Posts tagged with "Steam Frame"

Back on Monday, I finally received some lens inserts for my Steam Frame. I originally registered my interest in getting some back on September 20th, got an email to say they were available for purchase on October 1st, and ordered them the same day. They finally turned up on the 26th (two days ago). Considering that the Steam Frame is still a pretty new device, and I imagine the company were still getting fully set up to handle all of this, this felt like a good turnaround.

The company I used this time around (I've used others for my Quest 2 and PSVR2 headsets) was VR Optician. In my case I was ordering actual prescription lenses. While I am mildly short-sighted, and also have to contend with astigmatism, I can mostly get away with using a headset without correction. It's not ideal, but it's also not impossible to play and read in the headset. In fact, for the last few weeks that I've had the Steam Frame, I've got used to it.

On Monday evening I took a moment to fit the lenses and give them a very quick try-out. Oh, the difference! It's not a surprise, of course, but I was already impressed with how clear the Frame is; with the lenses in place it felt like a whole new headset again.

I ordered the "slim/comfort" versions, as opposed to the "advanced eye-tracking/VRChat" versions¹. I don't need advanced eye-tracking (at least for the foreseeable future) and I'm very unlikely to ever need to be doing anything in VRChat. Despite being the "slim" version, they obviously add some extra bulk to the lenses.

I can't say I'm currently noticing a difference in how they feel with respect to my eyes (although this week isn't one that's giving me much opportunity to mess about in VR), but there is a noticeable extra bit of "pinch" on the sides of my nose. Hopefully, with a little more time in the headset, I'll find a sweet spot when it comes to comfort.

As for whether it was worth the £69.00 plus shipping... yeah, for sure. They correct my eyesight, let me get the most out of the headset, and they let me do it in a way that protects the actual Frame's lenses (both in terms of giving them a less-expensive cover and by removing the urge to try and wear glasses inside the headset).

Back when the whole new Steam hardware ecosystem was announced, I remember there being a fair bit of talk about how one of the benefits of having a Steam Frame and a Steam Machine would be that you could either play some VR games standalone, or when you wanted to play something a bit more demanding, you could stream from your Steam Machine. While a bit expensive if you were creating your setup from scratch, the idea of a PCVR gaming setup that is all based around one ecosystem was very much appealing.

Fast-forward to the drip-feed availability of the Machine and then later the Frame, we ended up with a pair of devices that actually didn't really work with each other... yet. Reddit was, of course, mad at Valve. Personally, while I did end up with both devices, I was okay with this as it was obvious that work was under way to make this a reality and that it wasn't too far off.

Then, yesterday morning, I noticed that SteamOS 3.9 was released. This entry in the release notes caught my eye:

Improved support for Steam Frame wireless adapter

I had about 90 minutes to kill, so I thought I'd give things a go. I updated the OS on the Machine and updated the Frame too. After that, I "unboxed" (it was still in its little paper jacket) the wireless adaptor and plugged it in, and the Machine recognised it right away. At this point, though, it got a little muddled. I wish I'd kept notes of what I was doing, but from this point on I sort of had to make things up as I went along. What I was expecting was for SteamOS, after I'd paired the Frame (something it prompted me to do), to do anything and everything else to get me playing a game, streamed to the Frame, seamlessly. That part didn't happen. There was no prompt to install SteamVR, it wasn't even clear if I needed to or should. I did anyway just in case (and that took a little bit of faff; I seem to remember that a straightforward search of the store for SteamVR actually didn't show it -- but I forget how I found it in the end).

At this point I tried to follow my nose to see if I could get anything working. My intention was to try out Gunman Contracts, which had been very disappointing as a Frame-native experience. Would it run better with the Machine doing the work? Here's what happened when I tried:

1. First time I ended up with the game running on the Machine, displaying flat on my TV, and with the Frame saying it had timed out.
2. Second time I ended up with the game running in 2D/flat mode in the Frame.
3. Third time I finally got it running on the Machine, but as a VR game streamed to the Frame.

