*For now, this project has been abandoned. It is our hope that the dev will return at some point in the future, but we don't know if or when.

Basics:
When you start up the game, you'll get a splash screen that will change to a block picture of 3 different home shapes; pick one using the Right controller and pull the trigger. The one on the right has a porch, so I use it for now. I don't know if more are coming. Don't worry if it doesn't match your room, you will be able to set up one of those later.

I want to point out that, due to the complexities of the program, the control scheme is slightly different from what you are used to! Once you get used to it, it works extremely well, but you really do need to learn it.

Once in your new home, note where you were placed because that's where the "home" button will put you (more on that later). Use the grips on the Right controller to teleport around and explore your new, empty for now, home.

To access the menu, press the menu button on the Left controller. To close it, press it again. When you open the menu, the window presented to you is the top box choice on the left. This window shows the Welcome screen with tips and a little mini video tutorial. Notice the "save" icon in the upper right. This is how you save your changes and is in most of the screens of the menus.

Next box down will present you with an Avatar preview. The arrows on the bottom allow you to change your hat (avatar). Note the "home" and "room" icons in the upper right, next to the "save" icon. If you press the "home" icon, it will 'port you to the place that you appeared when you started. When set up, the "room" icon will transport you to your custom room. However, since you haven't set it up yet, it will spawn a piece of floor in your hand and really confuse you. Leave it alone for now, it's covered later/separately.

The fourth box down (yes, I'm skipping box 3 for now, that's where most of the meat is) has the tutorials. Do yourself a favor and read them. Even after typing this I found myself guilty of having 2 problems because I didn't read the directions! Read them; they're useful! :)

The fifth, and last box, provides the ability to reset the house, the game or the customized room that you haven't created yet. Also a couple of audio choices. You should probably leave them at default for now.

Now back to the 3rd box. Now you have 3 more boxes. They are, left to right; objects, colors, and sky. For your "Sky", you can use the presets. At this time, VR Home does not support custom Skyboxes, even tho the folder is available. The sky option changes won't be apparent unless you are standing on the porch or have already set up a window. The colors allow you to color walls and floors and things like that. It does NOT allow coloring of the objects (at this time). The objects are discreet, lovingly crafted items. Obviously there will be more in time and the dev intends users to add to them.

Which brings us back to the "object" box. Here is where the fun is! You have couches, chairs, rugs, bowls, radios, computers, tv's, posters, etc etc etc. The tv's and radios can be configured to play audio or video files, or Youtube channels, and the computers will show you your desktop, allowing interaction with the right controller. The file placements must be configured in the settings first (more on this later), however. Note that to turn any electronics on, point the right controller at it and press the menu button. Note also that the volume and channel changing are on the right touchpad, too, but ONLY if you are pointing at a piece of electronics.

To start this, in the objects menu (which brings up 6 more option boxes; explore), point at an item with the Right controller and pull the trigger. The item will appear in minature on the Left controller, along with a mini description. Explore the lists, there are some really pretty objects in there! When you find something that you like, point, with the Left controller, where you would like the item to appear and pull and release the trigger (it's a toggle). Look at the touchpad on the Left controller and note the symbols on it for rotate and resize. Press the touchpad to activate the desired function. When happy with size, rotation and placement, pull the trigger again and it will stay where you put it.

Now you have an object. Point your Left controller at the object and note the symbols on the controller. You have a paint brush, an X and a move icon. Now note the symbol on the system button (don't press it). This is what tells you which mode you're in; paint, delete or move. Change the mode by pressing the touchpad at the appropriate symbol. Whichever mode you are in will be activated when you pull the trigger.


Now you have the basics! Have some fun experimenting with the different objects; a lot of them interact in some way. The windows will show you the outside, the electronics do things(when configured), the posters show pictures (when configured) etc etc.

This is where you can make a room that will correspond to what you actually have. Of course, your room needs to be a square or rectangle but you can use furniture to make "partitions" for odd shapes. In here, I can add the chairs that I sit in, the desks that I use, my heater (I'll make the fireplace really small :D ), and anything else I can think of! I can't put posters up on my walls or repaint or refloor in my real place, but in here I can!!! I've already got hardwood floors and it only took seconds! Of course, since my room is actually carpeted, I'll have to change to carpeting when I get serious. Again; seconds instead of weeks and months! Weeee! Now if only I could get vaulted ceilings!

