STEAM LINK meta quest — Image courtesy Valve

Steam Link for Quest Brings Significant Visual Improvement Thanks to Supersampling

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Dec 15, 2023

Valve hasn’t wasted any time in pushing out patches to its recently updated Steam Link function, which lets Quest users wirelessly connect to their PCs to play SteamVR games. Users with particularly great PC setups should expect a “significant improvement” in how PC VR games look on Quest now.

Thanks to SteamVR Beta 2.2.1 update released earlier this week for Steam Link, Quest users now have ‘Advanced Supersample Filtering’, which was released to majorly improve wirelessly streaming video quality when using high supersampling rates.

Supersampling is a technique used to increase the effective resolution of a frame by rendering the scene larger than its final resolution, and then downsampling back with a filter—with the end goal being to remove visible pixelated edges, also known as aliasing.

“For users seeing poor video quality when not using “auto” settings, this will be a significant improvement,” the company says in the patch notes.

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Valve says Advanced Supersample Filtering was “accidentally disabled for Meta headsets as a side-effect of another change several years ago.”

Notably, users will likely need a fairly robust gaming rig to notice a difference beyond the auto settings, although it’s nice to know supersample filtering is there should you need it when heading into resource-intensive games like Half-Life: Alyx (2020).

While you can check out the full patch notes here, here’s a look at some of the most important bits from the 2.2.1 update:

Enable 10-bit video encoding on AMD graphics cards with this capability. (AMD support is still experimental at this time.)
Debug UI improvements.
Fixed an issue that made some networking lag worse than it should be by reducing the impact of stream resets in non-optimal wireless configurations.
Allow connection to proceed even in network configurations without QoS support.

Xron

Whats the most graphic intensive game in vr right now and what kind of gpu is needed to run it at decent (high) settings?
Wondering if coming rtx 4070 ti super will be enough, or even 4070.
- ViRGiN
  
  I’m not sure, but I can confirm Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 on PCVR is GOTY. Almost 2600 concurrent players on launch day, wohoo! You go girl! High End PCVR Gaming!
  - LOL
    
    Ignorant troll alert.
    Do not feed it.
  - kakek
    
    Why come here to hate on VR in general ?
    Cause if we mock a plateform for having a small playerbase, then why are you playing anything else than flat games ? ( And even then only AAA. )
    - ViRGiN
      
      I’m not mocking VR.i thought quest platform was full of kids and pcvr was full of elegant gentlemen. But if Freddy 2 and gorilla tag are dominant on a platform with high entry cost (pc) then something is wrong, don’t you think?
      - kakek
        
        They’re not dominating overall. They are just more recent. If you look biggest peak of all time both are far down the list.
        People won’t keep replaying single player games. right after the release of any vaguely decent title it will always be the most checked out.
        
        Most successfull titles seems to be VRCHat, Alyx, bonework/bonelabs.
        And a bunch of titles that support VR but not exclusively, so it’s a bit hard to tell how many people are playing them as a VR title. I note the presence of a lot of simulations tho.
        
        Nothing wrong with that.
        
        And, again, if that’s your grip with PCVR, it applies to VR VS flat gaming as well.
        
        I keep thinking you’re not a eal VR enthusiast anyway. Just a troll.
      - ViRGiN
        
        That’s insane.
        Vertigo 2 peaked at 297, currently 36; Crossfire peak 64, currently 8. Crossfire is multiplayer.
        I can guarantee Freddy 2 is not going off the list and will remain the top 3 game forever now. 6 games out of top10 are single player… I think you’re coping and don’t want to believe the actual reality.
      - kakek
        
        But coping with what exactly ? what am I not admiting in your head ?
        You realise I’m not a PCVR shareholder ? I have no stake in this. PCVR is not “my side” the way Meta seems to be yours.
        
        I know full well it’s an underdevelloped market. A niche in a niche. I regret it, because it’s the plateform that really brought me my best VR experiences, in a way that mobile VR won’t be able to reach before the next 10 years at least.
        Wich means it’s very unlikely I’ll find a game of the same level for the next decade.
        But I don’t need to cope with that. It is what it is. Nothing will bring more quality VR title in the future. Unless Valve surprise everyone ( except it’s most hardcore fans ) and release something else. Who knows ? I wouldn’t bet on it, but Valve is a bit unpredictable. Or some lone dev pulling out an unlikely gem crafted out of pure pasion, with total disregard for the lack of rentability, like vertigo 2.
        
        Cope with hte fact that some people have bad taste, making FNAF 2 a reasonably successfull title despite how mediocre it is ? That Vertigo 2 apparently failed to sell, despite how great it was ?
        Yeah, bit sad. People have shit taste, and are more hyped by licenses than quality. But again, I have no need to “cope” with that. I accept it. I can look at it objectively.
        
        I still don’t understand your stake in this, the gloating, the need to spit on anything PCVR related, the hard shilling for everything Meta related … that makes no sense to me. Unless it’s all a big game, a full troll from start to finish.
        
        Like, why did you even know that FNAF 2 was doing OK ? What motivated you to check that, and why does it apparently bring you such joy ?
        
