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Ryanality
Community Manager
Community Manager

These features and enhancements will become available starting the week of July 20, 2021.

Invite to Game

  • We’ve created multiplayer APIs for developers to use with their apps. For any app that opts into this feature, you’ll be able to invite friends or people you’ve recently played with to your game sessions directly from the Quest Universal menu.
  • You will be notified when your friend takes action based on your invite.
  • When you’re invited to join someone through this method, you’ll receive a notification with info about who sent the invite and what app you’re being invited to.
  • You can now view and manage the group of people you’re playing together with right from the Universal menu without leaving the app or experience you’re currently in.

Invite Link

  • We want to make it easier to get your friends into VR with you. One way we’re doing this is by allowing you to create an invitation link which will take anyone who uses it to the same location in VR.
  • The link is created and shared using the Oculus Mobile App. You can then use that invite link to text or post to your friends and communities.

Air Link

  • Improved the dynamic bitrate to reduce the occurrence of stalls and high latency, while also improving visual quality.
  • Added the ability to access the Oculus menu (press Oculus button) during a connection timeout (3 dots screen).
  • Identified and fixed a bug that caused Air Link to crash.
  • Fixed an issue where some AMD drivers could crash when running Link/Air Link.

Messenger

  • You can now send Reactions to messages in VR similar to how you would on mobile.
  • You can now see the status of the messages that you send (Send receipts), as well as how much of the conversation other participants have read (Read receipts.)

USB-C Audio

  • You can now use USB-C headphones with your Quest 2. For the list of supported USB-C headphones and adapters, see our support article here.
  • If both 3.5mm and USB-C headphones are plugged in, then the audio will play on the 3.5mm headphones.
  • If your 3.5mm or USB-C headphones have mics, they will be disabled as headphone mics are not supported on either the 3.5mm or USB-C ports.

Universal Menu

  • We’ve made the Library, Settings, Notifications, and other menus larger for improved ease of use.

Security Settings

  • We’ve created a dedicated security settings page in headset where you can set/reset your unlock pattern and access other security settings.

Save your passwords on Oculus Browser

  • You can safely save and autofill your passwords on Browser. Now you’ll only have to type your password once before letting Browser auto-fill your password. And you can seal it behind your unlock pattern for added security.

Fixes

  • This update includes a security fix to prevent third-party apps running in the background of people’s Quest devices from accessing their motion data, including controller and headset movement. Apps that run in the foreground-- meaning apps you actively play and engage with when using your headset -- are not affected by this fix and may collect real-time information about the current position of your headset and controllers to translate your movements into the virtual world; for more, see our support article privacy support article.
  • Fixed an issue with wireless that caused degraded WiFi performance.
28 Comments
Zenbane
MVP
MVP

I am really looking forward to this update. As noted over on the Quest forum, this should come with the experimental feature that allows developers to build software to the Mixed Reality API:

https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Oculus-Quest-2-and-Quest/Build-v31-arriving-soon-opening-the-gate-for...

 

Hopefully we can start to see more VR Experiences taking advantage of the Quest's passthrough camera. Fun stuff!

nalex66
MVP
MVP

Good stuff! Looking forward to testing the AirLink improvements and other QoL enhancements when the update eventually rolls out to my headset.

kojack
MVP
MVP

@Zenbane wrote:

this should come with the experimental feature that allows developers to build software to the Mixed Reality API


The question is how long after users get the update will developers get an SDK or docs? Currently the mobile SDK is still v29 and the Rift SDK is v23 from last year. (Not that I expect the Rift-S to get any form of passthrough api)

 

kojack
MVP
MVP

Passthrough API info on what it can do:

https://developer.oculus.com/blog/mixed-reality-with-passthrough/

 

As expected, no access to the cameras is provided (for privacy reasons) directly to developers, so we can't do things like fiducial marker tracking for fixed world tracking spaces. But it does allow you to render over the top of a live view.

nalex66
MVP
MVP

I was wondering if Facebook had changed their stance on the privacy issues around camera access. Anyway, I would assume that this will allow them to do things like Infinite Office's passthrough windows to see your keyboard or desktop?

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

I hadn't considered the privacy issue, but admittedly, my enthusiasm was initially focused on the interacting and overlapping of the virtual world with the real world. But yeah, I hadn't consider all the privacy issues this would raise. I wonder how other competitors will handle this situation as we march forward in to the Mixed Reality future.

ohgrant
Superstar

Looking forward to the update. 

 

To be honest, I'm not looking forward to a Mixed reality future, except in the professional arena where having data in eyesight would benefit.  

 

 I have enough apps and games in my backlog to keep me busy indefinitely, but I fear all VR may suffer if MR becomes the next fad.  I'm not sure VR would survive the fracture of buyers that switch their habits to buying MR gear and games. I truly believe 3D's decline was greatly influenced by people like me that seen VR as the next step in immersive gaming. I'd hate to see VR loose out to MR 

 

 Maybe I lack the imagination to envision it, but I can't think of anything I'd like to play with my room in the background. I've seen my room.  Now if it were to generate virtual worlds based on my room setup, I'm in. 

