INTRODUCTION

What is VR Quest?
VR Quest is a fully-immersive, virtual reality quest-building system – following the free
standards-aligned lesson plans, students learn 3D level design, re-create places of historic
significance, and publish their own VR level. Then, using a Microsoft Mixed
Reality headset, step into the virtual world they created – alone or in multi-player mode.
VR Quest is an incredibly easy to use, first person creation tool.

At its simplest, you can drag and drop elements (“Entities”) onto a large, buildable terrain
and very quickly create your first level.

If you’re a more advanced user, you can combine these simple tools with the built-in, LUA-
based scripting language to create almost anything your imagination can conjure.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

Contents
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1
What is VR Quest? .............................................................................................................................. 1
1. Getting Started .................................................................................................................................... 4
Creating Your First Character .............................................................................................................. 4
Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 4
The Editor User Interface .................................................................................................................... 8
Tool bar ........................................................................................................................................... 9
The Drop-down menus ................................................................................................................... 9
Library ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Editor window ................................................................................................................................. 9
Memory bar .................................................................................................................................... 9
Editor brush..................................................................................................................................... 9
Editor mode .................................................................................................................................... 9
Status bar ...................................................................................................................................... 10
F1 Help Mode ................................................................................................................................ 10
Editor Styles .................................................................................................................................. 11
The Built-In Tutorials ..................................................................................................................... 11
The Example Maps ........................................................................................................................ 11
2. Making Your First VR Quest experience............................................................................................ 12
Saving A Map .................................................................................................................................... 12
Terrain Sculpting ............................................................................................................................... 15
Intro to Markers ................................................................................................................................ 16
More Markers ................................................................................................................................... 17
Markers Mode .................................................................................................................................. 18
Testing Your Level ............................................................................................................................. 18
More Terrain Editing ......................................................................................................................... 19
Terrain Style ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Sky Style ............................................................................................................................................ 26
Weather Style ................................................................................................................................... 27
Terrain Painting ................................................................................................................................. 28
Grass Painting ................................................................................................................................... 30
3D Edit Mode and Visuals ................................................................................................................. 32
Entities .............................................................................................................................................. 33
What’s a Widget? .............................................................................................................................. 35
3. Entities Widget Overview ................................................................................................................. 37

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 Position, Rotate and Scale ................................................................................................................ 37
Properties...................................................................................................................................... 37
Extract ........................................................................................................................................... 37
Delete ............................................................................................................................................ 37
Lock ............................................................................................................................................... 37
4. VR Mode and Social VR ..................................................................................................................... 38
Playing the Level in Virtual Reality .................................................................................................... 38
Opening the Level in VR .................................................................................................................... 38
Playing the Level in VR with Others .................................................................................................. 39
Entering Social VR ............................................................................................................................. 39
Sharing/Hosting a Level .................................................................................................................... 40
Joining a Shared Level ....................................................................................................................... 41
Exiting a Social VR Level .................................................................................................................... 41
Entering a Teachers Code ................................................................................................................. 41
5. AI Scripts ........................................................................................................................................... 42
6. Character Creator.............................................................................................................................. 44
7. Waypoints ......................................................................................................................................... 46
Creating Waypoints........................................................................................................................... 46
Waypoint Edit Mode ......................................................................................................................... 47
8. Win Zones ......................................................................................................................................... 48
9. Structure Editor ................................................................................................................................. 49
10. Importing Custom Entities .............................................................................................................. 51
11. Installing and running the Oculus Quest Player .............................................................................. 53
An additional feature of VR Quest is the ability to play your levels on the Oculus Quest, thanks to an
app specifically created to play your levels called the Oculus Quest Player. ....................................... 53
12. Wrapping Up ................................................................................................................................... 54
13. FAQ.................................................................................................................................................. 54

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 1. Getting Started

Creating Your First Character

Before learning how to make your own level, you may want to play a sample level first, and perhaps
even play a level over Social VR. For the best experience, you may want to join those levels using an
avatar of your choice. It’s easy to make your avatar using the Character Creator.

Simply go to the FILE menu and select “Character Creator”. When the panel load, select choices on
the right to change aspects of the character. When you are done, give your first character a name and
then press the “Save Character” button.

When you eventually get to the Social VR mode, you can select the CHOOSE/CHANGE AVATAR
CHARACTER to choose the character you have just created so others can see you as this character!

Overview
We know that you would love to jump right in and start creating your latest masterpiece and while
we've made it as easy as possible for you to get started, we encourage you to try out some of the
sample demo levels first so you can see what it can do. You will find these by selecting ‘FILE’ from the
top menu and then choose ‘Open’ and choosing one of the level files.

You will then be presented with a Windows Explorer window that looks at the map folder (called
mapbank) of the software. Here you will see all the levels that come with the software and any that
you create going forward. They will all be saved to this location.

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You can select a file by clicking the file, then ‘Open’ or by just double clicking on a filename. It will
then load into the editor so you can have a play or an explore.

