Movement

 

Skyrim VR ships with the usual basic options for VR movement: teleportation vs. smooth motion, snap-turn vs. smooth turn. There’s jumping and crouching/sneaking. All the usual stuff, and it’s all done via thumbsticks. The game is room-scale, so you can turn and move with your actual body (until you slam into actual furniture or an actual wall), but motion controls aren’t involved in player movement beyond that.

If you’ve been paying any attention at all, you’ve probably guessed that Mad God’s Overhaul includes mods that change that.

DovaVR Locomotion

DovaVR Locomotion lets you walk by swinging your arms at your side. It doesn’t require any separate software running in the background; it’s just a mod. It’s already in the list, disabled by default. Read on and decide if you want to check that box.

Hold both arms behind you for a moment to activate the mod, and then begin swinging your arms naturally. You don’t need to use an exaggerated swinging movement. If you’d rather not hold your arms behind you to start, the MCM also has a button activation option. It even works with controllers that send nonstandard signals.

The mod also supports gestures for swimming and horse riding. For the full rundown, including the MCM options, see the DovaVR Locomotion page.

NatLo

If you’re using the SteamVR runtime, there’s a ~$10 app called Natural Locomotion (a.k.a. NatLo) that’s been around a long time and has some overlapping features. It has some other interesting options, including movement options for walking in place and even playing seated, but it is a paid app, and it requires that you play the game through SteamVR (not OpenComposite Unleashed).

VR Climbing

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Climb almost any surface using the Grip buttons.

Bellbound’s VR Climbing mod allows you to climb the walls (or pretty much anything else) using the Grip buttons on your motion controllers. It’s pretty feature-packed, so be sure to check out the mod page. You can launch yourself (climb-jump), catch yourself, and leap into airborne attacks. Khajits climb better than other races, and werewolves and vampire lords climb better still. Climbing costs stamina (8 per second by default, configurable in the INI file), and you can get knocked off if you take too much damage. It’s easier to climb (to climb-jump, in particular) in light armor, though you’ll get better at climbing in armor as you increase your skill in each armor type.

If you remember that climbing is an option, there’s a lot of fun to be had. Of course you can also use your newfound vertical mobility to sort of cheat, and to reach areas that Bethesda never meant for you to go. Use your power wisely!