Quest plus Virtual Desktop is amazingly good

iswasdoes · Apr 15, 2020

I tried this when it first launched and thought it was a good proof of concept but didn't think it was a viable long solution.

However after downloading the latest version and fiddling with the settings - I'm seeing a huge improvement and now prefer this to my Vive

playing alyx with smooth motion and I'm getting no discernible lag. Image quality is very good - while there is a slight muddiness of course, the freedom you get more than makes up for it IMO.

So liberating to just pick up and pla and you can now launch steam VR games straight from the UI which is a nicer user experience

Try it if you can

Kalentan · Apr 15, 2020

iswasdoes said:
I tried this when it first launched and thought it was a good proof of concept but didn't think it was a viable long solution.

However after downloading the latest version and fiddling with the settings - I'm seeing a huge improvement and now prefer this to my Vive

playing alyx with smooth motion and I'm getting no discernible lag. Image quality is very good - while there is a slight muddiness of course, the freedom you get more than makes up for it IMO.

So liberating to just pick up and pla and you can now launch steam VR games straight from the UI which is a nicer user experience

Try it if you can

Is it better than using Quest Link?

iswasdoes · Apr 15, 2020

Kalentan said:
Is it better than using Quest Link?

that I can't speak to, I haven't got a cable long enough. I will try at some point
hopefully someone else can answer

BUT I really reaaaaly like no wires

Deleted member 9290 · Apr 15, 2020

You know whats even better? ALVR because it's free and works as well as VD

FirstBlood · Apr 15, 2020

It does work surprisingly well.

I jumped into Alyx with it and found the latency to be acceptable but still noticeable, so I switched back to the Link.

Jhey Cyphre · Apr 15, 2020

Are there any recommended settings for the best experience?

EDIT: No harm in trying ALVR too since it's free.

1-D_FE · Apr 15, 2020

It's definitely gone from nice proof of concept to a viably awesome way to play PCVR.

If Facebook decides to release a wifi dongle for Quest, I hope it's in conjunction with them figuring out how to bypass the Quest's video chip (and being able to dramatically increase the bandwidth they can use). It feels like it's the only way they can truly improve on VD at this point.

Jhey Cyphre said:
Are there any recommended settings for the best experience?

EDIT: No harm in trying ALVR too since it's free.

Whatever gets you the highest quality without stutter. I find that for certain games, you need to disable sliced rendering and take a little more lag for a silky smooth experience.

In the past day or two, I've posted my preferred VD settings in the Quest megathread (OT). I feel like it's finally gotten to the point where most games aren't worth the hassle of using a cable with Link.

Speculator · Apr 15, 2020

Yeah couldn't believe it took me so long to discover VD, used it on my second playthrough. There's some slight compression artifacts every so often but there's some on the Link as well. I feel like overall game performance is better on VD for me compared to Link b/c Oculus isn't running in the background. (I can't open steam vr overlay without it going bonkers with Link)

cnorwood · Apr 15, 2020

Kalentan said:
Is it better than using Quest Link?

For the most part yes. It has higher resolution but you see video artifacts. Also you get a bit of lag between the controller and what you see but nothing too crazy. However the OP is correct, wireless VR>>> wired VR. It's more immersive and it opens up more rooms you can play high quality VR in. Only drawback is it drains battery fast.

Ashok · Apr 15, 2020

Codiox said:
You know whats even better? ALVR because it's free and works as well as VD

I've put hours of testing into ALVR Experimental v9 and Virtual Desktop v1.13.0 and VD just wins hands down for me. Maybe results vary by setup, but ALVR is just a huge pain to use in comparison and positional judder and latency is far higher than VD. I appreciate that its free but would honestly never recommend it.

SpartyCrunch · Apr 15, 2020

I tried this with my Quest + Half-Life Alyx but since my PC is on wi-fi I didn't have a great experience. I use 5GHz wifi throughout my house and everything has a superb connection though.

My main issue was more around configuration than stability though. Every time I'd try to change settings, those settings wouldn't take effect. And while it worked perfectly sometimes, other times it ended up being unreliable.

Someone suggested using my PC as a virtual hotspot and connect my Quest directly to that instead of my router - has anyone here tried this? Does it work for you?

345 · Apr 15, 2020

would this work if my PC doesn't have wi-fi on board? i know it's better to use ethernet, i'm just not clear on whether the quest would be connecting to the PC itself or the wi-fi points on the same network.

cnorwood · Apr 15, 2020

SpartyCrunch said:
I tried this with my Quest + Half-Life Alyx but since my PC is on wi-fi I didn't have a great experience. I use 5GHz wifi throughout my house and everything has a superb connection though.

