FAQ

Jump to: Gameplay Compatibility Troubleshooting

If the FAQ does not cover your issue try the Discord link on the bar in the right. Someone there can likely help you. You can also try the forum.

Gameplay

Can I play with friends?

Yes! Vivecraft can be used to play on any normal Minecraft server running the same base Minecraft version. You can play with anyone, VR or not.
The VR features you can use in multiplayer depend on the server configuration. See the Multiplayer page for more info!

Can other people see me move in VR?

Yes! With a little work. You will need to be playing via LAN or on a modded server with one of our server plugins. Any desktop players will also need to be using the Vivecraft Non-VR client. See the multiplayer page for more details.

Can I change the desktop mirror?

Yes. Vivecraft offers several options for recording or streaming the desktop window. Pressing F5 while in-game will cycle through the available modes, or options can be set directly in the VR Settings > Stereo Rendering options screen. The Single and Dual mirror modes have no performance penalty. The First Person Undistorted, 3rd Person, and Mixed Reality mirror cost an additional render pass. See the mixed reality cam page for how to set the camera location for 3rd person views.

I don’t want to teleport, how do I switch?

You can choose from several different locomotion methods in the VR Settings > Locomotion screen. Also holding ‘pick block’ for several seconds will toggle between teleport and your chosen free-move mode.

Can I play seated, but with controllers?

Yes. Leave the game in ‘Standing’ play mode and sit. There are 2 options for dealing with being ‘too short’ in-game. The first is to turn on the ‘Allow Origin Offset’ setting. This unlocks the ‘reset origin’ button used in seated mode. Clicking ‘reset origin’ will place your head at the correct height. The other option is to turn up the ‘World Scale’ slider somewhere near 1.5. This will make you feel larger in-game, and keep the ground on the floor. Some servers may restrict the use of World Scaling.

Can I use touchpad-based analog movement?

Yes. Controllers with a joystick will default to this type. Vive wands, lacking joysticks, do not. To enable touchpad movement for Vive Wands you must bind the Move/Strafe Vector2 action to the touchpad in SteamVR Input. You should then relocate any actions bound to touchpad presses to something else.

Can I use Smooth Rotation?

Yes. In VR Settings drag ‘Rotation Increment’ all the way to the left.
Note that Vive wands do not have rotation bound by default, you must bind the Vector2 ‘Rotate Only’ action to the touchpad.

How do I type in game?

Vivecraft has a built-in keyboard that can be accessed at any time by long-pressing the game menu button. The keyboard should also open automatically when clicking on a text input field. In some cases key input may not be recognized if the desktop window does not have focus, this is especially true for modded installations. Make sure the game window has focus on the desktop when using the keyboard.

Is there a left-handed mode?

Yes. Turn on ‘Reverse Hands’ in the VR Settings menu then restart the game. The restart is necessary to load the reversed controller bindings.

Compatibility

What hardware does Vivecraft support?

Vivecraft uses SteamVR to communicate with all hardware components. If your hardware works in SteamVR Home it should work in Vivecraft.

The latest versions of Vivecraft provides default controls for Vive Wands, Oculus Touch Controllers, Windows MR Controllers, and Index Controllers through SteamVR Input. Older versions using Legacy OpenVR have varying comparability depending on their release date.

Mobile VR devices are supported through 3rd-party SteamVR Emulators.

Can I play with mouse/keyboard?

Yes you can. Change ‘Play Mode’ to ‘SEATED’ in the VR Settings menu.

Can I play with a gamepad?

No. Not without some external mod that does keyboard/mouse emulation.

Does Vivecraft work with Forge?

Yes for most versions. See the Downloads page for more info, and this page for individual mod compatibility info. Note that Vivecraft itself is not a Forge mod; both the VR and NonVR Vivecraft clients must be installed as their own profile in the Minecraft launcher.

A mixin-based port of Vivecraft that does not rely on Optifine is also in development in parallel with the fabric port. You can check out the project on curseforge or modrinth

Does Vivecraft work with Fabric?

A fabric-compatible version of Vivecraft is in development. You can check out the project on curseforge or modrinth

Does Vivecraft work with LiteLoader?

Yes, but only on 1.7.10. Install Vivecraft with Forge then extract the LiteLoader .jar and put it in your /mods folder.

Can I use Vivecraft with mod packs?

Yes! See installation instructions below. Check the modpack forum section or mod compatibility chart if you encounter any issues, individual mods in the pack may need to be removed for compatibility.

Using a third-party modpack launcher (FTB / Curse / Twitch / Technic, etc.)

  1. Use the third-party launcher to download your desired pack. Note the directory where it installs.
  2. Close the modpack launcher, you will not use it to play.
  3. Run the Vivecraft installer.
  4. Do not change the ‘path to Minecraft’ (unless you are using MultiMC)
  5. Check ‘Install Vivecraft with Forge’
  6. Check ‘Custom Profile Name’ and enter in a custom name, if desired.
  7. Check ‘Modpack Directory’ and click the ‘…’ button to browse to the modpack root directory. This is the directory containing the \mods folder for the desired pack.
  8. Click ‘Install’ and finish installing Vivecraft
  9. Use the official Minecraft launcher (or MultiMC) to launch the newly-created profile

Below is an example for launching the DW20 pack for 1.10.2 installed via the Twitch App.

