Vive on Mac OS

[F2garcia]

Hey everyone, 

 

I am trying to see if i could use VIVE with a mac computer and wanted your input on this. If so what kind of software do i need to have pre installed and what are some of the requierment. Please need your help asap .

[HackPerception]

, the Vive is now supported on Mac but it's still a developing integration. The hardware is technically supported via an external GPU on most desktops/laptops made after mid-2015 with a thunderbolt 3 port and it works with the newest Mac Pro without the need for an EGPU. There are currently only a handful of mac native VR binaries - most experiences are windows only. Launching windows apps via bootcamp is hit and miss performance wise. These are still early days as the update to support eGPUs was pretty recent (10.13.4). 

[Kevin Whitcomb]

Hi David,

I just purchased a Vive because I saw where there's now support for it on Macs.

I have a late 2013 6 core Mac Pro with dual AMD 500 chips and have connected the Vive as per the instructions and attempted to use it via Steam VR. The problem I'm having is the games won't launch in the Vive. I only ever get the blank room with compass rose.

Im using the SteamVR route because I don't see a Mac version of the setup software or tutorials on the actual HTC site.

Is there another way I can use the Vive with my Mac Pro or do I just need to be patient and let the technology develope?

Thanks!

[Kevin Whitcomb]

So an update...

Games that are marked VR only and OSX will open in the headset. I've played SweeperVR and Blobby Tennis with no problems.

 

The other games that I have that don't work are OSX games with VR support that are listed as OSX compatible:

InCell VR

InMind VR

Lunar Flight

War Thunder

 

When I launch any of those, I get an alert that the game will be launched in both VR and on my monitor and that performance may not be good. As I stated earlier though, they open on the monitor but not in my headset.

[edgecase]

How has it been going since then? How's the performance? Does it compare to a windows vive experience?

[Gaa5170@gmail.com]

I am very new to all of this and trying to find an authoritative source for how to get started.  It does not appear that VIVE is very interested in MAC's ... am I wrong?  I have an iMac Pro with the AMD 64 chipset as it seemed that Apple was claiming this was an outstanding way to experience high end VR but... Can anyone point me to a basic explanation of where things stand and what is on the horizon?

[HackPerception]

, 

 

Apple controls UX on their hardware and software platform. Simply stated, Apple is managing the developer program for this integration, not Vive. Their keynote announcement last year was primarily a developer facing announcement - not a consumer facing announcements. 

 

As it stands, this is considered to be a developer/pre-developer level of hardware support for MacOS. Furthermore, as the overwhilming vast majority of VR titles have not been compiled for MacOS, only a tiny handful (>10) apps will work on MacOS natively hence it is not a consumer ready ecosystem. If you are a consumer trying to attempt to use Vive, you could try booting into Win 10 via Bootcamp but otherwise I would highly recommend not attempting to use Vive in the Mac ecosystem until the support is in place. 

[Balamsoto]

Hi Kevin, I wondering if you could share how you did the software setup.

I have a new vive, a i7 machine and a Egpu black magic, download steam and steam Vr but can not find a set up instructions 

 

thanks in advance 

[HackPerception]

,

 

Vive is considered pre-developer on MacOS - there is not yet any end-user support. If you're a consumer trying to use MacOS to drive your Vive, be fully aware that hardware support is only one part of the puzzle piece and that only a handful (less than 10) of experiences have binaries that will run on MacOS and are publicly available. The eGPU support is super weird - Apple primarily is supporting the eSonnate eGPU in their developer program. In any case, Apple + Valve manage their developer program, not Vive. Desktop VR is almost entirely centered around Windows based PCs.  

 

You can access the MacOS enabled binaries of SteamVR via SteamVR's beta's tab. 

 

[HackPerception]

,

 

Vive is considered pre-developer on MacOS - there is not end-user support. If you're a consumer trying to use MacOS to drive your Vive, be fully aware that hardware support is only one part of the puzzle piece and that only a handful (>10) of experiences have binaries that will run on MacOS. The eGPU support is super weird - Apple primarily is supporting the eSonnate eGPU in their developer program. In any case, Apple + Valve manage their developer program, not Vive. Desktop VR is almost entirely centered around Windows based PCs.  

 

You can access the MacOS enabled binaries of SteamVR via SteamVR's beta's tab.