Introducing SteamVR 2.1
With this update, we are introducing the new SteamVR Theater Screen. To make room, we have sunset the old Desktop Game Theater app. Moving forward, launching any non-VR application from Steam will be displayed on the Theater Screen and auto-hide the dashboard.
Theater Screen is a new method for undocking screens from the dashboard and functions similarly to the existing undocking options. From a dashboard tab, you can find the new Theater Screen toggle at the bottom of the screen. Toggling it will hide the dashboard and display the content on the new Theater Screen.
Controls for the Theater Screen can be found by clicking on the screen, which will activate the laser mouse. Here you will find actions to toggle the screen off, dark mode, screen curvature, and controls to resize and reposition the screen.
While not required, we recommend exiting any VR app (including SteamVR Home) before launching a non-VR game.
Known issues:
If you encounter issues with this update, please post in the SteamVR Bug Report forum. If possible, please include a SteamVR 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.
SteamVR:
Keyboard:
Desktop:
OpenXR:
OpenVR:
Meta:
Theater Screen is a new method for undocking screens from the dashboard and functions similarly to the existing undocking options. From a dashboard tab, you can find the new Theater Screen toggle at the bottom of the screen. Toggling it will hide the dashboard and display the content on the new Theater Screen.
Controls for the Theater Screen can be found by clicking on the screen, which will activate the laser mouse. Here you will find actions to toggle the screen off, dark mode, screen curvature, and controls to resize and reposition the screen.
While not required, we recommend exiting any VR app (including SteamVR Home) before launching a non-VR game.
Known issues:
- Apps with VR and non-VR launch options can only be launched in non-VR mode via the desktop Steam interface. However, doing so switches the dashboard away from the Desktop tab to the Steam tab showing the app’s details page with no indication that the desktop Steam interface is waiting for you to select a launch option still.
If you encounter issues with this update, please post in the SteamVR Bug Report forum. If possible, please include a SteamVR 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.
SteamVR:
- The old Game Theater app has been removed and no longer ships with SteamVR.
- Improved warning message that tells you to update Steam if you're running an older one.
- Laser mouse lock radius is now the right size for certain scaled overlays such as undocked Desktop views.
- Added “Exit Home” button to SteamVR Home’s “Now Playing” tab in the dashboard.
- Undocked dashboard overlays can now be interacted with while the dashboard is dismissed.
- Allow floating screens to scale down to 25%, and screens attached to controllers down to 10%. Shrunk respective control bars to fit.
- Sort dashboard overlays from scene apps as "other" (instead of scene). This keeps them from getting tinted when the dashboard is up. https://steamcommunity.com/app/250820/discussions/3/3887226763721362106/
- Added middle click support to the laser mouse. Default bindings for Index and Touch only for now. Can be set by editing vrcompositor input bindings.
- To fix some users with unusual settings, using “forcedDriver” with a disabled driver is once again a no-op. If you previously hand-edited your settings to refer to the “null” driver as part of an attempt to use multiple tracking systems or to run without an HMD, this change may fix issues you were having using your real HMD.
- Fix Windows Explorer sometimes popping up when SteamVR starts.
Keyboard:
- Keyboard button on floating Desktop windows.
- Keyboard is positioned much better for overlays.
- Grab handle for legacy keyboard.
Desktop:
- Desktop view keyboard now has arrow keys.
- Desktop view keyboard now has a hide keyboard key instead of a done key.
- Hide physical mouse cursor on Desktop views when it's off screen.
OpenXR:
- Added an experimental, advanced setting to allow SteamVR to attempt to claim compatibility with Meta’s OpenXR Unity plugins. With this setting disabled, Unity titles shipped with Meta’s more recent plugins will not use the Meta plugin. We’re still gathering performance data and bugs and suggest most users leave this ‘off’ for now.
- Release last submitted frame when app ends session. This prevents apps (e.g. FS2020) leaving a stuck frame when exiting VR-mode.
OpenVR:
- Set Prop_AllWirelessDongleDescriptions_String on the HMD when lighthouse devices are present even if the HMD isn’t lighthouse and even if the HMD hotplugs after lighthouse device discovery is complete.
Meta:
- Added render models for Touch Pro and Touch Plus controllers.