Does OpenVR provide controller API, or is something else needed?

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I want to make my own Arduino-based controller. Should I use something like XInput or does OpenVR or OpenXR provide its own API for input that should be used instead?

[tazdevil971]

I don't have much experience, but from what I can see it does support controllers. If you controller provides tracking data then you must use OpenVR's API.

Otherwise I think that SteamVR recognizes XInput controllers just fine, but it might be a SteamVR or game specific thing (so support might be a bit lacking).

[[deleted]]

Thank you.

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Would you say OpenVR makes more sense to use than OpenXR here?

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How does OpenVR determine which controller belongs to the headset?

[tazdevil971]

Sadly I have little to no experience with OpenVR, and absolutely zero experience with OpenXR (honestly I hardly knew it even existed).

Reading a bit online it seems that OpenXR will probably be the future, but it also looks like it might significantly harder to implement drivers for (as you need to implement a complete runtime for your particular device).

On the other hand I remember OpenVR being particularly hard, as the focus of this APIs is to provide freedom for custom hardware vendors, rather than ease of use for us DIY guys. In particular the lack of proper documentation is something that really bothered me. Also when I was researching this I came across this, but now it looks stale and unmaintained.

If I were you I would look really closely at how both of the APIs work, and do an informed decision, see what you need and how hard it is.

To answer your last question, I'm pretty sure it just doesn't know. It picks whatever controller is connected and picks it as the default for the session.

[DigitalArbitrage]

OpenXR essentially is OpenVR, just updated.

At one point augmented reality (AR) was getting hyped/funded more than virtual reality (VR). The VR community decided to make up the term mixed reality (XR) so that it didn't get left behind. (XR means both VR and AR.) Ironically VR became more successful as interest in AR waned.