KCD1VR

Experimental true-stereo OpenXR mod for Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018).

KCD1VR makes CryEngine render both eyes every game frame and submits them to OpenXR. It does not use alternating-eye rendering (AER). Head tracking, asymmetric per-eye projection, a head-locked HUD, and a flat dialogue screen are implemented. Motion-controller interaction is not implemented; use the normal keyboard/mouse or gamepad controls.

This is an unofficial community project and is not affiliated with Warhorse Studios, Deep Silver, NVIDIA, Khronos, or Microsoft.

Status

Version 0.1.67 has been tested in-headset with the Steam build of KCD 1.9.7. The mod uses version-specific hooks, so other game builds are not currently supported unless their addresses and signatures are independently validated.

Version 0.1.68 is a focused color-space test build. It submits KCD's gamma-encoded final image through sRGB OpenXR swapchains instead of declaring those pixels linear. Set OpenXRSrgbSwapchains=0 to reproduce 0.1.67's washed-out headset color for a direct A/B comparison.

Version 0.1.69 retains that color correction and requests the OpenXR 1.0 API from both the in-game runtime and installer resolution tool. KCD1VR uses only OpenXR 1.0 core functionality plus XR_KHR_D3D11_enable; declaring the newer header version unnecessarily prevented some 1.0 runtimes, including reported Virtual Desktop configurations, from creating an instance.

Working in the tested build:

• native dual-render stereo with no AER;
• OpenXR head orientation, position, real IPD, and asymmetric eye FOV;
• HUD and menus on a configurable head-locked quad;
• dialogue world and UI on one comfortable monoscopic virtual screen;
• graphics-preset/resize recovery without permanently blacking out VR;
• an optional vertical-camera-input comfort lock;
• F11 headset recentering;
• VR-safe shader isolation hotkeys for diagnosing remaining effects;
• experimental NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution.

Known limitations:

• no tracked motion-controller input;
• cutscenes and unusual camera transitions have not all been tested;
• some distant-object culling may still require a performance-heavy profile;
• DLSS is experimental and did not deliver a large net performance gain on the development system. Native rendering may look better for a similar cost;
• only the exact KCD 1.9.7 executable used during development is confirmed.

Download

Download the ZIP from the GitHub releases page. Do not download the repository source archive unless you intend to compile the mod.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11;
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1.9.7 using the Direct3D 11 renderer;
• a PC VR headset and an active OpenXR runtime;
• an NVIDIA RTX GPU if the experimental DLSS path is enabled.

Installation

1. Close KCD completely.

2. Extract the release ZIP to a temporary folder.

3. Make sure KCD's Bin\Win64 folder does not already contain a different dinput8.dll proxy. KCD1VR cannot be installed alongside another mod that claims that filename.

4. Turn on the headset and ensure the desired OpenXR runtime is active.

5. Right-click install.ps1, choose Run with PowerShell, and answer the prompts:

   • GameRoot: the folder containing KingdomCome.exe's Bin folder;
   • DisplayScale: multiplier applied to OpenXR's recommended eye size;
   • DLSSPreset: Quality, Balanced, Performance, UltraPerformance, or DLAA;
   • DLSSRenderPreset: Default, J, K, L, or M.

6. Add the following to KCD's Steam launch options:

   +exec KCD1VR.cfg +exec KCD1VR-dlss.cfg
   

7. Start KCD with the headset awake. Press F11 once in game to recenter.

The installer asks OpenXR for the headset's current recommended per-eye size, applies DisplayScale, and derives the internal render size from the selected DLSS quality mode. It writes an explicitly marked KCD1VR block to user.cfg because CryEngine must receive its stereo and resolution settings before the renderer starts. Existing settings outside that block are preserved. The installer deliberately does not create .bak files.

You can also run it with named parameters:

.\install.ps1 `
  -GameRoot 'D:\Games\KingdomComeDeliverance' `
  -DisplayScale 1.0 `
  -DLSSPreset Quality `
  -DLSSRenderPreset Default

If OpenXR cannot be queried during installation, provide an exact output size:

.\install.ps1 `
  -GameRoot 'D:\Games\KingdomComeDeliverance' `
  -DisplayScale 1.0 `
  -DLSSPreset Quality `
  -DLSSRenderPreset K `
  -OutputWidth 2064 `
  -OutputHeight 2208

OutputWidth and OutputHeight are per-eye output dimensions. They do not name the side-by-side backbuffer size.

Native rendering without DLSS

The current installer is DLSS-aware. To retain the selected output size for native rendering, install using the DLAA quality option, then edit Bin\Win64\KCD1VR.ini and set:

DLSS=0
DLSSSubmit=0

Use only +exec KCD1VR.cfg in the launch options in that configuration. Other DLSS quality choices intentionally reduce CryEngine's internal render size and therefore should not be used as a native-resolution preset.

Updating

Close the game and run the new release's install.ps1 again. It replaces only the files owned by KCD1VR and refreshes the marked block in user.cfg.

