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.
Valve
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 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.
PublicNuisance Jun 11, 2020
Quoting: ShmerlAre 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.
Quoting: mphuZSpit 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
Quoting: ShmerlValve backed Mesa instead of making their own blob.Don't compare your ass to your finger.
Quoting: ShmerlSo why can't they back Monado too?Maybe because there is no need to maintain all the standards? Open Source for Open Source?
Quoting: ShmerlBack at youDon't be a fanatic.
Quoting: mphuZQuoting: ShmerlValve 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
Quoting: ShmerlI 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.
Quoting: Shmerlban would probably be proper.Wow, did I hurt your open source feelings?
Quoting: PatolaOpen 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.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!
There are other issues that SteamVR offering OpenXR specifically helps, like running Blender in VR - it follows those open standards.
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
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