VR on Linux - Native/supported software and hardware

[yao mtc]

Also available as a guide and a website[vronlinux.org].

VR Software Status

Objective: Investigate software such as these native titles on Steam to find whether they actually support virtual reality (VR) on Linux. In addition, Steam Play whitelisted software will also be tracked. Please post whatever issues you have.

This document is VR-focused, but augmented reality (AR) applications will also be included. (Together, VR and AR are known as XR.)

Make sure to use the latest graphics drivers and Linux kernel available to you. At a minimum, Linux kernel 4.13 with Mesa 18.2 (AMD) or Nvidia version 430.26 is required for the SteamVR beta. For more details on SteamVR for Linux, click here.[github.com]

For unsupported games that may work with Proton,[github.com] see the list on Gitlab[gitlab.com] or the Steam forum thread.

Confirmed Working

Games

• BallisticNG - discussion
  
• Balloonatics
  
• Beat Saber - on Steam Play whitelist - also see this modding guide
  
• BeepSaber[github.com] - native Beat Saber alternative using Godot
  
• Doom VFR - on Steam Play whitelist - issue for AMD GPUs[gitlab.com]
  
• Dungeon Hero
  
• Everspace - dev comment
  
• Fake Racing
  
• Half-Life: Alyx - announcement - issues[gitlab.com]
  
• Google Earth VR - on Steam Play whitelist
  
• Groove Gunner
  
• Locomancer
  
• Munch VR - announcement
  
• Neos VR - announcement
  
• OpenMW (VR fork)[gitlab.com] - issue[gitlab.com]
  
• Portal 2 VR[github.com] (mod) - video
  
• Polynomial 2 - discussion
  
• RBDOOM-3-BFG[github.com]
  
• Serious Sam Fusion 2017
  
• Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE
  
• Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter - dev post
  
• Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter
  
• sphereFACE - issue[gitlab.com]
  
• The Talos Principle VR
  
• Universe Sandbox 2 - discussion
  
• Vivecraft[www.vivecraft.org]
  
• X-Plane - discussion[forums.x-plane.org]
  
• vkQuakeVR[github.com]
  
• Zaccaria Pinball
  
• ZED - dev post

Other Software

• Beataroni[github.com] - graphical Beat Saber mod installer
  
• BeatSaberModManager[github.com] - Beat Saber mod installer
  
• Bino[bino3d.org] - video player with a focus on 3D and VR
  
• Blender[www.blender.org] - open source 3D graphics software (modeling, animation, etc.)
  
  • See Configuring Peripherals[docs.blender.org] in the Blender Manual
• Exokit[github.com] - issue[gitlab.com] - VR/AR/XR engine for JavaScript
  
• FreeCAD[github.com] OpenXR fork - open source CAD modeling software
  
• Gaia Sky VR[gaia.ari.uni-heidelberg.de] - issue[gitlab.com] - 3D universe application
  
• Godot[godotengine.org] - open source game engine, requires plugin[github.com]
  
• libsurvive[github.com] - open source Lighthouse tracking system
  
• Monado[monado.dev] - blog post[www.collabora.com] - free and open source OpenXR[www.khronos.org] runtime
  
• Open Brush[github.com] - Linux builds[openbrush.itch.io] - fork of the open sourced 3D painting app Tilt Brush
  
• OpenComposite[gitlab.com] - Reimplementation of OpenVR, translating calls to OpenXR - play SteamVR games without SteamVR
  
• ShellSaber[github.com] - graphical Beat Saber mod installer
  
• Simula[github.com] - VR window manager for Linux that runs on top of Godot
  
• SPHVR[gitlab.com] - spherical media player using Vulkan for rendering - can play stereoscopic videos to your headset
  
• Stardust XR[stardustxr.org] - XR display server for Linux-based distros - allows developers to make XR widgets or interfaces, run them among others
  
