Today we are adding some more games on Steam for Vive developers to play.

One is an old favorite, the original Cloudhead Demo for GDC – The Gallery. They recently debuted their next steps for the title at PAX, so no Blink[www.thegallerygame.com] in this one but it does feature some great interactive elements.

Alongside them, fellow Canadians or at least people living in Canada for the next few days – Northway Games and Radial games are making Fantastic Contraption available. This puzzle game just premiered its VR version at PAX Prime. It is a great example of room scale gaming, Warning on that 4th puzzle – the one where a cart won’t solve it? Brains will explode when the eureka moment hits.

Not to be left out, the other new game premiered at PAX – Final Approach by Phaser Lock Interactive is now also available. This game came from our Austin game jam and puts you smack dab in the middle of an airport landing planes and helicopters, while putting out fires and more.

As we continue on to launch, developers should let us know when they have new content to either premiere at shows, or share so other developers so they can learn and be inspired and you can get feedback. Just let us know you are ready and we will add it to Steam via the VR Demo package. You can post a thread here to solicit feedback - http://steamproxy.com/app/358720/discussions/1/

We also wanted to call out - The latest Steam Client beta brings with it some changes to the way VR applications are represented and exposed to OpenVR. You will need to set up your VR application to have Steam deal with it correctly. Check out this post for more information on how to correctly configure you VR App & let us know what you would like to see changed or added.

SteamVR has been updated. This publishes the latest beta build (1438035413) to everyone.

VR Monitor:

• Will not flag chaperone problems until tracking is working.
  
• Add option under diagnostic menu to record tracking data if requested by Valve.
  
• Changed VR Monitor so that Quit will now cause a Quit event to be sent to all running OpenVR applications. Applications should respond to that event by either exiting or by calling VR_Shutdown. Applications that don’t quit after five seconds are killed. This behavior can be removed by adding -nomaster to the command line options for SteamVR in the properties.
  
• Added iconography to colored status indicators, for colorblind users.
  
• Improved Room Setup window, which can now be zoomed, panned and rotated, and can now measure distances and toggle visibility of certain elements.
  
• Changed <More Help> in the Status Report to link to a real website, but there is no content yet.
  
• Added logging files to System Report.

Lighthouse:

• Improved tracking (and increased sanity check limits) for “Frisbee like” motions with the controller.
  
• Improved tracking when controllers physically collide with objects.
  
• Fixed one cause of the tracking universe and chaperone bounds shifting over time.
  
• Reduced CPU consumption of lighthouse related threads by 50%.

Dashboard:

• Added the Dashboard, a system-level interface designed for quick access and simple interaction while in VR. Press the System Button on a SteamVR controller to activate it. (That’s the tiny black button on Vive Developer Edition hardware.)
  
• Added automatic activation of the SteamVR Overlay when VRMonitor starts, for presentation in the Dashboard. (This requires the next Steam Client Beta which will be available later this week.)
  
• Applications will now get the event VREvent_InputFocusCaptured when the Dashboard is made visible and VREvent_InputFocusReleased when it is hidden. Applications can also call IVROverlay:: IsDashboardVisible() to see if the Dashboard is active. When it is, application developers are encouraged to hide anything they are drawing that is attached to the controllers to avoid conflicting with the controllers that are drawn by the Dashboard itself. If appropriate, games should also pause gameplay (but not rendering) while the Dashboard is visible.
  
• Note: Dashboard activation is currently limited to Vive Developer Edition hardware. Support for activating and controlling the dashboard from Oculus devices is in the works.

Compositor:

• Fixed scene rendering upside down on some apps.

Room Setup:

• Updated Safe-Zone to include a choice of 3 specific sizes: 4x3ft, 6x4.5ft, and 8x6ft. Room Setup visuals show that this is a walking bound while including a 2ft horizontal reaching buffer on each side above waist height. Size can be cycled by pressing the pad or using the main menu button.
  
• Changed Reset to default the Safe-Zone to the smallest size and set hard bounds 2ft away from each edge.

API:

• Fixed TrackedDevicePose_t vVelocity and vAngularVelocity to have the correct values. (Previously they were reporting 0,0,0).

Today’s Steam Client Beta update, when paired with the latest update to SteamVR [beta], includes the Dashboard, a new system-level interface available in VR. To access the Dashboard, press the system button on either controller. (On the Vive Developer Edition controllers, that’s the tiny black button. Other headsets are not yet supported.)

The Dashboard is currently pretty basic. You’ll see more features introduced as we develop them over the course of the coming weeks. Our goals for the Dashboard are to provide users with easy access to both system-level features and contextually-relevant content while in VR. And because this whole thing runs on a PC, we want to create a space where any software can be accessed while in VR. The Dashboard makes this possible with Overlays, the applications it hosts.

The first of these Overlays is Steam itself, which runs as a modified version of Big Picture mode in VR, providing users with access to your game’s information like achievements, guides, news, and more. We’re just getting started on optimizing this UI for VR, so the experience is still rough around the edges. We’re excited to have it up and running though, and look forward to hearing what you think.

