VTOL VR - How To Use AH-94 Countermeasures

Here’s how to use the countermeasures (flares and chaff) in the AH-94 helicopter in VTOL VR.

Grab the combat collective stick. You’ll notice that there are two sticks on the collective lever to the left of your seat, one on top of the other. The combat collective is the one on top.

The combat collective in the AH-94 is used to release flares and chaff countermeasures.

Now hold down the trigger on the controller of the hand that is grabbing the combat collective and press the Y/B button (the higher of the two buttons on the controller) to release your countermeasures.

That’s how to use countermeasures in the AH-94. Remember that you can also turn off flares or chaff by clicking the green flare or chaff buttons on the dashboard to the left of the collective lever. Also remember that you can configure chaff and flare release modes by pressing the CMS button on an MFD.

The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners Aftershocks Walkthrough and Guide - Part 6 - Memorial Lane

Stuck in The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners: Aftershocks? Wondering where to go next? Maybe you just like to see what is in store for you before you get there, or want to look back and see if you missed anything in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners: Aftershocks.

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with this complete walkthrough. These articles will detail how to progress through the main story missions as quickly as possible, with a couple of guiding tips thrown in here and there to make your adventure smoother.

Last time we followed a bunch of clues to the cache in Old Town. Today we’ll be recovering the sixth national guard cache, which the Tower and Reclaimed are fighting over on Memorial Lane.

This guide assumes that you are starting Aftershocks with the "Aftershocks Quickstart” option in the main menu. If you’re playing Aftershocks after completing the main campaign then some details might be slightly different, but the challenges you face in the missions will be the same.

If you are missing some of the recipes then you can still pick them up while doing the missions in this walkthrough, though they won’t be explicitly pointed out here. For a full list of all recipes in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, check out our recipe guide article.

Spoilers will be as light as possible, but there will be story spoilers by necessity in this walkthrough. There won’t be any explanation of what is going on in the story beyond what is necessary to make the walkthrough make sense.

The Resting Place

Wake up and listen to Channel 47 as always, but beware that you might want to do a bit more prep than usual this time.

The task to get the cache in Memorial Lane.

For your trip to Memorial Lane you’re probably going to get shot much more than usual, so make sure to bring at least 2 bandages, probably 3 to be safe. Oh, and bring a lot of firepower and ammunition too. You may find yourself fighting through a ton of enemies.

Especially for this mission make sure to craft a bit of every type of item and store it in your base. That means food, ammo, weapons, meds, and anything else you might ever need. You’ve definitely got a ton of crafting supplies by now, so turn them into some useful stuff before you head off on this mission. You won’t regret it.

When you’re armed to the teeth and have your healing items ready in your backpack head off to Memorial Lane.

Traveling to Memorial Lane.

The Battle Of Memorial Lane

When you arrive in Memorial Lane it may be suspiciously quiet… that won’t last long.

Take a look at your map.

The map of Memorial Lane.

See that tree icon in the center of the map? That’s the battlefield that not only contains the cache, but also a bunch of Reclaimed and Tower soldiers fighting each other to the death over it. At least they’ll start spawning in and fighting when you get close enough.

For now make your way down Garrison street towards the house marked as blue on your map. There will be some tower guards in front of it.

The Blue House is lightly guarded.

While they won’t be initially hostile feel free to just blast your way through them to get inside of the house. Once inside head up to the second floor.

There will be another guard or two in there. Take them out before you settle down in this room, which contains a hunting rifle, some ammo and junk on the table, and a picture which shows you a picture of a national guard crate with a number on it.

This room shows you which cache is the correct one, and can be used for a little sniping as well.

There are a bunch of caches all over the battlefield below, but most of them are empty. Only one contains supplies and that is cache number 41. It is located on the red couch right beside the tree in the center of the battlefield.

Of course it’s a battlefield, and as you’ll be able to see through the hole in the wall leading outside, there are Tower and Reclaimed soldiers fighting over it (or possibly just standing around, depending on how it worked out for you.)

Regardless you’ll have to make your way down there. The problem is that soldiers will just keep spawning after they are killed. Infinitely.

