of VRChat – and redesigning it has been a huge task. We’re so excited to finally be able to get it in front of users.

When we say there’s a lot of stuff in the new Main Menu, we really mean it. While we’d love to show you everything in this post, the best way for you to experience it is to go and try it!

Hop into VRChat now and check out the new Main Menu! We’ve worked hard on it, and we hope you enjoy the changes and improvements we’ve been making. We’ve got more on the way, so stay tuned!

VRChat 2022.2.2 is now Live and includes our implementation of Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) as well as Secure Instances.

Please read more in our blog post.

Since the announcement yesterday in our Discord, we’ve gotten a LOT of feedback from all of you regarding the incoming 2022.2.2 VRChat update that integrates Easy Anti-Cheat.

We are reprioritizing, reorganizing, and changing our internal development roadmap to focus on the feedback you’ve given us.

Let’s follow that up with the hard part: we are going to be releasing this update, and we do not have plans or intent to revert or roll it back.

However, we hear you and see you saying that many of the modified client features that are being lost due to this are extremely important to you, or in some cases allow you to use VRChat at all, when in regards to modifications that added accessibility features that VRChat currently lacks.

Addressing these concerns and feedback is our highest priority. We are changing our internal development roadmap and priorities to focus on the features and additions that you want. Currently ongoing projects are being paused, rescheduled, or re-prioritized, and resources are being re-allocated to account for this change.

In addition to the information we already had on hand, we’ve been talking to VRChat communities and community leaders about the changes and additions that they want most, including speaking to communities focused on accessibility to VRChat. We’ve also been watching and documenting constructive feedback via our typical channels like our Feedback boards, social media, and this Discord.

Our first priority for these changes is addressing several accessibility concerns in VRChat. We’ve got an internal list of improvements we can implement quickly and are fast-tracking it through our production and implementation process. We will be posting more information about those changes tomorrow.

Those changes will not be our last. We have more planned and are gathering more information to understand and address more of your needs. As noted before, we are immediately adjusting internal development to address these changes.

Thank you for your patience as we work as quickly as we can to address your concerns and your feedback. We’ll be back as soon as possible with the first set of these updates, changes, and features.

• The VRChat Team

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This release is now live for all platforms.

This release is not network-compatible. You will not be able to join people that have not updated yet.

Patchnotes: https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/vrchat-202222

• Implemented Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). Please read more in our blog post. Many questions will be answered there!
  
  
  • EAC prevents the use of client modifications in VRChat
    
  • If EAC detects a non-standard VRChat client, the application will fail to launch and display an error. Follow the instructions given in our knowledgebase to cleanly reinstall VRChat.
    
  • VRChat is using the most up to date version of EAC, which allows you to have multiple EAC applications running at the same time as long as they do not launch at the same time
    
    
    • Other applications that use older EAC builds like Elden Ring, Halo MCC, or Apex Legends cannot be run at the same time as VRChat. If those applications update to the latest version of EAC, you could run both at the same time. As far as we’re aware, Fortnite is the only other application that has updated
  • EAC is disabled in local test builds of VRChat, so doing local testing of worlds is unaffected
• Implemented Secure Instances! Please read more in our blog post.
  
  
  • Secure Instances means that instance rules are now enforced on the server side
    
    
    • For example, you cannot join a Friends instance without being friends with the owner, and you cannot join an Invite instance without being invited
  • Added "Portal Locking", which allows or disallows users from seeing and using the portal depending on the rules of the instance you’re going to
    
    
    • By default, Friends/Friends+ portals you drop will be Locked! This means that when you drop a Friends+ portal in a public instance, only your friends will be able to see and use that portal! You can still unlock the portal before you drop it in case you want everyone to join
      
    • Portals to Public instances are always unlocked because anyone can join public worlds
      
    • Portals to Invite and Invite+ instances are always unlocked because the only person that can join a new Invite or Invite+ world is the instance creator (that’s you)
      
      
      • As such, be careful when dropping portals to Invite and Invite+ instances. To remain as private as possible, go to the instance and then invite your friends
    • Added UI to indicate what type of portal you’re dropping, and to swap between Locked and Unlocked when dropping a Friends/F+ portal
  • Links generated from the website can now be Locked or Unlocked
    
