How to: Enabling VR Editor mode in an existing project - UE 5.3.2

Development Platform & Builds XR Development
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1

After discovering and getting really excited about the VR Editor mode, I was disappointed to find that it disappeared somewhere on the way to 5.3. After hitting a brick wall with the official documentation and finding no solution online, I decided to snoop in the default Virtual Production project files to see if I could find the magic switch to enable the mode in an existing VR template project (or any other project).

Found it.

  1. Open your projectname.uproject file (unreal projects/projectname) using visual studio.

  2. Copy and paste the following into the file:

{
“Name”: “VirtualScouting”,
“Enabled”: true,
“SupportedTargetPlatforms”: [
“Win64”,
“Linux”
]
},
{
“Name”: “OpenXR”,
“Enabled”: true,
“SupportedTargetPlatforms”: [
“Win64”,
“Linux”,
“Android”
]
},
{
“Name”: “OpenXREyeTracker”,
“Enabled”: true,
“SupportedTargetPlatforms”: [
“Win64”,
“Linux”,
“Android”
]
},
{
“Name”: “OpenXRHandTracking”,
“Enabled”: true,
“SupportedTargetPlatforms”: [
“Win64”,
“Linux”,
“Android”
]
},

  1. Open your project and you should have the Toggle VR button available.
    image

  2. Follow the instructions here: [Activating the Virtual Scouting Tools | Unreal Engine 5.3 Documentation] except for steps 7 and 9 which do not correspond to the current settings screens.

  3. Under Project Settings - Engine - Rendering - Postprocessing, set “Enable alpha channel support in postprocessing (experimental)” to “Disabled”.

  4. Under Project Settings - Plugins - OpenXR Input - Enhanced Input, set “Mappable Input Config for XR” to “None” (I suppose that you’ll have to revert that each time you’d like to test the ‘game’ part of your VR project).

  5. Connect your headset and smash that VR mode button.

  6. Profit.

Disclaimer: Haven’t tried it in non-VR template projects, they may involve extra steps.

2

For more information check out this presentation from Unreal Fest: Introducing the XR Creative Framework for Virtual Production and Beyond | Unreal Fest 2023 | Tutorial

We’re also sharing updates on the new framework in this thread: XR Creative Framework

3

That is nice. I’ll have to check out that plugin.

I suppose I didn’t come across the info as none of the relevant keywords are included in the thread - something like “this is going to replace the VR editor mode” or so. Maybe they should be added to help raise awareness of the XR creative template among people who would be searching for the original editor functions?