So you can pick off a few from your perch in the house with the rifle if you like, but eventually you’re going to have to run down there and get to that cache.

Cache 41 itself, which is full of loot for you.

This is where the medical items come in. Once you open the cache there will be quite a bit of loot inside, and more soldiers will spawn and run in right to where you are as you try and grab it.

So you will need to balance grabbing the supplies in the cache with healing yourself. If you’d rather just leave with your skin intact you can also always just open the cache and then leave right after. It’s up to you, but this is definitely the hardest cache to actually loot.

Once you’ve got the goods run back over to the blue house that you started at and back up Garrison street to the boat you arrived in.

Something’s Wrong In The Resting Place

Once you return back to The Resting Place and walk back towards the bus you’ll hear some strange noises. Like somebody… tinkering? Rifling through things?

You’ll quickly realize what it is when you see two tower soldiers running away from your bus.

Thieves!

They’ve taken all of your crafting materials, and on top of that even your sleeping flask! Luckily any items that you’ve already stored inside of your bus are still left behind.

Well that just won’t stand. So read the next part of this The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - Aftershocks walkthrough to get your flask, and some of your stuff, back.

17 Amazing Half-Life: Alyx Mods That Give You More Of The Game For Free

Half-Life: Alyx is widely recognized as one of the best VR games out there, and is a prime example of what a well designed AAA quality game can look like on Virtual Reality.

Unfortunately, Half-Life: Alyx was released years ago and hasn’t received any new official content for quite a while. So once you’ve mastered the main campaign of the game you might get bored with it.

Luckily the developers at Valve also released fantastic modding and level creation tools along with the main game, and many talented and dedicated modders are here to fill the content gap for Half-Life: Alyx.

So here are 17 Amazing Half-Life: Alyx Mods that will add more levels and content to the game for you to play through. These Half-Life: Alyx custom campaigns are some of the best around and will surely give you more good times in this fantastic VR game.

You’re guaranteed to have a good time with any of these HL:A Campaign-Likes.

Gunman Contracts Chapters 1 And 2

The logo for the first chapter of the Gunman Contracts Half-Life: Alyx mod.

No list of Half-Life: Alyx mods or Half-Life: Alyx custom levels can be complete without Gunman Contracts Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

You might have seen this game referred to as a “John Wick” game, and that is an extremely accurate description for it. The Gunman Contracts mods pits you and your custom pistol against armed human goons, henchmen, and thugs just like John Wick in the movies.

You’ve got a mission to complete, and a ton of enemies in your way that you’ll have to fight through. Gunman Contracts does a great job of using Half-Life: Alyx’s Source 2 engine in a more true to life setting, and staging interesting, fast paced, dynamic, and intense firefights for you to enjoy.

Instead of fighting through alien infested ruins and ancient metro tunnels, Gunman Contracts has you blasting through windows in high rises and bottles of booze in bars. It’s great, and makes you feel faster and more powerful than you do in the base game, but also throws many more enemies at you.

If you want some fast paced urban shooting action in a Half-Life: Alyx mod, then give Gunman Contracts a try. The author of this mod is even working on a standalone VR game as well.

Half-Life: Incursion

The logo for the Half-Life: Incursion Half-Life Alyx mods.

Half-Life: Incursion places you in a small area of the Quarantine Zone surrounding City 17 and throws waves of combine soldiers at you.

You’ve only got so much time to scrounge of ammo and prepare your defenses, like placing tripwire mines, before another attack comes. They start out easily enough, but get harder and harder.

Luckily you won’t only get more supplies, but better weaponry as the waves get tougher. Survive them all and you’ll win. Half-Life: Incursion lets you get really crafty with your defense. You can lure soldiers into traps or try to evade and confuse them in the narrow alleys and city streets.

The attack waves are very well designed and varied, and there is even some excellent voiceover work to enjoy as well in Half-Life: Incursion.

Return To Rapture

The logo for the Return To Rapture Half-Life Alyx mods.

Remember Rapture from the first two Bioshock games? Well now you can return to it in Virtual Reality in Return To Rapture.

That’s right, the combine have invaded Rapture and so now so will you. What is absolutely fantastic about this mod is how it transfers so much of the environment, gameplay, and vibe of Bioshock into Half-Life: Alyx.

