How to launch without SteamVR (Performance Increase)

Guides How to launch without SteamVR (Performance Increase)

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thinoreos

thinoreos

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thinoreos submitted a new resource:

How to launch without SteamVR (Performance Increase) - How to increase VR performance by launching without SteamVR

As of right now (Feb 2023), there are 3 methods I know of to launch in VR without SteamVR. Will go through them quickly to increase your performance.

A) Using Virtual Desktop
If you're using Virtual Desktop, you can skip SteamVR by creating a .bat file.
1. Create a text file anywhere on your PC (right click > New > Text Document)
2. Rename it to "Whatever Name".bat
3. Right click, click Edit
4. Type in: "[path to Virtual Desktop Streamer location]\VirtualDesktop.Streamer.exe" "[Path to Vam...
Click to expand...

Read more about this resource...
 
I use oculus rift s and this: https://github.com/fholger/openvr_fsr, when i open VaM (OpenVR).bat it requires to start steam vr as well as oculus app. If i remember correctly openvr_fsr requires steam vr? can you confirm? is there any way to make steam vr not require for it?
 
MerGe said:
I use oculus rift s and this: https://github.com/fholger/openvr_fsr, when i open VaM (OpenVR).bat it requires to start steam vr as well as oculus app. If i remember correctly openvr_fsr requires steam vr? can you confirm? is there any way to make steam vr not require for it?
Click to expand...
Using openvr fsr or the vr perf kit, based on my tests, is not worth the performance boost for VAM. For other games yes, but because you are launching both Oculus and SteamVR to get it to work, you already lose a lot of performance. I also ran into a lot of issues with the controls because it somehow disables it if you launch without Oculus, and had to use third party plugins just to get it to work. So I have not found a way to make it work without workarounds, if anyone else has do let us know.
 
thinoreos said:
Nope, tip 1 & 3 for any headset that can use other methods to launch VAM other than SteamVR. For example WMR, Pico, Oculus, etc
Click to expand...
Reverb G2, will try it then

One time I tried to launch VAM with "VaM (OpenVR).bat" located in root VAM folder, it worked without steam but controllers was not detected.
 
Very welcome tutorial - Method2 was totally unknown to me.

Regarding Method 3) OpenComposite. Tried this awhile ago & maybe you should add a warning: When you search for OpenComposite, there's TWO sites that pop up, people should follow the advice on the newer one. Backgound is that OpenComposite afaik evolved out of an older project.

Many guides on OpenComposite explcitly mention this.

I'll dig through my old bookmarks & give more details on that.

THere's also two discord channels that provide A LOT of background detail on the the different APIs and the what tools like VD and OpenComposite actually do.
 
Great writeup, worth noting, as of today, HTC devices are using SteamVR's openxr runtime - so for HTC headsets using SteamVR is still a requirement unfortunately.
 
This may be be obvious to many, but as you get excited with buying stuff it's easy to overlook things and make mistakes.
What I mean with this is that for option A - using Virtual Desktop - if using a Quest or Pico, to be able to not use SteamVR you would need to buy Virtual Desktop in the app store, not in Steam, correct?
 
Any idea how to do this to Windows mixed Reality? ... it has an app from steam to run ...Im also using the "steam Homeless" setup but still if is possible to bypass using steam completely even better!
 
Ahh damn I already been doing that... and it works sometimes other times it still pulls Steam VR
 
How much FPS are you guys getting from a 4000 series? I'm thinking to upgrade from 970 to either a 4000 or wait until 5000. Using a HTC Vive original
 
leakedazaz said:
How much FPS are you guys getting from a 4000 series? I'm thinking to upgrade from 970 to either a 4000 or wait until 5000. Using a HTC Vive original
Click to expand...
It varies from scene to scene, but on an average light scene about 110-120fps
 
TheShadow said:
Ahh damn I already been doing that... and it works sometimes other times it still pulls Steam VR
Click to expand...
Yeah Open Composite can be very finicky... The good news is they're always working on it making it better, so one day it'll be perfect
 
So i like not having to run Steam as well as my Oculus app. But I was wondering how I can change the controller bindings on my oculus now? I like the free nav to be inverted for up and down. I've ran it this way with steam from the beginning.
 
roro1973 said:
Hello, thank you for the guide, it sold, but I have a question, is it possible to run Streaming Assistant PICO 4 without Steam VR? Thank you in advance for your answer.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, the Pico streaming assistant requires Steam VR to launch, that's essentially the platform. Maybe someone else has found a workaround, but not as far as I know
 
Despite I own Virtual Desktop for quite a while I haven't used it for PC games yet, so my question:
Where to find the streamer.exe. It's nowhere, do I have to create it somehow by some program setting unknown to me?
 
Thanks, I installed the extra program. I did the .bat file. VAM starts still with SteamVR.
What does the author means with "Now launch Virtual Desktop through your headset, double click on this and it will launch without SteamVR."?
My headset Pimax8KX is "dark" as long as I don't start any VR game or SteamVR. I can start Virtual Desktop on my monitor, headset comes to life after SteamVR is started to let Virtual Desktop start.
Also "[There is an alternative method of right clicking on Virtual Streamer and Launch Game, but the .bat is much more convenient]" Yes, I found it in the tray and right click, but "Launch Game" is greyed out.
So do I have to have Virtual Desktop running (how without SteamVR) or just hit the .bat file which again starts SteamVR and then VAM?

Or is this Rift only again? Strange, as VD works with the Pimax concerning f.e. 3D videos.

OpenComposite neither works. It ran, then I enabled the controller options behind CTRL F2, now it stalls with some controller error message. Don't know how to reset that as I found no .ini or something in OpenComposite to manuel edit that out.
 
Last edited:
It works with a Pico 4 too, no idea about Pimax.
Start the streamer app on Windows, run Virtual Desktop on the headset. You should your desktop screen after a few seconds. Then on the desktop screen view from your headset, run the bat file and VaM will load without SteamVR.

If the above is not working you need to find information elsewhere to debug your Pimax, VD or OpenComposite.
 
void said:
Thanks, I installed the extra program. I did the .bat file. VAM starts still with SteamVR.
What does the author means with "Now launch Virtual Desktop through your headset, double click on this and it will launch without SteamVR."?
My headset Pimax8KX is "dark" as long as I don't start any VR game or SteamVR. I can start Virtual Desktop on my monitor, headset comes to life after SteamVR is started to let Virtual Desktop start.
Also "[There is an alternative method of right clicking on Virtual Streamer and Launch Game, but the .bat is much more convenient]" Yes, I found it in the tray and right click, but "Launch Game" is greyed out.
So do I have to have Virtual Desktop running (how without SteamVR) or just hit the .bat file which again starts SteamVR and then VAM?

Or is this Rift only again? Strange, as VD works with the Pimax concerning f.e. 3D videos.

OpenComposite neither works. It ran, then I enabled the controller options behind CTRL F2, now it stalls with some controller error message. Don't know how to reset that as I found no .ini or something in OpenComposite to manuel edit that out.
Click to expand...
You're going to have to ask Virtual Desktop for this one, try their discord. https://discord.gg/mHtg4VfDfV
 
With QUEST2, it seems that STEAMVR can be bypassed without any modification.
Only when starting VAM from PC for the first time, STEAMVR will be started automatically. Afterwards, the VAM can be found in the resource library of QUEST2, and the VAM can be launched directly from the resource library without additionally launching STEAMVR.
 
It worked with openxr toolkit as well. But does anyone know how to fix stick drift that did not exist with SteamVR
 
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