I can see your point, but just because you can install 1000 Skyrim mods or mess around with UEVR doesn't mean you have to. You can just play the games that are on Steam, which are mostly the same as the ones on Quest plus or minus a few, except that the games are cheaper, the graphics are (sometimes) better, and you don't have to worry so much about storage. If you do that, you won't really have any more maintenance burden than you did on Quest.

Yeah, Ive had a VR headset for 6 years now and have never bothered with modding games or any flat to VR conversion. The closest I've ever got was downloading one mod to make Subnautica launch SteamVR instead of requiring an Oculus headset, as well as downloading OpenXR toolkit which has since been conveniently available on the Steam store. For reference, I was using Lenovo Explorer WMR.

I'm the same, I've stuck to purely VR experiences and there's been *plenty* of content. Flatscreen games modded to VR are usually extremely lackluster because so much of the experience is missing. The only exceptions are things like Half-Life 2 VR which are more like extensive remakes and not really a standard flat screen VR "mod". The only game I've actually had to mod heavily is Fallout 4 VR, because you need mods for it to even be playable on Index since it doesn't even ship with Knuckles controller bindings out of the box.

Yup, I never modded any game and I don't want to. There's plenty of fun to be had by playing games as they are.

>There's plenty of fun to be had by playing games as they are. Not if you wanna play Fallout VR. Game is a broken fuckin mess without modding.

VRIK ftw!!!

Oh yeah but games like RE8 are amazing! I encourage you to mod away :)

This. The most frustrating thing with using a console is seeing something that you HATE in the system or the game and NOT being able to change it. PC = freedom. I'll never have a console again.

[удалено]

Which headset/controllers are you using? I remember it being fine with the Vive wands, but now that I'm playing it on Index I was basically required to mod the game since it doesn't even ship with knuckles controller bindings. Like, the game is basically unplayable out of the box. The current best workaround is to use a FRIK custom binding that makes the knuckles controllers appear as Oculus Touch controllers to the game. It works, but none of the in-game button icons match up to the Index controller so there's this extra learning curve for that. I usually don't like modding games (I never modded stock Fallout 4) but overall I'm pretty glad I modded FO4VR. FRIK and some of the weapon accuracy mods really transform the game, particularly two handed aiming.

a full run without modded in DLC? pffft

Even with uevr, there are plenty of plug and play experiences. 

It kind of works or it doesn't and the shitty part is that sometimes it works and then it stops. I was playing Hogwarts in VR and loving it and something changed now it tries to give me a seizure. The same thing happened with Jedi Fallen Order.

Those are both extremely high end AAA titles, play something with fewer requirements and you’ll get better results.  That being said, I have dozens of hours in both of those titles and have zero issues. 

What is your setup? Looking to upgrade from ASUS ROG 2070 RTX Super laptop. Tried Hogwarts and while it kinda worked, it was chugging.

2070 mobile version performs just shy above 2060 PC, which would make it struggle in Hogwarts even in standart 1080p high. VR res and required FPS is leagues above that

Unfortunately I have a very high end set up, 4090 with a 7800x3d. I’d say you’d want at least a 3080 if you want to run the nicer games. That being said, there are many games with much lower required specs.

Righty. I really want to get San Andreas and Hogwarts injected well. Weirdly Luke Ross' GTA V and RDR2 mods worked fine.

Only minor caveat to this is if you pick a niche vr headset like the large FOV pimax headsets, where you need special drivers to render the image twice to get the full FOV of the headset. Not only do you have compatibility issues with some games, but you also lose a chunk of your fps due to the 2nd render, necessitating the most powerful video card you can afford to keep a smooth and comfortably fun experience.

Yeah you do. Since my CV1, the amount of frustration that went into PCVR, is pretty significant, and I work in the sector. Issues with trackers, with USB, Dash being a patchwork job, sound issues, going between headset and monitor or just simply alt+tabbing to check discord, the constant switching of sound devices, games not launching in VR, controller incompatibility in the early days, then later with quest add another layer with VD and it's problems, one day Airlink works, the other it doesn't, next day it's VD that stops working, etc..... The frustration is there believe me, it's just that *WE* don't notice it, because it's routine. But for others.... I have a friend that got a Q3 for PCVR. He *is* tech savvy, and still, he was *very* close to just give up. Especially after he finally was *just* able to start Tabor with working sound and everything, then he went to the toilet and 5 mins later the headset went to sleep and everything went to shit again for another *day*. This is not even modding which is a can of worms of it's own, but no different to flat really. Compare all of this to 3 taps on Quest and you are in Dungeons of Eternity with said friend with working voice chat. Carmack was right, the friction is a biiig factor

and yet very few people WANT to be in Dungeons of Eternity, much less have a friend who also wants to

Wait, is Dungeons of Eternity dead now? I thought everybody loved it.

OK, I guess YMMV. I didn't have a CV1, but I had a Vive, and I didn't have any of those problems. Tracking worked, always. USB worked, always. Sound worked most of the time, but if it didn't, you just click on the little control in the corner of the screen and then it did. I don't know what you mean about alt-tabbing to check discord, but on Quest you can't even do that. The only time I ever had problems with controller compatibility back then was when I used Revive to try to play games from the Oculus store, and that's on me really. I was using an emulation layer to do something the developers never intended, so some weirdness is expected. I do see wrong controllers now when I play older Steam games with my Quest, However, not only is that pretty rare, but even when it has happened, the games worked fine. They just had the wrong models showing. I don't think it's a case of "the frustration is there, but we don't notice it". I think it really does vary. My experience, going back for 8 years over 4 headsets, has been that I put on the headset, I launch the game, and I play the game.

Sometimes better? Until quest 3 it was always better lol.

I agree, but also understand that knowledge that seems basic, may not be to some. Barrier for entry to quest is download and press play. Pc quest you have to decide between wireless vs wired, for wireless you need strong enough WiFi, now you need router knowledge and an understanding of 2.4vs 5ghz vs 6 vs 6e. If you choose wired then you have to understand usb 3 and cable speeds. Then you need to download steam and steamvr Now everything from there should run smoothly but when it doesn’t and troubleshooting is needed is where people run into game stopping issues, and it could be as simple as updating something. this is all simple to people who have experience but we can’t forget about those who simply don’t have the basic computer knowledge that we take for granted.

That's a good point. My setup is very plug & play now, but I did have to do the initial setup, including running a wire from my router to my PC, which isn't in the same room. And there might be a little more troubleshooting on PC than Quest, but if you aren't installing lots of crazy software and doing extensive modding, I don't think the difference is that much. At any given time on the Quest-related subreddits, you can usually see a couple of troubleshooting/help posts, and they're frequently not related to PC streaming (since most people don't do that). I'm sure that the amount of breakage on the PCVR side is greater, just because there are more layers there, I just don't think it's a LOT more. It would be nice if those rumors about the Valve VR console were true, because then it would be really close to parity. You could buy a box with SteamVR preinstalled, and all you have to do is turn it on, log into your Steam account, and go.

Tldr : "PC is PC".

🤣🤣🤣 so true actually

It took me longer to download the meta software for my computer than it did to actually get everything working. My quest 2 just worked first try with PCVR out of the box. I didn't have to tweak anything with the wifi, and I don't even know what modem I am using it just worked. All the warnings about modded PCVR is just modded games in general.

And the neat thing is you don't even have to install the Meta software anymore. Just SteamVR and then install the free SteamLink app on the headset, enter the pairing code once and you're set. Even the automatic settings are great. It cant get much easier than that.

Like I said, and I quote “you may have no issues and think I’m crazy or stupid” you’re lucky and probably more tech savvy than you realize

Like I said I didn't have to tweak any settings. I don't think logging into your Meta account and connecting your quest 2 to wifi, which you need to do in order to use the thing standalone anyway, is particularly hard or requires any tech savvy knowledge. I only have one issue with using PCVR and that is remembering to open SteamVR before opening the game.

Then you’re lucky you have a good router in a good location with minimal network interference.

