SteamVR

SteamVR

How to try SteamVR (v3)
To switch Steam into VR Mode you need to take the following steps. These instructions are valid as of this update.

  1. Install the Oculus Runtime. You can find it here. You will need the runtime even for DK1 devices.
  2. Switch the Rift Display Mode to Extend Desktop to the HMD.
  3. Change the display orientation for the Rift DK display so that the screen is wider than it is tall. In some tools that's called Landscape and in some it is called Portrait, but in either case the width should be 1920 for DK2 or 1280 for DK1.
  4. Install SteamVR. It is in your library under Tools
  5. Select Virtual Reality Mode (BETA) from the View menu in Steam

A common source of problems on Windows is that the OVRService_x64 process does not always keep running. You may need to run it manually. By default it is installed here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Oculus\Service

If you have any trouble getting SteamVR running, it would be helpful for you to post your vrserver.txt and vrclient_steam.txt log files. You can find these under the logs directory in your Steam directory on Windows.
Last edited by Programmer Joe; Sep 5, 2014 @ 11:10am
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Showing 1-15 of 190 comments
feli.hp Aug 19, 2014 @ 10:40am 
Hello Joe,

I tried following these steps, but the View menu does not show the "Virtual Reality mode" option.

I made sure that:
- OVRService_X63 is running
- I'm opted in for BETA (both for Steam and SteamVR)
- Steam and SteamVR is up to date

When checking the log files, I noticed that nothing gets written to vrserver.txt nor vrclient_Steam.txt.

Only after running VR mode directly in HL2 I get some entries in vrserver.txt:
Tue Aug 19 17:34:11 2014 UTC - VR server (v1408414229) starting up with config=E:\Steam\config Tue Aug 19 17:34:11 2014 UTC - Active HMD set to oculus.2031GS06HFAC Tue Aug 19 17:34:11 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered Tue Aug 19 17:34:11 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection Tue Aug 19 17:34:11 2014 UTC - Active HMD set to oculus.2031GS06HFAC Tue Aug 19 17:34:29 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered Tue Aug 19 17:34:29 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection Tue Aug 19 17:34:29 2014 UTC - VR server shutting down Tue Aug 19 17:34:29 2014 UTC - Listener thread ending Tue Aug 19 17:34:29 2014 UTC - Listener thread joined

Hope this helps somehow..
T2k5 Aug 19, 2014 @ 11:25am 
Virtual Reality Mode is not visible for me after multiple tries of unsubscribing and re-subscribing on SteamVR beta, also tried reinstalling. DK2 is on extended mode, set to primary, OVRService running, Aero disabled (Win7). Most UE and Unity demos do work. Steam also stopped writing to the VR logs after a few fails, reinstalling or re-subscribing has no effect.

vrserver log loops this (there is no driver_vortex.dll in the path specified, should it exist?):
Tue Aug 19 16:36:16 2014 UTC - Listener thread joined
Tue Aug 19 16:40:35 2014 UTC - VR server (v1408414229) starting up with config=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Unable to find HMD 202QP7002FAC in driver oculus
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Driver oculus has no HMDs. Skipping
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Unable to load driver vortex from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\vortex\bin\driver_vortex.dll.
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Unable to load driver vortex because of error 103. Skipping.
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Active HMD not found. Returning best error Hmd Not Found (108)
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - VR server shutting down
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Listener thread ending

vrclient loops these with varying PIDs:
Tue Aug 19 16:40:35 2014 UTC - vrclient startup with PID=7112, config=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config
Tue Aug 19 16:40:35 2014 UTC - Starting vrserver process: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\bin\vrserver.exe
Tue Aug 19 16:41:17 2014 UTC - Received connect response 108. Giving up.
Atrushan Aug 19, 2014 @ 1:20pm 
Same as two previous comments... identical situation. Doesn't work.
Tankshell Aug 19, 2014 @ 1:32pm 
Hi Joe, is there a way to recenter/reset the view when in Steam VR mode (keyboard shortcut or something)? It currently just uses whatever orientation the device was in at startup, which normally in my case is not correct :)

Thanks.
StalkerU Aug 19, 2014 @ 3:10pm 
Originally posted by Tankshell:
Hi Joe, is there a way to recenter/reset the view when in Steam VR mode (keyboard shortcut or something)? It currently just uses whatever orientation the device was in at startup, which normally in my case is not correct :)

Thanks.

I had that issue too. Luckily it wasn't that off-center. It also seemed to correct itself after I exited out of HL2.

HL2 is pretty awesome with VR.

Although I did use the RoadToVR tips to give head tracking more range.

All in all it's pretty impressive.

Just need a button to easily center things.

Was also getting some strange tearing. Guessing it's the "vertical tearing" I've heard people mention before. I've never had any tearing with anything I've run before. SteamVR and HL2 are my first experience with it.

Tried locking the framerate to 75 in HL2. Using the the launch commands and going into the developer console and setting the frame rate limit to 75.
Last edited by StalkerU; Aug 19, 2014 @ 3:11pm
MW-Snake Aug 20, 2014 @ 6:38am 
I think maybe its missing something: vrserver log writes:

Wed Aug 20 11:10:08 2014 UTC - VR server (v1408414229) starting up with config=F:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\SteamVR\config
Wed Aug 20 11:10:08 2014 UTC - Active HMD set to oculus.203SFA01BJGR
Wed Aug 20 11:10:10 2014 UTC - Unable to load driver vortex from F:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\SteamVR\drivers\vortex\bin\driver_vortex.dll.
Wed Aug 20 11:10:10 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered
Wed Aug 20 11:10:10 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection
Wed Aug 20 11:10:10 2014 UTC - VR server shutting down
Wed Aug 20 11:10:10 2014 UTC - Listener thread ending
Wed Aug 20 11:10:10 2014 UTC - Listener thread joined

There are no dlls in the driver directory...

allready installed it twice.


