There are so many day-to-day development issues, I thought I'd share some of the big time wasters.
(And one potentially dangerous one - I'd love some feedback on #1)
I'm disappointed in general at how developer-hostile the headset OS/UI/Shellenv/QuestLink is, and quite annoyed at how many liberties Meta take with our time with regards to not fixing basic usability issues.
Please, feel free to chime in with your own annoyances.
#1: Airlink/Questlink gets stuck in a glitchy state with broken tracking and flashing warped tracking (daily).
Usually just from leaving it on the desk for 5-10 mins.
In this state, anything waiting on OpenXR will be stuck, and often crash.
The solution is to
- (as admin) kill OVRserviceLancher.exe and all descendants
- wait for the device to respond to input properly and exit
- unplug / replug
- Start the oculus app again
- sit through "Checking the status of your oculus app"
- reconnect
Tried: Win10/Win11, AMD/nVidia, new drivers, brand new machines, etc
Doing this several times per day is a bit of a waste of time, but more importantly from what I've seen the rapid flashing might pose a photosensitive epilepsy risk. I genuinely hope it doesn't hurt anyone, but if it does... i can't see it looking good in court that it was known about for so long and ignored. Put a warning up at least.
#2: Windows rearrange themselves with the headset off
E.g. when returning to the virtual desktop after testing something in link, my desktop will often be way off to the side, half on the floor etc. Potential causes:
A: it's a bug and it's just been ignored for ages
B: it's trying to be too smart and putting windows relative to where the headset faces when it detects my face.
With B: usually being "half way on my head pointing down at the desk" as I put the thing on.
Either way it hinders usability and wastes time.
Please stop moving them.
Leading to #3
Please stop moving them.
Leading to #3
#3: ... Window placement in Quest Link/Air Link is inconsistent
Honestly, it's pretty awful, imprecise, and inconsistent. By default windows appear down behind the toolbar -- where my start menu & things are, so I have to move them every time.
Then when moving the windows, they snap to an invisible grid in awkward positions.
(Including allowing windows to z-fight due to the shared space)
Why, it doesn't add any value?
It's a small fix too requiring only an option to disable grid snapping, and opening windows *above* the toolbar by default. It gets grating doing this over and over, so I tend to just not use the feature, as I suspect others do too.
Remember, as you're developing, the headset is off and on more than it might be while playing a game, so these issues are amplified.
Remember, as you're developing, the headset is off and on more than it might be while playing a game, so these issues are amplified.
4: After some time on the desk it'll complain about being outside the guardian for too long.
It makes sense to develop with the headset on your desk sometimes, using only a controller or two.
It's a legitimate thing developers do.
But this message gets in the way, wasting more time, leading to #5:
5: You can't use passthrough (doubletap) with the guardian disabled...
Guess when I need it the most?
I have to constantly lift the headset and put the controllers down without a reference point.
More time wasted.
I'm not trying to run a marathon with passthrough, I've already agreed not to get litigious about any injuries at this point, so passthrough would definitely help.
I'm not trying to run a marathon with passthrough, I've already agreed not to get litigious about any injuries at this point, so passthrough would definitely help.
6: Quest Link/Air Link is miserable on an AMD devices.
E.g. even a nice beefy card like the RX 6800 connected with the cable seems to underperform compared to a similar spec Nvidia 3080 over Wifi.
AMD already have a history of releasing broken drivers -- that's not really a Meta issue -- but the blanket policy of "update to this new driver to continue" before checking if the new AMD driver is a dud has caused performance issues and wasted more time.
7: The timing for taking a screenshot or video is inconsistent (key combo).
I know there's a knack to it, but under a heavy load the timing seems to change depending on how long the spinner takes to appear on screen. Especially with e.g. #1.
It' minor, but it's one more time waster in a big list.
8: When recording a video (key combo) voice is off by default
I have to come out of the game and bring up the little menu with the voice toggle.
It could remember that setting and save me repeating it all the time.
9: When plugging in the device, it asks if I want to share pics/vids every time.
I do; I'd like it to auto accept every time.
Give me that option, without disabling the dialogue entirely.
(More time wasted going back and forth through the settings)
(More time wasted going back and forth through the settings)
Which leads on to #10
#10 "Searching for PC" with no viable connection
E.g. I've disabled the "share your pics" dialogue from #9.
And I try to use Quest Link (wired).
But the cable has come loose (it's very heavy, it does that a lot).
The dialogue sits there searching despite knowing there's no USB connection and that WiFi is off.
Just stop and tell me this immediately. It's a consumer unit, there's no third secret ethernet option.
#11: No in-device option to jam the face detection sensor on.
I know this is probably to hide the fact that the device uses so much power that it can't charge while playing...
But give me 10 minutes without resorting to loading up third party software.
With it jammed on, we can still use the power button if it's not in use for 20 mins, etc.
#12 Connecting to air link.
There's no indication that what you're clicking is a binary checkbox.
There's no indication that what you're clicking is a binary checkbox.
So you end up clicking your wifi sometimes and just disabling the "launch" button.
It doesn't help that it says "missing requirements" but lets you connect anyway... sometimes.
(Minor, but once again, among a long list of annoyances)
#13: And in general
Every so often, all my shellenv windows mess up.
I get stuck in a void where the Oculus button does nothing.
Sometimes the window icons all vanish.
Occasionally the main toolbar's icons default to the blocks, independently of launch icons going missing.
Again, this is amplified by having to wear/remove the headset many times.
#14: vaguely related...
Just while I'm here, I wanted a moan about the store.
I don't care about pre-rendered videos, I want to see the gameplay before clicking anything.
Took me a while to realise that you have to click on the video to see the preview images because I have zero interest in clicking videos, and doing so lags the UI while we wait for the video, just to immediately click off it.
A single page to scroll through would be preferable to the "sections" too.
That and the suggestions tend to be the same few things over and over and over (on PC, headset, and mobile)
I find myself just goggling things or buying them on steam to avoid the store.
All in all, the Unity SDK for example is ... very impressive!
#14: vaguely related...
Just while I'm here, I wanted a moan about the store.
I don't care about pre-rendered videos, I want to see the gameplay before clicking anything.
Took me a while to realise that you have to click on the video to see the preview images because I have zero interest in clicking videos, and doing so lags the UI while we wait for the video, just to immediately click off it.
A single page to scroll through would be preferable to the "sections" too.
That and the suggestions tend to be the same few things over and over and over (on PC, headset, and mobile)
I find myself just goggling things or buying them on steam to avoid the store.
All in all, the Unity SDK for example is ... very impressive!
But the developer experience on-device is... i don't want to say pathetic, but it's not great for such a large company. I want to love this thing, this ecosystem, but I've got a keen eye on the competition now.
