OVRdrop news & patch notes

Hello everyone! It's been a while since OVRdrop has had an update, and I'm sure many of you are wondering where the updates are. When I first started OVRdrop, I never expected for it to be an actual product. I just started out messing with SteamVR, and OVRdrop just sort of happened. Because of this, a lot of core systems are not written to be optimized, so OVRdrop is missing out on some performance tricks it could otherwise benefit from. Additionally, OVRdrop was never really built for the future - that is, with upgrades and updates in mind. OVRdrop can be better; You deserve better; And I've been working behind the scenes to rebuild OVRdrop from the ground up into the product it always should have been. Unfortunately, a lot of the systems are dependent on one another, so the new version of OVRdrop is not ready for a public release, and I don't have an exact ETA on the release of the new version. However, I can tell you some of the things I've been working on, and hope to have in the next major versions of OVRdrop:

• Completely rebuilt SteamVR implementation - OVRdrop should be more stable, handle controller identification better, and handle the SteamVR API in a more robust fashion.
• OVRdrop's core systems rebuilt from the ground up - The new systems will be more robust and written with future extensibility in mind.
• Dashboard Overlay integration - OVRdrop should be able to be configured from within VR / OVRdrop's Overlay should be able to become a Dashboard Overlay.
• A new Capture API - The new Capture API will be able to capture most background and minimized windows.
• Multi-Overlay Support - OVRdrop should be able to clone in multiple applications. This is dependent on rebuilding the core systems and the new Capture API.

I'm still planning to fix any major bugs that pop up in the current version of OVRdrop, and I'm not against adding new features; However, since I'm rebuilding OVRdrop from the ground up I'll have to reimplement any features that I implement now, so I've been putting a heavy priority on the new version to save time in the long run. I want to thank everyone for the patience you've had with me during this time. I know it seems like I haven't been working on OVRdrop, but please know I am working behind the scenes to make OVRdrop great again <3. I am still available for troubleshooting or bug reports at any time. You can post on our Steam Forums, post an issue or feature request on our GitHub, or contact me directly through the contact form on OVRdrop's Homepage.

Hello everyone! It's been a while since OVRdrop has had an update, and I'm sure many of you are wondering where the updates are. When I first started OVRdrop, I never expected for it to be an actual product. I just started out messing with SteamVR, and OVRdrop just sort of happened. Because of this, a lot of core systems are not written to be optimized, so OVRdrop is missing out on some performance tricks it could otherwise benefit from. Additionally, OVRdrop was never really built for the future - that is, with upgrades and updates in mind. OVRdrop can be better; You deserve better; And I've been working behind the scenes to rebuild OVRdrop from the ground up into the product it always should have been. Unfortunately, a lot of the systems are dependent on one another, so the new version of OVRdrop is not ready for a public release, and I don't have an exact ETA on the release of the new version. However, I can tell you some of the things I've been working on, and hope to have in the next major versions of OVRdrop:

• Completely rebuilt SteamVR implementation - OVRdrop should be more stable, handle controller identification better, and handle the SteamVR API in a more robust fashion.
• OVRdrop's core systems rebuilt from the ground up - The new systems will be more robust and written with future extensibility in mind.
• Dashboard Overlay integration - OVRdrop should be able to be configured from within VR / OVRdrop's Overlay should be able to become a Dashboard Overlay.
• A new Capture API - The new Capture API will be able to capture most background and minimized windows.
• Multi-Overlay Support - OVRdrop should be able to clone in multiple applications. This is dependent on rebuilding the core systems and the new Capture API.

I'm still planning to fix any major bugs that pop up in the current version of OVRdrop, and I'm not against adding new features; However, since I'm rebuilding OVRdrop from the ground up I'll have to reimplement any features that I implement now, so I've been putting a heavy priority on the new version to save time in the long run. I want to thank everyone for the patience you've had with me during this time. I know it seems like I haven't been working on OVRdrop, but please know I am working behind the scenes to make OVRdrop great again <3. I am still available for troubleshooting or bug reports at any time. You can post on our Steam Forums, post an issue or feature request on our GitHub, or contact me directly through the contact form on OVRdrop's Homepage.

