![]() I can switch the PC and headset on, wait 30 seconds, and the headset is up and running with SteamVR booted and ready to play. That means leaving the TV off, and the keyboard in storage. Now I have a dedicated VR PC that boots all the way to Windows and starts up all the apps I need without me having to do anything. I then went one step further and removed the login screen entirely by making a few registry tweaks, and set both the Vive wireless and Steam VR apps to start up with Windows 10. ![]() Could I reduce that or even eliminate it entirely?įirst, I removed the login password from my account - here’s how I did it in Windows 10, but you can remove your password on Windows 11, too. The next big drag on the VR startup process was having to interact with the PC itself. That way, whenever I come to play, they’re fully charged and ready to go. In that space, I also installed a high wattage, multi-USB-A charger, and plugged in some short USB-C and micro-USB cables for charging the headset’s battery and the controllers. In my case, it was in the under seat storage in my sofa, which has enough space for the headset, battery, controllers, and a wireless keyboard for driver updates and the like. Nearby storage and chargersįor the last step in improving the hardware side of my virtual reality setup, I found a storage solution for the headset and its accessories nearby. I haven’t switched the PC itself to startup remotely, but that might be one way to further improve this setup in the future. This way I don’t have to turn each of them on by hand, and I can just hit a couple of buttons on the remote - which I store with the headset - and they’re up and running. I was able to shave a good 30 seconds off of my VR gaming startup times by installing remote-controlled power outlets for the Lighthouse trackers. I had to turn the PC on, log in, start up SteamVR and the Vive wireless app, turn on the Lighthouse trackers… it was all still frustratingly slow. While the room-scale space was great to play in, and having a permanent setup meant less startup and teardown steps every time I played, it still took a while to get going. Ultimately, I built a Ryzen 3700X-based, Mini-ITX gaming PC in my living room, permanently installed the wireless transmitter and Lighthouse sensors in viable positions, and used cord covers that matched the wall color to hide the wiring. ![]() ![]() Virtual reality isn’t as demanding on modern gaming PCs as it once was - especially if you’re playing on an older, lower-resolution headset like me - so it may be more affordable to build a VR gaming PC than you might think. I appreciate that this is something that most people can’t do, but, if like me, you recently upgraded your main gaming rig, you likely have a few components lying around. While I looked into methods for extending the length of the wireless receiver to stretch my office PC to the living room, I ultimately settled on the nuclear option: building a dedicated VR PC. (Room-scale is a design model for VR experiences that lets users freely walk around a play area, with their real-life motion reflected in the VR environment.) Untethering my headset from my PC presented a real opportunity to make this happen. Having a room-scale area to play virtual reality games in is a real luxury and something I’ve longed for since my earliest days experimenting with the medium. It’s a lot easier to grab a headset and controllers from the wall and start playing than it is to unravel several meters worth of cabling. All those cables could be packed away, making for a cleaner, more accessible VR playspace. It not only meant that I never felt the drag of a cable to remind me that I’m actually sitting or standing in an office and not on a synthwave-inspired rooftop, but it massively cut down on the setup and teardown, too. While not all PC VR headsets support wireless virtual reality, the Vive Pro does - and I just happen to own one.Įven with my originally limited playing space, going wireless made a big difference. It makes a huge difference to the immersion of the virtual worlds, because you don’t have that regular reminder of brushing up against a cable, or coming up short against the end of its length. There’s a reason a lot of the latest headsets from most of the major VR manufacturers are wireless. Bill Roberson/Digital Trends Wireless makes a big difference After a few weeks of upgrades and adjustments, I’m happy to report that I’ve almost managed it. The idea was to make virtual reality as easy to use as flopping down in my gaming chair for standard desktop gaming. In an effort to change that, I went on a campaign of streamlining my VR setup to make it easier to get into and faster to get out of.
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