My main issue was more around configuration than stability though. Every time I'd try to change settings, those settings wouldn't take effect. And while it worked perfectly sometimes, other times it ended up being unreliable.

Someone suggested using my PC as a virtual hotspot and connect my Quest directly to that instead of my router - has anyone here tried this? Does it work for you?

That's how I do it, I'm buying a usb 866mbps just because the one that came with my motherboard drops to like 520 or something. For the most part it works great though

tarman76 · Apr 15, 2020

Pro tip: create a hot spot on your windows computer and connect directly to the laptop/ computer and avoid the router problems altogether.

Deleted member 9290 · Apr 16, 2020

Ashok said:
I've put hours of testing into ALVR Experimental v9 and Virtual Desktop v1.13.0 and VD just wins hands down for me. Maybe results vary by setup, but ALVR is just a huge pain to use in comparison and positional judder and latency is far higher than VD. I appreciate that its free but would honestly never recommend it.

Using ALVR since last year and it just works flawless. you need to make sure to use the fork, not the original ALVR since that isn't in active development anymore. I'm also in the same room than my Asus router and my pc is wired to it.

Everybody should at least try the ALVR fork out before dropping bucks on VD.

Deleted member 48434 · Apr 16, 2020

Codiox said:
Using ALVR since last year and it just works flawless. you need to make sure to use the fork, not the original ALVR since that isn't in active development anymore. I'm also in the same room than my Asus router and my pc is wired to it.

Everybody should at least try the ALVR fork out before dropping bucks on VD.

Mind explaining how a puffin could go about setting this up?

sirap · Apr 16, 2020

Virtual Desktop is so good. I had a lot more fun playing Alyx for the second time wirelessly.

Leemo · Apr 16, 2020

What's also amazing (as someone who doesn't have a gaming PC at home) is using Virtual Desktop with Shadow - the streaming service - to play VR through the Quest.

I know. It shouldn't work. It has no right working as well as it does. But it's incredible. I'm a few chapters in to Alyx - and while I know it's not quite the same as having a VR-capable PC at home, it's not far off.

YMMV of course when it comes to lag, but I seem to be in the sweet spot where it's not noticeable.

Deleted member 9290 · Apr 16, 2020

Leemo said:
What's also amazing (as someone who doesn't have a gaming PC at home) is using Virtual Desktop with Shadow - the streaming service - to play VR through the Quest.

I know. It shouldn't work. It has no right working as well as it does. But it's incredible. I'm a few chapters in to Alyx - and while I know it's not quite the same as having a VR-capable PC at home, it's not far off.

YMMV of course when it comes to lag, but I seem to be in the sweet spot where it's not noticeable.

I would be cautious though, shadow is a scammy one. They can revoke the service for you any time, you need to pay a high monthly rate and you can get banned on some places

Leemo · Apr 16, 2020

Codiox said:
I would be cautious though, shadow is a scammy one. They can revoke the service for you any time, you need to pay a high monthly rate and you can get banned on some places

I'm paying £12.99 for the basic package to play Steam games and VR (my iMac is 5 years old now so past its best) and it's been great. Can't speak to them being 'scammy' but I'll keep an eye out.

Deleted member 9290 · Apr 16, 2020

Solar Puffin said:
Mind explaining how a puffin could go about setting this up?

Get the latest fork here:
https://github.com/JackD83/ALVR/releases

Its pretty straight forward.

Just install the APK on your quest via sidequest and start it under unknown sources. open the ALVR windows program and make sure both are in the same network. Your quest will automatically be listed in ALVR on PC.

Just click connect and you are done. It will automatically opens steamVR.

You can fine-tune some settings on the pc program to get the best results.

Deleted member 48434 · Apr 16, 2020

Codiox said:
Get the latest fork here:
https://github.com/JackD83/ALVR/releases

Its pretty straight forward.

Just install the APK on your quest via sidequest and start it under unknown sources. open the ALVR windows program and make sure both are in the same network. Your quest will automatically be listed in ALVR on PC.

Just click connect and you are done. It will automatically opens steamVR.

You can fine-tune some settings on the pc program to get the best results.

A wall sits between my PC and my router, not good for 5ghz
Can I set up an adhoc connection?

