HowToFishXR

by J_axon

HowToFishXR is a free, open-source mod that brings full 6DoF PCVR to How to Fish. It adds tracked hands, hand-aimed melee combat, physical fishing and reeling, one- and two-handed gun handling, roomscale movement, full-body IK, VR-native UI and typing, multiplayer pose syncing, and the visual feedback needed to play the complete game inside a headset.

This is a Windows PCVR mod. It is not a standalone Quest or PICO APK.

Optional support

HowToFishXR is completely free and nothing is locked behind payment. Donations are entirely optional. If you enjoy the mod and want to support future work, visit Ko-fi.

Requirements

• How to Fish on Windows/Steam.
• A PCVR headset and active OpenXR runtime, such as SteamVR, Meta/Oculus, PICO Connect, or Virtual Desktop.
• BepInEx 5.4.2305. A mod manager installs this declared dependency automatically.

Controls

Input	Action
Left stick	Move; steer and control throttle while driving
Left stick click	Sprint
Right stick left/right	Snap or smooth turn
Right stick up/down	Previous/next inventory slot
Right stick click	Crouch
Right trigger	Fire, use, punch, reel in, or click/drag menus
Left trigger	Secondary use; hold and release to cast or reel out
Right grip	Pick up, interact, or enter/exit the boat
Left grip—press once	F / Inspect the held item
Left grip near a gun	Two-handed aiming
Left grip near a fishing reel	Physical reeling
Left grip near a non-tool item/body	Visually latch the second hand
A / right primary	Jump
B / right secondary	Switch bait
Hold left grip + B	Drop; hold B to charge and release to throw
X / left primary	Reload a gun
Y / left secondary	Pause/unpause
F1 or both stick clicks	Open VR Settings while a menu is visible
F2	Recenter view
F3	Calibrate height and body

Only the right-hand laser controls menus. The right hand is always the primary tool hand. Throwing, empty-hand punching, brass knuckles, and the knife are aimed from the right hand; melee attacks have extra VR reach and small-target assistance for low creatures. The segmented melee guide starts enabled and can be switched off in VR Settings. Trigger input briefly shows it: red during/recent input, then light blue before hiding after five seconds. Gun aiming is physical, so there is no separate ADS button.

Multiplayer

HowToFishXR provides full multiplayer pose syncing between VR and flat-screen players who have the mod installed. Modded players can see VR head, hand, body, tool, and fishing poses. Some VR-player movements or interactions may still look inaccurate or bugged to other players; those remaining sync issues are actively being patched. Vanilla lobbies remain compatible.

Fishing in VR

Hold the left trigger to prepare a cast. Swing the rod from the side like a baseball bat without swinging too fast, then release slightly early as the rod comes forward. A controlled side swing works better than a hard wrist flick.

For physical reeling, bring your left hand to the reel and hold left grip. The hand latches onto the crank while the rod remains controlled by the right hand. Rotate your left hand around the reel to crank it. You can freely switch between physical reeling and holding the right trigger.

Fists, brass knuckles, and knife

Empty-hand punches, brass-knuckle attacks, and knife strikes aim from the calibrated right hand, just like throwing. Press the right trigger to attack along the controller's corrected forward direction. VR melee uses a 3-meter minimum targeting range so you can point down and hit crabs, pond creatures, and other small targets from a natural standing position. Focused assistance follows a small creature under the hand line, while walls and other real obstructions still block the attack.

The segmented melee guide is enabled by default and can be toggled with Melee Aim Guide in VR Settings. Pressing the trigger shows the actual attack path in red; it changes to light blue after the input and hides five seconds after the last press. It appears only during gameplay with empty fists, brass knuckles, or the knife—not in menus or with other tools.

The knife stays locked to the authored right-hand grip while its flat-screen sway and attack-lunge animations are suppressed, keeping the hand controller-driven throughout the strike.

