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2024-12-08 Running Modular Avatar on other apps

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This page was mainly written in 2024-12-08. The information below may quickly become obsolete.

Hello, if you're trying to run Modular Avatar on applications other than VRChat, here's what I learned when trying myself.

Modular Avatar V1.x is almost already compatible​

Modular Avatar V1.x is almost already compatible with apps other than VRChat, but some VRChat-specific functionality will be removed.

This is because most of the code specific to VRChat is already disabled in Modular Avatar if the VRChat SDK is not detected in the project.

For example, MA Merge Armature will run because it's generic, but MA Menu Item will not because it's too specific to VRChat.

All sections below describe the work needed to make it compatible.

Modular Avatar sometimes has compilation errors in some releases​

Modular Avatar is only officially supported on the VRChat platform, so in some releases, there may be compilation errors because some code paths without VRChat had been overlooked.

Fixing this often requires adding #if MA_VRCSDK3_AVATARS and #endif at the right locations to make the compiler ignore imports, field declarations, or entire code blocks that are too specific to VRChat.

If something requires context.AvatarDescriptor, you could probably assume most of the contents of the function could be removed from compilation.

See this pull request as an example.

If you use ALCOM / VCC, installing Modular Avatar will install the VRChat SDK​

Installing Modular Avatar V1.x through VCC or ALCOM will also install the VRChat SDK in the project. This is not desirable, you must not have the VRChat SDK in a non-VRChat project because the VRChat SDK contaminates the project configuration and its build process (layer names, XR project settings, etc.), which will interfere with the functionnality of your targeted app.

If you use ALCOM package manager, you can:

  • Close the Unity project,
  • Install Modular Avatar,
  • Uninstall the VRChat SDK Avatars package,
  • Uninstall the VRChat SDK Base package.

If you use VCC, you can't uninstall the VRChat SDK package once it is installed. Either switch to ALCOM, even if it's just for non-VRChat projects, or install Modular Avatar manually through the source. You will also need to install NDMF.

If you use neither ALCOM nor VCC, you can install it directly through the source. You will also need to install NDMF.

I've been told that in the future, Modular Avatar V2.x will no longer cause the VRChat SDK to be installed in the project when it is installed.

Modular Avatar depends on DLLs​

Modular Avatar requires some DLLs to be present in the project, which are shipped by default in the VRChat SDK.

These DLLs are often absent from other projects like ChilloutVR or Basis.

Try to install Chillaxins through ALCOM, or install those DLLs yourself from Microsoft NuGet (System.Collections.Immutable, Lib.Harmony).

The DLLs are:

  • System.Collections.Immutable DLL, because NDMF uses it.
  • Lib.Harmony DLL, because NDMF 1.5 uses it.

Modular Avatar depends on the Unity Burst package​

Modular Avatar requires the Unity Burst package in the project, which is normally included automatically by the VRChat SDK.

Try to install Chillaxins through ALCOM, or go to Unity's package manager, and add Burst to your project.

Connect NDMF to the build process​

To ensure Modular Avatar runs when the avatar is being built, you need to connect NDMF to the build process.

In the ChilloutVR application, I've done it in Chillaxins (install it through ALCOM), see this code.

In the Basis framework, see this code. This is already included in the Basis source code itself.