How To Play

If you are not familiar with the basic gameplay of Minecraft, start with a tutorial.

Minecraft is not a native VR game so control is implemented through mouse and keyboard simulation. For the best experience please make sure the game window has focus on your PC.

Default Controls

In-game controls can be rebound in the VR Settings > Controller buttons menu. The Inventory controls cannot be rebound.

Vive Controllers

ViveControls large r1
ViveControls large r1

Touch Controllers

ViveControls large r1
ViveControls large r1

Using the in-game keyboard

Vivecraft relies on the SteamVR keyboard for typing. Most menus that require typing will automatically bring up the keyboard overlay.
You can also bring up the keyboard at any time by holding “Sneak” and pressing the “Game Menu” button. If you need to use text chat it is best to do so via the ‘Chat’ button on the in-game menu.

Using the HUD

The normal Minecraft HUD will appear in the world depending on your Orientation Lock settings:

  • ‘Hand’ placement will float above your offhand. This is the default.
  • ‘Wrist’ placement will put the HUD along the inside of your off-forearm. It will pop-out if you look at it.
  • ‘Head’ placement will put the HUD straight out from your view at all times.

The in-game menu or inventory will always appear fixed in a position just in front of you.
The GUI for chests, crafting tables, etc will appear floating over the block. If you find it clips behind blocks, turn off HUD Occlusion in settings.
There are several other settings you can use to adjust the HUD to your preference.

Touch Hotbar

You can touch the hotbar slots to equip the item in that slot. This can be turned off in settings.

Moving Around

Vivecraft supports several styles of VR Locomotion. The offhand trigger activates movement. You can quickly switch between Teleport and Free-move by holding the “Pick Block” button for 4 seconds.

  • Arc Teleportation

    Aim a parabolic arc at your destination and release to be teleported to it instantly. In survival mode the use of the teleporter will cause hunger and has an energy meter that refills over time. The ‘Simulate Falling’ option can be turned on or off to allow jumping or falling in this mode.

  • Free-move

    In this mode you move freely. Default is to use the offhand controller pointing direction. Can be changed to use the HMD direction. Several options exist for mitigating motion sickness such as movement speed, increased inertia, and FOV reduction.

  • World Rotation

    You can bind ‘Rotate Left’, ‘Rotate Right’ or ‘Free Rotate’ to a button to artificially rotate your view in the world. This allows for seated or 180° play with controllers.

  • Walkabout

    The ‘walkabout’ rotation is also available as a button binding. Pressing this button will ‘freeze’ the world in place allowing you to turn around and continue in your direction via roomscale walking.

  • Climbeymotion

    Vivecraft 1.11.2v6+ supports a climbey-inspired form of jumping and free-climbing. Requires crafting some items. See this page for details.

  • Roomscale

    Vivecraft supports several types of roomscale movement. Each can be turned on or off in the options. Requires Standing play mode.

    • Walking around the play space will move your player in game. You can automatically walk up 1 block this way if the option is turned on.
    • Run-in-place locomotion is possible by setting the free-move type to ‘Run-in-place’. Hold the move button and swing your controllers to run. Your direction is the general pointing direction of the 2 controllers.
    • Ladders can be climbed simply by touching and climbing. Requires free-move or simulate falling: on.
    • Swimming in water can be done by moving the controllers in a breast-stoke pattern. Look in the general direction you want to go. Requires free-move or simulate falling: on.
    • Boats can be rowed by making rowing motions with the controller (1.10+ only). Remember it is a rowboat and you are supposed to sit backwards in it.
    • If you jump in real life your player will also jump. Requires free-move or simulate falling: on. If it doesn’t work right use the ‘Calibrate Height’ button on the in-game menu with the HMD on.
    • If you duck in real life your player will sneak. If it doesn’t work right use the ‘Calibrate Height’ button on the in-game menu with the HMD on.
    • You can eat by holding food or drink up to your face.
    • Bow shooting is done 2-handed by drawing and releasing. Note that texture packs may cause the arrow to be rotated the wrong way.

Swing Attack

Vivecraft adds the ability to hit blocks and creatures by swinging your hand. Your reach and damage are determined by the tool you are holding. Swords are best for combat and have a very long reach vs. creatures. Swinging harder will hit harder, to a point.

Animal Touching

Touching a passive mob (like a cow or sheep) will perform a right-click instead of attacking unless you have a tool or weapon equipped. This allows feeding and mounting by touch. Can be turned off for piggy-slappin’.

Roomscale Buckets

You can fill and pour out buckets by dipping and turning them over. This gets its own section because it was surprisingly hard to do.

Backpack Switching

Reaching behind your head with the main controller will switch to the 1st hotbar slot (or back to the previously used one). Reaching behind your head with the offhand controller will swap the 2nd hotbar slot item with the offhand slot item.

VR Settings Menu

The VR Settings menu has many options to customize your play experience. Hover over each option to see what it does.

Some important options:

Play Mode

Switch between Standing or Seated play. Seated mode ignores all controller input in favor of standard Minecraft keyboard and mouse control.

World Scale

Scale the world up or down. You really should try this. Mostly cosmetic but really cool!

Dynamic Lights

Go into Video Settings and turn on ‘dynamic lights’ Torches held in your hand will emit light! Not a Vivecraft option but added by Optifine.

Controller Buttons

In this menu you can map your motion controller buttons. Cycle through the list of available actions by clicking each button.

Vivecraft adds the following actions to the base list:

  • Hotbar Next: Select next item in hotbar
  • Hotbar Prev: Select prev item in hotbar
  • Rotate Left: rotates the view to the left by the degrees specified by the Rotation Increment setting
  • Rotate Right: rotates the view to the right by the degrees specified by the Rotation Increment setting
  • Rotate Free: rotates the view while you hold the button down, works like a ‘pan’ button.
  • Walkabout: freezes the world while you rotate in roomscale.
  • Quick Torch: Places a torch if you have one available.

In addition to actions (mods can add some!) you can also bind a button directly to a keyboard key (I’m looking at you, Gilby’s Voice Chat!)

  • keyboard(press): presses and releases the assigned keyboard key.
  • keyboard(hold): presses down the assigned keyboard key until you release the controller button
  • keyboard-shift/alt/ctrl: presses down the indicated modifier key for the duration of the controller button press.

Quick Commands

You can pre-set up to 12 commands or lines of chat. They will be available in the ‘Commands’ menu in-game.

Stereo Rendering

You can improve the look of the game a lot by changing the render scale to 1.5 and turning FSAA ON.

Mirror Options

Vivecraft supports several mirror options. Single or dual view and full or 1/3 frame rate. The ‘Undistorted’ mirror is great for recording but does require an extra render pass. See the Mixed Reality page for full details on that mode.