SteamVR Beta on Linux Feels More like an Early Alpha

[Megalith]

Valve recently brought SteamVR on Linux into public beta, but Phoronix didn’t have the best experience with it. Their early impressions suggest that Linux gamers are bound to run into driver, performance, tracking, and numerous other issues. But while the technical kinks should be patched up in time, there is still that problem of Linux’s comparatively tiny catalog of VR-supported games—the author notes that there are a grand total of three VR-only titles. Thanks to Kyle for this one.

The initial setup was certainly a headache and letdown with the problems encountered and knowing I am not the only one running into shared IPC compositor errors and other struggles. That certainly made it feel much more like an alpha than beta and cannot imagine a Windows gamer being willing to go through such strides. Even with being a dedicated Linux user for about the past decade and a half, I was frustrated and embarrassed by these initial SteamVR Linux woes being encountered on Linux in 2017.

 

[Spire3660]

Oculus Home is still in Beta, yet operating like a full store.These terms have become meaningless.

 

[ole-m]

Oculus Home is still in Beta, yet operating like a full store.These terms have become meaningless.

I'm seeing more and more of it.

But on a sidenote I can tell ya'll that Linux gaming have never been better, but needs to develop more.
but some AAA titles are released shortly after and the steam catalog on my computer had 50+ games after I installed ubuntu 16.04 last Sunday and I'm impressed.
Not a Windows gaming platform replacement just yet, but it's nice to see more than 1 game every 3 years gets added.

 

[DPI]

It's a start. And more than Oculus is doing, and once promised to do but reneged on after the FB sell-off.

 

[heatlesssun]

It's a start.

A really rough one it seems. I got my Vive for Christmas and setup was a breeze on Windows 10. The hardest thing was updating the firmware, after I'd mounted the base stations and had to take them off the mounts to update the firmware and plug them into a USB port.

People will get on me about loving Windows. And I've consistently pointed out that nope, that's not it. But if one does want to use things like PC VR, anyone got better options?

 

[Ducman69]

Oculus Home is still in Beta, yet operating like a full store.These terms have become meaningless.

Its clever. If they release a product normally, and it has a bug, people bitch and moan. If they release it all the same and just call it a "public beta", then if there's a bug people are more cooperative and report it and expect there to be problems, because it is after all still "in beta".

 

[velusip]

As a long time user/supporter of Linux, everything feels like an early alpha! Anything else would be suspicious.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

Not really sure what the author was expecting, from looking at reddit you can technically get it working but they're clear that most functionality has not been implemented yet...

Microsoft must be worried. They got the VR devs to put Linux support on the back burner last year but users are demanding it. I already do most of my gaming on Linux, if Microsoft loses VR exclusivity Windows really has nothing left but console ports.

 

[Dwango]

If the support is barely there why would anyone expect the catalog of VR games to be any bigger than it is? You have to start somewhere. I'm sure this will be something that moves at a pretty rapid pace.

 

[heatlesssun]

Not really sure what the author was expecting, from looking at reddit you can technically get it working but they're clear that most functionality has not been implemented yet...

Microsoft must be worried. They got the VR devs to put Linux support on the back burner last year but users are demanding it. I already do most of my gaming on Linux, if Microsoft loses VR exclusivity Windows really has nothing left but console ports.

Most PC games DON'T come to Linux, including indie titles. And At this point, a $800 Vive has a LONG way to go before it gets the same support under Linux as Windows. The gaming situation in Linux isn't improving nearly as well as you're indicating as the absolute gap in available games only grows between Linux and Windows. That situation will probably be the same for Linux plus VR is an area where performance is far more critical than conventional gaming. An OGL wrapper around Windows code isn't going to cut it. Maybe a Vulkan wrapper or native Vulkan VR titles, OGL isn't supported in this SteamVR release and doesn't look like it will be for performance reasons.

 

[heatlesssun]

If the support is barely there why would anyone expect the catalog of VR games to be any bigger than it is? You have to start somewhere. I'm sure this will be something that moves at a pretty rapid pace.

That's going to depend on just how many Linux folks are out there that are going to buy into VR. The enthusiasm for VR from pro-desktop Linux folks hasn't been all that enthusiastic. Of course this crowd wants the support because not having compared to Windows is a blow when it comes to bleeding edge PC gaming. But this is already a thin market and I just don't see too many people putting the money into VR setups to limit themselves to a fraction of the titles that Windows has.