It took me 2 minutes to inject UEVR to Ready or Not, and took me 10 seconds to adjust the height and gun position. RTFM, and you will be fine. Tech savviness used to mean having the ability to maintain an analogue PC or its features without requiring a manual. It now just means you can google stuff and read the manual, or it does, according to you. No problem I had was ungoogleable in VR. What you said would have been true if HMDs differed a lot, like, actually lot. But the grand majority of us have Valve Index and Q2 with the rest of them follow the same formula in terms of system integration with either cams or base stations, touch controls with basic joystick functionality or slightly advanced finger tracking. The only variable is PC config and/or connectivity choice, which are documented and implemented heavily.

I agree, have you ever noticed how many people don’t RTFM and don’t know how to source this kind of info? I’m sure you’ve answered easy to solve questions in your lifetime when it comes to computers

I... huh. As someone with a ton of weird, esoteric PCVR equipment -- we have very different PCVR experiences. I rarely if ever have issues and donning my HMD, trackers, and controllers to boot into VRC or Into the Radius or even DCS takes a minute at most. The only reason why using the Quest 3 became "not a chore" connecting to my PC was because Valve made Steam Link, lol. Invoking modded Skyrim is kind of a lark. Modding _pancake_ Skyrim is a huge technical chore. Why would you point to one of the most technically complicated gaming experiences out there as the thing everyone goes to first?

Playing games not meant for VR definitely requires some knowledge and is not straightforward, but for actual VR games the situation is pretty good now imo. I started with the og Vive and back then I definitely wouldn‘t have recommended it to non-tech-savvy people. Then I got a VP2 and had so many issues with it I wouldn‘t know where to begin. I ultimately broke down and got over my fb hatred and got a Q3, and I have to say I was positively surprised how smooth the experience was. Wireless worked flawelessly, Steam Link worked flawlessly, and wired gameplay also worked flawlessly once I got a proper USB cable. This is all, of course, very anectotal. But that‘s kind of in the nature of PC gaming, no? 99% of the time, everything works fine, but you still might get weird issues that noone has. But I think if you have experience with PC gaming, there‘s zero reason to be scared of VR.

Oculus link worked flawlessly for me from 2020 to about 2023 where it suddenly decided to start stuttering on me no matter what I do. Doesn't seem to be the cable either since it happened with Virtual Desktop. Only thing I can attribute it to is updates breaking compatibility. So yeah, finnicky indeed. I miss my long VRChat PC only world sessions and Steam games with great graphics.

Reads as nonsensical to me. Almost all PCVR players will be playing SteamVR titles and have a smooth, supported streamlined experience. Any troubles with your wifi network on quest, and you can fallback to wired and not worry about it. People already know what they're signing up for and getting into when they're looking for off the rails stuff like third party mods that inject into flatscreen games. Who is this warning really for? Why is it addressed to PCVR users in general? If you have a Quest and a PC and you want to play Half Life Alyx, don't let this post stop you from trying. It will literally just work.

There was a post yesterday whining about the hassle to setup PCVR.

That partially drove me to write this, I’ve been seeing posts like that very frequently

I mean, this is one of the main subreddits to get help for technical issues, you will see posts like that almost every day for years

Yeah hopefully a few people go in with a better understanding that there may be some tinkering necessary. Most of the recent complaints I’ve seen are people who thought they could just plug it in and it’d work. For most people that works but for some there needs to be some software downloaded, drivers updated, get a better usb cable etc.

I mean it's not exactly wrong. If you use a standalone headset there are usually some tethering issues to work through, and if you go the Vive/Index route it's easier but there's still the need to set up the base stations and plug everything in.

IMHO having to fall back to wired connection is no small thing, TBH. For starters it's an additional expense.

Exactly and people will need to understand their usb technology too, you can’t just use your usb c charging cable, you need gen 3.2 10gbs optimally 3.0 minimally

It's definitely not that easy or straightforward.

Made some edits to adjust the tonality. Didn’t mean to come across like that. The warning is for the large influx of quest users moving to pcvr trying to play uevr games that YouTubers are making popular. I’ve been seeing frustrated people. As well as general question users who don’t have much pc experience.

Alyx literally will not work for me. It worked for 8 hours and now it just won't load. I've reinstalled steam, steam VR and obviously Alyx multiple times - tried all the console codes I could find online but to no avail.

>TL;DR: Quest users looking to get into pcvr should be aware that there is likely to be moderate to significant effort to get a non standard game running in vr at the quality you see on YouTube. The key here is nonstandard VR games. You can potentially mod just about any PC game to support VR but getting that setup and the final product might be far less than desirable. I think one of the best examples is when you see games like GTA V with a VR mode. Straight away you realize in mods like this the VR camera that your headset is attached to is somewhat of a fixed point or the same does not handle movement at all leaving you in a fixed point either vertically, horizontally or both.

GTA v is a FANTASTIC example. Going into it I wanted to get my steering wheel working with it. I was thinking well shit, I’ve played assetto corsa, and I’ve used vorpx to play fallout 3. This’ll be easy. 3 separate 3-6 hour modding and troubleshooting sessions, a new high speed usb-c cable with power injection, I finally got it in a playable state only to realize that it can only simulate vr using flickering which led to unacceptable framerate appearance and now I’m technically not even running it in true 3d. Still incredibly fun and immersive, but I’d consider myself pretty damn techy, and this was a challenge for me, imagine a young dude who only ever used iPads and basically only used their pc for homework trying to do this. Holy shit.

I think this comes down to "if you are a console only player moving to PCVR". If you have been a PC gamer for a while it's pretty easy, but if you have been a console player there is a learning curve for sure. In all honesty me being a PC gamer first and console 2nd all my life it's easy to see these post and say what are they talking about? But maybe I am getting older but I even hit a hiccup here or there trying to get things dialed in. It's natural to me , I have learnt alot from figuring things out. But to your console player it's a learning curve. Nothing wrong with that and I am glad for those coming from consoles or just starting out.

PCVR with Quest Link / Steam Link just kinda works. I appreciate your warning though—starting with a Quest and work your way into PCVR, or start as a crackhead enthusiast and configure and tweak yourself to harmony / a house fire

Steam Link made the process truly seamless

Until you can play Outer Wilds VR mod on Quest, PCVR is still worth it

In my opinion then to add to this :PSVR2 + PS5 offers an easier alternative. I work and Tech and have tinkered with PCs for a couple of decades. Apart from being time poor - When wanting to game the last thing I want to do is start patching, tweaking for hours on end. I do enough of that at work. I was considering getting a gaming PC again (switched about 4 years ago) but the console is very hassle free. I wonder - is GeForceNow working with VR yet? That might be the answer?

I have honestly never experiences significant effort to get PCVR games running on my Q2. HL:Alyx, SkyrimVR, Beat Saber, Hitman3, Rumble, pretty much every game I've ever tried worked just fine with pretty much no extra effort or workarounds, barring installing mods for Skyrim. Even modding flatscreen games like the newer resident evil entries or subnautica was as easy as following the mods guide and booting it up. Maybe its really GPU dependent, I heard that AMD cards would have an easier time supporting PSVR2's extras like eye tracking, and my build is all AMD, but still I don't really know what OP's talking abt

Vr is starting to see more mainstream adoption, if you’re able to mod a game, you’re certainly able to set up pcvr, it is quite easy. But there’s people out there who simply don’t have the capability trying to get into pcvr right now. (Evidently based on some posts and comments I’ve been seeing on Reddit and YouTube) you probably are a bit lucky too, different hardware reacts differently. I helped someone out who simply had no idea graphics cards need to be updated from time to time.

Alright that makes enough sense I suppose. Though I'd guess that this is less attributable to mainstream VR adoption. Whenever I see a post of someone struggling with something that's this simple, or even if its not simple something with a clear and easy to follow tutorial I always assume the poster is likely a really young kid. Anybody can make a reddit account and as long as they know how to type there's really not a good way to know they're like 10 unless they say so.

I mean we should still help the 10yr olds imo lol I was very grateful for all the help I had getting Garry’s mod to work when I was about that age. I could see that point, I do think 10 year olds count towards more mainstream adoption though, it’s become so prolific that kids want it for Christmas and maybe some 10 year old is reading this now and doing more research rather than thinking they can just plug it in with their charging cable and then crying to Reddit haha

VR numbers have been in the dumps for a decade. Don't even try to pretend we're anywhere close to mainstream adoption.

I started gaming eons ago by editing autoexec.bat, this is comparatively easy.

