OVR Toolkit News

[p]Hi everyone! [/p][p]The time has come! The 'early 2025' UI update![/p][p][/p][h2]Wristwatch[/h2][p]The wristwatch has been re-designed to be more modern, readable, and less cluttered. You can also now pin infinite modules to the watch.[/p][p]Battery info will show 5 devices by default, with an expand button to show all devices.[/p][h2]Settings[/h2][p]The 'Global Settings' menu has been replaced with a pop-out Settings menu. The new menu is much easier to navigate whilst containing all the same settings as before. The settings menu can be moved around freely with the Grip/A buttons like any other window.[/p][p][/p][h2]Window Settings[/h2][p]The new Window Settings menu will now appear on the window itself, rather than on your wrist, this expands upon the new quick settings that displayed on the window in the old version.[/p][p]The 'Set Contents' panel is now quicker to use, it also contains the 'Launch' tab to open closed applications, and an 'Apps' tab to launch Custom Apps from the Workshop.[/p][p]Custom Backgrounds are supported on the Window Settings UI.[/p][p][/p][h2]Upcoming[/h2][p]This is the first iteration of the new UI, some upcoming changes are:[/p]

• [p]Better accent colours[/p]
• [p]High contast mode[/p]
• [p]Synced accent colour between UI and keyboard[/p]
• [p]New built-in fully functional web browser to replace the 'Custom URL' app[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Final thoughts[/h2][p]So uhhhhh... 'Early 2025', that's July isn't it?[/p][p][/p][p]Yeahhhhhhhh... This update got a little bit delayed, between my own mental health and motivation and just the general scale of what needed to be done, this all took a very, very long time.[/p][p]Alas... It is here! In a 'tier 0' release at the very least. ^^[/p][p][/p][p]I truly hope you enjoy the new update, I'm always more than open to hear suggestions and resolve issues reported in the Steam Discussions and (ideally) in our Discord server.[/p][p]Feel free to provide your general thoughts and feelings about it too after some time with it, I'd love to hear![/p][p]- Curtis[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Changelog[/h2]

1. [p]Main Changes:[/p]
   • [p]Wristwatch has been re-skinned!,[/p]
   • [p]Added battery info expand button. (Show one line, or multiple lines, currently doesn't sort by lowest battery just hides batteries past 5 entries),[/p]
   • [p]Infinite wristwatch modules can now be used at once!,[/p]
   • [p]Wristwatch module plugins can now be pinned.,[/p]
   • [p]Old 'Edit Mode' phone-like UI is gone! Now replaced with a pop-out Settings menu.,[/p]
   • [p]Windows can now be individually locked in place, instead of all locked or unlocked.,[/p]
   • [p]'Global window lock' has been added to the wristwatch to mimic the function of old Edit Mode for those who prefer that.,[/p]
   • [p]Bye bye Window Settings, hello, uh... Window Settings? But BAM, on-screen Window Settings! (Also supports custom backgrounds!),[/p]
   • [p]On-Screen Window Settings now contains all the options from the old phone-like Window Settings menu.,[/p]
   • [p]'Set Contents' has been updated to include the 'Launch' and 'Apps' sections that were previously on the phone-like UI.,[/p]
   • [p]Keyboard has been re-skinned. (This doesn't account for accent colours yet though!),[/p]
   • [p]Moved keyboard controls have moved above the keyboard to avoid accidental clicks, integrated into the word suggestions bar.,[/p]
   • [p]Voice Input can now be used when word suggestions are disabled.,[/p][p][/p]
   [p]Other changes:[/p]
   • [p]Refactored window saving and loading, now using a different save format. (Existing windows will be converted to the new format),[/p]
   • [p]'Persist between profiles' windows no longer disappear and re-appear when switching profiles.,[/p]
   • [p]Re-worked controller finding logic to better support switching controller pairs and turning on controllers late.,[/p]
   • [p]Mouse smoothing has been overhauled to be more consistent across all overlays.,[/p]
   • [p]UI overlays (Settings, on-screen settings, notifications, wristwatch) are now more optimized while also being smoother.,[/p]
   • [p]Re-worded high VRAM warning to 'High GPU memory usage. (>95%)' to better reflect what is means.,[/p]
   • [p]'Best effort' framerate (Headset refresh rate) no longer uses a different rendering method to normal overlay updating to help reduce issues and overall intensity.,[/p]
   • [p]Window quick settings bar now adjusts size based on distance from the headset. (Only when moved to avoid the bar resizing as you move your head),[/p]
   • [p]When hardware acceleration is enabled, unsupported desktops (Off main GPU monitors) should now use Windows.Graphics.Capture (GPU) instead of PrintWindow (CPU) to greatly reduce CPU overhead and general performance issues.,[/p]
   [p][/p][p]Bug fixes:[/p]
   • [p]Windows should no longer duplicate when the application crashes or is forcefully shutdown.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed some OSC parameters sending 0-100 instead of 0-1, oops.,[/p]
   • [p]OSC parameters now send faster after loading OVR Toolkit or loading into VRChat.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed a launcher crash on systems where Task Scheduler is broken.,[/p]
   • [p]Resolved an issue with Speech Proxy (STT) continuous input not being continuous. (Sort of, this is a browser update issue really),[/p]
   • [p]Fixed incorrect default browser being detected when using Speech Proxy.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed Windows notifications appearing from before application startup.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed window quick settings bar starting to overlap window as the window becomes larger.,[/p]
   • [p]Wristwatch movement now works without toggling windows on.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed issues with symbols not sending to VRChat chatbox.,[/p]
   • [p]Improved error catching in Launcher to prevent a launcher freeze on first time startup.,[/p]
   • [p]Ensured invalid files cannot be uploaded to the Workshop.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed window content not saving unless another action caused the window to save such as movement.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed a launcher crash related to Windows Notifications service being 'missing or not installed'. (??),[/p]
   • [p]Failed window captures that fail to work on all possible capture APIs will now fall back to the 'Window not found' screen.,[/p]
   • [p]Fixed cursor freezing when switching profiles.,[/p]
   [p][/p][p]Notes to creators: [/p][p]Backgrounds:[/p]
   • [p]Custom Backgrounds now have a different resolution, check the updated files in OVRT installation/Custom Images folder.,[/p]
   • [p]Backgrounds uploaded before this update are now considered legacy and hidden by default in the Workshop menu.,[/p]
   • [p]Using legacy backgrounds will centre the image in the Window Settings background, thus cutting off the top and bottom.,[/p]
   [p] Keyboards:[/p]
   • [p]At this time, it's not recommended to upload new Workshop keyboards due to ongoing overhauls.,[/p]
   • [p]Workshop keyboards will soon support the accent colour set by the user.,[/p]
   • [p]Workshop keyboards will also soon support every language automatically rather than just the uploaded language.,[/p]
   • [p]UI refresh performance will also be improved on newly uploaded keyboards once these overhauls are complete.,[/p]
   [p] Apps:[/p]
   • [p]Custom Apps now spawn from a newly created window, this means the 'entry app' no longer exists.,[/p]
   • [p]Calling 'CloseEntryApp' will close the calling overlay instead to support legacy apps.,[/p]
   • [p]We'll be upgrading our built-in browser soon to support a newer version of CEF, this should improve what the built-in browser is capable of accessing.,[/p]
   • [p]Hopefully supporting touch scrolling with the new browser too.[/p]

