SteamVR News

If you encounter issues with this update, please post in the SteamVR Bug Report forum. If possible, please include a system report to aid in tracking down your issue. Replies to this post are not tracked for bug reporting purposes. Please use the forum linked above to report issues.

OpenXR:

• Added support for using SteamVR from inside app containers. This permits WebXR content from Chrome and UWP OpenXR apps to use SteamVR.
  
• Fixed grip action space transforms on Index Controllers and Vive Controllers.
  
• Fixed vector2 actions not binding properly.
  
• Fixed tracking properties returned by xrGetSystemProperties always being false.
  
• Added a display of the current OpenXR runtime to the Developer settings, along with a button to set SteamVR as the current runtime.
  

SteamVR Input:

• Improved error reporting for developers when action manifest files and binding files have parse errors.
  

SteamVR has been updated with the following change.

SteamVR Home:

• Fixed recently submitted workshop destinations not being visible or updatable in the workshop tool
  

SteamVR 1.13 makes it convenient to re-center and re-orient your play area across all games. Check out the new button in the dashboard and try it for yourself.

Index users should try out Room View 3D, which more accurately shows objects at their true locations and sizes. Please share your thoughts about this experimental feature, here.

For developers, SteamVR 1.13 introduces preliminary OpenXR support. Over the next few years, OpenXR will enable developers to ship a single build of their game that works well across multiple VR headsets, and will also ease friction in creating polished VR experiences.



SteamVR:

• Added “reset standing position” button to the dashboard that allows users to adjust standing position and orientation for the current SteamVR session.
  
• Minor Camera Settings cleanup
  
• Updated localized strings in many languages.
  
• Bug Fix: Improved dashboard stability.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed issue where HMD incorrectly showed as locked (under Windows Segment Heap allocator)
  
• Bug Fix: Vive / Vive Pro / Index cameras now resume immediately (if enabled) after tracking dropouts.
  

OpenXR:

• This build includes preliminary OpenXR support.
  

Valve Index:

• Room View 3D (experimental). See this post for more information.
  
• Camera Firmware: Reduced average frame latency and improved host connectivity for some users (camera is now a bulk-mode USB device). May require power cycling the HMD, in rare circumstances.
  

Oculus:

• Bug Fix: Fix for initialization failure on pre-Creators Update versions of Windows.
  

SteamVR Input:

• Bug Fix: Fixed the keyboard appearing in the wrong place when it is summoned by clicking on a name or description in the binding editor UI.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed bad behavior when an application's default binding file contained unparsable JSON.
  

Linux:

• Bug Fix: Fixed a crash during Room Setup launch.
  

We are thrilled that over the past four years developers have released more than 4000 OpenVR titles on Steam, supporting all major PC VR headsets.



The challenge we as an industry have faced with many of these titles is that for developers targeting multiple VR platforms, it requires extra time and effort to build polished applications that work across SDKs. In order to solve this and support the next generation of VR applications, we are moving forward to the OpenXR API.

OpenXR was created with the goal to enable engines and developers to target a single non-proprietary SDK, easing the friction in creating polished VR experiences. Valve has worked closely with VR hardware vendors, game engine developers, and graphics hardware providers to develop this new API and we believe it represents a big step forward in cross-vendor application support.

As a result, we expect new features on SteamVR to appear on the OpenXR side, rather than as new OpenVR APIs, and we want to outline exactly what that means for both developers and users.

First, it does not mean that OpenVR support is going away. OpenVR applications will continue to work not just on hardware that exists today, but also on the headsets of tomorrow. This is a key strength of the PC ecosystem and one that we intend to fully support with existing OpenVR applications.

We have been working with engine developers to ensure that OpenXR is well supported in the major game engines.

Epic has made exciting progress on this front with Unreal. The recently released Unreal Engine 4.24 includes built-in OpenXR support, and it's just a checkbox away.

On Unity, the latest SteamVR Unity Plugin (beta) supports Unity XR for rendering and SteamVR Input for controller processing, currently via the OpenVR API. We intend to continue development of this plugin in the push towards OpenXR.

The open source community, including Blender and Godot, have begun adopting the OpenXR API as well, and are making good progress in their implementations.

OpenXR support is now available in SteamVR Beta, and we would love to have developers try it out and give us feedback. You can find out more information about that here.

Thanks for coming on this journey with us. We're excited to see where this next chapter in VR takes us.

SteamVR 1.13 introduces a new experimental feature for Valve Index users, "Room View 3D".

Room View 3D uses computer vision techniques developed by Valve, Arcturus Industries, and Occipital to present a more accurate representation of your environment.

To enable this functionality, select Room View: "3D" from Settings -> Camera.





This functionality is rapidly evolving, so we want to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Expect to see more experiments over the coming months.

If you are interested in contributing to virtual reality and computer vision on Steam, Valve and Arcturus are hiring!