Apple was able to create excitement around its latest productwhich led many developers to consider the question of functionality. THE gaming VR remaining (at the moment) anecdotal, some tinkerers, probably frustrated at not having this opportunity given what the headset can offer, spend the second and the least we can say about it is that the result is already stunning.
The ability to connect your headset to a computer is not new, in fact it was the only way to play in VR in the early days. If the names of Quest Link (Air Link From now on), Virtual Desktop and now Steam Link are probably not unknown to you, this remains proprietary software and it is therefore not easy to tinker with it. Whatever, there is old software, Open Source this time, which made it possible to launch the reception environment SteamVR on theApple Vision Pro : ALVR.
Zhuowei Zhang, developer, managed to successfully port ALVR to visionOSApple’s headset operating system. For the most curious, its code is available on GitHub and instructions for installing it can be found on an instance Mastodon belonging to J. Walter Weatherman (also a programmer), who shared this video:
As you see in the pictures, some stutters and artifacts remain, but the developer responds that these are primarily problems relating to the poor quality of its Wi-Fi installation and the lack of optimization of the software.
Once these issues are resolved, this does not mean that you will be able to play the entire game library, which remains basically intended to be played using real VR controllers! But again, it would potentially be possible to play it like Resident Evil 7 on PSVR, in other words, controller in hand, or to offer compatibility or the development of a controller tracking system.
And this is precisely what it is possible to do with the following combination: OpenVR Space Calibrator + base stations SteamVR Tracking + controllers Valve Index.
With this installation it is possible to manually align the tracking. The only problem is that the equipment remains expensive (more than €600) and the famous alignment must be redone each time the headset is restarted.
Constraining, but not impossible!
You might not have thought about it, but nothing prevents you from imagining in the future doing SimRacing or Flight Simulator on the VisionProsince the controllers (steering wheels, HOTAS…) do not need monitoring to remain functional.
Max Thomasanother developer, modified the port of Zhanggoing even further! In his video, he describes the experience as particularly smooth:
He claims to have managed to maintain 90 Hz with a latency that is certainly significant (50 milliseconds) but correctable.
He also specifies that foveal rendering is not yet compatible. There is always that while the players PSVR 2 are hoping for PC compatibility, it seems that the connection PCVR is (who would have thought it?) easier on VisionOSyet just as closed as the operating system of the PS5. The space computer is only a week old and it is already, on this question, much more than promising.
This (a priori simple) ability to be able to connect the VisionPro will not have failed to challenge the creator of Virtual Desktop, Guy Godinwhich, unlike the others, offers a paid solution. He claimed that he had a VisionPro in his possession and that he was currently working on a portage, specifying however that this should take a few months due to the headset’s operating systemApplevery different fromAndroid.
iVRythe team which offers several systems of streaming PCVR (sometimes paid, sometimes free) also want to have their share of the pie. Recently known for their work aimed at making compatible the PSVR 2 with the PC with the aim of playing it in VR, here is the developers clarified that they did not yet have aApple Vision Probut that they intended to acquire one for the month of April.
At first glance, it would seem that there is a lot more work to be done for paid solutions than their free counterparts.
But if we use today Virtual Desktop in place ofAir Linkit is above all for its stability and the abundance of additional settings and features. Let us therefore hope that these paid solutions follow the same path when it comes to porting them to the famous space computer ofApple.
That being said, there is nothing to indicate that the Cupertino wants or will officially authorize the streaming PCVR!
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the aim ofApple is to sell Macbook and not PCsthe latter being however more inclined to run VR than the former.