There are all sorts of old favorites to enjoy from Vita Chambers to Plasmids. So if you want to experience Bioshock VR then try this mod. It is incredibly expansive, well made, and a creative combination of two game worlds.

Levitation

The logo for the Levitation Half-Life: Alyx Mod.

Half-Life: Alyx - Levitation feels like a continuation of the main campaign of Half-Life: Alyx both in terms of tone and quality.

Set right after the events of the main game, the story really kicks off when Alyx looks for two fellow resistance members investigating a mysterious floating building. Things escalate from there, and you’ll find yourself facing new challenges, seeing new fantastic sights, and enjoying yourself immensely.

Levitation is huge for a mod project at easily four hours in length, and is visually stunning in places, while also being a fun challenge for those who have already completed Half-Life: Alyx. It really feels like a continuation of the main campaign, despite being a mod.

Goldeneye Alyx 007

The logo for the Goldeneye Alyx 007 Half-Life Alyx mods.

Remember the Nintendo 64 classic Goldeneye? Well the authors of Goldeneye Alyx 007 certainly do, and they’ve been busy recreating maps from the classic James Bond Goldeneye game in Half-Life: Alyx.

As far as Half-Life: Alyx mod ideas go, this is pretty ambitious considering the scale and detail of the maps recreated here, but the mod authors pulled off recreating those old areas with detail very well. Not to mention they’ve managed to fill them with great combat and exploration challenges.

Whether you want to relive some Goldeneye nostalgia or just want a fun series of James Bond themed maps to play through, check out this mod.

Hotline Alyx

The logo for the Hotline Alyx Half-Life: Alyx mod.

If you’ve ever heard of the top down shooter Hotline Miami then you probably recognize the reference in the title of Hotline Alyx.

Everything, the masks, the music, the gritty 80s easthetic, and of course the fast and frantic combat of Hotline Miami are recreated here in Virtual Reality in this Half-Life: Alyx mod. There’s even a story, just like in Hotline Miami.

Each level is challenging, packed with enemies, fast paced, and a true challenge of your reflexes and tactics. You’ll also have to be very careful with your ammunition usage, so precision is key. Though you can always use melee weapons.

That’s right, this mod has melee weapons and they’re… okay. Still, it’s very impressive that they work at all. Hotline Alyx is impressive from how it includes such unique features and ties them together into a frantic package of VR close quarters shooting carnage.

From Here To There

A screenshot of part of the secret lab in the From Here To There mod.

If you want an entirely new story set in the Half-Life universe with a long campaign, new enemies, and new mechanics, then you’ve got to give From Here To There a try.

This is a very long Half-Life: Alyx mod that can run you up to 8 hours. It is fantastic, and you’re also a different character, Dr. Smithers from Half-Life 1.

After the Black Mesa incident Dr. Smithers works as a custodian and has a secret laboratory underground. In case you’re wondering, yes the secret lab is amazing, and there are a ton of experiments to play with. In fact there are a ton of new toys to interact with in From Here To There.

It’s got new weapons, a new story, and so much creativity on display for such a long run time. There are even some sections that will require puzzle solving skills and creativity. There is a ton of additional content in this mod, and it is all of very high quality.

Re-Education

The logo for the Re-Education Half-Life Alyx mod.

Re-Education is a more slow paced mod that focuses on exploration, environmental storytelling, and taking things slowly.

In it you, as Alyx once more, make your way through an abandoned school in order to get to the safe house on the other side of it. Things start off inauspiciously at first, but as you get further into the Zen infested school things get more dangerous.

Why? There’s yet another Jeff inside of the school, but as far as Jeff encounters go this one was a much more creative use of the monster. Re-Education is a solid 45 minutes to hour of Half-Life: Alyx modded gameplay for when you want to do more careful exploring than shooting.

Cornered

Combine soldiers preparing to breach your apartment in the Cornered Half-Life: Alyx mod.

In Cornered Alyx is laying low inside of an Apartment building. You wake up to an alarm and poke around your temporary apartment.

There you’ve got plenty of weapons and supplies, that you should definitely gather up quickly, but soon the combine find you and blast through the walls and front door to attack you.

