It looks like Valve is preparing for the rollout of some big new SteamVR 2.0 features, and HTC has provided us with a glimpse of what to expect.
Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin took to Twitter yesterday to share an image of seven new SteamVR 2.0 base stations hooked up to a single Steam account after a SteamVR beta update. Earlier this year HTC confirmed that the new version of the Valve-made stations could link up to provide greater tracking distances across multiple locations or one larger space. After strong demand, Graylin has now posted a video of these stations in action.
https://twitter.com/AGraylin/status/1016992465742585857
What you’re seeing above is a Vive Pro user moving between three locations, each tracked with two 2.0 base stations, seamlessly in VR with Vive trackers and a controller planted around the rooms for him to locate. We can’t actually see what the Vive user is seeing, so there’s no way to tell how well the system works for ourselves, but it appears the user has little trouble finding the tracked objects. There’s also a very, very long wire running under the door, presumably connected to a PC elsewhere in the office. The tweet below showcases the floorplan layout.
floor plan layout used for this demo video for reference. pic.twitter.com/99RJnuURoi
— Alvin Wang Graylin (@AGraylin) July 11, 2018
Take note, though, that this isn’t the finished article just yet. Valve’s Alan Yates responded to Graylin’s tweets explaining that SteamVR will still only track from four stations at a time right now. We’ve reached out to Yates to further clarify now this video has surfaced.
It still only tracks from 4 at a time right now.
— Alan Yates (@vk2zay) July 11, 2018
Right now the only way to get the new base stations is to buy the Vive Pro bundle, which only includes two. It’s not yet clear when either Valve or HTC will start offering standalone units so Vive Pro and other SteamVR users can access this feature.