HTC Vive tips & tricks: How to set up your new VR headset and solve any issues
Of all the virtual reality headsets to come out over the last few years, the HTC Vive has been the one talked about most fondly. It might have been semi-replaced by the HTC Vive Pro and Vive Cosmos, but it's still a great headset if you can get your hands on it.
Its rivals, namely the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, are both excellent devices, but even with their own motion controllers and room sensors, neither offer quite as immersive an experience as the Vive.
There is one snag though, it needs a lot of space and patience to set up and use correctly.
We encountered several key issues ourselves, causing more than a few expletives to fly, so hopefully our obstacles and the way we overcame them will help you if you come across the same problems.
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To give you context, we set-up the Vive in a normal, average living room inside a flat, with (just) enough space for the movement aspects of the Vive to work. We also used a gaming-specific tower PC recently built (by ourselves) that exceeds all of the recommended requirements.
After, we also set it up on an amazing gaming laptop for good measure, to give a second side to the story. Here is what we found out...
HTC Vive unboxing
Considering how much tech is involved, the HTC Vive kit comes in a reasonably compact box. However, lift the upper compartments and you soon find so many leads and power supplies that the whole task ahead of you seems daunting.
Technically, the setup process when started on a PC takes around 30 minutes, but opening the box, unsealing all the components, and laying them out in front of you so you can see what's what before you even download the setup software can take anywhere up to 15 minutes before you even switch on your computer.
We recommend you do this, as you'll then get an idea of what cable goes with what device, as the package comes with the HTC Vive headset, two base station room sensors, two motion controllers, the link box you need to connect to a PC, and a pair of in-ear headphones.
HTC Vive setup software
The next stage is to download the software from HTCVive.com/setup.
It does a good job of guiding you step by step through the process and is clear and concise. It will even download and install both HTC's Vive software and Steam if you don't already have it. It will also install SteamVR - the main software that is needed to recognise and pair all of your Vive components.
If you don't have a Steam account already, the setup software will also help with that. All the HTC Vive experiences and games are available through the Steam platform, so you will need one for sure.
We already have a Steam account with more than 500 games (you've got to love a Steam sale), so no trouble there. If you need access to more VR games, then it's also worth considering a Viveport subscription as that gives you unlimited access to many VR games and experiences for a reasonable monthly cost.
Once you have the software installed, you'll soon find it then dwells on each of the components, explaining how you set them up adequately. And it was with the first of these we realised our first and most tricky stumbling block.
HTC Vive base station sensors
The HTC Vive kit comes with two base stations, sensors that map where the headset and controllers are at any one time. They are essential to the experience and need to have a clear line of sight to the entire play area.
They need to be in opposite corners so that their vision overlaps for a better reading of the space and therein lies the problem.
HTC provides a wall mount for each of the base stations, so you can screw them into the wall - the setup software even advises you might need a drill.
We were using our Vive in a rented accommodation however, so didn't want extra holes in the walls.
But as the sensors need to be above head height and angled downwards, it presented quite a problem. We didn't even have any high shelves in the room to sit them on.
Luckily, one answer came in the form of a tripod we use for photography, so that was one base station sorted. It just about reached above head height.
The other base station would be more of a problem as we don't have two tripods laying around.
The only solution we could come up with was to use the living room door, opened inwards, as a makeshift base station stand. We placed it on top of the door, facing the play area and angled downwards by shoving a USB stick under the rear (as the stations are simply cubes with no tilting mechanism of their own).
It's also worth remembering that each base station gently vibrates - we suspect they have optical motors inside - so you do need to fix them down even if placing them on a shelf. We used duct tape in a very inelegant solution. Worked though.
Another issue we were then faced with is that while the base stations communicate to each other and your PC wirelessly, they still required power.
Only the one we set-up with the tripod was anywhere near a power socket. The other required a four-way power strip to be stretched across the rear of the living room, getting in the way somewhat and looking clumsy. It also took a while to find as we don't just have spare ones lying around. They don't say that in the manual.
Nevertheless, the green lights on each of the sensors lit - to show they are connected and are facing in the right direction - and that stage of the process was complete.
HTC Vive wireless controllers
We love the style and functionality of the wireless controllers supplied with the HTC Vive. But nowhere did it say in the setup process that you should charge them before use.
Maybe you don't, as most products come with quite a bit of charge in them beforehand - enough to get you going anyway. Force of habit though had us putting them on charge as soon as we got them out of the box, so they could be fully charged by the time the setup was complete.
It's not a problem, more a helpful tip this time.
They each come with Mini-USB to USB leads and charging adapters, so if you don't have enough USB sockets on a PC to do it, you need to find even more plug sockets.
What was more of an issue is that one of the controllers, no matter how we followed the instructions, where we placed it in the room, or how many times we switched it off and on again, wouldn't pair. The other did straight from the box, so it caused more than enough agitation and Basil Fawlty style shouting at the faulty one (see what we did there?).
Eventually, we pressed the Menu and System buttons together for 10-15 seconds and that surprisingly did the job. It paired immediately after.
This is probably something you can find out online or in the manual, but we fluked it.
It's worth noting that these controllers (and the base stations) may also require occasional firmware updates and you'll need to plug them into your PC in order to do so.
HTC Vive link box
The next step is to connect the link box, which hooks up to your PC through HDMI and USB 3.0. However, we don't have a spare HDMI socket on our Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card.
