1.17.5 Update (Patreon)

Hi all-

tl;dr; Just read the bold comments!

My intent was to release 1.17.5 last Wednesday or Thursday, but I ran into quite a few issues with the SteamVR plugin update and the change over to the new SteamVR-based input system. Some of the issues took quite a bit of debug to resolve, like getting Vive Trackers working again. Other issues are still unresolved, like getting a reliable scroll out of the original Vive trackpad, regardless of settings in the SteamVR input bindings. Due to this extra work and issues, 1.17.5 has taken longer to complete than I had hoped. 

The good news is the SteamVR plugin and input system changes have opened up the possibilities for new functionality with controllers. It also allows users to make their own controller bindings if they don't like the default using SteamVR's own input binding system (found in SteamVR dashboard -> Settings -> Input Bindings). One example of a highly-requested feature that was added to 1.17.5 is push/pull of grabbed object. This works great and is bound by default to trackpad up/down swipe on both Index and Vive controllers when remotely-grabbing objects. Remote and near grab are now distinct types of grab as well to aid with this. You can see more of what was added to 1.17.5 by looking on the Trello board. 

Now for the bad news. The timing of this delay is not great. I have a week-long family vacation starting on Monday that I cannot delay or change. I threw out the notion that maybe I would miss this vacation to my family due to work issues, but quickly received the "Are you f-ing serious?" look from my wife, and I realized my mistake in asking such nonsense. While I am super dedicated to this project, I need to remember to keep a healthy life balance, a new thing I have been learning about since starting this project nearly 2 years ago! I really had no idea how this project would take over my life in such a way when I started it. That is both good and bad!

So I'm left with a hard decision of what to do with 1.17.5. Here are the list of issues and other stuff I have yet to complete due to additional work described.

• Loss of function on original Vive controller: stacked node cycle using trackpad no longer works. The "Scroll" functionality in SteamVR input should allow this usage, but there are multiple problems. If using mouse scroll option, there is no way to turn off all the haptic feedback and the scroll momentum cannot be completely turned off resulting in imprecise ability to do 1-click style cycles. If using smooth scroll option, haptic feedback can be completely turned off, but it still does not provide the proper input needed for precise 1-at-a-time cycle.  As such, I probably need to implement my own cycle functionality and just have the user define the axis to use in SteamVR input settings. This is not ideal.
• New clothing added by my art developer has not yet been incorporated or tested. Quite a few items were added, but I have not had time to officially bind them into the game.
• Oculus Touch in SteamVR input bindings are not yet complete and fully tested. I need to test with both Rift and Rift S still.
• Windows Mixed Reality input bindings have not yet been created and this platform is still completely untested (I have Odyssey+ to test with, but it hasn't been hooked up in ages). 
• Leap Motion finger tracking has not yet been ported to my new finger input/output system, meaning Leap Motion still cannot control Person fingers in possession mode or in remote control mode. Also it is possible Leap Motion support broke with all the other changes that we done. At the very least, this needs to be retested. Ideally it needs to be converted to common system.
• Oculus headsets in Oculus (non-SteamVR) mode can no longer bend fingers.
• General 1-2 day testing we usually do internally before release

Given all of this, my new plan is as follows:

• Finish as much as possible on the list above today. Obviously the 1-2 day testing is not going to happen, so that will likely mean more bugs and issues, especially for SteamVR users due to very large change in how all input works.
• Release 1.17.5 as a "beta" late today, and require a new updater that allows beta-opt-in to get it. People who don't want to deal with bugs or known issues can simply stay on the last stable release (1.17.0.6).
• Upon return from vacation, I'll check back on bug reports, and put out one or more patch releases before moving 1.17.5 out of beta to make it the official version

Thank you for your understanding in this very stressful situation I am in! I hope the beta plan is something that will work to make the best of it.

Meshed