8.2 KiB
Installation guide
Basic installation
PC side:
- Install SteamVR, launch it once then close it. This is to make sure it sets the environment correctly for ALVR.
- Go to the latest release download page. In the "Assets" section at the bottom download the ALVR Installer.
- Run the installer. If prompted, allow the execution in the SmartScreen popup. You need to give administrator permissions to install ALVR. For best compatibility do not change the installation folder.
- Once the installation finished, launch ALVR. You are greeted with a setup wizard. Follow the setup to set the firewall rules and presets.
If you have problems launching ALVR, follow the guide below to use the portable version
Headset side:
- Install SideQuest on your PC and enable developer mode on the headset. You can follow this guide.
- Connect your headset to Sidequest. If you have an Oculus Quest 1/2 download the ALVR app here, if you have an Oculus Go download it here
Usage
- Launch ALVR on your headset. While the headset screen is on, click
Trust
next to the client entry (on the PC) to start streaming. - You can change settings on the PC in the
Settings
tab. Most of the settings require to restart SteamVR to be applied. Use the apposite button on the bottom right corner.
For any problem visit the Troubleshooting page.
Advanced installation
Portable version
There is also a portable version for the PC that requires more manual steps to make it work.
- Install SteamVR and launch it once.
- Download
alvr_streamer_windows.zip
from the latest release download page. - Unzip into a path that contains only ASCII characters and has edit permissions without administrator rights.
Nightly
If you want to get new features early or you want to help with testing you can install a nightly version.
Download the latest nightly streamer here. Download the latest nightly client from Sidequest (Quest version, Go version).
Since nightly releases can be unstable, for maximum compatibility always use matching versions for PC and headset. They are updated once a day.
Microphone streaming
To use the microphone you need to install the VB-CABLE driver. Set "CABLE Output" as the default microphone. Then you can enable the microphone in the ALVR setting, leave "Virtual microphone input" to Default.
Connect headset and PC on separate networks
Check out the guide here.
Use ALVR together with third-party drivers
By default ALVR disables other SteamVR drivers before starting. Among these drivers there is Driver4VR for full body tracking. ALVR disables these drivers to maximize compatibility with every PC setup. You can disable this behavior by manually registering the ALVR driver. Go to the installation
tab and click on Register ALVR driver
. The next time you launch ALVR you will be able to use the other drivers concurrently.
Launch ALVR together with SteamVR
You can skip the ALVR Dashboard and open ALVR automatically together with SteamVR. Open ALVR, go to the Installation
tab and click on Register ALVR driver
.
Use a browser different than Chrome
ALVR requires a Chromium based browser to correctly display the dashboard. Chrome and Edge work out of the box, but Edge has a few bugs that make ALVR behave weirdly. If you want to use other Chromium based browsers like Brave or Vivaldi you have to add an environment variable ALCRO_BROWSER_PATH
pointing to the path of the browser executable (for example C:\Program Files\Vivaldi\Application\vivaldi.exe
). Unfortunately Firefox is not supported.
Connect headset and PC via a USB Cable
Check out the guide here.
Linux
Unless you are using a nightly version, make sure all audio streaming options are disabled.
Arch Linux
- Install
rustup
and a rust toolchain, if you don't have it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Rust#Arch_Linux_package. - Install alvrAUR (recommended), or alvr-gitAUR
- Install SteamVR, launch it once then close it.
- Run
alvr_launcher
or ALVR from your DE's application launcher.
Semi-automatic arch distrobox guidance
Notes:
-
This is generally recommended way to install ALVR if you're not on arch linux, and can practically work on any distribution. You can of course use it in case you have issues installing it on Arch Linux.
-
Guide also contains fixes, tweaks, additional software like desktop overlay to help you run with steamvr better and workaround it's issues.
-
It didn't have a huge feedback history yet, so if you happen to have issues, please report them into the said repository.
For installation:
git clone https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR-Distrobox-Linux-Guide.git
or download zip from https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR-Distrobox-Linux-Guide, unpack it somewhere in your home directory (steam doesn't like long paths)
1.1. If you want to use nightly (potentially unstable, but fresh) builds use nightly branch.
-
cd ALVR-Distrobox-Linux-Guide
-
Carefully follow the guide.
-
Any issues related to this installer/various tweaks/bugs should be reported as issue here
Other
- Install FFmpeg with VAAPI/NVENC + DRM + Vulkan + x264/x265 support. You can use this ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg5 under Ubuntu, or download
alvr_streamer_portable.tar.gz
which has ffmpeg bundled. - Install SteamVR, launch it once then close it.
- Download
alvr_streamer_linux(_portable).tar.gz
from the release download page. - Run
bin/alvr_launcher
If you do not install the correct version of FFmpeg systemwide, a common problem is the streamer crashing or failing to show images on the headset because SteamVR loads the wrong version of FFmpeg.
Audio Setup
- If you are on PipeWire, install
pipewire-alsa
andpipewire-pulse
pavucontrol
andpactl
(PulseAudio tools used as an example)
Game Audio
-
Must be on v19+
-
Enable Game Audio in ALVR dashboard.
-
Select
pipewire
orpulse
as the device. -
Connect with headset and wait until streaming starts.
-
In
pavucontrol
set the device ALVR is recording from to "Monitor of <your audio output>". You might have to set "Show:" to "All Streams" for it to show up. -
Any audio should now be played on the headset. To automatically mute your PC speakers when the headset is streaming, you can use the following script:
#!/bin/sh case $ACTION in connect) pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ 1;; disconnect) pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ 0;; esac
Save this text to a file, make it executable (
chmod +x ...
) then put the file name in "on connect script" and "on disconnect script" settings (Connection tab with advanced options shown).
Microphone
-
Run:
pactl load-module module-null-sink sink_name=VirtMain
or, for a permanent setup, add the following to thecontext.modules
array in your~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf
:{ name = libpipewire-module-loopback args = { node.name = "VirtMain" node.description = "VirtMain" media.name = "VirtMain" audio.position = [ FL FR ] capture.props = { media.class = Audio/Sink node.name = VirtMain.capture } } }
-
Enable microphone streaming in ALVR dashboard.
-
Connect with headset and wait until streaming starts.
-
In
pavucontrol
set ALVR Playback to "VirtMain" -
Set "Monitor of VirtMain" as your microphone.