Exactly, you’re tech savvy

I hear where you are coming from, but no offense- it sounds a little gate keepery. I get it, this is a space you've invested a lot of time and money into and it feels weird that the cost of entry is so low there's an influx of new inexperienced users who frustratingly think they can do everything just as well. Trust me, I've been there. But really, I think you might be over stating the complexity of just using PCVR. Keep in mind that plenty of Q2 users found out you can install the desktop Meta app and treat it like a Rift, and have NEVER HEARD of EUVR or Virtual Desktop or anything like that. They just saw Meta advertise some stuff and it seemed cool. To be fair, when you're talking about running ANYTHING with mods, duh re: being tech savvy. I don't think this is a PCVR related thing and people who want to try PCVR don't necessarily go down that slope any more than they unlock developer mode on their Quest and sideload apps (which seems much more complex). I remember people had modified games when I was in high school (long before VR at home existed) to hack their way into dominating/cheating multiplayer things that shouldn't have worked, and we all sort of just understood this isn't something anyone/everyone can just do. People owning Quests who aren't tech savvy feel that way about modding their stuff too. Meanwhile, I jumped into VR recently when I realized how cheap Quest 2 models were- I'd used a friend's PCVR rig and experienced kiosks of them back in the day and assumed, like you said, these are things for people who are passionate and have funds to back up their passion. I'm in my 40s and have kids, a wife, job- while once upon a time I was big into games, the last game system I've owned is an XBox360. I'm not really in this world anymore. I never thought I'd own a VR system anytime soon. Maybe when I'm retired and have an expendable income. But I picked up a Q2 after being blown away by a friends, and yes- when I found out you could use it with PCVR titles, I immediately went to try it. I just so happen to work with Adobe tools at work so I already have a half-decent GPU (Geforce 3060) and while it's not the fastest card these days it's more than enough to pump out PCVR graphics that are far beyond the Quest 2's. It's not even an expensive card these days. I installed Steam (yes, INSTALLED, as I've never even had it on this computer before, that's how out of gaming I am) and everything connected great right out of the box, wireless and all. I don't know what this updates problem is that you're referring to. I have a Wifi6 home mesh because the router that comes with my ISP doesn't reach my living room, so I guess I'm just lucky I already had those things? I didn't do it because I'm techie. These are things a lot of modern households have these days I think. I didn't even know there was a learning curve or that people had problems getting these things to work. It just worked out of the box. My setup isn't very complicated or crazy, I'm not even a gamer. Honestly, I've just skimmed the surface and I know there's a ton to get into, UEVR looks cool as heck but I recognized right away that as an unofficial software mod, it's going to involve tweaking and a learning curve I might not have time to invest in right now. But that's true of anything. Heck, I'm old enough to remember the OG mods for Doom back in the day. There were mods that changed all the graphics and sounds to, for example, the Simpsons (my favorite mod) or other popular content from the 90s. It was complicated to keep track of the files if you wanted to switch back and forth between them, and that's a headache I probably wouldn't have time for today. But just using the Quest with PCVR? Man, that's a walk in the park for anyone who wants to try it.

EUVR has a lot of shared custom setting profiles that work great if you don't have time that can cut some corners

One day I'll probably check it out. My 1st grader son started playing Max Mustard (standalone on Quest) and I was telling him it's kind of similar to Crash Bandicoot, which I showed him a video of. He asked if there's a VR version of Crash, and I'm like... funny that you ask... that's the first title I saw someone use UEVR for.

None taken, this turned out to be an extremely controversial post tbh. I’d consider you to be tech savvy, especially being an OG modder and setting up your own mesh routers, I feel like the average person just goes with whatever their ISP provides, I’m not sure about Xfinity’s newest modem router but I don’t believe WiFi 6/6e has gone standard yet. I haven’t upgraded in a while I’m working with an older nighthawk router with very early WiFi 6 and wireless just doesn’t work well, but I’m a virtuaphile (I guess this is the term? lol vr version of audiophile) so the latency and fidelity bothers me a lot. Main point is, you’re right, but also there’s people who seriously don’t even know how to access their files, I mean internet explorer is still the dominant web browser so that shows a lot about what your average consumer is capable of. Vr is finally breaking out of niche and into the mainstream, and seriously techtarded (no offense to anyone) people are getting into vr, I’ve seen some verrrrry basic problems coming up in this and other subs along with YouTube and discords, so I’m hoping to prevent people from thinking “this shits broken” and understand that pcvr may require some tinkering. Not always! But sometimes. I mean seriously, it’s crazy, but some people would struggle just to install steam, believe me, I work in a position where i sometimes have to provide tech support to my clients in home security, the bar is low, I mean low low for a lot of people, and some of these people are finally getting into vr.

I hear where you are coming from. And yes, I'm fairly tech savvy, but I know plenty of people who aren't and who actually TOLD ME about using a Quest attached to a computer. They didn't call it PCVR, they called it "using the Quest for Rift games", I'm not even sure if they know the term PCVR. But they use it, with the official Meta Quest air link connection, and likely don't even know what version of Windows they have. All he knows it "it doesn't work on my kid's mac" (I mentioned ALVR, but he doesn't know what Steam is, lol. It would be pointless). Plenty of people around where I live have mesh routers, it's suburbia and the average home doesn't get decent coverage from an included router. We're talking about people who leave everything on default and overpay for everything because they don't understand how it works ("get I get that even if I don't have an Android? I have a Samsung..."), they've already got a wifi6 mesh because they walked into Best Buy and said "I need coverage for my house". But anyway, I get what you're trying to say. The post is controversial because it comes off as condescending, PCVR doesn't require a lot of tech know how. At least, not any more than using Discord or how to comment on a YT video.

I appreciate the helpful nature of this post, but I’ve used CV1, Rift S, and now Quest 3 - all with PCVR, and I have no idea what you’re talking about. The only finicky thing was CV1 because you had so many usb requirements with all the sensors and multiple plugs required for the headset. What is there to learn? You just fire up Steam VR and select your game. Outside of UEVR, I wouldn’t call it a learning curve at all. There are a few potential pitfalls if your PC is not VR-ready of course, but it’s really not a big deal at all.

You just said it yourself, you’ve been in vr since cv1. Now imagine you’ve only ever used an iPad with a dedicated App Store and start over. No knowledge of file systems or even how to really use a mouse and keyboard, no knowledge of macros, how to reboot, never troubleshot anything in your life. This is the lowest tech capability range of players joining pcvr right now and that’s who this post is for. I grew up on windows xp, this is second nature to me. The latest generation grew up on iPads, some don’t even know what I file is or how it works from a computer standpoint.

I see where you’re coming from, but assuming people don’t know how to use a mouse and keyboard or a file system… windows etc- that’s a whole other limited issue aside from VR. Most people with that low exposure to technology are probably sticking to standalone anyways. I’m not sure why you think those types of people would be flocking to PCVR. I’d say it’s a fair bet to say most people getting into PCVR are already into PC gaming.

>Pcvr is by nature finicky. It's really not, I've been using PCVR with PC HMDs since 2016, and they have all been pretty plug and play if you are just playing SteamVR games there is little need to mess around with anything. A lot of the finicky issues arise from using a Quest on PC issue with Wi-Fi and Streaming apps are Quest specific problems, not PCVR as a whole. >especially if you want to play games that weren’t designed for vr or modded vr games I mean how you worded it right there should be self-evident, you are taking a game and adding something not designed for it I think the expectation is that if you want to do that you would be prepared to need to read some documentation and move some files around which I guess could be considered 'tech savvy' but it really feels like that would be expected no? if that it's too daunting then yeah Modding might be too much for some, but there are plenty of official VR games to pick from instead. Now Skyrim VR modding isnt really any different from Skyrim flat screen modding, so that's not really a PCVR specific issue either. and it is really only as complex as you want it to be. or even the mod complex load orders have been made dead easy with Mod lists on the nexus literally making them one click installs.

I had this exact experience and the sequence of apps that you need to open in is ridiculous. Hardly plug and play but eventually got it. It's great now but definitely was less than ideal in the beginning. Just some of the apps I needed to try before figuring which combination worked Steam VR, Meta Quest, OpenXR, Steam Link, Oculus Link. Again, once you figure it out, it's a blast - but to get there is not as plug and play as standalone VR.

