🛠️Hardware Setup
This section provides detailed guidelines for setting up the hardware environment required to develop with our Existent Unreal Engine plugin. It’s critical to adhere to these specifications to ensure compatibility and optimal performance. Please ensure each setup component meets or exceeds the following requirements:
PC Requirements
Hardware
Minimum requirements
Processor
Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better
GPU
NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD Radeon RX 580 equivalent or better
Memory
8 GB RAM or more
Operating system
Windows 10 (64-bit) or later
If buying a recent GPU we recommend using NVIDIA over AMD as historically AMD has had driver issues in VR with new hardware.
When developing for VR it is important to remember that high frame rates make for a much better user experience. Targeting a high level of graphical fidelity will require a much more capable GPU than those listed above.
Supported Unreal Engine Versions
The development environment is designed to be compatible with Unreal Engine (UE) 5.3. Ensure that your development projects are set up to use that version.
Epic has a page with their VR project recommendation here:
Unreal Engine 5.3 Documentation | Epic Developer Community
Epic also has a page specifying their recommended hardware and software setup for general unreal development here:
Hardware and Software Specifications | Epic Developer Community
Supported Head-Mounted Display (HMD) Devices
We currently support the following HMDs:
Vive Focus 3
Pico 4 Enterprise
In both cases this is because they have a robust LBE mode. This is important because the headset’s inside out tracking needs to consistently report its position and orientation with respect to the room it is in.
Tracking System Specifications
A supported tracking system is essential for accurate player motion tracking and spatial awareness. The system must include a minimum number of 2 trackers for each player. We currently support the following tracking systems:
Optitrack (via LiveLink)
Vicon (via LiveLink)
Vive Ultimate Trackers
Networking and Software Configuration
The recommended headsets both stream wirelessly. To achieve this a good hardware and software setup must be implemented.
Streaming software must be installed on the desired PCs (Vive Business Streaming, PICO Business Streaming) to enable the wireless connection of the HMDs to SteamVR.
When it comes to wireless access points we have found that bandwidth is generally not an issue. Instead we are looking to reduce latency whenever possible. One non-obvious source of this latency is having headsets share antennas. What we mean by this is that each headset is equipped with two wireless antennas. For optimum performance these two antennas must have exclusive access to two antennas on the access point. So an access point with four antennas can support two headset simultaneously. Having headsets share antennas can cause noticeable hitching, even when the other headset is not being actively used.
An example network:
Additional Recommendations
For an enhanced shared VR experience, it is recommended to configure the HMDs with a shared map. This setup promotes better spatial orientation and collaborative interaction within the virtual environment.
By adhering to these guidelines, developers can ensure a robust setup conducive to developing immersive VR applications and experiences. Ensure all hardware components and software configurations meet the specified requirements before proceeding with development activities.
Examples of Hardware Configurations
There’s an almost infinite combination of hardware configurations you can use via Existent but these are the most common along with some discussion of their features and primary use cases.
Vive Focus 3 (LBE Mode) per player
Up to 5 Vive Ultimate Trackers per player (2 mounted on wrists, optionally 2 mounted on ankles, rest used on props)
1 PC (using above specs) per player
This is an entry level configuration which offers a significant amount of flexibility including full body tracking and reasonable finger tracking as well as a limited number of props. Vive’s LBE mode applied to all HMDs and trackers mean that all the hardware shares the same origin by default so you can skip the alignment process. The limitation is that 5 trackers per play means that the number of props in your application is limited, especially if you want to support full body. Target use cases: Arcade style gaming experiences, ultra portable training experiences, expo floor.
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