Nekyrrev · Apr 16, 2020

I'm playing Alyx for the first time at the moment with Virtual Desktop and it's really good. I don't have a lot of space available in the room where my computer is setup, so being able to play this game in my living room wirelessly is really incredible. The freedom of movement makes a huge difference. I still got some rare stutters from time to time but it's apparently due to my trash-tier router.

I still vastly prefer playing that way, couldn't go back to being tethered to a PC.

Jhey Cyphre · Apr 16, 2020

Ok. So I just ran into some issues with this. I've been playing playing Saints and Sinners from the Oculus app and it's been working wonderfully.

I don't have Alyx yet, but it's a likely purchase.

Anyhow, I booted up No Man's Sky on Steam and right from the start I knew I was in for a rough time. I launched it from Virtual Desktops menu and immediately the thing was super choppy. Not just the game itself, but Steam VR itself is a super stuttery. It's strange because my latency is still reading sub 30ms.

What could be the issue?

Nekyrrev · Apr 16, 2020

Jhey Cyphre said:
Ok. So I just ran into some issues with this. I've been playing playing Saints and Sinners from the Oculus app and it's been working wonderfully.

I don't have Alyx yet, but it's a likely purchase.

Anyhow, I booted up No Man's Sky on Steam and right from the start I knew I was in for a rough time. I launched it from Virtual Desktops menu and immediately the thing was super choppy. Not just the game itself, but Steam VR itself is a super stuttery. It's strange because my latency is still reading sub 30ms.

What could be the issue?

fyi I tried No Man's Sky and I had some serious issues with it too. Not like it was the most optimized game anyway but yeah it was barely playable.

oatmeal · Apr 16, 2020

tarman76 said:
Pro tip: create a hot spot on your windows computer and connect directly to the laptop/ computer and avoid the router problems altogether.

Wait. What?

Jhey Cyphre · Apr 16, 2020

Nekyrrev said:
fyi I tried No Man's Sky and I had some serious issues with it too. Not like it was the most optimized game anyway but yeah it was barely playable.

What is more concerning is Steam VR itself was running terribly. Is that normal?

MrKlaw · Apr 16, 2020

tarman76 said:
Pro tip: create a hot spot on your windows computer and connect directly to the laptop/ computer and avoid the router problems altogether.

does this work ok? I had a really bad time with the onboard 5GHz WiFi on my motherboard with huge stuttering every couple of seconds. Was unusable. Exact same settings with my router worked well, but the signal is not ideal as it's in the next room through a thick brick wall.

still prefer it to link cable though due to the wireless convenience.

if hotspot should work ok I can look at whether it's my specific setup/drivers etc. I would prefer a 5GHz signal in the same room for best signal strength. I have a spare router and an Ethernet switch in the room so an access point might be an option

iswasdoes · Apr 16, 2020

The fact some people say this is better than quest link is rocking my world - that should not be true! But by all accounts it definitely is very close in terms of image quality and like I say, the freedom makes up for the very tiny lag (like I say I didnt really notice any while playing alyx but you might have a harder time with something like beat saber)

Makes me think that if oculus had gone this route and optimised quest for streaming from the get go, it would be flawless? Maybe in quest 2 we could see some improvements with this in mind i.e. make the controllers connect directly to wifi to perhaps minimise lag (making this up but you see what I mean hopefully)

MrKlaw · Apr 16, 2020

iswasdoes said:
The fact some people say this is better than quest link is rocking my world - that should not be true! But by all accounts it definitely is very close in terms of image quality and like I say, the freedom makes up for the very tiny lag (like I say I didnt really notice any while playing alyx but you might have a harder time with something like beat saber)

Makes me think that if oculus had gone this route and optimised quest for streaming from the get go, it would be flawless? Maybe in quest 2 we could see some improvements with this in mind i.e. make the controllers connect directly to wifi to perhaps minimise lag (making this up but you see what I mean hopefully)

I think Actually if designed for PC connection, then the cable may come back as the best option - latest broadcom chipset would allow for displayport connection so raw video sent to headset. At that point it'd be pretty much the same as rift S, especially if they bundle a good cable with it.

s0l0kill · Apr 16, 2020

Kalentan said:
Is it better than using Quest Link?

