A VRChat Setup and Basics Guide

This guide will show you where to get VRChat on for different platforms, as well as how to use the basic features such as picking worlds, avatars and their effects, and the social tab.

Intro

Hello everyone! My name is Ciege Apallon, long time member of Amethyst Astra's community. In celebration of her getting 500 followers on Twitch, there is going to be a VRChat meet up! However, there have been questions over VRChat like how to get it and how to be setup for it. So I've decided to help out Amethyst and cut her some slack by creating this guide out to show the basics of the most important features you'll need to know for VRChat.

How To Get VRChat

So, first off, how does one get VRChat? More specifically, what platforms is it on and does it cost anything? Well, there are 3 main platforms that VRChat is available on. One is 100% free, one is where the game itself is free, and the last does require you to spend money on it. So I'm going to list them off in order and explain how it works for each one.

Steam

This one is the 100% free option and is also the easiest to set it up on in my opinion. To find VRChat simply go onto the store page, search "VRChat" in the search bar in the top right of the store, and click on the first option. When on the page, scroll down until you see the Play Game option. Click that, and it will add VRChat into the library for you to download.
A thing you might notice is that line of text above the Play Game button, saying "This game runs in both standard and VR modes." What this means is that you DO NOT have to have a VR headset to be able to play the game! Launching the game without a VR headset simply lets you play the game as if you were playing a normal First-Person game, with standard controls like WASD movement and using the mouse to look around. Another thing that makes the setup easy is that you don't have to have a VRChat account, you can simply use your Steam info for it (More on that later).

Meta/Oculus Store

This option is the middle ground option. While VRChat itself is free to get on this platform, it does require you to have a VR headset (which isn't cheap). For the Meta Store, you would search for it much like you would for Steam and click on the page. Then when on the page, you'd click the Get option which adds the game onto your account. If doing this on your VR headset, you can also start the download from there.

For the Oculus store, it is VERY similar to the Meta store. Once again, search for VRChat in the store search bar and click on the first option (VRChat is also a trending game when you click the search bar at the time of making this). You would click the Get option just like in the Meta store and download from there.

Mobile
This option REQUIRES you to spend money. There is no way around it plus it is also the most inconsistent platform to play on. Before getting into how to get it, lets get into the requirements to access it.
As shown in the image above, there are 3 requirements to be able to access it:
1. Have an Android 10 or higher phone (no Iphone support)
2. Make sure your phone has at least 6 gigs of RAM.
3. Must be a VRChat Plus member.
So not only do you have to have a specific type of phone to play it, but you must be subscribed to the paid service that VRChat provides. Another thing to note is that they state this version of the game is in Alpha, which means it's bound to be prone to bugs and crashes. If you do decide to play on this platform though, all you would need to do is either click on the link they provide in their Mobile FAQ page or search for VRChat in the Google Play Store and click on the first option that comes up.

One last thing to go over before moving onto the features of the game is that for the Meta/Oculus and the Mobile version of the game, you MUST have a VRChat account. As for Steam, while you are not required to have one, I would heavily recommend that you do so that you can move to different platforms without issue. If you decide you want to do that at a later date, that's okay! VRChat accounts can be linked to steam accounts, and doing so will merge the account info together. Meaning that you wouldn't lose any friends, avatars, or worlds you have saved. Now with that last bit of info done, onto the gameplay aspects!

How To Search For Worlds

So, you've booted up VRChat for the first time. You've logged in, you've did the "Tutorial" that they provided, and now you're sitting in this world that is apparently your home. You're unsure of what to do now. Well, lets start with how you get around! Worlds are going to be a feature you use all the time, so it's beyond important to know how they work. First, you need to open your menu (ESC on M&K or the Menu button on the left controller for a Meta headset. Unsure of how it works for Mobile.)
It's going to show a lot of options, but for now we're going to focus on the Worlds link. When you do click it, you're going to see the Worlds menu. Which will bombard you with many different worlds to fit the many different tastes of VRChat's players.
Whenever you open up the Worlds menu for the first time, the game will always start you off in the "VRCat's Variety Box". This tab is simply just a random selection of worlds the game provides for you. Some might seem neat, other might seem strange. If you look to the left side of the menu, you'll see many different tabs though. Starting from the top, you can see what world you're currently in, a search bar to find worlds through either their exact names or with keywords, and then tabs that organize worlds across different categories. The most common tabs that you'll probably use will be the Trending, Avatar Worlds - Trending, and Games - Hot sections. For now, you want to search for worlds. Clicking on the search bar will take you to the Search tab where then all you'd need to do is type the world name or the keyword you want. For this example, we're going to use the keyword Avatar. Doing so will bring up all worlds that either include that word in the name or have it as a keyword.
Take a look around the worlds, see if any interest you. Once you find one that fits your needs, you'd select that world by clicking on it. Doing so will bring up the info page of that world.
You'll see not only the details of the world, but also any instances you're allowed to enter on the right side of the menu and also all of the options for that world. If you click Join, the game will you load you into a random instance that's available. If you choose Drop Portal, what that does is let you aim at a spot on the ground. After selecting the spot, a portal will appear for 30 seconds that allows yourself and any others to go into it to join the world. Some of the other options to note are:
Make Home- Makes it so whenever you launch VRChat, you always spawn in that world.
Add To Favorites- Lets you save that world in a tab in the Worlds menu so that you always have easy access to it whenever you want to go there.
Preload World- Lets you download the world before you actually try to enter it so that you don't have to deal with as long of a loading time when you go there.
New Instance- Choosing this makes it so that it brings up a new menu. This menu lets you decide how you want your instance to be. You can keep it public and let randoms join, or maybe you want to only let your friends in. Maybe your friends can bring their friends too. However you want it, the game lets you choose. Once you do, it'll also let you decide on if you want to just load in by yourself or drop a portal for others as well.
After searching for a world and picking it, making sure it fits your needs, and then joining into an instance that fits your needs, it's time for the fun part. Avatars!

