There are many threads with lots of conflicting advice, most of it old. I am looking for current information on how to fly in VR wirelessly using VirtualDesktop with updates in August of 2021.
It was working fine a month ago before I went away for a few weeks, came back and updated SU5. Now MSFS works after removing all my mods. I can fly VR with my Quest 2 connect with Link. I can access my PC from Virtual Desktop, and even run MSFS in VD but I can’t switch to VR mode. When I try to use VD to run the sim in VR mode the sim says “Headset not detected”.
I have C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-runtime\oculus_openxr_64.json in the registry. The path is correct. I have the Windows store version of MSFS, the Oculus store version of Virtual Desktop. And as I said it was working just a month or so before.
Why would the sim say headset not found? What could cause that? Is there some piece of software that needs updating to make it work again?
I am going through withdrawals here. If you can help I will be forever grateful. I bought both MSFS and the Quest 2 specifically to fly in VR.
VD uses the Steam runtime to work, so your registry will need to look something like:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\steamxr_win64.json
Thank you, That got me part way. I know I read somewhere that I should use the Oculus version because it has better frame rate. And I could have sworn it was working before. But that is part of the conflicting info I mentioned. Anyway using the SteamVR json got the switch to VR mode button in the lower left of MSFS again and it fixed the “headset not found” error. But I had split screen when I switched to VR mode in the sim, both on the monitor and in the headset on the virtual desktop.
I remembered reading about that in some other threads so I followed the advice to open the VD menu and hit the switch to VR button there also. It didn’t work at first, but after going back and forth, closing and restarting the sim, SteamVR, my Quest2, and VD a few times, I finally got it to work.
I was able to enjoy a nice 90 minute flight along the coast with a couple of landings at small strips.
Now what I want to do is condense this so I don’t have to do the back and forth every time. Just distill it down to the steps that will let me fly it without the hassle. To do that it will help if I know why the problems happened. This is what I think I have learned. Please tell me if I am wrong or what I am missing.
Oculus openxr doesn’t work with Virtual Desktop, I have to use steamxr.
After starting my flight in flat mode switch to VR in both the sim and in VD.
That’s good. Regarding your other issue, I don’t think I have any magic but can tell you what I do…
I start the sim in 2d mode and then put on my headset and open VD and wait for it to connect to pc so I can see the sim on the giant floating screen (desktop view). It doesn’t matter if at the sim menu or while in flight, but maybe best to wait till finished loading. Then I alt tab to enable VR, usually it will automatically put me to vr mode in the headset. If not I will alt tab back to 2d and try again. If it again shows me the split display like you described, at that point I reach for the controller and click switch to VR in the VD menu. Doing this it’s extremely rare I have to do a full restart for it to work.
It worked for me today just like you said. Whatever my problem was it seems to be fixed now. No more split screen except on the monitor where it belongs.
The biggest thing I did to fix it was changing to steamxr__win64.json.
I’m not sure what fixed the split screen, if some setting was wrong or what.
Great ! I think you will still occasionally encounter the split screen in headset (still in desktop mode), as I said at this point you can normally switch to VR with the controller. If still doesn’t work then I tend to just exit steam vr using the taskbar icon and/or task manager , and try again. This is normally as good as a system restart and much faster.
As another poster mentioned you should also be able to do it using a button within steam VR but the registry change has been more reliable on my system.