Developer Update - 1 June 2023

[Nekotaku]

What are mirror and shadow clones?

[tupper]

@splitscream

The Dev updates being bi-weekly this early is alarming, especially since it hasn’t even a year since the EAC debacle.

I hear you that seeing the frequency going down might be alarming!

We were quite clear from the start that we would go from the initially daily Dev Updates to weekly, which we did. They’re important, but we want to make sure they have substance, and also ensure we’re managing our resources intelligently. With those goals in mind, bi-weekly became the obvious correct choice for now.

These updates take our Comms team a good bit to build up and write, let alone the distractions to engineers as we poke them on the shoulder to ask “hey, whatcha workin’ on?”

We also have had updates in the past that were very light on news, because all of it was basically “well, we’re still workin’ on stuff!” without too much flashy video or images to show yet.

All that considered, we made the decision to drop to bi-weekly to use time more efficiently and to ensure the Dev Updates we put out are information dense and full of lots of good stuff.

@splitscream

It would be a wiser choice to do dev update and a community update alternating weekly to maintain interaction and pushing up creators and upcoming events by driving interest early.

I hear you and agree! A Community Update would be really cool. Once we have more resources on hand, we can consider doing this more often. I would wager it would be even more challenging than the Dev Updates, as you’d have to go exploring and reach out to hundreds of communities to not only learn about the events, but to ensure that it’s the kind of thing that wants to be promoted and boosted up.

@Nekotaku

I wish Group private instances were a thing.

Are you talking about a Group instance that optionally lets people invite others explicitly?

@DrBlackRat

Are mirror and shadow clones finally dead?

I think so? Some form of that. You still have some clones around but we ended up deleting one or the other.

@Nekotaku

What are mirror and shadow clones?

Clones of your own avatar that appear in the mirror and cast a shadow, respectively. You can’t just use the one you’re wearing, as the head is shrunken down locally.

[Nekotaku]

@tupper

Are you talking about a Group instance that optionally lets people invite others explicitly?

No I mean an instance or option where everyone, including group members, aren’t able to enter automatically.

[tmux]

OMG! This new VRChat dev update is insane! I can’t believe what they’ve added! The devs are killing it! Can’t wait to jump in and explore all the new features! VRChat is on fire! #VRChatAddict

[skrooz]

Here’s a quick one, we are looking to host some events this weekend, how will visibility for those not on the open beta look like for a group public/group+ instance? Will they be able to see that we are in an instance at all if they aren’t part of the group?

Just evaluating viability here for early usage.

[Vonast]

fix the updated recently tag for worlds already please
it should be a massive priority

[bagsanaut]

Yes, this update is network compatible meaning they will be able to join those instances by joining you and the instances will work like a group public or plus should work like. Also group public instances will be visible in instances list of the world page.

[Krydar]

Group+/Group Public instances will just show up as “Group” in non-open beta, but their functionality will be the same as open beta. Hope that makes sense!

[breaker_love]

Many much need updates in here, I am so proud of the Devs for getting on top of this stuff as im sure it was not easy. I like the search for the Menu idea. Though I do enjoy all the customizations Via my Menu, Being able to simply search for what you are looking for is much more easy to do.

Keep up the good work and thank you for keeping us informed.

[tupper]

@skrooz

Here’s a quick one, we are looking to host some events this weekend, how will visibility for those not on the open beta look like for a group public/group+ instance? Will they be able to see that we are in an instance at all if they aren’t part of the group?

Group+ / Public instances interacts with Live kinda weirdly, so… give it a shot?

@Vonast

fix the updated recently tag for worlds already please

We are.

@Vonast

it should be a massive priority

It is!

@nilsaiyanz

Please, PLEASE Fix the jittering bug that happens with full body avatars, This issue has been present since the IK Update, It’s getting really annoying.

Er… part of our Dev Update is us saying we’re fixing that bug?

[genesisaria]

Groups+ is the big excite
Settings search is definitely a must.

@tupper

BUG: Friending someone and reloading their avatar doesn’t enable cameras - Cameras on avatars still only work for friends, but after friending someone you can just reload their avatar (or have them switch into it again) instead of having to rejoin the instance to make it work.

OMG Finally!!! How many years has it been??

@tupper

@Zekk

I know this has been talked about time and time again, but as a shader creator I would still really like to see cameras included as a safety setting for non-friends (even if it was buried in the settings menu similar to the particle limiter).

Yeah, I hear you. I agree that it’s a weird standout from older times.

Cameras being friends-only has lent to a number of shader uses too however. Honestly i’m not sure how i’d feel if it changed, unless we had some other shader-usable property that could check for friend or not – OR having a 3.0 parameter for IsFriend (actually that’s a great idea now that i think about it) or just implement avatar blit and leave cameras alone.

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@tupper

BUG: Shaking your head while sitting in Fullbody creates body jittering visible from remote users - The good ol’ “moving my head in FBT makes my body shake for remote players” bug.

A fix is on the way! This addresses this Canny post from 2018.

I’d be curious the approach to solving this - as it’s been similar to all kinds of other issues with networking things, where the local positions and remote positions conflict and cause jittering. Though somewhere along the way this was solved for constraints in mirrors for example… Chairs on avatars still have the jittering issue when the chair owner moves though (especially if the chair is anchored in worldspace or something). But yeah, that tracking jittering, even without fbt myself, hurts to look at lol. People having to switch to hip lock to reduce that is not good, because that causes most avatars to hunch in a bad way (honestly the IK needs another rework - ps: let halfbody & desktop unlock head rotation limit!).

[fizxz]

Here are two petitions. The “avatar authorization clone” feature, and the “camera lock to hand” feature.

Authorization scenarios: Some avatars I don’t want to make completely public, I only want to give them to people in my friends list. Some avatars are exclusively used in my group and I only want to give them to the players in my group. At this stage, I have to set the avatar to public, and this will spread to other places.

Camera lock, I know there is a self-shake function. But not all because the hand has to squeeze the handle to produce the shake, and long squeeze will be very tired.

Also, is there a forum for VRChat to petition for new features?

[nilsaiyanz]

Whoops- I misread it,

Thanks, and I hope everything goes well!

[ksnipe2016]

Is there any talk of having a group messenger system so we can message members that are online or others to c if they want to hangout in game?

[cssboss]

This is great news! Maybe we get something in the future about group party event? I was thinking about receive a notification from the group warning when will be the group party.

[VoicesShiature]

that’s perfect.

[docteh]

@fizxz

Also, is there a forum for VRChat to petition for new features?

Feedback.vrchat.com has a section for feature requests.

I haven’t seen a request to lock the camera to the hand, so submit that one first. There are lots of suggestions on avatar permissions. My armchair guess is that we will see the ability to share avatars with group membership, but like not any time soon

[Shugyo]

great group updates! I know you said previously that transferring group ownership doesn’t have an ETA. has that changed at all? it would super helpful

thanks!

[_arss_r_Kiri]

@tupper

BUG: The camera is unusuable at high speeds, like in planes - You can now spawn and use the camera, even at very high speeds!

Could this also be used for the chat box feature? Also I feel like its a bit odd to have the chat box lock you in place when you have it open- I dunno how others feel but I feel like it would be better if the chat box moved with you instead, like the camera. At least make it a toggle?

[Yucohanhan]

Can you add the option for the camera to fly in an upright position?