Does the new Oculus 1.3 runtime work with a DK2 and Unity?

Monday, April 4th, 2016 by Patrick Catanzariti

The launch of the consumer Rift headset has brought along with it a new Oculus Runtime — version 1.3. This runtime doesn’t quite work with the Unity version we were all previously using, so I wanted to quickly post up the steps I needed to do in order to get Unity, my DK2 and the new Oculus 1.3 runtime to work together.

Yes, it is possible to get this all to work nicely!

Head over to the Oculus Rift setup page to download their latest Oculus software.
Uninstall the Oculus Runtime you previously had on your computer.
Run the Oculus install application and let it do its thing. When it is done, open up the Oculus Home application that will have installed on your computer (in most cases, it’ll be an icon on your desktop that says “Oculus”) and check that the image is coming through on your headset. For me, this worked a-okay, despite one stage in the installation process complaining about a lack of USB3 ports and not fully detecting my HDMI cable connection.
Install Unity 5.3.4p1.
Download the OVRPlugin for Unity 5, follow their instructions and replace the files in your Unity 5.3.4p1 install at (Your Unity Install Path)/Editor/Data/VR/oculus with the ones they provide in that plugin.
Backup your Unity project before opening it in Unity as you may not be able to open it in an older Unity version after this!
Open up Oculus Home and agree to the health and safety message.
Then open up your new version of Unity, allow it to update your Unity project and then click Play. You should see your application running through the new runtime successfully!
Breathe a sigh of relief that your Oculus DK2 development days are not over just yet.

A big thank you to Joshua Corvinus for helping point me in the right direction with some of this!

Can I switch back to older runtimes?

It turns out, there is software to allow you to do this! The Oculus Runtime Switcher can allow you to switch the Oculus runtime version you are using so that you can run older incompatible apps. I haven’t had a chance to try this yet but it may help others looking to do the same. If you have had luck with this option, let me know in the comments. Especially if you have any tips to share!

Using the Leap Motion?

Leap Motion’s latest Unity Core Assets (v4.0.2 at the time of writing) are compatible with the new version of Unity and the Oculus Runtime. You can download the latest Leap Motion Unity Core Assets here.

For those of you, like me, who were worried that they wouldn’t be able to show the Blocks demo to the uninitiated — never fear! The Leap Motion team have updated a bunch of their applications, including Blocks, to work with the new runtime. I’ve downloaded the latest and shall be continuing to show it to as many people as I can. Such a good demo…

One last note of caution

I’ve been told there is potentially some questionable stuff in Oculus Home’s privacy policy. They are apparently including some monitoring software to track marketing efforts and so on. Just a word of caution on this one for those who are concerned about their privacy and what’s being sent out of their computer!

Hope that helps DK2 and Unity developers continue their VR aspirations! Have anything to add? Any tips or tricks? Feel free to comment below.

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