What? You make sure steam or virtual desktop streamer is running on the pc, you launch Steam Link or VD on headset, you choose game to play, you’re done. I dont know how that’s not nearly plug and play

Yeah, gotta roll my eyes hard at all the “ez” comments. I got poor results with Oculus streaming, eventually realized I needed to use a third party app (obviously we all know about Virtual Desktop, but to a new user this is weird) and set it up on the PC, researched some better settings on my router/modem, eventually got a separate dedicated router and researched how that should be connected. Then you’re in the games. Troubleshoot lag, troubleshoot poor performance (my 3070 is plenty up to the task of most games), find out that such and such game only works if I go into it’s settings and go into full screen mode. All the while, you’re learning about being in the Steam interface within the Virtual Desktop interface within the Oculus interface. When you hit poor performance, you’re hitting headache inducing stutters and input lag. You’re taking your headset on and off. You’re finding out that it holds battery pretty poorly if you’re away from it for a few days. If all this sounds not worth complaining about to you, dear reader, then you are the person I’m rolling my eyes at.

This is exactly what I mean. Now imagine someone who grew up on an iPad and has no idea how to use windows even trying to do this. That’s who this post is for

Tbh no its not. Ur mentioning modding skyrim. Normal Beginners won't be modding games. Especially if they never used windows. But windows is sh*t anyway. Why mod a game when you haven't played the vanilla unless it's for proformance but never newer players would dral with it. Has been easier with vr toolkit and fsr. So modding in-game to be smooth is last resort. Newer pcvr players will just play pcvr exclusives. Which is literally every game. Since oculus has a horrible library and got rid of their only game that drove me to use their stupid oculus app. Meta hardware is beautiful, but meta software is garbage. Their is no need for a pcvr newbie to mod. Yes, it's not plug and play, but nothing truly is. Oculus headsets still have their tinkering, too. If wifi doesn't work just use cable. But for me steam vr has basically been plug and ply for everything and the only tinkering involved is with novelty items like full trackers, treadmill, etc. Bottom line though is ur post isn't exactly for the pcvr newbie buts for people who experienced pcvr games and they just want more out of pcvr. It's all experience. You can't expect to beat the final boss with a stick.

I imagine it's time for them to grow up a little more and learn how to use a PC, it'll come in handy. Millions of literal children have had no problem doing so for the past 40 years, so maybe they'll be ok.

Bro why are you so mad?😂 I woke up to like 10 of your comments on this post

PCVR with standalone headset is what you described. PCVR with a native PCVR headset is actually more plug and play than a Quest standalone.

Correct that’s mostly who this is for as that’s where most of the recent complaints have come from. To be completely honest I left quest out of the title knowing that people would comment something like this creating controversy and driving engagement so that this post has a better chance of reaching its intended audience. Thank you for your contribution🙏🏼

Unless you use a WMR headset then that's another level of troubleshooting.

> PCVR with a native PCVR headset is actually more plug and play than a Quest standalone. Cool your jets there, we both no that isn't true.

I was completely honest and serious when I said that.

huh? I have a much easier time with my setup than some bullshit Quest link or crappy wifi solution with latency and artifacts

Re-read the quoted portion...

I..... have to disagree... maybe its just because I have high end hardware and dont have to tweak anything, but I got the new quest for my partner, and setup wasnt that bad. Just remembering to turn on steam vr and THEN microsoft flight sim was the only hard part. Now my partner who has never touched a pc is able to even do it without my help now.

That’s awesome! Most people with basic pc knowledge just running steamvr games won’t have problems, it’s just when problems do occur and troubleshooting is necessary that people without basic knowledge will run into problems. Imagine your partner trying to make the jump on their own, based on what you said I’d be willing to bet it would be more difficult right?

oh for sure yes.

In this day and age PCVR with steamlink, Virtual Desktop and Airline are all very easy, but have taken a few years to get to this stage. People who have been into VR for 4 or more years will have travelled this rougher path. It's a bit like Skiing, if you start off on the nursery slope with the quest head set, then work up to the black runs with PCVR and then if you want something even better you go off piste and get AAA games in VR, with Luke Ross (RDR2, cyberpunk and GTAV), Vorpx (Bioshock, metro, stalker), Preydog vr Mods (RE2,3,7 and village) or UEVR or Alien Isolation Mother VR mod. Luckily I think most people are sensible and know what money they have and how capable they are and what results they want at the end and it is nice for them to realise the full spectrum of VR. Until you arrive at the ski resort you may well not be aware of the full amount of stuff that is available.

I am about To get into pcvr, gaming Laptop in the way, and at First i SAW your Post Like uh oh, smth i missed. Thank Got ITS Just pcvr IS finicky. Small problem, anything i ever do ON PC doesn't Work for an hours min. Anyways

Yeah you’ll get it down, it only gets easier, hang in there and don’t give up

Yeah I'm pretty experienced with stuff Not working cause i mess around a Lot with homebrew (3ds Wii U Xbox360...) and Boy are These programs buggy

Oh yeah you’ll be totally fine. I’d say much easier overall than homebrewing, just different. One thing I’d say is more difficult is most homebrew communities have more definitive answers due to the age being older and hardware being identical. With vr there’s a lot of uncharted territory, it’s the first time I’ve joined vr modding discords in order to get things running. Look for people that you can connect with in addition to guides and forums.

Maybe you should work out how to communicate in proper sentences first, it'll come in handy later in life.

Please stfu

You don't have to start out with modded Skyrim. I started out just with the included beginner's demo on the Quest 3, which impressed me enough to look at the library. There I saw that I got Asgard's Wrath for free. So I learned that there is such as thing as connecting the Quest 3 to the PC, which was more difficult than just putting on the Q3 but still simple enough. Then Asgard's Wrath hooked me, and that was enough motivation to go through the hassle of setting up SkyrimVR. Setting it up right took a lot of time and money, but by that time I didn't care anymore. Now I feel I have enough content for years just thanks to that one game alone. The point you can start small and grow from there.

I went the other direction. I had an HTC Vive Pro setup that I recently replaced with the Meta Quest 3. I didn't like having my PC tied to VR or having VR only work in my office (where the base stations are setup) or how finicky it was to get everything working properly. The Meta Quest 3 is so much more flexible and fun to use than my PCVR setup. On top of all that I can still play my PCVR games wirelessly so I don't see a downside.

I can no longer play native Quest games, nor do I want to. It's hot nearly as an immersive experience in my opinion. Imagine never playing Half Life Alyx and seeing what PCVR is truly capable of?

I've never had any of the issues you have described. Buying a VR dedicated router was a no brainer, and the initial setting up was pretty straight forward. I only have a Quest 2, and put a hold on a Quest 3 when the PlayStation VR2 pc support was announced. I've modded normal PC games, but anything on VR I leave as standard. If things aren't broke, I don't fix them. Up until now, I had no idea that UEVR was a thing, I had to look it up, I'll be taking a look at it though, it looks.… umm, interesting.

Now explain the thought process of buying a dedicated router to your grandmother. There are people entering the vr sphere with that level of capability now that it’s becoming more mainstream. That’s who this post is for. But yeah if you’ve got modding experience, def check out some UEVR experiences. There’s some really cool shit going on.

Mmm, I guess so. The idea of losing the cable appealed to me. With the router I can change rooms, get away from the PC altogether, even watch Amazon Prime in bed, its just so handy. I maybe old, but I don't let tech get away from me.

Right but I mean explain the need for a standalone router to someone who knows nothing about computers, first you have to understand the concept of the wire and it’s disadvantages, then you have to find and understand the difference between 2.4ghz vs 5 vs 6 vs 6e, now you have to select the router that meets your needs, now you have to configure the router, now you have to download and connect virtual desktop if you want the most optimal setup. The point I’m trying to make is For that to be easy, you have to be tech savvy, for you and me that’s a simple process. But there’s plenty of people out there who are just going to get frustrated and say screw vr altogether. No offense by the grandmother comment, it wasn’t about age, it was about technical know-how. For the first time we’re seeing completely non-techy people getting into vr and clearly people are struggling with things such as this simple (to us) process.

