vrCAVE Standalone

We offer a “Standalone” version of our software which has been specially redesigned for an optimal experience on the Vive Focus 3 headset.

Hardware Requirements

  1. Vive Focus 3 Headset with Controllers
    • Recommended 5 sets (plus 1 backup)
    • one USB-A to USB-C sync cable
  2. Windows Computer
  3. Router
    • Netgear Nighthawk X6 R8000 Tri Band Gigabit Wireless Router (or similar)
    • Recommended 2 bands of 5GHz (in case of future side by side rooms setup)
    • Connection to the internet is recommended

Room Requirements

vrCAVE Standalone requires a play space of 4.5M x 5.5M (15’x18’) . We recommend having at least an additional 50cm (20”) of buffer beyond this to reduce the danger of bumping into walls.

Make sure your headset’s boundary is set up so you can walk freely around the entire 15’ x 18’ (4.5m x 5.5m) space.

Achieving Optimal Tracking

A brightly lit room is important for the Inside-Out tracking. Inside-Out also requires some room features to help with its visual insight tracking, posters or banners should be enough for the walls, the floor may be a bit more complicated. An example of a good tracking floor is a carpet with a non-symetrical design or carpet tiles of different colors. If that isn’t possible, you can also mark the floor with some painters tape or duct tape. as long as the markings are non-symetrical and visible when viewed in the headest passthough mode shouldn’t have any troubles tracking.

(These suggestions are subject to change as Inside-Out Tracking continues to develop.)

Location Based Entertainment (LBE) mode

  • We highly recommend contacting HTC to get a Location Based Entertainment (LBE) License. The license gives operators features that are designed for shared space multiplayer, mainly the ability to create a playspace map that will be shared with all the headsets, This means the headsets won’t require calibration.

  • HTC will send you documentation to get your headsets enrolled and how to create a map for your arena. When creating your Batch Config for headset groups, you have to set your tracking mode to LBE Mode This will allow you to assign a shared map for the headsets in the group, then we recommend turing off Boundary related messages. This will removed the warning when players venture outside the defined play area, normally this would be okay, but it also gives the player the option to redraw the playarea, and that will overwite the current map, we do not want this. We recommend Turning on Hide Recenter View this option gets rid of the ability for the headset to recenter it’s current position, which will also overwite the shared map.

  • Before you create a group for your headsets, you will need to create a map to be able to use your headsets. Download the Vive Manager app and pair one of your Focus 3 headsets to the app. This will allow you to use that headset to generate a map. Follow the instructions in the Vive Manager app to pair a headset, then be sure to mark this headset so you will know which one is paired with the app.

  • In map creation, you will want follow the instructions the phone gives you, the app will want you to section out your playspace into 4x4 meter squares, but I have found that treating the entire 4.5m x 5.5m space as one section works just fine. measure out your playspace and mark the center and corners, this will help when you need to establish the playspace center and “forward” direction.

  • DO NOT STOP when it says you have enough info, Complete the action of rotating around the center, and walking around the playspace perimeter to make sure the headset has a robust map of your playspace. Even though the app says you are done, the headset will continue to record map data until your press “complete” or “continue” When you are done, stand in the center and point the headset to a 5.5m wall like the diagram below

  • Confirm the center and forward direction, then input the play area dimensions. I would recommend putting it 5.8m x 4.8m to give extra space and more leniency on the boundary warnings. After confirming the map, put on the headset and walk over to your playspace corners. Double check that the boundary warnings are orientated correctly. Since the dimensions are drawn from the center of the playspace, any slight rotation of the headset when setting the center and forward direction will drastically alter were the playspace will draw. If the playspace corners are too far off for your liking, repeat the center and forward direction setup on the phone app.

  • When you are satisfied with the map, take the headset back to you PC and export the map on the Vive Business+ console. Name the map data for the playspace and add it to your headset group. Each headset will need to reset to apply both the batch configuration and the new map data, once they are synced, you will only be able to use the headsets inside your playspace.

Downloading the Lastest Version

  1. Go to the Partner Success Portal

  2. Log in using the Login credentials provided by VRCave

  3. Find the “Download Latest vrCAVE Version” Button

  4. Select the Download details that best describe your VR Setup

Installing (Sideloading) the VRcaveLibrary app on to your Vive Focus 3

PLEASE NOTE

Your file path to the vrcaveLite software should to be free of any spaces.

  • Bad: C:\Windows\Username with spaces\Desktop\Some folder with spaces\vrcaveLite
  • Good: C:\Windows\UsernameWithNoSpaces\Desktop\vrcaveLite

Make sure your headset is connected to your Windows PC via USB.

  • Download the vrCAVELite-<version>.zip (1.8.6 and earlier) or vrcaveStandalone-2.x.x-VIVEFocus3.zip (2.0.1 and later) from the provided link

  • Right click on the .zip and choose Extract All

  • In the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders window, choose Browse, select Desktop, and then Select Folder.

  • Click Extract and wait for the folders to finish extracting.

    NOTE: If you get an error while extracting the that a path is too long, choose “Do this for all current items” and click “Skip”.

  • Navigate into the vrcaveLite\Android_ASTC\ or vrcave\Android_ASTC folder and double-click on Install_VRcaveLibrary-arm64.bat.

  • It should take 2-3 minutes - if the install completes successfully, the window will close with no further feedback.

Launching VRcaveLibrary on the Vive Focus 3

In VR, from the main menu bar at the bottom of the screen, click on the Library Button, In the Library window, you should see VRCaveLite (1.8.6 and earlier) or VRcaveLibrary (2.0.1 and later).

