terrible news. I play beat saber all the time on PSVR and was thinking about upgrading to the oculus quest for all the custom songs.
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Dev ceases development for BeatON (Custom Songs in BeatSaber for OculusQuest) after Oculus updates TOS forbidding mods.
- Thread starter Chessguy1
- Start date
terrible news. I play beat saber all the time on PSVR and was thinking about upgrading to the oculus quest for all the custom songs.
Seems like a fairly crap day for BS fans on what should have been a good one. This news bundled with a miserable 4 song Panic at the Disco pack is just ugh. We need more music in this music game.
lol, "but enjoy Panic"
I will never buy another music pack from them again. Mine was not even modded but never again.
I will never buy another music pack from them again. Mine was not even modded but never again.
This is so dumb.
Considering how crucial mods are to the success and creativity of VR content, this is a terrible move that considerably lowers the appeal of the Quest if you ask me.
Also, so far I always bought all the content packs to support the Beat Saber devs. Now I can't update anymore so I don't lose my custom tracks, so I also can't buy any content packs anymore.
Considering how crucial mods are to the success and creativity of VR content, this is a terrible move that considerably lowers the appeal of the Quest if you ask me.
Also, so far I always bought all the content packs to support the Beat Saber devs. Now I can't update anymore so I don't lose my custom tracks, so I also can't buy any content packs anymore.
Well shit. This is crazy. I went to install BeatOn for the first time *last night* and it didn't work, which I now know is because I updated to the new Panic! version like yesterday. I've got a bunch of custom songs I downloaded earlier yesterday and I guess I don't even have a way to use them. If only I had stayed at an older version I could at least play for now by refusing updates.
There isn't a way to downgrade, is there? I don't care if it breaks my scores or whatever.
There isn't a way to downgrade, is there? I don't care if it breaks my scores or whatever.
This makes me worried because Road to VR stated that they would not give a clear word on if Tethering will block Steam VR and the site basically said that it will work as long as Oculus does not kill the ability. I can honestly see them doing it.
You can check /BeatOnData/Backups if you maybe have a backup of a previous version.
Other than that I can't imagine that these TOS will keep modding away from the Quest. It just won't be done by people openly anymore. The developer of BeatOn pulled it because his name was attached to it and he fears being sued.
Console styled 'walled garden' VR is a huge double edged bummer. It's antithetical to what the pioneers of the 80/90s and the early 2010s hoped VR could be.
How do you reconcile something like this as a VR fan? "Thanks for the amazing innovations and stuff Facebook, but also piss off you fake news protecting, data gathering jerks!" ?
It's such a messed up feeling...
How do you reconcile something like this as a VR fan? "Thanks for the amazing innovations and stuff Facebook, but also piss off you fake news protecting, data gathering jerks!" ?
It's such a messed up feeling...
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I doubt that this is something the Beat Saber devs wanted. Afterall the major reason for the popularity of their game is custom tracks and they have always had a symbiotic relationship with the modding community.
So far this is simply a consequence of Oculus changing its TOS is such a way that modders now have to fear being sued by Facebook.
This is why i prefer PCVR. The best part about quest besides it's tetherless is it's modding capabilities and Facebook/Oculus knows that and it's why a lot of people are buying Quest including myself if they keep removing and if they remove sidequest i have no reason to keep it. Tetherless is cool and all but the majority of the time i play my quest in the same space as i play my Rift S. I'd rather sell it and put it towards a index if this is the route they wanna take.
Modding is a big part of VR and a big part of a lot of it's games. I'm curious how this will effect quest sales for beat saber going forward considering it's a HUGE reason people buy it and the beat saber devs know it.
Modding is a big part of VR and a big part of a lot of it's games. I'm curious how this will effect quest sales for beat saber going forward considering it's a HUGE reason people buy it and the beat saber devs know it.
I hope they're okay with essentially murdering the longevity of the game then, custom songs were the only real reason I played Beat Saber as much as I did on PC.
well that blows. I've only played on psvr but always held out hope of custom songs on psvr one day. guess not
There's still sideloading built in which makes it the most open console on the market.
Yep, I reject social media entirely. I do not have a single dealing with Facebook and view everything that they do negatively, then they go and start advancing the only area of video games that I enjoy and look forward to with no cynicism. It is a strange feeling.