This mod is extremely difficult, and the combine throw everything they’ve got at you. Though at the same time you’ve got a lot of weaponry and ammunition to fight them with. While you might die a lot, this mod is a real test of your close quarters combat skills in Alyx, and the feeling of relief when you fight your way out is fantastic.

Goon Squad

The logo for the Goon Squad Alyx mod.

Want to be a combine soldier in Half-Life: Alyx? Well now you can in the Goon Squad mod.

You and the other members of your squad are exploring an old underground sewer within the Quarantine Zone when things suddenly go very wrong.

Can you survive as a lone combine soldier cut off and without support?

The Undertow

The nightclub from The Undertow, a highlight of this Half-Life: Alyx mod.

So you’re going to a nightclub with a briefcase, and you’ve got to deliver it to the owner. Unfortunately, things won’t end up being that straightforward in The Undertow.

This Half-Life: Alyx mod features a very fun setting with its neon saturated nightclub, though things do change up from there, and take a strangely horrifying turn.

There are more engaging combat challenges and puzzles in an hour long package. Not to mention the vodka is now drinkable!

Half-Life: Zheptics

The logo for the Half-Life: Zheptics Half-Life Alyx mods.

Half-Life: Zheptics is another long story campaign that you can enjoy for Half-Life: Alyx that puts you in the shoes of a Resistance member that is investigating a strange old facility with their brother.

This facility is called Zheptics, and is related to the original Black Mesa from the first Half-Life game. You’ll find a really surprising breath of fresh air in Half-Life: Zheptics, and it almost feels like a whole new game than the original.

There are new puzzles that take very surprising turns, new gameplay mechanics, new puzzles, and even new enemies. All of these fantastic surprises in this mod keep coming and are all of very high quality.

If you’re looking for a fresh new experience with a great playtime then of all Half-Life: Alyx mods none delivers more new content than Half-Life: Zheptics.

Euphoria

Combine soldiers surrounded by zombies in the Euphoria mod.

Goon Squad isn’t the only mod that lets you play as a combine soldier.

Euphoria differentiates itself just as Incursion does in the world of Half-Life: Alyx mods by being more of a wave defense campaign than an actual set of linear levels you play through. Also it heavily features allied combine soldiers. You feel more like part of a squad than a lone survivor this time.

In Euphoria you and your squad of combine buddies are in a ruined nightclub that is heavily infested with zombies. The zombies keep coming, you and your buddies keep blasting, and fantastic music keeps playing. It’s a good time.

Buckshot Bugs

The logo for the Buckshot Bugs Half-Life: Alyx mod.

If you’re bummed that you don’t get to use the shotgun enough in Half-Life: Alyx then the Buckshot Bugs mod is for you.

In this mod the shotgun is your only weapon. Once more you need to fight your way out of an infested area and make it to a train to escape. There are a ton of enemies, and more importantly a ton of shotgun shells.

That is, if you know where to find them. Constantly being on the lookout for ammunition is very important here, but the satisfaction of shotgun blasting your enemies is fantastic. It’s surprising how intricate the combat can get with just a single weapon, and how great the upgrades for it are.

Abduction

The logo for the Abudction HL:A mod.

In Abudction you wake up in a combine prison and escape, gather some weapons, and fight your way out while avoiding being recaptured.

This map is also short, but very tightly designed and well made. The premise is solid, and while nothing was truly surprising in this mod it was an overall solid experience. Nothing groundbreaking, but just a ton of fun that uses the mechanics of the original Half-Life: Alyx campaign well.

C17YSCAPE

The Citadel in C17YSCAPE.

In C17SCAPE you are once more in prison, except you’re no hero, just a normal citizen.

Luckily your cell malfunctions and you can escape. Unluckily the combine are after you and you are unarmed.

You’ll have to find a weapon and fight your way to, hopefully, safety. It’s hard out there for most in the Half-Life universe, and C17SCAPE is an old but great example of a solid hourlong map, and its been updated since then.

Overcharge

An early combat area in Overcharge.