If you’re interesting in building your own Overlay, check out our APIs in the latest update of the OpenVR SDK, which includes an Overlay sample[github.com].

If you're developing content for SteamVR, you'll also want to make your game aware of the Dashboard’s current state, such that it properly pauses or relinquishes focus, and renders while the Dashboard is open. Applications now get the event when the Dashboard is made visible and when it is hidden. Applications can also call to see if the Dashboard is active. When it is, application developers are encouraged to hide anything they are drawing that is attached to the controllers to avoid conflicting with the controllers that are drawn by the Dashboard itself. If appropriate, games should also pause gameplay (but not rendering) while the Dashboard is visible.

Give it a try, then jump in the discussions and let us know what you think.

You can find the release here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr/releases/tag/v0.9.5


IVROverlay:

• Added GetOverlayKey and GetOverlayName which return the key or name of an overlay from its handle.
  
• Added GetOverlayImageData which returns the current raw image data from an overlay.
  
• Improved reliability of SetOverlayRaw and SetOverlayFromFile.
  
• Added VREvent_ImageLoaded, which is sent when SetOverlayRaw or SetOverlayFromFile finish updating the overlay texture.
  
• Added VROverlayError_UnableToLoadFile, which may be returned if SetOverlayFromFile fails.
  
• Added ShowDashboard, which will make the dashboard visible if a dashboard manager is present. We aren't shipping a dashboard manager quite yet, so this function currently does nothing.

IVRNotifications:

• This new interface allows applications to post notifications to the user. Details and documentation are coming soon.

SteamVR has been updated. This publishes the latest beta build (1436894249) to everyone.


VR Monitor:

• Added more logging to help diagnose startup problems.
  
• Added information about whether the user has an Admin account to the system report

Dashboard:

• Disabled controller status overlays. These will return in some form when they have actual data in them.
  
• Fixed controller pointer interaction with overlapping overlays to count the closest collision.
  
• Fixed several bugs related to loading overlays from files or raw image buffers.

Lighthouse:

• Improved immunity to reflections.
  
• Improved tracking from secondary base station (usually this is the base furthest from where you start, but it can vary from run to run depending on where objects are when you start SteamVR).
  
• Fix a startup hang.
  
• Block haptics while bootstrapping tracking to avoid interference.

Lighthouse Base Station Firmware:

• Fixed intermittent startup failure for "A" mode bases
  
• Improved gravity measurement ( addresses cases where world starts tilted )

Room Setup:

• Fixed changing the primary facing direction not saving in some cases.
  
• Main menu updated so that setup can be completed with a single controller.

The base station firmware in yesterday's update caused some base stations to stop working when it was installed. This update restores functionality. If you installed the previous firmware on your base stations, please update to this one.

Instructions on how to update base station firmware can be found here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamVR/HowTo_Update_Firmware#Base_Station_Firmware_Update

SteamVR has been updated with the following changes. This brings it up to version 1435962534, which is the same version that was previously in the beta.


General:

• Firmware update tool for dongles now updates all attached dongles. It will just print a message and exit if all dongles are already up-to-date. It will not flash arbitrary files (only dongle firmware!).
  
• Added lighthouse_console.exe as diagnostic tool
  
• Fix for failing to connect to vrserver on startup in certain situations
  
• Fix for downloading invalid configs from the hmd in certain situations
  
• switched logging timestamps from UTC to localtime

VRMonitor:

• Added Quit All command, which quits all OpenVR applications and then VR Monitor itself.
  
• Removed compositor status as its own entry: it is now available in the System Status
  
• Fixed drawing of Room Overview in VR
  
• Fixed display of chaperone bound in Room Overview, when created at startup
  
• Implemented removal of all SteamVR USB and HID devices through Settings > Reset > Remove all SteamVR USB devices. The use of USBDeview is obsolete with this.
  
• Status Window has a bluish background while the system is in startup phase
  
• Added new playlist feature to run demos similar to the demo loop in the vrworkbench with wireless controllers
  
• Added steamvr_intro as a first application to try in addition to hellovr_sdl
  
• Added check, so current Vive users get reminded to be checked into SteamVR [Beta]
  
• Added Quit All option that exits every OpenVR application and then VR Monitor itself.
  
• Added Frame Timing graph (right click > diagnostics > display frame timing). ( Details for Frame Timing can be found here:
  https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamVR/Frame_Timing )

Room Setup Tool:

• new version of the SteamVR Room Setup application with improved user interface
  
• Fixed bounds and center popping to the wrong position after saving.
  
• Fixed floor position initializing wrong and causing the saved floor position to drift downward each time Room Setup is launched.

Compositor:

• Added gpuview events for detecting dropped frames.
  
• Added screenshot support (Shift+S when compositor has focus, saves to runtime/screenshots).
  
