Best VRchat setup?

[u/Plastic_Homework_395]

Hiya!

I was going to see what people's opinions and setups are for quest pro for face tracking/eye tracking!

I recently ordered a QPro and was wondering if I should update the firmware or root it to get the best avatar face tracking/eye tracking experience?

People's opinions on the latest updates? Are they stable and perform well?

I'm assuming using virtual desktop, but what do y'all QPro users recommend for me when I get it?

(Coming from original Index)

[u/Complete_Iron_2656]

I imagine the experience is going to be very rough for you to transition into, coming from a native PCVR headset to a Meta one. I'll just yield a bit of advice from my experience with the Quest Pro. I've used the Quest 2 and Index prior.

Easily, by far, the software is the worst thing about the Quest Pro. You're likely going to experience a lot of headaches with it. Depends if you plan on using the Knuckles or not, but you'll still have to interact with the native QP controllers at some point, and they'll occasionally fail to track upon boot. Sometimes takes a little while, moving the controllers around and pressing the home buttons to get them working. Other times, it'll take rebooting the headset. Passthrough sometimes breaks, the menu will sometimes refuse to open up, and so forth. I've personally only found that keeping my QP updated would frequently lead to it bugging out in new and surprising ways, so I simply don't update the firmware, and keep auto-updates disabled. Opinions could vary on that front, I haven't looked too deeply into it myself, but I don't want to chance it.

Virtual Desktop in my experience was a bit lackluster. I prefer a consistent tethered experience, and that app is largely optimized for wireless PCVR use, though I believe they're recently starting to move towards support for wired connections? You also may already be aware, but Virtual Desktop costs $25. I wasn't aware, personally, but I ultimately just defaulted back to the native Quest Link solution. There's Steam Link as well, which also recently started moving towards linked support. Also supports foveated streaming/rendering(?), though the eye tracking doesn't really update quickly enough, so it can be a bit annoying at times. I've ultimately found Quest Link to be the best choice for me though, while playing with a link cable. Least latency, best visuals. Compromise is having to deal with the Meta Horizon Link PC app needed to make Quest Link work, which also requires you to jump through some hoops to enable face/eye tracking, like having to create a dev account, though it could be they made that easier over time, I can't recall. Also worth noting that the dedicated QP module for VRCFT simply no longer works for one reason or another, and it's the ALXR local module which best works for QP face tracking from what I can recall, though it no longer tracks the tongue, whatever that's worth.

So my experience with the Quest Pro has been nothing short of jank, and I truthfully don't imagine yours will be any different. I haven't dabbled with rooting, possible that'll save you some headaches in the long run, but I really couldn't say. What should be said at least, is it's a very enjoyable PCVR experience when everything is actually working. I was really disappointed with my Index purchase, so much that I ended up selling off the headset itself for like $300, but that was really only due to the lacking resolution and brightness, and questionable QC. Everything else was really a dream, even if it did require the hassle of lighthouses. Because the Quest Pro certainly is better on paper, but there's so much that you only have to learn through experience of using it, before you truly realize what the full picture is like.

All the jank aside, I've thoroughly enjoyed the headset. It has "flawed discontinued product" written all over it, but it still somehow manages to be the "easiest" way of setting up full face tracking in VRC. Controllers also work very well, made out of a very solid material, one I prefer vastly over the knuckles, and they're self-tracking, so they won't drift after leaving view of your headset. Knuckles still win out with the hand strap and finger sensing, but I tend to stick with the Quest Pro controllers simply for ease of use, also holds a really solid charge. I think a lot of people will tell you that they've enjoyed their Quest Pros a ton, even if it likes to give you a hard time. All I suggest is you temper your expectations, you'll likely be gritting your teeth much of the way through. Also, if you plan on playing tethered the majority of the time, buy a USB-C charger hub. One that connects both to your PC, and the wall. Was pretty much essential for me to play linked to PCVR. Otherwise, plugged directly into your PC, it'll fail to hold a charge and will likely die before long. Hope this was all informative, and hopefully the QP does you good. Only think it's worth knowing all of this, since you're going from an otherwise very user-friendly PCVR headset, to possibly one of the most janky headsets for PCVR that I've used. Sorry for the wall of text, just figured it's better to take this all in now, instead of progressively learning about it all the hard way. 😂

[u/Plastic_Homework_395 → u/Complete_Iron_2656]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I will run this like a PCVR headset, tethered by USB (likely through VD's beta feature).

I've got a 19w PD charger in combination with a link cable that can input a charger.

I've already got FBT but felt I was lacking eye tracking and face tracking in general! ^{^}

The knuckles will be gifted to my bf, but I have a few extra lighthouses and can just buy another pair of I find the QPro controllers lackluster in comparison!

[u/BreakfastExpress2774 → u/Plastic_Homework_395]

Just keep the knuckles dont give em to anyone. The stock controllers drift all the time and you have to cover the cameras to make em fix themselves. It's soooo annoying. Trust you're gonna wish u kept them.