Hey everyone!
Cas here.
SideQuest has gotten a design overhaul, and because of that, the developer asked me to
make an updated guide on how to use their platform.
Since I love the work that they do for our community, I wanted to support them, so here
we are.
I’ve made a similar guide on SideQuest before, so you might recognize these steps if you’ve
seen the video.
But I’ve updated some of these steps with answers on questions that I got from that
last video, so hopefully, this will help even more people.
Be sure to check out the timestamps below if you’re looking for something specific.
And if you like what you see, consider subscribing to see more VR videos like this one.
And now, let’s get started.
If you don’t know what SideQuest is, here’s a quick introduction.
SideQuest is the unofficial source for apps and games for the Oculus Quest and Go.
Essentially, it’s a platform that allows you to download an app or game that is not
on the official Oculus Store.
This is called sideloading.
Sideloading is usually a pretty technical process, but SideQuest makes it a lot easier.
While the initial setup can take some work, you only have to do it once, and after that,
installing new games will be very simple.
I’ll show you how to do the initial setup in just a bit.
Please keep in mind that SideQuest is not for pirated games as some might think, we
do not advocate doing that.
The games and apps listed on SideQuest are games that might have been rejected on the
Oculus Store; or they could be early access builds that developers seek feedback for;
or something else.
SideQuest lists these games and apps that you can discover using handy filters, and
it even has a user review system.
I’ll show you what you can do in SideQuest later in the video, but let’s start with
how to install and use it yourself.
First, every link that I mention in these coming steps will be listed in our description
below for your convenience.
SideQuest is also always in development, so your SideQuest version might look different
than mine if you’re watching later.
But if any big changes happen, I will keep you updated here on this channel.
But in any case, the SideQuest version I’m using right now is v0.10.7.
And now let’s move to…
Step 1.
Download & Install SideQuest Okay, go to the first link.
Go to sidequestvr.com/#/setup-howto and download the install files for your operating system.
I am using Windows, so I’m downloading the Windows files.
Before you install SideQuest, it’s important for me to note that if you’ve ever done anything
with adb or scrcpy before, you have to make sure to remove old versions and also any environment variables
that you might have added for it.
It just messes up this setup.
So if you don’t know what adb or scrcpy is, then you’re probably good to go 😉
So once it’s done downloading, just open it here with Show In Folder
Double-click it and... install it.
There’s no need to start it yet because we need to do a few things before we can actually
use it. So I'm going to uncheck this
and click finish. Step 2.
Register As A Developer On Oculus To sideload on your Oculus Quest, you have
to put the headset in Developer Mode.
But before you can do that, Oculus requires you to register as a developer and accept
their developer agreement.
Thankfully, this is a free process.
Now, to do this, go to dashboard.oculus.com.
Make sure you are logged in using the same Oculus account that you’re using for your
Quest.
If you’ve never done this before, you should be redirected to this “Create New Organization”
page.
Here you can just fill out the name for your organization.
Click ‘I understand’ and then ‘Submit.’
Here you have to agree to the terms.
Once you’ve agreed, your should be put on this page and your account will now be seen
as a developer account, and it will add some settings to your account that’s otherwise
not accessible.
Step 3.
Install The Drivers Now go to this developer.oculus.com link.
I’ve put the whole link in the description at step 3.
You should go to this page.
Here, you have to accept the terms and click download.
And then go to the downloaded file by clicking here and then ‘Show in folder’
Here you can unzip it.
I’m using 7-Zip for this, which is a free open-source file archiver, but if you’re
on Windows 10, you can also have to option to use the built-in zip-extraction tool that’s
available to you if you right-click the file and then you can click ‘Extract all’ over
here.
Now, go inside the extracted folder until you find the android_winusb.inf file.
So it could be that you don’t see the .inf file name extension like I’m seeing right
here, but that’s okay.
Just make sure you have the android_winusb file.
But if you want really want to make sure, you can also go to ‘View’ and check this
box right here and it will get you the .inf file name extension.
But only do it if you know what it does.
Like right now I’m going to uncheck it so you see can what it looks like.
Just make sure you have this file: android_winusb.
Right-click it.
Click install.
Now you will get a pop-up that asks you to allow this app to make changes.
Just click yes.
And then you’ll see this pop-up that it’s completed successfully and here, you can just
click okay.
Step 4.
Enable Developer Mode and Reboot Now get your Oculus Quest headset, and a smartphone
or a tablet, whatever you installed the Oculus app on.
If you haven’t downloaded the Oculus app yet, you can just find the Oculus app in your
phone’s app store.
But when you got your Oculus Quest, you probably already paired your Quest with the app since
it’s mandatory.
Now, make sure your Oculus Quest headset is booted and turned on.
In the Oculus app, go to ‘Settings’ below.
Then tap on the ‘Oculus Quest’ that should show and wait until it connects.
