Getting a roblox vr collision script to behave exactly how you want is one of those "easier said than done" tasks that every VR developer on the platform eventually runs into. If you've ever spent ten minutes trying to pick up a virtual cup only to have your hand clip through the table or, even worse, launch the cup into low earth orbit, you know exactly what I'm talking about. VR in Roblox is a bit of a wild frontier, and while the built-in physics are great for standard keyboard-and-mouse gameplay, they tend to get a bit wonky when you introduce 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) controllers into the mix.
The core of the issue is that standard Roblox characters are designed around a humanoids-on-flat-ground logic. When you jump into VR, you're basically hijacking that system and trying to force it to understand that your hands are now independent physical objects. To make it feel "real," you need more than just a basic touch event; you need a robust collision system that handles the interaction between the player's tracked input and the game world's physical constraints.
Why the Default Physics Often Fall Short
Let's be real: Roblox's default physics engine is impressive, but it's optimized for stability over precision. When you move your hand in real life, it's instant. In the digital world, if you just set your hand's position (CFrame) to match your controller's position every frame, you're essentially teleporting the hand. Teleporting objects don't "collide" in the traditional sense; they overlap. If your hand teleports inside a wall, the physics engine panics and tries to eject it at high velocity. This is why you see VR hands vibrating like crazy when they touch a surface.
A solid roblox vr collision script solves this by moving away from direct CFrame manipulation and moving toward physics-based constraints. Instead of saying "be at this coordinate," you're telling the game "apply enough force to move toward this coordinate, but stop if you hit something." This distinction is the secret sauce for any VR game that doesn't want its players accidentally phasing through doors.
The Power of AlignPosition and AlignOrientation
If you're still using BodyPosition or BodyGyro, it's time to move on. Those are deprecated and, frankly, a headache for VR. The modern way to handle VR hand collisions is using AlignPosition and AlignOrientation.
Think of these constraints as invisible rubber bands connecting your "real" controller position (the goal) to your "virtual" hand (the physical part). When your real hand moves, the virtual hand follows. If the virtual hand hits a wall, the "rubber band" stretches, but the hand stays on the surface of the wall. This prevents that jarring clipping effect.
In your roblox vr collision script, you'll want to set the Responsiveness of these constraints quite high. You want the hand to feel snappy, not like it's dragging through molasses. However, you also have to balance the MaxForce. If the force is infinite, you're back to square one—the hand will just phase through objects. By capping the force, the hand will naturally stop when it encounters an obstacle that's heavier or anchored.
Detecting Hits Without Killing Performance
Sometimes, you don't just want the hand to stop; you want the game to know it hit something. Maybe you're making a boxing game or a sword fighter. Using the .Touched event is the "old school" way, but it's notoriously unreliable for fast-moving VR hands. It might trigger late, or not at all if the hand moves too quickly between frames.
Instead, many developers are turning to Spatial Queries or Raycasting. Within your collision script loop—usually tied to RunService.Heartbeat or Stepped—you can run a small GetPartBoundsInBox check around the knuckles of your VR hand. This gives you a much more accurate list of what the player is actually touching in that exact millisecond. It's a bit more intensive on the CPU, but if you limit it to just the hands, the impact is negligible and the reliability is ten times better.
The "Virtual Hand" vs. "Ghost Hand" Dilemma
One of the most annoying things in VR is when your physical hand moves somewhere but your virtual hand gets stuck on a wall. It creates a "desync" that can actually make some people feel a bit motion sick. To fix this, a lot of high-end roblox vr collision script setups use a "Ghost Hand" visual.
Essentially, you have two hands: 1. The Physical Hand: This has the collisions turned on and is moved by constraints. This is what interacts with the world. 2. The Ghost Hand: A semi-transparent version of the hand that always matches the exact position of the controller, regardless of collisions.
When the physical hand gets blocked by a wall, the player sees the ghost hand continue into the wall. This visual feedback tells the player's brain, "Hey, your hand is actually further in than the game allows," which feels much more natural than the hand just disappearing or jumping around. It's a small UI/UX trick that makes your collision scripting look way more professional.
Handling Grabbing and Interaction
Collision isn't just about hitting walls; it's about picking stuff up. When your roblox vr collision script detects that you're touching an object and the player pulls the trigger, you need a smooth transition.
I've seen a lot of people just parent the object to the hand, but that kills the physics. The better way is to dynamically create a WeldConstraint or another AlignPosition between the object and the hand. This way, the object still exists in the physics world. If you pick up a long stick and hit it against a wall, the stick (and your hand) should react to that collision. If it's just parented or welded without physics consideration, the stick will just pass through the wall like a ghost, ruining the immersion.
Fine-Tuning and Troubleshooting
If you're finding that your hands are still "jittering" when touching surfaces, check your NetworkOwner. By default, Roblox tries to calculate physics on the server, but for VR, that's a death sentence because of latency. You must set the network ownership of the VR hand parts to the local player. This ensures that the collision calculations are happening right there on the player's machine, making the feedback loop nearly instantaneous.
Also, keep an eye on your collision groups. You don't want your VR hands colliding with your own head or torso—that's a recipe for a physics explosion that will send your character flying across the baseplate. Use the Collision Filtering settings to make sure the hands only interact with the environment and interactive objects.
Wrapping Up the Logic
Building a custom roblox vr collision script is a bit of a rabbit hole, but it's the most rewarding part of VR development. Once you get that perfect balance of weight, resistance, and accuracy, the game stops feeling like a simulation and starts feeling like a real place.
Don't be afraid to experiment with the MaxVelocity and P (Proportional) values in your constraints. Every game feels different—a horror game might want "heavy," slow-moving hands, while a fast-paced rhythm game needs them to be weightless. Whatever you're building, just remember that in VR, the player's hands are their only way to touch your world. Make that touch feel meaningful, and you've already won half the battle.