Oculus Quest can work as a stand-alone headset, but you can also connect it to a PC for a full VR experience. The process is relatively simple, works with a wired or wireless connection and gives you full access to SteamVR and a vast universe of virtual reality games for PC.
What you need
To play virtual reality games for PC with Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2, you will need some items:
The USB cable should be long enough to fit the type of VR experience you want to play. If you only want to perform experiments sitting or standing, you can get away with a shorter cable than you need to play throughout the room. In this case, we’re using a 16-foot USB 3.1 cable, which looks like a good length commonly used for virtual reality.
An official cable
Oculus link cable
The official Oculus Link cable is 16 feet long and guaranteed to work with Oculus Quest, but other cables may work as well.
Prepare your tutor
Before connecting your Quest to your PC, you need to set your gaming space limits. You will do this using your Quest in standalone mode. Whenever you place your mission in a space that has no limit information stored, you will be asked to create one. So place your mission in the area you want to play and then confirm that there is a suitable limit or create a new one when prompted. It will be the same limit when using PC VR.
How to set up a wired connection
The first time you use your Quest with a PC, you will first have to do some initial configuration work. We assume that you have already set up your Quest as a stand-alone headset, and here you will only cover the PC VR process using Quest.
First, download Oculus software for Windows. It’s an installer called OculusSetup.exe. Run the installer and simply follow the guided installation instructions. Downloading the approximately 5 GB of data required by the app may take some time.
During installation, you will be prompted to create or log in to your Oculus account. Please note that for Quest 2 users, a linked Facebook account is required. A Facebook account will be mandatory for original Quest users in the future, unless Facebook changes its plans.
Once you’re logged into the Oculus app, it’s time to set up your Quest for PC VR.
First, select “Devices” from the left sidebar. Then click “Add a Headset”.
Choose the right helmet model. In this case, this is Quest 2 for us.
Then choose the connection method. For a wired connection, choose ” Link (cable)”. We will deal with Air Link (wireless) separately below.
Now connect one end of your cable to the PC and the other end to your Quest. Be sure to use a USB 3 port if you are using a USB 3 cable.
Then you will have the option to test your cable. We strongly recommend that you do this to make sure you have enough bandwidth to get the best experience. If you are using a USB 2 connection, you will receive a warning. You can still play on USB 2, but you will get a more compressed image and the performance may not be as consistent.
Once you have reached the “Installation complete” screen, click Close, then place your headphones still connected.
Inside the headphones, you will see a message asking if you want to activate Oculus Link. Say yes and you will move from the Quest environment to the Oculus PC environment. Now you’re ready to play!
How to play native Oculus games
Playing native Oculus PC games with Quest is no harder than playing native Quest games. Once in the Oculus virtual PC space, all you have to do is go to your library and select the game you want to play.
Of course, if you’ve never done it before, you’ll need to buy and download games first. Some Quest games offer versions of a PC game and Quest, so you may already see some titles in your PC’s Oculus library.
You don’t need to buy or install games from the headset. It is easier and more comfortable to do this using your standard monitor, mouse and keyboard.
How to play SteamVR and other virtual reality games
What if you want to play games that are not in the official Oculus library? The good news is that any game that is compatible with the old Oculus Rift is also compatible with Quest using Oculus Link.
SteamVR, which basically covers all VR games sold on Steam, is the platform that most Quest users are likely to use in addition to the native Oculus store. Before attempting to start a SteamVR game using your Quest, first make sure you have SteamVR installed on your system. Simply search for” SteamVR ” in the Steam storefront and install it if you haven’t already.
There are several ways to start a SteamVR game to play with your Quest, but all require the Oculus software to be open.
The easiest way is to simply launch a SteamVR game from your Steam library from the desktop after connecting your Quest and opening the Oculus software. Then put on your headphones and play.
You can also launch it in the same way from the PC Quest environment, but by pressing the desktop button on your Oculus VR interface and then opening the game via Steam.
The third method is to start SteamVR first, this will take you to the Steam virtual reality environment. From there, you can adjust the universal Steam VR settings and launch games from the library in VR.
In addition to SteamVR, other VR games will work with Quest as long as they include Oculus Rift as a compatible headset. For example, all we had to do to play the Epic Game Store version of Trover Saves the Universe was click on the game’s three dots in the EGS library and select “Start in Oculus VR”.
How to set up a wired connection
The last piece of the Quest PC VR puzzle is Oculus Air Link. This is effectively the same as the wired method of Oculus Link, but it uses WiFi, which means you can play your VR games on your PC without any cables stopping you.
At the time of writing in September 2021, Air Link is still experimental. Therefore, you need to enable it in Settings & gt; Beta in Oculus PC software. You will also need to enable it in the configuration of your independent mission in Experimental Functions.
Once enabled on both devices, make sure the PC and Quest are on the same network. Preferably, the PC should be connected to your router via Ethernet. Quest must be connected to the router using the 5GHz frequency band using Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (also known as Wi-Fi 5) or Wi-Fi 6 (also known as wireless 802.11 ax). If your router isn’t up to the job, you may need a new router.
If that’s sorted, select quick settings in your search, then select Air Link. You will see a list of Air Link compatible PCs on the network. Choose the PC you want to use and it will be transported to the Oculus PC environment. From there, things work just like with the cable. In addition to Air Link, you can also use the third-party virtual desktop app, although it will cost an additional $ 20.
