How To Disable Theatre Mode

[Scientician347]

In properties, you should be able to disable theatre mode so you can play your VR modded games, such as Valheim. This check box is now missing.

How do you get past this shenanigans?

[Soldier]

I am running into this same issue right now! I even tried removing the )steamvr_desktop_game_theater folder but no luck. Still just launches 2D

[aaron.leiby]

The old setting in Steam that controlled launching the old steamvr_desktop_game_theater VR app that Steam optionally launched when launching non-VR apps was removed when steamvr_desktop_game_theater was also removed in SteamVR 2.1.

Steam now captures the desktop image of non-VR apps to feed to SteamVR as a dashboard overlay.

When a non-VR game starts submitting VR frames to SteamVR (e.g. because it was modded), Steam automatically stops this capture process. If you see two icons for the game in SteamVR’s dashboard tray, then you may need to update your Steam client.

There is also a new setting under VR Settings > Dashboard (Show Advanced Settings) to disable showing non-VR apps on the Theater Screen. They will still show up in the dashboard, however.

[Flying Acehole]

Originally posted by aaron.leiby:

The old setting in Steam that controlled launching the old steamvr_desktop_game_theater VR app that Steam optionally launched when launching non-VR apps was removed when steamvr_desktop_game_theater was also removed in SteamVR 2.1.

Steam now captures the desktop image of non-VR apps to feed to SteamVR as a dashboard overlay.

When a non-VR game starts submitting VR frames to SteamVR (e.g. because it was modded), Steam automatically stops this capture process. If you see two icons for the game in SteamVR’s dashboard tray, then you may need to update your Steam client.


----------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There is also a new setting under VR Settings > Dashboard (Show Advanced Settings) to disable showing non-VR apps on the Theater Screen. They will still show up in the dashboard, however.

=
This option does nothing. Has no function. Games still start in 2D on the big screen

[JLJTGR]

I really wish the option did what it said. I never want the SteamVR theater mode to activate.

Using the new UEVR mod, I'm trying to play Satisfactory but the theater mode insists on grabbing the game. Injecting UEVR still works, but the performance is bad. If I start SteamVR after the game, it won't push it into theater mode and my frame-present times in VR are 33% faster. But if I want to restart the game, I have to close SteamVR so that it doesn't force theater mode.

I want this option to do what it says so I don't have to jump through these hoops.

[spielsterino]

Same thing. Disabling the option in the SteamVR dashboard has no effect. Unfortunately starting the game before starting SteamVR also doesn't work.

[2⊛2]

Trying since 3 days to make UEVR runs. And ALWAYS the Game-TheatreMode kills the VR-Experience.
The old Steam was so much better, got better performance and was easier to use.
Best would be move back to Steamclient versions 1.... Ok, that will never happens, so make it possible as Beta to use the old version again. THX. (I´m really pissed off by Update 2.0 since Oct 2023)

[aaron.leiby]

Thanks for reporting. We should figure out what's going wrong for you. This does not happen in my testing, so I'm curious to figure out what is different in your setup(s).

Here is my experience:
1) Launch Steam.
2) Launch SteamVR (I'm using Index, but have also tested with Quest via SteamLink).
3) Launch a UEVR game (e.g. Stray).
- At this point (since I have the option enabled) Stray shows up on the large theater screen in headset. I have SteamVR Home disabled, so I'm just in the empty construct.
- If you bring up the dashboard, you will see an icon for the game to the far right before the "+" icon. If you hover over, the tool tip will show the game's name (e.g. "Stray").
- If you click on this icon you will see the game in the dashboard now as well.
4) Alt+tab to UEVR, select the game from the drop-down and click Inject (tested with both OpenVR and OpenXR settings).
- Shortly in the dashboard, a second duplicate icon shows up. This is to the left, just right of the Steam icon. If you hover over, the tool tip says "Now Playing". This is a bad state to be in, but...
- As soon as the game submits its first VR frame (i.e. the construct gets replaced with the Stray main menu lobby area), the original icon to the far right for the flat version of the game disappears, and if you were viewing that tab, then it auto-switches back to showing Steam instead.

If you are not seeing this last step, then that's a bug that we will need to track down and fix. Step one would be to verify which version of Steam you are on. That critical last step should have shipped to all users on Dec 11 (though the actual date of the build was Dec 7). Click Help > About Steam to verify.

Injecting UEVR still works, but the performance is bad. If I start SteamVR after the game, it won't push it into theater mode and my frame-present times in VR are 33% faster.

