Half-Life: Alyx

teddy3578 said:
For those who got half-life Alyx working with a oculus quest with wire or wirelessly. D you have any guide or step-by-step approach?
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Regarding wifi streaming I'm using Virtual Desktop, which is a paid for piece of software (about £15 iirc) but well worth it for absolute ease of use... There are free alternatives too, like ALVR.

Using oculus link is going to be the most straight forward - all you need to do is install the oculus software on your PC and then connect the Quest using a genuine high quality USB 3.0 cable. You can then simply enable link from the menu and you will now have a PCVR headset that can play PC games from the oculus store or steam VR. Make sure you update to the latest version (v15) as it has several fixes and quality of life improvements for link.

Using wifi is a little more involved, but still easy enough. As oculus don't support this function it requires you to sideload to your quest, but this is very easy to do using sidequest which is a free piece of software and well worth getting. To allow you to use sidequest you will need to enable developer mode on your quest which can be done via the phone app and a sign up as a developer on the oculus website. Guide to do that here:


Once you've done that, download sidequest here

For virtual desktop, you will need to buy the application on the quest store and then sideload the wifi streaming version (as mentioned oculus don't support this function so he can't put it in the store version). You can just find virtual desktop in the sidequest store, but I suggest you use his latest beta here as it has quite a few improvements... once this reaches full release you can go back to just updating using the sidequest store.

Then you just need to install the desktop streamer (also available in the above link for the beta version or from the virtual desktop website for the normal version. At that point all you need to do is make sure your quest is connected to the 5.8ghz network (ideally to a nearby router into which the pc is wired, or from a wifi hotspot created by the PC itself) and open the app. It will find the computer and then you can launch your games from the games menu... there are some settings to p[lay around with too but they all have explanations to make it easy.

ALVR is mostly similar (included the sidequest stuff) but obviously downloading ALVR instead of VD.

Hope that helps.
 
ZeeflyboyHope that really helps. I have ordered an anker cable off amazon hopefully that works as wired seams more straightforward. No need for virtual desktop via this route, is that right ?
 
ST_Craig said:
Well that didn't take long, someone has found debug mode and enabled mouse + keyboard, and janky hands.

https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrai...-mouse-and-keyboard-and-without-a-vr-headset/

I wonder if Valve will patch this out, or leave it be ?
Playing Alyx in pancake mode will ruin the experience, it just isn't the same on a flatscreen.
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Valve have said they hope people mod it to use keyboard and mouse, so they won't stop it.

The thing is it won't make an amazing keyboard and mouse game. Most of the fun is in the VR interactions and the sense of actually being inside the HL universe. You lose all that on a flat screen.

The game levels are pretty small (to be honest this frustrates me a bit as I like to explore, but there aren't that many side areas to explore), which is countered by the slow pace of movement in them. This pace is going to be too slow for normal PC controls. In VR players take their time to look around. Keyboard and mouse users tend to whiz through levels.

The puzzles rely heavily on 3D stereo, as well as 3D hand interactions so they won't work as well on flatscreen.
 
Yeah, it ain't going to be a great game "playing" Alyx with mouse + keyboard.
I just hope it then doesn't make the VR haters feel justified that what they thought was poor, is poor only because of this hack. I mean, the Steam Alyx forums are a cesspit of w@nk at the moment, every other thread created is a thread aimed at moaning about VR - I just have to stay away from there, and the mods do nothing when you report them.
I also see the game has been cracked, packed, and online. Doesn't surprise me. Soon there will be flatscreen packed versions out there. I despair at PC gamers sometimes, they moan when the consoles get the AAA titles, then when it's ported to PC they pirate them.
 
teddy3578 said:
ZeeflyboyHope that really helps. I have ordered an anker cable off amazon hopefully that works as wired seams more straightforward. No need for virtual desktop via this route, is that right ?
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Correct.

You may find the wire extra specially annoying however since you are used to the quest stand alone.
 
Trying to play in 2d would ruin the experience, coming face to face with a combine heavy for the first time is a scary moment. They are like 7ft tall heavily armoured mega tanks. They are intimidating as hell in VR, something you just wouldn't get in 2d at all.
 