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vanillalauncher

Does Vivecraft work with MultiMC?

Yes! Create your MultiMC Instance first, then run the Vivecraft installer. Change the ‘path to Minecraft’ box to the MultiMC root directory (not the instance). Click ‘Install’ and you will be prompted to select the Instance.

See this page for detailed instructions if you need more help.

Does Vivecraft work on Mac or Linux?

Yes. Vivecraft does include OpenVR wrappers and code for Mac and Linux. To install Vivecraft on either of these platforms, simply change the installer extension to .jar and it should run via java.

Can Vivecraft be played via OpenComposite instead of SteamVR?

Vivecraft supports OpenComposite, however the latest versions of Vivecraft (as of July, 2019) require SteamVR Input support and OpenComposite does not yet support this API. Stay tuned for updates related to this.

Older versions of Vivecraft using Legacy OpenVR may have support for OC that works correctly.
To use: After installing Vivecraft, copy the OpenComposite openvr dll to your %AppData%\Roaming\\.minecraft\openvr\win64\ folder (or equivalent), overwriting the existing file. Create a new empty file in this directory and name it OpenComposite.ini. Vivecraft should now launch without SteamVR. To revert this installation, delete the .ini file and Vivecraft will overwrite the dll on next launch with the steam version.

Can Vivecraft take advantage of AMD FidelityFX SuperResolution?

No. This technology only applies to DirectX and Vulkan rendered games. It is not compatible with Minecraft: Java Edition, which uses OpenGL.

Can Vivecraft be played simultaneously on the same PC with regular 2D Minecraft?

For newer versions this should be possible. Vivecraft relies on mouse simulation for mod compatibility so this method of play is not recommended for modded installations.

Troubleshooting

The Vivecraft profile does not show up in the launcher! (New as of 12/2020)

Click the ‘Installations’ tab on the launcher and ensure the ‘modded’ checkbox is checked in the top right. See Image.

I can’t run the installer!

The Vivecraft installer requires java 8+ to run. Make sure you have java installed. If Java is already installed and the application will not run or prompts you to open it with another application, try Jarfix which is a quick and easy utility to repair Java file associations.

The game shows up on my desktop, but not in the headset!

This occurs frequently on systems with dual GPUs such as gaming laptops. The solution is to force your PC to use the gaming GPU for java. If your PC only has an Intel integrated GPU, then you cannot play Vivecraft as VR on OpenGL is not supported by Intel drivers.
To force Minecraft to use the high-performance GPU:

  • First, determine which Java executable is being used, the path to this may be different depending on which launcher you are using and which version of Minecraft. The easiest way to find it is as follows:
    • Launch the version of Vivecraft you are playing
    • Open the windows Task Manager by right clicking the start button, or with ctrl-alt-delete
    • On the Processes Tab, right-click on “OpenJDK Platform binary” (or “Java(TM) Platform SE binary” for older versions) and choose ‘Open File Location’
    • The location of the running java executable will open. Note the path to this folder, or copy it to the clipboard.
  • Secondly, set Windows to use the correct GPU
    • Open the Settings App
    • Go to Graphics Settings
    • Select Desktop App and then Browse
    • Browse to the folder, or paste the path in the navigation bar
    • Select javaw.exe and click Add
    • Expand the newly-added entry in the list and click Options
    • Select ‘High Performance’ and click save
  • This process may need to be repeated for different versions of Minecraft as they do not all use the same java.

If your PC is not a laptop or the above solution does not solve the problem:

  • Ensure your monitor and HMD are plugged into the dedicated GPU
  • If you are using an emulator, like Virtual Desktop, ensure you are following the instructions to properly launch SteamVR
  • Ensure you actually have a dedicated GPU (not Intel)
  • Ensure you didn’t install the Non-VR version by mistake.

The game says it cannot detect my HMD!

Vivecraft uses SteamVR to communicate with hardware. You must have SteamVR installed and configured properly. If you are using 3rd party software to emulate a PC VR system make sure it is configured correctly.

The game says “Intel Integrated Graphics are not supported”!

See this answer about setting the correct GPU.

My Oculus headset turns off or crashes when loading a world!

This can be alleviated by setting the Oculus runtime to a higher CPU priority. Open windows task manager, go to the “Details” tab and find ‘OVRServer_x64″. Right click on it and set the priority to “High”.

The game runs poorly, what can I do?

Minecraft was not written for VR and is not a very well optimized game. Here are some steps you can take to improve performance

  • Reduce your draw distance in the Video Settings menu. Below 10 is best, even for high-end systems.
  • Turn down the ‘Render Scale’ in the VR Settings > Stereo Rendering menu. Also make sure your SteamVR supersampling is at 1.0, Vivecraft has its own setting and will stack with SteamVR’s.
  • Make sure you are not using any custom shaders or texture packs (in Video Settings).
  • Make sure you are allocating enough RAM for your installation type, but not too much. Vanilla, un-modded Minecraft does not need more than 2GB of RAM, however be aware that it’s possible to have your Java configuration overridden by Windows environment variables. If the game run incredibly poorly check for a unwanted -Xmx256M or similar argument there.