    
    • Locked Links are generated by default and enforce rules on entry
      
      
      • Similar to portals, this is only really sensible for Friends and Friends+ instances. We’ll be changing the default in an upcoming website update
    • Unlocked Links can be optionally generated, but allow anyone with the link to join (kind of like the "Allow anyone with the link to view" in Google Docs)
      
      
      • Be aware that once you’ve given out the Unlocked Link, that link can be shared with anyone, who can then join your instance!
    • Old instance links will break, you’ll need to re-make them if you’re keeping an old instance link around

• Improved the handling of instantiated UdonBehaviours so that they are more stable and do not attempt to do networking or cause errors in the log
  
• Implemented a button in the Action Menu that will reset the position of your PhysBones

• Fixed issues with video players on Linux, which should resolve some video player-related issues on Steam Deck
  
• Fixed exploits where FinalIK scripts could be used to crash users
  
• Fixed an issue with nameplate text rendering
  
• Fixed issues interacting with some Settings in the Main Menu

• Virtual Desktop Users: Using the Oculus PC version of VRChat via Virtual Desktop no longer works, as it utilizes DLL injection which is blocked by EAC. Please use Oculus AirLink or the Steam version of VRChat instead!
  
• Some portions of Secure Instances cannot be enabled until after Live launch, so instance join behavior, friend location, and security features may take a day or two after launch to start behaving 100% correctly

• Converted DB components will now match enabled / disabled state in-app and in the SDK

• Fixed Left / Right foot swap during Avatar setup

Hey everyone! Let’s talk about the latest VRChat update– introducing VRChat IK 2.0!

This update includes a huge upgrade for our IK system that’s been in a compatible-with-Live beta for a long time. Thanks to the amazing feedback from our Full Body Tracking community, we’ve managed to fine-tune our IK system into a best-in-class tracking system. Everyone benefits from these changes, not just full-body tracking users!

… that being said, oh boy, is there a lot of cool stuff in here for FBT users. Then again, by our numbers, pretty much all of you are on the beta anyways! So, thank you for all the help testing and your excellent feedback!

Learn more about the IK 2.0 update in the documentation page we set up for it! We’ve also updated the Full-Body Tracking doc page to get it up to date with the new system. Alternately, check out this video!



In addition, we’ve made tons of other improvements along the way, including doubling the amount of avatar parameter space available, increasing the sync rate of avatar parameters for desktop users, a significant boost to PhysBones performance, big improvements to our input system that should help us net that vaunted "Steam Deck Verified" checkmark, and more!

Make sure you read the full patchnotes on our docs page– alternately, you can just check them out here!

• Added support for up to 11 points of tracking!
  
  
  • The newly supported tracking points are: chest, knees, and upper arms
    
  • Chest tracking will twist the chest based on your tracker’s rotation
    
  • However, when you use the "lock all" IK option, the chest will use both tracker rotation and position
    
  • For upper arms, a single tracker simultaneously controls the elbow and shoulder. To use shoulder tracking, you must wear your tracker above your elbow!
• Implemented Per-tracker IK combinations! It’s now possible to mix and match most combinations of tracker locations!
  
  
  • For example, if you have only two trackers and would like to track just your elbows without your lower body, that’s now possible
    
  • Asymmetric tracking is also supported: with just a single tracker you could track just your left foot if you choose
    
  • Asymmetric combinations such as just your right foot and just your left elbow are possible
    
  • If a tracker disconnects or is turned off, the per-tracker IK will readjust to mix and match tracking and IK for whichever trackers are still available
    
  • If that tracker is later powered on again, tracking will be restored with the previous calibration intact (even if this happens after switching avatars!)
• Users without elbow tracking (including non-full-body PC and Quest users) can enjoy automatic prevention of elbows clipping through the avatar’s torso.
  
• Full body users have new configuration options for FBT in the QM settings tab.
  
  
  • Lock-hip option: This option prioritizes hip tracking, allowing the head to drift slightly to avoid odd neck or spine crunching.
    
  • Lock-head option: This option prioritizes head tracking ensuring no view-point drift, but allowing the hip to drift slightly to avoid odd neck or spine crunching.
    
