Multi Account Question for Rift vs SteamVR

danteuk · Mar 26, 2018

I'm new Rift owner ( as of the weekend ) choose Rift over Vive because HTC Vive Pro price !!!

My only real issue is ED account switching.
As we know FDev can't be bothered to support multiple accounts, but they are happy for people to buy them!

So I have a .bat file that lets me choose and copies the relevant files, this is working nicely from desktop. ( been using it for about a year or so now )

When I run ED from SteamVR it runs using the last account I'd picked from my batch file - as expected.

When I run ED from the Oculus home ( because Oculus now automatically adds icons for games from SteamVR after you've run them once - which is nice ) is always runs with my 2nd account, regardless of what account I previous selected and run with!!

Question is how to solve this?

Ideally I'd be able to launch ED in my desired account and profile simply from one place( preferable from Oculus home so I don't need to run SteamVR as well )

The real solution would require FDev actually doing some work to support multiple accounts and graphics profiles correctly ( rather than making people write .bat files ! ) - so maybe next year

TorTorden_VR · Mar 26, 2018

Oculus has its own little garden going on so it has its own launcher install and the login used for that is the one that accounts for your save/commander.

So it is seperate from other installs.

I personally subscribe to keeping things simple.
I originally bought ED on steam and have a key for oculus.
But I use neither.

I have only one install and that's from the launcher I downloaded from the frontier store directly.
Just enable outside sources in oculus and you are good.

I suggest activating Dash in oculus as well. that opens an optional desktop view you can use to run the batch script you have already.

I honestly don't see FD actually doing anything.
this has been wanted by many players since 2014, if they just suddenly decide to even acknowledge the issue next year I would be very surprised indeed.

conceit · Mar 26, 2018

I'm not sure how different the Oculus launcher is actually. Oculus starts it with the /vr option, so there's no need to push the launch button. The starter gives you a warning when you start it directly, but despite that everything works as usual here, including EDProfiler and manual account switching. Obviously there are differences, but the must be sort of configuration for it somewhere. They surely wouldn't compile a distinct launcher for each Oculus user.

TorTorden_VR · Mar 27, 2018

conceit said:
I'm not sure how different the Oculus launcher is actually. Oculus starts it with the /vr option, so there's no need to push the launch button. The starter gives you a warning when you start it directly, but despite that everything works as usual here, including EDProfiler and manual account switching. Obviously there are differences, but the must be sort of configuration for it somewhere. They surely wouldn't compile a distinct launcher for each Oculus user.

Exactly.
I don't think it's any different than the regular launcher at all.
it is slightly more tuned for dash when launched as an oculus native app. But the real difference I found there was simply that you got the dash imposed on the cockpit view, instead of being pulled into the white construct.

That's no different really than how steam can hook it's menu into games.

VR andysonofbob · Mar 27, 2018

I have just lumped it and have sacrificed storage on my HDD. One folder for each of my different accounts (three) with shortcuts to each on the desktop. I run them all from FD's launcher.
Job's a gooden.

danteuk · Mar 27, 2018

I should be more clear.
Both accounts were purchased from the frontier web site. ( not via steam or oculus )
I used a steam key to add ED to steam ( but I only did that because my ED install was on my C drive and wanted to move it and it seemed there was no proper way to do that from the ED launcher!! )
So now I have the game ONLY in steam, I launch it normally just from the desktop ( steam shortcut ) or via my batch file that changes accounts.

Because I ran ED from Steam once ( so I could specifically pick the VR option, I didn't know about the /vr flag! ) Oculus decided to add ED to it's home library screen ( which is fine )
What I don't understand is why/how the Oculus home can launch ED using the same specific account every time - regardless of what account I have in the user.conf file!! - It implies it's not using my user.conf file and is somehow bypassing it and running the game with a different user.conf file or passing it credentials.