Then in this drop-down right here, you have to tap ‘More Settings.’
And go to ‘Developer Mode.’
And here, you have to turn on Developer Mode.
I already have it turned on.
Then go back one setting and check ‘Unlock Pattern’.
Here, you have to make sure that you did not turn on ‘Unlock Pattern’ here.
If you see ‘Set Unlock Pattern’ like my screen right here, then you’re fine.
If you do have this on, make sure to turn it off for this process to work.
And now last step here is to reboot your Oculus Quest just in case.
Just hold-press the power off button until you hear this sound [tru dum dum]
Step 5.Connect A USB Cable
We are almost done!
Yay!
But make sure your Oculus Quest is turned on again if you’ve powered it off before.
Now find a compatible USB cable to connect the Oculus Quest to your PC where you downloaded
SideQuest on.
The cable that came with your Oculus Quest, which is the one I have right here, will work
as well.
In my previous video, I said it didn’t work, I think I was confused with something else,
so I stand corrected.
You can use most other USB 3.0 cables too as long as it supports data transfer.
You can try a phone cable, for example.
I’ve also used my official Oculus Link cable as well.
Now connect one end of the USB cable to your Quest and the other end to your PC.
Step 6.
Launch SideQuest & Allow USB Debugging
With your Oculus Quest connected to your PC, you can now start SideQuest.
Before it connects, a prompt in the headset will ask you to allow USB debugging access.
Put on your headset and click allow with your controller.
You have to select ‘Always allow from this computer’ too.
This avoids this message popping up every time you connect a cable.
Now, you might get a couple of other pop-ups inside the headset, depending on if it’s
your first time connecting a USB cable or whether you’re using the Oculus Link cable.
Just make sure that if the pop up asks to allow access to the device with a USB cable,
click allow using your controller.
If it asks to enable Oculus Link, click ‘Not now.’
Once you’ve done that, the SideQuest app on your PC should show at the top left here
that it is connected with this little green dot.
And that’s it for making SideQuest work – you’re now ready to have some fun with
sideloading!
Every step after this is optional and depending on what you want to do.
Again, you can check the timestamps in the description to see if there is something that
you might find useful or just keep watching.
You can now browse SideQuest for any games or apps that you would like to try out.
I will also let you know how to do this in the next step but, could you leave me a like
first if you found this video helpful at all?
It would help me a lot, thank you.
Step 7.
Sideloading Games & Apps and How To Launch It
The first app I recommend you to install is a handy app launcher.
So with your Oculus Quest still connected to the SideQuest app.
Look for the App Launcher right here in the search field, then just click on the thumbnail,
and right here you will see the ‘Install Latest’ button.
Click on it.
And it will now install on your Oculus Quest directly, and if it succeeds, you will see
a message at the bottom saying that all tasks are completed.
You see?
Here!
Now, if you put on your Oculus Quest.
I will tell you where to find the App Launcher now.
As you can see, the Oculus Quest also got a cool new user interface, so it’s a little
bit different.
The ‘Unknown Sources’ that we have to find is a little bit hidden now.
But to get there, just go to this icon right here.
It’s the app launcher icon.
Then go to ‘All Apps’ right here at the left and then at the top here, you can click
on the ‘All’ drop-down menu.
And if you scroll down here with your joystick.
You’ll find ‘Unknown Sources’ right here now.
And you can see the SideQuest ‘App Launcher’ right here!
At least I think it’s this one…
Ah, so yes, this is the SideQuest one!
This is just a handy app that allows you to more easily launch any app that you’ve installed
on your Oculus Quest.
Even the sideloaded ones.
So this step works the same for any games or apps that you might want to install via
SideQuest.
But sometimes you might need to install your own APK file; then, you can also pretty easily
do this manually by going to this icon right here.
Click on it and then select the APK file that’s on your computer.
Now let’s talk about this cool feature of SideQuest that allows you to record or live
stream Oculus Quest content wired and wirelessly, and also on every platform, and not just on
Facebook.
But this process used to be very tedious, because it uses ‘adb’ and it’s pretty
technical but SideQuest makes a streamer’s life like ours and possibly yours so much
easier.
Before we start, do keep in mind that using this method does not capture any gameplay
audio, so you’ll need to do extra things to capture that as well, which I explain in
a different video - I’ll put a link in the description once it’s done.
You might wonder now, though, why you would use this method to record as you can also
use the integrated recording feature on the Quest itself, which you can find under the
‘Sharing’ icon and then ‘Record Video.’
Since this method does capture gameplay audio, I agree, this method is pretty great if you
are making regular gameplay videos.
Both methods have pros and cons.
Like with the integrated recording option, you cannot record passthrough camera footage.
Then there’s also the limitation of Oculus where you can’t live stream on other platforms
that are not Facebook.