  • Lock-all option: This option strictly enforces both head and hip tracking. If the trackers get close together the spine will bend in any way necessary to have both align simultaneously. Depending on your avatar’s rig, this might cause odd posture. This option works best with a chest tracker
• Added a toggle to measure avatar scale by either arm-span or by height. The default is to measure by arms, switching this to measure by height can give an improved fit for avatars in full body
  
• A legacy IK toggle is available in the quick menu to restore old IK solving behavior. This does not revert calibration and tracker changes. Eventually this legacy toggle may be removed.
  
• Implemented Calibration saving!
  
  
  • After calibrating once, your calibration is saved for all avatars
    
  • When switching to a new avatar, the calibrated set of trackers is proportionally remapped to that avatar and you do not have to calibrate again
    
  • In general, you should be able to calibrate a single time per session, and switch avatars endlessly!
• Full body users will now start up in 3pt (head and hands) IK rather than stuck in a TPose
  
• Calibration now ignores trackers unreasonably far from the body during calibration
  
  
  • In other words, it’s possible to have trackers powered on without them being forced into the VRChat calibration process
    
  • Calibration now ignores trackers located precisely at coordinates (0,0,0) to prevent binding to some trackers that will appear there in SteamVR when powered on but not tracking
• To enable full body, users must manually press the calibrate button in the quick menu to start the calibration processes
  
• The AV3 TrackingType parameter will now update depending on per-tracker-ik status. For now this still only uses the old 6-point system and the goal is keeping compatibility with existing custom animators. When both feet are tracked, TrackingType will be 6. If one or more foot is not tracked, but a chest or hip tracker is active, TrackingType will be 4. Otherwise TrackingType will be 3. (There are no changes to the rare cases that can still cause TrackingType to be 0, 1, or 2. See https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/animator-parameters#trackingtype-parameter for details on those situations)
  
• Added a bunch of launch options for customization of IK 2.0 features. These launch options may later be integrated into the UI, but for now we’ve added them here
  
  
  • --custom-arm-ratio="0.4537" - Adjusts the ratio used to scale the avatar when using measure-by-arms mode. "0.4537" is default, smaller values around "0.415" may give improved fit.
    
  • --disable-shoulder-tracking - Use this to avoid issues with some types of IMU-only based arm trackers
    
  • --enable-ik-debug-logging - Adds additional output to the log regarding IK. Use this when reporting bugs or issues with IK
    
  • --calibration-range="0.6" - Determines the distance from predicted supported binding points that the calibration will search (in meters). The default value defines a 0.6 meter (60 cm) sphere. This applies to feet, thighs, hip, upper arms, and chest trackers
    
  • --freeze-tracking-on-disconnect - Enabling this will cause trackers to freeze in place relative to the player when they are disconnected. To remove frozen trackers you can calibrate again. If all your trackers have disconnected so the calibration option is no longer visible, cycling the Avatar Measurement option will also unfreeze them
• Significant adjustments and improvements have been made to input in VRChat!
  
  
  • Gamepad, keyboard and mouse input now goes through the Unity Input System
    
  • Gamepad input has been brought up to feature parity with Keyboard and Mouse
    
  • Action Menu Support has been added for Gamepads
    
  • Implemented a new mapping scheme for Gamepads
    
  • Thumbstick vertical look is no longer affected by framerate
    
  • Implemented virtual, stick-controlled mouse cursor to navigate menus
    
  • Implemented support for the "Player Select" system
    
  • Implemented support for various controller schemes (PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch Pro, Xbox, Steam Controller, Steam Deck and more!)
    
  • Tooltip icon prompts are now based on the button mapped to that action and based on which controller is connected
    
  • Implemented object rotation using middle-click followed by mouse movement
    
  • Implemented the Steam Deck on-screen keyboard in menus that require typing

• PhysBones have received a significant performance improvement!
  
• Max avatar parameter memory space has been doubled from 128 to 256 bits!
  