To me it is.

s0l0kill · Apr 16, 2020

iswasdoes said:
The fact some people say this is better than quest link is rocking my world - that should not be true! But by all accounts it definitely is very close in terms of image quality and like I say, the freedom makes up for the very tiny lag (like I say I didnt really notice any while playing alyx but you might have a harder time with something like beat saber)

Makes me think that if oculus had gone this route and optimised quest for streaming from the get go, it would be flawless? Maybe in quest 2 we could see some improvements with this in mind i.e. make the controllers connect directly to wifi to perhaps minimise lag (making this up but you see what I mean hopefully)

Actually VD looks better, here's a video going in-depth

Oculus Link vs Virtual Desktop | The Best Way To Play Half-Life Alyx On The Oculus Quest

Today on BMF we have a battle on our hands, Oculus Link vs Virtual Desktop. Which one is the best way to play Half-Life Alyx and other PC VR games on the Ocu...

www.youtube.com

Can confirm it's the same in my experience.

s0l0kill · Apr 16, 2020

tarman76 said:
Pro tip: create a hot spot on your windows computer and connect directly to the laptop/ computer and avoid the router problems altogether.

In my case it was worse this way, guess it depends on your wifi chip.

iswasdoes · Apr 16, 2020

tkato said:
Actually VD looks better, here's a video going in-depth

Oculus Link vs Virtual Desktop | The Best Way To Play Half-Life Alyx On The Oculus Quest

Today on BMF we have a battle on our hands, Oculus Link vs Virtual Desktop. Which one is the best way to play Half-Life Alyx and other PC VR games on the Ocu...

www.youtube.com

Can confirm it's the same in my experience.

Great video thanks (though I am ashamed at my self for snickering at him saying VD repeatedly)

Definitely agree its the killer app, and further deepens my appreciation for the Quest as an incredible device - think I will fully retire my vive and cancel my knuckles pre order. Though I always worry with these hacky workarounds that an update will kill it. Hope oculus see the light and make this an official functionality, or alternatively, we see a new headset in a few years that is fully designed around being wireless streaming and standalone hybrid

GoodGamerGuy · Apr 16, 2020

How is this compared to the Vive with the wireless adapter? Thats my current setup, however having base stations + battery strapped to the back of the Vive isn't great, along with the image quality on the Vive. Would it be worth trying this?

wafflebrain · Apr 16, 2020

I've been singing its praises for a minute now...played several VR games to completion all through VD, and the improvements the dev has made between the December update and the latest one are pretty impressive. I can imagine some of Oculus' engineers being curious to see just how the dev pulled this off.

Also the color profile in VD is vastly superior to Link's, perfect black levels to actually utilize the Quest's oled display properly vs Link's oddly washed out one.

Another plus at least on my machine is some games seem to run better over VD and with less stutter than over Link, though a recent firmware update to the latter has improved that quite a bit. No Man's Sky for instance has awful visual and audio stuttering when flying over a planet's surface via Link but this isn't present over VD.

Asgard's Wrath is another that has godawful performance in certain areas over Link especially in the tavern area, but VD seems to eliminate a lot of that.

Quest+VD is probably the coolest and most liberating combo in consumer VR that I've experienced. Wireless is king :P

Deleted member 10234 · Apr 16, 2020

It's been great with other games for me but I can't get a good experience in Alyx, it's constantly stuttering. My computer being at the low end of the game's system requirements may be the cause (i5-8400 & GTX 1070), I don't have similar issues in other games so I don't think it's the network. Otherwise I vastly prefer it to USB.

tarman76 · Apr 16, 2020

MrKlaw said:
does this work ok? I had a really bad time with the onboard 5GHz WiFi on my motherboard with huge stuttering every couple of seconds. Was unusable. Exact same settings with my router worked well, but the signal is not ideal as it's in the next room through a thick brick wall.

still prefer it to link cable though due to the wireless convenience.

if hotspot should work ok I can look at whether it's my specific setup/drivers etc. I would prefer a 5GHz signal in the same room for best signal strength. I have a spare router and an Ethernet switch in the room so an access point might be an option

It works great for me. When setting up the hotspot you can choose 5ghz.

MrKlaw · Apr 16, 2020

tarman76 said:
It works great for me. When setting up the hotspot you can choose 5ghz.

yeah did that - was just getting horrible stuttering. Maybe a driver thing. Good to know it works on some setups though. I think it can be important to have a strong signal and you're often not in the same room as your router

Galaxea · Apr 16, 2020

tarman76 said:
Pro tip: create a hot spot on your windows computer and connect directly to the laptop/ computer and avoid the router problems altogether.

