OVR Toolkit News

Announcement:

Hello everyone!

This update is BIG, it changes quite a lot of OVR Toolkit's fundemental design from 3 years ago to drastically improve rendering performance, this should greatly reduce GPU usage and improve capture performance at the same time.

I've been working closely with the developer of uWindowCapture, the window capture plugin used by OVR Toolkit, to iron out issues with their newly added Windows.Graphics.Capture API support, but, not all issues are going to be magically gone. If you do experience issues, please be sure to report them in Discord or the Steam Discussions! Me and the plugin developer are more than happy to help out but we need you to report issues otherwise they can't be fixed!

This update has been in closed testing for about a week and a half, then it has had a further week of open beta, I've done as much as I can do with the feedback I'm getting from a limited userbase. No one has reported any issues that block release, so here we are. :)

TL;DR - If you have issues report them in Discord or Steam Discussions please!


Changelog:

17-05-2021

Game closing whenever you get an OVR Toolkit update? Disable 'Game Theatre' in the Steam desktop client settings!

Added:
- Added 'Attach fpsVR' settings to Global Settings > Wristwatch. (Requires fpsVR Beta until the public release on their end!)
- Added 'Use GPU Capture' setting to Window Settings, this forces Windows.Graphics.Capture to always be used at the cost of GPU usage.
- Added basic touchpad scrolling for Custom Apps.
- Added Web API call 'GetUniqueID' to get the UID of the calling app.
- Added crash detection, will disable GPU capture if the program didn't gracefully close last shutdown. (Most likely cause of a crash)
- Added child window support. (Context menus, settings menus, etc. - Should revert to old capture method upon a child window being active)

Changes:
- Rendering has been greatly reduced, performance should be much better.
- Overlays are now 1:1 resolution with the window on the desktop, improving clarity.
- Cursor is now its own overlay and will no longer be affected by overlay capture rate.
- Updated uWindowCapture plugin, now supports Windows.Graphics.Capture. (Much faster GPU-based window capturing)
- Touchpad scrolling can now be used on either hand, not just the active hand.
- Updated styling of keyboard and window quick controls.
- Simulator Mode 'Window Settings' menu can now scroll, more options can be added now.
- Web API 'SetOverlaySetting' option 9 is now 'EnableRendering', disabling this will stop the overlay from rendering but keep scripts running. (Saves GPU usage)

Bug fixes:
- Fixed Simulator Mode sometimes highlighting the wrong window when in Window Settings.
- Fixed an incorrect web API call return.
- 'SetKeyboardFocus' web API call is now set to false whenever that browser isn't in focus
- Fixed tracker window dock points not working as intended.
- Fixed clicking on a browser sometimes also clicking on a window/desktop capture.

25-04-2021

Having issues or have suggestions? Join us on Discord or post on the Steam Discussions!

Game closing whenever you get an OVR Toolkit update? Disable 'Game Theatre' in the Steam desktop client settings!

Added:
- Added 'Attach to HMD' option for notifications.

Changes:
- Refactored window reloading to hopefully fix a crash. (Windows will now load in order, waiting for the prior one to finish loading)
- My Google Cloud credentials have been yeeted, you'll need to use your own going forward.
- Refactored some web API calls to comply with the standards set by older ones.
- Workshop titles containing a '/' or '\' will now automatically have the characters replaced by a '-'. (This would cause file path issues)
- When not using Touchscreen Input the cursor will now be set to 0,0 when not pointing at an overlay.

Bug fixes:
- Improved reliability of writing version.txt to store the build GUID and check for version changes.
- Fixed battery info showing negative minutes remaining when not calibrated properly.
- Fixed a window saving issue related to the window re-centering option.
- Added missing toggle sounds for some newly added options.
- Fixed cursor appearing on the edges of blocked input windows when using VR controllers.

19-04-2021

Having issues or have suggestions? Join us on Discord or post on the Steam Discussions!

Game closing whenever you get an OVR Toolkit update? Disable 'Game Theatre' in the Steam desktop client settings!