Sometimes I can get ED to run in VR directly from the desktop shortcut ( it doesn't every time though ).
I think I'll have to experiment with another batch file to change the account AND to change the graphics settings so I can choose from: Account 1 Desktop / Account 1 VR / Account 2 Desktop / Account 2 VR. ( good job I'm a programmer for my day job - how hell non-techies are suppose to do this is beyond me! )

It really bugs me how cumbersome and basic the 'launcher' is, it does so little but causes so many issues and headaches ( anyone that's tried to make ED work on Linux in wine will know it's using crappy MS .NET framework stuff and takes a serious amount of effort just to get the launcher to run and work - before you even can start to try and get the actual game to run! ) - surely the consoles don't have this stupid launcher ?

To me the launcher is currently just a pain the rear, a little resource hog sitting in the background showing animated adverts the whole time while I'm playing the game, if they really insist on making us use it they could at least make the damn thing have a purpose, like choosing from multiple accounts and choosing from different graphics setup for desktop/vr - then at least it would actually be useful.

danteuk · Mar 27, 2018

I guess I found my answer. The OculusTrayTool is great, it shows what's configured for the items in the library:

NOTE: I cropped the image so you can't see my whole ServerToken

This information might be very useful though in writing a batch file to control the launch and/or adding another item into the Oculus home library, so I can maybe have two icons in the library, one for each account

maybe.( I can also set a custom icon I believe ).

conceit · Mar 27, 2018

I wonder how this works. The server token changes over time, doesn't it?

danteuk · Mar 27, 2018

I think so, so I guess it will break at some point.
I've tried manual running that from a batch file and it fails every time. I've no idea how steam run's it either!
I'd love to be able to run the game simple from a desktop shortcut with the correct account and correct graphics settings for either 2d or VR - however this seems impossible.
I have a batch file that handles the user.conf and now if handles using a symlink to the graphics folder for either 2d or VR - but I still have then manually select that I want to run Horizons from the stupid launcher.

TorTorden_VR · Mar 27, 2018

danteuk said:
I think so, so I guess it will break at some point.
I've tried manual running that from a batch file and it fails every time. I've no idea how steam run's it either!
I'd love to be able to run the game simple from a desktop shortcut with the correct account and correct graphics settings for either 2d or VR - however this seems impossible.
I have a batch file that handles the user.conf and now if handles using a symlink to the graphics folder for either 2d or VR - but I still have then manually select that I want to run Horizons from the stupid launcher.

I have however learning something new this week. And finally bothered to test it today.

If you make a copy of the launcher.exe, rename to something like "EDLaunch - Main.exe", leave it in the regular folder and just make a desktop shortcut to the new one.
Launch and login to the launcher, since it has a new name it needs a full new login, email verificatoin and everything.
Repeat for as many accounts needed.

Add " /vr " to your launch script or just desktop shortcuts and each launcher will keep the login details, login on launch and start the game in VR.

Since it does a new proper login to the servers with the start of the launcher there will be no issue of tokens timing out either.
Just need to close the launcher as well when before starting the other.

conceit · Mar 27, 2018

I knew about the /vr option (have posted similar a few days ago in the newcomers forum), but that the launcher takes its own process name to store the credentials was new to me. Nice work around.

danteuk · Mar 27, 2018

That's actually helpful.
I haven't tried the rename yet, but I tried running doing:
setup my user and graphics, then set %VR% to nothing or /vr depending on options selected, then instead of running using "Start steam://rungameid/359320"

I do:

cd /d "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous"
EDLaunch.exe %VR%

That actually worked and not only ran ED in VR it also launched Oculus Home which wasn't actually running at the time, so it worked!
It also ran game after running the launcher without me having to select Horizons!

Cmdr Quit · Mar 27, 2018

Great! And it doesn't forget or reset any custom keybinds?

danteuk · Mar 27, 2018

Cmdr Quit said:
Great! And it doesn't forget or reset any custom keybinds?

Not tested enough to know - I'll find out this evening when I trying playing properly.