• Avatar Parameters are now updated in Desktop Mode as quickly as they are in VR
  
• Various fixes and improvements to internal memory management processes
  
• Fixed issues with upper body positional desync on some setups in FBT
  
• Added/refined support for upper-chest humanoid bone in FBT
  
• Fixed calibration binding causing tilted angles at the hips on some rigs in FBT
  
• Fixed issues with chest rotation when the user lies down in FBT
  
• Fixed issues with chest rotation when the user spins quickly in FBT
  
• Fixed issues with chest rotation when the user turns upside-down in FBT
  
• Avatar Dynamics: Fixed an issue where the left and right foot was swapped in avatar setup
  
• Fixed an issue where tracker binding would shuffle between different trackers when a tracker loses connection
  
• Default base standing animations in full-body tracking no longer cause odd toe bending when crouching
  
• Improved anatomical modeling of shoulder bone motion. Avatars with long shoulder bones should now look much better than previously
  
• Reaching beyond the avatar’s arm length no longer causes the torso to be pulled to rotate or lean towards the hands
  
• Users will no longer lose tracking when opening the SteamVR overlay
  
• Improved Force Rejoin behavior after waking Steam Deck from sleep mode
  
• Fixed an issue where the Quick Menu button to add the current world to a Playlist wasn’t working properly
  
• Fixed an issue where PhysBones would vibrate unintentionally due to issues with high framerates

• Max avatar parameter memory space has been doubled from 128 to 256 bits! So good we listed it twice.
  
• OSC debug console has been doubled to match the increase to 256 bits
  
• Added height back to the PhysBone Collider Capsule shape type
  
• Fixed a NullReferenceException related to serialization
  
• Fixed object and player grouping not working as intended, along with some improvements
  
• Fixed SyncPhysics issues with syncing Gravity / Kinematic and coming out of sleep
  
• Significantly reduced the amount of allocations in Udon Sync
  
• Arrays having entries change no longer cause an OnVariableChanged event
  
• Array references are no longer invalidated on Sync
  
• Fixed sync errors caused by cloning scene UdonBehaviours using Instantiate. Cloned UdonBehaviours are now forced to None sync

• Added the IK 2.0 Features and Options page
  
• Updated the Full-Body Tracking page
  
• --disable-friendsync removed from the Launch Options documentation. Its functionality was removed with the UI 1.5 update but was not documented

Hello everyone! It's finally time... Avatar Dynamics has launched on Live! That's right, VRChat 2021.1.2 (build 1189) has just launched on our Live branch and is now available on all platforms!

Check out our latest blog post for a full intro and user manual on Avatar Dynamics, including a crash course on how to use our Permissions system to permit and deny interactions with your avatar.

Want to high-five your friends? Give your pal a real headpat? Unfurl your wings? Grab and manipulate your face? Press a self-destruct button on your friend's avatar? All of that is now possible -- and so, so much more. Avatar Dynamics unleashes an entire new set of possibilities for VRChat avatars, far beyond anything we could summarize here.

…did we mention that Quest users can now (finally!) see their friends' hair, ears, and clothes move with real-time physics?

Avatar Dynamics adds in some of the VRChat community's most requested features. If we're being precise, literally the #1 and #4 most requested features on our Feedback board!

Creators: We've also spent a ton of time writing up technical documentation for Avatar Dynamics so you can get into creation that much faster!

IMPORTANT: When you update your SDK, follow the instructions for updating PRECISELY! You're gonna get some errors during the SDK upgrade process for avatars. That's fine. Clear them or restart VRChat. They're expected.

This release requires that you update in order to see people on the new version! In other words, if you join on your friends and they aren't in the instance, either you or your friends need to update!

Our full notes are visible, as always, on our docs site!

Oh one last thing: there's a special note for shader authors in the patch notes up there, go read it!

• Implemented PhysBones! PhysBones is a component that allows secondary movement for a more realistic depiction of things like hair and tails! Check the docs for technical details and important implementation notes!
  
  • This system is available on all platforms-- yes, including the Quest!! We managed to get PhysBones working on Quest with some limits. See those limits in the Avatar Performance Ranking System docs
    
  • You can set up PhysBones to be grabbed, pulled, stretched, and posed!
    
  • You can interact with other people's PhysBones, letting you push around and pose affected bones. Want to give your friend a new hairdo? Easy!
    
