Steam Link On Quest - The EASIEST Way To Play Steam VR Games But Is It The Best? 

See this is why we love steam. They didn't have to do this for quest users. They always go above and beyond for the gamers.

Virtual Desktop was just too troublesome for me, i always had issues with it and SteamVR, they just didnt like each other. Steam Link worked perfectly for me first time and i couldnt believe it, back to PCVR games that i had left in my library for over a year now, will finally get to play them with Quest 3 and Steam Link.

I am loving being able to stream PCVR to the Quest! It's such a game changer being able to play any game wirelessly, it feels so much more immersive and you still get that get PCVR experience without having to buy a more expensive headset.

I’m so excited to try this out now I can finally play hitman and Skyrim vr without the hassle

Haha the revelation at the end that all footage is actually captured via AirLink is a huge plot twist.

Steam link was the best thing I have ever seen come out of Valve in a while, and has allowed me to finally play games I could only dream of, and the graphics and gameplay are so smooth and I could not recommend it enough, to people who want a easy way to play PC games without a awkward cable or Virtual Desktop which can be a bit clunky.

IIUC, if you want to have a stable USB wired connection, then Quest Link from Meta (not Air Link or Steam Link from Valve) is the only option available. That probably should've been mentioned in the video when discussing alternatives. I think there's still a ton of people who don't have a good setup to go wireless in a stable fashion. Needs too much debugging of the "air waves" in some homes. And if you're playing a sim game where you're mostly just sitting in a chair next to your PC, then the wire isn't a huge problem.

For me, the biggest use-case for Virtual Desktop in the Quest 3 is that you can enable passthrough while viewing your computer screen. Then you can essentially mount your screen in a fixed position, allowing you to move around the house while watch youtube or a movie.

Crazy you made this video now. Just yesterday I was googling this issue to get back into Half Life Alyx on my Quest 2. I had stopped because it was so laggy wireless. The update in Airlink has it running really smooth!

Glad we are finally getting some competition for the quest version of the app

It's sooo cool to see eye tracked foveated rendering being used to optimize wireless pcvr streaming.

I haven't used my Quest 2 outside of native games in a little while, because I am primarily a Linux user. The announcement from Valve that they dropped the Link app for the quest was very exciting, but mostly because I hope they are able to launch Linux support sooner than later. I have tried getting ALVR to work, but it has been spotty for me, and I have had issues with audio in the past. It is cool and a good step forward, but I am hoping Valve can get Linux VR with the quest to a good point soon, then I don't have to keep my Windows partition around any longer. I haven't used it is so long as it was, and the only reason I booted it up was to try Half-Life Alyx that I just bought on the recent Steam Sale, and even then, I had started working on getting ALVR to work on Linux so I could try it that way. It was very convenient, and I don't have a newer headset with the newer features, so it was fine for me. It worked, gameplay was smooth, sound was good, I didn't have any complaints on my launch day Quest 2.

01:29 - Ahh, that's why I couldn't run Steam Link on Quest 3 - that options wasn't turned on :D In help page they didn't mention this.Thanks for help! ;)

This happens just before I get my 3060! Perfect timing.

finally got my hands on Quest Pro! nowi can VR chat with all expression and steamlink might be the best starting point

So you recommend virtual desktop over steam link... Do you recommend virtual desktop over a link cable?

so im new to this whole thing and im wondering whenever i use steam link it loses quality up and down all the time like going from 320 p back to 1080 than up and down is their anyway to play the steam games through a wire using quest 2 or nah?

5:27 that grenade drop was 🥶

Maybe it's just placebo but compared to Air Link I'm seeing way less color-banding (might not be the right term) and improved image quality in general. Games also seem to run better and have less latency on account of the buggy Oculus PC app not having to be open.

IMO i do see a massive difference for using air link to the steam app I highly recommend it. if you have a wifi 6e router..

great video dude. you always do a great job! keep it up

Steam link is literally all I need. The quest link has latency and so does virtual desktop but steam link has close to NONE

Virtual Desktop is amazing and I totally support Guy, but Steam Link (in my testing) is the best way to wirelessly play Steam VR games.

I can't use it it wont pair, I use a desktop and it doesn't work and I use a good laptop and it STILL doesn't work can you help me with my situation?

I have paired it to my steam account and installed steamlink, but when i try to open it in vr, it kicks me out. What is wrong? How do i fix this?

Hey, steam link was working perfectly for the first couple hours but once i got off for a little and got back on all the suden i cant open any apps threw steam link it says "next up" the game im playing then it says the same thing for steam home. Iv tried uninstaling steam vr, and steam link that didnt work and i dont know what to do know. Can you help me?

It tells me that my PC is connected wirelessly to the internet which is a issue apparently and when I continue then steam vr on my PC says an error has occurred and gives 2 options shutdown steam vr or restart steam vr and I tried restarting my PC also

I'm still using airlink because the game I spend most of my time in doesnt have sound in the steam link app. The steam link menu also hinders the use of in game menus. They use the same button on the left controller. It looks better than airlink on a quest 2 though, and its certainly a faster launch. Steam link doesnt kill my gpu either.