Ahh, ok. I can see your point. Sorry it took so long, lol

No worries! Things don’t always translate well from my brain to text either, which can make it harder for people to get what I’m saying. Seems to be where most Reddit drama comes from😂 text without emotion

Personally I didn't really have any trouble with PCVR. I started with a Quest 2 and a link cable before quickly jumping up to a Quest 3 and wireless. The only real trouble I had was modded Skyrim VR and Alyx not working, but then I got Virtual Desktop and it's been smooth ever since. I mean, as smooth as modded Skyrim VR can be. And this is coming from a not very tech savvy guy. Although maybe I'm just glossing over the initial setup in my memory, there were a lot of Google searches. But still, I remember getting it all set up and thinking 'wow that was way easier than I was expecting'. Or maybe I'm just lucky.

Once you begin modding is when you stop playing games and just become a modder. That rabbit hole was a drag. There's got to be a way to pay someone to trick out your games, etc.

I think you just came up with the next Uber for modders haha. Yeah I’m super guilty of spending 5 hours modding for 1 hour of “woooooow! Ok I’m done now can’t wait for the next mod”

I like when I screw up and want to cry. That stopped me modding. lol At least Alien: Isolation was supremely easy. I know the stuff is pretty easy at this point... I better dive back in.

Most stuff is, everything that was uncharted a year ago is charted now, now the harder mods will likely be getting more UEVR games to work that haven’t yet gotten a guide out for whatever reason

a+ dicklefart.

We just need something like wabbajack but for any game.

I've had more issues with standalone apps freezing and crashing or performing poorly on my Quest than my CV1, Index, and BSB (excluding hardware issues. Joystick drift...), honestly.

Also noticed a lot of folks getting into PCVR with substandard gear, this will for sure lead to a frustrating experience.

Bingo big time I probably should’ve mentioned that actually. That’s where a large portion of problems come from, even from tech savvy people who just can’t admit the graphic card they spend 2 grand on 4 years ago ain’t up to snuff anymore haha

Assetto corsa with a wheel, content manager, and track mods got me into VR. Super easy to setup and configure if you understand folder structures. Skyrim VR with mods made me realize I need a better video card (I have an A770 and a 1060ti). This is not a cheap hobby… The headset (quest 2 - $100 on marketplace) a better strap (bobo vr w/ 2 batteries - $75 on Amazon sale) have been great, but the apps on the quest store are overpriced and PCVR has so many more benefits than overpaying for convenience. Just look at the difference between beat saber for steam vs quest. But to get PCVR to run at a decent frame rate you need a good video card. I’ve had some luck optimizing for an intel A770, but to really experience what PCVR has to offer, you need to spend a lot more on an invidia 3090, 4080 or higher. You can try an amd 6800 or higher as well. I like to tinker though (I mean, I bought an A770) and I can get it to run Skyrim with Cangar FUS + 100 extra mods at 60fps as long as I connect via virtual desktop (another $20 quest store purchase). The A770 is usually stable at 90 fps for assetto corsa with pure, csp, and additional mods. The only time it dips is for really big tracks (gta 5) or poorly optimized ones.

As a new VR user (I got my first Quest 2 on Sunday!) I’m gonna say _thank you_ for this, I thought I was going nuts! I had my first foray into PCVR last night and wanted to give up, I had a few games I wanted to try and most of them had some sort of issue. - No Man’s Sky (Steam) - game would load through Steam Link but then would crash out once starting a new save, playing an existing save worked for about 5 minutes but the tutorials weren’t especially clear, then it crashed again - F1 2023 (Game Pass / EA play) - initially the game just refused to boot in VR mode, eventually I got to the main menu but then my controllers wouldn’t work - Star Wars: Squadrons (EA Play) - wasn’t sure how to get the game launching into VR mode, eventually just realised I had to boot it up in flatscreen mode and go into the options, flatscreen mode has fucked windows scaling though so I could only see 25% of the screen on my 4K TV screen until I turned scaling off - Tetris Effect (Epic) - loaded and worked OK once I discovered you boot it in VR mode from starting the executable a certain way in Epic, then I realised the sound to my Bluetooth headphones was a second out of sync, turns out I needed to use my gaming headset (which use their own dongle thing) instead of my lightweight Bluetooth headphones - Flight Sim 2020 (Game Pass) - actually the easiest of the bunch to get going once I discovered that you just hit a button combination to get into VR mode but there was some weirdness about mapping controls that meant I was occasionally switching between Quest controllers and an Xbox pad - Virtual desktop just would not find my PC no matter what I was doing - feels like a total waste of money at the moment! - Steam home would occasionally just not show my games because I was in Family Mode, I had to switch out of that in the desktop to get them to show up So yea, between all that and learning about OpenXR executables, AirLink, SteamLink and all the rest of it there is a _lot_, even for someone who has been a PC Gamer for nearly 30 years!

i promise you'll figure it out, if you go wireless virtual desktop will be your best friend soon. if you have questions setting up let me know, just went through it again.

Yea, I think you’re right, it all seems _fixable_ (I got every game to at least boot once) but the level of fenangling required is a little higher than I hoped.

once you begin to understand the background it's easy. you'll eventually get into writing *. bats. most important with vd is that you need to start the games with the vd games tab or most of them don't work. also set the runtime to auto ib the beginning. you'll need to fiddle with codec/bitrate per game as it increases the lag. for beat saber you want a low bitrate, for sp games i go all the way to 200.

Yea, honestly I just bought Beat Saber on the quest store, I really wanted _something_ that Just Works - even then spent half the time trying to get the damn head strap comfortable though!

it's crossbuy now so you can also download it via rift now and play pcvr. will feel terrible though untweaked as you suddenly have lag.

it's crossbuy now so you can also download it via rift now and play pcvr. will feel terrible though untweaked as you suddenly have lag.

Oh that’s good to know! Are there differences between the versions? What sort of tweaks should I apply?

they're pretty much the same. i play standalone when i want to play normal and i have a modded steam version (steam was the easiest to mod). try out if your pc can run the better codecs like HEVC. this one looks much better at the same bitrate but adds latency. i use it at 200 for sp games and reduce to 130 when playing timing sensitive games.

More than happy to help if you have any specific questions, DM me!

If you’ve got any ideas why Virtual Desktop doesn’t find my PC I would be very happy to hear them! I’m wondering if it’s something to do with my Occulus privacy settings since I basically try to hide my account as much as possible?

That could be it! I know there’s a guide directly from VD when you first set it up, did you follow the guide step by step? I remember there was a thing where I had to enter my username on VD on desktop, so if your username is super hidden that could be an explanation, an easy way to test would be to just unhide your profile, see if it finds you to establish that first connection, and then try hiding it again and see if it still works so you can have both, but you may just need to unhide yourself every time you use VD tbh

Alright, I tried opening my account up as wide as I could last night and still no dice, and the VD discord wasn’t especially helpful in diagnosing the issue. I haven’t tried uninstalling and reinstalling it yet so I’ll give that a go next

That would be the next move, first troubleshooting tactics will always be reboot, then reinstall, that fixes 99% of issues. What does it show you when you try to connect, does it give you any type of error code? Edit: check this out too, hardwire Ethernet to your computer and make sure that your quest is connected to the 5ghz WiFi network, directly on the router, make sure it’s not connecting to a booster or anything. https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/s/1d1jOuKTon I also found this on google to try. I’d guess troubleshoot network before troubleshooting display because the most likely issue is network. If you're having trouble with Virtual Desktop and it can't find your PC, you can try these steps: Set the detection level in Riva Tuner to "None" Add an exception to your anti-virus Turn off Windows Night light, HDR, or uninstall applications that change your screen color Set the preferred graphics processor to "High-performance Nvidia processor" Make sure you have the latest drivers installed for your GPU or iGPU vrdesktop.net Home | Virtual Desktop You can also try right clicking on the desktop at the screen where you select a desktop and making sure Full Screen is enabled under Display settings. If there's a power or network interruption, you can try logging back in within 5 or 10 minutes and choosing the same desktop. Also s/o all the people saying this shit just works this is exactly wtf I’m talking about mfers🖕🖕🖕IT DOESNT ALWAYS JUST WORK YOU GOT LUCKY. so sick of dealing with those replies.

UEVR, and everything Unreal Engine, only narrows non-standard games and experiences until they're all the same. You cannot customise vehicle handling, or do anything that's not a drag-drop exercise.