 

 

 

  

kojack
MVP
MVP

One of the conspiracy theories around Facebook has been that they can see everything your headset sees (so they could target ads based on posters on your wall, Mark can watch you playing VR porn, etc). But none of the camera view is sent. If any developer can access it, they could sneak in a capture that gets uploaded. Maybe malware authors would start making fake games (not released on the oculus store) for blackmail purposes. Of course they could have a phone style permission approval thing ("This app is requesting camera access"), but it's still risky.

 

For how other people do it:

Windows MR : same as Oculus, no dev access. Oh, and their passthrough "flashlight" is garbage compared to the Oculus full image one.

HTC : do whatever you want. Devs can access the front cameras on the Vive.

Zed Mini : (adds colour and depth passthrough for AR on a VR headset) full access with depth mapped room reconstruction and live stereo image capture (you can use it as a webcam).

Leap Motion : if you don't disable analytics in the settings, it can upload low res images of what it sees to the creators (I believe it's a 32x32 short range grey scale).

I'm not sure about the Index, but it probably follows the Vive.

 

kojack
MVP
MVP

@ohgrant wrote:

Maybe I lack the imagination to envision it, but I can't think of anything I'd like to play with my room in the background. I've seen my room.  Now if it were to generate virtual worlds based on my room setup, I'm in. 


Imagine playing a game like beat saber. The ground area doesn't really matter that much, except to stay centred. You have a dog or cat (or child) that likes to move around you when you are in VR. With this passthrough system, you could have just the floor region fade to passthrough near you, leaving everything above as the game. So now you can see if your cat/dog/child runs up to you before you step on them.

 

Or playing a flight simulator where you can see your hands on your keyboard and hotas, but still in the game. This would be especially good for people who build their own cockpits, have the lower half be passthrough (to see where all their custom physical controls are) but top half is the canopy view of the VR world.

 

It's not going to be Magic Leap / Zed Mini style AR worlds (cameras are low res and grey), more of a safety / productivity feature.

 

ohgrant
Superstar

 Being someone who has had cats before, I can certainly see the advantage in your first scenario. Never meet a cat that wouldn't delight in tripping a human immersed in VR.  Second scenario sounds real interesting. I'll wait to see what the future brings    

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

I am interesting in something like this,

 

  • Viewing my room through the passthrough lens.
  • Using my VR Hands to load a virtual chair next to the real life couch in my room.
  • Inviting a virtual friend to come sit on the virtual chair.
  • Me walking and sitting on the real life couch.
  • Me turning and looking at my virtual friend on the virtual chair next to me as I sit on my real life couch.

 

Couple that with the game overlays Kojack described... and wow.

 

Being able to interact with people who are present in a way where their digital selves and assets are merged with me and my real life assets is intriguing as *!$&**__!!

😁

kojack
MVP
MVP

Or place the virtual chair overlapped with the couch, so the person sits on it with you.

 

Hopefully a push for AR style mixed reality could mean newer Quest headsets might have colour cameras with better quality images. Or at the very least keep the 4 current monochrome tracking cameras and add two front facing colour cameras at about 64mm IPD just for passthrough.

Then we could have something like this: (using a Zed Mini):

 

Thedemongod97
Honored Guest

How about fixing the payment method problem before doing these kind of things that way the problem does not persist and oculus will have better feedback  for their devices and in turn make more money if you guys can't do this then what are you even being paid for?

ShocksVR
Superstar

Thanks for the update notes; my Quest2 is updating to v31 as I type this.


However, since were on the topic of updates, will the PC Software release notes ever be posted ? The last PC release notes were for v28, and it's currently on PTC v31.

 

Thanks !

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP

@ShocksVR  I also got v31 on my Q2 earlier today.  I think Air Link now works better, esp. using dynamic bitrates.  I'm now using 200mbps dynamic, previously 120mbps fixed.  I found I needed to opt into the v31ptc on my PC in order to see these benefits.  I suppose the stable/final v31 PC version will be out soon.  Everything else seems to work fine.

 

I kinda doubt that the PC app is going to get any separate Release Notes unless there are major changes/improvements for Rift headsets.  Really has not been anything new Rift related for quite a few versions now.  Oculus has already said that while the Rift will continue to be supported (eg. usual bug and security fixes) it is not likely to receive any additional features (eg. no hand tracking).

https://support.oculus.com/release-notes/

 

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP

OK my Oculus PC app v31ptc updated today to v32ptc.  There were no release notes for this anywhere.  I did not see differences so I opted out of beta and this then resulted in v31 final/stable.

 

Nothing major to report with v31 which I now have on both my Q2 and PC.  My only complaint is that PCVR at 120Hz refresh rate is still not performing as well for me as it did with v29.  Even with my rtx3090 the graphics is both Oculus and SteamVR apps have a bit of stutter.  Dropping down to 90Hz fixes this so that's what I'm now using.  I've also found that while Dynamic bitrates (200mbps for me) are more stable than v30 I still seem to get more consistent results using 120mbps Fixed.

