Null driver

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

Hi all, I know this might seem like a crazy request, but is there anyway to activate a null driver (or such) that will force SteamVR to run SBS without a recognized HMD present?

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

FYI have created a steamvr.vrsettings file as per the following instructions https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamVR/steamvr.vrsettings . SteamVR is reading the file (according to the logs), but it has zero effect.

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

Anyone?

[phr00t]

I'm having the same problem. I can't get the null driver to work either.

I've sent some logs to the SteamVR team, but haven't heard a response yet. I feel they are busy working on Direct Mode, among other things. I could really use the null driver to work though, as it did in earlier builds before the steamvr.vrsettings file.

[Schwindlig [Stefan]]

The Null driver works for me with the following vrsettings file:
{
"jsonid" : "vrsettings",
"steamvr": {
"forcedDriver": "null"
},
"driver_null": {
"enable": true,
"id": "Null Driver",
"serialNumber": "Null 4711",
"modelNumber": "Null Model Number",
"windowX": 100,
"windowY": 100,
"windowWidth": 1920,
"windowHeight": 1080,
"renderWidth": 1344,
"renderHeight": 1512,
"secondsFromVsyncToPhotons": 0.1,
"displayFrequency": 90
},
"notifications" : {
"DoNotDisturb" : false
},
"version" : "1"
}

Have a look in vrserver.txt and be on the look out for errors like the following:
Wed Sep 30 11:34:29 2015 - Parsing of settings file failed: (D:/VR/config\steamvr.vrsettings)
Wed Sep 30 11:34:29 2015 - * Line 6, Column 4
Missing ',' or '}' in object declaration

We will improve vrmonitor, so it will notify you better when you have a broken settings file.

Please give it a try and if it does not work send your vrsettings file and the content of a system report to [e-mail] for further investigation.

[phr00t]

Thank you for the response.

I copy & pasted that file, and the null driver still won't load. I get "Hmd not found (108)".

The vrserver.txt log shows this, with no errors:

Wed Sep 30 21:05:06 2015 - Load Json Settings from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings

vrclient_java reports:

Wed Sep 30 16:06:02 2015 - vrclient startup with PID=3424, config=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config
Wed Sep 30 16:06:02 2015 - Returning HmdNotFound because the client-side presence check failed.

No idea what is going on wrong, or where...

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

Will try this tonight. Let you know how I get on.

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

Same issue as phr00t. This is what the system report is returning for my settings (just to confirm it is seeing them Config Files

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/config/steamvr.vrsettings
{
"jsonid" : "vrsettings",
"steamvr": {
"forcedDriver": "null"
},
"driver_null": {
"enable": true,
"id": "Null Driver",
"serialNumber": "Null 4711",
"modelNumber": "Null Model Number",
"windowX": 100,
"windowY": 100,
"windowWidth": 1920,
"windowHeight": 1080,
"renderWidth": 1344,
"renderHeight": 1512,
"secondsFromVsyncToPhotons": 0.1,
"displayFrequency": 90
},
"notifications" : {
"DoNotDisturb" : false
},
"version" : "1"
}


Logs

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/logs/vrserver.txt is not available.

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/logs/vrcompositor.txt is not available.

==================================================

As you can see under logs - its saying vrserver.txt is "not available" and indeed when I load the file - its empty.

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

Schwindlig - I've sent the requested email, header "Null driver issues".

[xriz__crazy+]

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/logs/vrserver.txt is not available.

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/logs/vrcompositor.txt is not available.

==================================================

As you can see under logs - its saying vrserver.txt is "not available" and indeed when I load the file - its empty.

[Harv]

I'm really hoping you guys can get this working. I've just ordered myself an Unofficial Cardboard 2.0 Plus and am planning on getting into VR development.

Just so that I understand things properly, am I right in thinking that the Steam VR SDK will allow me to develop a game or app that will work with both an Oculus Rift and HTC Vive HMD..?

And the thing stopping us from getting this to work with a Google Cardboard-type headset and an application like TrinusVR is that Steam VR falls over when it can't see an Oculus/Vive/Gear VR headset..?

Rather than a null driver isn't there a way to detect a smartphone connected via USB tethering..? After all, Windows recognises smartphones and knows to install drivers for it. I'm a real n00b at all this malarkey so please forgive me if I'm talking nonsense lol

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

@phr00t - do you have the Rift runtime on your system?

[phr00t]

Originally posted by Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance:

@phr00t - do you have the Rift runtime on your system?

Not on the machine I'm trying to get the null driver working on.

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

That scuppers that theory then ;)

[bendotcom]

The latest beta has some fixes for this, so please try again and let us know if it's still not working for you.

[Lord Tin Tin - Lord of the Dance]

Yes, I've got the compisitor working with the Null driver. Will play around with it a little more before I report back.