I can't remember the steps I took to get there (again: I only had a short amount of time and hadn't thought to make notes as I went), but once I had this going things seemed to work well. As for the performance of Gunman Contracts itself: eh... it was visibly better than native on the Frame, but it wasn't great. I did some tweaking to the settings and eventually got it running in a way that felt pretty responsive.

I feel it's a game that needs a lot more work to make it run comfortably on the Machine, let alone native on the Frame.

One thing I did seem to notice was that it's really tricky to pull up the game's menu while you're playing it. It seems like you're supposed to press down on the d-pad, maybe. But I found that sometimes it was just a press, other times it was a press and hold for a second or so, yet other times nothing worked. I'm left wondering if it's sensitive to your location in the game. I need to do more experimentation there.

Getting low on time, and battery on the Frame, I decided I had to try another game that I really want to be able to play more of again: VTOL VR. That installed and ran up just fine. In no time whatsoever I was up and in the air.

Things did get a little confused at this point though. In attempting to take this screenshot, I accidentally managed to do the SteamVR "recentre my view" gesture (press and hold the Steam button on the controller). This resulted in me being sat on top of the canopy and turned through 90 degrees. Now, I seem to remember that there is a way to recentre yourself in the VTOL VR cockpit, but I couldn't remember the button combination off-hand. I also seem to remember there's a way to do it via an MFD menu but, given I was sat on top of the canopy, I couldn't reach that.

So, in conclusion: it does seem that we're now at a point where the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will talk to each other, and you can play games on the Frame where the Machine is doing the heavy lifting. This is good news. On the other hand it does seem like there's a lot of tidying up to be done with this new VR ecosystem, and I suspect that plenty of games need to take the new Frame controllers into account too.

When I next get a chance I'm going to go through this process again, and try and keep notes of what I do and what the results are.

I realise I've been a bit quiet on the blog front for a few days, in part because I've also been a bit quiet on the coding front too. Looking at my GitHub contribution graph, the previous three days where I didn't commit anything are the longest run of no-commit days I've had in about 10 months. There are a couple of reasons for this: the first is that I've reached a bit of a natural pause point with my work on Rogallo (there's a biggish update brewing, but I've been taking my time with it), the second is -- as I expected -- getting my hands on the Steam Frame.

I haven't been playing with it exclusively -- when I have a good amount of free time I am back to streaming -- but I have been dipping in on occasion, and some of those occasions would be moments where I'd reach for the MacBook and bang out some code.

I'm still not set up for full-on PCVR, but I have "discovered" a game that runs really well on the Steam Frame, and it's one that's related to a favourite of mine in VR: Virtual Fighter Maneuvers.

Simply put: it's a very cut-down version of VTOL VR, designed to run well on standalone headsets. Graphically it's simplistic, and from a gameplay point of view it's very focused. There's no single-player campaign. There's no multiplayer campaign. There's no story at all. You strap on your headset, fire up the game, jump into a lobby and off you go: dogfight time!

I love it for that. I've always loved flight sims, and they're even more fun in VR. I like the slow pace and the sense of immersion. But if you're going to fly in VR it takes a bit of time to get set up and plan things. This is the total opposite. I love that I can dive in for 30 minutes, have a fun experience, and then be done. It's ideal for quick, casual sessions.

That's not to say I only want to play for those short bursts -- I have played longer sessions -- it's more to point out that it's a game that combines perfectly with the low-activation-energy accessibility of the Steam Frame. It's a game that makes the Frame feel as easy to pick up as the Steam Deck.

Of course, being a mainly multiplayer game, your chances of having a good time are mixed¹. I've been into a couple of lobbies that have been really fun, with a good mix of folk, who all seem to have joined to have a good time. I've also joined matches where it's just kids wanting to be edgelords on the Internet. Thankfully, so far, it's more the former than the latter. Sadly, though, there don't seem to be that many people playing it. In my (UK timezone) evenings there's normally, at most, four matches on the go that you might be able to join.

There also seems to be a 1v1 matchmaking service so you can get a ranking by battling folk at a similar level to you (I'm a newb to the game, of course); I've yet to actually get such a match going.

This one is a keeper and I can see myself diving into it often for a good while to come.

