How to Stream Oculus Rift Games to Oculus Go
We recently showed you how to stream PC VR Games to an Oculus Go. In the first tutorial, we focused on streaming SteamVR Games. SteamVR covers many great VR titles, but others are exclusive to the Oculus Rift Store. In this guide, we will show you how to stream those to your Oculus Go as well.
Overview
Streaming PC VR Games to an Oculus Go is pretty straight forward. You’ll use a free program called ALVR to connect from your PC to your Headset. ALVR tricks the computer into thinking that your Oculus Go is an Oculus Rift. From there, you can enjoy any VR Game that can be controlled by a gamepad.
If you want to play games from the Oculus Store that are designed for the Rift, you’ll need to add one more piece of software called Revive. Revive specializes in allowing non-Oculus Rift headsets to play games from the Oculus Store. It does this by patching the executable file for each game. So let’s go over the details for setting everything up:
Required Hardware
- An Oculus Go VR Headset (Amazon Link)
- An iPhone or Android Phone (used to setup the Oculus Go)
- A Game Controller (we use the Xbox One S Bluetooth Controller)
- (Optional) A set of good Headphones (we like the Insignia NS-CAHBTOE01)
- A Wifi Router capable of a 5 Ghz signal (your router at home may already do this)
Required Software
Setup your Oculus Go
- Download the Oculus App on your Smartphone and complete the initial setup of your Oculus Headset (the App will guide you through these first steps).
- Once your Oculus Go is setup, visit ALVR’s website and grab a free code for the ALVR App for Oculus Go. Copy it.
- Visit the Oculus Store webpage, sign in, and enter your ALVR Key in the Redeem Code Section.
- After Redeeming your Code, restart your Oculus Go headset. Once it’s ready, click on Library and choose Not Installed from the menu on the left. The ALVR App should be available to install. Go ahead and install it on your headset. This will add the App to your main Library on the Oculus Go.
Setup your Computer
NOTE: Your home Computer needs to be VR-Ready in order to stream Games to the Oculus Go. Make sure that your PC is connected to the same network as the Oculus Go (Ethernet or 5 Ghz Wifi are both fine).
- Open Steam and go to Tools under the Library Menu. Scroll down to SteamVR (beta) and right click it. Choose to install it.
- Download the ALVR Server App and extract to a location on your computer.
- Open the extracted ALVR folder and launch ALVR App. Make sure that the ALVR driver installed under the About menu.
- This is a good time to connect your gamepad to your PC if it’s not already connected (it’s fine if is).
- Install the Oculus App on your PC. This is a large download, and will take some time.
- Log into the Oculus PC App when prompted. From there, you are welcome to browse the Oculus Store to download any game(s) that look interesting. Make sure that the games that you download support a gamepad and not just Oculus Touch controllers. Lucky’s Tail is a good free game that everyone can download (search for it).
- Allow any game downloads to complete before moving on to the next step.
- Install Revive on your PC. Make sure that you only use the 1.1.6 version. Newer versions may not work with your ALVR software.
- Make sure that your ALVR Server is running (the headset doesn’t need to be connected yet). Open the System Tray and right click on the Revive App. Choose the Patch option from the right click menu.
- Navigate to where you chose to installed the Oculus App (C:\Oculus Apps\Software by default). Open the folder for the game that you’d like to play. Click on the executable file for your game and click Open.
NOTE: This process will patch your Game’s executable file so that it works with ALVR. You’re welcome to add a shortcut for your game to your desktop.
- Make sure that the ALVR server is running and that Steam VR is also running on the PC (SteamVR should automatically launch when you start the ALVR server). Connect your Headset to the ALVR server.
- From here you can launch your selected Game on the computer.
- You can see from the above screenshot that it looks very jumbled. On your headset, you’ll only see the Game that you launched. That’s it! You’re ready to play.
Limitations
Right now ALVR is an impressive example of VR Game Streaming. It’s still in development and some features haven’t been implemented yet. It does not currently stream sound through the Oculus Go’s speakers (sound comes out of the computer). It also doesn’t work with controllers that are connected directly to the Oculus Go. You can get around these limitations by using wireless headphones and a wireless controller that are connected directly to your computer. The developer of ALVR plans to add audio support in the future.
Originally published at Flickstiq.
