Getting lost in all those VR portals and hubs

[Youda]

Hi, i've just unpacked and connected my HP Reverb G2 headset and now i'm searching how to make it working with DCS, but i'm getting super confused about all that related software.

 

I just saw a youtube tutorial that instructed me to install "Windows Mixed Reality Portal", "Steam", "SteamVR" and "Windows Mixed Reality Portal for SteamVR", wtf? I have a stand-alone installation of DCS, it's neither installed via Steam, nor via Windows Store.

I'm trying to keep my computer as bloat-free as possible and avoid all programs and platforms i don't need and now they want me to install all of this just to use a VR headset in DCS.

 

Can someone please help me understand, why do i need this Steam's portal, Microsoft's portal and even their interconnection, and why can't DCS just use the VR directly?

 

[Baldrick33]

Very few applications support native Microsoft Windows Mixed Reality devices. However, anything that supports openVR which most do can use SteamVR with the “bridging” software WMR for SteamVR, all of which are free.

 

It sounds convoluted but is pretty straightforward.

 

Plugging in a WMR device Windows will automatically download the WMR portal software. You then need Steam for both the free SteamVR and WMR for SteamVR software available from the Steam Store. Once downloaded they will automatically run when any OpenVR application runs. It does mean you need a Steam account and to have it running but in my experience there is a negligible impact. It makes no difference if you have the standalone or Steam version of DCS.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Baldrick33

[Youda]

19 minutes ago, Baldrick33 said:

Very few applications support native Microsoft Windows Mixed Reality devices. However, anything that supports openVR which most do can use SteamVR with the “bridging” software WMR for SteamVR, all of which are free.

 

It sounds convoluted but is pretty straightforward.

So, are they some sort of API for the game developers? Like OpenGL and DirectX? Or what exactly they are that the applications need them?

 

19 minutes ago, Baldrick33 said:

It does mean you need a Steam account and to have it running but in my experience there is a negligible impact. It makes no difference if you have the standalone or Steam version of DCS.

Well Steam itself might have neglible impact, but what about the SteamVR and WMR running at the same time while the game is running? Isn't that going to cause performance issues?

[speed-of-heat]

No, not really.

[Baldrick33]

Having used Oculus, Vive, Pimax and WMR VR devices I haven’t experienced any noticeable performance overheads of running WMR, the key aspect for me has always been the combined resolution of application and VR software. I really wouldn’t worry about the number of components needed even if it doesn’t seem as elegant as some others.

[sam777777]

On 9/26/2021 at 4:58 AM, Youda said:

So, are they some sort of API for the game developers? Like OpenGL and DirectX? Or what exactly they are that the applications need them?

 

Well Steam itself might have neglible impact, but what about the SteamVR and WMR running at the same time while the game is running? Isn't that going to cause performance issues?

 

Yeah, kinda like that. But a lighter/easier. The current APIs are:

Oculus (Very closed source)
OpenVR (aka SteamVR - what DCS supports*)
OpenXR  (Legitimately open source) 

 

Most apps currently use OpenVR (I'll call that SteamVR from now on)

WMR natively supports OpenXR and can bridge to SteamVR. Yes, that has a performance impact - it shouldn't be much but it is undesirable. 

SteamVR is kinda bloated and crap on its own though, with lots of little issues. 
Going forward I'd expect more devs to support OpenXR directly, so no bridging required. 

Alternatively we may get some update to OpenComposite - a tool that sneakily converts games from SteamVR -> Oculus currently so no need for bridging! That guy is working on SteamVR -> OpenXR at the moment but it's a little ways off.  

Ei