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Hello, this is Daniel from SanDanceCouch.
In this video, I will be looking at the PlayStation VR 2 headset running SteamVR on a Windows 10 machine, using the official Sony PC VR 2 drivers, and tell you what you need to do to do this yourself as well.
As the availability of the official adapter at launch was not really great, and no preorders were even offered, good news spread, that when you own a GPU with a virtual link port, you don't even need the official adapter.
This port was for example included on all the Nvidia 2000 series GPUs.
I am using my trusty 2080 Ti in the form of an external GPU, that I have connected to my Mac Pro running an 3.3GHz 12-core Intel Xeon W processor.
So if you happen to have a virtual link, you can save the $60 and go right ahead installing the official PSVR2 drivers.
You get the app with the official drivers straight from the Steam store.
You will need 700MB available for this.
And after that, you will also need to install SteamVR, which waits in at another 5GB.
When you have all this installed, you have to use the PSVR2 app to set up your controllers and your headset.
The controllers have to be paired using Bluetooth.
Unfortunately not all Bluetooth adapters are compatible, and as it is, my internal
Bluetooth didn't let me pair both controllers at once, only one at a time.
And when you check out Sony's support website, they have a list of only 4 known Bluetooth adapters to work with PSVR2.
This list is not exclusively the only Bluetooth adapters that will work with VR2, but my internal
Bluetooth didn't.
So I bought the ASUS Bluetooth adapter that Sony has on their support list.
It costs around 15€, so it's not an expensive venture, but still sucks nonetheless and it's a hurdle you need to take even when you own the official PSVR2 adapter.
Here I am unboxing the ASUS BT500 Bluetooth adapter.
Right on the box it tells you that you need to deactivate the drivers for your internal
Bluetooth before plugging in this new adapter.
I'm doing that now to make sure that nothing ends up conflicting with each other.
And as soon as I plugged in my new adapter, Windows 10 instantly recognized it and installed the necessary drivers.
Finally I'm able to pair both VR2 controllers with my computer and I can continue the setup process.
The setup will tell you about the adapter, but with Virtual Link and our headset plugged in we can just skip ahead.
The setup will tell you all about how to put your headset on, which when you used it on before is of course old news.
Setting up the play area is also very similar to the PS5 setup, except instead of a fancy grid flowing over your room and furniture, it is an orange ring instead.
It is a little finicky and you need to definitely make sure that the floor is recognized at the right height by putting your controller down on the floor.
I am hopping straight into the game Half-Life Alyx, which I have been dying to play and been hoping to see it on PlayStation 5 at some point in time.
But since Valve didn't bother, I'm going to play it on my computer now.
I was worried getting into PC VR, since my GPU isn't the latest model anymore, but to my surprise, Half-Life Alyx starts off super smooth.
The image looks fantastic and the controllers react well to my motions.
And once you get the controls down, it is really fun to play and interact with the world.
A very well optimized game that just works well.
As an example of not working well out of the box is my second game I'm trying today.
And that is Phasmophobia VR.
The game starts with such a low framerate that you have to be strong not to get sick.
Once I manually adjusted the graphics settings and the resolution of the game, it does work well though and is absolutely playable.
This game is announced to come out on PS5 as well, but for now, we can already enjoy it on Steam.
So, this was my first tour of PSVR2 using a Windows computer.
Besides the Bluetooth problem, I had an easy time with the setup and with Virtual Link, you don't even need the official adapter.
I will still get the adapter to be able to play PSVR2 with newer computers and GPUs, but for now, I'm enjoying my setup and I hope you can do too if you own a PSVR2 and want to explore more options with your headset using a computer.
Let me know if you are planning on getting into PC VR gaming with your PSVR2 headset in the comments of this video.
But that's it from me today.
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It really helps me to make more content for you in the future.
Until then, I will see you next time on Samdance Couch.