v0.19.0

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LÖVR v0.19.0, codename Forbidden Jorts, was released on June 7th, 2026. This version has been 478 days in the making, with 684 commits from 11 authors.

The main highlights of this release are:

• Raytracing
• New Audio Spatializer
• Animated Controller Models
• HDR Color Output
• New Error Screen
• Async Task System
• Luau Support
• New Vector API

Raytracing

LÖVR supports GPU ray tracing now! Shaders can shoot rays into the world and get back hit info, using it to implement lighting effects like shadows or ambient occlusion. Here's a ray traced ambient occlusion effect:

A new Raytracer object holds a collection of Mesh and Model objects that the rays can hit. Dynamic geometry and animated models are supported. Most Vulkan GPUs support the necessary ray tracing features, even some mobile GPUs like the one in the Quest 3!

Spatial Audio

The audio module was almost completely rewritten for v0.19.0! SteamAudio is included by default now, along with a bunch of new features, better performance, and API improvements across the board.

SteamAudio

SteamAudio was previously available as an audio spatializer, but wasn't included by default because it was closed source and its file size was huge. However, SteamAudio was open sourced recently, so it can be shipped with LÖVR by default now! LÖVR also upgraded to the latest version of SteamAudio and exposed more of its features.

AudioMesh

There's a new AudioMesh object that defines the geometry that audio bounces off of in the scene, influencing reverb and occlusion effects. Audio meshes replace the old lovr.audio.setGeometry function. Compared to the old method, audio meshes can have multiple materials, and they can also be added, removed, and repositioned dynamically.

Ambisonic Sounds

It's now possible to play ambisonic sounds from WAV files. These are 3D soundfields that support rotation, binaural spatialization, and reverb. They're a great way to add immersive 360 audio all around the listener using a single audio source, instead of creating, positioning, and mixing dozens of individual ones.

Improved Reverb

There are lots of new conf.lua options to configure the type of reverb, the max number of rays and bounces used during ray tracing, and the max duration of the reverb tail. LÖVR also computes reverb on a background thread, allows choosing between per-source and listener-centric reverb, and supports changing the reverb volume for each Source independently.

Binaural Spatialization

lovr.audio.setHRTF let you specify a custom SOFA file to use for binaural audio spatialization.

Binaural audio spatialization is now a continuous value between 0 and 1 instead of a boolean. This makes it possible to smoothly transition between stereo audio and binaurally spatialized audio, useful for objects close to the listener.

Miscellaneous

• There's a new AudioStream object, replacing the awkward "stream" mode for Sounds.
• The Oculus Spatializer and the simple spatializer were removed, so projects don't need to worry about which spatializer is active anymore -- it's just always SteamAudio.
• It is no longer necessary to create an audio stream to get microphone input. LÖVR automatically creates an internal stream for capture devices and exposes it via lovr.audio.getStream, making it easier to get microphone input.
• LÖVR double buffers changes to sources and commits them once per frame by default, so it is possible to atomically play several sources at once or modify their parameters without the audio thread running in the middle of the updates.

Controller Models

lovr.headset.newModel can load animated controller models now using the new XR_EXT_render_model OpenXR extension. Calling lovr.headset.animate is all that's needed to animate the controller to match the button state:

There's also a lovr.modelschanged event, called when new models are available or old ones are no longer needed.

Microgestures

Quest added support for "microgestures" which are performed by swiping the thumb along the index finger. This is exposed as a virtual dpad on each hand.

HDR Displays

LÖVR has experimental support for HDR displays on Windows and macOS. Set t.graphics.hdr = true in conf.lua to request an HDR10 window, and use lovr.graphics.isHDR to check if it was supported.

Currently, LÖVR doesn't do any automatic color space conversion for you -- you are expected to write PQ-encoded Rec2020 colors to the window texture. There are some new shader helpers like linearToPQ and sRGBToRec2020 to help out with converting sRGB colors to HDR.

Error Screen

The menacing error screen has been upgraded into a fancy new stack trace explorer. It supports viewing source code and inspecting variables for entries in the stack trace. It works in VR too!

Multithreading

This version adds a new coroutine-based task system in the lovr.task module. Tasks make it easy to run expensive work on background threads without blocking the main thread. This is useful for things like asset loading, GPU readbacks, physics updates, map generation, or any other CPU-intensive logic.

Tasks use the same Lua scope as the main thread, and their code looks synchronous despite running work on background threads. They're more "ergonomic" than managing Thread and Channel objects.

Here's a simple example that loads a Model in the background and assigns it to the model variable once it's ready (possibly several frames later):

lovr.task.start(function()
  model = lovr.graphics.newModel('teapot.glb')
end)

See the Tasks guide for a full explanation of how it works.

