SPAZ2 Frame Controls

A mod that makes Space Pirates and Zombies 2's VR controls work properly on joystick controllers: Steam Frame, Valve Index, Quest/Touch and the like, played through SteamVR.

SPAZ 2's VR mode was built for HTC Vive wands, whose round trackpad you press like a button. On a thumbstick, SteamVR treats the stick as that trackpad, so you have to tilt the stick and click it in for anything to happen. Turning, moving, issuing commands: every one needs a click. The developers confirmed the problem in 2019, and no official fix is coming.

What it fixes

• Tilting is enough. Move, turn and zoom by tilting the stick; no clicking.
• Stick commands work. Directional commands fire when you push the stick past a threshold. That covers ship commands (right stick up), the camera toggle (grip + right stick right), weapon switching and the rest. A plain SteamVR "touch = click" binding can't do this.
• Comfortable laser pointer. The pointer is tilted 35° downward (adjustable), so you can aim without bending your wrists.

It doesn't change flat-screen mode, Oculus-runtime mode or real Vive wands. It adds files next to the game but never modifies the game's own files.

Controller	Status
Quest 2 (via SteamVR)	Tested, working
Steam Frame	Intended target; reports should match Quest
Valve Index	Expected to work; untested
HTC Vive wands	Not changed (the mod detects trackpads and leaves them alone)

Install

Easy: all-in-one package

1. Download SPAZ2FrameControls-<version>-with-BepInEx.zip from the Releases page.
2. Find the game folder: in Steam, right-click Space Pirates and Zombies 2 → Manage → Browse local files. It's the folder that contains SPAZ2_64.exe.
3. Extract the zip into that folder, so winhttp.dll and the BepInEx folder sit next to SPAZ2_64.exe.
4. Play in VR as normal.

Manual: you already have BepInEx 5

1. Download SPAZ2FrameControls-<version>.zip and extract it into the game folder.
2. Important for this game: open BepInEx/config/BepInEx.cfg and, under [Preloader.Entrypoint], change Type = Application to Type = Camera. SPAZ 2 runs on an old Unity version (5.4), and without this change the game shows a black screen.

The mod needs BepInEx 5.x, 64-bit. BepInEx 6 is untested.

Uninstall

• To remove just the mod, delete BepInEx/plugins/SPAZ2FrameControls/.
• To remove everything, also delete BepInEx/, winhttp.dll, doorstop_config.ini and .doorstop_version.

Settings

Settings live in BepInEx/config/aussie1579.spaz2.framecontrols.cfg. The file is created the first time you launch the game with the mod, and you can edit it with Notepad while the game is closed.

Setting	Default	What it does
RequireClick	false	Set to true to turn off the stick fix and go back to tilt-and-click.
StickPressThreshold	0.5	How far (0–1) you tilt the stick before it counts. Lower values are more sensitive.
FlickReleaseThreshold	0.35	Once pressed, the press lets go when the tilt drops below this. Keep it below StickPressThreshold.
RepressOnDirectionChange	false	Fire a new command when you slide the stick from one direction to another without returning to centre.
PointerPitchOffset	-35	Pointer tilt in degrees. More negative points lower, and 0 is the original angle.
PointerYawOffset	0	Pointer left/right turn in degrees. Positive turns it right.
OffsetAimCursor	true	Rotate the aim cursor on the controller to match the pointer.
DebugLogging	false	Write every stick press to the log, for troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting

Black screen on launch. The BepInEx entrypoint hasn't been changed. See step 2 of the manual install.

Did the mod load? Open BepInEx/LogOutput.log. It should contain StickInputPatch applied and PointerOffsetPatch applied. Once you're in VR, it should also show a Controller N: model=... line for each controller.

Sticks still need clicking. Check that RequireClick is false. Then check the Controller lines in the log: if your controller shows axis0Type=k_eControllerAxis_TrackPad, the mod deliberately leaves it alone. Please open an issue with your log.

Reporting a problem. Open an issue and attach BepInEx/LogOutput.log and SPAZ2_64_Data/output_log.txt. Turning on DebugLogging first helps.

How it works

The game reads VR input through the legacy SteamVR plugin. Every command checks "was the trackpad just clicked, and which way was the thumb pointing at that moment?" The mod patches the one place where the controller state is read each frame, and reports the trackpad as clicked whenever the stick is tilted past the threshold. Every control in the game then behaves as it would on a Vive wand.

With a "touch = click" binding, by contrast, the click happens as soon as your thumb lands on the centred stick. The direction is zero at that moment, so commands never fire.

The full reverse-engineering notes are in NOTES.md.

Building from source

Requirements: the .NET SDK (6 or newer) and a copy of the game.

1. Copy SPAZ2_64_Data/Managed/*.dll from your game folder into ref/.
2. Copy BepInEx.dll and 0Harmony.dll from BepInEx/core/ into ref/bepinex/.
3. Build:

   dotnet build src -c Release -p:GameDir="C:\path\to\SPAZ2"
   

   If GameDir contains a BepInEx folder, the DLL is copied straight into it.
4. To produce the release zips, run pwsh scripts/package.ps1. They're written to dist/.

The game's DLLs are not included in this repository and must not be committed.

Credits and license

• Built with BepInEx (LGPL-2.1) and HarmonyX. The all-in-one package includes an unmodified BepInEx 5.4.23.5 with its license.
• This is an unofficial fan mod, not affiliated with or endorsed by MinMax Games. Space Pirates and Zombies 2 is their property.
• The mod's code is under the MIT License.