Virtual Desktop now supports Quest Pro’s recently added tongue tracking capability.
Quest Pro has supported eye tracking and face tracking since launch, but it didn’t include your tongue until December. Steam Link added support for the feature within a matter of days, and now just over a month later so has Virtual Desktop.
Luna sticking their tounge out in VRChat.
The new Virtual Desktop update also adds the option to forward any hand tracking, eye tracking, face tracking, and body tracking from the headset to the PC via OpenXR when using the VDXR runtime instead of SteamVR. Previously Virtual Desktop only forwarded face and eye tracking to VRChat specifically. Meta’s built-in Quest Link feature also just got the ability to do this in v62, whereas it previously only forwarded this tracking data to development tools like the Unity editor.
Virtual Desktop Can Now Bypass SteamVR To Boost Performance
Virtual Desktop’s optional new OpenXR runtime bypasses SteamVR to boost performance. The update also adds 500 Mbps H.264+ bitrate support on Quest 3.
That means PC VR game developers who would want to add eye tracking and capabilities to their games, such as foveated rendering, can now access a slightlty larger market of potential customers: any Quest Pro owning PC gamer who uses Quest Link or Virtual Desktop. While Quest Pro makes up only 0.52% of SteamVR usage, the only other headset with built-in eye tracking that even registers on the Steam Hardware Survey is Varjo Aero, with just 0.11% share, meaning the PC VR eye tracking market is now more than 5x larger than it was last week.
The update also fixes compatibility bugs with UEVR and Asseto Corsa Competizone, and changes the app’s loading screen to use passthrough as its background.
Even with free competition from Steam Link and recent improvements to Quest Link, Virtual Desktop developer Guy Godin continues to regularly update his $20 alternative with new features and improvements, and thus still remains the option of choice for many Quest-owning PC VR gamers.