This update adds new features requested on our GitHub as well as fixes bugs which have been found. If you're new to OVRdrop, please read through the launch announcement: OVRdrop is Live! We were also able to get Elite Dangerous (and other Oculus SDK games) working with Rift very easily, please see this announcement for more information: OVRdrop & Oculus Rift If you find any bugs, please post them to OVRdrop's Issue Tracker.

Changes in v1.0.5

• Added a new hotkey which can enable/disable controller input. There isn't currently an indicator for when controller input is disabled so watch out for that. By default this hotkey is unmapped.
• Rewrote the capture code - it should be a lot more stable now.
• Added new 'Image Flip' and 'Image Mirror' settings. These Flip/Mirror the image sent to SteamVR for certain older HMDs.
• Added a new 'Grab Handle' so you can grab the Overlay without touching it. Just aim at the 'Grab Handle' and treat it as if you were touching the Overlay.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't aim at OVRdrop once you used the 'Toggle Overlay' hotkey.
• Fixed a bug that caused the cursor to sometimes become offset by half the screen width.
• Fixed a bug that could occur with loading Hotkey settings.
• Fixed a bug where "Ignore Tracking Space" wouldn't activate immediately.
• Fixed a bug that prevented rotated monitors from being captured.
• Fixed a bug that caused the FPS to drop when setting a low capture rate.
• Fixed a bug with grabbing the Overlay that caused it to pivot the wrong way.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused OVRdrop to stop capturing and become non-responsive.

What happened to v1.0.4?

Sorry! I screwed up the version numbers :(. This won't happen again moving forward. v1.0.4 only ever existed on the Experimental beta.

This update adds new features requested on our GitHub as well as fixes bugs which have been found. If you're new to OVRdrop, please read through the launch announcement: OVRdrop is Live! We were also able to get Elite Dangerous (and other Oculus SDK games) working with Rift very easily, please see this announcement for more information: OVRdrop & Oculus Rift If you find any bugs, please post them to OVRdrop's Issue Tracker.

Changes in v1.0.5

• Added a new hotkey which can enable/disable controller input. There isn't currently an indicator for when controller input is disabled so watch out for that. By default this hotkey is unmapped.
• Rewrote the capture code - it should be a lot more stable now.
• Added new 'Image Flip' and 'Image Mirror' settings. These Flip/Mirror the image sent to SteamVR for certain older HMDs.
• Added a new 'Grab Handle' so you can grab the Overlay without touching it. Just aim at the 'Grab Handle' and treat it as if you were touching the Overlay.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't aim at OVRdrop once you used the 'Toggle Overlay' hotkey.
• Fixed a bug that caused the cursor to sometimes become offset by half the screen width.
• Fixed a bug that could occur with loading Hotkey settings.
• Fixed a bug where "Ignore Tracking Space" wouldn't activate immediately.
• Fixed a bug that prevented rotated monitors from being captured.
• Fixed a bug that caused the FPS to drop when setting a low capture rate.
• Fixed a bug with grabbing the Overlay that caused it to pivot the wrong way.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused OVRdrop to stop capturing and become non-responsive.

What happened to v1.0.4?

Sorry! I screwed up the version numbers :(. This won't happen again moving forward. v1.0.4 only ever existed on the Experimental beta.

A lot of users are trying to use OVRdrop with certain games on their Oculus Rift, only to find it won't work. Some games can be fixed. Here is an explanation as to why it doesn't work, and how to fix it. This fix probably only works with the Steam versions of these games There may be some side effects to doing this. For example, you lose ATW/ASW and gain Reprojection instead. However, if the benefits of OVRdrop outweigh the costs to you, then I have made some guides below.

Why doesn't it work?

OVRdrop doesn't utilize the Oculus SDK. Certain games, such as Elite Dangerous, even when booted up through Steam/SteamVR, will insist on using the Oculus SDK when you are using an Oculus Rift. Thankfully, there are certain ways to work around this.