How To Find Avatars And Access Their Features

You've entered a world that has avatars on it. You're looking around but there isn't any quite so obvious signs of where you pick your avatars... until you see a wall of squares. They all have images on them that show off models and seem to be highlighted when you hover over one.
These squares are how you pick your avatars! On PC, you would simply left click a highlighted square to equip the avatar and wait for it to load. On Meta headsets, you would reach out with a hand and use the trigger on that controller to select it. When you change into your model, you'll notice that your height will probably change. Some models are about average, some are small, others can be tall. There are even models that are absolutely MASSIVE (Like Godzilla- sized models). You can use mirrors to check yourself out and look over the model. Though some models have changes to clothing, colors, and even special effects/accessories on them. So how does you access those? On PC, the default key is R. With a Meta headset, it is one of the ABXY buttons on the controllers. Doing so will brings up a circular menu.
With this menu, you'll notice it has 4 main categories. The one you'd be most interested in is the Expressions category. By selecting this, the options in your menu will change to things like emotes/animations, clothing, colors, and toggles for accessories. The thing to note about this though is that it varies from model to model. Not every model will have clothing options, some don't let you change colors, and some are focused on the model itself and has no extras. After checking out the model, you can decide if you want to save it under your favorites for later use so that way you don't lose it. The way you do this is by going to the Avatars menu (accessed in the same way you get to the Worlds menu).
When you open this menu, you'll see that it has a similar setup to the Worlds menu. On the right side of it, you can see what you're actively using, as well as the option to favorite/unfavorite and see the details of the avatar. On the left, you see tabs like recently equipped avatars, your favorite ones, and fallback avatars. Fallback avatars are models that you change into whenever your models aren't working properly or maybe when the avatar you were using from a public world is no longer available. When you pick the Favorites tab (which is labeled as avatars1 by default), you'll notice your menu look like the previous image. You can click on one of your models and it will display the model on the right side of the menu. If you decide you want to switch to one of your other models, all you would do is select the model you want and then pick the Change Into Avatar option on the right side. But what happens if you pick a model in a world and you don't change into it? Well, it's possible that the model isn't made for your platform. If you look at the top right of every square/box that represents a model (either in a world or in your menu), you can see that there are colored circles. The blue one represents PC and the green represents Quest. If you see both circles, then the model works perfectly fine no matter what platform you're on. However, if you see only one circle that means that the model will only work properly for the platform that's showing up. Simply put:
Both Blue and Green- Works anywhere
Only Blue- PC model only, won't work properly on Quest
Only Green- Quest model only, won't work properly on PC
That's the basics of avatars in VRChat! There are many more things that can be learned about them (especially making and uploading your own), but the info provided here will give you an understanding on how to find your own avatars to use in game so you're not stuck using the default models provided by VRChat. Now lets get onto the last key thing, making Friends!

How To Use The Social Menu

VRChat is a very popular game with lots of players (to no one's surprise). You can easily make friends on there, or maybe you have friends from real life/ from other games that you want to play with on VRChat. It's easy to access the Social menu and add them, as well as be able to invite them to worlds! To get to the Social menu, the process is the same as the Worlds and Avatar menu.
When you've selected the Social menu, you'll see a very similar menu to the previous two. From top to bottom on the left side you'll see your display status, a search bar for finding players, locations of friends who are currently on, a list of what players are actively in your world (this list will also have yourself in it), different Groups of your friends (you can organize these as you wish), as well as those who are offline and your block list. With all that basic info learned, it's time to actually go into how to add people. The two main ways are through searching them by name or selecting them from the list of players in the same instance as you. If you search for someone, please note that you NEED to include all details. While I'm not sure if capital letters matter or not, any spaces, numbers, and symbols used must be the same. Once you've found the person (either through the search or through the Instance tab of the Social menu), their details will appear. Going to the bottom of details page will show you a line of options.
The option you'd use the most is the Friend Request option. This will send a notification to that player that you've asked to be their friends. If they accept, they'll appear in your friends list! You can also moderate a player (which is the option you'd select to report or block them as needed.), leave a note for yourself that you'll see whenever you view that player's details, and also have the option to invite them to a group. Maybe though you feel a bit generous. Maybe your friend has mention they wanted VRChat Plus. Well, you can do that as well! Lastly if the player is your friend, there will be an option to let you invite them to the world you're currently in. That's the basics when it comes to the Social tab and making friends in VRChat!

Outro

That's the basics for VRChat! There's so much more to the game than what I shared so please do make explore and learn more about it. VRChat is a very fun game that overflows with the creativity of others. I do hope this guide was effective at helping you out get into the game. Of course, if there are any questions you may have, please do ask! Hope to see you there in VRChat, and make sure to have fun!