Vive Focus 3 / Vive XR Elite

Introduction

The Vive Focus 3 and XR Elite are standalone VR headsets powered by the Qualcomm XR2, similar to the Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets from Meta. Although by default having neither eye nor face tracking, the Focus 3 has 2 add-on modules that can be installed to add eye and face tracking capabilities, and the XRE has a single, combo module that can be installed to add both eye and face tracking capabilities. There is currently no way for VRCFT to simultaneously extract data from the headset and send eye and face tracking to the Vive standalone version of VRChat, so the following solutions are only for PCVR.

Since September 2023, the Vive PCVR VR streamer programs (Vive Business Streaming and Vive Streamer Hub) have had the ability to control VRCFT avatars in VRChat on their own (by copying the VRCFT program's functions). While users can choose to forgo using VRCFT, we would recommend using VRCFT over the Vive Streamer's built-in OSC function. As of now, Vive's implementation of VRCFT's functionality is buggy and slow, with some VRCFT avatars completely not working. We will be unable to provide support to users who experience issues with the VRCFT clone in Vive's streamer software. Note that both VRCFT and the Vive Streamer OSC output cannot be used at the same time.

Setup

There are two PCVR Streaming methods that supports the eye and face tracking features:

1. Vive Streamer
2. ALXR

The Vive Streamer will be more straightforward to set up and use and is recommended for most users. ALXR on Vive standalone headsets may have VR streaming issues currently (January 2024).

Preliminary Setup

1. Install the eye and/or face tracking modules to the headset. Both modules should come with their own hardware quick-start guides in the box and should generally simply involve a single USB-C port in a nearby location on the headset.

Digital Quick Start Guides For Focus 3 Modules

1. Face Tracker Quick Start Guide
2. Eye Tracker Quick Start Guide

Video Quick Start Guide for the XR Elite Full Facial Tracker

2. Make sure that you agree to the privacy notices for eye and face tracking after installation, follow the instructions for eye tracking calibration, and have the eye and face tracking options enabled in the headset Input settings.
3. Install VIVE Console onto your computer. We need this for the latest version (1.3.6.8+) of SRanipal

info

For eye expressions (blinking) to work correctly in SRanipal over Vive Streamer streaming, you must use SRanipal version greater than 1.3.6.8. Lower face expressions will still mostly work with older versions of SRanipal.

Vive Streamer Setup

Vive Streamer Setup

1. Install VIVE Business Streaming or VIVE Streaming Hub onto your computer. They are functionally identical. Traditionally one would use VBS for the Focus 3 and the Streaming Hub for the XR Elite.

2. Update the streaming app on the Focus 3 or XR Elite by plugging the headset into the computer then clicking the Update button in the VIVE Streaming application for "Headset software version".

   • Focus 3: you will need to unplug the eye tracking module
   • XR Elite: you can use the USB-C port on the top of the battery or the dangling USB-C port if using the XRE without the battery
   

3. Disable the OSC output from the Vive Streamer. The OSC settings may be accesible from the Streamer application itself in a future update and should be disabled there if the settings exist.

   • Navigate to C:\ProgramData\HTC\ViveSoftware\ViveRR\RRServer and open up the serverSetting.setting file in your favorite text editor.
   • Scroll to the bottom of the file and set the VOF key to "false".
   • Alternatively/additionally, you can set the "Send to VRC" port (VRCSP) and the "Receive from VRC" port (VRCRP) to values other than the defaults of 9000 and 9001.

danger

If you do not disable the Streamer's output, it can interfere with VRCFT's ability to bind to the port to get messages from VRC, or it will double-send messages to VRC causing a "stuttering" effect.

4. Proceed to Modules for the module to use with Vive Streamer.

ALXR Setup

danger

ALXR on Vive standalone headsets may have VR streaming issues currently (January 2024).

ALXR Setup

1. Download and install the latest ALXR client and server from the ALXR-nightly repository. If this is your first time using ALXR, follow the Usage guide and Android-specific client install instructions
2. Install the ALXR Remote module from the VRCFaceTracking module repository.
3. Open the ALXRModuleConfig.json found in the installed module directory.
   • You may need to navigate to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Packages\96ba052f-0948-44d8-86c4-a0212e4ae047_d7rcq4vxghz0r\LocalCache\Roaming\VRCFaceTracking\ to find the module directory and config json.
   • Learn more about the ALXR module configuration options
4. In ALXRModuleConfig.json, in the "RemoteConfig" section set "ClientIpAddress" to the headset IP, this can be found in the ALVR server dashboard.
   • You will need to restart VRCFT to reinitialize the ALXR Remote Module with the updated configuration.
5. Proceed to Modules for the module to use with ALXR.

Modules

There are 2 modules that can be used with the Vive Focus 3 or XR Elite, one for each possible PCVR streaming method. Both modules are readily available for installation via the VRCFaceTracking built-in module registry. Learn how to install modules from the module registry.

• If you are using a Vive Streamer (Vive Business Streaming / Vive Streamer Hub), you should install the SRanipalTrackingModule.
• If you are using ALXR, you should install the ALXR Remote Module.

Interested in the source code? Check out the SRanipalTrackingModule source repository and the ALXR Remote module repos.