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This is quite exciting for the future of Virtual Reality, as Valve as now properly given their backing to the OpenXR standard and added support into SteamVR.

What is OpenXR? Overseen by The Khronos Group, who also oversee the OpenGL / Vulkan APIs, it's a royalty-free, open standard that provides high-performance access to Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). This way, developers can begin to target OpenXR and have it run cross-platform for XR (AR/VR). Standards like it are important so developers don't have to rewrite code to target each company going their own way with XR.

Thanks to The Khronos Group and the extensive hard work of OpenXR's many members (AMD, ARM, Epic, Facebook, Google, HTC, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Unity, Valve, and many more) VR now has a consolidated API to enable developers to bring universal VR support to their applications.

With OpenXR, for the first time, developers will be able to build their content in a way that will allow them to span the myriad types of hardware and software platforms.

Valve

Valve said this is only the start and they will continue expanding their support of OpenXR, with the developer preview currently supporting OpenXR 1.0.9. Sounds like support for OpenXR is quite far along too, with it passing "95% of conformance tests".

It's not enabled for all users, as it's under a Beta channel you need to opt into and it's currently aimed at developers to test with. It supports working with Vulkan on both Linux and Windows.

You can see their announcement here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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20 comments

Shmerl Jun 11, 2020
Good development. Are they also going to start using Monado instead of SteamVR?
PublicNuisance Jun 11, 2020
I'm all for the adoption of open standards.
Zlopez Jun 11, 2020
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This is great news. I was watching the OpenXR for some time, but to finally see it adopted by Valve just makes me happy. :-)
micha Jun 11, 2020
That's great news. Sadly, with the new SteamVR beta my Index stopped working. It keeps complaining SteamVR isn't the default OpenXR device and offers to set it but that's not working either. Well, it's the beta branch I guess. :-)
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
Are they also going to start using Monado instead of SteamVR?
Spit out. Why push open standards into everything where it's not necessary?
Valve does everything right by maintaining its SteamVR.
Shmerl Jun 11, 2020
Spit out. Why push open standards into everything where it's not necessary?

Back at you, why not use them? Valve backed Mesa instead of making their own blob. So why can't they back Monado too?


Last edited by Shmerl on 11 June 2020 at 8:29 pm UTC
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
Valve backed Mesa instead of making their own blob.
Don't compare your ass to your finger.
So why can't they back Monado too?
Maybe because there is no need to maintain all the standards? Open Source for Open Source?
Back at you
Don't be a fanatic.
Shmerl Jun 11, 2020
Valve backed Mesa instead of making their own blob.
Don't compare your ass to your finger.

I recommend you to sober up, before discussing things further. You don't seem to be yourself. And if it's you normal, ban would probably be proper.


Last edited by Shmerl on 11 June 2020 at 9:02 pm UTC
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
I recommend you to sober up, before discussing things further. You don't seem to be yourself. And if it's you normal, ban would probably be proper.
What's wrong? Is there no such expression in your native language? This may not sound quite right in English, but the meaning should be clear.
ban would probably be proper.
Wow, did I hurt your open source feelings?
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
Open Standards in VR is a very necessary thing. There are lots of exclusives to one headset or another, specifically there are good games that are exclusive to Oculus which was one of the first players. Good standards help prevent this problem and ensure interoperability: you'd be choosing the VR kit due to its quality, not due to being the only one to work with aging software.

There are other issues that SteamVR offering OpenXR specifically helps, like running Blender in VR - it follows those open standards.
Yep. I was very happy when Valve announced SteamVR and did not allow Oculus / Facebook to make exclusives for their stores and hardware. I'm all for it!

Support for OpenXR is the next step, but some people need to be calmer and treat the software without fanaticism.


Last edited by mphuZ on 11 June 2020 at 9:22 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jun 11, 2020
Not sure why the apparent animosity has been shown here, please have a calmer discussion. I really don't want to have to warn or go further. We have rules about respect between readers. There's absolutely no need to any kind of name calling.
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
Not sure why the apparent animosity has been shown here, please have a calmer discussion. I really don't want to have to warn or go further. We have rules about respect between readers. There's absolutely no need to any kind of name calling.
It's okay, Liam.
Shmerl Jun 11, 2020
It's okay, Liam.

It's was not OK, it was trolling. I hope Liam's message came through to you.


Last edited by Shmerl on 11 June 2020 at 10:37 pm UTC
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
It's was not OK, it was trolling. I hope Liam's message came through to you.
Calm down already. This is not trolling, but just different opinions. You have your radical views on the subject, and I have mine.
The message isn't just for me, in this case.


Last edited by mphuZ on 11 June 2020 at 10:51 pm UTC
Shmerl Jun 11, 2020
Calm down already. This is not trolling, but just different opinions.

No dude, your behavior was not acceptable, it was nothing to do with opinions, it was ad hominem attacks and trolling. So stop it, period.


Last edited by Shmerl on 11 June 2020 at 10:54 pm UTC
mphuZ Jun 11, 2020
it was ad hominem attacks and trolling.
Come on, I said it's a translation problem. "Don't confuse warm with soft" - sounds better?
English is not my native language, so there may be some confusion when translating. Especially if there is no such expression in another native language. So sorry.
Shmerl Jun 11, 2020
Alright.
mike456 Jun 12, 2020
Hopefully this will enable HP's upcoming Headset on Linux.
micha Jun 12, 2020
That's great news. Sadly, with the new SteamVR beta my Index stopped working. It keeps complaining SteamVR isn't the default OpenXR device and offers to set it but that's not working either. Well, it's the beta branch I guess. :-)
Updated my SteamVR to the beta and it worked correctly oy my Valve Index. I have the same distro as you, apparently, Ubuntu 20.04. Have you tried getting back to the stable version?

Yes, I switched back to stable and everything works again.

I'm not sure what "other" OpenXR device could be set as default (and in which config files). So far, most of the (Steam)VR problems I had were related to running a notebook (intel+nvidia GPU, ..). Maybe that one is too. Just a wild guess though.
Julius Jun 12, 2020
Hmm, this could enable using PSVR on Linux with Steam, as apparently Collabora has a working 6DOF prototype driver for it in Monado.
Could be a really cool entry level VR option, especially since they are widely available and relatively cheap.
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