  • You can set up custom PhysBones colliders for various different effects!
    
  • We've defined default finger and hand colliders for all avatars, listed in our PhysBones docs, so you've always got a way to interact with PhysBones
    
  • We've integrated a UI to customize these predefined colliders on your avatar descriptor, so you can turn off ones you don't want at avatar creation time
    
  • You can use PhysBones to affect Animator Parameters on your avatar, so you can detect when someone is grabbing, pulling, or posing one of your PhysBones!
    
  • PhysBones are highly performant, offering orders-of-magnitude better performance than Dynamic Bones
• Implemented Contacts! Contacts allow you to define volumes of space that will send or receive signals. These signals can then be used to drive Animator Parameters on your avatar!
  
  • This system is available on all platforms-- yes, including the Quest!!
    
  • Contact Senders send a signal. For a successful collision to occur, both the sender and receiver need at least one matching pair of strings. Collision tags are case sensitive.
    
  • Contact Receivers receive a signal. As noted above, both the sender and receiver need at least one matching pair of strings.
• Implemented Avatar Dynamics Permissions! The Permissions and Settings interface allows you to select who can interact with your Avatar Dynamics systems on your avatar-- nobody, your friend, or everyone! Permission must be granted by both users for interaction to be enabled
  
  • By default, only Friends can interact with your avatar
    
  • A new icon will appear on users' nameplates to indicate the state of interaction permissions
    
  • If the hand is lit up, interactions are enabled!
    
  • If the hand is not lit up, interactions are not enabled
• Implemented a runtime auto-converter for Dynamic Bones to PhysBones!
  
  • Best attempts are made to convert Dynamic Bones to PhysBones, including Bone and Collider components
    
  • The methods, variables, and mathematics are different between the two systems, so conversion may not work perfectly for all avatars. Some complicated setups may require that the avatar author re-upload a new version
    
  • This system is enabled by default. You can disable this system via the VRChat Performance Options window. When the system is disabled, you will no longer locally be running the DB->PB converter and Dynamic Bones will be running-- in other words, this choice is local
• Per-User Avatar Dynamics permissions!
  
  • The Avatar Dynamics button has replaced the Emoji button in the launchpad. It pauses all AD interactions now instead of cycling through global settings
    
  • Added an interaction play / pause button in the Quick Menu settings
    
  • Added per-user controls to the Quick Menu when selecting a user to override global setting. It is a three-way toggle, similar to the Show Avatar control
    

• Favorites have been fully refactored under-the-hood to be more responsive and stable. This should hopefully solve most (if not all) of the Favorites bugs we've seen!
  
• Improvements to simulation time, which should improve networking behavior overall and fix a handful of edge-case networking-related bugs
  
• Input is less dependent on framerate
  
• If an avatar has defined a VRChat built-in parameter, an error will be printed to log and the avatar's definition of that parameter will be ignored
  
• If an avatar re-defines an already-defined parameter, an error is printed to log and only the first definition is used
  
• Added a new button to the Quick Menu dashboard for setting Avatar Interaction, replacing the Emotes button
  
• Added callouts in the Quick Menu to Interactions Settings
  
• Fixed issue where some Main Menu thumbnail lists (ex. World Favorites) wouldn't show all results
  
• Safety and Security fixes

- PhysBones acts a bit differently than Dynamic Bones. As such, we've provided some usage tips on the PhysBones documentation page, please refer to it!
• In order to use Avatar Dynamics, you must update your SDK!
  
• Avatar Dynamics systems are only available in SDK3.

The SDK now requires that the Burst and Mathematics packages are installed. If they aren't installed, the SDK will install them for you on import. This may result in errors during first installation, but they will go away after a restart or a log clear.

• Avatar Dynamics components implemented
  
  • VRC_PhysBone and colliders, Contact senders and receivers
    
  • An example avatar is available in the SDK: `VRCSDK\Examples3\Dynamics\Robot Avatar`
    [/list]
    
  • Implemented some additional controls and settings on the Avatar Descriptor for Avatar Dynamics
    
  • Implemented auto-conversion for Dynamic Bones to PhysBones, offered on the Build screen if Dynamic Bones are detected on the avatar
    
  • DB to PB Conversion was added to Unity menu. `VRChat SDK/Utilities/Convert DynamicBones to PhysBones`. You must select the avatar for this to work
    
  • Implemented warnings and errors for performance regarding Avatar Dynamics systems.
    
