Virtual Desktop... I'm getting lost

User Support Hub Virtual Reality (VR)
1

Hi folks,

I use a WMR headset (Samsung Odyssey+) with OpenXR - OpenXR Developer Tools for Windows Mixed Reality installed as well, with “Use latest preview OpenXR runtime” on.

Despite my efforts to understand how to display a virtual desktop in my cockpit (charts & ivao webeye), I’m getting lost.

  • Is there only Virtual Desktop available? Is there a demo version available somewhere before purchase?
  • Is SteamVR required, or OpenXR can still be used for rendering?

Thanks!

2

Hi, I’m going to jump in real quick because this question has the potential to get many confused answers from well-meaning people. To clarify right up front:

  • Virtual Desktop has a mobile version and a desktop version. The mobile version has significantly different functionality from the desktop version, and is only available for Quest/Quest2 headsets. The mobile version allows for wireless PC-VR gaming with the Quest. The desktop version is for all other wired VR headsets, including WMR devices, and is only meant to display your computer’s screen/desktop in your virtual reality environment.

Ok, with that out of the way, the desktop version of Virtual Desktop is a VR app in itself, so as far as I’m aware, it’s not possible to run it and MSFS VR at the same time. It’s not the solution you’re looking for. You can use it to display 2D games in your headset, but not 3D VR games.

To confuse things even further, Oculus devices in their PC app have a button for “Virtual Desktop” which is their own thing, but with the same name, which does let you put panels in your 3D world in any game. This would do what you want, but it’s only for Oculus devices.

Now to conclude, I don’t have a WMR device, so I don’t know what kinds of options it has – but for what you want to do, it’d have to be a built-in capability of the WMR software, to let you pin 2D panels from your computer in the VR environment. The other option is to run thru the SteamVR runtime, which I’m sure has either a built-in way to pin desktop panels, or some kind of overlay app that can run within it, but I’m sorry to say I don’t use it enough to know what they are. :slight_smile:

Sorry for not having the actual answer you wanted, but hopefully I’ve prevented the confusion that often comes from this topic due to the many different flavors of similar-sounding things.

3

In WMP portal find the Desktop, then f.i. open a PDF in the desktop and maximize that for use,

on top right of this WMP windows there is a “Follow Me” nxt to resize,

place the window out-of-direct-side to not obstruct your forward view,
click Follow-me
and when you VR your MSFS that window will be there (it’s horribly unclear by-the-way, I don’t use it)

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Hi - and thanks for your insights. Makes it clear I was indeed confused between several posts on this forum on “Virtual Desktop” - sounds clear now was referring to a feature specific to the Oculus - and results when I googled “Virtual Desktop”.
In the meantime I’ve found somewhere in this forum the solution I was looking for: ebag. Not totally perfect and not as convenient as Avitab, but I can take pdf charts on my virtual cockpit for immersive flights…
Thanks again!

5

Hi - thanks for your help.
Indeed I was aware of the “Follow me” feature, but unfortunately this monopolizes the mouse cursor, with no possibility to interact with knobs.

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