The future of VR is already there and it is cheaper than you think

I recently joined the XR bootcamp program, as it was a great opportunity for me to refresh my XR dev skills and update my workflow and approach with amazing instructors (Ok , being an advisory board member for some times now, I can only say good things about that program, but bare with me what I am about to write is far more than promoting the program)

While joining, I figured out that my current config was just 1 GPU generation too old to develop in proper conditions. That I will need to get a new PC ( or Mac) to be able to complete the course.

On the other hand, I extensively played AAA VR games (HL Alyx, Asgard Wrath, Star Wars Squadron …. which definitely do not tolerate latency while requiring proper processing and gpu power) with a cloud computer based configuration so I felt that it was mostly a question of bandwidth and getting the headset properly detected by Unity and that would spare me a few thousands euros.

So I ran tests, read forums (most of the solutions came from this thread), failed a lot until I got it to work.

Let me pause here and explain the high level principle :

1 You acces the remote computer from your usual device

2 You work on the remote computer to build your stuff or Launch your game

3 You stream it from the remote computer to the Quest (1 or 2 … or Pro — still expected as I am publishing this post)


The setup includes :

  • A device to acess the shadow ( laptop, mac … and believe me here any choice would work — even an iphone)
  • The Virtual Desktop Streamer Application Installed on your Shadow PC
  • The Virtual Desktop App Running on your Oculus

What was really amazing was that it could be extremely helpful for everyone — the underlying point being, we can develop for VR with a minimum hardware investment as it cost only €29 per month instead of paying upfront a big config whereas future employer will provide the required hardware.

As I explained it to one of my fellow :

  1. you “only” need to run the shadow app on your Laptop or Mac or iPad or iPhone …
iPad Air + keyboard + mouse + shadow -> running everything like a charm , only caveat is screen size

2) you then need to run the virtual desktop app on your shadow

Yes, remote work feels better by a lake :)

3) you then need to run the virtual desktop app on your quest

And this virtual office is always tidy

4) when you press play on unity it directly plays — no build

Note also that for those videos I ran Shadow through wifi on my pc / iPad / Mac so using an Ethernet cable between your physical computer and internet box can also increase the responsiveness.

I also worked only with a 4G connection using my iPhone as a Hotspot and it was still providing proper working conditions, allowing to easily travel with a minimum equipment and still being efficient.

Outro

Note that, it would also work wirelessly from any VR Ready (real, physical) computer provided you use Virtual Desktop.

A video tutorial will come soon, but if you are interested in setting this up or giving it a try before it is published , feel free to get in touch : https://calendly.com/sikaar/30min.

Lastly, a good way to help getting this further (and either me working with shadow or at least getting a 1$ discount on my subscription, and $5 on your first payment :D) if you decide to get one use my referal link : https://shop.shadow.tech/pre-order/invite/SIKHL4B7