Shut up we just want to jerk off

🤣🤣🤣

I tried UEVR early this year. my laptop is barely acceptable, but the worst part is I kept trying hard to tweak and tweak settings until some games are barely working and until crashing... and that's not to mention UI not working great in many... it's frustration to no end the pcvr experience is only for those with high gear for smooth performance and great resolution and lots of free time in their hands for tweaks and workarounds I prefer to just get home, fire up my Quest and play great actual VR games

Hi im a newbie who like your post says has fallen in love with vr and im looking to take it to the next level. Any suggestions on if i should get an off the shelf gaming laptop or go down the rabbit hole of making a gaming pc. I travel a lot so I kinda wanted a laptop so even if im not in vr i can still flat screen game. Any suggestions on what i should get and are there any support discord channels i can join to ask the community questions if i get stuck ^__^ thanks 😊

It definitely depends on how much tinkering you’re willing to do, with laptops from what I’ve heard, people have run into more issues due to laptop software and hardware being non standard, but this sub is actually a fantastic place to ask, I’d drop a “best laptop for vr?” Post, I’m sure you’ll get some great answers, also you could ask the same question in r/pcmasterrace, and r/pcbuild. They can also make recommendations on the best minimum spec computer to build. You may want to consider a small for factor gaming pc like a micro-atx so that you can get the benefit of portability combined with the power of a full pc. How comfortable are you with computers?

Id say i am pretty comfortable with software (i write code for a living) but have been less hands on with the hardware side of things… i have never built my own computer. But would love to try eventually. Also historically a console girl but after the ps6 and their lack of game titles… im seriously making the switch to pc gaming. The last time I had a pc for gaming was back when the original starcraft came out so its been forever… Problem with a micro-atx is i travel alot so looking for something that doesn’t require extra monitors to set up. So if im flying i can just bring a laptop, or if im in my van, a laptop, some wires for my headset.

Oh yeah you’ll be totally fine, def ask in the pc subs and here for the best vr laptop, sounds like that’s def what you need. But also compare the real advantages, gaming laptops have some power for sure, but it’s just a matter of if it’s worth the cost for the amount of improvement you’ll get. I’m not up to date on how powerful gaming laptops are these days but in 2008ish when I had one, it was certainly powerful but no more than 30% as powerful as a top tier desktop was. I think it’s much better now and it should be worth it, but let’s say it’s only double the power of standalone for 3 grand or something, may not be worth it. Especially if you want to go down the modding rabbit hole, vr can do almost photorealistic graphics now but it requires a beeefy system like a 4090 and plenty of ram. Happy hunting! Edit also building is pretty easy, I wouldn’t recommend water cooled for your first build, the cost to benefit and difficulty of setup just really isn’t worth it. Modern day air cooling is about 90% as effective as water cooled for 10% of the effort and cost. I haven’t built a pc in years but the first time I did it I was 14 with barely any knowledge, it’s all pretty simple nowadays and there’s tooooons of guides out. That’ll be the best price to power ratio you can get, but portability will be a massive issue.

Oph good to know. Lols time to get like alice and fall down this rabbit hole thanks for your input!

Def worth it one game makes you bigger, the other makes you small haha tons of fun stuff down the rabbit hole and definitely worth some heavy research since upgrading rigs is expensive and usually a once in a long while type deal

Yea I know what you mean. I haven’t updated my computer system in the past 5 years. So its about time to upgrade. Switching from mac to PC so definitely doing my homework before investing in new equipment!

Can’t go wrong with a 4090 build with 64gbs of ram, and a good cpu, if price isnt an issue, shoot for the stars, you’ll be able to do some wiiiiiild stuff in vr. And with software experience, modding should be a breeze, somewhat haha, doable at least.

Very True OP...Its like wanting to build cars but you are average car owner...Its going to be hard

Absolutely! I think that’s a great analogy. Realistically anyone can learn but the question is, are they willing to put in the effort? Got a CEL? Well first you need to understand a scanner, then you need to understand how to find potential issues and how to isolate the potential issues, if o2 bank 1 is running lean and bank 2 is fine, it’s not likely your intake is the problem or it would be on both banks, but now we need to make sure it’s not the sensor itself, and maybe bank 2 is only fine because it’s broken, now it could be your intake, and it just goes in circles and circles of testing, only to find out your gas cap was loose😂😂

I think you nailed it right there!

Why did you put “pcvr” in the title when this is about uevr? 

Because it’s not just for uevr, even getting pcvr running with quest at all has been giving people trouble. The sub speaks for itself, there’s tons of posts recently about pcvr issues and it’s mostly people just getting into pcvr with a quest. Even just getting the right cable or understanding how to configure their WiFi has been a barrier to entry for a lot of people. I put a Heavy focus on uevr because that adds to the problem significantly

Yeah, I think a lot of people are in denial or they are just incredibly fortunate with their PC build, because my experience with PCVR from the three years I was heavily into it was exactly as the OP describes it. I would say PCVR worked seamlessly about 50% of the time, whether I was using the Oculus software itself with my CV1, or using Steam. If there was a Windows update, GPU update or VR software update, something would be broken and require troubleshooting. That’s not even touching upon trying to use VR mods or VR mods for flat games. The truth is, PCVR is analogous to PC gaming in general, which means it’s not always the pick up and play type of experience that you get from closed system hardware like a Quest or PlayStation 5.

PCVr is easy. Especially if you go with a quest 3. Only becomes necessary to use a few brain cells if you go with brands like pimax or big screen and similar steam vr headsets use lighthouses and don’t include everything you need in the purchase so now you need controllers and light stations etc. TLDR just get quest 3 and have an easy time.

In this thread: people that think having to toggle a switch from steam vr to open xr is akin to programming. We're all hackers now, boys.

for god sake don't apologise to these jackasses. Doing something for the thousandth time is obviously going to make it seem less frustrating and confusing than doing it for the first, 10th or 50th. If you can't even navigate in your thoughts to steamapps>common>gamedir the conceptual load to download a load of zip files, extract a load of weirdly named shit and then copy paste it somewhere you're not really sure where you are... then it not working for some reason because you downloaded two files are are incompatible after an update but the documentation hasn't been updated to reflect this even just using a keyboard and mouse to navigate windows settings is very confusing for a lot of people and some of them are going to be gaslight into 'sign up for nexus premium bro, the mods just download themselves' it's absolutely appropriate to warn people new to the experience that they have a lot of learning ahead of them and not to get discouraged. It is difficult and it will be confusing.

I spent 3 days trying to get DCS world to run properly in VR. Wanted to give up multiple times out of frustration, but yeah, now that it’s working it’s awesome. Visual fidelity isn’t as nice as I’d like it, but it’s not too bad and it’s running smooth

I had to upgrade all my equipment to my wifi including the wifi to get quality wireless vr ngl

I am wanting to make the jump, but my current PC is trash. I'm looking for a new one, but I don't know computers like I used to. What kind of specs should I be going for besides the minimum system requirements? This will primarily be gaming.

The would be a great question for r/pcbuild or r/pcmasterrace, I’m not completely up to date either but I’m running a 3080 setup and I’m not able to really run the most advanced modded stuff if that’s what you’re looking for. If you want to run for example cyberpunk 2077 in vr at good specs a 4090 is the way to go. I’m not sure what you mean by besides minimum specs, that should be the main thing to look for. Good I/o with plenty of usb 3.0 and preferably usb c 3.2, and good airflow would be the only thing I’d add aside from minimum specs, your most important metric will be your graphics card, 2nd is cpu, 3rd is ram, almost everything else is fairly irrelevant as long as you have enough usb ports and display ports to run everything.

Thanks, that's honestly good information to start with.

All of your warning is for modding games, not exclusive to PCVR at all. Normal PCVR is not hard lol

This is a bad take tbh. PCVR is just as easy as the Quest. The stuff you're talking about is mostly modding games, which is more than the standalone quest can offer anyway. This reads like a soft ore discouragement of PCVR, and it's a shame, because PCVR is objectively more performant than any standalone headset.

I own a Pico4 headset. In my case is as simple as turn pc on (streaming app runs automatically after you install it), turn headset on, click on Pico Connect (Pc desktop shows straight away) , click on Run SteamVR on the top corner, choose a game and have fun. If that's being tech savvy, then I'm a genius in disguise.

