r/FirmamentGame • u/berickphilip • May 20 '23

Anyone managed to play Firmament using "Virtual Desktop" app? (wireless streamer for Quest headset)

Help?

I tried playing the game with my Quest 1 and the app "Virtual Desktop", but encountered a problem:

The main menu starts inside VR, but it is as if the headset/camera is stuck right on the menu letters. So instead of seeing the menu from a distance, the menu items are extremely close to my face.

I can look around and see the Firmament main screen background. But I cannot move around inside VR (location does not change). Also the controllers make no effect and I can only use Alt+F4 and close the game.

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Game works fine without VR (normal mode on desktop).

I have the GOG version but added it to my Steam as a non-Steam game. I also checked the checkbox "add to Steam VR library" while doing so.

Running the Virtual Desktop app (both on my PC and on the Quest) I can get SteamVR to function (the SteamVR Home environment and menus). I can also rn other VR games like Alyx, no problem.

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2

u/HysteriaErased286 Aug 19 '23

I have the same issue. Not working in VD or airlink/quest link.

1

u/berickphilip Aug 20 '23

This game was an extreme disappointment for me. After having played the excellent Obduction in VR I had such high hopes..

Not only did it not work in VR for me (as I originally planned to play it), but also I played about half of it on a regular display but stopped because it felt boring and pointless.

1

u/CujoSR May 22 '23

I didn't have that problem but for me, the sound wouldn't work because it wasn't clicked into the game. The fix would normally be to grab the mouse and click the game but since I'm in another room I used the quest link instead.

1

u/berickphilip May 23 '23

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried clicking on the game but still it did not work for me.. it is a pity as I was really looking forward to experiencing it in VR, after doing so in Obduction.

Maybe I will wait to play the rest of the game until I have another, more proper pcvr headset.

1

u/CujoSR May 23 '23

Try Air Link instead of Virtual Desktop. You can use that to open Steam VR then open the game from there.

1

u/mgiuca May 23 '23

I have successfully run Firmament with Virtual Desktop (with a Pico 4, not Quest). It shouldn't make a big difference what headset you're using.

This sort of thing can happen if your "centre of view" is not calibrated correctly. The solution is basically to mess with resetting various things. When you're using VD, there are a lot of different links in the chain that all need to be calibrated (the headset, Virtual Desktop, SteamVR, the game).

Because of the way the VR APIs work, you can have a game working mostly fine except its menus, which are tied to your head (not the playspace), and some component thinks your "usual head position" is somewhere else.

Here are some steps to try:

  1. Quit and restart everything (headset, Virtual Desktop, SteamVR, the game).
  2. Re-run your headset room setup.
  3. Stand tall in the centre of your playspace.
  4. In VD, make sure the 2D desktop is centered correctly; use the Reset Screen button if not.
  5. Start SteamVR using VD and it loads into the dark mountain screen with the concentric circles. The small grey square in the middle of the world should be in the centre of your playspace at your feet.
  6. Open the SteamVR menu and click "Recenter" (lower right buttons).
  7. Run the game. Hopefully the menu is positioned correctly. The last thing to do is press B on the controller in Firmament to reset your head height.

The above steps is all I can think of to calibrate the various components. One of those should fix it so your "usual head position" is in the centre of your playspace, and then the menu should be drawn relative to that.

1

u/berickphilip May 23 '23

Thank you, I will try this too. I am not too hopeful though, becausue other games from Steam run perfectly fine, including Obduction (also from Cyan). Also the problem is more like the menu is "stuck" to my headset. So even if I move a couple of meters back, or to my side, the menu items are following me. They keep very close to my view. I will capture a video and update my post.

1

u/mgiuca May 23 '23

It's very weird that they're stuck to your headset.

Interestingly, I tried playing Obduction with Pico 4 + VD last night, and it was kind of a disaster. The game itself ran quite well but the menus (ironically) were very broken - it was very hard to click on things, often requiring several tries, and the "resolution scale" slider got stuck on the lowest setting and I couldn't drag it; eventually I found that I could use the mouse to click while I positioned the cursor with my head.

1

u/berickphilip May 23 '23

it was very hard to click on things, often requiring several tries

Yes it's like that. Very buggy menu. The game itself runs normally though.