    • If the Very Poor limits are exceeded when building a Quest Avatar, the SDK will warn you that the components will not work when in VRChat
      
  
  
  Fixes & Improvements
  • Enabled Single Pass Stereo Instanced compilation for all shaders at build-time
    
  • Avatar parameters are checked for validity before creating the array of parameters
    
  • Fixed SPS-I rendering for built-in Mobile-ToonLit shader
  
  
  Legacy SDK2
  SDK2 is considered deprecated and legacy. It will only receive occasional maintenance updates, and will no longer be available or permitted for use in the future. Please migrate to the latest VRChat SDK as soon as you can.
  
  
  Improvements
  • Enabled Single Pass Stereo Instanced compilation for all shaders at build-time
  
  
  Documentation
  Changes and Improvements
  • Avatar Performance Ranking System page has been updated with limits for PhysBones and Contacts on PC and Quest. It has also been updated to note the hard cap on Quest Avatar Dynamics components
    
  • All VRChat-provided prefabs are now described on the SDK Prefabs page, and the Prefabs category has been removed
    
  • Many unused, unpublished, and deprecated doc pages were removed
    
  • Archived patch notes from 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 have been collapsed into single pages
    
  • Improved the clarity of the note regarding Write Defaults in the Avatars documentation

We've just released VRChat 2022.1.1, which includes Avatar OSC, Input OSC, comfort options, and more!

Avatar and Input OSC is part of our new API for putting data into and pulling data out of VRChat. Starting with this release, you can build your avatar and set up OSC to do things like feed your heartbeat into your avatar, implement your own eye tracking system, build support for whatever controller you want, and even more! Check out our blog post for more information.

VRChat's OSC API is a pretty developer-centric feature. Keep an eye out in our new #avatar-osc channel on our Discord to see what people are cooking up!

This update also has some other stuff, like the new Tunneling comfort feature, the new Voice avatar parameter, and a bunch of fixes. We're prepping for some other updates that are on the way, including one you might've caught a teaser for on our Twitter. (If you missed it, we're implementing 8 and 10 point tracking. spoilers!)

As usual, if you create VRChat content, please ensure you update your SDK!!

Our full notes are visible, as always, on our docs site!

• OSC API for Avatars!
  
  • You can now set up Open Sound Control to change parameters on your avatar and read parameters from your avatar-- both input and output!
    
  • You can use this to implement your own eye tracking, face tracking, make changes to your avatars based on external inputs, and more!
    
  • This is a pretty technical subject! Check out our blog post to read more and see some examples.
    
  • You can also check out our documentation here for more details on how to use this system: OSC Avatar Parameters
    
  • We've also added a debug menu for OSC to help with development!
    
  • OSC API for Avatars is is available for VRChat on both PC and Quest! You'll just need to point your OSC application at your Quest's IP using the default ports.
• OSC API for Input!
  
  • You can also use the same system to provide input into VRChat! Many of our controls are mapped to OSC channels
    
  • You can use this to map your own controllers, peripherals, and more!
    
  • More details are provided in the OSC as Input Controller docs and blog
    
  • OSC API for Input is also available for VRChat on both PC and Quest!
• Added a tunneling VR movement comfort feature that optionally adds a vignette effect during movement
  
  • Has Light and Strongsettings, adjustable in the Quick Menu

• Added the "Voice" parameter for usage on avatars! This parameter is the avatar wearer's microphone amplitude in a float value from 0.0 to 1.0
  
• Added a "View Profile" button to friend request notifications
  
• Fixed an issue where the Upper Chest bone was not being networked properly, which could cause desynced poses when it was mapped (especially for full body users)
  
• Fixed an issue where some friends would be stuck "Online" after they'd logged off
  
• Greatly reduced spurious logging to the output log to improve performance. Re-enable these logs (and some new ones) by using the new "--enable-verbose-logging" launch option
  
• EXPERIMENTAL: Added the "--enable-avpro-in-proton" launch option, which will allow Proton users to re-enable AVPro for video playback. This may cause crashes!
  
