Quest 3 - How do you use Virtual Desktop with non-SteamVR ED
- Thread starter VR andysonofbob
- Start date
The switcher essentially does same thing giving you a choice if you need it and with the update you can pref the switch per app and hardcode to switch. It works with controllers but means you lose steam calibration of them. I only used that for a drifting stick to widen deadzone. It also means any input processer you lose auto walkers that emulate you pressed move on controller. Be they leg tracker or ai gait detectors
Yes I suspect you're right about the controller thing.
Hello all...I've been following this excellent thread and have applied the changes as described, but I can't get this working (Windows 11, i9 13th gen CPU with 32GB, RTX 4090, Virtual Desktop Godlike). I also have OpenComposite set to OpenXR, and the config window includes ED, so I believe all my settings are correct.
I can sometimes get ED to start, but never in VR. Usually I get an OpenXR abort message and a system crash. I have also tried the following permutations and combinations:
1. Running ED from Games window in VD (this is usually the best way to start games in VD, but doesn't work with the above settings.
2. Created a Steam shortcut on my desktop and started it from the desktop in VD. The default shortcut that Steam creates includes a web URL (steam://rungameid/359320) and I followed directions from another post to change the format to steam://launch/359320/VR to force VR to run. Neither format worked.
3. Tried creating my own normal shortcut on the Windows desktop that points to the EDLaunch.exe file in my game directory (included the /VR parameter) and ran that from the VD desktop. No joy.
4. Tried opening Steam in VD and run ED directly from the Steam library...nope.
5. Tried downloading the modified openvrapi.dll's directly from the OpenComposite Github site and replacing those files in my game directory (both Wn32 and Win64 versions to be safe). Fail.
I'm starting to think that this isn't possible with the latest update of ED, the only thing that gives me hope is that your posts are only a few months old. I've been beating my head against the wall on this one...help would be greatly appreciated!
I can sometimes get ED to start, but never in VR. Usually I get an OpenXR abort message and a system crash. I have also tried the following permutations and combinations:
1. Running ED from Games window in VD (this is usually the best way to start games in VD, but doesn't work with the above settings.
2. Created a Steam shortcut on my desktop and started it from the desktop in VD. The default shortcut that Steam creates includes a web URL (steam://rungameid/359320) and I followed directions from another post to change the format to steam://launch/359320/VR to force VR to run. Neither format worked.
3. Tried creating my own normal shortcut on the Windows desktop that points to the EDLaunch.exe file in my game directory (included the /VR parameter) and ran that from the VD desktop. No joy.
4. Tried opening Steam in VD and run ED directly from the Steam library...nope.
5. Tried downloading the modified openvrapi.dll's directly from the OpenComposite Github site and replacing those files in my game directory (both Wn32 and Win64 versions to be safe). Fail.
I'm starting to think that this isn't possible with the latest update of ED, the only thing that gives me hope is that your posts are only a few months old. I've been beating my head against the wall on this one...help would be greatly appreciated!
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Hi Roymus,
I can run ED in VR using the latest version of VD so no problem with that.
What headset are you using?
VD is only WiFi to headset and your PC needs to be Ethernet cable connected to your Router, but I'm assuming you have this covered.
Are you sure you have followed all instructions in my post 3rd from begining of this thread?
Item 5 & 6 particularly, plus check the associated notes.
I can run ED in VR using the latest version of VD so no problem with that.
What headset are you using?
VD is only WiFi to headset and your PC needs to be Ethernet cable connected to your Router, but I'm assuming you have this covered.
Are you sure you have followed all instructions in my post 3rd from begining of this thread?
Item 5 & 6 particularly, plus check the associated notes.
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Hi Decker...thanks for responding! I'm using a Quest3. Note that the issue here is I can't run ED in VR with OpenXR. If I use SteamVR, it works fine and I've been running it this way for years, but I'd like to get the performance improvements with OpenXR as I do with MSFS 2024 and Skyrim VR.
I've followed all your other recommendations and tried every method I can think of as explained in my post. Either I get an OpenXR Abort or the game won't open in VR (depends on the method used).
I've followed all your other recommendations and tried every method I can think of as explained in my post. Either I get an OpenXR Abort or the game won't open in VR (depends on the method used).
The d3d<version>.dll is, I'd presume, the "API" library through which a game calls functions in Microsoft's Direct3D framework - a middle man between the game and your graphics card.
Things one install, that one use to fiddle with graphics, often trojan-horse their way into the render pipeline through a modified version of those libraries, inserting themselves as an additional middle man.
Things one install, that one use to fiddle with graphics, often trojan-horse their way into the render pipeline through a modified version of those libraries, inserting themselves as an additional middle man.
You can see my original thread here My THread
All the instructions are there.
Scroll up to Deckersolo post or follow the below.
All the instructions are there.
Scroll up to Deckersolo post or follow the below.