You could load the level “Civil Rights.fpm” involving a famous event that happened in the civil rights
movement. When loaded it will look like this in the editor:

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Load Hagia Sophia.fpm and explore the wonders of the ancient Hagia Sophia…

Maybe after that, a quick jaunt around the American Indian Secotan Village…

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A quick tour of the temples of the Mayan civilisation…

Visit Fort Ticonderoga and listen to the history of this famous fortification…

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The Editor User Interface
Let's look at the Editor UI (User Interface) in more detail. This is very easy to use and you'll soon get
to grips with the tools in no time. It is easier to learn if you start from a blank canvas, so if you head
back on over to ‘FILE’ and select, ‘New Flat Level’, you should find yourself looking at the screen below,
ready for your next creation.

Drop down menus Memory bar Editor window Editor brush Tools

Entity library Status bar

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Tool bar

Icons in this bar provide quick access to all of the important editor functions. From here you can raise
and lower terrain, paint ground textures and grass, add waypoint paths, test your level and host or
join a Social VR shared level.

The Drop-down menus

Access further options by selecting the various drop-down menu items including all the editor
functions, saving and loading, building a standalone application, or using the character creator and
structure editor.

Library
This window displays thumbnails of the entities (our name for 3D models) used when populating your
world. Here you can quickly access entities you've already used in your level or add new ones.

Editor window
Displayed within this area is a top down or free flight view of the level you are currently editing. To
make the process of level editing as easy as possible we provide a range of editing styles to suit all
users. You can navigate around the 3D world using the W, A, S, D keys, the arrow keys and mouse-
look.

Memory bar
You can place thousands of entities in a VR Quest level, but each one takes a little memory. This bar
shows you how much space you have left to build your level.

Editor brush
When editing the terrain or painting ground textures or grass, this brush defines the area to be edited.
You can change the size of the brush at any point using the mode slider, under terrain tools or use the
+ and – keys on the keyboard.

Editor mode
When you open the editor, you start in the default top down mode. You can choose between free
flight or top down modes when editing and can easily swap between these by pressing the [F] key to
enter free flight or the [G] key to return to top down mode.

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Status bar
Here you can see exactly which modes the editor is in, and where the cursor is on the world map. The
details of the status bar are (from left to right):

Name Notes
Terrain Painting Mode Indicates terrain sculpting or terrain painting.

Terrain Describes the type of tool, e.g. Shape mode or ramp mode for terrain
editing, or rock or grass for paint mode.

Entity Editing Mode Visible if you are in entity editing mode. You can change between
entity mode and terrain mode from the tool bar. Useful tip: R rotates
an entity and ENTER finds the nearest floor

Entity This will either show "None Selected" or the entity number, entity
name and the current status (static – meaning it is just scenery, or
dynamic – meaning it can do something using a script.

Clip Indicates the current clip mode, this can be Off or shows the clip level.
Use CTRL+mouse wheel to adjust the clipping height.

X and Z This is the current brush position.

Normal Default grid mode. Pressing B changes the mode.

Normal (pixel placement),
Snap (aligns to the nearest entity),
Grid (aligns to the 100x100 grid position for equal placing of entities).

F1 Help Mode
This lists all the keyboard shortcuts aimed at speeding up the development process.

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Editor Styles
There are two major user interface styles, both Light and Dark. These can be selected at any time
depending on the users own personal taste.

The Built-In Tutorials

If you need a little help, or a reminder during your time using VR Quest, there are several handy
tutorials built in. These can be quickly and easily accessed through the Help menu, and selecting
‘Getting Started Tutorials’ from the dropdown menu.

A new panel will open on the far right of the screen, and from here you can access a range of tutorials
that cover every aspect of VR Quest. These can be selected using the dropdown menu, and then
clicking, ‘Begin Tutorial’. Just follow the steps and use the video to see the tutorial in question being
carried out.

The Example Maps

VR Quest comes with several maps already built for you to load, explore and learn from. These can
all be accessed from the FILE menu and selecting Open. This will be covered in the next chapter.

You can also change these levels to suit your own ideas but remember to save them under a different
name so as not to overwrite the originals.

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 2. Making Your First VR Quest experience

Now you’ve had an overview of the editor, it’s time to create your first experience by following the
steps below. Remember that if you make a mistake while editing you can use the Undo feature by
going to ‘Edit’ and selecting ‘Undo’ or by pressing ‘CTRL’ and ‘Z’ and this will reverse the last action.

As this is very likely your first theme created in VR Quest, we advise saving several copies of your map
in case you make a mistake that Undo can't rectify, as Undo only reverses the last action taken.

Saving A Map
Clicking on FILE at the top left of the menu bar will produce a drop-down
menu. We'll discuss each of these in more detail as we work through the
process of making our own event, but for now, all we're interested in is the
‘Save’ and ‘Save As’ options menus.

As with most applications, ‘Save’ will either save the map using the last
name, or prompt for a new name if this is the first save.