• Added simple mirror mode (Shift+M when compositor has focus to toggle).
  
• Miscellaneous optimization and fixes for rendering hardbounds, overlays, etc.
  
• Disabled auto-fullscreen support since it was causing too many problems.
  
• Added backface culling to overlays.

Chaperone:

• Fixed Universe 1 (Rift) getting data from or having its data migrated to similar Lighthouse Universes.
  
• Fixed data migrating from previous similar Universes that never calibrated the Standing Center.
  
• Fixed Chaperone reporting Universe 1 in a transient state before the HMD has valid poses.
  
• Chaperone bounds are automatically reloaded in Compositor when saving Room Setup.

Lighthouse:

• Universes with stale base station positions will now update their positions.
  
• Fixed some instances of Invalid Adapter startup failures in the compositor. The HMD no longer needs to be the rightmost display.

Firmware:

• HMD – Improve tracking quality when using two bases in a small room.
  
• VR Controller – Fix tracking dropouts when using two bases in a small room.
  
• VR Controller – Fix a bug preventing some wireless controllers from reacting to touches on the trackpad after several seconds of inactivity until restored by a button or trigger press.
  
• See https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamVR/HowTo_Update_Firmware for upgrade instructions.

Available here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr/releases/tag/29d6b20cb0e566461de829c


General:

• Added openvr_driver.h. This is the API to write an OpenVR driver. It is still very much a work in progress. No backward compatibility is guaranteed for drivers using this interface. It may be useful for development, however. See the documentation for details.
  
• Added include guards around VR types in case openvr.h and openvr_driver.h end up included in the same file.

IVRSystem:

• Added properties to get information about connected wireless dongles.
  
• Added properties to determine if the HMD display extends the desktop.
  
• Both render model functions have moved to the new IVRRenderModel interface.
  
• HandleControllerOverlayInteractionAsMouse has moved to IVROverlay.

IVRCompositor

• Removed all overlay related functions. Use the new IVROverlay interface.
  
• Added the concept of 'scene focus'. Only the application with scene focus can render the 3D scene in the compositor.
  
• Focus goes to application that started rendering most recently.
  
• The old scene focus app will receive a VREvent_SceneFocusLost when it loses focus. When an app regains focus (because the application with focus exited) it receives a VREvent_SceneFocusGained.
  
• Applications can check for scene focus with the CanRenderScene method. Applications without scene focus should do little to no rendering work and allow the application with focus full access to the CPU and GPU.
  
• WaitGetPoses will now block for a while for the application that doesn't have focus and then return an error. If you want to avoid the blocking, call CanRenderScene in your render loop.
  
• Submit will now return an error if the current application doesn't have focus.

IVRRenderModel:

• Added functions to enumerate the list of available render models.

IVROverlay:

• This is a new interface in this SDK revision. It offers:
  
  • Support for multiple overlays in the compositor
    
  • The ability to attach an overlay to a controller or other tracked device
    
  • Support for registering system overlays, which is what comes up when you hit the tiny black system button on the SteamVR controllers. See the helloworldoverlay sample for an example of how to implement one of these using Qt.
• See the documentation for more details.

SteamVR has been updated with the following changes. This brings it up to version 1433987865, which is the same version that was previously in the beta.

The Previous branch has been moved forward to what was the default for everyone before this morning.

General:

• Launching the SteamVR app will now start VR Monitor. To switch Steam to VR mode, use the View menu in the Steam client.
  
• Fixed VR Mode in Steam.

VR Compositor:

• Added scene focus locking. This prevents two applications from fighting over which scene is drawing in the compositor. The newest application gets the lock and keeps it until it exits.
  
• Automatically attempt to restore fullscreen when lost, but only if not already recently attempted.
  
• Fixed a deadlock that could occur when starting a second application.

VR Monitor:

• Fixed base station display in room overview when bases installed upside-down.
  
• changed how resources and other applications get started: the executable path is used to find the tools directory and not the runtime
  
• implemented vrmonitor://open/settings/general | openvrpaths | reset to open settings specifically from the command line
  
• implemented default behaviour when Oculus Rift DK2 is connected, and no chaperone data exists
  
• implemented creation of default chaperone data for DK2 through Settings > Reset
  
• implemented vrmonitor://ResetChaperoneToOculusDK2

Chaperone:

• More specific warning/error states for Chaperone related to removing or adding tracking objects to a Universe.
  
• Auto migration of Chaperone data between Universes with similar tracking objects.
  
• Fixed Chaperone reporting tracking Universe error for non-lighthouse tracking systems.

Lighthouse:

• Added firmware image for the HTC Vive Developer Edition Lighthouse base stations.
  
• Adding firmware images for wireless SteamVR controllers

SteamVR Controllers:

• Added early trigger press to the SteamVR controller that is included with the HTC Vive Developer Edition. The triggers should now report as "pressed" when they get close to the bottom even if the hardware switch hasn't actually been pressed yet.