cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Quest Owner -- Which PC VR Version to Purchase?

Doc_Ox
Honored Guest
I need advice on which version of PC-based VR games to purchase.  I recently purchased a Quest and the last few days I've been tinkering with the Oculus Link to play on the Rift and SteamVR spaces.  I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how well it's worked since I was pessimistic given the recent negative comments about Link on this forum.  The Rift space has worked well so far (no issues), as has the Steam VR space for the most part (locked up a couple of times).  Link is in 'beta' so I give it some slack.

For Quest owners out there, assuming you want a game that isn't available natively on the Quest, what version are you buying?  Are there any advantages/disadvantages to purchasing a Rift/S version or a SteamVR version of the game?  For example, when playing it on the Quest, does it play better on one or the other (smoother, better quality, etc.)?  Also, "if" I would ever move to a non-Oculus VR platform in the future (e.g., Valve Index), would I only be able to play the SteamVR games I had purchased and not the games I had purchased through the Rift/S store?  Any other considerations? 

Thanks.
9 REPLIES 9

MrBMT
Expert Protege
Personally, if a game is cross-buy, then I'll tend to buy it from the Oculus store (may as well have the Quest version in that case too right?) - otherwise I'll buy it from Steam so that it's platform independent as I'm sure at some point in the future I'll get a stand-alone PC VR headset and it won't necessarily be an Oculus one.
ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 & Thunderbolt 3 Add-in card, i7 7700k, 64GB RAM, GTX 1080Ti, 13TB HDD, Windows 10 Pro
Oculus Quest v13 Update, Official Oculus Link Headset Cable

Doc_Ox
Honored Guest
Thanks for the feedback.  I agree that if a version of the game is natively available for the Quest (i.e., Rift/Quest cross-buy), it makes sense to go with the Oculus store version so it can be played un-tethered when desired.

You've answered my question about which version to buy if it's not available for Quest (not even cross-buy), but available on both Rift and SteamVR.  I haven't done enough research to know if it's possible, or easy, to play Rift games on non-Oculus platforms (e.g., Vive), but Steam seems to be platform independent.

bigmike20vt
Visionary
ReVive is a wrapper which allows users with steamVR native headsets to play games on oculus, it works really well and neatly ties into steam.  I have numerous friends with vives who happily buy exclusive games on oculus store.

If you are expecting to change infrastructure however it does make sense imo to buy games which are on both stores AND with native oculus support titles on steam unless heavily discounted on oculus.   Do check 1st however as some games which have oculus store and steam store versions support the rift natively on steam where as others force you to use the steamVR wrapper which does IME lead to a lesser performance on your rift.... eg of this Pinball FXVR and Arizona sunshine.
Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

Doc_Ox
Honored Guest


ReVive is a wrapper which allows users with steamVR native headsets to play games on oculus, it works really well and neatly ties into steam.  I have numerous friends with vives who happily buy exclusive games on oculus store.

If you are expecting to change infrastructure however it does make sense imo to buy games which are on both stores AND with native oculus support titles on steam unless heavily discounted on oculus.   Do check 1st however as some games which have oculus store and steam store versions support the rift natively on steam where as others force you to use the steamVR wrapper which does IME lead to a lesser performance on your rift.... eg of this Pinball FXVR and Arizona sunshine.


Thanks for the heads-up on ReVive.  It's reassuring to know that my Oculus store games aren't locked away should I try a different headset in the future.  Does the ReVive play Quest games also (i.e., ones that are not cross-buy with Rift/S), or does ReVive only play Rift/S titles?

I don't understand this though..."...some games which have oculus store and steam store versions support the rift natively on steam where as others force you to use the steamVR wrapper..." 

How do I confirm that I'm buying a game that does have native Rift support to avoid the wrapper?  I checked a couple of VR games on my Steam wishlist to help understand:

--In Steam's product description for "Ghost of a Tale", it doesn't have a section listing "VR Support", and further it doesn't list "Oculus Rift".  Does this mean I would need the 'wrapper'?
--The Boneworks description has a VR Support section with Oculus Rift listed.

Is this what I should be looking at before purchasing a SteamVR version?  Thanks.

bigmike20vt
Visionary
You need to remember Steam is a generic games store 99% of games on it don't support VR at all..... (There are exceptions to this but for now....) If it does not mention VR then it isn't a VR title and is for monitor play 
(Oculus store IS a VR store so all games support VR)

Native support is when the game supports the oculus rift exactly like if you bought it from oculus store.
Non native support is when the game uses a wrapper (steamVR) which runs as a middle man translating the VR calls from steamVR to the oculus headset. (Spoken like a non programmer because I am a non programmer).
Valve are not upfront with this and is one of my pet hates about it. Imo there needs to be 2 icons for rift support one for native and one for steamVR.
SteamVR on the rift is essentially the same as using reVive on the Vive , it works and it works quite well.... But direct support is better.
Generally you have to ask the developers on the steam forum if it's native or not.