Yesterday evening I finally had the chance to unbox my Steam Frame and have an initial play with it. Here are my impressions of it after playing for a couple of hours. Note that this isn't intended to be any kind of review, just some jotted notes about things I noticed and concluded. The order might appear a little random too.

Unboxing¶

The first thing I noticed was the obvious lack of any actual instructions. Either I missed the obvious, or there was no leaflet and nothing on the box to tell me how to get it up and running. I had already read online what to do so didn't have any issues, but this still strikes me as odd. I guess the Frame isn't intended for the full consumer market and so the kind of enthusiast who plays with SteamVR is likely curious enough to go find information or work things out, but it still feels like an odd omission.

The other thing that feels like a serious omission is the complete lack of any sort of welcome experience. I remember when I first got my Quest 2, the introduction app was a whole thing and did a great job of showing off the hardware. Heck, even the Steam Deck has Aperture Desk Job. It seems like a very odd choice that something new for the Frame wasn't created.

For example, The Lab is a decade old now; it seems strange to me that they didn't refresh it and promote it as a standalone initial experience for the Frame -- perhaps using it to show off some of the new capabilities or something.

Comfort¶

While I did buy the ergonomic kit, I didn't set any of that up right away. I was keen to try the device out so my initial test was without the top strap in place. While I've since fitted it, and find it a useful addition, I'm amazed at just how comfortable the headset is to wear. I've spent many hundreds of hours wearing the Quest 2 and the PSVR2, neither of which was horrible, but both of them felt uncomfortable after some use. Based on my initial impressions the Frame feels like something that could be worn for pretty long sessions without any problem.

To be clear: The Steam Frame is by far the most comfortable headset I've worn. This in turn makes it feel like the headset with the least activation energy required when it comes to being motivated to "jump into VR".

Controllers¶

The controllers are... okay, I guess. Compared to the headset they feel cheap, which they might well be. Based on my experience with the Quest 2, the controllers are the things that take the most punishment and so they're most likely to be the things that need replacing most often. Perhaps they're designed with the right balance of "last long enough" and "affordable to replace".

The main issue I have with the controllers is they seem to have crammed too much into them. They've put all four buttons on the right controller, and a D-pad on the left controller. Perhaps I'm missing something here but this feels like overkill. I found that this made the controllers feel far too busy. All of this also means that the two top buttons (the ones normally used to pull up menus of some description) feel just out of reach. During my time playing last night I found I was having to constantly readjust my grip to reach different buttons, which then meant I was often having to peek under the headset to actually see where my fingers were landing.

Honestly, in terms of ergonomics, I'd say the Frame's controllers are worse than those of the Quest 2, but slightly better than the ones that come with the PSVR2¹.

There's also the complication of the controller straps that come in the ergonomic kit. I love these sorts of straps (the kind that goes around the back of your hand) as they generally make controller use more comfortable. It's great to not have to keep gripping the controller all the time, and it also feels more natural if you need to throw something in VR. But it really feels like whoever designed the controller layout never spoke with whoever designed the straps. The combination ends up being pretty awkward.

I've never used the Index controllers, but everyone I've spoken to who has always seems to sing their praises. Based on that, the Frame's controllers feel like they can't have come from the same company.

Inside the headset¶

I've read a good few comments from people on Reddit that say that the display in the headset is pretty dark. That wasn't my experience at all. Out of the box I found the display bright enough, and that wasn't even turned up as high as it will go.

The other thing I found was that the display felt like the clearest one I've tried out yet. I wear glasses; I'm short-sighted and have an astigmatism that needs correcting. Given the design of the headset there's no way I was going to wear my specs while using it, so for the moment I'm playing unaided². Despite that I found the display very readable (to be fair, I'm not that short-sighted).

What is slightly disappointing is the lack of an actual "home" when you boot up the headset. This feels like a missed opportunity. Like, sure, the floating menus and the stark landscape are fine and do the job, but the actual home to exist in always felt like a fun thing. Even the Quest 2 has this -- surely it could be done on the Frame?