On the main menu, second box down, the one that shows your avatar, there are 2 icons in the upper right, next to the save icon. One is supposed to be "Home" the other is "Room". If you trigger the "Room", a small piece of flooring will appear at your Right controller. This bit of floor defaults at 2m x 2m and can be moved around by either controller. To interact with it, grab it with the Right controller and hold the trigger. Use the touchpad to set the size of your room. When happy, press the menu button on the Right controller while holding the bit of floor and it will create the room with you in it. Decorate to your hearts content. When you are done, bring up the main menu and press the "Home" button. It will transport you back to the "center" of your home. From here, anytime you click the "Room" button or "Home" button, it will teleport you accordingly. Note that, since you left the menu open when you switched to the other room, you have to press the menu button twice; once to close the menu in the other room and once to open it where you currently are. Also note that, from now on, you will be placed in your customized room when you start VR Home.
Another use for the "Room" button is to re-center your custom room. Since the custom room is set to your actual room size (if you choose to use your custom room like I did), most of the time you are walking around in it and the walls and furniture correspond to your real room. But every once in a while you'll transport and that will break the sync. Now the chairs, or walls, could be anywhere! Bring the menu back up and hit the "Room" button and it will re-center the room so that reality and virtual reality mesh again. Kind of a weird feeling, to be honest, but really cool!

-Due to length restrictions from Steam, this section had to be broken up into 3 parts-


First, some clarification; the "settings" window is where you configure the objects. There are no other settings here. To enter it, press the "spacebar" on your keyboard. You'll be setting file paths and you'll need to be at your 2d screen; take off the HMD. To go back to the program in VR, click exit and put the HMD back on.
*VRHome creates custom folders under your My Documents folder. Only 2 of these folders are accessible thru the settings page: the Music and Posters folders. The Skybox folder is not used. The other two, Appshortcuts and ROMs are discussed below.

-Channel List
This is used for all of the TV's and offers 3 "channels". These path links for each channel must be to individual, discrete files, NOT folders! As you can tell by the "Examples", you can use files or Youtube channels. Tested with mp4 and flv files, and the dev supplied Youtube channel (the "Example"). It will NOT play Youtube playlists. Type the path in (ctrl-v works too), then press enter and move on to the next. When you have everything configured click the back button in the upper left. When you are back in the room, point at the TV with the Right controller and (after pressing the menu button to turn on the power) press left or right on the touchpad to change between your "channels", or files. Note the symbols on the controller while pointing; you can also change the volume. I don't believe that you can pause, ff or rw the videos, at this time. Note that the audio will play in both the main house and the custom room.

-360 Channels
This is used for the 360 video player, obvioiusly. The paths need to be to individual, discrete files. You can have up to 3 of them for 3 "channels". Only tested with mp4 files.
The 360 video player is a white sphere that you put into your room. You can grab it with either controller by putting the controller into the white sphere and pulling the trigger. It will stay wherever you release it. To play, place your Right controller into the sphere and pull the trigger. Keep the trigger pulled to interact with this object. Note the symbols on the touchpad as you press the menu button to play. The menu button is your play/pause button. The symbol in the middle of the touchpad tells you if you are in play or pause, it is NOT a button. Press the left or right side of the touchpad to switch channels. Activate it by releasing it and then placing your head into the sphere. To rotate your "perspective" in the movie, bring your Left controller to your head and pull the trigger (Caution: this may make you ill! It had me reaching for my candied ginger!). To get out, bring your Right controller to your head, pull the trigger and pull it off. Note the difference between "activating" it and "pressing play". You can press play and have it play in the little sphere and watch it like that. Or you can stick your head into the scene to really "get into" it! I thought that was an interesting little feature, lol!

-Music List
This is used by all radios. It offers a channel for your mp3 files or another for an audio feed. Only tested with mp3 files and the dev supplied "Example". Put your music, no folders, in the My Documents\VRHomeCustomFolders\Music folder. Point at the radio with the Right controller and press the menu key to turn it on, then use the left/right keys to step to the song that you want. The stream is the last "song". It will play the song that you want and then end. At this time, there is no way that I know of, to set whether it loops, plays sequencially, or plays randomly. I do not know if it will accept playlists. I don't think so. Note that the radio will play in both the main house and the custom room.

-ROMs
There is an icon in the electronics section called an "Arcade Machine" that uses the ROM that you specify here. It looks like a Nintendo Gamecube. Place your ROMs in the My Documents\VRHomeCustomFolders\Roms folder. I don't know anything about ROMs so I can't help any further.