Setting up the Server Computer

  • For 2.0.1 and later:

    • Double-click the vrcave folder on your desktop, then double-click Generate VRCave Launch Server Shortcuts.bat.

      A new shortcut should appear called “Launch VRCave Standalone Server”:

    • If you like, you can drag this shortcut to your desktop:

  • For 1.8.6 and earlier:

    • On the Windows PC, Navigate to the vrCAVELite-<version>.zip compressed folder and then move the folder titled vrcaveLite to the desktop as well as “LaunchVRCaveLiteServer” shortcut.

  • Double click the launch server shortcut on your desktop.

  • On launch, you should see a windows defender popup, select both private and public networks and then click Allow

  • If you do not get any of these popups, you can create an exception for vrcave by typing “Allow an app through Windows Firewall” into windows search bar and selecting the option that comes up

  • Then make sure that all 3 checkboxes for vrcavelibrary are checked

  • If it is not in this list, click Allow another app… and then Browse…

  • After adding BootstrapPackagedGame, make sure it has all 3 boxes checked and then click okay

  • If you get an error that says some .dll files cannot be found, you may need to update your DirectX drivers

Router Setup

The server computer communicates game data to the VR Headsets, this is done by setting up a local network with this router for the server computer and VR headsets to all be on. Having the headsets connnected to the internet will allow them to update their firmware and software which allows for improvments to tracking and other features.

  • Connection: Make sure your Nighthawk Netgear X6 R8000 router is plugged in and powered on. Use its provided ethernet cable to connect the server computer to LAN port 1 on the back of the router (do NOT plug it into the port titled “INTERNET“).

  • Connect the router to the internet by plugging an ethernet cable from a modem into the port titled “INTERNET“

  • Put the server computer in airplane mode so that it doesn’t have any WiFi internet connection anymore, and is only connected to the Nighthawk X6 router.

Network Environment

  • To connect the clients to the server, all the headsets and the server need to connect to the Nighthawk X6

  • In the headsets, On the main menu bar at the bottom of the screen, click on the Wifi Symbol or click the settings app and then the Wi-fi button. From there, find Router network you set up, it should be named something like NETGEAR##-5G-2. Enter the password provided for the router or the one you set up if you decided to do that.

  • Do this for each of the Headsets and then restart the VRcaveLibrary app

  • On the server computer, you should start to see players begin to connect on the top righthand corner of the UI, from there you can name the headsets and change the player color.

  • If the players do not show up, check to see if your server computer has any firewalls that might be blocking vrcavelibrary from accessing the network. For Windows Defender Firewall, you can allow vrcave through by searching “Allow an App through Windows Firewall” in a windows search bar and adding vrcaveLibrary.exe to the allowed apps. vrcaveLibrary.exe can be found in vrcaveLite/WindowsNoEditor/ folder. Any other firewalls should just be disabled as they will usually try to block vrcave even after permissions are granted.

In Game Calibration

If you have an LBE License with HTC, this step is not necessary.

  • To make sure that each player is where they are supposed to be in game, you will need to perform a calibration on each headset, you can start the calibration from the server by clicking on the gear next to the player name and then clicking the crosshairs that appear when the gear is clicked.

  • In the selected headset, you will see the calibration window pop up and a red ball attached to the left hand.

  • You will need to touch the controller to all 4 corners of the room like the diagram below, It helps to mark out the corners with numbers so the first corner can be quickly identified when calibration needs to be done. You must place the markers in the corners on the floor of your real world space as the calibration also sets the games floor height. You will need to keep the headset on, while also looking out from under the headset to see where you are going.

  • When you are done, point the laser pointer on the right hand at the Confirm Calibration button, the play area should visibly shift into position, you can test the calibration by performing a “high five” with another player who is calibrated in the game, you will know the calibration worked if the controllers clack against each other when your hands are close to each other. If the hands connect in game but miss In real life (or using the professional VR Developers term: “Meat Space”) then the calibration was not successful and one or both of the players needs to calibrate again.

Optional Features

  • By clicking on the players name on the server, you can type out a new name for that headset, the sever will remember that name next time that headset connects.

Changing the number of given hints and default time limit

  • Navigate to the vrcave library config folder by following this path: vrcave\Windows\VRcaveLibrary\Saved\Config\Windows\Game.ini

  • open Game.ini with notepad and add these lines:

[/Game/Maps/DragonTower/DragonTower_GameState.DragonTower_GameState_C] 
defaultMaxGameTime=2700 
defaultMaxHints=2

[/Game/Maps/Manor/Manor_GameState.Manor_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2

[/Game/Maps/SST/SST_GameState.SST_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2

[/Game/Maps/TimeTravel/TimeTravel_GameState.TimeTravel_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2

[/Game/Maps/underwater/USA_GameState.USA_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2

[/Game/Maps/Pirate/Pirate_GameState.Pirate_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2  

[/Game/Maps/RunawayTrain/RunawayTrain_GameState.RunawayTrain_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2 

[/Game/Maps/LaserBlocks/LaserBlocks_GameState.LaserBlocks_GameState_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=600
defaultMaxHints=2  

[/Game/Maps/Ninja/Ninja_GameState_Quest.Ninja_GameState_Quest_C]
defaultMaxGameTime=2700
defaultMaxHints=2
  • defaultMaxGameTime is measured in seconds, so 2100 seconds is 35 minutes.

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