Gun handling

Guns sit on the calibrated right-hand grip and fire from their real muzzle. Hold left grip near the weapon's foregrip for two-handed handling; both hands then influence its direction and stability. Release left grip to return to one-handed handling. Physical sights, scopes, native recoil, and muzzle-correct firing remain supported without flat-screen ADS zoom.

At some angles, a finger on the left hand may look twisted. This comes from the game's original mirrored hand geometry and is visible in the flat-screen model too; it is not controller drift or a broken grip.

Features

• Full stereoscopic OpenXR rendering, tracked hands, roomscale movement, physical crouching, recentering, height calibration, and snap or smooth turning.
• Full-body IK or Hands Only mode, with body behavior adapted for boats, death, respawning, and scene changes.
• Physical rod casting and reeling, one- and two-handed guns, physics-aware item/body handling, throwing, TNT, brass knuckles, and VR punching.
• VR-converted HUD, menus, dialogue, character customization, item markers, death UI, underwater visuals, damage effects, physical scopes, and UI blur.
• Accurate right-hand laser clicking and dragging plus a VR keyboard for names, text boxes, and other typing events.
• VR or flat-screen startup without uninstalling the mod.

VR keyboard and menus

Selecting a writable text field automatically opens the in-world keyboard in the correct menu space. While it is open, the normal menu laser is hidden and the right controller becomes a keyboard-only pointer. The keyboard follows the moving main-menu boat, types directly into the selected field, and has a dedicated Close button that safely returns control to the menu.

The main menu, pause menu, settings, character creator, inventory, HUD, dialogue, prompts, and world markers are presented for VR. Only the right controller operates the menu pointer.

VR Settings

Open the native-styled VR Settings page from the main or pause menu, or press F1/both stick clicks while a menu is visible.

• Full Body IK or Hands Only
• None, Snap, or Smooth turning, snap angle, and smooth-turn speed
• Melee aim guide on/off
• Roomscale movement
• Hold or Toggle sprint and crouch
• HUD scale
• First- or third-person death view
• Guided standing/body calibration

Hand placement, right-hand primary controls, HUD distance, native player height, and VR visual behavior use permanent tested values.

Headset support

HowToFishXR uses OpenXR and supports major PCVR headsets and controllers: Meta Quest 1/2/3/3S over Link, Air Link, SteamVR, or Virtual Desktop; Rift and Rift S; Valve Index; HTC Vive; Windows Mixed Reality and HP Reverb G2; Meta Touch Pro; and PICO PCVR controllers.

Launching in VR or flat screen

Start your OpenXR runtime, then launch How to Fish normally. For one flat-screen launch, use the Steam launch option --disable-vr. For persistent flat-screen mode, set Disable VR = true in BepInEx/config/com.jaxon.howtofishvr.cfg.

Installation

Mod manager

Install HowToFishXR through the Thunderstore Mod Manager or r2modman. Its BepInEx dependency will be installed automatically.

Manual

1. Install BepInEx 5.4.2305 using the instructions on its package page.
2. Download and unzip the HowToFishXR package.
3. Copy its BepInEx folder into the folder containing How to Fish.exe and allow the folders to merge.
4. Start your OpenXR runtime, then launch the game.

Compatibility

Mods that patch the camera, input, player body, item handling, or UI may conflict with HowToFishXR. A game update that changes those systems may require a mod update.

Open source and support

HowToFishXR is free and open source under Apache 2.0. Source code, issue reporting, and full documentation are available on GitHub. If you reuse its code, preserve the license and attribution, clearly credit J_axon as the creator, and link to the project.

The optional Ko-fi support page is also linked near the top. Donations are never required to use, download, or modify HowToFishXR.

Credits

• Created and directed by J_axon.
• Testers: Aeolian, Feesh, mrbub, Nuggies, supersaiyanslyr, VernalWitch, and Wake.

AI disclosure

AI was used during development for revisions, inquiries, and areas where assistance was needed. The mod was not fully AI-made; AI was one part of the development process. This disclosure is included for anyone who prefers to know when AI was involved.