Rendering

The graphics module is thread-safe now! Pass objects can be record draws on any thread, and multiple Pass objects can be recorded in parallel. Also, graphics objects like Texture, Model, and Shader can be created on any thread now.

Internals

LÖVR internally multithreads a few things too now, including:

• Shader compilation (sometimes also called "pipeline creation")
• MSDF glyph rasterization
• Reverb simulation
• Texture loading for models

Model Improvements

There were some important improvements to the Model API:

• Models use multiple threads to load their textures.
• LÖVR supports importing and rendering two sets of UVs, commonly used for lightmapping.
• Models free their CPU memory after loading, and no longer hold onto their ModelData.
• A new concept called a "part" has been added, which represents parts of a model's mesh that use different materials. Pass:drawPart is a nifty new function that draws a single mesh or a part of a Model. Since each part can be drawn individually, render states and shader variables can change in between each draw.
• It's much easier to get the vertices in a ModelData, as they are converted to a consistent vertex format now.
• ModelData exposes the data in its blend shapes.

Luau

LÖVR supports Luau as an additional option for the Lua implementation to use, alongside PUC Lua and LuaJIT. Luau is very close to Lua 5.1, but comes with some nice benefits like:

• Syntax extensions, like compound assignment operators (+=)
• Type checking
• Builtin vector type
• Native code generation

Crucially, Luau has a mascot:

See the Luau guide for the full details about Luau support in LÖVR.

Vectors

The vector API has been reworked significantly, addressing several long-standing pain points:

• Vectors are immutable now. Functions that return vectors always return a new vector instead of modifying their input.
• Temporary vectors have been removed. Vectors are always "permanent" now, and it is no longer necessary to worry about temporary vector lifetimes.
• Vectors are tables instead of userdata now. This allows JIT compilation of code that uses vectors, and reduces C method call overhead. As a bonus, LÖVR functions that take vectors also accept any vector-shaped table.
• The new vector API is compatible with Luau's vector type.

There were some unavoidable breaking changes here. Briefly,

• vec2 and vec4 were removed.
• The :set, :add, :sub, :mul, and :div methods were removed (can use regular operators now, like =, +, -, *, /).
• Operations like :cross, :normalize, and :lerp return new vectors instead of mutating.
• Swizzles were removed.

To ease porting, this gist implements the old vector API using tables.

See vector and quaternion for more details about the new API.

WebGPU

WebGPU is NOT supported yet, but there's been a lot of work on the WebGPU renderer recently and it's getting very close! Here, have a screenshot of LÖVR running in a browser, as a treat:

Other Stuff

• Pass:setProjection has a more friendly API.
• Pass:getViewRay is a new function that returns a world-space ray for a given pixel. It's really useful for doing mouse picking with World:raycast.
• The headset simulator logic was moved to Lua, customizable using lovr.simulate.
• lovr.headset.getBattery returns controller battery level.
• Layer:setOrigin lets you attach a Layer to a device, keeping it smoothly tracked independent of framerate.
• LÖVR has Steam Frame controller bindings, including new dpad/bumper buttons.
• The GPU allocator is much smarter now, eliminating some situations where LÖVR would run out of VRAM due to fragmentation. Small LÖVR projects also use less VRAM now.
• The desktop window is centered by default.
• Fullscreen can be toggled at runtime with lovr.system.setWindowFullscreen.
• lovr.system.setMouseMode lets you enable/disable relative mouse mode.
• Curve:step and Curve:getLength are some very useful new Curve methods.

Community

• dovuro released lovr-base-shading, an easy way to add lighting to projects
• immortalx released 3damp, lovr-sprite, and rubiks_cube!
• snowkittykira added TypeScript type definitions
• xiejiangzhi released line_mesh, which builds fancy line meshes with varying thickness, colors, and UVs
• bjornbytes added Luau type definitions
• LÖVR is featured on OpenXR Inventory, showing the OpenXR features LÖVR uses
• +KZ released a demo for Brain Evil: Dark World
• NVIDIA released a LÖVR plugin for CloudXR
• dovuro released iui, an immediate mode UI library that works with LÖVR and LÖVE
• frityet added Teal type definitions
• COSMORAMA Space Flight Simulator was announced
• dovuro released lovr-tga, a TGA image loader

Changelog

Add

General

• Add lovr.task module and lovr.taskready callback.
• Add support for compiling with Luau as the Lua implementation, instead of Lua/LuaJIT.
• Add support for passing Luau vector and quaternion types to functions.
• Add vector and quaternion modules.

Audio

• Add AudioMesh and lovr.audio.newAudioMesh.
• Add support for ambisonic source playback.
• Add lovr.audio.setHRTF to set a custom HRTF.
• Add Source:get/setAbsorption.
• Add Source:get/setCone.
• Add Source:get/setFalloff.
• Add Source:get/setOcclusion.
• Add Source:get/setReverb.
• Add Source:get/setSpatialization.
• Add lovr.audio.update to atomically commit changes to audio sources.
• Add lovr.audio.getStream.
• Add t.audio.debug and t.audio.reverb settings to lovr.conf.