‘Save As’ will always prompt for a new name. To ensure that you have plenty
of backups of your map, it's a good idea to get into the habit of occasionally
using ‘Save As’ to make copies of your hard work.

Let's test this by saving the default map under the name ‘MyFirstMap’. Open the file menu if you've
not already done so and click ‘Save’.

This will take you to the VR Quest mapbank folder where all map files are stored. The maps have the
extension “.fpm”, e.g. Roman Forum.fpm

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If you have more maps than the box will display, you can use the slider on the right to move up and
down the list.

Enter the name ‘MyFirstMap’ into the File name edit box and click ‘Save’. This might take a few
seconds depending on your system.

You can also quickly load and save your maps from the tool bar simply by clicking on these icons
respectively.

Okay, you’ve saved your first map and are ready to start editing but before you do, let's just have a
quick play with the navigation keys so you can move around your map.

You can do this using W to move up the map, S to move down, A to move left and D to move right;
you can also use the arrow keys. Give this a try now so you become comfortable with navigating the
level.

You can zoom in and out of your map using the mouse wheel.

If you look at the status bar, you'll notice the X and Z values changing. You will find this very useful
when your map becomes full and you have a lot of different sections to it.

Once you're happy you can move around the map freely we can move on and start editing. Your screen
should look something like this:

However, as you've been navigating your map, you may have changed the view. To make sure you
have a similar view, and to learn a little more, reload your map “MyFirstMap.fpm”

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Click File once again to open up the file menu.

Click Open to be taken back into the mapbank folder, but this time to reopen the map. Just like saving
you can also use a shortcut icon located on the tool bar to open a previously saved project.

Remember that this will overwrite any unsaved work, so when at a later date you’re creating your
own levels, stick to the golden rule of always backing up your work and saving often.

Using the slider bar on the right, navigate down the list until your reach MyFirstMap.fpm. You can
open this by double clicking on it.

Depending on the size and complexity of a level, they can some time to load up. However, your new
level is a simple one so far and is just made up of a terrain at this stage.

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Terrain Sculpting

Now that you’ve opened the map, start by adding some simple hills. You can click any of these icons
to enter terrain editing mode. Each has a special function to shape the terrain, but the one to use first
is the shape tool.

Click on this icon to enter Terrain Sculpting mode.

Move the mouse to the editor window so you can see the Editor brush, hold down the left mouse
button and move the brush about. You will see that the terrain is rising. Do this for a few seconds until
you've got something that looks a little like this:

Congratulations, you've made your first hill! Now, let's look at lowering the terrain. You use the same
tool for this, but instead of just using the left mouse button you now also hold down the [Shift] key
and start carving a few holes with the left mouse button held down.

Note that the water table for all levels is at a height of 500 by default, so if you have chosen a random
terrain, the hills and mountains of the randomly generated terrain may be higher than the 500 height
of the water. Keep digging and you will eventually find the water line.

Once the level of the terrain is low enough, you'll see the water plane (if you like, this could be thought
of as sea level). Now add some water - place the editor brush in front of your new hill, hold Shift and

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the left mouse button to dig the terrain downwards. If everything has gone well, you should now see
something similar to this:

Well done, you've created your first simple terrain. Now we're sure you'd like to take a walk around
this new virtual world, but before you do, let's place a player start position marker, this defines
where you will appear in the 3D world when the level starts.

Intro to Markers
Move the mouse pointer over to the library and click on the [+] symbol in the blue box. This will
open up the Library selection with two tabs. Entities and Markers:

There are several different types of Markers and we'll be covering them all as we move on, but for
now the only one that interests us is the green “Player Start” marker.

Not surprisingly, this marker represents the position and the direction you the player will start from
in the map. To select a marker from the library, simply left click on it and move the mouse to the
main map and left click again to place it onto the terrain. Multiplayer Start works in a similar way
but is exclusively for Multiplayer Mode and represents where each player can spawn within a level.

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At this point, it's always good practice to save your work, so you should do that now just as you did
before but using Save As from the file menu. This time save your map under the new name
“MyFirstMap2.fpm”, you can of course use any name you want, but for this tutorial, we recommend
using the same name title.

More Markers
There are two additional types of markers here. Light sources and Zones. Zones are areas of the map
which will check if the player enters the zone, and if so, will perform an action based on the type of
zone selected.

The other type of markers are lights; omnidirectional and spot. These can be placed in your scene as
a compliment to the ambient light that already exists as standard. These provide you with extra or
focused illumination.

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Markers Mode

In markers mode, you are able to interact with any markers, without accidentally moving any of your
entities. This is a great way to adjust small details, like waypoint nodes or start markers that may be
in a crowded area.

Testing Your Level

So, you’re ready to take a look at your very first level. You can launch ‘Test Level’ from the toolbar
by Left clicking on the rocket icon.

You can watch the build process at the base of the screen which can take a few moments as certain
things are prepared for your new world.