How do I fix it?

For unknown reasons, setting the game's EXEs to run with Compatibility for Windows 7 will allow them to be booted up through SteamVR. Because they render to SteamVR instead of the Oculus SDK, you can see and interact with OVRdrop! This might not work with all games, but is definitely working with some. For a step-by-step guide to Elite Dangerous click here. (Tested and confirmed working on the latest version as of April 19th 2017) For a step-by-step guide to Project Cars click here. (Tested and confirmed working on the latest version as of April 19th 2017) For a step-by-step guide to Subnautica click here. (Tested and confirmed working on the latest version as of April 19th 2017)

Not working titles

Smashbox Arena - Unfortunately OVRdrop shows up there, but you spawn in a weird location and the controllers no longer respond when running in Compatibility mode. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Unfortunately TWD will not let you run it in compatibility mode, as they detect you are on a Rift but running on SteamVR, and prevent the game from running :(.

What about other games?

For other games, these basic steps might work: 1. Right click the game in your Steam Library 2. Click Properties 3. Click the LOCAL FILES tab 4. Click Browse Local Files... 7. Right click the game's exe 8. Click Properties 9. Click the Compatibility tab 10. Check the box next to Run this program in compatibility mode for: 11. Select Windows 7 in the dropdown. 12. Click Ok to close the properties window. If the game has a 32bit and a 64bit exe, be sure to set both to run with compatibility. Please comment below and let me know if this does/doesn't work for you! You can also leave a reply on our GitHub Issue Tracker.

A lot of users are trying to use OVRdrop with certain games on their Oculus Rift, only to find it won't work. Some games can be fixed. Here is an explanation as to why it doesn't work, and how to fix it. This fix probably only works with the Steam versions of these games There may be some side effects to doing this. For example, you lose ATW/ASW and gain Reprojection instead. However, if the benefits of OVRdrop outweigh the costs to you, then I have made some guides below.

Why doesn't it work?

OVRdrop doesn't utilize the Oculus SDK. Certain games, such as Elite Dangerous, even when booted up through Steam/SteamVR, will insist on using the Oculus SDK when you are using an Oculus Rift. Thankfully, there are certain ways to work around this.

How do I fix it?

For unknown reasons, setting the game's EXEs to run with Compatibility for Windows 7 will allow them to be booted up through SteamVR. Because they render to SteamVR instead of the Oculus SDK, you can see and interact with OVRdrop! This might not work with all games, but is definitely working with some. For a step-by-step guide to Elite Dangerous click here. (Tested and confirmed working on the latest version as of April 19th 2017) For a step-by-step guide to Project Cars click here. (Tested and confirmed working on the latest version as of April 19th 2017) For a step-by-step guide to Subnautica click here. (Tested and confirmed working on the latest version as of April 19th 2017)

Not working titles

Smashbox Arena - Unfortunately OVRdrop shows up there, but you spawn in a weird location and the controllers no longer respond when running in Compatibility mode.

What about other games?

For other games, these basic steps might work: 1. Right click the game in your Steam Library 2. Click Properties 3. Click the LOCAL FILES tab 4. Click Browse Local Files... 7. Right click the game's exe 8. Click Properties 9. Click the Compatibility tab 10. Check the box next to Run this program in compatibility mode for: 11. Select Windows 7 in the dropdown. 12. Click Ok to close the properties window. If the game has a 32bit and a 64bit exe, be sure to set both to run with compatibility. Please comment below and let me know if this does/doesn't work for you! You can also leave a reply on our GitHub Issue Tracker.

This update fixes some issues with Oculus Touch that went overlooked during development. I picked up an Oculus Rift/Touch now so going forward support should be much better for Oculus devices. If you're new to OVRdrop, please read through the launch announcement. If you find any bugs, please post them to OVRdrop's Issue Tracker.