I disagree. The game was massive popular before people started modding in their own songs. And I doubt many people at all bought the game only on the condition that they could mod it, without having played it before. I'm sure people play it *more* because of custom tracks after having bought it, and some people of course will have had their friends demo it with custom songs. But I doubt that's a significant percentage. Heck, I've seen long lines of people at the Beat Saber arcade machine, and that only has the very first batch of songs they released.
Oh I was literally considering a Quest too but without custom songs, why bother? I'll stick to tethered PC VR. GG Oculus, you lost a customer
In short, it isn't. Facebook is a just bully.
My first set was a rift, but I'll never be buying their hardware again.
The song modding started basically with the games release. The games popularity and presence online(Youtube, Twitch, TikTok etc.) is almost exclusively due to custom maps. The very reason Expert+ even exists is because the community moved so quickly past what the base game offered in their own creations and because Beat Games hired mappers from the community to create official maps.
I'm not saying Beat Saber wouldn't be a successful game without mods, but its popularity and especially its longevity would be far from where it is right now. I mean, I started on PSVR and after like 2 or 3 months of casual play you platinumed the thing and basically ran out of content. The only reason I still play Beat Saber is because I got a Quest and gained access to custom maps, and they open up an entire new chapter in the game, there is so much more to the mechanics, so many facets the base game doesn't even begin to offer.
Its simply impossible for the devs to provide somewhere near enough content for people to keep playing this game over months and years and quite frankly they would have no chance in hell at satisfying the communities expectations when it comes to quality of the maps and diversity of genres. I mean, I really appreciate their packs and stuff, but like a hand full of songs every other month just aren't doing a rhythm game justice.
The community is whats keeping this game alive and constantly improving.
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how do you feel about this, then:
I don't see how this relates to what I wrote.
But yes, this is bad, too.
if your appeal of the quest is tied to the success of VR content, you should be aware of the financial harm their walled garden (which this is an extension of) does to the medium. I bring this up, because it's still going on, and still hasn't been picked up by gaming outlets (because they barely cover VR at all). It's actually a huge, silent problem in the VR world right now, precisely because the quest has simultaneously become the most popular VR headset for consumers, and also the most restrictive for devs.
I agree. But since I am not a dev I wasn't affected by this so far.
I was affected by Sonys restrictive policies on PSVR, but that nonsense is kind of expected because consoles.
With the Quest I was hoping to escape this, but apparently I was wrong.
Someone should write a nice article about how the cultural industry is killing the creative potential of the medium, Adorno-style.
How are business models, closed platforms, recommendation algorithms and legal frameworks affecting the trajectory the medium takes creatively and artistically? Thats a whole can of worms.
This significantly reduces the appeal of Beat Saber for Quest. Exactly none of the content packs have had anything interesting for me, and more importantly it's clear a Rock Band-style model where tons of official DLC gets released covering a wide spectrum of genres is never going to happen, or at least not given the rate at which content has been released so far.
I agree with a longer article about the overall effects of the walled garden in creative mediums, but I'm talking about very specifically the quest. It's weird that nothing has come out regarding the quest's pretty unique curation process. It's harder to get onto the Oculus Quest store, than it is to get onto PSVR. Oculus rejects lots of people for the quest, even people who already have successful VR products on the actual Oculus Rift store. Even when they just want to port their already successful and popular oculus rift content to the quest.
I have lots of problems with curation, but the Quest is pretty uniquely awful in its walled garden. I would say they are worse than Apple in this regards. This stance on modding is just an extension of the ways they have an iron tight grip over what you can or cannot display on your Oculus Quest.
Welp, no reason to buy the quest. I play on ps4 already, but I wanted the quest for some dua lipa and some other favorites.
I still play once in a while, but you're right. I'm actually back to rock band. Just got a guitar the other night actually. Not enough unique songs. Don't get me wrong, I really love a few, but I'd love some variety.
I still play once in a while, but you're right. I'm actually back to rock band. Just got a guitar the other night actually. Not enough unique songs. Don't get me wrong, I really love a few, but I'd love some variety.
I'm hoping that this in general is a nothingburger.
like it sucks that the dev is ceases development, but it's been an open source project so someone else could take it up.
and it sucks that that added that langue to their TOS, but it's possible that they won't actually act upon it, just if someone asks they point and go "see we don't allow it."
I guess we will know more in a few days as that's usually how long it takes for the next version of Beat On to work with the new version of Beat Saber.