The eagle eyed among you will also notice that this screen summarises all the in-level controls, so
you'll be able to explore your map. Once the level is prepared, the screen will change to the virtual
world like this:

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You can move around using WASD keys or you can use the Arrow Keys, and moving the mouse
around will cause the player to look around.

Try this for a little while to get comfortable with the controls and then quit and return to the editor
by pressing the ‘Esc’ key

More Terrain Editing

Here we are back in the editor, so let's take a look at some more of the terrain editing tools. Don't
forget, if you go wrong you can go back one Undo level from the Edit menu.

Let's move along the toolbar a little to the slope tool.

This, as the name suggests allows you to quickly and easily add terrain ramps to your terrain. The tool
is easy to use so let's have a go now.

Click on this icon now and then left click and hold on a lower area in the editor window, and while
holding down the left mouse button drag the editor brush to the top of the hill, the release the mouse
button.

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You can do this several times in the same area. If all has gone well, you will see something similar to
this:

Now, you'll almost instantly notice that the sides of this ramp could be smoother, but don't worry,
there's a tool for that too, the blend tool.

You’ll need a smaller brush for this, so it's time to try out some more keyboard shortcuts. This time,
it's the [+] and [–] keys. Use these to change the size of the brush cursor.

Play around the size until you have a brush of approximately this size:

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Click on the Blend Tool icon and as before, hold down the left mouse button and brush any areas you
feel need to be smoother, don't forget you can zoom in and out for a better view using the middle
mouse wheel. You can also play around with different brush sizes if you find it easier.

Once blended, your ramp should look like this (if you want it smooth of course).

This is another great time to save what we've done so far and click the test level icon to run around
your map to see your ramp in action.

Now you've got your very useful ramp, you may have found that it's a little higher than the terrain,
possibly because, if like us, you sculpted the terrain to be different heights.

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Once again, the tool bar comes to the rescue with the levelling tool.

This has two functions, both similar but with varying results. Used on its own as you can move all
terrain up or down to a single height. Let's try this now by levelling our hill. Click on the icon shown
above. For this demonstration, we've increased the size of the brush slightly and we will be starting at
the opposite end of the hill like this:

Holding down the left mouse button move the brush along the top of the hill towards the ramp. You
can also use the Blend tool again here to smooth over the areas where the new flat terrain meets the
ramp. If all has gone well, you will have a map that looks like this.

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Once again, this is a great time to save and then click Test Level again and have a look at your new flat
terrain. Of course, flat terrain is all well and good, but may not be the natural look you're looking for.
This brings us to the second function of the level tool which adds a little randomness to the
smoothness giving a more natural feel.

You can access this mode simply by holding down Shift as you level the terrain. Let's do this now
around the water line.

As you can see, the terrain along the edge of the water is now rougher, but still kind of level. Take a
look at this in test level now.

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So, already you can see our level taking shape, but it needs some more detail. We've one more terrain
sculpting tool to look at before we can start adding some different textures to our terrain and that's
the stored level tool.

This nifty little tool allows you to start fresh terrain on your map at the same height as some previously
created. Lets say that you want to make a valley with two equal sides.

Firstly, to make sure you’ve got the level you want. Click on the Level tool and click on the end of your
flat plateau, like this:

This will then store the last level used for future reference. Now click on the Stored Level icon and
move the Editor Brush just up from the plateau.

As before, hold down the left mouse button to paint.

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As you are now in stored level mode, all sculpting will automatically be at the same height as your
stored level, like this:

This will probably be a little rough around the edges but can quickly and easily be cleaned up with a
pass over from the blend tool.

This is another ideal time to save, before you go back into test level to check out your masterpiece.

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Your valley will look a little like this, still pretty basic, so let’s see if we can make some additions to our
level.

Terrain Style
Once you have started sculpting the terrain, you may feel that the standard colour palette isn’t what
you want to work with. Fortunately, there are several templates that are available to you, accessed
through the sidebar. Simply click on whichever one you like, and it will be loaded directly into the
editor.

Sky Style
Now that you have the right terrain, it’s time for the sky.

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Weather Style
Finally, to round off the atmosphere, there are a good selection of weather effects to choose from to
complete the ambiance of your scene.

What’s more, by checking the ‘Display Weather’ box, you can see the weather effect take place in
real time in the editor window.

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Terrain Painting
Now it's time to look at varying some of the terrain textures. Textures let you paint colours and designs
onto the terrain area (so you don’t just have to settle for green!)

For each terrain style, there are sixteen textures to choose from and these can be freely used to paint
the terrain to suit your ideas. The textures will merge into each other gradually, leaving you free to
paint without worrying about edges!

Now, you'll notice the palette of textures on the right side of the screen under the Terrain
Tools/Customize terrain heading. Clicking on any of these will select it, allowing you to paint a mix of
textures onto your terrain.

Try this now. We're going to add several textures to the map to add extra depth and quality to the
appearance. Just as before you can alter the size of the Editor Brush using the [+] and [–] keys or you
can use the icons under Terrain Tools/Mode.