• SteamVR[github.com] - Valve's VR software system
  
• SoundStage VR[github.com] - Linux builds[gitlab.com] - music app
  
• Vircadia[vircadia.com] - issues[gitlab.com] - open source social VR metaverse, successor of High Fidelity
  
• vr-video-player[git.dec05eba.com] - play stereoscopic 3D videos (and some non-VR games) on your VR headset
  
• WiVRn[github.com] - OpenXR streaming application - lets you run OpenXR apps on a computer and display them on a standalone headset
  
• WlxOverlay-S[github.com] - access your Wayland/X11 desktop from within SteamVR/Monado
  
• xrdesktop[gitlab.freedesktop.org] - Announcement[www.collabora.com] - interact with the Linux desktop in XR

Confirmed Planned

The developers will try to make a Linux version at some point. May or may not be released.

• Climbey - dev comment
  
• cyubevr - dev post
  
• Holodance - dev comment
• Left-Hand Path - dev post
  
• Legend of Dungeon - dev post
  
• Pierhead Arcade - dev post
  
• QuiVr - dev post

Confirmed Not Working (Natively)

• Distance - mod comment

(works with Proton)

Not Currently Planned

Some have great Proton[github.com] compatibility, but are not whitelisted. Others have more mixed results, but may work well. See the list on Gitlab[gitlab.com] or the Steam forum thread for more info.

• 5089 - dev post
  
• Budget Cuts 2 - dev post
  
• Duck Force] - duck force dev
  
• Job Simulator - dev post
  
• Legend of Luca - dev post
  
• Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades - dev post
  
• Racket: Nx - dev post
  
• Raw Data - dev post
  
• Sublevel Zero - dev post
  
• Subnautica - dev post
  
• Tilt Brush - dev post[www.phoronix.com]

---

VR Hardware Status

Confirmed Working

• HTC Vive/Vive Pro and Valve Index via SteamVR[github.com] (development beta)
  
  • Index base station updates do not work[github.com]
    
  • Index camera does not work[github.com]
• Bigscreen Beyond[www.bigscreenvr.com] - does not work on Nvidia[forums.developer.nvidia.com], but works with Monado on AMD with a kernel patch[gist.github.com]; SteamVR works on AMD after Monado has run
  
• Vive Trackers[www.vive.com]
  
• Tundra Trackers[tundra-labs.com]
  
• Oculus Rift development kits (DK1, DK2) - ArchWiki: Oculus Rift[wiki.archlinux.org]

Unofficial ALVR Support (Experimental)

Some Oculus headsets are supported by ALVR[github.com] (Air Light VR).

Stream VR games from your PC to your headset via Wi-Fi.
ALVR uses technologies like Asynchronous Timewarp and Fixed Foveated Rendering for a smoother experience.
All games that work with an Oculus Rift (s) should work with ALVR.

Linux support is still in beta. To be able to make audio work or run ALVR at all you may need advanced knowledge of your distro for debugging or building from source.

ALVR currently supports:

• Oculus Quest 1/2/3/Pro
  
• Pico 4/Neo 3
  
• Vive Focus 3/XR Elite
  
• YVR 1/2
  
• Lynx R1

Graphics Cards

You should try to get the latest graphics drivers that are available. For Nvidia users, have at least the NVIDIA 470.42.01 driver installed, available since June 22, 2021. For AMD users, have at least Mesa 18.2 (September 2018). Intel graphics are not currently supported by SteamVR.

---

Troubleshooting

SteamVR

Rainbow pixels at the edge of my viewport (AMDGPU)

SteamVR only renders what can actually be seen by the player. This results in two ovals being drawn on the HMD. SteamVR does not touch the outside of those ovals. That results in random pixels from the VRAM segment the frame buffer was allocated on.
You can probably see these if you move your eyes quick enough and are looking at a dark scene in VR.

You can tell the RADV driver to always zero the frame buffer to avoid this. I am not sure if this results in a performance penalty or not.

