# Hyperfy Discord - 2025-05-16

## Overall Discussion Highlights

### Hosting & Infrastructure
- Hosting a Hyperfy world costs approximately $10/month if running 24/7, but users only pay for compute when worlds are active
- Shared CPU resources can impact performance
- Roustan is testing a dedicated single GPU with 2GB RAM on fly.io to evaluate performance and costs
- SzJanko announced a marketplace at hyperworld.host and requested feedback on features to improve app discovery

### World Building & Development
- Community members reassured newcomers that building worlds in Hyperfy V2 is possible without development experience
- Custom domain support is already available
- File access features (world folder import/export) are nearly ready, pending UI completion
- Discussion about the possibility of building worlds similar to "fallen" without being a developer

### 3D Design & Animation
- Detailed discussion on custom VRM avatar animations in Hyperfy
- Hyperfy's animation system applies bone rotations from Mixamo animations to avatars as a "cheap retargeting" solution
- Avatar positioning depends on the hip bone's position relative to the root bone
- TheMattEmpire discovered that adjusting the root bone's position lower while correctly positioning the hip bone fixed ground alignment issues

### Performance Optimization
- Ashxn tested 300 unique meshes (600k triangles total) to investigate performance bottlenecks
- Common performance issues identified:
  - Unoptimized Sketchfab models with separated meshes sharing materials
  - High poly counts
  - Extensive use of 1-2k PNGs
  - Non-indexed geometry with collision
  - VRMs with full ARKit blendshape sets
  - Custom applications with camera effects, UI, or custom shaders

### UI/UX Considerations
- 0mka expressed concerns about forcing UI styling for rarely used settings menus
- Vox emphasized the importance of toggle functionality and requested "F" key for fullscreen mode

## Key Questions & Answers

**Q: How much does it cost to host a Hyperfy world?**  
A: About $10/month maximum if running 24/7, but you only pay for compute when the world is active (HypPrivakos)

**Q: Is it possible to build a world/game like "fallen" using Hyperfy v2 without being a developer?**  
A: Yes, it's possible with patience (vincentskele)

**Q: Are there plans for domain and file access?**  
A: Custom domains are already possible, and file access for whole world folder import/export is nearly ready (HypPrivakos)

**Q: How can I get my custom VRM to work with custom animations?**  
A: Import the Mixamo FBX, add a root bone as the absolute parent at 0,0,0, then export to GLTF with animation sampling to reduce file size. The engine uses bone rotations for cheap retargeting. (Ashxn)

**Q: How is height position of the VRM actually set in Hyperfy?**  
A: Hyperfy scales based on a hip-to-height ratio so it looks correct even on short avatars. The position of the hips is based on the distance from the root to the hip bone. (Ashxn)

**Q: What causes performance issues in Hyperfy worlds?**  
A: Often unoptimized Sketchfab models with separated meshes sharing materials, high poly counts, extensive use of 1-2k PNGs, non-indexed geometry with collision, VRMs with full ARKit blendshape sets, and possibly custom applications with camera effects, UI, or custom shaders. (vox)

**Q: Do mesh.material.emissiveIntensity and mesh.material.textureY/X only work with .jpegs and not with .png or .WebP?**  
A: No, they should work with any texture format. (ash)

## Community Help & Collaboration

1. **Custom VRM Animation Support**
   - **Helper:** Ashxn
   - **Helpee:** TheMattEmpire
   - **Context:** Custom VRM animations not working despite trying multiple rigging approaches
   - **Resolution:** Explained that Hyperfy uses bone rotations from Mixamo animations and suggested adding a root bone at 0,0,0 as parent

2. **Hosting Cost Clarification**
   - **Helper:** HypPrivakos
   - **Helpee:** Roustan
   - **Context:** Understanding hosting costs
   - **Resolution:** Explained that costs are based on usage, with $9-10/month only if the world is running continuously

3. **World Building for Non-Developers**
   - **Helper:** vincentskele
   - **Helpee:** Alexa
   - **Context:** Building a world without development experience
   - **Resolution:** Reassured that it's possible with patience, sharing personal experience as a "goofball" who was able to do it

4. **Performance Optimization Insights**
   - **Helper:** vox
   - **Helpee:** Ashxn
   - **Context:** Investigating performance issues with 3D models in Hyperfy
   - **Resolution:** Shared experience with common performance bottlenecks from v1, including unoptimized models with specific problematic attributes

## Action Items

### Technical
- Complete file access UI for world folder import/export (Mentioned by HypPrivakos)
- Implement proper root bone positioning at 0,0,0 with correct hip bone placement for custom VRM animations (Mentioned by TheMattEmpire)
- Test adding collision to meshes to evaluate performance impact (Mentioned by vox)
- Consider adding 'placeholder' unoptimized mesh option like in v1 (Mentioned by b0gie)
- Review UI styling approach for rarely used settings menus (Mentioned by 0mka)

### Documentation
- Need for a better organized .hyp library (Mentioned by vox)
- Create tutorials on custom VRM animation workflow once process is fully understood (Mentioned by TheMattEmpire)

### Feature
- Marketplace improvements for searching/sorting apps (Mentioned by szjanko)
- Preview hyp code and 3D assets on app marketplace pages (Mentioned by szjanko)
- Consider improved avatar systems while maintaining backward compatibility with current VRM implementation (Mentioned by TheMattEmpire)
- Implement "F" key for fullscreen toggle functionality (Mentioned by vox)