Issues with Steam VR always updating and trackpads' bindings lost

[esalvadori]

Hello everybody,

I am working with my colleagues on a Unity project and we have faced these 3 problems with HTC Vive (and Vive Pro).

1 - In our application, the player avatar moves and interacts with the environment via the two controllers.
Our problem consists in the loss of some key bindings almost every time we try to launch our app (build) after turning the PC off.
For example: if I turn on the PC and start our Unity build, I am almost sure I will have to manually open Steam VR, go to Device - Controller Bindings and set the parameters for the trackpads... (the other keys are usually correctly set).
Does it happen to you aswell? Why I keep loosing those trackpads bindings? Is there a way I can't avoid manually restore these bindings everytime?

 

2 - The second problem we had is related to the connection to Steam in order to change the bindings I was refferring to before.
Is it mandatory to be online to use Steam VR functionalities? Could I change the bindings arbitrarily if I use my PC in -let's say- Flight Mode?

 

3 - I found this old post while searching for answers
https://community.viveport.com/t5/Technical-Support/vive-constantly-updates/m-p/16907

We also wonder why Steam VR does need updates so frequently... The solution provided in that post was:
"In my personal experince it seems to often be related to USB driver incompatibilities. I've seen it resolved in two similar cases with a  PCI-E USB 3.0 card. That said, each case is unique. It's safe to ignore the update requests" 
Is really ignoring the updates the best solution?

Thank you a lot for any help or hints you can give us.

[HackPerception]

,

1. How are you programing the controllers? If properly integrated into your project, a default binding should natively work with your project. The end-user would be using a default binding by default?  
   1. What are you mapping the trackpads as within the binding tool?
   2. Have you taken a look at the Vive Input Utility?  It's a toolkit for programing Vive controllers that's easier than the default OpenVR method. Github | Unity Store | Forum
2. The Vive and Vive Pro and SteamVR HMDs - they require the SteamVR compositor to function correctly as the tracking technology itself is powered by SteamVR technology. SteamVR is the runtime environment for Vive and Vive Pro.
3. As a pretty general part of general game and software development - you have to choose how to handle updates across your team and what your policies will be on genlocking your software. SteamVR updates frequently enough that it can be very problematic so it can be very practical to be conservative with updates schedules. You just can't get too far behind the main branch and should always be testing against the main branch because that's what your end-customers are on. 
   1. Most indie studios are pretty quick to try to integrate the latest version of Unity/Unreal into their project and sometimes even build in early access versions of the engine. Most experinced studios will tell you that it takes a while version of Unity to start to be fully production ready after a few rounds of patches. Same as above - don't fall too far behind but you don't have to be on the bleeding edge either. 

[esalvadori]

Thank you for the answer, .

1.1 I'm attaching to this post the Bindings we use in  our project.

Usually, only the inputs under "Trackpad - Use as trackpad" become missing.

1.2 Yes, we know of Vive Input Utility and we already used it for our project.

 

2. Ok, in fact our "standard procedure" when testing our builds is to
Connect to Internet - Launch Steam - Launch SteamVR - Launch our build when headset and controllers are ready - If inputs aren't detected we then open the controller bindings, edit them and start the process anew.

Is this the right workflow or are we missing something?

 

3. In regard to the updates topic, you say "you have to choose how to handle updates across your team" and "it can be very practical to be conservative with updates schedules", and we perfectly get it.
The thing we have not completely clear in our mind is how can we decide when to download the updates:
it seems everytime we launch Steam VR it automatically searches for updates and download them, so we don't have the option not to update...
How can we decide not to download the updates? Is working offline the only way to achieve this or is there a setting which allows us to schedule the updating process?

Thank you again for your help.