Virtual Desktop News

The video player now has 3 decoding options: DXVA 2.0 (the old method), Direct3D 11 (the new option) and Software (which forces the use of installed codecs). If you have a powerful GPU, you can select the Direct3D 11 option to offload more work to the GPU and improve playback smoothness with high resolution videos. The original method (DXVA 2.0) is still recommended for most users.



Note: If you are on the latest Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, make sure to download the HEVC Video Extension to get the best hardware decoding performance. It used to be part of Windows but is now a separate download.


There is now an option to show or hide controller contacts on the screen.


- Fixed service installation issues caused by anti-viruses on some machines
- Fixed crash when a 360 photo or video was renamed
- Fixed issue with UI re-appearing when controllers were fading-out
- Voice commands will no longer cause tab changes in video compact mode
- Improved photo and video thumbnail generation speeds
- Other stability improvements

As always, let me know if you experience any issues. Enjoy!

Today's beta update adds functionality to the Photos and Videos tab as well as a few requested features and bug fixes.


The Videos tab now displays thumbnails of the files in your 360 Videos folder and lets you play them with a single click. You can sort them by name, size, date or recently played. Videos can be marked as hidden. You can also toggle stereoscopic 3D with videos like you can with photos.



You can now sort your photos by name, date or size.


You can now bind a key or button to toggle dimmed lights in Model environments.


- Video settings are now properly saved/restored across sessions
- Dashboard mouse buttons now follow SteamVR's input system
- Portrait orientation fixes in Dashboard
- Stability improvements

Note: Virtual Desktop now uses .NET 4.7.1 instead of 4.5.1 and should install it as needed on your next launch. If the update gets stuck in the Steam download queue, simply uninstall and re-install Virtual Desktop.

Today's beta update adds functionality to the Photos and Videos tab as well as a few requested features and bug fixes.


The Videos tab now displays thumbnails of the files in your 360 Videos folder and lets you play them with a single click. You can sort them by name, size, date or recently played. Videos can be marked as hidden. You can also toggle stereoscopic 3D with videos like you can with photos.



You can now sort your photos by name, date or size.


You can now bind a key or button to toggle dimmed lights in Model environments.


- Video settings are now properly saved/restored across sessions
- Dashboard mouse buttons now follow SteamVR's input system
- Portrait orientation fixes in Dashboard
- Stability improvements

Note: Virtual Desktop now uses .NET 4.7.1 instead of 4.5.1 and should install it as needed on your next launch. If the update gets stuck in the Steam download queue, simply uninstall and re-install Virtual Desktop.

Model environments such as the Home Theater and Home Cinema now support cylindrical and quad layers (with Rift) to render the desktop. This provides the maximum image quality even when Supersampling, MSAA and Environment Mip Mapping are disabled. The Environment Editor has a new option to enable it in user-created environments.


All monitors, connected to any GPU should now render correctly in any orientation (Portrait, Landscape, etc.). Previously, some monitors appeared washed out, transparent or would cause the application to crash.

• Fixed issue with fullscreen games appearing frozen after Fall Creators update
  
• Fixed 360 video cube projection appearing black in the Mirror Window
  
• Fixed Play with Virtual Desktop contextual command
  
• Fixed multiple crashes

I've been working hard on fixing some bugs that have been around for a while but that I couldn't easily reproduce. The app should feel more stable with each update. Thanks again for reporting any issues you encounter!

This update focuses on stability improvements and a few user requests.


A new option called Allow Custom Orientation will let you position 360 videos with the Reset Orientation command (like it used to work in prior versions).


When the application launches, resumes from being paused or when returning from a game, the headset will recenter automatically.

Fixed "Failed to Initialize VR Headset" error with some audio configurations
Fixed multiple shutdown issues
Fixed volume levels with Positional Audio
Fixed Anaglyph 3D in Model environments with fixed screens
Fixed cursor rendering issues with AMD GPUs

Let me know if you experience any other issues!