Steam VR and an Oculus headset

Bugs and Technical Issues
#1

Currently I can not stream Orbus very effectively through the Rift S. The tool that I use to see Stream chat is called oVRdrop and it’s a Steam VR utility. It’s inserted into the game at a point I select. I attach it to the back of my left hand so in general it doesn’t obscure any part of the game unless I’m actively looking at chat by flipping my hand around. The Oculus Dash implementation of this feature is significantly inferior to oVRdrop but it can be used as a last resort. I just really would rather have my standard setup.

So, to the issue:
I own Orbus VR through Steam.
I fire up Oculus so I can use the Rift S.
I fire up Steam VR.
I see Steam VR home in the headset.
I can see the Steam VR chaperone always on floor bounds that I’ve setup.
I start oVRdrop.
I can see oVRdrop in the headset perfectly fine.
Optional: I start up another game like Beat Saber and I can still see everything perfectly fine. Chaperone bounds and oVRdrop window.
I fire up Orbus VR.
Immediately the always on developer chaperone floor bounds are gone. oVRdrop is gone. The Steam VR overlay does not come up when pressing the button that should do so.

It feels like the Orbus VR client has decided that since I’m in an Oculus headset that it’s going to ignore the fact that I’ve intentionally started the game via Steam VR and it has connected directly to Oculus home to run. Completely bypassing Steam VR and removing all Steam VR overlays which includes my stream chat and dashboard via oVRdrop as well as my always on chaperone bounds which I use to tell where my camera is and if I’m in the center of my play space. Pretty much every little trick that I’ve setup with my Vive Pro to help my stream more effectively.

For most people this is likely a trivial issue. To be honest I likely wont be streaming much on my Rift S after this week. Still, I don’t like the fact that I’m intentionally saying to run through service A and the client is choosing to ignore that and run through service B.

#2

If you really want to run it through steamVR then do this:
Right Click game on steam
Go to Properties
In the general tab click “set launch options”
Type “-vrmode openvr” in the text field
click ok
run the game

However, right now the game hasn’t been configured properly for oculus through steamVR so the hand positioning is funky, I would recommend not using orbus with steamVR until he fixes that when the index controllers come.
Until then you could use oculus dash and pin the stream chat up in the corner of you vision or something.

here’s a video of the hand to controller behavior when running orbus through steamVR with oculus

#3

Yeah I mention the dash as a workaround but it’s really not parity to the Steam overlay and oVRdrop. I don’t want my world view obscured by chat when I’m not actively reading it. That’s why I stick it to the back side of my hand. I can easily flip it over to see chat.

Thanks for the launch command. If the controllers are really that bad then I’ll just have to forgo streaming Orbus on the Rift S. Was planning on going back to the Vive Pro soon anyway but wanted the Rift as a batteryless backup. :frowning:

#4

I have gone back to my Vive Pro. I have the Vive connected via wireless and the Rift S connected as well. When I start Orbus VR from Steam VR with the Vive Wireless software running and the Vive Pro connected in Steam VR and Oculus home closed, Orbus VR will start up Oculus home and bypass Steam VR.

Again. the application thinks that it knows better and is not doing what I have asked it to do. I know I’m an edge case here but this is quite frustrating.

#5

It may be less an Orbus thing as it is just an Oculus Home issue it seems. Every game seems to be doing it now…

#6

Most Unity games are going to be setup with a VR priority system, and usually it’s Oculus first SteamVR second (since if you put SteamVR first then Oculus will never run). You should be able to use the -vrmode switch settings to force one or the other instead of using the priority list.

#7

Is that priority list something that can be made available for edit? Unless I own the game in the Oculus store, I want to use Steam VR. My streaming/recording setup is based around features like the Steam overlay and always being able to see my chaperone bounds to know where my camera is.

Right now I’m using the -vrmode but Orbus is the only game it’s working for. For other games I’ve had to set Oculus to run as admin to disable it auto starting, which I don’t like.

It would be great if I could globally set the default to be Steam VR and edit individual games I purchase from Oculus to use Oculus.

#8

Not that I know of, no. That would be more of a Unity-the-company question I guess?

#9

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