Sony says it’s bringing some form of PC VR support to PSVR 2 at some point this year, although it’s not clear when, or even how the company will go about letting users play games like Half-Life: Alyx (2020) or popular social VR platforms equally missing from the headset’s game catalogue. But some won’t have to wait: iVRy, an unofficial project dedicated to the task, is bringing it long-awaited SteamVR driver to PSVR 2 sometime next month.
Exactly one year since the start of the project, Mediator Software announced on X (formerly Twitter) that its iVRy SteamVR driver for PSVR 2 has crossed the last remaining obstacle, positioning the driver to release sometime next month via Steam. That’s great news, although probably not for everyone with a VR-ready PC and PSVR 2 in hand—at least not right away.
One of the many caveats of using iVRy for PSVR 2 is the requirement of a DP-AUX emulator hardware, which is set to be initially offered exclusively to subscribers to the project’s Patreon. The team says however non-subscribers may also be offered the opportunity to purchase the required DP-AUX emulator sometime in April or May. Pricing is also still to be determined.
Day #365: Ready for Action
It’s been a long and frustrating journey, that’s involved a lot of reverse-engineering, lucky guessing, deep pockets, and hardware and software development, but the iVRy SteamVR driver for PSVR2 and DP-AUX emulator hardware is now ready for release! pic.twitter.com/k0CCwtdWi7
— iVRy (@iVRy_VR) February 27, 2024
There are a few other hurdles to jump over too. At the moment, iVRy for PSVR 2 only supports a limited selection of AMD GPUs, which for now includes Radeon RDNA, RDNA2 or RDNA3. As the studio notes, the onus is on Sony to support nVidia GPUs, since there is no known way to circumvent it without GPU driver modifications.
“AMD’s DSC strategy is technically sub-optimal,” the iVRy developer says in a post on X. “Mediatek developed the PSVR2 hardware with AMD and nVidia support, and Sony disabled the nVidia support when they customised the design. There’s no reason for Sony’s change other than to reduce compatibility with non-AMD GPU drivers.”
That’s not all. Controllers are also an issue, as PSVR 2’s Sense Controllers aren’t currently listed as a supported device; the driver only includes support for NoloVR motion controllers and Valve SteamVR (aka Lighthouse) tracked motion controllers, such as Index or Vive controllers. Mediator Software said in January however it was still cracking Sense Controller support, so we may eventually see that too.
For now, this essentially limits the pool of potential users to only the most ardent hardware enthusiasts who already own a PC VR headset, or those among us who are content with playing whatever games support standard gamepads—also a supported input method. And the creator tends to agree:
“Anyone considering purchasing a Quest 3 or PSVR2 for PCVR, should get a Quest 3. PSVR2 on PC is for existing owners that don’t want to purchase another headset, or those that particularly want a PSVR2 on PC, for whatever reasons,” Mediator Software says in a recent post on X.
That said, most people would probably rather wait and see what Sony has in store with its promised official PC support for PSVR 2, which is said to arrive in some capacity in 2024. Granted, it’s not clear exactly when or how this will be done, however it’s not unlikely that Sony’s implementation could be some sort of Wi-Fi streaming solution akin to Steam Link or Meta’s Air Link, provided the company wants to keep PSVR 2 owners still somewhat tied to the PS5 console ecosystem.
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