        Anyway, FNAF 2 won’t peak higher than it already has. It’s license-hype is passed. It worked OK for it, it won’t go further. Nor will it stay popular like gorilla Tag. It’s not a MP game, once people are done with it they’re done.
        Both had a peak of 2 or 3K players. wich is OK but far from “dominating”.
        Also crossfire is not MP. Well, it is, but not in the way that matter here. It’s coop, so it’s MP does not add replayability. Not sure why you talk about it anyway. What was it supposed to prove ?
      - Zack71
        
        Well, try Asgard’s Wrath 2 (updated for Q3) or Assassin’s Creed Nexus on Quest 3: it’not the same thing, but you could feel something like first time you played at Alyx.
        
        PCVR is dead. All games coming out in Steam are alpha versions of Quest games.
        
        PSVR2 could save PCVR if developer could port titles like Horizon or RE Village to PCVR: but Sony does not permit this…
      - kakek
        
        AC nexus and Aasgard wrath 2 are great. For the plateform.
        But they don’t even come close to HL Alyx in terms of immersion. The graphics of course, but also the physic engine are simply on another level.
        
        Yeah, PCVR is dead. As I said, we can hope for occasional gems, work of passion made by indies devs. But I don’t think we’ll see games where everything feels natural the way alyx achieved before another decade.
      - Zack71
        
        I was sad and a little depressed like you, but after seeing what Q3 can do I became optimistic.
        Until a few years ago, games like AW2 or AC N (or Red Matter 2/Vampire etc etc) on standalone were unthinkable, but now…
        Not to mention mixed reality…
        It’s true, graphics and physics of standalone VR are not up to the level of PCVR, but in VR what matters is immersion, and the immersion of an AW2, as far as I’m concerned, is certainly no less than an Alyx , which to be honest in the end was a (nice) linear fps, therefore infinitely less complex than a semi-open world. Personally I think we made a big mistake. When VR became “mainstream”, with PSVR1, flat games had very advanced features and we looked for the same things in VR: perfect graphics, movie plots, multiple endings, particle effects, masterful acting.
        VR cannot offer all this today.
        But it can offer many other things, first of all an almost TOTAL immersion which does not only derive from stereoscopy, but also from the methods of interaction with objects, inventory, weapons.
        This is the road!
        Stop speaking of Alyx and try the new Lego game in AR, it’s fantastic!
      - kakek
        
        I will. But my dude, I have only so much time. I still really enjoy AW 2, even if not as much as Alyx, so I’ll probably stay on it for now.
        Also, limited budget. So I don’t intend to have a Quest 3. I will try to skip a generation and go directly for Q4 in 3 years. In the meantime I might update my 3060TI PC to a 50xx based rig if Praydog’s mod turn out ot be the game-changer beta testers hype it to be. And if i ever release. ( But activity on the discord suggest it’s actually imminent. )
      - Zack71
        
        I know, i don’t have time too: job, wife, daughters.
        But, listen to me, try Q3.
        It is a great piece of hardware.
        Buy it with Amazon, you can give it back!
        But you won’t do.
      - Arno van Wingerde
        
        I see your point. Still, the whole thing leaves me baffled: why would anybody not combine the quality of the Quest3 with the graphics superiority of PCVR?
        I started Asgarth’s Wrath 2 and it looks spectacular … but at times decidedly low-res (for instance the tavern where the game starts, would porbably look best on a Quest1: it is fairly low-res and on Q1 it could at least benefit from the OLED screen….). Why cannot we have this at a better quality? And why is Meta “giving” this great game away with their Quest3, if it doesn’t use even the limited capabilities of the stand alone Quest3? Why aren’t people play much more on PCVR and why does Meta sometimes looks as if it does everything in its power to turn people off from playing VR?
- kakek
  
  Obviously it will be enough. Outseide of some mods of flat games that don’t even run on 4090.
ViRGiN

Deckard app is getting better, noice
- LOL
  
  Ignoret troll alert.
  Do not feed it.
  - ameba#23234 mdrea
    
    Yeah it’s a known troll
    
    When I have Content unavailable I already know that’s him lmao
wowgivemeabreak

Steam Link has horrible foveated encoding to the point the sweetspot on the Quest 3 when you have the resolution fairly high (3.2k per eye) is tiny. It is so small that I can see the edge of the foveated encoding when just looking straight ahead.

No amount of supersampling is going to magically make this better and will seemingly just make it worse.

Steam Link is completely designed for headsets that have eye tracking. How anyone can use it with a Quest 3and actually be fine with the insane amount of blur from that foveated encoding and tiny sweet spot is beyond me.
Caballete007

I tried it and it sucks. No better than Virtual desktop or the trash of oculus link.
- kakek
  
  I find all 3 methods works OK.
  VD is the superior option, wich is really surprising.
  I used Air link for a while, and it works OK if you have a good wifi.
  Steam link is still behind both other options, wich makes me wonder what the point is. But it’s usable.
  I’m always happy to see new options appear. Maybe valve have some plan to evolve it further ? Not sure. Not like it takes anything away from other options anyway, or cost anyone money.
  - Average Gamer
    
    VD is a paid app, so you would hope it provides a better experience.
    