Added:
- Added 'Hide keyboard controls' option to Global Settings > Keyboard.
- Added 'Use media keys' option to Global Settings > Wristwatch. (Will use media key presses instead of SMTC 'TryPlay', 'TrySkip', etc.)
- Added config.json options to adjust cursor raycast origin and angle.
- Added various new Web API calls. (Will be documented on the new wiki soon)

Changes:
- Added missing haptic feedback when clicking media controls with SMTC in use.
- Some wrist module specific settings now hide from the menu when their respective module isn't active.
- Improved reality of bringing windows to the foreground. (Turns out Windows has a 'Foreground lock')
- Added a missing prompt.
- Removed 'Swipe Type' option until a better version of it can be implemented. (Caused more issues than it helped)
- Window reloading will now wait until the headset is tracking. (Should fix an issue where headset-attached windows wouldn't be attached on startup whilst basestations are still powering on)

Bug fixes:
- Fixed a crash related to DeepSpeech, caused by starting recording before inference was complete on the previous recording.
- Fixed windows sometimes resetting to a default size instead of using the profile-saved size. (Seemed to be more common for portrait windows)
- Fixed a window saving issue that could cause a pinned window to reset to the desktop on profile change and application restart.
- Fixed various issues with keyboard keys disappearing and doing other weird stuff.
- Fixed cursor appearing on the edges of windows when Head Gaze was off or the window's input was blocked in Simulator Mode.
- Fixed Custom App permissions not reloading correctly on saved windows.

12-04-2021

Having issues or have suggestions? Join us on Discord or post on the Steam Discussions!

Game closing whenever you get an OVR Toolkit update? Disable 'Game Theatre' in the Steam desktop client settings!

Added:
- Added timeline bar to Media Controls, shows song length and progress from supported media players. (Spotify)
- Added icon gathering to Media Controls, OVR Toolkit will try to find the application icon for the current media source.
- Added 'LocalCustomApps' folder to install directory, will be used for creating web apps and for local-only web apps.
- Added support for local web files to Custom Apps. ('html' directory in the Custom App's folder)
- Added file extensions whitelist when uploading Custom Apps. (Safety third, right...?)
- Added 'permissions.json' for Custom Apps to allow the developer to specify which API calls they need access to. (User will accept this on first launch)

Changes:
- Added a 0.5 second delay that blocks you clicking keyboard controls after pressing a keyboard key. (To avoid accidental resizing/closing)
- CPU and GPU performance improvements.

Bug fixes:
- Potential fix for old installations that still have the Task Scheduler entry set to run at Windows user logon.
- Staggered opening of windows to hopefully prevent a crash on first window toggle.
- UWP Bridge should now clear notifications after sending them to the main application. (Avoids the same notification re-appearing if it doesn't timeout automatically)- Added a check for if OVR Toolkit's task is set to run at user logon. (Will attempt to remove it)- Fixed a UWP Bridge process crash.
- Fixed re-centered windows in seated play games becoming out of place when re-centering in-game view.
- Fixed a bug with the report bug button. (This is honestly my favourite changelog entry so far I think!)

07-04-2021

Game closing whenever you get an OVR Toolkit update? Disable 'Game Theatre' in the Steam desktop client settings!

Added:
- Added displaying of Windows notifications. Enable through Global Settings > Customisation. (Can show Discord messages!)
- All major media players are now supported by the media controls. (Using UWP SMTC, the thing that appears when you change volume in Windows)
- Added a 'Report bugs in Discord' warning when the Changelog viewer is closed. (It's really unfortunate this needs to be a thing...)
- Added 'Report bug' button to the settings window outside of VR. (It explains that you should join Discord and gives you the log file location)

Changes:
- Drastically improved startup performance of window captures. (No more few seconds freeze, may help avoid a crash)
- Reduced CPU and GPU usage. (Mainly when idle and no overlays are visible)

Bug fixes:
- Fixed an issue that would prevent clicking window quick controls when a curved overlay was behind them.
- Improved update rate of time, date, and time since startup on wrist overlay.
- Changelog viewer is now async, doesn't 'totally' freeze the program whilst downloading changelog anymore.
- Added potential fix for desktop captures freezing. (Or more like a workaround until I can make my own plugin to replace the existing one!)



How to enable Windows notifications such as Discord messages:

In OVR Toolkit, go into 'Global Settings', 'Customise', then scroll to the bottom and select 'Enable notifications'.

In Windows, disable 'Focus Assist', or, set it to 'Priority Only' and add Discord to the priority list.
Ensure you turned off the 'Automatic rules' for 'Focus Assist'!