Take a look at what we’ve created before in the below screenshot. Feel free to add your own style to
your map. This is also another great time to save your map again.

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If all goes well you might have something like this now.

And when you test the level it will look like this in 3D.

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Grass Painting
Now the new world is starting to take shape. Using the grass painting option, you can really start to
add some real-life effects to your virtual world.

Click on this icon on the tool bar and paint grass in a similar way you painted the textures, but with
grass you can have levels of density. As you draw the grass, you will notice that the density of the
green colour will increase, and this is directly proportionate to how thick the grass will be in the world.
Holding down the ‘Shift’ key while you paint will thin out the grass, so you can create quite a detailed
level of grass in your scene.

On the menu on the right-hand side, you will see the following settings. If you check the ‘Display
Vegetation’ option, you will be able to see your grass in the scene, and even change the style of the
vegetation from the drop-down list.

These properties can be adjusted to however you like, changing the height, width and quantity of
plants in your scene, based on the thickness of the green color painted. You can also use the
dropdown menu to change what type of grass is in your scene, all updated as you go.

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 The grey painted area shows you where vegetation will be applied to the terrain in your map.

Your map should now start to take on quite a natural feel.

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3D Edit Mode and Visuals
Now that the scene is mostly complete, there are a couple more things that can be done to tweak
the overall effect. The first one is the 3D edit mode.

When you are in Test Level mode, you can press F9 at any time to bring up the dynamic world
editing toolbar.

This toolbar contains most of the world editing functions of the main editor, except they can be used
from the direct perspective of the player. You can use this mode to tweak or fine tune elements of
your world, increase or decrease the dynamic grass or smooth out the odd hill or valley.

Finally, once you are happy with the terrain, you can access the visuals menu by hitting the TAB key,
twice.

These screens allow you to fine tune some of the elements of your world that are not present in the
main editor widow, such as water, fog and graphics quality. You can also edit world elements that
are also set from within the editor, such as terrain style and the sky style. Sometimes it’s only when
you are in this mode that you can fully appreciate how your choices will look.

Between these two tools you can tweak and fine tune your level to perfectly reflect your vision.

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Entities
It's now time to think about a new type of object, the entity. An entity is anything that isn't terrain or
a marker, this can be as simple as a 3D cube shaped object, it could be a complex 3D tree object or
even a fully animated, walking, talking character!

You access entities from the library tab in a similar way to placing a marker. Let’s start by adding some
rocks and some trees from the library into your level scene.

As you can see from the library, all you need to do to add an entity is click the [+] icon, then click on
the entities tab. You’ll then be taken to your full entity library.

For now, you’re going to look at adding a little extra beauty to your level in the shape of trees and
rocks. There's plenty to choose from in the library, so start by adding a few rocks which can be found
by accessing the entities menu, selecting the ‘Objects’ radio button and searching through the assets.
Alternatively, and more efficiently, the asset library can be searched by typing a keyword into the
search box, in this case, “rocks”. This will show you all the objects in the asset library that match the
search criteria of “rocks”.

To select an entity, you just need to click on the entity thumbnail you want to add and move it into
the editor window, as you'll see, the model is attached to the pointer. Left click and it will be placed
into the 3D world onto the terrain. Keep doing this process to add different rocks to your scene.

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TIP: A single mouse click will place one rock model. If you want to place more of the same type, simply
hold down the shift key at the same time as pressing left mouse button.

When you’re happy with your rock formation in your scene, use Save As again to store your work
safely to your storage and then look at the level in test level by pressing the rocket icon.

Things are taking shape nicely now, but all of the rocks are facing in the standard, default direction
and size. It would be good if we could add a little variation to each one. This is where the widget tool
comes in handy.

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What’s a Widget?
The Widget tool enables you to fine tune entities in your level, you
can make tiny adjustments to the entities position, rotate around
the x, y and z axis, scale the entities size, change its properties
(more on that later), extract it completely, reposition it, delete it if
you no longer need it or lock it in place so you don't accidently
move it.

You can select any of these options by clicking on the entity which will show the widget and submenu,
and then clicking on the sub menu items. This is what each of the widget menu items do.

Description Notes
POSITION This is the entities position in the world, you can make fine
adjustments to the entity position using the red, green and blue arrows
of the widget. Just click and hold down, then move the mouse to move
it in the selected axis.

ROTATE Use the widget wheel to turn the entity on the x, y and z axis. Click the
wheel and drag to rotate.

SCALE Click and drag the arrows to scale on the x, y and z axis or click and
drag on the white box to scale equally across all axis.

PROPERTIES Changes many facets of the entity’s properties.

EXTRACT This attaches the entity to the cursor and allows you to move it to a
new location by clicking the left mouse button. Holding shift will allow
multiple copies of the object to be placed.

DELETE Completely removes the entity from the map.

LOCK Locks the entity preventing any changes. Useful if you don’t want to
accidentally move objects that you consider are in their correct place.
Hold the SPACEBAR and hover over the entity to unlock it.

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 Let's take a more in-depth look at scaling and rotation.

