Is it possible to launch ED without Steam VR?

Older Gamer

Older Gamer
I am a returning player, and I didn't want to use my steam account as I fancied starting a new character. So I bought the standalone version from the Frontier website, and installed that.

Everything is fine, the new version is installed to a separate drive from the Steam version, but when I use the EDlaunch.exe to launch the game, Steam VR pop up.

The game then asks me for a commander name and all that jazz, and the settings show the email for the second account that I created for this, so it clearly isn't the same account that I have played on Steam, and yet.... it loads steam VR.

Is that just the way it is now? No independent version?
 

STRONTIUM DOG

STRONTIUM DOG
try that?

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Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
mabe give a bit more information about the setup you are running, what headset and all that. Seems like SteamVR is your default runtime for OpenVR titles. Depending on your ecosystem there are places to change that - for WMR, the WMR portal tells you when it is not the default runtime. Other platforms might handle that different.
 

Older Gamer

Older Gamer
Yes, sorry, should have done that.

I am using a quest 3, I connect to my PC via Virtual Desktop, and I do run other sims, standalone, such as iRacing, which doesn't call up Steam VR when I run it. Do you need more? Happy to provide further information if it will help.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Older Gamer said:
Yes, sorry, should have done that.

I am using a quest 3, I connect to my PC via Virtual Desktop, and I do run other sims, standalone, such as iRacing, which doesn't call up Steam VR when I run it. Do you need more? Happy to provide further information if it will help.
Click to expand...
I am not familiar with the current Meta/Oculus ecosystem - but back when I had the Rift S and it was just Oculus, I think I remember the Oculus launcher asked me if I wanted to launch in Oculus or SteamVR mode - maybe there's a default switch set somewhere, or you can tell the ED Launcher to launch in a different mode?

I'll leave the rest for those who actually own a Quest instead of talking out of my derriere :D.
 

STRONTIUM DOG

STRONTIUM DOG
pulled yhis from google if that helps🤷‍♂️

To launch Elite Dangerous in Steam without VR, you need to disable the automatic launch of SteamVR. This can be done by either disabling the setting in SteamVR's developer settings, or by adding a command-line argument to the game's launch options.

Here's how to disable SteamVR:
Method 1: SteamVR Settings
  1. Open SteamVR.
  2. Go to Settings.
  3. Click on the Developer tab.
  4. Uncheck the box next to Start SteamVR when an application starts.
Method 2: Command-line Argument
  1. Open Steam and go to your library.
  2. Right-click on Elite Dangerous and select Properties.
  3. In the General tab, under Launch Options, add /novr.
Why does Elite: Dangerous always starts in SteamVR mode? : r ...

This will prevent Elite Dangerous from automatically launching SteamVR when you start the game.
 
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thistle

T
Start your new account using novr.

Then once in game go into settings and switch on 3d/headset and it should change to vr, but not start steamvr.

(I think)
 

Older Gamer

Older Gamer
Okay, so I tried this, and it does now load in desktop mode, but the VR option is now missing from the 3D menu and I would not be able to select a VR headset option :(
 

thistle

T
Actually, I'm not sure why you need to not use Steam VR. As long as you are in the correct account ...

I used to have a WMR headset and both steam account and frontier account. I have steam installed (for other games not elite) but it uses the frontier launcher, and uses steam vr for the vr.

But its not my steam commander.
 

thistle

T
My understanding is you can use any version of ED (steam, fdev launcher, epic) and use steam VR, it's just the VR api. You can also use openXR instead apparently to do the same thing but I don't think I ever bothered trying it, although I do remember messing around with downloading it a few years ago.
 
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