Data

• Add AudioStream and lovr.data.newAudioStream.
• Add Blob:setI8/setU8/setI16/setU16/setI32/setU32/setF32/setF64.
• Add lovr.data.newBlobView.
• Add Model(Data):getNodeChild/getNodeSibling.
• Add Model(Data):getNodeMesh (replaces :getNodeMeshes).
• Add ModelData:getMeshBlendShapeCount/getMeshBlendShapeName/getBlendVertex.
• Add ModelData:getMeshPartCount.
• Add ModelData:getMeshDrawRange.
• Add support for importing two sets of UVs in ModelData.
• Add Sound:get/setFrame.

Graphics

• Add Raytracer, lovr.graphics.newRaytracer, and raytracing GraphicsFeature.
• Add raytracer option to lovr.graphics.newMesh and lovr.graphics.newModel.
• Add Mesh:buildRaytracer and Model:buildRaytracer.
• Add VertexUV2 builtin vertex attribute and UV2 shader variable, for lightmapping.
• Add t.graphics.hdr and lovr.graphics.isHDR.
• Add pqToLinear, linearToPQ, sRGBToRec2020, and rec2020ToSRGB shader helpers.
• Add Pass:getViewRay.
• Add Pass:setBlendState.
• Add Pass:drawPart to draw a single part of a Model.
• Add Model:meshes to iterate over model nodes with meshes.
• Add Model:is/setNodeVisible.
• Add lovr.graphics.getStats for GPU memory allocation statistics.
• Add support for creating 3D texture views.
• Add Mesh:get/setBaseVertex.
• Add support for custom array strides in buffer formats.
• Add bgra8 TextureFormat.
• Add Buffer:newBlob.

Headset

• Add lovr.modelschanged event.
• Add lovr.headset.getModelKeys.
• Add support for "foveated quad" and "mono" display configurations.
• Add Layer:get/setOrigin to lock Layer poses to a Device.
• Add dpup, dpdown, dpleft, dpright DeviceButton.
• Add bumper DeviceButton.
• Add body Device for full-body tracking in lovr.headset.getSkeleton.
• Add lovr.simulate callback to customize the headset simulator.
• Add support for Touch Pro controllers.
• Add thumbrest HeadsetAxis, for pressure-sensitive thumbrests.
• Add t.headset.extensions to enable extra OpenXR extensions.
• Add lovr.headset.connect and t.headset.connect.
• Add lovr.headset.setPosition/Orientation/Pose and lovr.headset.setButton.

Math

• Add Curve:getLength and Curve:step.
• Add Mat4:setPosition/Orientation/Scale/Pose.

Physics

• Add support for non-uniform scale in ConvexShape and MeshShape.

System

• Add t.window.centered.
• Add lovr.system.is/setWindowFullscreen.
• Add lovr.system.get/setMouseMode.

Thread

• Add lovr.thread.call.
• Add lovr.thread.getWorkerCount.

Change

• Change model loading to use multiple threads to load images.
• Change Pass:setProjection to accept a ProjectionType.
• Change lovr.graphics.newModel to no longer retain its ModelData.
• Change functions to accept tables for vector/quaternion arguments instead of userdata.
• Change require to have better errors when files/plugins aren't found.
• Change default require path to also search for .luau files, when using Luau.
• Change lovr.headset.newModel to also take a lightuserdata.
• Change lovr.headset.newModel to be async.
• Change lovr.headset.isTracked to also take a Model.
• Change lovr.headset.getPosition/Orientation/Direction/Pose to also take a Model.
• Change TerrainShape to support nil heights (treated as holes).
• Change Curve:render to no longer always return 2 points for curves with 2 control points.
• Change ModelData:getMeshVertex to return data in a consistent vertex format.
• Change ModelData:getMeshDrawMode/getMeshMaterial to take an optional part index.
• Change ModelData:getWidth/Height/Depth/Dimensions/BoundingBox to take an optional mesh/part index.
• Change lovr.graphics.newBuffer to also accept a Luau vector for the initial buffer data.
• Change Pass:transform to also take a pose (7 numbers for the position and orientation).
• Change Mat4 to be a regular object instead of a vector type.
• Change lovr.graphics.submit to have better performance when called multiple times per frame.
• Change Pass:text and Font methods to also take nested tables of multicolor strings.
• Change lovr.audio.setDevice sink parameter to be a boolean or an AudioStream.
• Change lovr.audio.start/stop to return error messages on failure.
• Change lovr.audio.newSource to create non-spatial sources by default.
• Change lovr.audio.newSource to also accept an AudioStream.
• Change audio device to start when playing a Source for the first time, instead of immediately.
• Change lovr.data.newSound to take a channel count instead of a channel layout.
• Change lovr.data.newSound and lovr.audio.newSource to be async.
• Change lovr.data.newImage and lovr.graphics.newTexture to be async.
• Change lovr.data.newModelData and lovr.graphics.newModel to be async.
• Change lovr.graphics.compileShader and lovr.graphics.newShader to be async.
• Change Buffer:getData and Texture:getPixels to be async.
• Change lovr.timer.sleep to be async.
• Change Mesh:getVertices and Mesh:getIndices to return nil for meshes with gpu storage.
• Change lovr.system.pollEvents to take an optional timeout.

