Oculus Link beta no longer requires the Quest headset and PC to be running the same version of the Oculus software.
Oculus Link is the feature which lets the Oculus Quest act as a PC VR headset via any high quality USB 3.0 cable. This gives Quest owners who own a gaming PC access to the Oculus Rift library and SteamVR.
When using Link, you’re actually using two of Facebook’s VR platforms at once, Rift (on your PC) and Quest (the headset). The PC is handling rendering, lens distortion, audio, while the Quest passes through tracking and microphone while decoding the video stream.
The Fix
Until this week’s v14 release, to use Link your Quest and Rift software had to be at the same version. But v14 relaxes that restriction somewhat, in that you can now have them at most one version number away from the other.
So a Quest on v13 will work with Rift software v14, but not with Rift software v15. Or put another way, a Quest on v15 should work with Rift software v14, v15, or v16.
Given that the Oculus software performs automatic updates and does not let the user roll back, this should be a welcome change for Quest owners sampling what PC VR has to offer with the Link beta. Typically, Facebook “rolls out” updates to Quest headsets over several days. So prior to this change Quest owners could be stuck in a situation where they are waiting for their software to update in order to use PC VR games again with their headset.
We’ve also noticed that Link is more stable and reliable in general in v14. Facebook’s changelog notes several bugs and glitches as being resolved.
Have you also noticed Link getting better over time? Or has it gotten worse for you? Are you happy with the pace of progress on the feature? Let us know in the comments below!
UPDATE: thanks to good feedback, the title of this article has been adjusted to better describe the issue.
