Mermaid Fishbowl v2.0 — Walk-in Aquarium Gimmick for VRChat Avatars (Modular Avatar)

A big, round fishbowl gimmick for mermaid avatars. Drop the prefab on your avatar and upload — that's it. (Modular Avatar)

■ Features

- 4 m wide fishbowl. Turn it on and you stand on the sand inside (your view rises with you)

- Sloshing water surface that waves along the glass when you move

- Underwater caustic light on your avatar, sand and coral (adjustable strength, follows the water color)

- Light rays (adjustable strength), bubbles, swimming fish with fluttering fins, coral, shells, swaying seaweed and pebbles

- World Lock: leave the bowl in place and swim around inside

- Radials for water level and water color (navy → teal → emerald → purple → pink)

- Height adjust (±50 cm) for avatars that float or sink — the view follows automatically when you release the dial

- Works with VRChat avatar scaling and GoGo Loco

- Menu in English, Japanese or Korean (choose the prefab)

■ Requirements

- VRChat SDK3 Avatars 3.7 or later

- Modular Avatar 1.10 or later (includes NDMF)

- lilToon 1.8 or later

■ How to install Modular Avatar / lilToon (if missing or outdated)

1. Open these pages and click "Add to VCC", then click "I Understand, Add Repository" in VCC

- Modular Avatar: https://modular-avatar.nadena.dev/

- lilToon: https://lilxyzw.github.io/lilToon/

(If the button doesn't work: VCC → Settings → Packages → Add Repository, and paste

https://vpm.nadena.dev/vpm.json / https://lilxyzw.github.io/vpm-repos/vpm.json )

2. VCC → Projects → "Manage Project" on your avatar project

3. Press "+" next to Modular Avatar and lilToon (or "↑" to update to the latest version)

4. Reopen Unity

* Modular Avatar is no longer distributed as a unitypackage. Please install it through VCC (or ALCOM).

■ Install

1. Import MermaidFishbowl_v2.0.0.unitypackage into Unity

2. In the Project window, drag Assets/Fishbowl/Fishbowl_EN.prefab onto your avatar in the Hierarchy

(the top object with the VRC Avatar Descriptor)

→ It must sit DIRECTLY under the avatar root. Do not put it inside Armature, clothes or hair

→ Keep its position, rotation and scale as they are (Position 0, 0, 0)

→ Japanese menu: Fishbowl_JP.prefab / Korean menu: Fishbowl_KR.prefab. Use only one

3. Upload as usual. Your original avatar is not modified

4. In game: Expression Menu → Fishbowl → Show Fishbowl

■ Menu (Expression Menu > Fishbowl)

- Show Fishbowl: turn the bowl on/off

- World Lock: the bowl stays where it is / off = follows you

- Coral / Shell / Fish / Bubbles / Light Rays: toggle each one

- Stand on Sand: off = you stay at your normal height even with the bowl on

- Height Adjust (radial): ±50 cm

- Water Level / Water Color / Caustics / Light Ray Strength (radials)

■ Troubleshooting

- No "Fishbowl" in the menu → check that the prefab is directly under the avatar root and that Modular Avatar is installed

- Error when uploading → update Modular Avatar and lilToon to the latest version in VCC

- Too many parameters (over 256 bits) → this gimmick uses 48 bits; remove other gimmicks or unused synced parameters

- Floating / sinking → adjust with Height Adjust (your view follows when you release it)

- View is off → nudge Height Adjust and release it

■ Specs

- PC only (no Quest / Android)

- About 38,000 polygons, 48 synced parameter bits

- Includes 1 light, so the performance rank may show Poor

- The caustic light does not appear in VRChat mirrors

■ Terms

- OK to use and edit on your own avatars

- No redistribution, reselling, sharing, or public avatars

- See the included TERMS.txt for details

■ AI usage

- Some 3D models (corals, shells, fish) were generated with AI (Tripo), then retextured, optimized, placed and animated by hand

- The fishbowl gimmick, shaders and menus are original work

■ Changelog

- v2.0.0: new corals, shells, sand, seaweed and pebbles / new fish (2 blue tangs, clownfish) with fluttering fins / clearer glass and water surface / caustics follow the water color / adjustable light-ray strength / less wobble while walking / menu in English, Japanese or Korean / removed clear bubbles

Existing buyers: delete the old Fishbowl prefab from your avatar and add Fishbowl_EN.prefab

- v1.0.2: menu labels are now in English, README/TERMS list English first. Same features.