With the SideQuest method, the cons are no gameplay audio, and sometimes there’s a
horizontal tear in the middle of the video which doesn’t look as good.
BUT you can record everything you want to show and live stream everyone.
I think this last method is the best when you are looking to live stream.
When you just want to record for a video, I recommend using the integrated option.
So let’s get started streaming with SideQuest.
There are only three steps for this.
So….
Step 8.
Connect Your Oculus Quest To Your PC
Make sure you have done steps 1 to 6 already if you haven’t.
Step 7 is optional.
And now connect your Oculus Quest to your PC with a compatible USB cable like we did
before.
Any USB 3.0 cable should work as long as it supports data transfer.
You might get a prompt to allow USB debugging access in the headset, if you do, accept it
with the controller.
Now start SideQuest and wait until your Oculus Quest connects with SideQuest.
You can see that at the top left here.
Right now, it’s connecting but once this turns green…
Like this.
When it looks like this, you’re good to go.
Step 9.
Enable WiFi mode in SideQuest
Enable WiFi mode by clicking on this wireless icon right here.
Then click ‘connect.’
Now you have to wait until this status bar says that there is a WiFi connection.
And once that’s done.
You can unplug the cable.
All right, so I unplugged my cable.
And as you can see in my SideQuest app on my PC.
At the top left here, in the status bar, it is still connected so that’s good.
You can now move on to step 10.
But I have a quick note for those that might have some trouble here.
If you don’t see these two: wireless icon and the streamer icon, then you might need
to sign up for a SideQuest account and also make sure you are logged in.
If you see an avatar right here like mine, then you know that you are logged in.
If, during this step, you have any other problems, like if you get any error messages.
Then I recommend restarting the server.
You can do this pretty easily as well here in SideQuest at the top right corner here
at the ‘Run ADB commands’.
Just click on it.
Here you have a couple of commands.
You can try “disconnect everything” and you can also try “reset adb”.
Once you’ve done that, you have to restart at step 8 of my guide but this does usually
solve any problems you might have.
Step 10.
Launch The Streamer
Now you can launch the streamer by clicking this icon right here at the top right.
And then you can choose to adjust a couple of settings here.
But you can also leave it be if you don’t know what it all means.
Click ‘Start Stream’ here to start seeing a window of what your headset is actually
seeing.
If you see a bit of lag like I’m seeing right now over here.
Then you have to make sure your Oculus Quest has a really good WiFi connection.
Preferably a 5Ghz connection.
That should solve the problem.
Now you can just record this window using your recording software like OBS, for example.
I use OBS, so what I do in OBS is just get the Window Capture and then I just choose
the SideQuest Stream and you can record whatever you’re seeing.
As you can see, these default streamer settings usually look pretty good.
It gives you this cropped widescreen footage of what you see in the headset, but you can
change that to non-cropped versions.
If you do want to play around with these settings, then I recommend reading up on it on this
screen copy page, as that is the tool that SideQuest is using for the streamer.
I’ve put a link at step 10 below in the description.
Now you might want to do wired recording instead
of wireless.
Then all you need to do is step 8 and step 10.
So ignore step 9, where we turn on WiFi mode.
Show SideQuest new features!
That’s it for the guide section of this video.
Now, it is just up to you as either a new or experienced Oculus Quest player to have
some fun and enjoy diving in the dreamy worlds of Virtual Reality.
So if you want some tips on where to get started.
I recommend checking the shooter Pavlov, and the hand tracking apps, like Cubism VR.
But there’s a lot on here that even I haven’t tried yet.
So I also suggest just clicking through SideQuest.
You can click Browse here, and select a genre that you like.
And if you’re not sure about a game, you can always check the user reviews if you scroll
down
All pretty incredible work right?
I almost can’t imagine how this is mostly done by one developer and his wife.
Thanks to them for making our lives a bit easier 😊
Before we end this video, I also have to mention this as a little warning.
When sideloading, please keep in mind that you are putting software on your device that
has not been approved by Oculus and could potentially harm or damage your device, even
if it looks okay.
It’s also good to be aware of the Oculus Content Guidelines when sideloading content
to ensure that you’re not violating anything, because doing any violations could get your
Oculus account blocked.
The things listed on SideQuest should be fine!
Like I’m still using it.
But of course, you never know if Oculus might change their policies, so I would try to keep
up to date with their guidelines just in case.
Anyway, I hope this helps you out, if you have any questions at all, leave them down
below as soon as possible.
I will try to answer them in the coming days, but any time later might be a little bit difficult
for me.
Also, let me know in the comments what you think of SideQuest and what you are going
to do with it!
I’d love to get some tips as well.
So thanks for being a supporter of this channel by watching this entire video!
We appreciate you.
And a special thanks goes to our Right-Hand Patron Baxorn VR.
I recommend checking out his YouTube channel too!
And as always, VR on!