Valve just announced Steam Link compatibility for Meta’s headsets, including the Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro. That means you can wirelessly stream Steam VR games directly from your PC to those headsets instead of using third-party apps or Meta’s Air Link app.
EASY SETUP
If you’ve already got Steam VR games to work on your Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop or Meta’s Air Link app, setting up Steam Link should make a lot of sense. Valve says you just have to connect your Meta headset to the same Wi-Fi network as your PC, which should have Steam and Steam VR installed.
Once you download and open the Steam Link app on your Meta headset, it’ll guide you through wirelessly connecting the headset and PC. You’re ready to go after that. The only requirements are that your PC must be connected to a router via a wired connection, has at least an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 GPU, runs Windows 10, and has a 5GHz Wi-Fi connection. For the best experience with the least amount of latency, Valve recommends either Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E, a PC with at least 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070.
More VR Games to Play on Quest
Steam Link for Quest headsets is a free app so you can go ahead and boot it up on your Meta headset now. Since it’s just been released, we’re not sure of the performance yet compared to either Virtual Desktop or Air Link. Steam Link is a more direct solution than those two workarounds, so it should mean a smoother gaming experience.
Still, the official Steam Link is very welcome for Quest headsets and expands access to PC VR games without having to connect via a USB-C cable to a PC. If you’ve been itching to play Steam VR games on your headset with wireless freedom, this should be the easist way.
Of course, all of this has us wondering if and when Valve will release a follow-up to its Index headset. Since this extra compatibility only benefits Quest headset users, it’s not much of an indication. However, we could also read this as Valve staying on top of all things VR. Still, Valve has a bit of a reputation for keeping its customers waiting.
Valve Just Made It Way Easier To Play Steam VR Games on a Quest 3. No more Air Link or Virtual Desktop running in the background. You can now officially play genre-defining PC VR games like Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life: Alyx is a 2020 virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It was released for Windows and Linux, with support for most PC-compatible VR headsets.
The Steam Link app streams the games you love in your Steam library directly from your computer to your Meta Quest headset. Using the power of your computer, it delivers a high-fidelity and intuitive way to wirelessly play your favorite games, discuss them with your friends, and access your desktop apps.
To force a game to launch in steam vr you need to go to the game.Hit the gear button and go to manage and browse local files.Go to Engine/Binaries/ThirdParty/ then look for the oculus or whatever VR standalone and delete that folder. Then your ready.
Here's some more ways to play Steam games on Meta Quest 3:
Install the Oculus software, and log in with your account. Head to the devices option on the Oculus software. Select “add headset”, then select the Quest 3. Choose the Link Cable / Air Link option.
SteamVR crashing on startup could happen due to the lack of administrative privileges. To solve the problem, you should try running Steam as an administrator. Here are the detailed steps. Step 1: Double-click the Steam shortcut on the desktop and select Properties.
Install the Meta PC App: After installation, log in with your Meta account. Connect Your Headset: Use a USB-C cable to link your Meta Quest 3 to your PC. Enable Oculus Link: Follow the prompt in your headset to start Oculus Link. Launch SteamVR: Once connected, open Steam, and launch SteamVR.
Not only does this boost performance by considerable amounts by killing Oculus Dash entirely (seriously, Oculus Dash was eating 200 MB of memory + GPU, even when not in use) so this should help with performance issues with SteamVR on Oculus headsets too.
Running two apps in addition to a PCVR app imposed a heavier load on PCs compared to the same PCVR app running natively for Oculus desktop. But the new free Steam Link app for Quest now enables the Quest 3, Quest 2 or Quest to run SteamVR (or non-VR Steam games) without the need to launch the Oculus desktop app.
For smooth performance, you'll want at least: Recent 6-core Intel Core i5 processor or equivalent AMD Ryzen 5 chip to handle intensive VR processing. NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480 graphics card with 6GB of dedicated memory or better, so you can enable complex rendering and effects.
Log in to Oculus Home with your Oculus account details.Choose the gear icon and select Settings.Pick General and activate Unknown sources.Leave Oculus Home running and start Steam.
a. Launch SteamVR: You can do this by clicking on "Library" and then selecting "SteamVR" from the tools section. b. Follow the Setup Wizard: SteamVR will guide you through a series of steps to calibrate your VR hardware, including headset and controller tracking.
Every one of my SteamVR games have worked perfectly with my Quest 1 and Quest 2. If a game shows Oculus Rift as a supported headset, then it will work perfectly with the Quest 2. I haven't seen a VR game that didn't list Oculus RIft as a supported headset. Something else to keep in mind with the Quest 2.
The Quest Pro still has some exclusive features missing from the Quest 3. Eye-tracking and face-tracking are only possible with hardware built into the more expensive Meta headset. The Quest Pro comes with a convenient charging dock to top up the battery the moment you set it aside.
If you're not seeing anything in your headset's display, something isn't connected properly. Check the headset's power, USB, DisplayPort, and main cable connections. Some error messages contain instructions or links to help articles. SteamVR will also recover from many temporary issues after a restart.
Once Virtual Desktop has connected to your PC, press the menu button on the left Quest controller to bring up the Virtual Desktop menu. Once SteamVR loads up, press the menu button on the left Quest controller to pull up the SteamVR dashboard.
Launch SteamVR by clicking the VR box in the upper right corner of the client or by pressing the System button on the controller. Make sure all of your devices turn green in the SteamVR monitor window, then follow the onscreen instructions for room setup. Up in the air.
Introduction: My name is Merrill Bechtelar CPA, I am a clean, agreeable, glorious, magnificent, witty, enchanting, comfortable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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