Audio¶

I really like the audio. My VR audio experience comes from the stock Quest 2 and also stock PSVR2. The Frame is obviously very similar to the Quest 2, in that the speakers are "near" your ears but don't cover them in any way. I like this. I like this a lot. I find this a really comfortable way to experience VR (and, while it's not an issue at the moment, the ideal setup for recording your voice for video-making or streaming purposes -- you're less likely to end up shouting). I've never liked the PSVR2 in-ear buds so I'm glad it's nothing like that.

While playing, I found that the sense of direction of sounds was pretty spot on, which is something that very obviously matters to immersion. That level of immersion, combined with an awareness of your own surroundings, feels like just the right balance.

Battery life¶

The battery life is not great, it has to be said. I think I got something like 40 minutes out of the device when I first booted it up. In all fairness, I can't remember what level it was on to start with, and I was also doing an OS upgrade, controller update, and the installation of a game or two.

The second part of my initial session started with something like 95% battery available. That second session ended up on about 20% battery left after playing Alyx for the better part of an hour, give or take (I didn't make a point of actually timing it).

I feel like, with a full charge, and depending on what I do, I might get around 90 minutes out of the device. This feels less than I'd get out of the Quest 2 back in the day.

All of this was, of course, playing a game locally on the headset itself. It will be interesting to see how it compares when in PC-based PCVR streaming mode using the supplied dongle.

Given my interest in using this mostly in standalone mode, I can see myself buying an external power unit and hooking it up while it's stuck in a pocket or something.

Ergonomic kit¶

The ergonomic kit feels like a thing that should have been included in the price, if I'm honest. The additional strap for the headset is, as I mentioned above, nice to have and improves the comfort from comfortable to very comfortable. The straps for the controllers feel a little cheap but do the job.

I've not tried out the nose guard thing yet. There's no doubt that a lot of light leaks around the nose, but at the same time that's actually quite handy for quickly glancing at the world around you if you need to be able to check on something (your phone, or where your fingers are on the controller because of the issues I mention above).

Now, this might just be me being a bit dense: I found the instructions that came with the kit kind of confusing when it came to the controller straps. I got there in the end, but I feel like the visuals printed on the box could have been so much better.

Thankfully my kit was complete. I've seen reports of people finding broken parts, missing parts, or things like two right-handed controller straps rather than a left and a right.

Gaming¶

For my initial session I only played games standalone. While I do have a PC for PCVR purposes, it's still packed away after my move last year. I will drag it out and give it a go at some point, but the standalone gaming abilities are what interest me most at the moment.

Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone¶

The first game I decided to try out was Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone. While the "Stand Alone" in the name is in reference to it no longer being a mod for Half-Life: Alyx, my understanding is that it is intended to be playable standalone on the Steam Frame.

It isn't. It so very isn't.

The FPS was horrible, and I noticed lots of graphical distortion as I tried to play. I never made it out of the home bunker as the whole thing was just a laggy mess.

This doesn't surprise me though. Based on other reviews it looks like it's not the best experience even when playing in full PCVR mode. I've also played it flat-screen on the Steam Deck and it's okay there, but obviously needs some work.

I will revisit this, as I noticed in the settings for it that everything seemed to be turned up to the max. Textures were on Ultra for example, which seems like a wild choice out of the box for a game running on a standalone VR headset. Given this I'm going to assume the game makes zero effort to detect the environment it's running in and to configure good defaults.

Gun Club VR¶

Next up I tried Gun Club VR. This is a game I've played before native to the Quest 2, and also in PCVR. Given it's an older game I had high hopes for it. I was right to. This was pin-sharp and buttery smooth. In terms of how it looked and felt in the headset it was night and day compared to Gunman Contracts.

Sure, I'm comparing apples and oranges there in terms of game age and what's being asked of the hardware, but I think it's a good comparison of the different ends of that spectrum.

While Gunman Contracts left me concerned that a lot of VR gaming would be off-limits on the Frame, Gun Club VR gave me hope that many of the classics will run well (perhaps after some tweaks by the authors).

Half-Life: Alyx¶

The third and final game I tried out was Half-Life: Alyx. I've played this in full PCVR mode before, and do feel it's pretty much the peak VR experience. The idea that this could work standalone was wild to me. I know Valve have worked hard on making it work, and are promoting it to the point of bundling it with the Frame³, but it still felt like it was going to be a bad time.

