Virtual Desktop application – Description of all settings.

Description of all settings available both in the Virtual Desktop application for the VR headset itself and in the PC streamer (Streamer App).

In this article you will find a description of all the settings available both in the Virtual Desktop application version 1.20.3 for VR headset and in the PC streamer (Streamer App).

Really everything is described, so the article will be useful for virtual reality beginners and those who have been using this application for a long time. You will definitely learn something new.

Streaming application for PC. Virtual Desktop Streamer

Select the desired codec. HEVC or H.264.

There is no official explanation from the developers about this option on the network. So, all of the following is the subjective opinion of our editors, based on user experience.

These codecs differ in compression algorithms and the size of the final file. Files compressed in HEVC have clearly less “weight”, but it takes more time and resources.

Indeed, when using HEVC in a Virtual Desktop streamer, the latency for encoding and decoding increases, as well as the amount of PC resources consumed. However, this format loads the communication channel with the router less and allows you to transmit a better picture at a lower bit rate than with H.264.

To summarize, here are the scenarios for using codecs:

• HEVC – to save traffic, sacrificing latency and PC resources. The use is quite reasonable with a not very powerful WI-FI router.
• H.264 – Saves PC resources, reduces latency when encoding a stream. However, image artifacts at low bitrates are possible, in which HEVC will perform better.

Allow remote connections – Allows or denies remote connection to the streaming application.

Automatically adjust bitrate – as well as the choice of codec, a very important option. Allows you to give the reins of maximum bandwidth (bitrate) into the hands of the application itself.

As a rule, in most cases, the maximum bitrate is set correctly when this function is enabled. But there are times when auto tuning reduces bandwidth extremely and you only notice it in the game itself, when it turns into a pixelated Mario from the 90s.

You have to check the settings, remove the headset, turn off the option and so on. Unnecessary actions are not always pleasant. So we recommend spending some time on tests, understanding the capabilities of your router and setting the bitrate manually. How to do this will be further, in the settings of the VD application itself.

Start with Windows – start the application along with Windows loading, automatically.

Start minimized in tray – do not show the application window at startup and immediately minimize it to tray.

Use touch input – Use control from VR controller or not. The option will vary when using different VR headsets.

Lock computer on disconnect – if enabled, Windows will ask you to re-login to your account when the headset is disconnected from the streaming application. Thus, hiding everything that is on the desktop. Why this is necessary and you will understand, not small.

Auto-select microphone – automatically switch to the headset microphone when connected.

Stream audio – Stream audio to a headset or use computer speakers.

• Mute computer speakers – mute PC speakers when connected to a headset.
• Use virtual audio driver – whether or not to use virtual audio devices that are created to redirect the sound range to your headset.

Launch Game – Not obvious, but very useful in some cases, a feature. To access it, you need to right-click on the streamer icon in the tray.

Allows you to run games manually if they are not detected automatically. It comes in handy with games like Skyrim VR. Where, when using mods, you need to run not the game itself, but the executable file. Or, if you are using manually installed games and they work crookedly when you launch them from a shortcut on the desktop.

Virtual Desktop application for VR headset

To open this menu, you need to press the “menu” key on the controller (1 time on the virtual table and 2 times in the game), or press the trigger, pointing the cursor anywhere past the virtual desktop.

Computers

Tab with PCs available for connection. It displays the current connection status, channel width and local connection address. As well as the reasons why the connection may not be available at the moment.

Environments

Choosing a theme for the environment in the Virtual Desktop workspace.

Games

All games officially installed through Steam or the Oculus store. If you have control problems or other troubles when starting from a shortcut on the desktop, try starting the game from this menu.

Also, launching applications is available through the menu in the streamer icon on the PC itself.

Input

Settings for your controllers.

Controllers interact with desktop – the ability to use controllers as a mouse cursor on the Windows desktop.

Automatically hide controllers – hide the default display of controllers when starting games or in other cases where it is necessary.

Thumbstick vertical \ horizontal scrolling – use sticks as a mouse wheel for vertical and horizontal scrolling, respectively.

Hand tracking is a feature for Oculus Quest. Allows the use of gesture control if enabled in the Oculus Quest settings.

Emulate gamepad on PC – allows you to use a gamepad to control games.

Use touch controllers as gamepad – emulate a regular gamepad using VR controllers.
Emulate D-pad and Start button – settings for emulating the D-pad of a conventional gamepad.

Settings

Settings that mainly relate only to how the virtual desktop interface will look when connected.

Auto connect – automatically connect to the Streamer App when starting Virtual Desktop in the headset. If disabled, you will need to manually click Connect on the Computers tab.