Fix

• Add this environment variable to the launch options of SteamVR: `RADV_DEBUG=zerovram`
  
  • NOTE: You can add multiple options to `RADV_DEBUG` by separating them with a comma (`,`). Example: `RADV_DEBUG=zerovram,nodcc`

SteamVR doesn't start on Wayland

If you have environment variables that force Qt or SDL apps to run in Wayland mode, SteamVR might not start at all.

Fix

• Add these environment variables to the launch options of SteamVR:

  QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11

SteamVR does not use direct mode on Wayland (window appears on monitor)

If this has never worked for you on Wayland, make sure your compositor supports the `wp_drm_lease_device_v1` protocol. (As of writing both Sway and KWin support it)

Fix

• Use a compositor that supports `wp_drm_lease_device_v1`
  
• Make sure your XWayland version supports `wp_drm_lease_device_v1` (X.Org 22.1.0+)

SteamVR *occasionally* does not use direct mode on Wayland (window appears on monitor)

Sometimes SteamVR fails to use direct mode. This is probably because the last instance didn't release its lease on your HMD. You can kill `XWayland` and try again (Sway automatically restarts it when needed)

If your HMD is listed in the output of `xrandr`, it probably means that it's available for lease.

Fix

• Restart XWayland
  
• Alternatively restart your compositor

No microphone input from HMD

The microphone of the Valve Index is kinda finnicky. Your best bet is to use PipeWire here.
PulseAudio can be made to work, if you figure out the correct sample-rate and stuff.

Fix

• Use PipeWire
  
• (Maybe) Make sure you have selected the corresponding HDMI output (the Index won't capture the microphone otherwise?)

Double-vision when moving head

Asynchronous reprojection is broken on some AMD Vulkan drivers for Linux and possibly Nvidia (TODO: please test). If games generate enough frames, you won't see this, but otherwise, you probably will.

Fix

• Refer to Use alternative Vulkan drivers in order to try another driver

Fix, if all other options are exhausted
Either:

• Reduce the resolution until reprojection is no longer an issue
  
• Enable Legacy Reprojection Mode for the game, it performs better (which does the same as `enableLinuxVulkanAsync`?)
  
• Use SteamVR 1.14, where reprojection works fine on RADV, refer to Using older SteamVR versions
  
• Disable async reprojection (degrades perceived performance) by setting `"enableLinuxVulkanAsync" : false` under the `steamvr` section at `~/.steam/steam/config/steamvr.vrsettings`

Games crash before anything renders

This is most likely caused by the Vulkan driver.

Fix

• Refer to "Use alternative Vulkan drivers" in order to try another driver

Use alternative Vulkan drivers

AMD

Short overview of Vulkan drivers

• RADV: Ships with Mesa, required by SteamVR
  
• AMDVLK: Open source, reprojection is not broken on SteamVR >1.14, may perform better than RADV
  
• AMDGPU-PRO: Proprietary, reprojection is TODO, performs TODO

Instructions

1. Install AMDVLK drivers and optionally AMDGPU-PRO drivers, however the latter should not be installed system-wide, instead use amdgpu-pro-vulkan-only[github.com]
   
2. Since AMD_VULKAN_ICD causes issues (more on that here[gitlab.com]), add these entries to `/etc/environment`, making RADV the default driver in the process:
   

   DISABLE_LAYER_AMD_SWITCHABLE_GRAPHICS_1=1
   VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.i686.json:/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/radeon_icd.x86_64.json

3. In order to use AMDVLK or AMDGPU-PRO Vulkan drivers for games, set these variables only for the games (not SteamVR), appending %command% if it's a Steam game launch argument:
   
   • AMDVLK: VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd32.json:/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json
     
   • AMDGPU-PRO (depends on where it's installed): VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/opt/amdgpu-pro/etc/vulkan/icd.d/amd_icd64.json:/opt/amdgpu-pro/etc/vulkan/icd.d/amd_zricd32.json

Nvidia

TODO

Graphics artifacts in SteamVR and in overlays (AMDGPU)

Upstream issue[github.com]