I’m glad I caught this video because this is very exciting. The oculus app is very painful with steam games easily not properly connecting for me that only be our games. I are in steam anyway so this will make it even easier.

if you do this will you still be able to use your normal meta account and play your meta qeust games with all the progress

For MONTHS I've been trying to figure out how to connect my laptop to my router with internet cable, so it can let me play. But it won't connect, I need help

I don't know if they improved it, but I tried it for the first time today and it was rock solid, no stutters, no framedrops, nothing, virtual desktop always gave me issues

Can I please ask if steam link works with MAC? It doesn’t seem to want to work even with the same wifi and remote play on

Ooooooh, I couldn't figure out how to fix the foveated rendering, so I switched back to airlink immediately. Guess I'll be trying it out again tonight!

Haven't done Virtual Desktop so hard for me to compare. Steam Link has worked fine for me so far and appreciate the free option to finally wirelessly access my Steam VR games! That being said, did get to try Virtual Tabletop for the first time, and while excited to play it in VR, the controls through Quest feel terrible. Anyone have any tips or tricks to make it feel more fluid and less clunky?

Can you play steam link games directly without having to turn on your pc?

can you use a wire for this? Not wires, not a ethernet cable, but a wire from the headset to the PC.

Wait, does Steam Link run on your computers hardware or on the headset? Like you need a good computer?

The new Steam Link doesn't work. I got the app, put in the one time code and nothing. steam vr says something like waiting for headset and in the headset I'm just in the meta environment. Edit...... The Steam Link app closes out when I click connect. We have two Meta Quest 2s. I tried it on the other and it's the same thing, doesn't work. I'll stick with VD until I figure it out, I've been using VD for a couple years. The Meta software on PC works fine as well.

It isn't that simple. I've been trying for three days to make this work. When I finally am able to launch Phasmaphobia it's not even a VR experience. It just looks flat as it does on a desktop. Any tips?

Does it matter about the pc ? Cuz I have a decent pc and wanna play Skyrim - I have a quest 2

Do I need to use Ethernet because my router is not in a room where I can play my pc in and I couldn’t move the cable enough to be able to do stuff

I would like to know exactly what you mean when you say Steam Link "doesn't perform as well or smoothly as Virtual Desktop". I have only experienced AirLink/Link Cable and Steam Link with my Quest 2, so I'm not sure what you mean exactly by VD performing better and being smoother than Steam Link. As I said, I've never tried VD, but I would be open to trying it to see how it compares to the alternatives. I would appreciate a reply to clarify what makes VD better if possible.

Me being someone who doesn't have the option of connecting via Ethernet, is there anyway I can play VR pc games from my laptop?

I just got an oculus headset. Is it better to buy games on the headset directly or does steam link work just as good??

Is there anyway to use steam link without having your computer directly connected to the WiFi router? I’m assuming not but maybe there’s another option?

Hey I have a question for you. When I have installed the vr game in steam, I must also install it in vr?

unfortunately the VRlink driver has encountered a fatal error when connecting. to pc. What should i do?

I'm testing Steam Link vs Virtual Desktop. I now think steam link is a bit better for steamvr games. It runs butter smooth with my quest 2 and RTX 2080 and produces a more cleaner image with less color banding and codec artefacts at identical data rates. I also think that it has a bit less input lag. I'm very impressed of valves good work! I learned further that valve can do small steam updates without bothering the user. So maybe they are optimizing steam link since release of the quest app.

This honestly pushed me to grab a Quest 3 finally as a nice side grade to my index

Is there anyway to do this if I just have the app with a ton of games on my steam app?

When typing in Virtual Desktop on Steam and reading the information on there, it says that it does not work for Quest.

2:27 "Foveated Encoding" Not sure if I just need to crank my bandwidth but SteamVR through Steam Link is blurry in the central focus area at the default 1088, when I turn the number DOWN then the image becomes much more CLEAR (bandwidth set to 100mbps). At 512 the peripheral blur is very noticeable but at 768 I can't tell it's there in games, that setting only bothers me when looking at menus. Crazy thing is the "Virtual Desktop" app looks fine at 40mbps (less than half the bitrate), which would indicate people with slow wi-fi would be better served using Virtual Desktop than Steam Link.

i'm having troubles installing steam link on my quest 2. i just pressed "Get" and then it appears as Purchased but i cant install it. i even tried installing via meta quest app on my cellphone. But still app doenst install at all.

Mine keeps saying Your headset is connected to a host pc but no video is being streamed

hello! i cant launch my games in vr mode, after linking my oculus with steam everytime i launch a game from steamvr in the oculus but launches the game in big screen mode, not vr, this is so frustrating and consfuing

Please help! Everything is connected, steam vr, steam link, the wifi router, but when I go to get on steam link, it says “host is not connected” then when I look on the pc steam vr had and error and failed

when I use steam link on my old quest 2 its super laggy, i have a good pc and good wifi. i just dont know what it is and idk how to fix it

Can we get an update video? Id like to know if they improved on this app as someone whos looking to play pcvr through there quest 2

I managed to install SteamVR on Mac mini M1 but it will not launch and therefore I could not connect it to my Quest 3 through Steam Link. Any thoughts?