• Fixed an issue where closing the Stream camera would open the Photo camera
  
• Fixed an issue where the VRChat UI could react when the mouse cursor was not over the window
  
• A variety of fixes to address application crashes in certain circumstances
  
• Various internal networking adjustments and updates

Here's some useful links to participate in the OSC development community! Since this is a pretty developer-centric feature (at least, at first), we're going to handle these slightly differently.

Discussions: https://github.com/vrchat-community/osc/discussions

Bugs & Feature Requests: https://github.com/vrchat-community/osc/issues

Milestones: https://github.com/vrchat-community/osc/milestones

• Added "VRCPlayerAPI.Respawn" node with optional spawn index

• Udon synced objects are now less likely to rubber-band when transferring ownership

• Allow other tools to define methods for "SendCustomNetworkEvent", "SetKinematic", and "SetGravity" for use in the Editor

Our biggest yearly event, New Years Eve, is nearly here!!

Once the event is live, you'll be able to join in by launching VRChat and finding the VRC Square world in your Worlds menu at the top! There's two versions-- one is normal capacity at 16 for a comfy event, and a MAXIMUM capacity version at 40 if you want to bring in all your friends!

Ring in 2022 with your friends as it arrives across the world! We've got a special world just for the event, brand new and with plenty to explore.

Check out community-created posters, food trucks, and booths, featuring VRChat content creators and community members! Explore the world, find some familiar faces, and discover some new communities!

Watch the ball drop in the brand-new "VRC Square" world, with fireworks and celebrations for every single timezone across the world, UTC+14 through UTC-12! And yep, we've got the half-hour and three-quarter hour ones! ... and yes, we accounted for ongoing daylight savings offsets. Wow, time zones are confusing.

Finally, enjoy live DJs streamed into the world throughout the day! Featuring Shelter, Loner Online, Rizumu, Vibe Tribe, and Haneyasume, all streamed by VRCDN! Enjoy a multitude of talented VRDJs, and get a peek into the clubs and events of VRChat.

We hope you can come and join the VRChat community as we celebrate yet another year gone by, and look forward to the future!

As you might've guessed from the name, there's a bunch in here! This release focuses on a few things.

First off, we've done a bunch of polishing to the UI 1.5 update. You'll notice a lot of work to the new Quick Menu, mostly in regards to fixing bugs, adjusting annoyances, and other stuff. We've also slipped in some fixes to the Camera while we were in there. This release was always planned to be the "Hey, our community's had a bit to test stuff out, let's tweak things based on what they said." So, here we are! We're doin' it!

Next, we've introduced VRChat Plus Gifting!



You can now send a non-recurring gift of a month or a year of VRChat Plus to your friends! Open your Quick Menu, click your friend, then click "Gift VRC+". 🎅 We plan on getting this working on Oculus as soon as we can, hopefully before the holidays. Fingers crossed! 🤞

We've also introduced the US East region! We've got new servers running in Virginia, USA, which not only should help people living in that area with a bit of improved voice and IK latency, but also allow NA and EU bridge the Atlantic gap a little bit more reasonably! You can choose to create a new instance in the US East region the same way you'd choose to create an EU or JP region instance.

There's also some new FBT menu options, UI tweaks, camera fixes and... uh... okay, there's a LOT in this update. Kitchen-sink style. Fixes, improvements, changes, all that jam. I could go on and on, but really, you should just read our patch notes. Which you were going to do anyways, right? 🙃

Our full notes are visible, as always, on our docs site!

• Added VRChat Plus gifting! Click on a user, click "Gift VRC+", and spread the love!
  
  - For now, only Steam users can purchase, but any VRChat user can receive a gift - Users with an active subscription cannot receive a VRChat Plus gift - Gifts can be a 1 Month VRChat Plus credit, or a 1 Year VRChat Plus credit. They do not recur - Working on bringing gifting to Oculus soon!
• Added the Camera to VRChat on Quest!
  