I used edProfiler to create the graphics settings I needed, then copied the folder to be Graphics_2D
then redid the settings for VR and renamed the folder to Graphics_VR
Then my shell scripts asks me to choose:
@Echo 1. CMDR DanteUK 2D
@Echo 2. CMDR DanteUK VR
@Echo 3. CMDR Infinitum Noctis 2D
@Echo 4. CMDR Infinitum Noctis VR
choice /c 1234 /M "Please Select CMDR / video mode"

based on the choice it copies the correct 'user.config' file, then does:

cd "C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options"
rmdir Graphics
mklink /d Graphics Graphics_2D

or

cd"C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options"
rmdir Graphics
mklink /d Graphics Graphics_VR
set VR=/vr

then finally it does

cd /d "F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous"
EDLaunch.exe %VR%

My key bindings folder is not touched, so should be fine.
*UPDATED* Complete code is here:

Code:

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#000000]@[/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]Echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B] Off[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set EDL[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]EDLaunch.exe_Url_bbwukwyw0sbj2e0slpcgwguqpue520e2[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set EDLVER[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]0[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000].4.6415.0[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set EDINSTALLDIR[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous[/COLOR]

@[COLOR=#54ffff][B]Echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] 1. CMDR DanteUK 2D[/B][/COLOR]
@[COLOR=#54ffff][B]Echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] 2. CMDR DanteUK VR[/B][/COLOR]
@[COLOR=#54ffff][B]Echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] 3. CMDR Infinitum Noctis 2D [/B][/COLOR]
@[COLOR=#54ffff][B]Echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] 4. CMDR Infinitum Noctis VR[/B][/COLOR]
choice [COLOR=#ff5454][B]/c[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]1234 [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]/M [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"Please Select CMDR"[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#ffff54][B]if [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%errorlevel%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]==[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"1"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] ([/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set ACC[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]1[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set GFX[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]2[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]D[/COLOR]
)
[COLOR=#ffff54][B]if [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%errorlevel%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]==[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"2"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] ([/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set ACC[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]1[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set GFX[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]VR[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set VR[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]/vr[/B][/COLOR]
)
[COLOR=#ffff54][B]if [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%errorlevel%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]==[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"3"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] ([/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set ACC[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]2[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set GFX[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]2[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]D[/COLOR]
)
[COLOR=#ffff54][B]if [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%errorlevel%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]==[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"4"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] ([/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set ACC[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]2[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set GFX[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000]VR[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]set VR[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ffff54][B]=[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff5454][B]/vr[/B][/COLOR]
)

[COLOR=#54ffff][B]echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] "Change user.config"[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]copy [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%LOCALAPPDATA%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\Frontier_Developments\user.config.[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%ACC%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]" [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%LOCALAPPDATA%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\Frontier_Developments\[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%EDL%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%EDLVER%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\user.config"[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#54ffff][B]echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] "Doing re-link for Graphics [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%GFX%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]cd [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%LOCALAPPDATA%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options"[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]rmdir[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] Graphics[/COLOR]
mklink [COLOR=#ff5454][B]/d[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] Graphics Graphics_[/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%GFX%[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#54ffff][B]echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] "Doing re-link for Logs for Account #[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%ACC%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]cd [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%USERPROFILE%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\Saved Games\Frontier Developments"[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]rmdir[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"Elite Dangerous"[/B][/COLOR]
mklink [COLOR=#ff5454][B]/d [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"Elite Dangerous"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] ED_Logs_[/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%ACC%[/B][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#54ffff][B]echo[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B] Launching Launcher ...[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#54ffff][B]Start [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"" [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]"[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%EDINSTALLDIR%[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff54ff][B]\EDLaunch.exe" [/B][/COLOR][COLOR=#54ffff][B]%VR%[/B][/COLOR]
[/FONT]

NOTE: Microsoft being a pain requires this to be run as Admin, otherwise the mklink command will fail!!!

I'll try the copy EDLaunch.exe to EDLaunch2.exe and see if it makes a new folder for a new login etc - that would handy!

conceit · Mar 27, 2018

Any idea on how to get the log files to distinct directories?

danteuk · Mar 27, 2018

conceit said:
Any idea on how to get the log files to distinct directories?

I've updated my previous post with a better version of my batch file - it handles the log directories too.
So I made two folders ( one for each account ) and then I just swap the symlink to the correct folder when I switch accounts.