Does Steamlink work if your PC is hardwired, but on the same network?

maybe Im missing something but in my theatre mode I dont see reflections in the floor, is there something you need to activate?

can we play PC games in 180 degrees? I play Euro Truck Simulator and I was wondering if it can track my head and turn / look while driving

with steam link are the graphics better for games then if it was a game from the quest store?

Mine said that streaming is not available from my computer. Does that mean that my computer cant run the games?

I get in and try to go to the store but it says “access to the store is unavailable while running through this steam client”

Can I ask how you are connecting to a mesh system? I guess you must be connecting to the actual router and not the mesh points as you have to be on the same network as your computer.

Just tried this, for some reason the STEAM LVR app has alkmst no settings any motre! There is nothgin in setitngs for VIDEO or AUDIO any more for exmaple, wtf is oging on?

Is it possible to use steam link with Quest connected via USB C?

I’m having an issue where my audio doesn’t come through my headset using stream link! Do you know why that would be?

I have a question i had bought blade and sorcery but using steam link it wad just so laggy so i had to refund any thoughts on why?

i am not getting a meta quest 2 or 3 and still rock the meta quest 1. is there a workaround?

I can finally play blood trail! I’ve been wanting to play it my whole life and with this app I can stream it off my ally to my headset!

U got any advice how to set up audio in steamvr? Al works fine except the audio. I can select oculus audio device & steam streaming audio. Both doing nothing🤷

Does it or anything work for the oculus quest? Don't yet have 2 or 3

So I have a problem when I open the steam link app it says use same Wi-Fi as computer so I do then when it opens it tells me I can’t use Wi-Fi but I have to use Ethernet but I can’t even run the app without using Wi-Fi can some one please help

I have Emuvr on my PC, can I use Steamlink to send other games like that to the Quest 2 ?

I don’t know why but my computer keeps crashing whenever I play vrchat using steamvr or the link cable :( it sucks can u help?

I always get error 200 It says that your host pc has stopped working. Can you help me?

Will my Quest 3 controllers work with my VR Steam games via Steam Link?

For Seated VR gaming on steam, I still use, direct link via cable, it is still the best solution right?

I can't seem to play 2d games using the quest 2. The built in headset mouse keeps overriding the Xbox controller. Any ideas on how to stop this from happening?

Hey I tried air link and cable link and yes oculus app was running my in pc. But I only get a notification about clicking the noti to make this device view files. But it never gives me the option to pair with my pc

I've only recently been trying to see if I can do PCVR with one of my PCs. My experience with Airlink was that it couldn't find my PC. I tried connecting both to 5G, I tried PC connected by ethernet and my Quest 2 couldn't find it on the network. I tried Virtual Desktop and within seconds they were connected. I haven't tried Steam Link as yet.

Need help! I have a Quest 3 and a 4070 i7 laptop and have Virtual Desktop. I get a lot of frame freezes and stuttering like every 5 seconds. My laptop is more then ready. On the laptop screen there's no stutter. Just in the headset. Internet speed is 400 on 5 hz. Everything is optimal yet in the headset it's a mess! Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Should I buy virtural desktop on my pc or meta store?

the store says I purchased it but the downloaded app doesn't show up in my library... wtf?

When i join steam vr it says that it can’t load because I don’t have a cable

Yeah, doesn't always work for everyone. Just tried it and I just get an error on the Quest saying connection error with no code.

Really confused with all these different 'apps' and connection methods! Do I need the oculus app (now called meta quest link?!?) running when using steam link? How do I run games using the link cable, which app, meta quest link or steam link? Then what about openvr FSR?? Also virtual desktop? Mind boggled!

after i pair the steam link to my headset where do i go after that? i dont see any of my steam games, also my pc is saying waiting for a headset to connect

was trying to find something recent on after steam link came out as it defiantly was better for me than airlink... but trying to find the best way to go with a link cable... with or without it I keep having issues with steam VR needing to be restarted constantly. Even link cable and oculus link and i guess there built in virtual desktop was having bad preformence issues.... trying to find out what the issue is whether its just steam VR, steam link not using the cable connection, or wifi issues...though wouldn't think wifi would be needed so bad when directly linked into the PC....at this point getting confused and annoyed how often steam VR has a issue where i have to restart everlasting. Not sure if you may know the issue??

So does the computer need to be turned on just to play?

Im having a big issue with it the menu for steamvr is the same as the vrc luanch pad meaning i cant play it any help?

Does this Steam link work with the Link Cable for better latency/connection ?. Forced to use wireless ?

Can you watch VR videos off your computer with the headset?

Can you download gorilla tag mods on steam link with a pc(and what pc?)?

I can't add anything to what you have said already. I continue using Virtual Desktop.

1:37 I'm getting an error that says that I have to have my PC wired into my router for it to work? How to fix?

Do the game have to be running on your pc or laptop as you play, or do i just need to set it up with my account to play?. Because i have an macbook. :)