  - Unfortunately, due to performance issues, the "depth of field" focusing effect is not available - Images are saved in the Quest's Pictures folder under VRChat, and can be accessed via the Quest's OS. They can also be accessed via connecting your Quest to your PC and looking under the `Pictures/VRChat` folder
• Added the US East region!
  
  - Added a text indicator on portals to differentiate between US East and US West
• We've added support for a variety of Oculus/Meta Quest social features!
  
  - There is now an expanded Rich Presence system on Oculus/Meta Quest - Users in VRChat can send invites to Oculus/Meta Quest friends that are online but not in VRChat

• Added Full Body Tracking settings section to the Quick Menu!. This menu allows you to adjust your user height, recalibrate quickly, and disable/re-enable Full Body Tracking with a button press 🎉🎆🎇🍾
  
• The VRChat UI is now rendered such that it will no longer be affected by avatar or world shaders, post processing, or other effects!.
  
• Added a new safety / debug feature: If you hold down both Quick Menu buttons for the duration of loading a world, your avatar will be reset upon load-in! Hold down the buttons until your avatar loads and you'll be in a gray error robot. Then you can freely change avatars as you see fit. This also works for Desktop users if you hold down the backslash `\` key
  
• 👩‍💻 Creators: Improved the Shader Fallback System! Check out our newly-augmented Shader Fallback System documentation for more info.
  
• Holding right-click in Desktop Mode will cause the reticle to temporarily appear
  
• Added collapsable sections to the Here, Selected User, and Settings tabs in the Quick Menu
  
• Clicking "Avatar Details" in the QM will now open the details in the Quick Menu rather than in the Main Menu
  
• Added a button in the Camera tab to open the Picture save directory in Windows
  
• Added the user's current world info to the User Profile section of the Quick Menu
  
• Added an info panel to the Camera tab to explain where pictures are saved
  
• Added an error message to a situation during Oculus VRC+ purchases that would previously error with no message
  
• Reduced animation motion in the Quick Menu when using arrows to cycle between users in the instance
  
• Unavailable avatars are now displayed in grayscale in the Avatars wing
  
• Updated AVPro to version 2.2.4
  
• We gave VRCat a bunch of pats and now they're doing all the stuff they should've been. patpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpatpat

The following issues were fixed:

• Logging out of an account and logging back into another would cause some information to be incorrectly retained
  
• In some worlds, a "goggle" overlay effect would appear in the camera
  
• The camera did not display the skybox color correctly
  
• Remote lenses would not have their orientation correctly shown
  
• Some avatars would not appear in the avatar wing of the Quick Menu
  
• The "Letters" user icon (as in, no icon selected) in the gallery was missing the letters
  
• Some worlds would cause the Quick Menu audio to loop abruptly
  
• SDK2 avatar emote names would not appear in the Quick Menu Emotes wing
  
• Scrolling in the Main Menu had some issues
  
• "Return to Default Home" button would not work properly in VR
  
• Some UI could stick after closing the main menu
  
• The Quick Menu offered incorrect options when a user was blocked
  
• Only the first 16 images would appear in a Gallery in some cases
  
• Buttons to Flip and Move image in the icon and image cameras weren't working properly
  
• The Action menu could mess with the UI mouselook
  
• Some visuals in the Expression wing had incorrect colors
  
• The Clone Avatar button wouldn't update properly in some cases
  
• A variety of safety and security fixes

Various small fixes were applied to:

• VRC+ favorites in the Quick Menu Favorites Wing
  
• HUD element render order
  
• Sounds and haptics when selecting user capsules

• General performance improvements to Udon
  
• UdonBehaviour Interact text has been exposed to Udon via `Set InteractionText` and other methods
  
• `PostProcessVolume` has been exposed to Udon via:
  
  • `Get` and `Set blendDistance`
    
  • `Get` and `Set priority`
    
  • `Get` and `Set isGlobal`
    
  • `Get` and `Set weight`
    

The following issues were fixed:

• Manual sync sometimes would get "stuck" and `OnDeserialization` would not fire for remotes until someone else joined. More precisely, we fixed a bug that caused synced variables to not be properly received on UdonBehaviours that implemented `OnOwnershipTransferRequest`