It wasn't a bad time. It was a good time.

While it's very obvious that the graphics have been dialled down, and while I did see a fair bit of pop-in of assets from time to time, generally it looked good and performed well. In my peripheral vision I could obviously see that the resolution was super-low, but no matter where I was directly looking, I saw a quality image (presumably eye-tracked foveated rendering at work, although I've not checked if it is used in Alyx). There was almost no stutter, no lag to speak of, and it felt as good as I remember when playing it in full PCVR mode.

Conclusion¶

Overall my first experience is pretty positive. Out of the box the Steam Frame is the most comfortable VR experience I've had yet. Given I'm writing this just one week after getting the purchase invitation email, I have high hopes for this device. It seems obvious that there's a load of software and firmware improvements to come, and I can imagine a good third-party market of add-on products to augment the use of the headset (mics, headphones, care and storage, power without full tether, etc.). I also imagine there will be a scramble to optimise a good number of VR games and experiences to get them working well standalone.

It is, without question, expensive for what it is. I very much doubt that this was Valve's intention or doing. The demand for various types of hardware is having a broad impact and I don't need to detail that. Taking this fact into account, this feels like a great little product that's only going to improve with time.

While I'm not sure I'll return to recording VR videos again, at least not with the frequency I used to, I will be returning to enjoying playing VR again thanks to this little device making it very accessible.

Introduction¶

An occasional collection of things I've recently found on the Internet and added to my bookmarks.

Weird little guys of FOSS¶

As the name says: a collection of "weird little guys" of the FOSS and adjacent worlds. Massively subjective, of course, but I don't think I've seen one (that I know of) that I disagree with yet.

Ball Splitter¶

The sort of thing that's fun to run up, muted, during boring meetings.

Deadpan Photography: Enjoying the Pretence¶

I love this style of photography, but I don't think I've ever seen an actual name for the style before. Now I have.

Stargate Worlds — Fan-Made Private Server¶

I don't need another game to invest all my time in at the moment. But if I did, I think it could be this. I love all things Stargate.

Geminispace topology¶

A map of Geminispace.

Kepler protocol specification¶

Yet another smolweb protocol, and yet another derived from or related to Gemini. I doubt I'll do anything with this one (Rogallo supports enough as it is for now), but it's worth keeping a link to it.

GitHub star history¶

A GitHub star history that doesn't need access tokens and the like.

Everybody's Lost Their Minds¶

A pretty great rant about all things AI.

Flet¶

I build enough applications using Textual; it might be interesting to play with a framework that works on all sorts of platforms (as opposed to just in the terminal).

Great on Frame¶

Games that are verified to work standalone on the Steam Frame.

Leaving DigitalOcean, one site at a time¶

I've not used DO for a while now, but I have been thinking about setting up a small host again so I can play with Gemini and Gopher. Having used DO in the past, they were at the top of my list.

Now I'm not so sure I need them there.

endoflife.date¶

End-of-life dates for... so many things!

Team Fortress 2: VR Mod¶

I used to have so much fun with TF2. The idea of TF2 in VR... hell yes please!

Actually a little sooner than I was expecting -- look what turned up today!

When I saw this morning, based on tracking, that it had made it to the national distribution centre down in England, I was expecting it to head up this way today and perhaps be out for delivery tomorrow. But, no, a little later in the morning I got an email to say it was up here and would head out this afternoon.

I probably won't be giving it a spin this evening, mainly because I had plans to stream some more Atomfall and I'm actually really into the story right now. The other reason is that I'm still waiting for the charger and ergonomic pack to show up. Not that I need them (it's not like I don't have a charger that'll work), but it would be nice to have those extra items to hand when I first have a play.

Realistically, I'm probably not going to get the chance to fire it up until Friday evening. That's fine, I'm in no rush. I've gone this long without playing much VR; a couple more evenings won't hurt.

