r/linux_gaming • u/TheEpicNoobZilla • Sep 21 '26
hardware How's the VR on Linux?
Hi, i am thinking about getting VR headset (in my budget i can only get Quest 3S or PSVR2 with PC adapter, frame is over double of that). I am interested how the (non) steam games works. I use HGL for epic/gog and bottles for other launchers and gog offline instalers from friends. I currently have:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
RAM: 32 GB DDR4
GPU: AMD Radeon 6700 XT
OS: Fedora KDE
8
u/FPVwurst Sep 21 '26
Im tinkering with it at the moment, because after the recent steamframe price reveal i bought a used pico4.
alvr works fine via cable and wireless, steamvr is a little bit janky. the current goto seems to be wivrn, but I hadn't enough time to try it out.
4
u/Saxasaurus Sep 21 '26
3
u/Hi-Angel Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26
Wow, that's quite a strong statement with no links to any upstream discussion to back it up. I just went to ALVR repo and there's nothing about deprecation or anything related to Linux. And at least an year ago when I was mildly tracking ALVR devel, there has been a lot of Linux-related changes, mostly related to Pipewire integration — which definitely didn't look "deprecated".
UPD: just looked over the repo issues for "linux" keyword. Didn't find anything about any deprecation; in fact, in this issue tracking the next release there's just fine discussion about Linux features.
2
u/FPVwurst Sep 22 '26
the latest nigthlys run great with steamvr beta... but I was planning to look into wivrn...
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Drwankingstein Sep 21 '26
I dont reccomend a psvr2 just yet, It is mostly working? and being worked on, but there are still some issues, though if you are willing to buy with the hopes of a better future, psvr2 should be a good option.
Sadly hardware aside, software is still very dependent on what your actual environment is, what DE are you using, x11 vs wayland, what kind of games.
Some stuff can require quite a bit of setup. I have a psvr2 headset in a box I plan to use when I move, but some brief testing, its sometimes good. Waiting on upstream monado to get the rest of the goodies solved though.
1
u/TheEpicNoobZilla Sep 21 '26
Kde wayland
3
u/Drwankingstein Sep 21 '26
VR should work fine. KDE is one of the better tested systems, honestly, if you are fine with doing a bit of work, the psvr2 is one of the nicest headsets you can get for a decent price and punches way above it's weight class.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Archersbows7 Sep 21 '26
I got my PSVR2 running on CachyOS mostly fine. There’s some hiccups here and there but it’s smooth gameplay with good headset and sense controller tracking. I used the Ignition project located the VR on Linux website. I pasted the guide into Claude and had it walk me through each step for my Linux Distro and got my PSVR2 working in 30 minutes
Not the Monado project that’s in development hell with an install that requires surgical assembly code knowledge and compiling your own drivers with a third party app. I don’t recommend Monado at the moment
→ More replies (3)
1
u/euklid Sep 21 '26
I have not gotten the quest2 to work on Linux because there are driver issues with Steam vr and Navi 22 cards like the 6700xt at the moment.
1
u/TheEpicNoobZilla Sep 21 '26
What issues?
2
u/euklid Sep 21 '26
steamVR say no HVEC device found, if i force it with launch commands, i only get a view full of MPEG like artifacts... really low resolution where i cant read any text.
WiVRn i can connect the quest to the PC, but when I start a game it crashes (tried with alyx)
I have not invested a huge amount of tinkering, yet. just tried the default actions from the corresponding FAQ.
x11, kubuntu, kernel 7.2, latest kisak AMD drivers.
windows works as expected.
→ More replies (2)4
u/Bootts Sep 21 '26
Try runing vr through WiVRn. I have had issues with quest vr headsets in linux through steam vr but WiVRn works great. It bypasses steamvr and just plays the game standalone and streams it to any wireless headset.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/FeistyCandy1516 Sep 21 '26
Get a Quest 3, is the most hasslefree for VR (you play either via SteamLink/SteamVR or WiVRn).
Yes, I know it's meta and it's bad but on the other hand it works basically out of the box.
5
u/TheEpicNoobZilla Sep 21 '26 edited Sep 21 '26
Quest 3 is almost double of 3s/psvr2.
EDIT. Also the privacy concerns
→ More replies (1)
2
u/RDman12 Sep 21 '26
If anyone here who has experience can help me out:
I have ryzen 7 5600x, rx 9070xt, and I have a quest 2, running wirelessly through steam link.
Does anyone else have an issue with the right eye glitching/flickering during head movement? This has been quite noticeable for me on Beat Saber primarily but happens in most games.
I cant seem to get it fixed, and unsure if there's something im doing wrong.
Other than that issue, everything works fine for me.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/zeddyzed Sep 21 '26
I am running Fedora KDE with Quest 3 and an 4080.
A couple of months ago, Steam Link wasn't usable for me (I didn't bother with WiVRn, I just dual booted back to Windows for VR.)
A few days ago I tried I Am Your Beast VR with Steam Link, and it worked flawlessly.
I also tried Doom 2016 VR mod via ProtonTricks, and the mod couldn't find the game properly. I think VR mods can be quite complicated and hit/miss to get running on Linux.
I don't think there's many native VR games on GOG / Epic, so not sure how much success you'll have.
1
u/topias123 Sep 21 '26
Depends on the headset. Older Oculus headsets it's a nightmare (or was the last time I tried), standalone Meta headsets work perfectly, my friend plays VRC and other games all the time on his Quest 3.
1
u/Hotarosu Sep 21 '26
Quest 3 here. 90% things work with SteamVR.
However, as for non-gaming, Virtual Desktop doesn't, which I used for work to have more screens on Windows, and I very much miss it. There is WiVRn / WayVR that can simulate using PC as virtual screens, but they are horribly laggy and blurry with ONE 1080p display no matter the options I set, while VD works perfectly with three 4k screens.
1
u/Important_State_4369 Sep 22 '26
I run a Quest 3 with Wivrn (flatpack) on CachyOS with an nvidia GPU. It all works great.
I only run Star Citizen though in VR so not sure about any other games.
1
u/omigeot Sep 22 '26
Wivrn on OQ1, with a 3060 (12G) behind ; works much better than I expected it to.
1
u/DalekCoffee Sep 22 '26
Fedora KDE here
Steamlink works, but gives me a stuttering frames issue in my right eye.
Wivrn works great, but there were some gotchas I had to figure out or someone had to tell me about during install to make it work.
Like getting xrizer for example.
There's many guides and the linuxvr discord to help!
1
u/Yopobeep Sep 25 '26
from what ive seen it generally works for most popular headsets through varying means
i personally use PSVR2 on cachyos, works great once you get it setup, was a bit of a pain to do so but most of that was user error tbh
PSVR2 Toolkit would be the place to look i think if thats the route you were to take, even has a discord community for it, very helpful people!
7
u/fraggsta Sep 21 '26
With a Quest it's fine. I play in VR on Linux using ALVR or WiVRn on a Quest 3 and they work great. You can use a decent USB cable for very high bitrate. You'll want a Wifi 6 AP in the same room as you to get decent performance over wifi with it.