So the brilliant developer of Virtual Desktop, Guy Godin, has already enabled 90hz mode for
the Oculus Quest 2.
So you can already play PC VR games on your Quest 2 wirelessly in 90Hz.
Yes, this means you can play SteamVR games like Half-Life: Alyx or Oculus Rift games
like Asgard’s Wrath without cables and smoothly.
You will need a few things, though, which I will cover in this video.
I will explain what you need and how to setup Virtual Desktop.
This guide will work on both Quest 1 and Quest 2 by the way, but in the end, this video will
talk about my Quest 2 impressions on 90hz mode and WiFi6 support.
Like, should you get that WiFi 6 router for this thing or not?
Let’s find out.
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For those who don’t know Virtual Desktop, let’s start with an introduction.
This is an app that allows you to stream what you see on your PC to your Oculus Quest 2.
So you can watch movies, browse the web, or play flat games on a giant virtual screen.
Without any disturbances.
But the best feature and the reason why most people get the app is that it allows you to
play PC VR games on your Quest 1 and 2 wirelessly.
The gameplay is streamed directly into your Quest headset, and the app does some magic,
so your hands and head movements are all tracked as well.
It’s just like Oculus Link, except you don’t need the cable – it’s like playing a native
Quest game with good graphics and the same freedom.
I’ve been using Virtual Desktop for quite a while already on Quest 1, and the quality
is already very good, I mean, there is latency.
Still, it is entirely playable if you got what it needs, that is.
So the following is what you need to make it all work:
- Yes, you do need a VR ready PC where you can run the games on.
- Then you need Virtual Desktop; this is a paid app that costs 20 US dollars, and you
can buy it from the Oculus store.
- You also need the ‘Virtual Desktop VR Patch.’
You can find this patch on SideQuest for free, so yes, that means you need to sideload it.
But don’t worry if you don’t know how, as I’ll explain that just a bit.
- On your PC, you also need the ‘Virtual Desktop Streamer App’ installed, which you
can download for free.
- Lastly, it would be best if you also had an excellent 5 GHz WiFi connection.
So make sure your router supports that and that you have that turned on.
This all sounds like more work than it is; it may be a bit of work initially, but after
that, it works like a charm, and it’s effortless to get started.
So let’s go through how to install this more in-depth.
The first thing to do is getting a VR-ready PC, and that is something you have to do yourself.
But once you have that, you just need to purchase Virtual Desktop on the Oculus Store.
I’ll link it below.
Then download & install it on your Oculus Quest headset.
After that, you’ll need to sideload the ‘Virtual Desktop VR Patch.’
The easiest method to sideload is via SideQuest, and if you don’t know how to do that.
First, follow the steps in my how-to video that is for Quest 1, but it also works on
Quest 2.
I’ll link it below.
You only need to follow steps 1 to 6 in that video.
All my videos have timestamps for your convenience, so you can click through the video until you
get there.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll get to this screen where you have SideQuest loaded.
I got my Oculus Quest 2 connected to my PC using the provided Oculus charging cable.
Yes, that very short one.
But here on SideQuest, search for ‘Virtual Desktop VR Patch’, and then click ‘Install
to headset’ at the top right.
You can click on this icon right here to see the progress of the task.
Once it says it’s completed successfully, it’s done.
Now, install the ‘Virtual Desktop Streamer App’ by going to vrdesktop.net.
Click the download button here, then install it on your PC.
Now launch it, and you’ll get this screen, put down your Oculus Quest username here (this
is important) and click Save.
Now it is ready to connect to your Oculus Quest.
So you can grab you Quest 2 now, unplug it if you haven’t yet, and you can launch the
Virtual Desktop app from in the headset.
It should show your computer now in the app, and then you can connect to it.
Just make sure your PC and headset are in the same WiFi network or the same network.
Now it will start streaming your PC desktop immediately.
So it’s kinda like you have a giant monitor screen, which is always nice.
But if you open the menu now using the left controller menu button, you can launch SteamVR
or use the Games tab here to launch the VR games you have installed.
So you can play the newly released The Walking Dead Onslaught a little or Half-Life: Alyx,
all completely wireless on your Quest 2 with good graphics.