    But Steam Link allows 120hz where Air link is still limited to 90hz. Steam Link also does not introduce overhead sine you don’t have the oculus software running on top of the SteamVR providing a much leaner experience, and just better performance.
    - ViRGiN
      
      Bullshit gaybenism. SteamVR is a hog on it’s own, even for native SteamVR headsets lol!
      And no, VD being paid app means nothing. It is Valve that is making billions of dollars out of thin air. They can quadruple the quality of the app and still offer it for free.
      - LOL
        
        Ignorant troll alert.
        Do not feed it.
      - ViRGiN
        
        Ignorant troll alert.
        Do not feed it.
      - LOL
        
        Ignorant troll alert.
        Do not feed it.
      - ViRGiN
        
        Gayben.
      - kakek
        
        Why say that about Valve, but nothing about Meta’s air link that is also inferior ? And for their own headset …
        Both company have vastly superior budget, and somehow didn’t manage to offer a better alternative.
      - ViRGiN
        
        Inferior? In what way?
        It does what it’s meant to be doing – local wifi streaming to headset – as fine as VD, and also has some debug options. I use VD cause of over-the-internet connectivity.
      - kakek
        
        Nah, everyone agrees VD offers more stability and performance. Even their reprojection method is a bit better than asw.
        I only bought it recently because I was sure air link worked just as well. But somehow, and to my surprise, I do have a better experience with VD.
        
        Plus a few options, like passthrough in desktop mode, they are nice.
        
        But mostly the performance thing.
      - Average Gamer
        
        Yes. SteamVR is a hog on its own which is why VD now allows you to bypass it, but beside the point.
        
        But having to Oculus on top on SteamVR is something have always hated about OG Rift, and why I continued to use my Vive or Index.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Haha, I can’t see any content by moron virgin, but it’s easy to recognize who you are responding to. But VD doesn’t bypass SteamVR, maybe on non (vr) steam games, but certainly not on SteamVR games.
    - kakek
      
      VD is a small dev team. I’m surprised that neither valve nor Meta managed to do better than a small team.
      Air link allows 120Hz though. Not sure since when, but it does.
      - Average Gamer
        
        It does on the older Quest. But Quest 3 does not have 120hz, but has120hz on VD.
      - Ardra Diva
        
        Quest 3 definitely supports 120Hz. It’s in the settings.
      - Average Gamer
        
        If you go into the settings for Airlink. There is only 72, 80, and 90hz. In order to get 120hz you have to use either VD or Steam Link. A quick internet will tell you that. There have been multiple complaints about it on Reddit
    - kraeuterbutter
      
      “VD is a paid app, so you would hope it provides a better experience.”
      on the other hand: you have there a one-man-Show vs. two multi-billion-Dollar-companies
      - Average Gamer
        
        That what happens when you have something done out of passion vs something that is being done to drive profit.
ka ni

We need cable support too, i like to use my quest 3 wired because my cable charge at the same time so my vr doesnt doesnt ran out of battery too fast
- jake
  
  and when the wifi goes out
- Zack71
  
  ?
  Do like me: buy a good powerbank with a long cable and put it inside your underwear! Also buy reinforced underwear, please!
- Ardra Diva
  
  You already had cable support with Quest 2/3
  - Average Gamer
    
    They’re talking about the ability to use a cable for Steam Link, so you can bypass using Oculus desktop. Right now Steamlink is wireless, and that means not so great battery and ifffy performance if your home WiFi has connection issues.
Yeshaya

Is there such thing as dynamic resolution supersampling? Can I set it to maintain 120 fps, and if there’s extra GPU bandwidth it can supersample? I’d like to use my extra GPU power but I don’t want to sacrifice FPS
- Hussain X
  
  With Steam VR you can. Not sure if Oculus API has it yet (universal auto resolution). Don’t think it does. Steam VR implemented Auto resolution which you can select from dashboard so it dynamically adjusts resolution whilst trying to maintain consistent fps
  - Yeshaya
    
    Thank you for the detailed response! AW2 will probably keep me busy for a while but when I get back to my PCVR backlog I’ll give it try and see what the naked eye and fpsvr can notice.
Jack Liddon

The comments really should be turned off on this site.
- guest
  
  The uncensored comments are the most interesting part of this website. I think some of the comments are from high level employees in the industry that feel guilty of how ignorant they really are on the subject!
  - ViRGiN
    
    If you want to see how hermetic kingdom it can get, just visit UploadVR. Paid, brainwashed comments exclusively, extra moderated by staff. No word will be allowed that can ruin their shilling business.
    - Guest
      
      Yeah, it’s impossible to let off steam there after you get home to your castle and start drinking. Just the sort of employees they need at HTC
- ViRGiN
  
  You can like ad-block Disqus.
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Have they added Synchronous Spacewarp?
Zack71

mmmh…
Quest 3 is really a big piece of hardware: the best VR Headset I tried!
Well spent money!
I’ve read that Meta will make a Quest 3 Lite…