Uninstalling

With the game closed, remove these KCD1VR-owned files:

• Bin\Win64\dinput8.dll
• Bin\Win64\KCD1VR.ini
• Bin\Win64\KCD1VRResolution.exe
• Bin\Win64\nvngx_dlss.dll
• Bin\Win64\NVIDIA-DLSS-LICENSE.txt
• KCD1VR.cfg and the other KCD1VR-*.cfg files in the game root

Then remove the lines between BEGIN KCD1VR MANAGED SETTINGS and END KCD1VR MANAGED SETTINGS from the game-root user.cfg, including the two marker lines. Do not delete unrelated content from user.cfg.

Main configuration

The most useful settings are in Bin\Win64\KCD1VR.ini:

Setting	Meaning
WorldScale	KCD world units per tracked OpenXR metre.
HudQuad	1 uses the head-locked HUD/menu quad; 0 embeds UI in the eye images.
HudDistance, HudWidth	HUD-quad placement and size.
DialogueScreen	1 uses the validated flat dialogue screen.
DialogueScreenDistance, DialogueScreenWidth	Dialogue-screen placement and size.
DialogueScreenAspect	0 follows the live eye texture; positive values force an aspect ratio.
PositionTracking	1 enables headset translation; 0 keeps orientation only.
OpenXRSrgbSwapchains	1 correctly identifies KCD's gamma-encoded final color to OpenXR.
LockVerticalCameraInput	Prevents mouse/gamepad pitch while retaining headset pitch.
CullingFovDegrees	Widens the center camera used by visibility and LOD decisions.
DLSS / DLSSSubmit	Enable DLSS and submit its output to OpenXR.
DLSSQuality	0 Performance, 1 Balanced, 2 Quality, 3 Ultra Performance, 5 DLAA.
DLSSRenderPreset	NVIDIA model hint: Default, J, K, L, or M.

The INI contains comments for every diagnostic and experimental option. Leave unknown hook addresses unchanged.

KCD1VR.cfg contains the required stereo startup CVars. It also uses e_CoverageBufferReproj=4, which fixed the central view-dependent blinking in the tested build with a small performance cost. The other KCD1VR-*.cfg files are optional diagnostic profiles and are not recommended as permanent defaults.

Controls

• F11 — recenter headset tracking.
• F6 — capture the currently visible pixel-shader list.
• F7 / F8 — select the next/previous captured shader and skip its draws.
• F9 — mark and save the selected shader under Bin\Win64\KCD1VR-shaders.
• F10 — stop shader skipping and restore all draws.

The shader browser is a diagnostic tool. Skipping a shader can remove most of the scene, and selections are intentionally not persistent after restart.

Troubleshooting

The headset stays black

• Confirm the headset is awake and the intended OpenXR runtime is active.
• Remove conflicting dinput8.dll injectors or overlays.
• Confirm the game is using Direct3D 11.
• Fully exit KCD before relaunching; the stereo device is startup-only.
• Inspect Bin\Win64\KCD1VR.log. The mod refuses to split or submit a frame until CryEngine's backbuffer matches its live left/right eye resources.

The resolution is wrong or supersampling changes do nothing

Rerun install.ps1 with the headset/runtime active. The resolution is selected at installation time, not continuously while the game is running. Use -OutputWidth and -OutputHeight when you need an exact per-eye size.

Dialogue UI is clipped or the character is doubled

Confirm DialogueScreen=1. Version 0.1.67 intentionally replaces the stereo projection and HUD layers only while KCD's dialogue camera is active, showing one complete eye as an opaque, monoscopic OpenXR screen. Normal gameplay and menus retain the 0.1.64 stereo/HUD path.

Mouse or gamepad vertical look causes discomfort

Set LockVerticalCameraInput=1. This removes vertical camera input from the mouse/gamepad while preserving full headset pitch tracking.

Performance is poor

• Test native rendering before assuming DLSS is faster on your system.
• Reduce DisplayScale and reinstall.
• Avoid the broad culling-disable profiles unless required; their performance impact can be substantial.
• Keep DLSSGpuTiming=0 outside a targeted diagnostic run.

How it works

1. CryEngine uses STEREO_MODE_DUAL_RENDERING to render left and right eyes in the same game frame.
2. KCD1VR intercepts DXGI Present, copies both eye rectangles into a two-slice OpenXR swapchain, and submits one stereo projection layer.
3. The next predicted headset pose is applied after KCD builds the player camera. CryEngine receives the runtime's real eye offsets and asymmetric projections.
4. Outside dialogue, the validated 0.1.64 path preserves the private eye textures before Scaleform draws and submits UI as a transparent quad.
5. During KCD's explicit dialogue camera, one complete rendered eye replaces the stereo projection/HUD combination as an opaque flat screen shown identically to both headset eyes.

Building from source

Requirements:

• Windows 10 or 11;
• Visual Studio 2022 with Desktop development with C++;
• CMake 3.24 or newer;
• Git.

From a PowerShell prompt in the repository root:

.\build.ps1

The script locates Visual Studio, downloads the pinned NVIDIA DLSS SDK when it is absent, and configures the project. CMake downloads pinned revisions of the Khronos OpenXR SDK/Loader and MinHook. Ready-to-install files are written to dist\.

Dependency revisions are intentionally pinned in build.ps1 and CMakeLists.txt for reproducibility. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for licenses and upstream sources.

License

KCD1VR source code is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE. Bundled and linked third-party components retain their own licenses.