Left click on one of your rocks and select the rotate menu item.
We're using a large rock as an example, but this will work for
any of them.

You'll notice the three rings surrounding the entity, one for each
of the three axis.

In this example we've rotated a few rocks, you can do this

yourself by holding down the left mouse button while over any
of the rings and dragging the mouse. Try this yourself and see
the results in test level.

Now save your changes once again and look at scaling. You can
access the scale menu in the same way as rotation.

You can scale along any of the three axis. Just hover over the
pointers, holding down the left mouse button and dragging. You
can also scale equally by hovering over and dragging the white
box (this scales all three axis at the same time).

We've scaled a few rocks in our test map.

Give this a go yourself, play around a little more with scaling and
rotation to get a feel for it. You might need to occasionally
extract the model to better position it on your map. Why not go
back through some of the areas we've discussed and try adding
a few plants and trees from the library by searching for those
keywords. When happy, save your level once more and we'll
move on.

We've added a few trees to our level and of course saved it again. We're sure you've been in and out
of test level to look at your level in all its 3D glory but go in and look at the level you’ve created and
have fun looking around and exploring it.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 3. Entities Widget Overview

Before we continue, let us refresh our knowledge of the widget system. When you select an entity,
you will be able to interact with it using the widget.

Position, Rotate and Scale

The Position, Rotation and Scale options can be used to move an entity, rotate an entity or change
the size of an entity.

Properties
Properties will allow you to access the individual properties of an entity such as name, their A.I.
behaviours, the sound they make and more.

Extract
This option will remove the entity from the world and place it back on the cursor to be placed
elsewhere.

Delete
This option will delete the entity completely.

Lock
The option will lock the entity in place and make it unable to be selected or accidentally moved.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 4. VR Mode and Social VR

Playing the Level in Virtual Reality

When students are ready to play their levels in VR, the real fun starts. Before playing in virtual reality,
make sure that the Windows Mixed Reality Headset and one handset (or both if you prefer) are ready
for use on the PC you are using. Then you can click the VR Mode Icon.

Opening the Level in VR

With the handset plugged into the computer and batteries in the handset, open up the VR Quest
application. The Microsoft mixed reality portal will pop up as VR Quest opens and will finish loading
in the background.

Then you can open the level you would like to experience in VR. With the headset ready, and the
handset turned on, click the VR Icon to start VR. The loading page will show VR Controls information
and once the files are loaded, the level will start.

After a few moments, you will see the level on the screen while the VR player will play the level in VR
inside the headset.

To exit the experience, you just need to hit the ESC key, although you may need to take your headset
off first to see the keyboard.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

Playing the Level in VR with Others
Once you are ready to share your levels with others, you can have several players in the level at the
same time via the Social VR feature. There can be up to eight players in the same level, however, if
performance is affected, try limiting a level to just a few players at one time. The level play will be
very similar to the solo VR play but the screens to get into the level are different.

Entering Social VR
Enter Social VR by clicking on the menu icon on the far right, this will bring you to the Social VR menu
screens.

Once in, you will see several buttons:

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

Sharing/Hosting a Level
To share or host a level, click on the HOST A LEVEL button and from the list on the screen, select one
of the levels in the list. Then, click the CHOOSE LEVEL or CANCEL to exit.

The files listed on this screen are the same map level filenames that you see when you go to the File/
Open menu in the main editor screen.

Once you click CHOOSE LEVEL, you will be sent to the level hosting area. This will list all the players
who have chosen to join the level.

You can also choose to START LEVEL or LEAVE THE LEVEL.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

You will see the message about sharing the level and the VR Controls loading screen will pop up and
when ready, the player who is hosting will start their level automatically once loaded.

Joining a Shared Level

The other 1-7 players will click on the Search button and will be taken to a list showing levels that are
being shared.

Then, they should select the level from the list, and click the JOIN LEVEL button.

The players who have selected a shared level will also see the list of players in the same level. Once
the host starts the level, they will see that files are being shared from the host level and will see the
progress of the files getting downloaded.

Then, you will see the VR Controls screen, loading up the main application files.

The final step is to put on the headset and grab your handset(s). Once inside the level, you will see
the other players and can begin the level.

Exiting a Social VR Level

Hit the ESC key to exit out of the VR level. Then press the BACK button to get back to the editing
screen. Only the host will have access to the level files that were hosted during this time from their
computer.

Entering a Teachers Code

Usually, students can only see levels shared from within a school or district; anyone using a specific
installed licence key. The teacher code will allow the machine to see any level shared across all VR
Quest installs. Ask your software provider about this code if you wish this functionality.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 5. AI Scripts

When you enter the properties menu of an entity, you will see the sidebar show some information
concerning the object, for example, this hat entity in the screenshot below.

In this case, the sidebar shows the name of the object, a custom AI script, and a brief description of
what this item does – in this case, nothing.

The dropdown option for behaviours can be changed to suit your level, for example, the hat may be
made into a key (in a surreal level)!