 

I really like Air Link with my Q2 but I gotta say I'm a bit disappointed with the drop in 120Hz PCVR performance.  This was much better back in v29 for me.  I hate to say this but Virtual Desktop at 120Hz performs much better/smoother now.  Hopefully Oculus can get 120Hz PCVR with Air Link sorted out with future updates.  It is of course still Experimental so I imagine it needs a few more tweaks before going final.

jacksodj
Honored Guest

Did this update remove the VR representation of the K830?

have the keyboard paired but no longer appears in home, and ghost hands are not present when I start to type. 

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Not sure new PC changes are needed though, at least my CV1 keeps working perfectly, also with the new update. 

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP

My Q2 got another small update a few hours ago.  It went from v31.0 to v31.1 (same as my PC 31.1).  I'm not sure what this update was supposed to address since, as usual there are no new/revised release notes.  Anyway, everything seems to still work fine with Link, Air Link, and Virtual Desktop.  Pretty sure it was just a Q2 software update because there wasn't any firmware flashing like there was when it initially went to v31.0.

DarkJaqb
Honored Guest

Is this update region locked? As I am still on v30, with headset telling me no new updates are available (desktop app is v31.1)

nalex66
MVP
MVP

Not region-based, it just gradually rolls out to more and more users. I’m still waiting too. I used to get updates within the week, but lately I seem to often wait two weeks or longer. I’m not sure if the roll-out is slower because there are so many more Quests out there, or if it’s just luck of the draw.

nalex66
MVP
MVP

Finally got v31 (actually, went straight to v31.1). I went to play with my Q2 during my lunch break, and the battery was fully depleted, so I knew it had updated at some point during the last 24 hours (it's annoying that the headset still stays on after updating--I guess it's due to my lens cover).

 

Anyway, I like that the middle menu window got bigger, I think that's an improvement. I'll test AirLink over the weekend and see how that feels with the update. I've been using tethered Link more often (to keep my battery charge up and so I can use a higher encoder bitrate), but I do find the cable a bit annoying.

nalex66
MVP
MVP

So I played a bit with AirLink... I set it to dynamic bitrate, with the max up to 200 Mbps, and it seemed to work pretty well. I'm not sure if this changed with v31, but I noticed that the image quality at the edges of view seemed to be more aggressively degraded. Previously I only ever noticed it in a thin border along the rims of the lenses, but now I can see it outside of a rectangular area at the centre. It's not specific to AirLink, because I also saw it when I switched back to tethered Link. Maybe it was just the game I was playing--I was in the Lone Echo in the Processing Line area, and there is a diamond pattern in the glass walls that makes the quality drop-off very obvious. I had turned off TAA last time I played this game, so that may have also contributed to me noticing it.

 

Edit: This was not a Link issue, but a setting in Lone Echo. When I turned off Multi-Resolution Shading, the image quality was back to normal.

 

Anyway, my only complaint about AirLink versus tethered Link is that I can see some loss of image quality with the lower encoder bitrate. There's a spot in my Home environment where I can always see colour banding if I use a bitrate lower than 350. With AirLink at 200, I can see it in the area circled (although it doesn't show in the picture). Other than that though, I didn't feel any difference going back and forth between wireless versus wired.

 

vr selfie.jpg

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP

Main thing I'm noticing now is that there is not as much difference between Link and Air Link.  Maybe thanks to my rtx3090 gpu but I can now run Air Link at 200mbps Fixed Bitrate and this looks/works very well for me with 90Hz refresh rate, 1.2x slider (4480x2256) and 1.20xSS, ASW = off, with OTT.

 

In order to get the same result with Link I need to use at least 350mbps bitrate.  I can move this to 500mbps and this further improves things a bit.  Overall, I still prefer to be wireless with Air Link.

 

I feel that both Link and AL have lost some performance/clarity since v29.  With v29 I was easily able to run 120Hz refresh rate at 1.4x res slider and 1.2xSS.  Now, I seem to get some stutters which are completely fixed by dropping the refresh rate down to 90Hz.  Currently, Virtual Desktop does a much better job at 120Hz but I prefer Air Link because I like its colours better.  VD colours always look washed out to me and adding colour vibrance gives everything too much of a reddish tint.  Plus, not all my apps (esp. VivePort apps) are compatible with VD and/or some controller actions are a bit off.

Calimero_Oeuf
Expert Protege

V31 doesn't fix any bug 😠

Guardian area doesn't save, I must recreate area each time I restart headset

com.facebook.spatial_pe... always crashing !

com.facebook.spatial_pe[1].jpg

 

Please, we need a fix !

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP

@Calimero_Oeuf  This is a user forum mate so if you need a fix you are best to contact Oculus Support and start a ticket.  They will review your recent log files and see if they can identify the problem.  If you manage to find a fix after doing this please share this with the rest of us users.  Thanks mate, good luck and cheers.

AlexiTQ
Adventurer

Still no fix for Oculus Link. When are you going to adress the issues?

Calimero_Oeuf
Expert Protege

Factory reset solved all my problems !

 

Guardian not saved ... solved

com.facebook.spatial_pe... crash ... solved