I used to maintain a list on here for which steam games were native and which were not but for reasons not needed to go into here I no longer visit here like I used to so have no motivation to keep it updated.

This may help you however
https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/wiki/steamgameswithnativesupport

It's incomplete however as pinballfx VR is not there (steamVR)
Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

Doc_Ox
Honored Guest


I used to maintain a list on here for which steam games were native and which were not but for reasons not needed to go into here I no longer visit here like I used to so have no motivation to keep it updated.

This may help you however
(link removed)

It's incomplete however as pinballfx VR is not there (steamVR)


Thanks for the additional clarification and for sharing the SteamVR list on Reddit.  It sounds like you're not a regular on here any longer like you once were, so I'm glad you still check in occasionally to help people like me that are new to PC-based VR.

Unfortunately, based on your explanation, I'm now second-guessing my interpretation of your comment in an earlier post that it's preferable to purchase a game on Steam instead of on the Oculus Rift/S store (assuming a Quest version doesn't exist).  The thought previously was that Steam is relatively platform independent, so it may be preferable for future non-Oculus headsets. 
But...if I plan to purchase a game and I don't see it listed on the Reddit list, that means either it's not natively supported by the Quest, or the Reddit list hasn't been updated to reference the game (e.g., Trover Saves the Universe).  Either way, if native support possibly provides a better experience, it seems like a risk to purchase the game on Steam since it may not offer native support and instead need the wrapper?  So from that perspective, I'd be better off purchasing the Rift/S version from the Oculus store when I know it obviously has native support.  Correct?  Hopefully my follow up isn't confusing or frustrating, just trying to make my life easier when it comes to purchasing and playing games.

Thanks again.

bigmike20vt
Visionary
Hi
Sorry if i was not clear, from what I could tell at a quick glance one of the games you used as an example isnt a VR game... this means it wont be on the oculus store and if you get it on steam it wont have VR.... this isnt an issue of VR headset support.  Not all games run in VR, support has to be built in specifically.
Ghost of a Tale is NOT a VR game, if you buy it it wont work in VR... however this falls into the area which I didnt go into above... it has a fan made VR mod for it, this does not mean it will be bad, but just that it is unofficial.
That list i gave on redit is not too bad, any game in the top section, it does not matter if you buy on steam or on oculus store you will get a native supported VR title.
the bunch at the bottom you have a decision to make, what is more important to you, native support without using steamVR, or the reassurance that if you move to another headset you can play your game without using an unoffical mod such as ReVive.
which ever you decide howevcer i would not lose sleep over it, its not a huge deal either way. (steamVR isnt terrible on the rift, its just not as good..... and if you go the other way Revive on the vive or index  is also practically as good as steamVR is on the rift...
PS if you want a few VR titles you could do a lot worse than bag this to kick you off (all on steam)



Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

Anonymous
Not applicable
If you can, buy on the Oculus Store instead of SteamVR.
When you play a SteamVR game with an Oculus headset, your computer runs both the Oculus software and SteamVR software, in addition to the game.
If I were to make a similar example: imagine you can play a PS4 game on a XBox One, but when you do it, you need to have both your PS4 and XBox One switched on. That means you'd pay current for both consoles.

It's retarded, but it's how it works. If you have a very powerful rig, maybe you won't feel the power issue, but it'll still be there. Games will run better if you only run the Oculus software, so only use SteamVR when you have no choice.

Doc_Ox
Honored Guest
@bigmike20vt  Thanks for explaining in more detail.  Embarrassingly, I didn't realize that the game I referenced wasn't even a VR title.  I saw it recommended somewhere as being similar to Moss, which I loved on PSVR, but I guess didn't look closely enough to realize it wasn't actually VR.  Ugh.

I picked up that VR Humble Bundle right away earlier today when I saw the Reddit notification.  I wish it wasn't tied to SteamVR and could instead be redeemed on the Oculus store, but not the end of the world and still an amazing deal.

@LuluViBritannia   Thanks for clarifying the SteamVR logistics. 

I've been tinkering with Oculus Link the last few days and I didn't realize until last night an easier way to launch SteamVR games via Quest Link.  I'm sure most people are already aware of this, but you can start the Rift UI play space via Quest Link, click on the holodeck button that shows your computer's desktop, start Steam, and then directly launch the game from your Steam library. 
Previously, I had been starting the Rift UI, then starting the full Steam UI play space on top of that (which takes a while to load), and then starting the game. 
I "think" the SteamVR program briefly started in the background even with my aforementioned 'quicker' method, but at least I didn't have to go into the full SteamVR playspace. 
Now that I have some full SteamVR games via the Humble Bundle, I wish there was an even easier way to launch SteamVR games, such as the list of games appearing directly on the Oculus play space.  Oh well.