Changes in v1.0.3

• Fixed Oculus Touch Aim angle.
• Fixed Oculus Touch Grab angle.
• Fixed Oculus Touch Scroll action (Touch has a Joystick vs a Touchpad. Added Joystick support).

Other changes went undocumented, so I'm adding them here

Changes in v1.0.2

• Fixed performance issues on some systems. OVRdrop should run a little better on some systems.

Changes in v1.0.1

• Fixed an issue where the Backside would teleport when the Target application resizes.
• Added the "-youtubemode" launch flag. When launching with the -youtubemode launch flag OVRdrop will attempt to target the Youtube Popout Chat automatically, and set the cropping to the optimal size. Only works with Chrome and IE for now.

This update fixes some issues with Oculus Touch that went overlooked during development. I picked up an Oculus Rift/Touch now so going forward support should be much better for Oculus devices. If you're new to OVRdrop, please read through the launch announcement. If you find any bugs, please post them to OVRdrop's Issue Tracker.

Changes in v1.0.3

• Fixed Oculus Touch Aim angle.
• Fixed Oculus Touch Grab angle.
• Fixed Oculus Touch Scroll action (Touch has a Joystick vs a Touchpad. Added Joystick support).

Other changes went undocumented, so I'm adding them here

Changes in v1.0.2

• Fixed performance issues on some systems. OVRdrop should run a little better on some systems.

Changes in v1.0.1

• Fixed an issue where the Backside would teleport when the Target application resizes.
• Added the "-youtubemode" launch flag. When launching with the -youtubemode launch flag OVRdrop will attempt to target the Youtube Popout Chat automatically, and set the cropping to the optimal size. Only works with Chrome and IE for now.

It's finally here! OVRdrop has gone live on Steam! It's been a long time coming, but OVRdrop is here! Thanks to all my early supporters and everyone who has submitted bug reports and feature requests - I honestly couldn't have done it without all of you!

Where are we now?

OVRdrop is finally ready for a public release! I'm sure there are bugs that haven't been caught yet, but I believe its finally come far enough along for a public release. If you find any bugs, please post them to OVRdrop's Issue Tracker and I'll fix them ASAP. You can also join us on reddit if you are having any difficulties getting things setup. I have an FAQ setup if you're having issues figuring something out, and I'll try to keep it up to date with the most common questions. You can also check out the Compatibility Article if you're wondering what works with OVRdrop.

Where are we going?

There are still many more things to come! I plan to continue working on OVRdrop for the foreseeable future - adding new features and fixing bugs as they come up. Here is just a sampling of what is still to come:

• Full Desktop support (currently supports one monitor at a time)
• Multi-Overlay support
• Multi-Overlay group Saving/Loading
• Dashboard Overlay integration
• Access to ALL settings from within VR
• Controller Hotkey support
• Hotkey Combination support (pressing multiple keys to trigger a single action)
• and more!

I still have some more plans in the pipeline, but I'll have to see what does/doesn't work before I can commit to it. If there's anything else you want included, feel free to post them on OVRdrop's Issue Tracker, which doubles as the Feature tracker.

What else do I need to know?

If you are coming from OpenVRDesktopDisplayPortal, you should know that Steam only allows an application to launch a single time, so you won't be able to use OVRdrop to bring in multiple desktop windows right now. However, OVRdrop can target an entire monitor, but you cannot launch OVRdrop multiple times to bring in multiple overlays like you could with OVRDDP. I plan to take care of this by adding support for multiple overlays/clones. Also important is there's a side effect of the new Capture API. You can now only capture windows which are on top, which can be an issue because some VR games need focus or they won't display in VR properly - I have a fix for this though! There's a setting under the Additional Settings menu, called "Window Always On Top" - when this is enabled, the target window will become a top most window, which means it doesn't need focus and will remain on top. This is similar to SteamVR's "SteamVR Status window always on top", except it targets whichever window you are trying to clone into VR. You should also know OVRdrop has a few launch options right now:

• -target-title "Window Title Here"
• -target-exe "Application.exe"
• -twitchmode
• -youtubemode