Virtual Desktop is a fantastic app.
Although, what graphics you get will depend on your WiFi connection.
If you have a bad WiFi connection, you won’t get the same visual fidelity or get a lot
of latency.
So to make sure you get the best graphics you can, you should check the settings.
If you open the menu again with the left controller button, you can go to the ‘Streaming’
settings.
Here, you can change your VR bitrate, framerate, and graphics quality.
The max bitrate you can set will change automatically when you connect.
But let’s dive into the latest newest update first – the 90Hz support of the Quest 2.
As you can see, the developer already enabled 90hz in his app.
And it is smooth.
The difference between 72 Hz to 90 Hz is not that big, but it does make a difference.
It all looks more like what we are used to on PC VR.
And just having the option is great.
In the settings, you can also choose for 60Hz, which may be nice for watching certain movies,
or 72, 80, and finally 90.
But here’s an -important- note!
The VD developer told me that at launch, so October 13, Oculus may disable 90hz for apps,
because apparently there is an issue with the Guardian software that doesn’t quite
work well with 90hz yet.
This means at launch; you may not be able to use 90hz yet in Virtual Desktop (us neither);
however, it will be re-enabled once Oculus allows it again.
Once that happens, an update will be available for Virtual Desktop, and if you have it already,
all you need to do is update it.
But now, let’s dive a little deeper even.
Oculus Quest 2 also has support for WiFi 6.
To clarify, it doesn’t support WiFi 6E; it supports WiFi 6 without the E. But this
means, if you got a WiFi 6 router then you can get even better streaming quality.
Back in the Streaming settings, you can set the VR bitrate; the higher you can set this,
the better the quality.
So with my previous WiFi 5 router, a very old router, I was able to get a maximum theoretical
speed of 866 Mbps, which you can see at the top in the Virtual Desktop app.
With my new router, I can get a theoretical speed of 1200 Mbps.
This seems like a significant upgrade, but practically, it’s not going to get that
high.
It does help.
Like with my previous router, I was getting a VR bitrate of 118 Mbps, and 30ms latency.
On my WiFi 6 router, I was able to get a bitrate of 133-150 with around 30-32ms latency.
So it does help, but the practical difference is not as big.
These bitrates may seem a bit low compared to what the router is capable of, but I can
tell you it is already very good.
I mean, that little extra is always nice, but the video quality is already excellent.
I actually think the compression looks better with Virtual Desktop than Oculus Link in its
current state.
Pretty.. pretty amazing!
The latency of 30ms is neglectable; Although, in really fast paced games like Beat Saber
on Expert Plus, you might see the latency more, like you’ll see the controllers kind
of dragging with you instead of it being one on one.
However, I could play Expert songs without much trouble.
I think with games like Half Life Alyx or Asgard’s Wrath, where you don’t need so
much speed in your arms, it will work just fine.
Talking to the developer, he also told me that people might be able to get 150 MBps
bitrate with a WiFi6 router, like Mike from VR Oasis was able to, and he might be able
to push it a little higher than that even.
But he did say that anything above 150 Mbps would get diminishing returns as more data
to send means higher latency.
So even if you can get higher bitrates, it may be better to play at a lower bitrate to
avoid higher latency.
In the end, it will be up to you what settings you like the best.
So, should you get a WiFi6 router right now?
Well, since this is about the maximum bitrate, I don’t think a WiFi6 router is necessary.
But I do have faith in the VD developer, so it’s up to you if you wanna be ready for
it.
I got the TP-Link Archer AX6000 by the way, which I’m pretty satisfied with, I’ll
link it below in the description in case you’re interested.
And do I recommend Virtual Desktop?
If I wasn’t clear already, yes, I do.
But of course, only if you got a good WiFi connection and a VR Ready PC.
Maybe if Oculus Link comes out of beta and the quality becomes better, I will reconsider,
but for now, I prefer playing PC VR games wirelessly with Virtual Desktop.
So I hope you enjoyed this info.
Let me know if you are you going to get a WiFi 6 router for Virtual Desktop streaming
with the Quest 2 and why?
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And as always, VR on!