MadMossy said:
Trying to play in 2d would ruin the experience, coming face to face with a combine heavy for the first time is a scary moment. They are like 7ft tall heavily armoured mega tanks. They are intimidating as hell in VR, something you just wouldn't get in 2d at all.
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I started chapter 4 this evening. Those bad boys are INTENSE :o Peering out from behind cover and aiming over the top / around corners.. FPS games will never feel the same, it will be like trying to play a 2D FPS that doesn't let you jump, it will just feel awkward.

The slow pace of the game is one of its charms though, it encourages you to look around.

I peer inside every rubbish bin and dumpster to look for resin :D
 
So I bit the bullet and bought it. Holy....

Wow, just the feeling seeing the title come up with the surroundings! Let alone the rest. I've played the first few chapters so far.

I did a post about a possible CPU/Mobo upgrade a couple days ago, mainly for HL Alyx. But the game runs ok on min settings with my spec, sometimes I get black either sides of the lenses when I turn, like it can't keep up. I'm going to assume this is a performance thing? Would this be more the CPU power or the 1070 gtx ? How do I tell what is causing the low performance? My CPU is below min specs for Alyx, but the 1070 just above min.

Any ideas? :)
Still playable and not overly noticable most of the time, but still does ruin immersion occasionally.
 
I've been trying to use the Steam VR button remapping feature to move 'jump' off of right stick down to one of the other buttons without success (I keep on accidentally triggering it when smooth turning). When I move it the button doesn't work. Has anyone else tried to remap this?
 
David_VI said:
So I bit the bullet and bought it. Holy....

Wow, just the feeling seeing the title come up with the surroundings! Let alone the rest. I've played the first few chapters so far.

I did a post about a possible CPU/Mobo upgrade a couple days ago, mainly for HL Alyx. But the game runs ok on min settings with my spec, sometimes I get black either sides of the lenses when I turn, like it can't keep up. I'm going to assume this is a performance thing? Would this be more the CPU power or the 1070 gtx ? How do I tell what is causing the low performance? My CPU is below min specs for Alyx, but the 1070 just above min.

Any ideas? :)
Still playable and not overly noticable most of the time, but still does ruin immersion occasionally.
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I am using an 980Ti for my build and I don't see any of the issues you're reporting (although I do occasionally get re-projection).
 
Very playable and enjoyable on my rig with a 1070 and 6600k, so not much above min. spec.

Using a Quest though, so maybe the 72hz is helping.

Perhaps if I had an Index it would chug a bit.
 
ci_newman said:
I am using an 980Ti for my build and I don't see any of the issues you're reporting (although I do occasionally get re-projection).
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I'm thinking it's more my CPU than the GPU though. That's why i'm curious about people on similiar GPU but with similiar or lower spec CPU.
I don't get the issue on other games but they seem to run at 45fps :(
 
David_VI said:
I'm thinking it's more my CPU than the GPU though. That's why i'm curious about people on similiar GPU but with similiar or lower spec CPU.
I don't get the issue on other games but they seem to run at 45fps :(
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Sorry, I should have been more clearer. My 980Ti is paired with a 4790k, so not a million miles away from your specs. Have you got the ability to OC the 4690K?

Have you tried looking at your CPU and GPU load while running the VR?
 
ci_newman said:
Sorry, I should have been more clearer. My 980Ti is paired with a 4790k, so not a million miles away from your specs. Have you got the ability to OC the 4690K?

Have you tried looking at your CPU and GPU load while running the VR?
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I have it set as a 44x so I get 4.3ghz on load I believe. I looked at task manager while in Oculus Home and it's on 100% CPU usage. I can't see any other processes stealing the CPU power.
 
Manhacks are scary in this, everything is so much more threatening and in-your-face in VR.

I said I'd just play for an hour last night and two hours flew by! Wonderful gaming experience, love it.
 
The thing continues to impress me; the sound stage and the combine machinery as things open up and close including the hologram puzzles as they blow up right in your face requiring you to step back and adjust your position. I think I'll struggle to want to play FPS pancake style now. The whole gun aim, reloading mechanic is just so much more immersive with the pressures the game-play introduces.

It is easy to wax lyrical about the game but Valve totally deserve it. They've done it again.
 
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