Is Meta XR plugin needed for Quest 2?

[HerculesIronworks (Unreal_MDS)]

I’m a hobbyist and only have a little experience of VR development. I’m returning after a break and have decided it is a good time to make the move to UE5.

I’ve followed the guide at

https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/unreal/unreal-quick-start-guide-quest/

And supplemented this by watching several Youtube videos, including a couple from @GDXRStudio

Not all the info is consistent, some of which may be due to videos quickly becoming outdated. For example some are using UE 5.0 whereas I am using 5.1.1. However, taking baby steps and back-tracking a bit I think I have now done everything I need to do. But I’m still unsure …

I built a sample project using the standard VR template. The guidance says that to build for Quest 2 I MUST have the Meta XR plugin installed. SO I took care to make sure I had done that correctly. When I do this, the project builds “successfully” but has lots of warnings and a number of errors. Also, the hands don’t work properly; grip animation (bottom 3 fingers) doesn’t work and holding gun aligns at wrong angle. This is as discussed by @Cdaked and @JayLu2001 in post

VRPawn stuck at floor in Built project PC/VR - Quest 2.

I’m interested in using the latest version of Epic and untied from Meta; hence using the Meta XR plugin. I don’t just develop for Meta. Doesn’t even work properly with Epic’s basic VR template? On both Android and Windows the bottom three fingers of the hands do not animate when pressing the Grip button until you use the hand menus; also, only in Windows, the projectile doesn’t come out every time you shoot. Have you tried to reproduce the bug?

(although I don’t have any problem with VR Pawn height).

But, if I do another sample project using the standard VR template but DON’T have the Meta XR plugin enabled, then the project builds with NO ERRORS and just these two warnings,

LogRenderer: Warning: Deprecated CVar r.BasePassOutputsVelocity is set to 0. Remove and use r.VelocityOutputPass instead.

LogRenderer: Warning: Deprecated CVar r.VertexDeformationOutputsVelocity is set to 0. Remove and use r.Velocity.EnableVertexDeformation instead.

And this time the hand grip animation works and holding gun aligns correctly.

So, is the information about Meta XR being necessary correct? My experience suggests I’m better off avoiding it. I’m just starting off, I’d like to avoid storing up big problems for the future.

[VictorLerp]

It’s not required, but it does contain useful features such as Fixed Foveation. Meta is releasing updates to their plugin to fix issues quite frequently, so make sure you check the download page for the plugin. Last update was on April 26th.

[AxSoler]

Does someone know if it substitutes the OpenXR functionality with its own “OpenXR” implementation, or if is it only focused on adding those non-OpenXR-supported features, so the rest is still left to the OpenXR UE5 native plug-in?

[VictorLerp]

The native OpenXR plugin is required, as it provides the core OpenXR functionality that makes the MetaXR plugin work

[RafigRzayev]

Stereo layers didn’t work in my project until I downloaded meta xr plugin.

[christuusgnosis]

I think you need it if you want to use hand tracking, or if you want to use the capacitive button features.
I pkg for quest and I never have had it on since 4.26

[HerculesIronworks (Unreal_MDS)]

Thanks @VictorLerp (and everyone else). Apologies for not responding to your helpful suggestion sooner - Im afraid real life has been distracting me from fun hobbies. I check for latest plugin before my next try. Cheers.

[VictorLerp]

Real life is the only place where you can get a decent meal. And food is important, so it sounds like you have your priorities right