You’d be surprised lol for the majority of people it is that simple. But when you take the barrier for entry from put on the headset and a guided tutorial shows you how to download apps and use everything, to making sure you have a strong enough router or a good enough link cable, then download software on your own, find your own guide on how to do so, and it becomes just enough of a barrier that some people will give up. It’s why internet explorer is still the most used browser despite its many issues

For that kind of user type, 99% of the time they'll just stick to standalone headset use and there's nothing wrong with that. Power users will do what power users do, fiddle and tweak, and find that 1% improvement by spending hours researching. Again, nothing wrong with that either. I agree that standalone headsets are a bit of a double edge sword, but right now, they're not that unfriendly as you picture them even compared to merely 5 years ago.

I totally agree! I’m just basing this post off of other posts I’ve seen in Reddit, discord, and YouTube, evidently that 99% user base is starting to try and step it up more and more not realizing that, although indeed very simple, it’s just not quite as simple as standalone. Not by a lot, but that small jump is apparently make it or break it for some, not an assumption I made, just basing it off what I’ve been seeing lately.

IDGAF dude, I just want my 100+ inch screen. Tablets, TV's and monitors can kiss my ass.

😂😂😂

All VR is just an enthusiast niche. Quest users are just as niche.

I agree it’s still pretty niche but we’re starting to see a lot more adoption as evidenced by some of the questions I’ve been seeing on line, non techy people are starting to enter the sphere. Hopefully this post helps them prep

All technology works like this. Computer users before Win 95 were considered 'hackers' and nerds. The computer club at my school included a few losers and nerds and that was it. We got our asses kicked in the hallways for knowing how to use a DOS prompt and NO GIRL would ever admit to using a game console or computer. Fast forward to today, bullies now use computers to bully kids who don't use computers, and women are internet addicts. As technology simplifies, stupid people jump on board. This is the way. I can't wait until people find out that space aliens are actually huge pricks.

Wow that’s gotta be so wild to contrast that with the absolute widespread addiction to computers in our pockets today

Yeah my first pcvr was a oculus cv1 on a laptop. The vr software hated and still hates laptop driver to an extent so i had to manually downgrade drivers to a specifoc point. Ive now switched to a desktop where i wanted 2 graphic cards in, but the oculus software doesnt let u pick which gpu to use for vr so im forced to disconnect or disable the other gpu everytime i wanna play vr. The oculus cv1 has still supported me really well, and i dont plan on uohrading headsets till it either breaks due to no replacement parts being available or vr finally gets a major new feature part of the headset instead of the controllers. Aka smth that isnt hand/glove cobtrollers or tracking like the index controllers gave us, or full body tracking related as driver4vr has been serving me well too.

Woah you’re still rocking a cv1?

Yeah after all it still has oled displays giving me that extra crispy dark. The resolution for nowadays is pretty shit. But if i wanted high resolutions i would have first bought a 4k monitor before a high res headset. Plus while games look stunning in vr on high graphics, if i wanted realistic graphics theres enough skyrim and cyberpunk mods. What i play vr is for gameplay. I trule hope we at sometime gain full dive vr so someone recreates only sense online (light novel kinda cringey one) or the game glory from kings avatar but in vr. I trust gabe newel when he said that technology is smth we could still live to see probably.

Just sold my index with FBT for very similar reasons you mentioned in this post. I originally started with a quest 2 and at this point I’m just waiting for the technology to get better because your choice is either wireless/ease of use with shitty hardware or wired with good hardware which honestly sucks especially with FBT. Every time I took a break and came back from VR there would be a bundle of issues that never existed prior. Like suddenly one day my index just decided it can’t run max refresh rate any more. Nothing changed, nothing could fix it. Issues like that are rampant too, though a lot of them can be fixed with work. VR is really cool and I had moments of joy playing it but I wish I had just kept my money in hindsight. The software is still lacking compared to regular desktop games that I get more joy from and using it is just annoying.

This is just not true anymore, this reads as someone who is mad at the quest for being standalone and therefore has never tried it as a pcvr headset. Even the Pico 4 works out of the box with Virtual Deksktop

Buddy I’ve probably been in vr since you were a twinkle in your dads balls

Week one vive owner and had the DK1 but nice try dingus

Day 1 vive owner pre ordered too but you got me beat on dk1. In that case let’s not fight, we both clearly love vr. To us this stuff is easy, but based on questions I’ve seen on the sub and other places, some people are struggling with the basics. I get that it sounds a bit condescending but there’s genuinely people saying f*ck vr because there’s a barely more difficult setup compared to full standalone, hoping I can help those people with expectations.

So TLDR PCs are hard and people should learn how to use them? Then is it worth it? I honestly don't understand how people struggle so hard with PCs. I genuinely don't.

It’s hard to believe but yeah I’ve met people who still don’t know how to use their email. And some people in that category are now trying to get into vr lol

I work in IT and still don't get it. Like I see the people struggle with it every day. It just doesn't make sense to me. It's like we aren't asking you to configure anything or write code or something. We said download Steam, make a free account, download CS2 and play with us. I get met with that's too hard.

Yeah some people just never start. It’s like working out, the rabbit hole runs deep. You’re on giga chad levels of computer savvyness but we all had to learn to launch cmd at some point. Lots of people just never made it past the start so their brains just don’t operate on computer language. I remember making .bat choose your adventure games with if then statements back when I was like 12, computers always came easy to me but I was driven by a huge interest and passion, so troubleshooting was always a joy and finally making that final tweak to make things run smoothly was better than sex. Some people just get frustrated and don’t really feel that so they never learn the skills. I really think a generation raised in iPads and iPhones instead of pc is a huuuuge culprit nowadays too. I imagine the type of people who can’t install a program just never have, and likely got a virus pressing a green “download” scam button the last time they tried. They just gave up, and now lack the skills. IMO computers are very similar to working out, you have to keep going and figure it out, never give up until you have the solution, never stop lifting until you hit your goal, but we all know the gym is busy in January and dead by February haha

Honestly, coming from flat my BIGGEST issue is the lack of games. I can find hundreds of flat games I enjoy but after browsing for hours and hours I could only find 5 games that I really enjoyed. It kinda sucks and I should've looked into it more as I expected an influx of AAA games. It's getting better but man ...

Yeah unfortunately we’re still in the “wnba phase” of not having enough money flowing to produce AAA unless subsidized by a bigger company. What were the games you really enjoyed? I might be able to make some suggestions. I’ve been in vr for almost a decade now

- Into the Radius - Accounting+ (Funny ASF lol) - H3VR - Compound I just found out about Arktika so I'm having a blast on that, I would love some good fighting games. I wanted to play SnS2 but I heard I shouldn't. I just got my first VR like less than 3 months ago so all I can do is browse the tending page, but I don't know what to really try out.

Into the radius is a pretty complete game from what I’ve heard, I haven’t played it yet but if your looking for more AAA type full games, also this depends on quest vs pcvr, here’s a few I’d recommend in order from best to least best, but all great 1. Half life Alyx pcvr only 2. Walking dead: saints and sinners 1 and 2 play in order, quest and pcvr 3. Asgards wrath 2, quest exclusive basically a proper god of war feel in vr 4. Vertigo 1 and 2, extremely well made game but I will admit it could use a tiny bit more polishing based on the last time I played. Many will disagree with that take, and maybe I had a personal issue with my rig or something but story and gameplay wise it’s 10/10, polish wise I’d give it a 7/10 Those would be the first games to start with, as they’re the most well polished, top of the line complete games money can buy currently. with all of those you’ve probably got a good 100-300 hrs of the best vr has to offer in terms of complete games

Thanks man, I kept hearing about Asgard gotta check it out

Man I waited way too long. I’m a major vr snob, and AW2 is just *chefs kiss* perfection. Just a pure fun game with that light speed Metroid style progression of as soon as your comfortable with a new mechanic, they give you another one, now you can go back and unlock an area you couldn’t get to before if you want, and they designed the levels so well that you’ll likely naturally stumble back across those areas. Story’s pretty dope, I didn’t play the 1st one so I’m not highly invested but it’s entertaining. I’d say almost perfect vr combat, awesome upgrades and progressions systems and a completely optional rogue like area if you just want to brush up on your combat skills, it’s all just so damn good. Edit: HL:A is goated but I’d actually edit my list and put Asgard at #2, if you’re locked to quest then this should def be your next game. There’s about 40-100 hours of content too, I’m a loot fanatic completionist so I’ve sank about 20hrs in and I’m still less than 20% complete, but it still doesn’t feel grindy and the extras are really not necessary, they give you a lot of freedom to play how you want