Saving arguably the best for last we have Overcharge, a mod that early on in the life of the Half-Life: Alyx modding community revealed just how great Half-Life: Alyx mods can be. It is the #1 rated mod for this VR game.

In Overcharge you are a rebel soldier tasked with the near suicidal objective of disabling a combine substation in the area before it is built.

Overcharge is an absolute classic and a must try for anybody who really wants to get into Half-Life: Alyx mods. While it isn’t the longest, it is the highest rated for good reasons.

Anyhow those are 17 amazing Half-Life: Alyx custom campaign mods that give you more amazing Half-Life: Alyx gameplay for free!

Buying A VR Head Strap - The Hidden Cost Of Virtual Reality Headsets

From the mass marketed Quest 3 to the extremely expensive Apple Vision Pro, there is one universal problem that tech reviewers and even VR enthusiasts have with most VR headsets on the market.

They’re uncomfortable.

Whether that’s because the headset itself is too heavy for your face that day or not, many VR lovers and those who briefly try a Virtual Reality headset end up with a similar issue, and that’s that the headstrap doesn’t feel comfortable.

This issue might manifest itself in various forms. Your ears burning, a headache, motion sickness, eye strain, chafing, and other uncomfortable symptoms. All of them easily able to take you out of the immersion of a Virtual Reality experience, ruining the entire point.

Why is this? The default head strap on many commercially sold headsets is absolutely inadequate and will become annoying to use well before the user gets wants to take the headset off or the battery runs out of power. There are tricks to make the default head straps slightly less uncomfortable. What any heavy VR user will inevitably say is, just get a newer, better one.

There are a ton of third party headstraps for sale, and even improved and more comfortable versions sold by the companies that make the headsets.

Promotional image for a Bobo VR headstrap including a battery. A popular third party VR headstrap.

So… why not give first time VR users a better impression of your headset by making the head strap it comes with actually good and comfortable to use?

Well, to drive down production costs of course. While there is no definitive answer here on how improving the head straps that ship with VR headsets would change the cost of the headset, there is the possibility that the headset could still be sold for the exact same amount.

Then again, an additional accessory can be sold for more money on its own and generate a whole new line of profit. While the consumer is already spending several hundred, or well over a thousand, dollars on a piece of tech. What’s seventy or a hundred more on accessories?

Until default head straps improve to the point where they don’t become immersion breaking and annoying so easily then keep in mind that if you really want to get your money’s worth out of that expensive VR headset there is an additional cost.

The cost of buying a headstrap that makes using it comfortable.

The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners Aftershocks Walkthrough and Guide - Part 5 - Old Town

Stuck in The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners: Aftershocks? Wondering where to go next? Maybe you just like to see what is in store for you before you get there, or want to look back and see if you missed anything in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners: Aftershocks.

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with this complete walkthrough. These articles will detail how to progress through the main story missions as quickly as possible, with a couple of guiding tips thrown in here and there to make your adventure smoother.

Last time we went to Bastion to retrieve a cache, fight the reclaimed, and built our Tactical Flashlight. Today we’ll be recovering the fifth national guard cache, which has been discovered by Tower soldiers in Old Town.

This guide assumes that you are starting Aftershocks with the "Aftershocks Quickstart” option in the main menu. If you’re playing Aftershocks after completing the main campaign then some details might be slightly different, but the challenges you face in the missions will be the same.

If you are missing some of the recipes then you can still pick them up while doing the missions in this walkthrough, though they won’t be explicitly pointed out here. For a full list of all recipes in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, check out our recipe guide article.

Spoilers will be as light as possible, but there will be story spoilers by necessity in this walkthrough. There won’t be any explanation of what is going on in the story beyond what is necessary to make the walkthrough make sense.

The Resting Place

You know the drill by now. Wake up and listen to channel 47.

The task list for your newest mission in Old Town

This time you will be heading to Old Town to retrieve another cache that the Tower has seemingly gotten their hands on.

Gear up as usual. Bring some firepower, bring a bandage or two, and maybe even some extra food this time. This trip to Old Town will involve traveling up and down the entire map at least once. Bring at least two melee weapons for walkers as well.

Oh, and especially make you have crafted the Tactical Flashlight. That’s the recipe you got from the reserve cache in the previous mission.

