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Malvineous
Participant
November 5, 2014

How to run Unity demos under Linux?

Hi all,

I'm just getting started with my DK2 but although I've had it for a few days now, I'm yet to experience anything interactive with it under Linux.

I downloaded a bunch of demos based on the Unity engine, and although they are claiming to be Linux versions and have a program that runs under Linux, there is no graphical output. They all offer a video mode selection, but then when the window appears it's just a single colour. For example the Lorryrider demo is just a white screen with sound, and the Eden River one is just a light blue screen with sound. Typically the keyboard and mouse don't work either, as there is no way to exit them.

Has anyone managed to get any Unity demos working under Linux? Is there some trick to it?? Thanks!
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    6 replies

    cybereality
    Inspiring
    November 6, 2014
    I'm not sure those demos are fully updated for Linux. The Linux SDK was just released a few weeks ago.
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    haagch
    Up and Coming
    November 6, 2014
    I have the feeling they are just broken.

    Here is a star wars demo: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12334
    I have tried the linux version on mesa/open source drivers first. The normal view works without a problem, but when pressing O the vr view just freezes the picture until pressing O again to get back to the normal view.

    On the other hand I have tried the windows version in wine + nine native d3d9 + the "oculus wine wrapper" and the vr view works perfectly.

    The problem is that there don't seem to be any errors or warnings to see anywhere, it just doesn't work...
    MalvineousAuthor
    Participant
    November 6, 2014
    Oh I didn't know there was a Wine wrapper for the Rift. I tried this one but running the game through that didn't change anything - no head tracking, no option for 1920x1080 (I chose 1920x1200 and squashed it onto the Rift display) and the keys still didn't work. One thing it did do was make all the textures in Eden River lose transparency so it looked quite bad, but alas it looks like the main point - the head tracking - isn't being passed through to the app itself for some reason, even with the wrapper.

    @cybereality: Fair point if the Linux SDK is fairly new, but you'd think you'd still be able to get an OpenGL image? I didn't think the SDK you installed would affect the rendering (wouldn't that be the SDK the app was compiled against?)
    cybereality
    Inspiring
    November 6, 2014
    The main issue will be the SDK the app was built against, not the one you downloaded.
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    haagch
    Up and Coming
    November 6, 2014
    That's the wrapper I meant, but I couldn't post a link because the forum marks it as spam for me...

    I haven't actually tested this particular program with head tracking I think, but it worked for everything else in wine I tested.

    Are you sure oculusd is working for you? Have you got any head tracking data anywhere? Maybe it's a permission issue?
    MalvineousAuthor
    Participant
    November 8, 2014
    Strange. I don't know whether oculusd is working or not because nothing I try has worked correctly yet. When I try to launch the Tuscany demo it prints the serial number of the IR camera so I assume permissions are fine. Certainly I installed the udev rule and I can launch guvcview and see an image from the camera showing the IR LEDs on the Rift overlayed on a green background, so permissions seem fine.

    It's looking more like Unity doesn't really support Linux, or it broke somewhere along the way and doesn't work any more, but nobody has updated anything to fix it. It looks like they supply Mono libraries which makes me think it's just the Windows version with Mono handling dot NET, which is pretty much the same as running the Windows version through Wine.

    EDIT: I have to write "dot NET" because if I use a period instead of the word "dot" then my message is flagged as spam and I can't post it.
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