Getting Started

This guide will teach you how to install LÖVR, create a project, and run it. TL;DR version:

Installing LÖVR

First, download LÖVR from the home page or click here. Extract the zip archive and open up the folder. You should see the lovr.exe executable and a bunch of .dll files.

Double click on lovr.exe to open LÖVR. You should see a window with the LÖVR logo in it. This is what's shown if you run LÖVR without specifying a project.

Note: If you're using a VR headset, you'll only see the logo if your headset is pointing in the forward direction.

We're going to make a project so we see something more interesting than the logo.

Creating a Project

A LÖVR project is just a folder. The folder can have anything necessary for your app, like 3D models, sound files, or Lua code. There isn't any required structure for the folder, so you can organize it however you want.

There is one special file that LÖVR looks for though, called main.lua. If you put a main.lua file in your project folder, LÖVR will run the code in there when the project starts.

Create a file called main.lua in a project folder and type the following Lua code in it:

function lovr.draw()
  lovr.graphics.print('hello world', 0, 1.7, -3, .5)
end

Don't worry if you're confused about the code, it's not important to understand it all right now. In short, we declared the lovr.draw callback and used lovr.graphics.print in there to render some text in the world. We'll learn more about how this works in the next guide.

Running a Project

To run a LÖVR project, drop its folder onto lovr.exe. You can also run lovr.exe from the command line and pass the path to the project as the first argument.

If you followed the example above, you should see the following in VR:

Tips

• If you need to use print in Lua for debug messages, you can drag and drop the project onto lovrc.bat instead of lovr.exe, or specify the --console flag when running on the command line.
• If you have the headset module disabled, be sure to set the y value of the cube to 0 instead of 1.7.

Next Steps

The next guide will teach you how to make fancier projects using Callbacks and Modules.

If you want to learn more about Lua, some good resources are:

1. Learn Lua in 15 Minutes
2. Lua for Programmers