5.6 bug, vive controllers no longer activate, appears to be no way to fix

Unity Engine
1

As per title 5.6.0f3

I notice in the bug tracker for beta this was listed as “won’t fix”. Does this essentially mean vive/steamVR is no longer supported? Is there a way forward with this?

2

Adding SteamVR update poses to the camera(eye) makes the controllers activate but the tracking for them is way off.

3

After some further testing, I can see when I move my head the controller moves, so it seems it is getting some of it’s pose data from the head which it should be doing.

4

Okay I solved my issue, but here is what happened for others. Initially I put SteamVR update poses on the camera rig and it auto added a camera. When I removed it and put it on camera eye I didn’t notice the added camera. Removing the additional camera fixed the problem.

5

Adding to this if anybody else also encounters this issue.
Today I updated to Unity 5.6 and now the Controllers are not tracked by the SteamVR Plugin. Both GameObjects (Controller (left) and Controller (right) under [CameraRig]) are deactivated in Play Mode. Activating them doesn’t change fix it.
The SteamVR Status Panel shows all green and if I press the SteamVR button to get into the SteamVR “home” environment they are displayed without a problem.

I also tried to install the SteamVR beta which didn’t change a thing.

I fixed the issue by adding the SteamVR_UpdatePoses Component to the Camera GameObject (under [CameraRig]).
I have never added this script in the year I am working with SteamVR, also worked fine. But I guess now with Unity 5.6 it’s necessary.

6

I’m also having problem with not seeing the Vive controllers in Unity 5.6.
I even tried a new project and imported the default SteamVR plugin and tried their examples. Same problem.
I guess the Unity people forgot to test Vive VR in the 5.6 build.

7

There is actually specific code in the SteamVR plugin that disables the pose updater in 5.6. I have no idea why!

In SteamVR_Render:

#if !(UNITY_5_6)
private SteamVR_UpdatePoses poseUpdater;
#endif

void Update()
{
#if !(UNITY_5_6)
if (poseUpdater == null)
{
var go = new GameObject(“poseUpdater”);
go.transform.parent = transform;
poseUpdater = go.AddComponent<SteamVR_UpdatePoses>();
}
#endif

also some code in SteamVR_UpdatePoses

Just re-enable the conditional code and it will work as before

8

Hmm… I would like to read the commit log on why that code was disabled for 5.6. There must have been a reason.

9

It’s because the SteamVR_UpdatePoses Script adds themselves with a Camera Component as a Child to the [SteamVR] GameObject which has SteamVR_Render attached…
And that Camera is streamed to the VR Headset because it’s the latest instantiated one.

At the current point in time I have the choice between using the [SteamVR] Camera at (0,0,0), which is not where my Player should start and therefore the Controllers are far away, to haven’t any Controllers rendered or to downgrade to Unity 5.5.2 again…
Not happy about how Valve can’t maintain stability, this is what Betas are for. Or that they don’t document why they do this sort of stuff.

EDIT: Seems like this is the reason they commented this out… but seems like either way you gonna have a problem, just a different one