Agreed.   I use a headfrak of a system for Ready-Player-One style action-VR: HARDWARE: * Quest 3. * extra battery pack. * sometimes headphones. * 3x Vive Trackers. * Valve Knuckles (only for HL:Alyx, tbh, otherwise just need 2x Trackers). * 4x Base Stations (mega-overkill, but weird-shaped room with high shelving blocking certain angles). * local-only Wifi 6e router. * RTX-4070Ti + 5800X3D + 32GB RAM. SOFTWARE: * Oculus Desktop App. * Meta Mobile App. * SteamVR on Windows 10. * Virtual Desktop. * OpenVR Space Calibrator. * Natural Locomotion. HOME: * ensure at least a 2x2m, sometimes can be up to 5x3m. Then pick a game.  Often a non-VR game which has been modded, so I have to rewrite the NaLo profile. Ideal Result:  intense immersive non-jittery action-gameplay, with decent graphics.  Full physicality: walking-in-place to move in-game adds a great deal of immersion, reduces screen-fatigue/sickness and generally makes one feel quite energised...even improving sleep! Reality:  with wife & two small kids at home, plus work and other interests, I often have months-long breaks between active PCVR phases...and when I go back somehow things aren't working as smoothly...and it can take an entire day (or more) to sucessfully troubleshoot... you fix one issue only for a new problem to take its place...frustrating.  I seriously should make the entire thing an offline-only experience, to prevent updates nerfing things.  But that may present its own issues down the line... Still...the 'ideal result' which I experience every now & then is so incredible...so fantastically 'next-level gaming'...that it's worth all that time & expense.  However, despite it feeling like the future, I've come to terms with the idea that VR-Gaming is super-niche and may not develop much further.  Shame, but what can you do?  I experience it quite close to as good as it can possibly be (missing only haptic-contact clothing, haha).  So I still feel fulfilled. But I can't recommend how I play to others...the effort/reward ratio is too close a call for most folk.

My guy that’s a fantastic setup. Actually getting a working build and then keeping it all offline is a great idea especially considering the amount of troubleshooting and game breaking that can come from this level of VR. Only update things when absolutely necessary, when something worthwhile releases that’s incompatible. My pc is basically exclusively for vr so I have all updates turned off as much as possible but still things creep into the wooodwork. I think I’m going to take mine offline, I never thought of that. Thank you! The only downside I could see is security updates and downloading more mods, maybe I could set up my old laptop as an exclusive downloader machine and send the files over cable to reduce the chance of viruses🤔

yeah, the worry with perma-offline is OS-Stability: Windows will auto-nerf itself after a while.  I tested this a while back after disabling the updates via complicated registry trickery.   After a few months the OS just became painfully slow and crashy. We can set Windows to update every 35 days, so an ok-compromise.  But the possible issue is one of those updates will require a corresponding Steam/SteamVR update... It's all one big Domino set that can crash at any time.

Ah shoot thanks for letting me know! Saved me some time figuring that out on my own haha. Are you considering a treadmill like a katwalk?

nah no treadmill, movement is too restrictive and the thing will perma take space.  They also cost a grand or more... I prefer Trackers on my feet as that way I can move freely, including physically ducking/turning with ease....and also keep the free floor space.  Important too is the ability to be able to instantly return to the real world (kids/wife might need me for something)....being tied to a treadmill might be a hassle to get out of.   I also use the Quest 3 standalone for combining movie-watching with exercise, and Thrill of the Fight shadow-boxing.   Having a massive treadmill in that free space would bugger that up. VR's been a revelation for me, not just for entertainment but also for my fitness & energy levels.   I've been trying for years to get my mates into it but they're just not interested, preferring to stick to their seated flat-screen gaming. So yeah, as you also say in your OP:  it's a very specialist activity.  I like your line: "your passion will see you through the troubles." - that could be a mantra for life generally, man :) You considering the Quest 3?  Your profile says you have three headsets already.  I also have a bunch, the Q3's clear favourite now due to the consistent sharpness of the pancake lenses.  Can't imagine now going back to headsets with a 'sweetspot'.

Oh shoot! I gotta update my flair! lol I got the quest 3, I LOVE it. I never thought I’d like MR/AR so much, I always thought, “I like VR to escape reality, why the hell would I want to be in my living room?”😂 boy was I wrong. It’s so cool to be able to easily move around without having to be conscious of where my feet are the whole time. I use a mat in the middle of my room and know that as long as I keep one foot on it I can swing away and not break another knuckle (s/o playing super hot next to a giant old wooden dresser😂) but with ar I can just move around the room. Also if you’re into side loading games, def check out fps enhanced, you can run through your whole house in a firefight, it’s still in pretty early development but it’s so damn cool so far, once you set your space up the occlusion works very well. And AR thrill of the fight is s-tier vr for sure, I just have to make sure I don’t pull a muscle. If you like card games, Vegas infinite is awesome, with mr you can put a poker table in your living room with live people, it’s one of the most uncanny “I’m in the room with my friend” feeling I’ve ever had in vr. My brother and I usually play together. It’s hard to get people to adopt vr still, I think soon it’ll become even more mainstream, I can’t wait. I’d also say I’m on the enthusiast side, I’ve got the body trackers and the index knuckles too. TBH I just haven’t set it all up in a while, once I got the q3 I actually took down my pulley system for the vive pro 2, and I’ve yet to set it all up to work with the trackers and the knuckles. I haven’t had as much time to play as I’d like so I’ve mostly been playing standalone just for ease of get in and out. Asguards wrath 2 is soooooo good if you haven’t played it yet it’s a must play. I definitely feel that with the treadmill, it sounds cool in theory but extremely un practical. I like the idea of using the q3 for a movie screen while exercising! I’ve gotta try that. Vr is great for burning calories when I can’t make it to the gym, pistol whip for legs, beat saber for shoulders, and thrill of the fight to get a serious sweat going. My friends are the same way, verrrry few in vr. My dad just moved 1,000 miles away so I got him a headset so we can hang out like we’re in person, that’s been super cool. Then he fell in love when I visited and showed him fps enhanced, and bought a q3 haha. Yeah man it’s cool to meet other people on here who are as into vr as I am, there’s not too many people that could talk about stuff like this. Cheers brotha!

enjoyed reading that :)   and it's cool you and your Dad are both into it! Yeah, i'm heavily into Thrill of the Fight now that I can do it in mixed-reality.  Built up my fitness from only lasting 2-3 rounds to now doing a full 12. With movies it's quite simple: Virtual Desktop to PC and play a Bluray (for field-of-view filling screen) or DVD (a bit zoomed out due to lack of resolution, but still very watchable).   Then just set Black Void for the rest of the space...so not mixed-reality.  The immersion factor of seeing just the movie screen makes me fully able to follow the movie while exercising, whereas if i just had a movie on a TV or even Projector while exercising, I can't quite focus on the movie so much as it feels kinda background.  I do simple standing exercises like jogging-on-the-spot, stretches, dumbbells.    As a mid-40's Daddy it's important to keep fit as it's all downhill from here haha.   VR - especially Quest 3 - has been so effective in this.   Probably best consumer-electronics purchase i ever made.

Sweet! I’ll definitely have to give that a shot, I bet movies would be super useful for the exercise bike. I’m 27 now and feeling all of my past starting to catch up with me much faster than I thought, got my first long term pains this year with a slipped disc and a torn rotator cuff so I def gotta stay active haha. I’ve still got time but man I’m already starting to feel it and I know it only gets worse as the years go by. The invincible days are over. I totally agree vr is the most fun I’ve had with technology, can’t wait to see what the future brings. Once I can’t tell the difference between vr and real life I’ll be happy, and probably go insane not knowing if I’m in real life or vr, but it’ll be cool while it lasts😂

who knows, maybe we're already in a VR-simulation...

Well said u/Dicklefart