The crummy part is my mom is visiting in two weeks specifically so I could load up some custom songs for her to work out with since she is using beat saber to get in better shape and is getting tired of the base songs.
like it sucks that the dev is ceases development, but it's been an open source project so someone else could take it up.
and it sucks that that added that langue to their TOS, but it's possible that they won't actually act upon it, just if someone asks they point and go "see we don't allow it."
I guess we will know more in a few days as that's usually how long it takes for the next version of Beat On to work with the new version of Beat Saber.
The crummy part is my mom is visiting in two weeks specifically so I could load up some custom songs for her to work out with since she is using beat saber to get in better shape and is getting tired of the base songs.
The last keynote made it pretty clear that Facebook doesn't view VR as gaming platform, neither does it view the Quest as a gaming platform.
Gaming is their hook for early adopters, but their long term goals go way beyond gaming. And I should stress that I don't think thats a bad approach.
But considering that, their target audience is more one that casually plays the one or two most popular titles, instead of an audience thats interested in trying out new and creative content just for the sake of it. Their curation reflects that. I always see the same stuff.
I think a walled garden for gaming purposes is pretty bad, because it's my professional domain, but I think a walled garden for things beyond gaming is actually exponentially worse. The reason I really dislike this curation process for the quest isn't because of the effects on gaming, it's because of it's affects on VR as an actual productive medium. This really, really hurts scientific R&D, which is actually the area where VR is currently most prevalent. It's dangerous when the most popular headset at the moment, with the richest feature set, is also the most restrictive, especially for non-entertainment fields. For example, I did work with MD Anderson on a VR medical application. We used the HTC Vive, because they actually had the most laxed enterprise licensing options available, and we knew our target audience would be elderly people using this stuff for chemotherapy management, not video games. I seriously doubt we could release our stuff on the Quest, despite it being an otherwise wholly superior option for patients.
I was literally thinking the other day I might get Oculus quest if I can have custom best saber soundtrack. It's the main reason I was considering it. I didn't know it wasn't the case already and now I know it'll never happen.
I just got beat saber on psvr a month ago and really want other music.
I just got beat saber on psvr a month ago and really want other music.
Facebook views these innovations as theirs to make.
All of this only reinforces my distain for Facebook and strengthens my convictions that people like Elizabeth Warren are right when they say we need to break up companies like Facebook and Google.
There long term impact on whatever medium they work with, as well as their impact on society, is ultimately detrimental and not aided at all by their quasi-monopolies, market leadership and business plans. We can do better.
Custom tracks on Quest worked since like a couple of days after the thing launched.
In the beginning there was a command line loader and then more user friendly tools came out until BeatOn basically allowed you to curate you custom songs easily from within the headset, without even needing to connect to a PC.
I wouldn't get my hopes up.
There literally is no legal way for them to officially provide maps, even when they are user created, with music which they don't have a license for. So this will at best work for copyright free music.
Very disappointing, but not a surprising move for Facebook given their goals. Sucks for the BeatOn project and Beat Saber devs in particular, they're neutering their killer app.
All about wireless VR but still wary buying much of anything on the Quest storefront, including double dipping on Beat Saber. Mostly due to the premium pricing, but also just a general mistrust of Facebook being good shepards for the medium and not wanting to invest in their frustratingly restrictive walled garden.
All about wireless VR but still wary buying much of anything on the Quest storefront, including double dipping on Beat Saber. Mostly due to the premium pricing, but also just a general mistrust of Facebook being good shepards for the medium and not wanting to invest in their frustratingly restrictive walled garden.
Man I was thinking about getting a Quest sometime in the near future and was specifically interested in Beat Saber. Are there other good alternatives to Oculus where mods can still happen?
I don't understand - oculus don't seem to be threatening anything, and it should have been obvious this wasn't a 'supported' mod and no permission was sought
second - what actions are needed to avoid losing what we have? Disable updates for both beat saber and quest until people check for compatibility with each release?
I'm perfectly happy to stop updating beat saber if needed as a trade off for custom songs
second - what actions are needed to avoid losing what we have? Disable updates for both beat saber and quest until people check for compatibility with each release?
I'm perfectly happy to stop updating beat saber if needed as a trade off for custom songs
For now, do not update to the new version that includes the Panic at the Disco pack. If you do you'll lose access to custom tracks for the forseeable future.
