HTC Vive: How do I setup Black Mesa properly?

[genero]

Hi! confused Swede here, really new to all the VR stuff, got mine just 4 days ago.

I am trying to get black mesa running in VR on my computer but it simply wont work, i am not getting any errors. You know how on steam when you hit play and your profile picture lights up green as if the game is preparing to launch, well it does but 2-3 seconds later it goes blue again as if the game failed to launch up properly. I tried setting the game to run as administrator but then I didn’t get any “VR” functions just the normal game.

Sucks that every single game I have tried with the vive has been lackluster/not working. Really considering getting my money back at this point.

[genero]

And I forgot to add, yes I applied the programs profile to the game before trying.

[Ralf]

It should just work normally, re-checked a minute ago with the latest release version of vorpX to be sure not to say anything wrong.

Just a guess, but if you are using the free Black Mesa that was once available on Steam, please update to the commercial one that is now available. The free one used to work, but that may have changed since it was last checked a long time ago.

Also make sure to use the latest vorpX version 17.1.0 that was released earlier today.

Apart from that your issue sounds a lot like an injection conflict with some other program on your PC. Unfortunately that’s not always obvious, more programs than one would think hook into games like vorpX and can cause such an issue.

Typical candidates are: virus scanners, any sort of CPU/GPU utilities, game video recording/streaming software, chat programs and generally everything that can show notifictations in games.

Best way to trouble shoot this is to disable/uninstall every program running in the background that would not be there after a fresh, Microsoft only Windows install.

If you can’t solve the issue this way, please try to start a few games, then create a trouble shoot data archive in the vorpX config app and send this archive to support |at| vorpx com. I will then check whether I can find something that you may have overlooked.

BTW: You don’t have to apply default profiles. If vorpX comes with a profile for a game, that profile is already active. You only need to use the profile section in the config app if you want to import/export profiles and settings.

[genero]

Thanks for taking your time in responding, I am using the commercial release of Black Mesa. I bought it after seeing a Oculus user playing it in VR on youtube. I have a HTC vive and the latest release 17.1.2 of Vorpx. There is really no good tutorial out there though that introduces you and makes you familiarised with the program. This is something that comes with the ones responsible of releasing this program. I am a fish in new water and wish there was some better clearer advice out there.

Just to clear some things out I have recently formatted my pc and still dont have any sucess.

I’m looking at the local profiles tab and I find the HL2/portal/black mesa profile.
I hit apply and go to steam and launch the game and no game launches. I tired launching the game as administrator but launches with default native settings and doesn’t show up in my vive.

Are you using a vive and what steps do you take to make the game launch? Thanks :)

[Ralf]

There isn’t really anything you should have to do besides launching vorpX and then Black Mesa. It should be easier than ever now since field of view adjustment and head tracking can be handled by Direct VR at the touch of a button.

I am aware that this doesn’t help you, but since I just checked the game a week ago to make the Direct VR profile, I’m very sure that it works here, so I’m a bit out of ideas in regard to your Black Mesa issue.

All I can offer you at this time is looking into your vorpX logfile. Can’t promise anything, but maybe it contains something useful. You can create an archive with the logfile and other data in the config app (trouble shoot page). Please send it to support |at| vorpx com.

[MikeTheUser85]

Hi Ralf,

My Black Mesa (commercial) on vive does not hook either. The game just crashes before you can even tell it tried to run. L4D2 works in vorpx. And if I close out of vorpx, bms.exe runs fine on my monitor. I tried redownloading black mesa and updating my video card drivers (I had the older driver at time I sent troubleshooting info). Maybe my cause is similar to genero’s?

I sent you the troubleshooting data on Jan 2nd (from gmail) but I haven’t heard anything back yet. Maybe it went into your spam folder? I have also tried 7.1.2 now that it has been released but it does the same thing.

[Ralf]

I looked into generos right after he sent it. It looks quite normal (i.e. vorpX hooks) up to a certain point, but then stops without an error (at least none that shows in the log). Looks a bit as if all of sudden the process is interrupted and then vorpX tries to hook into a second program which I can’t identify in the log. This is aborted also and a lot earlier in the process. Bottom line: extremely weird.

My suggestion would be to disable the Steam overlay (isn’t necessary here though), and also check for any other programs that also may hook into games like vorpX. Disabling absolutely everything running in the backgound is the best cause of action.

Besides that I can’t really suggest anything else since there is no actual error in the log, it just looks a bit like it could be some strange double injection issue.

[MikeTheUser85]

Is that the way both of ours appeared or just his?

[Ralf]

No mail between 1.1 and 3.1 regarding Black Mesa. The only mail re the game I see at all in the last two months is the one from genero two hours ago, sorry. Scratch that. Found your message. Your log looks similar, the game quits without any visible error pretty much at the same point, but without anything else showing in the log afterwards. Not of much help either unfortunately.

[MikeTheUser85]

Hi Ralf,

I discovered a way to get black mesa to run on my vive (maybe genero and the others who posted that bms wouldn’t work on their vives could try it too). If I set device selection in vorpx to Generic VR headset (extended mode), then I disable direct mode in steamvr … it works!

However unfortunately head tracking does not work. But other than that it is 3d and not in desktop viewer and works well.

Does the fact that it runs when not in direct mode help narrow down the issue to perhaps allow you to fix it so that head tracking can be used? I am a little afraid that valve will take away ability to run non-direct mode someday. I know you say bms.exe works for you on vive but there are multiple other posts littered through time on here of people having issues with it so there may be a larger issue.

[Ralf]

It definitely narrows it down a bit, thanks for the heads up. Since I can’t replicate the issue, it’s still not enough, but I will try some different game settings and see whether that somehow makes it replicable.

[Anonymous]

Same problem here. The game crashes before anything is shown on the screen. Without vorpx everything works fine. Using version 17.1.3. There is an application error in the windows log:

Faulting application name: bms.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5818c5fa
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.10586.672, time stamp: 0x580efb0a
Exception code: 0xc06d007f
Fault offset: 0x000bdb18
Faulting process id: 0x970
Faulting application start time: 0x01d2736bbe71bab1
Faulting application path: I:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Black Mesa\bms.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 209ad461-5b31-4c93-a1c9-b6231dfc878a
Faulting package full name:

[Ralf]

Since the issue can’t be replicated here, unfortunately there is no way to check what might cause it, sorry. As said above I will try with different game settings to see whether that maybe somehow makes it replicable.

[MikeTheUser85]

Is there anything that us having the issue have in common?
I have:
HTC Vive, AMD Radeon r9 290, Radeon driver 17.1.1-jan16, i7 Devil’s Canyon 4790K, 14GB RAM, Windows 10 Home

Also, is there a workaround we could use to get head tracking to work since the game runs on vive when you choose generic headset extended mode and set steamvr to extended mode. The Head Tracker drop down says “None” … would there be a way you could update vorpx to allow us to choose the vive’s head tracking from this drop down?

[Ralf]

I re-checked the game earlier today and on Vive something happens that I can’t recall to have seen ever before: the very first call to a SteamVR function – which initializes the headset – flatout crashes (in layman’s terms). There is no way to work around this, the call to SteamVR crashes, not vorpX itself. The only potential workaround for that might be to use Oculus mode with ReVive, but I have no idea whether that may work or not.

Update: a little bit of hope for you guys, but not more: the issue does not occur with the Vive init being done earlier in the vorpX bootup process. That has far reaching consequences though, so I can’t promise yet whether this change will be made for just one game. A change like this has to be tested extremely well and it’s very possible that it causes other problems, so it might or might not happen in the end.

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