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

For characters, there is usually a little more to it. For example, in the properties of a female character
shown below, this standard Non-Player Character (NPC) has its behaviour listed as Stand and Speak,
and in plain text it tells you what this AI will do:

Use SPEECH1 when the player gets within RANGE distance with
a duration of SPEECHDURATION

Further down, you can see both the RANGE value and
SPEECHDURATION value are editable, allowing you to quickly
and easily tailor the behaviour script to suit your needs.

Below that, you can see Speech Control where you can set the
voice, speed and the actual text that the NPC will say.

If that wasn’t neat enough, you can also record your own voice
by selecting the small record button. Simply click record, say
what you would like the NPC to say, and then click ‘Stop
Recording’.

The software will then save that to your computer and work
out how the character’s lips will move to match your
recording.

Try adding a character to your level, changing its behaviour

values and see how it affects the NPC. Also try some of the other behaviours and see how they can
be tailored to suit your specific needs.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 6. Character Creator

The Character Creator tool allows you to create all sorts of characters for your world, with
customisable attributes. To begin, click the following Icon from the menu.

You will first see a screen with a default character and lots of options to choose from on the right-
hand side. From here, you can choose from the various dropdown choices to create a huge assortment
of characters.

To make your characters even more unique, you can change their character behaviours. The
dropdown menu for behaviours contains several types such as ‘Wander Around’, or ‘Follow
Waypoint’.

There is also a ‘Custom’ option where a LUA Script can be specified directly, this is where you could
specify a custom behaviour that you have created yourself. This is for the more advanced users who
may have LUA coding experience (so not for most users).

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

Once you’re happy with your new character, remember to give them a good name, and select ‘Save
Character’. You can now select this character from the library like you would any other entity. You
will find your character creations in the ‘User’ section of the entity library.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 7. Waypoints

Creating Waypoints
Waypoints are a way to have the character entities in your level follow a path determined by you. The
‘Waypoint Editing Mode’ and ‘Draw Waypoint Path’ icons are both used together to make this happen.

The ‘Draw Waypoint Path’ is first used to draw a rough path that you would like your characters to
follow, and the ‘Waypoint Editing Mode’ is then used to tweak and adjust that path, adding new nodes
and removing them as the situation needs.

The Mode section from the right sidebar will allow you to adjust the spacing between the nodes, the
smaller the value, the more nodes you will have and the smoother the path will be.

In the Editor window, if you left click and drag on the floor, you will be able to draw a path and you
should end up with something like this.

The Waypoint Edit Mode will be automatically selected after each path is drawn.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

Waypoint Edit Mode
After you have drawn your path, you can select any of the nodes that have been created and
individually move it elsewhere. Holding SHIFT before left clicking to move a node will split that node
to increase the precision of the path.

Remember, that the very first node created in any path is the ‘Root’ of the path. If this is deleted,
then the entire path will be deleted. This is useful to delete a path that is no longer required.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 8. Win Zones

The level should now be coming along nicely and start to look a little like a completed scene now.

For the final part of this getting started tutorial we will add a Win Zone object. We've decided for our
level that the player simply must cross the map from the start position and enter the Win Zone to
escape, so let's place one of these win zones. As mentioned, the win zone is just another type of
marker. Move your editor window view to where you want to place your win zone. Click the [+] icon,
and then the markers tab. Now scroll down and select Win Zone from the library window. The zone
will attach to your pointer and can be placed manually with the left mouse button

You'll notice that the Win Zone has stars around the edges, which can be clicked on and dragged to
form any 5-pointed shape you like. All zone nodes can be moved and edited in this way. We want our
win zone to cover an area large enough so the player can win by entering it from several directions,
so we're going to move the zone stars to shape the size of the zone to fit the terrain, like so:

Now test the level and you should see the level complete message when you reach and enter the win
zone.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 9. Structure Editor

The Structure Editor will let you create a huge assortment of structures for your worlds, using an
intuitive and simple construction system. To begin, click the following Icon from the menu.

After clicking, you will notice a small icon attached to your cursor, and a ‘New Site’ in your entity
library. By placing this onto your terrain, you will place the site of your new structure, and be
presented with the following screen.

This is the construction area of your new structure, where you can place solid floors, walls and blocks
to form the shape of your structure. The grid plan is a rigid structure made up of 10 tiles by 10 tiles,
with each tile consisting of 20 by 20 cubes.

Textured blocks and bricks can be used to build your structures from scratch, and then save them as
standalone entities for your characters to discover and explore.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

Here’s what all these features do.

Name

This is what the structure entity will be called after

construction has finished. You’ll need to assign a name to
your structure, otherwise you will be unable to save it.

Parts

New Site - create a new structure

Draw with a small 1x1 sized cube

Floor – draws 20x20x1 flat floor sections

Wall - make 20x1x20 wall sections

Column - creates 1x1x20 long blocks

Row - horizontal 20x1x1 blocks

Block – a larger 2x2x2 cube

Controls

Paint - applies the selected part to the schematic

Delete - removes the selected part from the schematic

Rotates the selected part 90 degrees

Raises the editing of the structure up to the next level

Lowers the editing by a level

Confirms the editing and takes you out of edit mode

allowing you to place your construction onto the
terrain.