How are you measuring this? I wouldn't expect the order of launching to make any difference. If I launch for example, Stray first, then SteamVR, Stray still shows up on the theater screen and in dashboard for me (until it switches to VR mode).

[2⊛2]

First time that UEVR worked.

But not with version 1.27_temp, only with SteamVR 2....

Was testing UEVR in Dark Pictures: Houses of Ashes. Looked very great, but i got much stutters. Stutters from the begin when SteamVR started.
Cause these stutters i did change the version to the old 1.27.
The stutters will be showed on moving the head. If i hold the head still there is no stutter.

[JLJTGR]

How are you measuring this? I wouldn't expect the order of launching to make any difference. If I launch for example, Stray first, then SteamVR, Stray still shows up on the theater screen and in dashboard for me (until it switches to VR mode).

I'm starting to think that my test wasn't controlled enough. I can't produce a measurable difference any longer.

As a side note, since my original issues began, I received a Steam Client beta update. I'm not willing to blame that on fixing the FPS issue, but I wonder if it solved the theater mode issue for me. I am currently running both SteamVR beta and Steam Client beta and have seen very strange things happen if the versions are out of sync. (such as Steam closing completely when SteamVR closes)

Right now the only "oddity" that I can produce is that when "theater mode" is off, but the dashboard is open: opening Satisfactory will replace the dashboard with the game's window. Not to be confused by actual "theater mode"... but the differences are subtle. -- If the VR dashboard is not open, then Satisfactory will not appear in VR whatsoever until UEVR injects.

Anyone else that is having issues, make sure to learn the subtle differences between "theater mode" and the dashboard showing the game window. Look down at the floor for the black sparkling tiles if you don't use "Home". If you're not even wearing the headset, from the tiny SteamVR preview it may be hard to tell the difference between a large dashboard window of the game and "theater mode".

[spielsterino]

Linux user. I know that causes most developers to go into ignore mode.

Decided to try Aaron's steps as closely as possible. Turned off Steam Home. That in addition to making sure the applications are starting with just a -dx11 launch option and I got my first modded game to work in VR. (Hadn't been able to run a single VR mod since I started VR, around the time SteamVR 2.0 came out)

Have now gotten both Outer Wilds and Deep Rock Galactic to run in VR with mods. Haven't been able to get a UEVR game to work yet but not a big deal right now.

[Kuljettaja79]

Originally posted by spielsterino:

Haven't been able to get a UEVR game to work yet but not a big deal right now.

I know this is off-topic for this thread and I apologize for it, but just wanted to let you know, that depending on your setup, you might get UEVR working on Linux with these instructions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality_linux/comments/18vxkc3/psa_praydogs_uevr_injector_can_work_on_linux_too/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

My experience using UEVR with SteamVR on LInux is not that great. The performance is lacking and I get double vision on the headset, when turning my head, regardless of the resolution or graphics settings. (Using AMD hardware with Valve Index)

If, and only if, you are experienced with Linux and want to dive a little bit deeper into getting more performance and are familiar with compiling code, you could bypass SteamVR alltogether and replace it with Monado. Though it might be a little overwhelming to set it up at first, there's luckily a project that helps with that. It's called Envision.
https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision

Envision is basically a GUI for building a Monado profile and all the dependencies it requires. The developer warns that the app is unstable, so proceed with caution.

The performance difference using SteamVR and Monado is like night and day., at least when using with UEVR. I don't get any double vision using Monado and overall it feels a lot smoother.

[2⊛2]

Thanks Kuljettaja79. Very helpful when i will switch from Windows to Linux soon. My HMD (Pico 4) was bought few months ago and i hope it will run under Linux too. But i know Pico suppports OpenXR.

[spielsterino]

Don't want to go too far off topic but I can run UEVR in the proton environment for the game. The problem I had (testing Frozen Flame) is that after injecting the game does go into VR mode but UEVR creates a settings window on top of the game window. The settings window is frozen and I can't get to the game window behind it.

As far as the topic goes, it seems that disabling Steam Home is what allowed SteamVR to send the game into 3D. Before that the game was stuck on Aaron's second to last step (2 game icons on the dashboard and game just showing in a 2D screen). SteamVR was detecting VR input because the hmd moves the game display, just wouldn't move to full 3D.

Will have to check out Monado. I'm long past the point of wanting to compile my own software but am happy if an appimage is available.

[Crixus]

Sorry to necro, but does this have a fix? I'm having the exact same problem with satisfactory. A flat screen over the 3D uevr version.

[EQOAnostalgia]

This needs a fix asap.