The game runs OK but there are constant stutters, what can I do?

Microstuttering is typically caused by garbage collection. Minecraft generates an absurd amount of memory garbage and the system needs to periodically scan the game memory and clean it up, usually every few seconds. The speed of garbage collection is dependant on the amount of memory allocation, the speed of the ram, and the speed of your cpu.
Some things to try are:

  • Use ZGC. This is an option in the Vivecraft installer on newer versions. Requires installing Java14+.
  • Allocate less RAM to your Minecraft profile. Vanilla, un-modded Minecraft does not need more than 2GB of RAM, and usually less.
  • Ensure your PC has enough free physical RAM (and is therefore not using virtual memory, which is very slow).
  • Ensure your RAM is configured correctly in BIOS. Most high-frequency gaming RAM must be specifically set to run at high frequency.
  • Close any background or system applications that might be placing too much extra load on your system.

I can’t click on anything!

Make sure the desktop window is not minimized. Alt-tabbing from a fullscreen game will minimize it. If you need to play without the game window in focus be sure to set it to windowed mode via the video settings or F11.

I’m using a shader pack and everything is blurry!

Check the specific settings for your shader and disable motion blur, depth-of-field, lens flare, or similar.

The motion controllers don’t respond at all

  • Make sure Steam is running in addition to SteamVR.
  • Make sure the game is set to STANDING play mode. Use the mouse to navigate the menu to the VR Settings screen and change it there.
  • If you are using ALVR as an emulator, make sure you are using the version linked from our emulators page that has proper SVRI support.

The Vivecraft installer says ‘Failed to download Optifine: Address family not supported by protocol family: connect’

See this page for some potential solutions

The game starts on a black screen with a SteamVR error message

Error 108: No HMD Found. Ensure you have SteamVR Installed and your HMD is working.
Error 112: Log path not found. This happens when your steam installation has moved. In SteamVR Settings > Developer Options click the Log Path button and set it whereever your steamapp/common/SteamVR directory is.

The game crashes on startup, what should I do?

You will need more information about the crash. Depending on the type of crash this information may be in different log files. Once you have found the correct error message, Keep reading for solutions to common ones.

Where do I find Minecraft logs?

  • First check your %appdata%/.minecraft/crash-reports/ directory and look for a newly created file. This file will contain the crash information if the game crashed while it was running. In the case of mod conflict crashes you may also need to look at the latest.log file.
  • Next check the .minecraft/logs/ directory and look for ‘latest.log’. (If you are using Forge on 1.10 look for ‘fml-client-latest.log’). The last entry in this file should be the crash stacktrace. This file also contains the startup sequence and is usually better for troubleshooting, but may be confusing if you don’t know how to read it. Like the crash reports, latest.log is only created if the game properly initializes.
  • In some cases, no latest.log file is created or no error is logged. This frequently occurs if Java fails to initialize due to RAM allocation issues. In these cases check the root .minecraft folder for a file called launcher_log.txt. The crash should be at or near the bottom of this file.
  • In rare cases the Java Virtual Machine itself may crash due to memory or driver issues. In these cases a file called hs_err_pidXXX.log will be created in the root .minecraft directory.

If your crash is not listed below or you are unsure how to read the logs, come to the Discord or Forum and bring your log.

The game crashes with a hs_err file saying a problematic frame in ‘atio6axx.dll’.

This seems to be a bug in recent AMD drivers. Rolling back your drivers to 20.4.2 or earlier seems to fix it.

The game crashes and the error says “The game will now exit” and complains about a modified jar

Your profile is launching Forge and is missing some critical JVM arguments. The Vivecraft installer adds these to the profile, but may have been deleted. Ensure your profile JVM args includes
-Dfml.ignoreInvalidMinecraftCertificates=true -Dfml.ignorePatchDiscrepancies=true

The game crashes and the error says “MalformedClassName”

Go to your .minecraft directory and delete usercache.json. That should sort it.

The game crashes and the error says “Info Error occurred during initialization of VM
Initial heap size set to a larger value than the maximum heap size
Picked up _JAVA_OPTIONS: -Xmx###M: Java heap space”

Check your Windows environment variables for an entry called _JAVA_OPTS that is adding a Xmx256M or similar argument to your java commands. Remove it.

The game crashes and the error says “Could not reserve enough space for 2097152KB object heap”

You do not have 64-bit java installed. Install it or allocate less RAM to the Vivecraft profile. 64-bit and at least 2GB RAM is recommended for VR.

The game crashes and the popup window says ‘Java Binary SE has stopped working’

This is caused by a buggy nvidia driver released in January 2017 (v378.49). Try updating your drivers.

The game (or the installer) crashes and says ‘EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION’ in ‘d3d9.dll’

This is caused by an incompatibility between Windows 10 creators update, 64-bit java, and Rivatuner. You will need to either uninstall or update Rivatuner.

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