Fix

• Fix ConvexShape scale not working when created from a table of points.
• Fix ConvexShape:getPoint to apply the shape's center of mass and scale.
• Fix memory leak with ConvexShape and MeshShape.
• Fix crash when creating invalid ConvexShape/MeshShape/TerrainShape.
• Fix issue where OBJ models loaded without materials would have inverted UVs.
• Fix issue where cube/array textures would only regenerate 1 mipmap.
• Fix crash in Pass:send when using tables to write nested structs to a uniform buffer.
• Fix crash when drawing text on a pass without a canvas.
• Fix crash when using a 3D texture as a canvas texture.
• Fix validation message when clearing a 3D texture.
• Fix issue where normalized buffer fields were rounded incorrectly.
• Fix possible crash related to Thread:wait.
• Fix possible crash in Model animation.
• Fix Collider:setDegreesOfFreedom to preserve mass/inertia.
• Fix missing error in CapsuleShape:setRadius/Length and CylinderShape:setRadius/Length.
• Fix issue where buffer memory wasn't recycled effectively.
• Fix thread stack traces to use the correct filename.
• Fix t.headset.seated.
• Fix multiple issues with GPU memory allocation.
• Fix dt to use delta time from lovr.timer when headset is idle.
• Fix lovr.filesystem.newFile to search all mounted archives properly.
• Fix Texture:setPixels when copying from an Image with an offset.
• Fix issue with Shape:containsPoint.
• Fix Collider:moveKinematic when called on a kinematic collider.
• Fix fixed foveated rendering on Quest 3.
• Fix lovr.math.randomNormal returning incorrect results after reseeding.

Deprecate

• Deprecate variant of lovr.headset.newModel that takes a Device (use a model key).
• Deprecate Model(Data):getNodeChildren (use :getNodeChild and :getNodeSibling).
• Deprecate base vertex argument in Mesh:get/setDrawRange (use Mesh:get/setBaseVertex).
• Deprecate Model:getVertexBuffer/getIndexBuffer/getMesh (create your own from ModelData).
• Deprecate lovr.math.drain (it does nothing now, since temporary vectors were removed).
• Deprecate lovr.math.vec2/vec3/vec4/quat/newVec2/newVec3/newVec4/newQuat (use vector and quaternion).
• Deprecate lovr.math.mat4 (use lovr.math.newMat4).
• Deprecate t.math.globals (use vector and quaternion).
• Deprecate Layer:getPass (use your own Pass).
• Deprecate ability to use zero for window dimensions in lovr.conf (use t.window.fullscreen).
• Deprecate variant of Pass:setProjection that takes 4 numeric FOV angles (use ProjectionType).

Remove

• Remove animated flag in lovr.headset.newModel (all models are animated now).
• Remove support for creating ConvexShape and MeshShape from a Model (use ModelData).
• Remove support for passing a Model to lovr.audio.setGeometry (use ModelData).
• Remove ModelData:getBlobCount and ModelData:getBlob.
• Remove ModelData:getNodeMeshes (use ModelData:getNodeMesh).
• Remove ModelData:getMeshVertexFormat/getMeshIndexFormat.
• Remove ModelData:getTriangleCount (use ModelData:getMeshVertexCount/getMeshIndexCount).
• Remove ModelData:getTriangles (use ModelData:getMeshVertex/getMeshIndex).
• Remove Model(Data):getBoundingSphere.
• Remove Model:getVertexCount (use ModelData:getMeshVertexCount).
• Remove Model:getData (create and keep a ModelData around as needed).
• Remove userdata vector types (use tables, and the vector and quaternion modules).
• Remove lovr.headset.getHandles (use FFI).
• Remove lovr.audio.getSpatializer (SteamAudio is always active).
• Remove lovr.audio.setGeometry (use AudioMesh).
• Remove lovr.audio.get/setAbsorption (use Source:get/setAbsorption).
• Remove Source:get/setDirectivity (use Source:get/setCone).
• Remove Source:is/setEffectEnabled (use new effect getters/setters).
• Remove Sound:getCapacity and Sound:isStream (use AudioStream).
• Remove lovr.headset.getBoundsGeometry.
• Remove Buffer:mapData.