How to play SteamVR games on Oculus Go with ALVR

Oculus Go, the standalone, wireless headset that's made it possible for more people than always before to enjoy a quality VR experience, can now exist used in tandem with SteamVR. That's right; content that's ordinarily enjoyed on a PC-based VR organisation, like Windows Mixed Reality (WMR), Oculus Rift, or HTC Vive, tin be ported over to the Oculus Get for a wireless VR experience.

How does information technology all piece of work? I'm here to walk you through the process of getting everything set up.

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What is required for SteamVR games on Oculus Go?

Playing SteamVR games in your Oculus Go headset is made possible thanks to an open-source project called Air Light VR (ALVR). Information technology'southward available for download on GitHub for gratuitous, and it will too work with Samsung'south Gear VR and uniform phones, like the Samsung Milky way S8 or S8+.

See Air Light VR at GitHub

Bated from the VR headset, y'all'll need a relatively loftier-end Windows 10 gaming PC with an NVIDIA graphics menu (GPU) that supports NVENC technology. Not sure if you have the correct GPU? Effigy out the exact proper name of your GPU, and you lot can cross-reference it with this NVIDIA Wikipedia page to detect out. If the codename of your GPU starts with GK, GM, or GP, you should be in the clear. A lot of the NVIDIA 6- and 7-series GPUs will exist compatible, and anything newer shouldn't exist an issue.

You likewise need a wireless internet connexion to stream video to your Oculus Go or Gear VR. It's recommended that your PC use a wired connexion dorsum to your router for all-time operation.

Finally, SteamVR must be installed on your Windows 10 PC. We have a guide to getting SteamVR installed on your PC that you can reference if y'all come across any issues.

What can you await from ALVR?

ALVR allows you to stream VR content to your Oculus Become headset. While the Oculus Go motion controller will work in some cases, near VR experiences that crave a controller with six degrees of freedom (6DoF) will not piece of work. Games that you tin can play with a gamepad or that don't require 6DoF, however, should work almost flawlessly. A full list of tested VR experiences that piece of work with ALVR and Oculus Get is available at the ALVR GitHub page.

If y'all're so inclined, ALVR should also work with Rift games played on SteamVR through Revive. Check out our guide for more than information on using Revive.

How to play Oculus Rift games on the HTC Vive

How to install ALVR on your PC

If you have everything that's required to make this happen, you tin can get ALVR installed on your PC. This starting time prepare of steps is to ensure you take the proper C++ redistributable installed on your PC. Follow these instructions:

Navigate to the Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 download page at Microsoft's Download Center.
Click Download.
Click vc_redist.x64.exe.
Click Side by side.
Click Run.
Click I concord to the license…
Click Install. (If y'all encounter an error, information technology likely ways that it's already installed.)

It'south at present time to download and install ALVR. Here'southward how:

Navigate to the ALVR releases page at GitHub.
Click the ALVR-vX.X Nil file in the latest version's department.
Click Save.
Click Open folder when the download is complete.
Click Extract.
Click Excerpt all to extract the folder from its compressed state.
Click Extract.
Double-click the ALVR folder.
Double-click the ALVR application to launch it.

How to install the ALVR customer on Oculus Get

Now that ALVR is installed on your PC, it'due south fourth dimension to get the ALVR customer installed on your Oculus Go headset. Whereas yous'd unremarkably take to set an Android Debug Bridge and register every bit a developer, ALVR has a handy way of getting the Oculus Go app with minimum hassle. Just follow these steps:

Navigate to the ALVR key distribution folio in your favorite web browser.
Click the Get Key push button. (You will be shown a primal that you lot can redeem within the Oculus app on your phone.)
Launch the Oculus app on your phone. (In this case I'm using Android, but it will also work on iPhone.)
Tap Settings.
Tap Redeem Lawmaking.
Type the code that you lot received from the ALVR key page.
Tap Submit.
Tap Air Low-cal VR.
Tap Install.

How to stream SteamVR content to Oculus Get

Now that y'all accept the ALVR client installed on your PC and on Oculus Become, you lot can brainstorm streaming content. ALVR should all the same be running on your PC, but if it's non, launch it earlier continuing. And so follow these steps:

Click Start server.
Launch the ALVR client inside your Oculus Get headset. (Information technology will announced as any other app in your Library.)
Click Connect.

A connection should be fabricated in a few seconds, and you'll be able to see SteamVR Home inside your Oculus Go. Annotation that there'due south not yet streaming sound to your headset, but you tin can however use some other device connected to your PC to output sound.

Correct at present, SteamVR Home doesn't exactly cooperate with the Oculus Become motion controller, and launching a VR game direct from your PC desktop seems to be the all-time solution.

Troubleshooting

One immediate upshot I noticed was that my head appeared to be on the floor. Luckily, y'all can apply an first to take intendance of superlative issues:

Click the Other tab.
Click Apply kickoff.
Type a value into the Y field. In my example, i.5 seems like a natural height.
Click Relieve.

If you're having issues with the Oculus Get controller button mapping, you can exercise a bit of customization:

Click the Controller tab.
Click Enable controller.
Click a dropdown menu side by side to a button.
Click an option.

Remember, the Oculus Become controller probably isn't going to work well with most VR experiences that crave 6DoF.

If y'all encounter farther problems, the ALVR GitHub folio is the identify to visit. At that place are some in-depth troubleshooting guides, as well as a forum where you tin can have your questions answered.

More resource

Best SteamVR add-on apps
Best SteamVR games for Windows Mixed Reality

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