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VR Spectator using Oculus Quest 2

Owned by Lawrence Selly (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Nov 04, 2021
4 min read

Oculus have released the Quest2 Air-link, which coupled with a high speed wifi connection allows the use of Oculus Rift applications via a VR ready gaming PC, over wifi, using the Quest2.

This entire process is in Beta mode, but it does away with the Quest2 Link Cable, a $90 accessory that teathered the Quest to a VR ready PC, and it also removes the need for an entire VR ready machine to run the VR app on, and instead it can all be run on the IMP server, and communicate via Spout to the warper.

Prerequisits

Hardware

Igloo IMP media player

Oculus Quest2

5Gz Capable wifi router, within 20ft of Oculus at all times

Accounts

Facebook Account or Oculus Account

Steam Account

Software

Oculus Desktop Software

Steam, and Steam VR

SteamVR Based Unity VR Game (with Igloo Camera Toolkit included) - Igloo VR 1.8 (for Testing)

Oculus Based Unity VR Game (with Igloo Camera Toolkit included)

Setup

  1. Install all the relevant software:
    - Oculus Desktop Software
    - Steam
    - Steam VR
    - Igloo VR 1.6

  2. Setup the Quest2 Air Link

    1. Ensure your Quest2 is on the same Wifi as the IMP.

    2. Start the Oculus App on the IMP, and proceed through the wizard selecting Quest2 as your device, and Air Link as the connection.

    3. Put on your Quest 2 headset and press [oculus button] to open the universal menu.

    4. 2.Select [gear icon] Settings then select Experimental Features.

    5. 3.Find and select the button next to Air Link.

    6. 4.Read the Air Link Requirements then select Continue.

    7. 5.Find and select your PC in the Available PCs list then select Pair.

    8. 6.Once pairing is complete you can now click Launch.

    After you've paired for the first time, you can turn on Air Link from your Quick Actions menu in Settings.

  3. Once your Quest2 is Paired, and Air Link is active: If using an Oculus SDK based Unity game, no further steps are required. Launch the game, and it should being within the oculus headset. If you’re using a Steam VR based Unity Game, you’ll need to activate Steam VR.

  4. At this point, restarting Steam VR with Airlink Active should launch the Steam VR app, and the view inside the headset should change to the Steam VR Landing page. You can then start your SteamVR based Unity application (like Igloo VR 1.6) You should also see that the Steam VR window has a Quest2 device

    Steam VR with Quest2 Active

Displaying the 360 view in the Igloo

Within the Igloo Warper

Select Layers then External Application Inputs

Within the list, you should see IglooUnity Select that, and click Enable

It may appear upside down, so just select Invert and it will flip it the correct orientation.

Igloo Toolkit Adjustment for Igloo Spectator

Your Unity developed app will need adjusting to correctly output to the warper, and follow your Oculus headset. This can be done one of two ways, within Unity by configuring the settings via the Igloo Settings Wizard, or within the IglooSettings.xml post build.

Configuration Required

Use Player - False

Use UI - False

TextureShareMode - Spout / 1

The IglooSettings.xml is saved to MyAppName_Data/StreamingAssets/ and can be edited whilst the game is closed. It will then be read when the game is started. If it is edited via Igloo Settings Wizard, it won’t require changing every time it is built with Unity.

When creating a Unity Application with the Igloo Toolkit, the only thing you will need to add to the base scene is the Igloo Manager, and then you will need to create a default IglooSettings.xml by running the Igloo Settings Wizard, and selecting Create Default and then Save

The Igloo camera rig will be created when the game runs, and will follow the active mainCamera within the scene. This should be either your Oculus or Steam VR camera, or the fallback camera.

Best Practices

  • Have your PC connected to Router/Access Point via Ethernet cable

  • Headset should be connected to Wi-Fi via 5GHz band (AC or AX)

  • Router in the same room as the headset or in line of sight, and at least 1 m off the ground

  • Non-mesh network configuration

Known Issues

  • My setup is ideal, but the performance is not good.

    • Air Link's performance might be affected if the Wi-Fi channel switches from 5 GHz to 2.4 GHz during a session. To avoid this behaviour, you can either create separate networks for the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands, or disable the 2.4-GHz band altogether. Please consult the manual of your router for more information.

  • How do I unpair your headset connected to my PC?

    • Right now, there is no option to unpair the headset from the PC. The way to unpair is from your headset. On your headset, select Settings, Experimental Feature, Turn Air Link off.

  • I have no audio when I launch into Air Link.

    • To recover audio, reboot the headset and relaunch Air Link

  • My Settings panel becomes blank on Air Link crash or ungraceful Air Link session termination

    • You may have to reboot the headset if the settings panel goes blank.

  • Max. bit rate values for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs are different

    • You can set up to a max. of 100 Mbps on AMD

    • You can set up to a max. of 200 Mbps on NVIDIA

  • My bitrate settings changes are not persistent across sessions

    • You'll always enter the Air Link session with default settings (Dynamic bitrate set to 100 Mbps); any changes to bit rate settings will not be persistent across Air Link sessions.

  • I'm unable to discover my PC.

    • Make sure that your network is set up correctly

    • Check that both your PC and headset are on the same local network and neither of them is on the VPN

    • Make sure that your firewall is not blocking the TCP port 5669

    • Try turning on/off the Air Link button on the Oculus PC app

    • Reboot your headset and restart your PC software

(c) Igloo Vision Ltd. 2023