I just ordered a wifi pci card to attempt this. I can play vd perfect in my living room since the router is out there but it drops a lot in my hobby room where my PC is close to. I hope this fixes that issue.

s0l0kill · Apr 16, 2020

iswasdoes said:
Great video thanks (though I am ashamed at my self for snickering at him saying VD repeatedly)

Definitely agree its the killer app, and further deepens my appreciation for the Quest as an incredible device - think I will fully retire my vive and cancel my knuckles pre order. Though I always worry with these hacky workarounds that an update will kill it. Hope oculus see the light and make this an official functionality, or alternatively, we see a new headset in a few years that is fully designed around being wireless streaming and standalone hybrid

Oculus has been kinda sucky about it, made the guy remove the functionality from the store version as they were gonna release link, doesn't reflect well on them honestly.

MoosetheMark · Apr 16, 2020

I wish I had this same experience. I have my computer directly wired to my 5ghz router, which is in the same room as my Quest. I have pretty much the ideal setup, but I've never been able to have a good time with it. If i turn my head too fast, I can see black boxes at the corner of my vision. The sound lags by a good second or so, and when I look at my virtual hands they are constantly jittering.

I think this may be due to crowded channels and interference. I live in a big NYC apartment building so god knows how many signals are cluttering up the works, I really don't think there's a workaround for me which is a big bummer.

That said, the dev is extremely active on the r/oculusquest subreddit, if anyone has any questions or needs tech support, if you post there they'll probably respond directly to you quickly.

Deleted member 41520 · Apr 16, 2020

So how does this work? You buy virtual desktop on Quest, connect it to your PC, open Steam through it on the quest and play as normal?

I adore Steam link but the cable is JUST too short, only usb 3 alloys slots on my pc are on the back of the tower

Jhey Cyphre said:
Ok. So I just ran into some issues with this. I've been playing playing Saints and Sinners from the Oculus app and it's been working wonderfully.

I don't have Alyx yet, but it's a likely purchase.

Anyhow, I booted up No Man's Sky on Steam and right from the start I knew I was in for a rough time. I launched it from Virtual Desktops menu and immediately the thing was super choppy. Not just the game itself, but Steam VR itself is a super stuttery. It's strange because my latency is still reading sub 30ms.

What could be the issue?

Mostly the game itself, I think. Uber wonky VR experience

wwm0nkey · Apr 16, 2020

Guessing the best way to experience this is an onboard 5ghz chip rather than router? Last time i tried in December it was pretty okay

pavaloo · Apr 16, 2020

it definitely works superbly for me

routinely better and more reliable than using a link connection as well

MrKlaw · Apr 16, 2020

Jiminy said:
So how does this work? You buy virtual desktop on Quest, connect it to your PC, open Steam through it on the quest and play as normal?

I adore Steam link but the cable is JUST too short, only usb 3 alloys slots on my pc are on the back of the tower

Mostly the game itself, I think. Uber wonky VR experience

you buy virtual desktop on quest but also need to side load a custom version because the official version had to remove streaming games by oculus. It's free to download the custom version but you need the real one as well as it checks the license

5GHz WiFi strongly recommended and a strong signal so close to the router if possible. Basically streams your desktop and then you launch steam VR as normal

Jhey Cyphre · Apr 16, 2020

Jiminy said:
Mostly the game itself, I think. Uber wonky VR experience

I tried Pavlov VR and yeah that game ran very good. So maybe your right.

LorentzFactor · Apr 16, 2020

Got my Quest a few days ago and tried the Virtual Desktop with HL:A today. My PC wasn't connected via Ethernet nor in the same room as the router/modem and it was still pretty playable -- the lag was only noticeable for the sound when I would throw a glass bottle against a wall. Granted it's only the opening of the game without much going on computationally it seems, and I'll likely move my PC into the main area for the next session. All in all I'm pretty amazed.

iswasdoes · Apr 17, 2020

The other interesting aspect of this to me is its thrown off what I thought I knew about VR sickness. I thought any lag, even nearly imperceptible lag, would cause nausea. But thats not the case with Alyx at all. On the other side, Apex Construct (native first person quest game) makes me really ill after 3 mins. Its clear to me now that its a software/design issue more than a hardware issue, at least for me (though I have pretty good VR legs overall)

But this gives me hope that a 5g enabled, cloud streamed VR platform is a real near term possibility, as that would open up the possibilities hugely from both a processing power and play space perspective

Jhey Cyphre · Apr 17, 2020

I said fuck it and just picked up Alyx. Jesus! The game runs amazing over Virtual Desktop.

I did purchase a Link cable but I can't imagine playing this any other way.

Quest plus Virtual Desktop is amazingly good

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