• (Applies to SteamVR >1.14) Reinstall SteamVR and reject superuser access, setting `cap_sys_nice` causes issues[github.com]
  
• Otherwise, use SteamVR 1.14 as per Using older SteamVR versions

Old fix

• Add this environment variable to the launch options of SteamVR: `RADV_DEBUG=nodcc`
  
  • NOTE: You can add multiple options to `RADV_DEBUG` by separating them with a comma (`,`). Example: `RADV_DEBUG=zerovram,nodcc`

Overlays are wobbling/jittering

Upstream issue[github.com]

This is a SteamVR bug and it can't really be fixed from the outside.

There is some discussion in this Reddit thread about some workarounds, but they can cause issues with some games.

### Using older SteamVR versions

SteamVR 1.14 is the version to fall back to in case of certain issues.

Note: It does not work on Wayland.

On AMD, it fixes reprojection for games run with RADV, and doesn't crash or introduce graphics artifacts, unlike the newer versions do.

Instructions

1. Right click SteamVR in Steam
   
2. Select Properties...
   
3. Go to the Betas tab
   
4. Under Beta Participation, select linux_v1.14
   
5. Refer to this issue comment[github.com] to fix vrwebhelper
   
6. For each Windows Unity game or any other Windows game that crashes, select Proton 5.13, which should make the game playable

---

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to:

• All contributors on Gitlab[gitlab.com] and in Steam comments
  
• Steam user Teq for compiling the original list here (please don't post on it)
  
• Valve for SteamVR for Linux[github.com] and the forum
  
• Reddit communities /r/linux_gaming and /r/virtualreality_linux
  
• IRC channel #vronlinux[web.libera.chat] on https://libera.chat/
  
• Linux VR Adventures wiki[lvra.gitlab.io] and community[lvra.gitlab.io]
  
• MkDocs,[www.mkdocs.org] Material for MkDocs,[squidfunk.github.io] and League of Linux[leagueoflinux.org] which VRonLinux[vronlinux.org] is based on
  
• Players like you

[Cheeseness]

Thanks for putting together this list!

The issue URLs you have for sphereFACE and exokit appear to be broken

[yao mtc]

Thank you for pointing that out, I've fixed it now.

[Azkanel [Linux]]

thanks a lot!!

[yao mtc]

I've added Vive Trackers, which can be used for full-body tracking.

There is also an alternative SteamVR tracker, the Tundra Tracker, which is smaller and lighter than the Vive Trackers. They had a successful Kickstarter last year and have shipped product to backers and more, but they are currently out of stock.[tundra-labs.com] I have been told by someone at Tundra Labs that since the Vive Trackers work with Linux, the Tundra Trackers should too, but they couldn't confirm as they hadn't tested it. If you or someone you know has a Tundra Tracker, please let me know!

[yao mtc]

I've been told by Tundra Labs that while they haven't tested it, they were sure they should work if the Vive Trackers do, as they use Valve's standard firmware for the dongle. So I've added them.

[yao mtc]

Added steamvr_utils[github.com].

[a9884]

Any idea what's the status on pimax?

[yao mtc]

Don't know, I don't have pimax hardware so you'll have to do that research. Let me know what you find.

[yao mtc]

Updated!

• Bino added (thanks to Martin Lambers for the info)
  
• Added SlimeVR trackers
  
• Now has a troubleshooting section thanks to Sefa Eyeoglu
  
• Added link to Gitlab contributors

[grzegorz77]

(I add to the topic to be up to date.)

[euphoric.cat]

please post this as a guide or something, so we can favourite it. this is so helpful

[yao mtc]

Done. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2984005943

[yao mtc]

Added BeepSaber and BeatSaberModManager.

I'd update the guide but editing it seems to be broken in the new Steam?

[yao mtc]

Never mind, didn't realize I had hit a character limit on the first section. Fixed and updated.

[Musicalgamer]

Ey can we get ChilloutVR into the Steam Play Whitelist? It's got a platinum Rating on ProtonDB.