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Rift works in extended, but not in direct (Optimus laptop)

zorque
Explorer
LATEST UPDATE:
This problem (at least for most people having this problem) has been identified as resulting from the Optimus technology. The high performance GPU is not actually connected directly to any of the display ports (not the monitor, not the DP, not the HDMI). So even with Optimus disabled, you are still running through the low-power card to get to your displays... This is something the Oculus display driver has not taken into account. Unfortunately, there seems to be no ETA, if ever, on a fix for this. We'll have to wait and see if the Oculus devs can mod the driver to account for Optimus setups. Meanwhile, the recommendation is to develop on a desktop with a dedicated graphics card. Sigh.

I am creating this thread to track people having issues with THIS EXACT PROBLEM:
* Rift works normally in extended mode (blue LED, video, rot & pos tracking work fine)
* In direct mode, the LED stays orange and no video appears on the Rift HMD.
However, the 'mirror' window does show up on the display and the positional and rotational
tracking both work when you launch a game or demo in direct mode.
PLEASE do not post here if you have a "similar" problem. That only clutters the thread and impedes progress.

Objective of this thread:
* Get an idea of how many people are affected by Direct mode not working.
* Determine 100% whether this is a laptop / Optimus / NVidia problem
* See if the community has (or can) come up with a workaround.

Notes:
* It doesn't matter if you use HDMI or the DVI adapter
* This seems to be a problem with Optimus.
* It has been suggested that the Rift direct-mode driver is sending the video signal directly to the NVidia chipset,
which we can't see because (even with Optimus 'disabled') the final monitor output still goes through the Intel chipset.
* I have tested with Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 on Dell and MSI hardware (both with NVidia/Intel/Optimus),
and have the exact same problem.
* Oculus support has (mostly) acknowledged that this is likely an Optimus issue, but has said they don't
know when (or even IF) this will be addressed. We need to keep this thread clear and concise to both
show them the problem needs to be addressed, and to give them a head start on troubleshooting.

OK, here we go. If you're posting here, please include:
* Brief description of your rig (no cfg files needed to start). i.e. the rigs I am testing on:
MSI GT70,I7, 24G RAM, SSD HDD/SATA secondary, NVidia GTX780m, Win8x64
Dell XPS L502X, i5, 8G RAM, SATA, NVidia GT540m, Win7x64
Dell XPS L502X, i5, 8G RAM, SATA, NVidia GT540m, Win8.1x64
* also indicate whether you're willing to help troubleshoot, and to what degree
(driver uninstalls, system OS wipes / reinstalls, etc)

Thanks, everybody, and I hope we can all help each other out.
-Mike
48 REPLIES 48

shmed
Honored Guest
Same exact problem on my laptop. I use a special setup with an external Nvidia GPU. My laptop is a x220 with an integrated hd3000. I use a desktop Nvidia GTX560 448 connected externally through the pci-express slot on the side of my laptop. It's recognized as such by the computer but it still use Nvidia Optimus. Extended display works perfectly, but direct to HMD suffer of the orange light issue like everyone else in this thread. I use Win8.1 too.

aram
Protege
Exactly same issue as described in the main post.

Specs:
Windows 8.1
Corei7 920 desktop
Evga gtx 770

Another spec:
Windows 7
Alienware m17xR3
Core i7
Gtx 650

EddieJames
Explorer
I have this exact same problem also. But I can't run in extended because the display is sideways through the rift.

I've got the direct method chosen and the desk demo runs perfectly on the Rift for me, and it is the ONLY thing I have been able to see on the Rift.

Tuscany will run indirect and I see it on the screen, and the tracking works perfectly, just no video in the rift. But if I choose the direct exe, it runs for about 5 seconds and crashes.
DK2 on ASUS Rampage V i7-5930k @ 3.5ghz, GTX 780ti, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 500GB SSD Win 7 Pro

darkansi
Honored Guest
Same issue for me.
On a laptop with intel controlled hdmi/display ports and an nvidia 870m graphics card.

I can view the config demo perfectly, but all other demos fail under direct mode.

Note: The dk1 worked fine on the same laptop.

pompomJuice
Honored Guest
Alienware m17xr4 same issues.

In general it seems that Optimus was implemented in a way that broke 3d rendering backwards compatibility with most games. It's a shit technology and the guy that programmed it should be fired. It turns this laptop into the most expensive piece or garbage that ever existed.

Also the designers placed the NVIDIA GPU right next to the secondary HDD bay. That is pure stupid. Also the GPU does not think it is overheating (meaning the fan is turned off) unless it reaches 80 degrees. That is pure stupid.

smadansingh
Honored Guest
Has there been any success with this issue?

I'm having the same problems on a Dell M4700 w. NVidia K1000M.

cybereality
Grand Champion
It's something we are still looking into. I don't know when it will be fixed.
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV

AdamGipson
Honored Guest
Exact same problem here.
Running on Intel Core i7-3612qm, Nvidia GT 635m on a Lenovo z580 laptop.
Windows 8 x64, 8CPU 8GB RAM

CMoyle336
Honored Guest
Same Issue:

core i7
24gb RAM
GTX 780 + GTX 470 (dedicated physx)
2 monitors, both hooked up to the DVI ports on the GTX 780
Logitech G510 keyboard and R.A.T.3 mouse

I'm willing to help debug this issue with everything except wiping the OS

nodeywan
Honored Guest
AMD-FX - 8350 - 4.00 GHZ
8 GB RAM
Intel SSD 256 gb Drive
Asus GeForce GTX - 660
Asus MB
1 * 27" LG LED and 1 11" AOC USB LED.

Will only work in Direct HMD Access to Apps mode when I run Direct_to_Rift version. I was getting the BSOD when trying to run anything in Direct HMD mode, including "Show Demo Scene" under Config Utility. After trying everything I could find on the internet I finally got it working so that I can run anything that is Direct_to_Rift. Still won't change the LED to blue in other games.

Things I tried.
* Running in Extended Screen to HMD mode. Which requires setting RDK2, which is screen 2, screen to main screen. This worked but is a lot of work to get things on the screen in the right place to get them running. I-Racing asks to run in Rift Mode, but head tracking won't work in Extended Screen Mode
* Delete the UpperFilter key. This stopped the BSOD. But when running the "Show Demo Scene" the RDK2 headset still was not being recognized because the LED was still orange.
* Uninstalled Nvidia Drivers and re-installed them. Still the same as above.
* Unistalled the Oculus Runtime and re-installed. BSOD showed up again, Checked in UpperFIlter key got written to the Registry, wasn't there.
* Unistalled the Display Link Drivers. This worked got rid of the BSOD, The Rift work fine in "Direct_to_Rift" games include "Show Demo Scene" LED changes to blue when game or demo is started. It won't work in I-Racing or any game that sets the RDK2 headset during start up. LED stays orange.

Will try adding parms to shortcut to the game like some are suggesting.
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