Version 1.16 of Oculus Rift software is beginning to roll out to all Rift users, adding support for Mixed Reality capture, a redesigned interface for future updates and issue reporting, a new Home environment and multilanguage support. The Store now supports 360°-only apps, and provides alerts before purchases if you don’t have an appropriate tracking setup.
Following the recent version 1.15 update, which added further optimisations to room-scale support and dropped the ‘experimental’ tag, Oculus have taken another step towards embracing room-scale VR experiences with version 1.16, which now allows 360°-only apps. Until now, all Rift content on the Oculus Store was required to support the ‘front-facing’ tracking mode, i.e. with one or two Oculus Sensors pointing in the same direction.
Early support for mixed reality capture has also been added, but the release notes warn of a delay before this is practical, as developers will likely need to update their apps to fully support the feature. Mixed Reality footage has been shown with Oculus hardware before using custom solutions; this update marks a positive step towards simplifying the process.
The new update also improves the language support and redesigns the interface and technical process for updates, with the ability to read the full release notes from the Oculus software. Users will now be able to report issues directly from the software too. Oculus Home has also been given a new Cityscape environment, with the promise of more environments to come.
Full details and a recent history of Oculus software release notes is available here.