Hi everyone,

You may find it asks to install .NET Runtime 8 on first startup, this is required for our new launcher which is not fully implemented yet and only used for the installation process at the moment. That's the main purpose of this post!

Added:
- New user-friendly installed that's not just a command prompt.

Changes:
- Removed various unused processes and made modifications to avoid a Windows Security false positive.
- Made various changes to 'help avoid' OVR Toolkit remaining open after closing SteamVR.


So like... Why no more frequent updates?

Well, a lot is in the works under the hood. We're currently undergoing a large UI overhaul to make our design language consistent and more professional as well as improve usability overall.

This'll mean that, finally, all Window Settings have been moved onto the overlay itself instead of the 'phone like' legacy Edit Mode menu. The legacy Edit Mode menu will be removed entirely.

The Global Settings will be a pop-out settings window that can be dragged around and will be a lot easier to navigate as well.

The upcoming changes also plan to fix some longstanding issues such as OVR Toolkit not closing on Steam when closing SteamVR, as well as resolving issues with the wristwatch not switching hands when changing between different pairs of controllers.

Motivation is hard to come by, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed and simply not achieve anything, but... Work is getting done slowly but surely. Hopefully it's all worth while in the end and it helps keep OVR Toolkit as the go-to VR desktop overlay for years to come. ^^

Thanks again everyone for sticking around, it's always greatly appreciated. Remember to post your feedback and suggestions in our Discord server!

11-09-2024:

Added:
- Added build version to Global Settings. (Bottom near the credits)

Changes:
- Removed legacy 'Spotify window title' method of getting media information as this is now totally replaced by the Windows Media API.
- Improved loading experience in the Set Contents menu, no longer needs to reload the list unless something has changed and now loads top to bottom not bottom to top.
- Removed Skeleton binding from default bindings to improve experience in VRChat.
- Cropped windows now have a dark gray mask instead of white.
- Removed 'Advanced' window cropping mode as it was barely functional, hard to use, and generally had little purpose.

Bug fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the window settings panel could sometimes be attached to the wrong device.
- Hopefully fixed various issues with desktop captures not recovering after a physical monitor disconnect.
- Notifications should no longer block cursor input to other overlays or the game.
- Fixed cropped windows blocking input to the Settings menu.
- Fixed an issue with reloading cropped windows which resolved in the cropped area being offset.
- Fixed an issue with input on cropped windows where it was difficult to interact with the edges of the window.

API:
- Fixed an issue with SendNotification not working from a Module plugin.
- Added SendNotification icon support for Module plugins.

16-06-2024

Bug fixes:
- Fixed a Windows 10 specific log spam. (Oops)
- Fixed HMD icon becoming left controller icon after reconnecting the HMD.
- Fixed an issue where old Windows notifications would appear in VR on app startup.

28-03-2024

Changes:
- Re-styled notifications, they now consider accent colour as well!
- Wristwatch will now show album art when available.

Bug fixes:
- Notifications will now queue correctly instead of having the text of a previous notification replaced whilst it's still open.

Developers:
- Added a way to send custom battery values to OVR Toolkit. (To support specific devices that don't send battery values to SteamVR)
- Added a websocket API to send custom battery values and notifications to OVR Toolkit. (See our wiki)
- Fixed 'SendNotification' not working in the modules API when called on Start.


Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I've been busy with life stuff!
Hope you're all doing well and having a mostly smooth time with OVR Toolkit!

As always, please post your issues in Discord so I can make a note of them and fix them as soon as I can! :)


Use VRCX?
Try enabling OVR Toolkit notifications in VRCX's next stable release!
(Thanks for implementing this support!)