DramaticShapeVoxelMod/README.md

Dramatic Shape Voxel Mod

A mod for the Pokémon Gen 1 Recompilation Project.

The overworld as a voxelized 3D diorama. Also supports experimental first-person, third-person and VR.

Controls

Every key is free-roam only, and each one is also a row on the OPTIONS menu.

control	does
3, or the VOXEL options row	OFF → 15 → 35 → 50 → 75 → 1ST → 3RD → OFF (camera pitch)
SELECT (pad / touch)	the same step as 3 — for the machines with no number row
5, or the V-GRID options row	OFF / ON — a one-pixel wireframe on every voxel
6, or the T-SHIFT options row	OFF → 1 → 2 → 3 → OFF (miniature blur)
7, or the V-CURVE options row	OFF → 1 → 2 → 3 — bend the world over the horizon
8, or the 3D-BTL options row	ON / OFF — fight on the map instead of on a white field
9, or the WATER options row	FULL / SKY / OFF — waves and reflections on water. SKY gives the surface its pixel-tall wave columns and puts the sky, the sun, the moon and the cast in them; FULL adds a screen-space ray march that also reflects the shoreline, the trees and the buildings standing behind it
the BACK SPRITES options row	OFF / ON — keep your own Pokémon on the battle menu, seen from behind in its classic slot, instead of standing it on the map; the foe is still out there. Only on the menu while 3D-BTL is on, because it decides nothing without it
the AA options row	OFF / 2X / 4X — smooth the stair-stepped edges of the 3D world by rendering the diorama larger than the window and folding it back down. The ladder is samples per display pixel: 2X is a canvas root-two wider and taller, 4X one exactly twice the size. Every edge in the projected picture softens with the silhouettes — the tileset's own texels are quads in a perspective view and cross the pixel grid at the same arbitrary angles — so the diorama reads smoother rather than sharper. The most expensive row in the mod, so it is OFF by default and FULL leaves it alone
the DAYTIME options row	SYNC / DAY / NIGHT / DUSK / DAWN / CYCLE — what time it is outdoors, on the diorama and on the flat 2D world; held at SYNC (and off the menu) while VOXEL is FULL

Free-roam cameras (1ST / 3RD)

The last two rungs of the VOXEL ladder are experimental, and they are the same camera: 1ST stands it in the player's own eyes, 3RD pulls it back onto a boom behind their shoulder. Both steer, and on both the grid walk is replaced by continuous camera-relative movement — push in any direction and you go there, at any angle, not just along the four compass lines. Collision, warps, ledges, encounters and scripts all still run through the engine's own machinery.

control	does
mouse	look (the cursor is captured; left click is A, right click is B)
right stick	look
a touch drag off the overlay's controls	look
left stick / touch d-pad / arrow keys	walk, relative to where the camera looks
wheel, Q / E, pinch, or a stick click	3RD only — let the boom out and pull it in (Q and left stick click out, E and right stick click in)

On an orbit rung the same wheel, Q/E and pinch drive the engine's own survey zoom. On 1ST they do nothing at all: the eye is in your head, and there is no distance to change.

On 3RD the boom shortens against whatever is behind you, so backing into a wall walks the camera in to your shoulders rather than through it — squeeze it all the way in and the view is 1ST until you step clear. The character turns to face where they are walking, and every sprite in the world — yours, the NPCs', the figures drawn into the furniture — turns to face the camera and shows the frame it would look like from where the camera actually stands, so walking behind someone shows you their back.

The battle camera

A fight staged on the map (3D-BTL, on by default) is shot with a solved over-the-shoulder rig — and you can steer it.

control	does
right stick, a touch drag, or the mouse	swing the shot around the arena (→) and raise the seat (↑)
wheel, Q / E, pinch, or a stick click	the lens (Q / left stick click out, E / right stick click in)

Both axes stop where the composition does. Left stops at the shot the rig was solved for — there is nothing to the left of it. Right ends side-on: the eye square to the arena's axis, both Pokémon at the same distance instead of one behind the other. Down stops at the rig's own low stance; up is 45° above it. The lens opens as you swing or climb, by exactly the amount the two Pokémon spread apart, so they stay framed at every angle. Move animations follow the pair's position and its separation, so a beam still lands on the Pokémon it was aimed at.

Where you leave the camera is where the next battle opens.

BACK SPRITES locks it. That setting pins your own Pokémon to the GB's slot on the menu while the foe stands out on the map, and no angle holds a composition that is half frame and half world — so with it on, the shot holds the one the rig was solved for.

VR

The VR options row (OFF / ON, off by default) drives a PCVR headset through OpenXR on Windows — SteamVR, Oculus or WMR.

Both free-roam rungs put the headset in the player's head: a boom that seats its wearer three cells behind their own body is a reliable way to make people ill, so 3RD in VR is 1ST in VR. The rung still changes the walk and the sprites the same way.

VR controls

Suggested onto Touch, Index and WMR controllers (rebindable in the runtime's own binding UI); pad, keyboard and mouse all keep working alongside.

control	does
left stick	move — grid-walks the diorama, free-walks 1ST
A / B (X / Y on the left hand)	A / B
either trigger	START
left stick click	step the VOXEL angle ladder (same as the "3" key)
right stick up / down	diorama only — zoom the model
right stick left / right	1ST only — snap-turn 45°
grip squeeze + raise / lower that hand	diorama only — drag the table's height
head	1ST and battles — look; FreeMove walks where you look
left hand	1ST and battles — the Pokédex: menus, dialogs and the 2D battle screen on its screen

Licenses

This mod redistributes one third-party binary:

• assets/vr/openxr_loader.dll — the Khronos OpenXR loader (version 1.0.10.2, x64, unmodified), © The Khronos Group Inc., licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The full license text ships alongside the DLL at assets/vr/LICENSE-openxr_loader.txt, as the license requires; keep the two files together if you redistribute this mod. Source: KhronosGroup/OpenXR-SDK.

Everything else in this mod is original to it, except that the voxel geometry and shape profiles are derived from the tile and sprite data of the original game, as documented by the pret/pokered disassembly. No ROM data, artwork or audio is included; the mod reads the assets the host game already has.