Condor 2 VR on Gear VR in 2021

Discussion about VR

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mabcat
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:52 pm

Condor 2 VR on Gear VR in 2021

Post by mabcat » Sun Sep 12, 2021 1:43 am

I got Condor 2 VR working on a Gear VR. It was very difficult, took about a week, and still has a lot of rough edges. But VR is so much better than no-VR that it's worth persevering. If you already own a Samsung phone you can have working VR for about $25.

I wanted to save you some trouble by documenting the procedure. Unfortunately I had to try so many different things that I'm not sure what's a requirement and what's a dead end any more. But maybe I can just give you confidence that you can still get this working in September 2021.

Unfortunately I had to interact with Facebook a couple of times during this process. I can't tell whether this is just for setup, or whether Facebook is still receiving my VR data. Facebook receiving data from cameras on my head and controlling a screen strapped to my eyes is a frightful situation, Condor developers please prioritize support for Oculus alternatives.

Hardware:
  • Samsung Galaxy S6
  • Gear VR for S6-shaped phones
Software on Windows 10:
  • Condor 2.1.7
  • Steam
  • SteamVR
  • Revive 1.9.2 (other versions did not work for me)
  • ALVR server 2.3.0
Software on the Galaxy S6:
  • Oculus
  • Gear VR System
  • Gear VR Device ID (use this to get your phone's device ID for generating an Oculus osig)
  • APK Editor 1.8.20 (you will need to find this from apkpure.com etc, and sideload it)
  • ALVR client 2.3.0 "normal" (open this with APK Editor and inject your osig)
Useful links: Notes/questions:
  • You should be able to test parts of this along the way. Does Gear VR open on the phone when you plug it into the goggles? Can you add Google Earth for SteamVR (or something) to Revive Library? Does Google Earth VR open in ALVR?
  • Lots of rough edges with the controls in VR. Constant switching between windows which is hard with goggles on your face. Is there any way to end a flight without pressing Esc, finding the mouse, and clicking through two windows?
  • Consider using iVRy instead of ALVR. The image quality appears worse, but it works and it would be significantly easier than ALVR.
  • Maybe generating an osig for ALVR is not essential. Does ALVR work without it?
  • Edit the Gear VR Service options (Settings > Gear VR Service > Storage > Manage Storage). Enable Developer mode. Enable Allow VR API without OSIG. Does ALVR work now?
  • Is the ARCore version of ALVR better than the "normal" version? Haven't tested.

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