Turn controllers off after... 5 minutes minimum??

[FunkeymonkeyTTR]

With the new VR dashboard layout the minimum shutdown time for the controllers is now 5 minutes?? https://i.imgur.com/uXxXaQJ.png that's awfully long, I'm sure I used to have that set in seconds to save batteries, the minimum time for the screens seems to be really short as well at 5 seconds minimum and 5 minutes maximum, have these settings been mixed up in the update?

[BOLL]

You... you want the controllers to turn off after a few seconds?

The screens switch on and off automatically with the proximity sensor, but controllers have to be manually turned on again. 🤔 And across the hours controllers can be active on a single charge, five minutes seem like an OK time to me 😅

Now I'm curious about your setup for this to be a problem, not saying they shouldn't increase the range, just interested.

[FunkeymonkeyTTR]

Well they recommend taking a 10 minute break for every 30 minutes of playtime or something absurd no one ever follows

https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-reality-vr-side-effects-2018-3
The makers of the most popular VR headsets, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, recommend taking "at least a 10 to 15 minute break every 30 minutes, even if you don’t think you need it."

But for my use I tend to be in and out of VR a lot when looking at guides or even taking screenshots for my own guide, I'd take a couple images, put VR down for a few minutes while I check its clear then go back into VR, or sometimes I'll jump in and out of VR when chatting with friends or whatever, I do tend to be in and out a lot in some sessions, it was nice to find the very short timeout option to preserve my controllers batteries, they'd never turn off while in use so it was perfect for me.

another example is at the moment I'm grinding some VR achievements that require exactly 5 seconds of gameplay (controller use) then 5 minutes of idle (x1000), my controllers are forced to stay on through all the downtime killing the batteries much quicker.

[BOLL]

Aha, well, you can always turn them off manually, or just keep them on charge if they can be charged, 5000 minutes is 3½ days after all 😅 but I can see why you'd want them to turn off now. I'd say that was a different use case than I would have imagined 🤣

Personally if I was this serious about something I'd probably just keep them always on and then switch either controllers or batteries, depending on what you're running.

It's not impossible that the value can be set to less through editing configs though, I don't have access to that right now but might be something to check out.

[FunkeymonkeyTTR]

I'm running the vive + vive wands

Turning them off manually is a bit of an effort to be fair and most times I'd forget to do it, the charging area is a bit out of the way from where I play as well, both wouldn't really work for me.

I wouldn't mind editing a file to achieve a shorter time out even if it was from 5 down to 1 minute, but I have no clue what to look for or if I could even edit the file once found, if you know where t look that could get me started.

[Daniel_Firefox]

I've been looking for the answer in the config files and found:

"power": {
"powerOffOnExit": true,
"turnOffScreensTimeout": 5.0,
"turnOffControllersTimeout": 300.0,
"returnToWatchdogTimeout": 0.0,
"pauseCompositorOnStandby": true,
"autoLaunchSteamVROnButtonPress": true
},

in the default.vrsettings. I guess, you can copy this in the /Steam/config/steamvr.vrsettings and change the parameter you need (everything in seconds)
Yeah, maybe too late... Sorry about that xD
UPDATE: Checked this on my WMR headset, works as it should. Important: if you check what time preset is selected in SteamVR Dashborad -> Startup/Shutdown you'll see that the tab "Turn off controllers after" asks you to select one of the presets. Just ignore that, don't touch it

[FunkeymonkeyTTR]

Thanks, I did end up finding that exact thing you posted as a solution but I totally forgot I made this thread tbh or I would have updated it. I set my controllertimeout to 30 seconds which is far more reasonable and battery preserving than 5 minutes.

I don't know why anyone thought 5 minutes as a minimum timeout was a good idea, I remember sometimes I would take a 30+ minute break and occasionally I would knock my desk where the controllers are resting and that would reset the 5 minute timer, because of this my controllers would literally never turn off, completely draining the battery.

[Daniel_Firefox]

:)