Meanwhile, I've found out that Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone will actually work in standalone mode on the Frame. Yes, I know the name might suggest that, but the "Stand Alone" in the name is in reference to the fact that it's no longer an Alyx mod. This makes me quite happy. This is a game I've been looking forward to playing for a couple of years now and the prospect of being able to dive into it on the Steam Frame, without needing to faff with my PC, very much appeals.

I'll be sure to jot down some impressions once I've had a proper session.

I sat down at my desk at about 08:40 this morning and, five minutes later, got an email from Valve to say they were preparing my Steam Frame for shipping! On visiting the site, it said it was shipped.

Checking with the carrier, there's the usual message to say they're aware of the package but haven't picked it up yet. At this rate, it does look like I'll have my hands on it this week.

Time to have a proper look into what games and apps will run standalone on it. The updated Alyx I know about (which does have me wondering if the workshop items will work -- the original Gunman Contracts should be fun), but I've not really checked yet what other actual VR titles will run without the need for a PC.

It looks like things are moving a wee bit quicker than I remember when I bought the Steam Controller, with the status of my Steam Frame purchase moving to "packaged" pretty quickly.

I'm curious as to when it will arrive. The small number of times that I've purchased Valve hardware, I've generally found the actual shipping (once it's shipped) to be reasonably swift.

I could be in the position of being able to play with my new headset before next weekend. While I'm most interested in the standalone experience, I might have to dig out the VR gaming PC, update a bunch of things on it, and give it a general tidy. It's getting on a bit now, but it will be interesting to test out the wireless PCVR mode.

I didn't have to spend too long in the Steam Frame reservation queue. I'd just sat down on the sofa, after having dinner yesterday evening, opened the MacBook to hack on some code, and had this turn up:

I didn't hesitate. However, during the checkout journey, there was a glitch. I opened the email, clicked on the link to go and confirm the purchase, and on the Steam site I was greeted with a message to the effect that the quantity I was buying was too great! It wouldn't let me proceed to the payment. I clicked on the button to view my basket and this is what I saw:

This did make me slightly nervous for a moment. It was an obvious glitch, but was it double-counting the same unit, or had it somehow added two units to my basket? Given that I couldn't progress without doing something, I removed one and... it was all okay.

So as of right now I'm paid up, I have an active order, and now I wait for physical delivery. The estimated delivery time seems to be between 3 and 5 (working?) days.

Meanwhile, I now need to figure out what to do about prescription lens inserts. The inserts that Valve recommend on the Steam Frame page are currently "coming soon", which is mildly annoying. I have noticed in the Steam Frame subreddit a couple of people mentioning other companies who are already manufacturing and shipping inserts. I might take a look at them.

The need for prescription lenses is one annoyance of VR for me. Sure, it's easily fixed, but it's a bit of a shame when, upon opening the box, I have to go with a blurry experience for a wee while. Of course, I could wear my glasses in the headset, but based on my experience when I got my Quest 2 back in late 2020, that's not comfortable and there's the danger of scratching the glasses, headset lenses, or both.

It's not worth the risk.

It's getting on for six years now since I got my first VR headset, and it's the best part of five years since I sorted myself with a PCVR setup. Between then and now I've played a lot of VR games and spent a lot of time in VR.

This last year, though, aside from a quick dabble with the PS5 version of Zero Caliber, I've not really been in VR. Mostly this is down to me moving late on last year, and evenings and weekends now being busier with other things. It's sort of always felt like a hassle to have to set up the PCVR rig (when you live alone it's fine to have your PCVR rig lying around the living room all the time; when you share with other people and your cat... not so much).

So when I saw the Steam Frame announced and realised that it would likely give me standalone access to some PCVR-level games (yes, I know, not really PCVR, but I would hope that there will be a push to get many games running standalone), I was tempted. Very tempted. Not only does it offer a good-quality standalone headset, it's also still designed as a full PCVR headset. Feels win/win.

Fast forward to yesterday evening...

I don't know that I'll return to recording PCVR quite yet -- I guess that'll depend on what the Frame offers in terms of being able to record -- but I aim to dive back into any parts of my catalogue that will work with the device. I think a full revisit to the world of Half-Life is necessary if nothing else.