- Install OpenXR Toolkit on you PC, set the on-screen menu hotkeys to you pereference (see note below)
- Install OpenComposite Runtime Switcher on you PC and have its switch button set to launch with OpenComposite NOT SteamVR
- Purchase Virtual Desktop from the Meta Store and install on the Q3
- Install the companion Virtual Desktop streamer app on your PC, which need to be running
- Set Virtual Desktop Streamer Options OpenXR Runtime to VDXR
- Create a desktop icon to launch EDLaunch.exe /VR (can be Steam or Frontier version in my tests)
- Put on the Q3 headset and power on
- Using one of the handset controllers launch Virtual Desktop
- Then using my mouse launch ED from the the desktop icon
- Virtual Desktop requires your PC to be ethernet cable connected to your router
- I also use a dedicated 5GHz WiFi range extender (cable connected to my main router) to WiFi connect my Q3 giving me 1200Mbs connection speed
- OpenXR Toolkit applies some simple post-processing to adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation of the images displayed in the headset, and is NOT absolutley necessary
- The OpenComposite Runtime Switcher prevents SteamVR from launching
- Ensure the /vr binary in your desktop launch icon is outside the " " quotes
- You can creat a /novr binary desktop to launch the game in 2D mode
Thanks, that was helpful...I'm not there yet but I'm closer. Deleting the D3D11.dll file ( just renamed it) has fixed the OpenXR abort problems at least. I now have consistent crash-free behavior no matter how I try to start ED, which is good. I've tried following your above steps exactly and launching from the edlaunch.exe shortcut, also tried creating a Steam shortcut and launch from the web url shortcut, and tried launching directly from the Games window of ED. All will open the game normally...the bad news is that they all will open in 2D mode. The shortcuts both attempt to open SteamVR (probably because of the /VR parameter in the command line), but it doesn't open completely, I get the Headset Not Detected message and the game opens in pancake mode.
I now believe that the problem is somehow the bundled VDXR runtime is being completely ignored in all cases. I went into the Developer settings from the SteamVR settings menu (from the desktop), and made sure that only the OpenXR Toolkit API was enabled (there are two other API layer settings, one for Oculus and one for OBS, I disabled both just to be sure). No matter what I try, the OpenXR runtime is not opened. No system crashes though, which is nice.
Maybe there's a special command line parameter (i.e., /OpenXR or something) to use in the shortcuts to tell OpenXR to open instead of SteamVR? I'm flummoxed, any help is appreciated! I've got to head out for a few hours but will be back on this tonight. And btw...I've posted this problem on 3 forums and you guys are the only ones who've responded so far, so many thanks!
I now believe that the problem is somehow the bundled VDXR runtime is being completely ignored in all cases. I went into the Developer settings from the SteamVR settings menu (from the desktop), and made sure that only the OpenXR Toolkit API was enabled (there are two other API layer settings, one for Oculus and one for OBS, I disabled both just to be sure). No matter what I try, the OpenXR runtime is not opened. No system crashes though, which is nice.
Maybe there's a special command line parameter (i.e., /OpenXR or something) to use in the shortcuts to tell OpenXR to open instead of SteamVR? I'm flummoxed, any help is appreciated! I've got to head out for a few hours but will be back on this tonight. And btw...I've posted this problem on 3 forums and you guys are the only ones who've responded so far, so many thanks!
Hi,
You need to follow step 2 of my original instructions.
2. Install OpenComposite Runtime Switcher on you PC and have its switch button set to launch with OpenComposite NOT SteamVR
Campbell Suter (ZNix) / OpenComposite · GitLab
Reimplementation of OpenVR, translating calls to OpenXR.
gitlab.com
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guys thanks, but yes I assure you that's been done. As I said in my OP, I've been using OC for a while now for other games (MSFS, Skyrim, etc.). I'm 100% sure what I have is identical to your screenshot, and the game is not opening in VR. I even thought there might be an issue with my OC so I uninstalled and reinstalled it with the latest version from the github site. Appreciate the feedback, any other ideas?
So you have Steam only version of ED?
If you only have the Steam version of ED you don't launch ED from within Steam.
You don't even need Steam running.
Create a desktop icon like below and launch ED from the desktop icon whilst in Virtual Desktop.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous\EDLaunch.exe" /vr
Thanks, I bought ED from Steam originally if that's what you mean. My shortcut looks exactly like yours (different source dir but otherwise identical). I was probably confusing you earlier...I also created another shortcut using the Steam library method (right click on your game, click Manage, then Add Shortcut), so I have two shortcuts I can use to experiment with. As I said both have similar results (i.e. game starts with no VR).
I just came up with another theory that I'm going to test later. My theory is that the OC switcher is simply not working for some reason with ED (maybe it's being defeated by something in the ED launcher or some other peculiarity of my system). So I'm going to try downloading the openxr version of the openvrapi.dll from the OC Github site, and replace the ED openvrapi.dll file in ED with the OC one (there's detailed instructions for this in Github). I actually tried this earlier, but that was before I removed that D3D11.dll file from ED so it was an invalid test at best. I'll report back later...thanks again for all the help!
I just came up with another theory that I'm going to test later. My theory is that the OC switcher is simply not working for some reason with ED (maybe it's being defeated by something in the ED launcher or some other peculiarity of my system). So I'm going to try downloading the openxr version of the openvrapi.dll from the OC Github site, and replace the ED openvrapi.dll file in ED with the OC one (there's detailed instructions for this in Github). I actually tried this earlier, but that was before I removed that D3D11.dll file from ED so it was an invalid test at best. I'll report back later...thanks again for all the help!