VRPN-OpenVR

OpenVR support for VRPN. Builds as a server that exposes OpenVR HMDs and controllers as as openvr/[hmd|controller]/[trackedDeviceId]. Each of which having the relevant vrpn devices that it supports: vrpn_Tracker for HMDs and vrpn_Tracker, crpn_Analog and vrpn_Button for the controllers.

Installing dependencies

Follow the README from SteamVR for Linux to install Steam, SteamVR and Nvidia drivers.

On Linux

Install the downloaded package (change the path if it is different for you)

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/steam_latest.deb

You will need to execute some preliminary steps to be able to run SteamVR on Linux.

• First you need the latest nvidia drivers (at least 381.22):

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install nvidia-381  # or higher if available
  

• Then you will have to modify the steam runtime script used to run an executable in the steam runtime:

  vim ~/.steam/steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh
  

• Add the system library folder first in LD_LIBRARY_PATH:

  export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:${TOP}/amd64/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:${TOP}/amd64/lib:${TOP }/amd64/usr/
  

On Windows

Run the downloaded executable to install Steam.

Post installation

Install SteamVR directly from Steam and run the room setup application.

Building

This server builds in Visual Studio (2015 was used) and Linux. We ran into issues trying to build it with CMake under Cygwin. A CMake file generating a VS project was considered but was found to introduce too many steps for the end result still requiring switching to VS for the build.

• Initialize the repository with submodules in order to retrieve OpenVR and VRPN

  git submodule update --init --recursive
  

On Linux:

• Create a build directory at the root of the project and set the current directory to it:

  mkdir build && cd build
  

• Generate cmake files and build it:

  cmake .. && make -j$(nproc)
  

On Windows:

Open the VRNP-OpenVR.sln solution and build from the IDE

Running

On Linux

Run your vrpnOpenVR binary in the Steam runtime, from the build directory (if you are elsewhere just change the path of the binary):

~/.steam/steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/run.sh ./vrpnOpenVR

On Windows

Just launch the program from the VS solution (F5 to simple run or Ctrl+F5 for debug). Otherwise just click the play button at the top of the window.

Troubleshooting

Headset is not detected properly

A few ideas to fix this:

• activate / deactivate the direct mode
• unplug / replug the lighthouses
• reboot the computer
• check that your graphic driver is up-to-date: SteamVR needs the very latest drivers which are not always packaged in the default repositories, nor in the Graphic Drivers PPA.

Acknowledgements

This is still very much a work in progress and is by no means a complete and stable solution for using OpenVR with VRPN. The primary goal of this server is to provide controller data to a Blender instance running on a separate machine (but can also be used locally).

Notes

Allowing without HMD

(not clear yet, need tor try on a fresh install, but this blurb helped me figure something out) In ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/resources/settings Set requireHmd to false + driver_null is a non-physical HMD. Instead of setting requireHmd=false, set activateMultipleDrivers=true and enable the null driver. The sample driver is essentially the null driver already, so you could add any features you want (different/controllable pose, setting the "alwaysActivate" in its manifest so you don't need the "activateMultipleDrivers" setting, etc).