The texture set section lets you select from a range of textures which will be applied to the part
painted on the schematic. By choosing different parts and textures, you can create a wide array of
structures. The dropdown menu will allow you to select additional custom texture plates to create an
even greater variety of structures for your world.

Finally, once you are happy with your structure, and have given it a suitable name, you can save the
structure as a standalone entity, which you can then use to populate your world with lots of structures.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 10. Importing Custom Entities

For the more advanced users who wish to use some of their own models, there’s a powerful importer
that will let you bring in your 3D model files. The formats supported are .FBX or .X files. To start, you
need to have a model prepared and ready for importing, then click the following icon in the menu.

You will then be shown a screen where you can choose your model. Either double click on the mesh
file or left click and select Open. This model will then be loaded and converted.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

An image of a character is shown so that you can compare the scale of the object you are importing
with the width and height of a character as seen in level. Say you imported a castle object, you would
not want the castle to be smaller than the man, it would not look right in level.

From this screen, you can setup initial values, such as name, scale through the sidebar on the right-
hand side of the screen.

Once you are happy with your import settings, you can save the entity into the VR Quest Library. This
can now be selected from the menu like any other object in VR Quest.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 11. Installing and running the Oculus Quest Player

An additional feature of VR Quest is the ability to play your levels on the Oculus Quest, thanks to an
app specifically created to play your levels called the Oculus Quest Player.

Once you have installed VR Quest, you will find a folder in the root directory of that installation
called “Oculus Quest Player” which contains a file called VR Quest Player for Oculus Quest.apk. This
APK is an installer which can be used together with a side-loader application to install the player on
your Oculus Quest device. Below are the steps we recommend to installing the player:

1. Download the freely available side-loading application called SideQuest which you can find
by following this link: https://sidequestvr.com/#/download
2. Once downloaded and installed, you can launch the Side Quest software and follow its
instructions to connect it to your Oculus Quest device. This process is well documented on
the Side Quest website which you can find here: https://sidequestvr.com/#/setup-howto
3. At this point, your Oculus Quest device is now in Developer Mode, connected with a USB
cable and ready to receive a new APK.
4. Navigate to the ‘Oculus Quest Player’ folder in your VR Quest installation root directory
using Windows Explorer.
5. When you see the VR Quest Player for Oculus Quest.apk file, click, hold and drag the APK file
over to the Side Quest logo in the top left of the Side Quest software. This will trigger the
APK to be copied over to the Oculus Quest device, and when complete will auto-install.
6. Once auto installation of the Player APK has completed, which you can view from the
‘Running Tasks’ icon of the Side Quest top menu bar, you can now place the Oculus headset
on your head and use one of the controllers to navigate with its interface.
7. Within the Oculus Quest headset interface, you can press the Oculus button on the
controller to bring up the main control bar which displays at the base of your view.
8. Select the LIBRARY button from the main control bar, and select ‘Unknown Sources’ from
the left menu of the Library Window that appears.
9. From this list, select the ‘VR Quest Player for Oculus Quest’ app which will launch the Oculus
Quest Player app and you will see the main level cloud screen.
10. On the first launch of the Player app, you will be asked for a School Code which is used to
pair the Oculus Quest headset device with the VR Quest software that uploads the levels.
You can obtain this code when you select the ‘Save to Level Cloud’ from the FILE menu of
the VR Quest software.
11. The School Code will be five alphanumerical digits, which can enter using the laser provided
within the Player which is controlled by one of the controllers. Use the trigger on the
controller to select one of the letters/numbers from the virtual keyboard and when all five
digits have been entered, select the ENTER button.
12. Your Oculus Quest device will now list any levels you have uploaded from the VR Quest
software, and you can simply select one of the levels listed to begin downloading and
playing that level.
13. To exit the level, simply press the A button on your controller, and to move about use the
joystick control, with trigger to interact and grip button to run. You can use either controller
in this way.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide

 12. Wrapping Up

We've saved our map one last time and now we can test out our final, small but complete level.

When you enter the WinZone, if you take a look at the bottom of the screen, you'll see the message
Level Complete Triggered. In test level this indicates that the level is over, but you'll still be able to
move around and try other things.

If you've built a Standalone, your experience will end and you will be returned to the main menu.

Don't forget, for advice on a wide variety of areas or for technical support contact the support service
at https://vrquest.com/

13. FAQ
My VR hardware is not showing as detected by my PC
If your VR hardware is not initially detected, you may need to reboot your computer or restart the
software. If VR Quest was already on, it is possible the headset or the handset may be asleep and the
easiest way to get it going again is to close VR Quest, saving any level in progress, and the Mixed
Reality Portal and open a VR Quest again to refresh.

VR Quest | Getting Started Guide