2 htc vive in same place

[Ghazalshirzad]

How can I setup 2 htc vive with 2 PC in one room?

[Rockjaw]

Hi ,

 

The big question is - are you planning to use both at the same time, or separately?

 

In our office, to save space, we have two PCs (each with a Vive) setup to use the same two basestations/lighthouses. In fact we're about to add a third. This works perfectly fine; every headset picks up the two lighthouses, its own controllers and so on. (It can be tricky to set up/pair the controllers - sometimes you'll find they pair with the wrong PC, but as they're all the same controller, that doesn't matter, just swap them.)

 

If you want to use the two Vives at the same time in the same space, that's possible too... the biggest problem is two people in the same space moving around in VR. Frankly, you're probably going to have accidents! Because there is a limit to how effective the lighthouses can be over distance, it's generally recommended to have two play spaces rather than trying to share one at the same time. As I said though, if you're just trying to have two people use the same playspace at the same time, that's very workable.

 

Let us know how you get on!

[Ghazalshirzad]

Tnx for your reply. But I don't undrestand how can I set 1 place area for 2 player? How Can I set each headset with 2 base station? Dose it have setting from VR softwear? Can you help me plz?

[Rockjaw]

Basically, you set up one Vive, making sure everything is tracking correctly, then repeat the process with the second Vive.

 

Remember the lighthouses are essentially 'dumb'. They fire out light that the headsets pick up. So, when you complete room setup, it's the headset pairing to the lighthouse, not the other way around. That means more than one headset can pair with the same lighthouse.

 

As I said before, you're potentially going to have problems with two people in one space. Because the lighthouses are sweeping your play area with light, it's possible that when one person is standing in front of a lighthouse, it will block the light to someone else's headset. You would see tracking issues (eg, your controllers or headset may seem to be in the wrong places in VR) and possibly 'grey-outs' when tracking is lost.

 

So, here's what you'll do step-by-step:

 

1) Prepare your play space with the two lighthouses

2) Connect the headset to your first PC; run room-scale setup in SteamVR

3) Quit SteamVR on the first PC to power down the headset and controllers

4) Connect the headset to your second PC; run room-scale setup in SteamVR

5) When you restart SteamVR on the first PC, it should detect the lighthouses and pair correctly.

 

Hope it works for you!

[valentin0s]

Hi Rockjaw,

I read your reply for the subject, its interesting. I wonder, did you succeed to put another headset on the same base station ? 

Do you know how many headset can pair with the same lighthouse ? 

If I put the lighthouse up hight, clear light, do you think it will be the same issue if 2 persons ar in the same area, blocking the signal and a result of bad synch ? 

Did you hear about the Steam Tracking 2.0 that brings us a warehouse scale for basestation ? 

If a program or a game manage to have multiplayers in local (with a system wich warn you if someone is to close), do you think it's possible to have multiplayer game such that with your solution ? 

Thanks for your reply! 

Val

[Synthesis]

 

I can confirm that  did succeed at putting another headset on the same base station. In fact, there's no limit to how many you could put on the same base stations, as  points out, the base stations are essentially "dumb" so there isn't a limitation in that regard.

You can have as many people as you want in the play area so long as they don't block the tracking sensors from the base stations. Of course, you probably shouldn't have anyone too close to the player for safety reasons.

Yes, we are aware of  Steam Tracking 2.0. It's very exciting stuff!

It is, we set up demos of Star Trek: Bridge Crew in that exact configuration, Four(!) HMDs and Eight(!!!) wands in the same 9x9 square with only two base stations.

Thank you,

-John C

[Arinopolo]

Hello, i ve read your answers and i wonder if i can put 2 complete htc vive headsets: i mean 2 glasses and 4 base stations, two for each pair. Is it possible? Because i saw some arcade where they have 3 headsets and 6 base station...

[Synthesis]

You can, but only if they aren't in the same visual areas. You'd need to make sure you had partitions and walls up.

Thanks,

-John C

[PandorasBoxVR]

Can I ask a question. I own a VR Arcade, and I'm having tracking issues on 2 stations. We have partitions between the stations but it seems as if they are interfering with each other somehow. They play great 90 percent of the time, but the other 10 they freak out. They show 4 base stations on SteamVR, but only 2 tracking so they are all seeing each other somehow. I would really like some help, because even the view that let's you see the signal is no help.

[HackPerception]

, 

Sorry for the slow reply due to the holiday. What material are the partitions made out of? The partitions need to be made of material that is completely opaque to ~850nm IR light. The lasers that the basestations emit are pretty powerful and one possiblity is that they're penetrating the partition or are bouncing off surfaces such as the floor. IR light interacts with materials so differently than visible light that these types of issues can be hard to diagnose without knowing what types of materials are in your environment.