Very few graphics cards have two HDMI outputs and we use ours to connect to a 1080p monitor. There's no passthrough on the link box (unlike the PlayStation VR) so you can't split the visuals to run to both a monitor and the headset on the device HTC supplies so we were faced with an all-new, more infuriating issue.
You need the monitor on to continue the setup process, so can't just plug the link box and headset in instead. So what to do?
That's when we realised the link box also has a mini-DisplayPort input and the GTX 1080 has DisplayPorts. What we didn't have to hand however, was a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable. And there's not one included in the HTC Vive box - just a HDMI cable.
Aaaaarrrggghhh!
Those yet to set-up their HTC Vive's and have time need to consider a couple of solutions. Either use a different video output to feed a monitor (or TV), thereby leaving the HDMI port free for the link box to connect to, or buy a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable in advance.
We had neither option available to us, so it was time to scratch our heads.
We could have stopped and bought a cable from a nearby store, but that kind of lead isn't just available at Argos (we know, we checked). Also, with the setup now sprawled everywhere, we were not to be beaten.
Instead, Amazon Prime Now came to the rescue. We found the required cable was available to us, for around a tenner, and bought one to be delivered within a two-hour time slot.
It was, we plugged it into the link box and our graphics card, and a bit of restarting and graphics driver updating nonsense, we were fit to go again.
It's also worth noting that the link box also requires power, so you'll need yet another empty power socket to hand. That's five now, counting the USB charging adapters for the controllers.
HTC Vive room setup wizard and calibration
Now that all the hardware was correctly set-up and paired, we needed to calibrate the software for our room dimensions. And thankfully that succeeded without much fuss.
The software asks if you want to set up the HTC Vive for room-scale or standing operation. Room-scale enables you to move around and therefore presents wireframe barriers inside games and experiences so you don't bump into walls or furniture. The standing still option is best for smaller rooms without the required space (of 6.5ft by 5ft).
We do have a tip, however; you will be asked to trace the outline of your play area using one of the controllers. We found that the advanced option (enabled through a tick box) offered the chance to simply click in the four corners of the area and the software did the rest. It provided a more accurate reading, we found.
HTC Vive tutorial game and sound
Finally, we were in a position where the HTC Vive was usable. We had video running to box the headset and our desktop computer. The controllers worked and worked well, and we were in a wonderful and empty holding landscape. We were in VR, hurrah!
Hang on though, where's the sound? The sound was coming from our PC speakers rather than the in-ear headphones supplied.
If you find yourself without sound like us, you have to explore the SteamVR software options again, where you will find the settings. Once the settings pop-up has appeared, you'll need to change the options in the audio section so that sound is fed to the headphones. Our default was just to our PC speakers, but we changed it to feed the headphones only when we were using the HTC Vive.
You can have it feed both headphones and speakers simultaneously, or just the speakers if you have a cool 5.1 or 7.1 system cunningly placed around the play area and want the full effect. But we opted for headphones and even decided to ditch the in-ears for a better pair of headphones as it's really tricky to get the earbuds the right way round when you've already put the Vive on your noggin.
At least now we had the whole effect going on, VR visuals and surround sound. We hadn't downloaded any games or other experiences yet, so there wasn't much to do (you can download them from within the virtual world, but we'd advise you download them prior to play otherwise you'll be stood around waiting for them to install).
HTC Vive PC specifications
The PC we used exceeds the recommended spec for HTC Vive but we must admit that we did experience the occasional in-game crash - so do be aware it can happen in VR just like during normal monitor gaming. We have the aforementioned Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, Intel Core i7-4790K processor running at 4GHz and 16GB of RAM. We're running 64-bit Windows 10 too.
It could be our PC causing the crashing but if you do experience the same try the following workaround: download the beta version of SteamVR instead of the one installed with the setup software. That didn't crash for us at all. It also required firmware on the controllers to be updated, so is a more advanced version of the software (although might have some flaky features we haven't encountered yet thanks to being in beta).
To download and try it for yourself, head into your games section on Steam, right click SteamVR in your software list and select properties. The last tab is labelled "Betas" and in there you will find a drop-down menu where you can select "beta - Steam VR Beta Update". Once selected and confirmed, it downloaded a new version of SteamVR which worked for us.
If that causes you problems down the line, you can always repeat the process and reselect the "opt-out" option instead.
HTC Vive on a gaming laptop
We also checked the HTC Vive setup on a gaming laptop for good measure.
We chose to run the HTC Vive using an Asus ROG G752VY - a powerhouse of a machine running an Intel Core i7-6820HK processor and 32GB of RAM. It has an Nvidia GeForce GTX980M GPU which, while not being quite as powerful as the 1080, makes mincemeat of anything you run through it.
The laptop also, mercifully, has a HDMI output that works while simultaneously feeding video to the monitor. That potentially makes a gaming laptop a more attractive option to run Vive from, especially for those who haven't even heard of a DisplayPort.
You'll still have all the practical quibbles with finding places to place the sensors and their power supplies, but in many ways setting up the Vive with the Asus was a smoother operation.
We also didn't experience the same level of crashing when running the general SteamVR software rather than the beta build. But then, the ROG G752VY costs more than £2,000. We built our own PC for less than a grand.
It does though have the added benefit of being portable. Our gaming tower PC is most certainly not.
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