-Pictures
Pictures are what "posters" use. You have small, medium, large and tall posters. Tested with jpg files only. Place your pictures in your My Documents\VRHomeCustomFolders\Posters folders. The system doesn't care what their resolution is; it will "stretch" them to fit. After you've placed it on the wall, point at it with the Right controller and use the left/right buttons on the touchpad to cycle to the picture that you want.

-Skyboxes
Custom Skyboxes are not supported at this time. Although the folder is there, the panoramas will not be seen.

-App Launcher
This is a sphere similar to the 360 player except that it's much smaller. It's also not white and to activate it, you "grab" it and bring it to your HMD. As with that sphere, you can grab it with either controller by putting the controller into the sphere and pulling the trigger. It will stay wherever you release it. To choose your program, place your Right controller into the sphere and pull the trigger. Keep the trigger pulled to interact with this object. Note the symbols on the touchpad: there are none that you can see. However, you select your program by pressing the left/right side of the touchpad. Activate it by bringing it to your HMD. At this time, assuming that it's linked to a valid program, VR Home will exit and the other program will start. This is only useful for Steam games, at this time. Starting a SteamVR game dropped me out of VR Home and into the new game, as expected. Note that SteamVR is a bit slow to figure out which program is running so give it a minute before expecting it to catch up and correctly show what's playing. It still thinks that you're running VR Home for a bit.

To configure this object, place your Steam shortcuts into your My Documents\\RHomeCustomFolders\AppShortcuts folder.

-Computers; no configuration needed.
Computer monitors or laptops show your desktop. After you've placed it, point at it with the Right controller and press the menu button to turn it on. Now I have 3 monitors in a 5760x1080 configuration and I can't normally use features like this. It's always so compressed that I can't see to do anything. With this, I made a whole wall into my computer screen; it was *glorious*! It seems to default to using the Left controller as a pointer, but if it's not available and the Right is, it'll use that one. Switching to separate, discrete monitors worked fine, as well. It will show whatever is set as the "main" monitor. This is actually usable; I can put up a window, like my WinTV, and watch TV! Or Twitch or whatever. Pointer is a little twitchy but if you get your screen big enough, it's not much of an issue.

-Audio Visualizer
This is a neat and simple little toy. You need to have an audio source placed before playing with this one or it's just a weird ring. When chosen, you will place a "ring" on the floor or wherever you want. It will do nothing until "linked". Point at it with your Left controller and a preview window will pop up saying "Linking System". Press the touchpad (Left controller) and a red "LINKING" will appear. Now take it to your audio source, point at it with the same controller and press the touchpad again. There is no indication that you are correctly pointing at your source so I recommend teleporting close to it and then pressing the touchpad to finalize the link. If it's done correctly, the little window disappears and it is now linked and the Visualizer will display the audio. Start your radio with your Right controller, like normal, and watch the fun! Note that if you are not aimed at your radio correctly when pressing the touchpad, nothing happens; it's a good indicator that you were pointing correctly when it disappears. You can resize this, while placing or after, so that it can be a large ring on the floor or a tiny ring next to the radio! It's pretty cool!

-Gun
Pick it up by squeezing the trigger, drop it by squeezing the grips. Same for clips. It's a pretty standard gun layout, requiring clips and the like. Maybe a little simplified. There is a "target" object.

-Camera
Pick it up by squeezing the trigger. It will stay wherever it is when you release the trigger. Press the menu button to take a picture. Press the touchpad to switch between selfie and normal view. Pictures are saved in your documents folder under "VRHomeScreenShots". They are png format and it looks like it takes pictures at your monitor resolution.

-Whiteboard
Point at the whiteboard with the Right controller and press the trigger to draw. While pointing, press the menu button to change the color.

-Snooker or "Pool"
Don't. Just... don't. At this time. It's a good start, but... don't. Lol! Absolutely beautiful table, tho.
For those who are curious;
Obviously, place the table first. Spawn a cue stick next. To grab the cue stick, holding the Right controller away from the stick, pull the trigger and hold it, and then move your controller over the stick. Press the touchpad on either controller to release it. Note that if you "grab" the cue stick with your Left controller, the stick will disappear until you release the trigger. At that point you will be holding it normally. When you have the stick positioned to take a shot, pull the trigger on the Left controller. As long as you are holding that Left trigger, you can do anything you want with your left hand. It locks the stick in place and the Right controller to the stick. At this point, it gets funny. Have some fun but do NOT think that you are going to play a real game of pool! Or snooker. The dev has plans to work on this but not in the immediate future. When we get multiplayer, then this will become more important. Again; beautiful table!



Hope this helps! I'll modify it as the program is updated or I learn new things. If someone has tips, finds errors or something missing, please let me know!