These are used to automate startup. You should only use one of these. -target-title will attempt to target a given window by its name. -target-exe will attempt to target a given application by it's exe, -twitchmode will attempt to target the Twitch Popout chat, and set the crop to the optimal setting (this is primarily for Twitch streamers), -youtubemode does the same, but with the YouTube Popout Chat instead (again this is primarily for Youtube streamers). You can easily override these once OVRdrop has started up, but they can be handy if you're trying to automate targeting a specific window. -twitchmode works with Firefox, Chrome, and IE right now. -youtubemode works with Chrome and IE right now.

Thanks again!

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me so far - those who reported issues and feature requests for OVRDDP, the beta testers for OVRdrop, and everyone else for all the kind words and support you've given me! Thanks to you all, OVRdrop is finally here!

It's finally here! OVRdrop has gone live on Steam! It's been a long time coming, but OVRdrop is here! Thanks to all my early supporters and everyone who has submitted bug reports and feature requests - I honestly couldn't have done it without all of you!

Where are we now?

OVRdrop is finally ready for a public release! I'm sure there are bugs that haven't been caught yet, but I believe its finally come far enough along for a public release. If you find any bugs, please post them to OVRdrop's Issue Tracker and I'll fix them ASAP. You can also join us on reddit if you are having any difficulties getting things setup. I have an FAQ setup if you're having issues figuring something out, and I'll try to keep it up to date with the most common questions. You can also check out the Compatibility Article if you're wondering what works with OVRdrop.

Where are we going?

There are still many more things to come! I plan to continue working on OVRdrop for the foreseeable future - adding new features and fixing bugs as they come up. Here is just a sampling of what is still to come:

• Full Desktop support (currently supports one monitor at a time)
• Multi-Overlay support
• Multi-Overlay group Saving/Loading
• Dashboard Overlay integration
• Access to ALL settings from within VR
• Controller Hotkey support
• Hotkey Combination support (pressing multiple keys to trigger a single action)
• and more!

I still have some more plans in the pipeline, but I'll have to see what does/doesn't work before I can commit to it. If there's anything else you want included, feel free to post them on OVRdrop's Issue Tracker, which doubles as the Feature tracker.

What else do I need to know?

If you are coming from OpenVRDesktopDisplayPortal, you should know that Steam only allows an application to launch a single time, so you won't be able to use OVRdrop to bring in multiple desktop windows right now. However, OVRdrop can target an entire monitor, but you cannot launch OVRdrop multiple times to bring in multiple overlays like you could with OVRDDP. I plan to take care of this by adding support for multiple overlays/clones. Also important is there's a side effect of the new Capture API. You can now only capture windows which are on top, which can be an issue because some VR games need focus or they won't display in VR properly - I have a fix for this though! There's a setting under the Additional Settings menu, called "Window Always On Top" - when this is enabled, the target window will become a top most window, which means it doesn't need focus and will remain on top. This is similar to SteamVR's "SteamVR Status window always on top", except it targets whichever window you are trying to clone into VR. You should also know OVRdrop has a few launch options right now:

• -target-title "Window Title Here"
• -target-exe "Application.exe"
• -twitchmode
• -youtubemode

These are used to automate startup. You should only use one of these. -target-title will attempt to target a given window by its name. -target-exe will attempt to target a given application by it's exe, -twitchmode will attempt to target the Twitch Popout chat, and set the crop to the optimal setting (this is primarily for Twitch streamers), -youtubemode does the same, but with the YouTube Popout Chat instead (again this is primarily for Youtube streamers). You can easily override these once OVRdrop has started up, but they can be handy if you're trying to automate targeting a specific window. -twitchmode works with Firefox, Chrome, and IE right now. -youtubemode works with Chrome and IE right now.

Thanks again!

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me so far - those who reported issues and feature requests for OVRDDP, the beta testers for OVRdrop, and everyone else for all the kind words and support you've given me! Thanks to you all, OVRdrop is finally here!