This is a development release. It is intended to allow developers to start creating SteamVR content for Linux platforms. Limited hardware support is provided.
SteamVR and VR apps require a modern linux distribution with up to date graphics drivers. Ubuntu >= 20 or Arch for instance.
For discussions and questions, please use the SteamVR for Linux forum at http://steamcommunity.com/app/250820/discussions/5/.
For bugs, please file an issue on this github issue tracker. https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux/issues
SteamVR is built on top of the Vulkan API and requires the latest Vulkan drivers.
We recommend using the latest NVIDIA drivers from the "Graphics Drivers" PPA at https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
SteamVR requires a minimum of Mesa 17.3 compiled with vulkan support and Linux kernel 4.13.
Direct Mode requires a minimum of X.org server 1.20, Linux kernel 4.15 and Mesa 18.2.
The Index HMD requires the Linux kernel version: 5.3+ for audio support. Additionally, the following point releases also contain the fix for Index audio: 5.2.3+, 5.1.21+, or 4.19.62+
Ubuntu 18.04's HWE graphic stack provides the above requirements:
sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-18.04 mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386
The "SteamVR Experimental Graphics" PPA at https://launchpad.net/~kisak/+archive/ubuntu/steamvr is also available to help test new driver features.
Before using this PPA, make sure conflicting PPAs like oibaf is not installed.
To setup "SteamVR Experimental Graphics" run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/steamvr
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt install linux-generic-steamvr-20.04 mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386
Provide your user password when requested and reboot after the last command completes to ensure the driver has updated correctly.
Intel graphics are not currently supported.
SteamVR needs to be able to access the HTC Vive's USB devices. On most Linux distributions this is not allowed by default. The latest version (1.0.0.54) of the Steam package available on http://store.steampowered.com will automatically install udev rules that allow this. However, many distributions repackage Steam. If you have installed one of those packages, you may not have the latest Steam udev rules. Your udev rules should be in the file /lib/udev/rules.d/60-steam-vr.rules and contain the following rules: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-devices/blob/master/60-steam-vr.rules
Version 1.0.7 of the OpenVR SDK has full support for Linux platforms: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr
SteamVR applications must run within the Steam runtime which supplies all the required shared libraries.
~/.steam/steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh ./my_steamvr_app
will launch the application in the correct environment. See https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime for more information about the Steam Runtime.
Unreal Engine 4.16+ has support for SteamVR on Linux, using the OpenGL RHI (GL4 SM5)
Starting with Unreal Engine 4.19, we recommend using the Vulkan RHI for VR, which requires a patch to the engine. See https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/pull/4730 for details. For 4.20, this patch is also required: https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/pull/5019
Unity development is not currently supported.
- Even with Vulkan applications, performance issues are still being worked on on both the runtime and the game engine side
Desktop view in the dashboard currently doesn't work(fixed in May 8 Steam client beta)- Power management of base stations is not currently implemented
- Headset audio device switching is not currently implemented
- The VR status window isn't currently aware of direct mode being enabled or not, so the "enable direct mode" and "disable direct mode" buttons should not be used; direct mode is automatically enabled where supported
- Firmware update of base stations is not supported (both USB and Bluetooth connections)