Use optimal resolution – allows you to control the resolution of your PC’s desktop, the Virtual Desktop application. If your desktop resolution changes when you connect and it annoys you, this option is for you.

Environment Quality – virtual space quality control in the Virtual Desktop interface, which is selected in the Environments tab.

Frame Rate – the number of frames per second in desktop mode. Does not affect the number of frames when the game starts.

Desktop Bitrate – image quality in desktop mode. As a rule, even the weakest router can deliver 32Mb/s. Lowering this setting does not make much sense. The maximum setting value may not be available if the automatic bitrate control option is enabled in the Streamer App settings.

Screen Brightness – Weather and mood management. Joke. Just a brightness setting.

Dynamic Lighting – If the theme of the virtual environment seems too light for you, this setting will make it darker. It will help to concentrate on the video in a virtual cinema, for example. Does not affect games. Only for the virtual environment.

Background music when disconnected – while you are not connected to your PC, a pretty nice melody will play. Like it.

Microphone passthrough – enable or disable the microphone in the headset.

• Noise cancellation – additional microphone noise reduction.

Allow custom orientation – allows you to freely navigate in those environment themes in which this is not supported.

Boost clock rate – allows you to temporarily increase the frequencies at which your headset operates. It can be useful if the computing power of the headset is not enough for some functions. Video recordings, for example. Increases battery consumption.

Copy screenshots to desktop – copies the screenshots taken to the Windows desktop, immediately after they are taken. Very comfortably.

Increase color vibrance – allows you to make the colors of the environment more saturated. Individual setting. Who like it better.

Remove head lock delay – disables the delay in moving the desktop behind the position of your head if the Head lock function is enabled.

Streaming

The most important Virtual Desktop settings that directly affect the gameplay.

VR Graphics Quality – setting the base value of the picture resolution that is fed into the headset. It is on this value that subsequent SS (super sampling) settings from SteamVR or Oculus will be applied.

The main performance setting responsible for the image quality and “jaggies” of the graphics.

Resolution is per eye and is correct for Oculus Quest 2. Other headsets may have different number of pixels.

• Low – 1728×1824 (3456×1824)
• Medium – 2016×2112 (4032×2112)
• High – 2496×2592 (4992×2592)

VR Frame Rate – The maximum number of frames your system will aim for when rendering an image.

Here it is important to take into account that if it is impossible to achieve the set FPS by hardware, duplicates of already rendered frames will be used. These synthetic frames, although they help to slightly correct the picture as a whole, greatly affect the feeling of “smoothness” of the picture.

For example: if you set it to 90fps, and the game will drag on, at a maximum of ~ 60 – 70 frames per second, then it will not be as comfortable as if you set 60 and 72 frames by default.

It makes sense to experiment with the settings and change the frame rate for each game. The same Beat Saber is much more pleasant to play at 90fps, despite the fact that such a frame rate is quite difficult to achieve in other VR games and for them, it should be lowered if necessary.

VR Bitrate is the most “creative” setting in Virtual Desktop. Responsible for the amount of data transmitted to the headset “over the air” through your router.

With low values ​​of this parameter, the power of your hardware will not be particularly important – the image will look like a JPEG picture with maximum compression. At high values, the delay can catastrophically increase and it will simply be impossible to play due to lags.

The maximum available value for a comfortable game is largely influenced by the power of the router and signal. To a lesser extent – the capabilities of the video card. At what bitrate to play, you have to find out on your own, through experiments. This will depend on your hardware.

Gamma – brightness setting. Simple and clear. Further more difficult.

Sliced ​​encoding – enables the ability to transfer incompletely finished frames (sliced) to the headset. Not supported by all video cards, but reduces latency by a few milliseconds if available.

But even if this function is supported, it is not at all necessary to use it, since it can cause deterioration (raggedness) of the picture.

Extra latency mode – adds a few milliseconds of delay, thereby facilitating the work of the router. By enabling this option, you can achieve a higher bitrate without particularly noticeable lags.

Video buffering – increases the delay by about 10 milliseconds, but allows you to get a smoother picture. Extremely customizable. Some users cannot play without this option, while others do not even notice the difference.

Increase color vibrance – allows you to enhance the color reproduction in applications. Does not affect desktop mode.

Increase video nominal range – increases the difference between light and dark tones. Adds contrast.

Show performance overlay – turns on a window displaying the current FPS, latency and other useful indicators. Pretty handy tool for adjusting graphics in applications.

Center to play space – Riddle… According to the idea, this setting should display the center of the room, which can be oriented when moving. But we were unable to get it to work in any of the applications.

If among our readers there are those who managed to figure out this option – write about it in the comments. We will be grateful.

So far, these are all settings available in VD. The application is regularly updated and when new options appear, we will describe them in this article.