Programmer Joe  [developer] Aug 20, 2014 @ 7:29am 
Originally posted by feli.hp:
I tried following these steps, but the View menu does not show the "Virtual Reality mode" option.

Does the view menu show the VR option if you start Steam with the -vrforce command line option?

Thanks for the log. It eliminates a bunch of possibilities.


Joe
T2k5 Aug 20, 2014 @ 8:11am 
I tried with -vrforce, not sure if that had any effect but at least the log messages changed a bit this time. Still no Virtual Reality Mode option visible.

vrserver log:
Wed Aug 20 15:04:40 2014 UTC - VR server (v1408414229) starting up with config=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config
Wed Aug 20 15:04:50 2014 UTC - Active HMD set to oculus.202QP7002FAC
Wed Aug 20 15:05:32 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered
Wed Aug 20 15:05:32 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection
Wed Aug 20 15:05:32 2014 UTC - VR server shutting down
Wed Aug 20 15:05:32 2014 UTC - Listener thread ending

vrclient log:
Wed Aug 20 15:04:40 2014 UTC - vrclient startup with PID=1704, config=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config
Wed Aug 20 15:04:40 2014 UTC - Starting vrserver process: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\bin\vrserver.exe
Wed Aug 20 15:04:50 2014 UTC - Received success response from connect
Wed Aug 20 15:05:32 2014 UTC - Unable to set hmd to oculus.202QP7002FAC (#0) in client provider: HMD Not Known (201)
feli.hp Aug 20, 2014 @ 11:56am 
Hi Joe,

with -vrforce, the option is visible in the View menu.

These are the relevant vrserver.txt entries:
Wed Aug 20 18:41:31 2014 UTC - VR server (v1408414229) starting up with config=E:\Steam\config Wed Aug 20 18:41:31 2014 UTC - Active HMD set to oculus.2031GS06HFAC Wed Aug 20 18:41:32 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered Wed Aug 20 18:41:32 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection Wed Aug 20 18:41:32 2014 UTC - VR server shutting down Wed Aug 20 18:41:32 2014 UTC - Listener thread ending Wed Aug 20 18:41:32 2014 UTC - Listener thread joined Wed Aug 20 18:41:48 2014 UTC - VR server (v1408414229) starting up with config=E:\Steam\config Wed Aug 20 18:41:48 2014 UTC - Active HMD set to oculus.2031GS06HFAC Wed Aug 20 18:43:32 2014 UTC - Failed to GetOverlappedResult after event was triggered Wed Aug 20 18:43:32 2014 UTC - Lost IPC connection Wed Aug 20 18:43:32 2014 UTC - VR server shutting down Wed Aug 20 18:43:32 2014 UTC - Listener thread ending Wed Aug 20 18:43:32 2014 UTC - Listener thread joined

These are the relevant entries fromvrclient_Steam.txt:
Wed Aug 20 18:41:31 2014 UTC - vrclient startup with PID=3600, config=E:\Steam\config Wed Aug 20 18:41:31 2014 UTC - Starting vrserver process: E:\Steam\steamapps\common\OpenVR\bin\vrserver.exe Wed Aug 20 18:41:31 2014 UTC - Received success response from connect Wed Aug 20 18:41:31 2014 UTC - Init Success! Wed Aug 20 18:41:48 2014 UTC - vrclient startup with PID=3600, config=E:\Steam\config Wed Aug 20 18:41:48 2014 UTC - Starting vrserver process: E:\Steam\steamapps\common\OpenVR\bin\vrserver.exe Wed Aug 20 18:41:48 2014 UTC - Received success response from connect Wed Aug 20 18:41:48 2014 UTC - Init Success!

Regards

(specs: i7-3770K, GeForce GTX 670, Windows 8.1 64bit)
MW-Snake Aug 20, 2014 @ 12:41pm 
-vrforce works.
Programmer Joe  [developer] Aug 20, 2014 @ 1:20pm 
Thanks! That gives me some things to look at.

@Tankforce Yes, a recenter option will be available soon.


Joe
kvick Aug 20, 2014 @ 4:46pm 
Just tried -vrforce as well, it works for me too.
barbarrossa Aug 20, 2014 @ 6:16pm 
how do I -vrforce on terminal and and run steam on a mac?
FictionX Aug 20, 2014 @ 9:59pm 
Hi Joe. Would it be possible to adjust for the Chromatic Aberration issues? They've been experimenting with it in the Oculus dev forum, and the results are very good: https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=11190&start=80#p165764

It takes a lot away from the immersion in HL2 when all lines (that are not in the center of the display) are red or blue.
Bean Seller Aug 21, 2014 @ 6:34am 
+1 for CA fixes, great work Joe, this is really excellent!

Unfortunately my GT 750M struggles quite a lot, watching YouTube for example appears to be running at ~15fps.

Is there a way to see the FPS info, and maybe some tips on speeding things up?
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Date Posted: Aug 19, 2014 @ 9:29am
Posts: 190