Considering you are using two controllers for hand tracking, you will need at least two trackers for your feet. In case you need HTC controllers as weapons, like we do for our The Deep project, a set of at least four trackers is necessary.
What is the Valve Index? The Valve Index is available as a full package - with headset, controllers and two tracking base stations or in individual parts as an upgrade if you already own an HTC Vive.
How many Base Stations do I need? We recommend two Base Stations for most room-scale play areas. If you're covering an area larger than 5 x 5 meters (~16 x 16 feet), you can add additional Base Stations for additional tracking and increased accuracy.
At $799 on its own, the Vive Pro is a great deal more expensive than the standard $499 Vive kit, which includes the original headset, two base stations and two motion controllers.
Play SteamVR games
- Connect your headset to your PC and turn on your motion controllers.
- Once the Windows Mixed Reality home has loaded and your controllers are visible, open the Steam app on your desktop.
- Use the Steam app to launch a SteamVR game from your Steam library.
It's just not a good investment. The Touch Controllers work better, offer a more immersive experience. Plus, and you don't have to worry if they're compatible with one game or another. The appeal of the Vive Tracker is easy to see, but at its current pricing, and without haptics, it doesn't make sense.
To track controllers, these systems operate in a similar way to Constellation — either with visible or infrared light. The cameras on the headset track LEDs under the plastic on the controllers.
The indicator can be accessed by pressing the "Windows" and "G" keys together on your keyboard or hitting the Xbox button on your controller to bring up the game bar. Your battery status can be then be seen near the top of the bar, to the right of the current time.
You can also check the SteamVR app. If you see , this means the controller battery is low. Charge each controller using the provided power adapters and USB cables. When the controller is plugged in and fully charged, its status light shows green if the controller is on or white if the controller is off.
From your computer, open the VIVE Console app. Click one of the controller icons. Check under Battery Level to see how much battery power is left for that particular controller.
Charging the headset
- Insert the small end of the USB Type-C cable into the headset's USB Type-C connector.
- Insert the other end of the USB Type-C cable into the power adapter.
- Plug in the power adapter to an electrical outlet to start charging the headset. The headset is fully charged when the LED is white.
Plug the controller in via USB and leave it to charge for 10 minutes. Unplug it and hold down the System Button for 15 seconds, then release. Power the controller on again.
To turn the controller off, press and hold the System button until you hear a beeping sound. When you quit the SteamVR app, the controllers will automatically turn off.
You can now order Vive Trackers that include the new tracking sensors. The HTC Vive accessory page now features images of the new Trackers (the blue power button gives it away). And the company appears to have discontinued the original model. The Vive Trackers are available at HTCVive.com for $99.
Now, SteamVR has received an update which allows Oculus' Touch controllers to be used with SteamVR and, apparently, pre-existing HTC Vive titles – even those built for the platform's SteamVR controllers.
HTC's Vive Trackers are finally rolling out to developers, and, yes, someone's already stuck one on an Oculus Rift. Last month, we labelled the Rift as one of the things we couldn't wait to stick the Vive Tracker on and enable SteamVR tracking on Facebook's headset, but Mathy has beaten us to it.
Best answer: Yes, the Valve Index headset and controllers will work with original HTC Vive base stations (lighthouses) that use SteamVR 1.0 tracking.
The HMD is the hub to normally connect the controller. Using watchman dongles ( the one supply with the tracker) allow direct connection without a headset ( after the little hack on the config file).
Amazon.com: HTC VIVE Virtual Reality System Tracker: Video Games.
Best answer: You can use Valve's Knuckles controllers with the Valve Index VR headset as well as with the HTC Vive and Vive Pro. You can also use the Knuckles with your Oculus Rift, but it will require some additional hardware and extra steps to set up.
Updating the VIVE Tracker (2018) firmware
- From your computer, open the SteamVR app.
- If you see the icon, mouse over it to check if the firmware is out of date.
- Using the supplied USB cable, connect VIVE Tracker (2018) to one of your computer's USB ports.
- Once the tracker is detected by the SteamVR app, the firmware update will start automatically.
Can you use vive without base stations? The base stations are what gives the HMD (Sorry, Head Mounted Display or “Headset”) it's position, rotation, and movement in 3D, as well as the controllers. Without at least one base station, the system has no idea “where it is” So, pretty much the answer is “No”.
Touch controllers are currently designed to work through a CV1 headset only.
First, the high resolution monitors with high refresh rates. A desktop monitor of those specs easily go $200 or more. And they have to shrink it and make it lightweight to fit on your head. That adds quite some extra cost.
Using a micro-USB cable, connect the base stations to one of your computer's USB ports one at time. While pressing the Channel button at the back of the base station, plug in the base station's power adapter. Once the base station is detected by the SteamVR app, the firmware update will start automatically.
Bluetooth can be enabled/disabled in SteamVR from Settings > General > Enable Bluetooth communication. On the same page, there is a button for installing Bluetooth drivers.