When you’re ready, go to the boat and travel to Old Town.

Traveling to Old Town in The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - Aftershocks

Old Town - Finding The Cache

As you arrive in Old Town you will spawn at the boat on the top end of Walnut street, but before you take a look at your map check out the note on the side of this dumpster.

The dumpster right next to where you spawn in contains the first clue to the location of the cache

It’s a clue with different symbols pointing in different directions.

There will be more of these notes, and they all follow a pattern. The colored object is a hint for where the trail you’re supposed to follow starts. The symbols combined with each direction shows you which direction you are supposed to move in when you see that symbol.

So if the arrow points to the right, then go up to the symbol, turn to the right, and go in that direction. How do you see these symbols? That’s the hint on this first note, the purple lightbulb.

Pull out your new Tactical Flashlight, turn it on, and hit the A button while holding it to turn on the ultraviolet light.

Use the ultraviolet light on your tactical flashlight to see the clues

This heart means you should take a left and go forward. Keep in mind that some of these clues aren’t exact, so each time you turn right doesn’t mean you’ll be turning directly right at a ninety degree angle.

Some clues are a bit harder to follow than others, but when you spot another symbol painted on a surface with your UV light you’ll know you’re going in the right direction.

If you get lost or frustrated and want to go to the end of the trail then just go to the location circled in red on this map.

The location that the first set of clues leads to

It’s the mostly empty reserve cache box right past the old car parked in the parking space next to the house colored light orange on the map.

You should also be aware that you’re going to run into some Tower soldiers patrolling around the house and the approaches leading to it, so be ready for a fight. There won’t be many. They’re nothing you can’t handle.

This time somebody got to the cache before you did

Chasing Clues Around Old Town

Looks like the Tower, or somebody else, got to the cache first!

Inside the box are a couple of scraps, but also another set of clues and a note. Read the note for some story context, and check out the clue directions for where to go next.

The second set of directions

Once again follow the clues, this time you will find the first clue on a yellow truck that is parked on the road down Walnut street. You can’t miss it if you just go out on the street and head down it on the map.

If you get lost or frustrated then here’s a map showing you where the clues ultimately lead to.

The location that the second set of clues leads to

This time it’s a hidden note behind the large building in the center of Old Town marked as light blue on your map.

The location of the third note, hidden carefully behind a broken wall

Be careful on your way here. In addition to the usual walkers there are also a sizeable number of Reclaimed on the street in front of, and around the big house.

Once again there is a note and a clue. Read the note for some fun context and check out the clue.

The third clue cipher

Once again the trail will begin with a truck, but a very particular truck with a jazz band on the side of it.

This truck is actually pretty far away from the note, all the way over on Prytanya street. If you get on Prytanya street and keep going down it so that you are traveling to the right on your map you will see the truck.

Keep in mind going straight down the street will probably end up with you running into some of the Reclaimed guarding the area. They are fairly scattered around and not much of a threat, but be ready for them.

The truck where the third clue trail starts

Luckily the final note isn’t very far from the truck.

Here’s the location of the final note on a map.

The location of the final note

The last note is located behind some cardboard boxes on the porch of the house marked as light green on your map.

Again, there will be some human enemies hanging around the street and house with the note.

The final note is hidden behind these boxes on the porch

Inside of the stash is a final note that luckily just tells you where to go without bothering without all of these ultraviolet clues.

It says to find what is left of the cache inside some soggy boxes near the boat on Walnut street. Yep, the boat on Walnut street, that is where you started.

The location of what is left of the reserve cache

Go back to the boat on the top side of Walnut street and you can find the boxes tucked away by these ruined cars.

The remnants of the reserve cache are located inside of the open cardboard box

Inside you’ll find practically nothing except a funny note, some National Guard memorabilia, and most importantly another strange key.

Make sure to take the key and leave at your leisure. Unfortunately there’s no huge supply haul this time, but you can loot the map for a while or feel free to just turn around and go back to the Resting Place.

The Resting Place

As always, scrap what loot you found and head to bed.

Sleeping in The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - Aftershocks

Need a guide on what comes next? Then head over to Part 6 where you’re going to Memorial Lane.