echo combat

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‘Echo VR’ Online Play is Back with the Help of This Unofficial Mod

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Meta shut down Echo VR, one of its best-performing VR games, in early August. At the time, it seemed like there was little hope for fans to ever play again, but now a modder has released an experimental project that brings unofficial online matches back to the zero-G sports game.

Created by David ‘Xenomega’ Pokora, the so-called ‘EchoRelay’ mod for the PC VR version of the game has brought back online services, which includes both Echo Arena and the game’s VR shooter variant, Echo Combat. Since it’s a PC mod, there’s no such solution for the Quest version of the game unfortunately.

The mod, which the creator calls a “proof-of-concept”, allows you to either run your own server or connect to other community servers. While Pokora states in the EchoRelay’s GitHub page that it’s “not intended to host unofficial services for the public,” the project is public and can be downloaded by anyone. Granted, you’ll need a copy of Echo VR on PC to begin with, which is no longer available via Meta’s PC Store.

Moreover, Pokora says the project won’t include continued support. “This project will never aim to go beyond the scope of personal educational research,” Pokora says, maintaining that there won’t be any further feature completion beyond what’s already available.

Still, while the GitHub page has been archived, enterprising modders can still fork the project and make changes there—something that Meta may or may not condone.

Check out the features below:

  • Extended Echo VR command-line arguments to launch the game:
    • As an offline client (no server)
    • As a dedicated game server
    • In windowed mode (no VR headset)
    • In headless mode, a console-based process with no graphics or audio
    • Use -noovr without -spectatorstream, allowing demo profiles with a VR headset or in windowed mode
  • Support for most standard in-game features:
    • Social Lobby
    • Echo Arena
    • Echo Combat
    • Local AI matches
    • Public or private match game types
    • NO Cooperative AI matches
    • Spectator and Game Admin (moderator) support
    • Support for different client flows (e.g. -lobbyid, which requests joining a specific lobby by UUID)
    • NO Partying-up with friends in a squad
    • NO Persisted armor changes/updates across game sessions
  • Support for basic server operator and administrator flows:
    • Kick users from game session
    • Ban accounts until a given date/time
    • Enforce allowed/denied clients through IP-based Access Control Lists.
    • Modify server-provided resources such as accounts, login settings, channel descriptions, etc.
    • Support for most network messages, e.g. profile fetches and updates, server resource fetching, matching, etc

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Only 1 Day Remains to Play ‘Echo VR’ Before Servers Go Dark

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Tomorrow, Meta and Ready at Dawn are shutting down Echo VR, the free-to-play game that helped pioneer VR sports. Get in now before they pull the plug.

Meta made no secret it was shutting down the zero-gravity sport Echo VR and its PC-only squad shooter variant, Echo Combat, having announced earlier this year it was sunsetting the games come August 1st at 10 AM PT (local time here). That means fans only have a few hours left to play before the multiplayer-only games are unceremoniously disconnected from Meta’s servers.

Echo VR fans didn’t go down without a fight though. Some spirited protests against the shutdown even included a dedicated fan group flying an airplane-towed message over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park back in March, stating “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”. Both online and offline protests fell on deaf ears though. The URL mentioned above now leads to a 404, and it’s pretty clear by now that Meta didn’t change their collective minds.

The studio recently released the Echo VR OST on YouTube, which feels like small recompense for killing consistently one of the best-rated and most popular free titles on Quest. Ready at Dawn, which was acquired by Meta in 2020, explained earlier this year the shutdown was made for “many good reasons [,] chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.”

Both Ready at Dawn and Onward studio Downpour Interactive found themselves caught up in one of the multiple rounds of layoffs to hit Meta earlier this year. To boot, Ready at Dawn has yet to reveal what’s next. Whatever it is though, we’re hoping it has many of the same hard-won learnings baked in, like Echo VR and its narrative games Lone Echo did. In the meantime, check out the OST playlist below.

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‘Echo VR’ Players Protest Shutdown by Flying Message Over Meta HQ

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Echo VR’s days are numbered, as Meta announced earlier this year it would soon be pulling the plug on one of its most successful games on Quest. But hardcore players of zero-G sports game Echo VR and its shooter variant Echo Combat aren’t going down without a fight.

Organizers behind a protest group called ‘The Fight For Echo’ are looking to keep their favorite game alive, and they’re apparently ready to take drastic measures.

On Wednesday, March 1st, the group commissioned an airplane-towed message to fly over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park, California, which then circled the heart of Silicon Valley for over three hours for all to see. The message was directed at Meta founder & CEO Mark ‘Zuck’ Zuckerberg, stating: “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”

You can see the plane in action, courtesy of a YouTube livestream by ‘rev2600’, one such dedicated Echo VR player:

The protest group explained the move on the Fight For Echo website:

While we are extremely passionate about these games and are very supportive of the team at Ready at Dawn and the Echo Games franchise on the whole, we think we can still help Meta and Ready at Dawn by continuing to be the testing ground and supportive community we always have been and provide a place where larger ideas for other VR games can be tested.

We cannot do that however without some kind of game server being provided to the community to host ourselves, or minimal infrastructure to play on and the permission to work with the people required to do it.

We understand that there is a future direction being taken; and that it is tied to regulations and compliance, and our intention is not to hold anything back. We only wish to continue to do what we’ve always done and be the ambassadors of VR that you want us to be.

The Meta-owned developers Ready at Dawn announced in late January that it was shutting down the popular free-to-play multiplayer game Echo VR, which is slated to go dark on August 1st.

At the time, the studio said the decision to shut down the game “was made for many good reasons and chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.”

Undeterred by the airplane-towed plea, Meta sent out the following message to Echo VR players last night:

We are reaching out to let you know that Echo VR servers will shut down on August 1st, 2023 – 10: 30 AM Pacific. On this date, both Echo VR and Echo Combat will no longer be playable.

Add-ons are no longer available for purchase in the Quest store. Echo Points are no longer available for purchase in the Echo Shop. Any Echo Points currently in your account can be used until August 1st, 2023 – 10: 30 AM Pacific, with items heavily discounted in the Echo Shop.

It has been our pleasure to see this community grow and compete over the years. Thank you for your time and passion. For more information, please read Ready At Dawn’s blog post at https://medium.com/@EchoGames/an-update-on-the-future-of-echo-vr-7f074dca1ed1.

While a reversal of the shutdown seems less likely now that Ready at Dawn has completely neutered the free-to-play game’s in-game currency, the founders behind ‘The Fight For Echo’ initiative have setup a change.org petition so others can show their support. At the time of this writing over 25,000 people have signed.

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