Announced earlier today at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), San Jose, SteamVR’s support for Mac format has arrived sooner than expected. A beta version of the platform is now available to all Steam users.
While Steam VR’s beta on Mac is undoubtedly welcome, it should be noted that it will take some time to populate the platform with content. Indeed, it’s unlikely that much of the older Windows based content will see conversion to Mac format.
“As part of our efforts to make VR available to developers and players on as many systems as possible, SteamVR for the Mac is now available in beta,” states a post on the official Steam website. “The beta comes in tandem with the macOS High Sierra developer seed and hardware news from Apple’s 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that helps enable VR on the Mac.”
More importantly however, is the development potential for SteamVR on Mac:
“On the development side, we have worked closely with Epic and Unity to make Mac extensions of content built on those engine technologies as simple as possible. Extension tools for those engines, and others, are available as part of this beta.”
According to Epic Games, support for Metal 2 and ‘wideranging’ Mac optimisations will ship in Unreal Engine 4.18 binary tools, starting with previews in September and with the full release in early October. VRFocus will of course keep you updated with all the latest details, but in the meantime the instructions below to get the SteamVR beta running on Mac today.
To use SteamVR on your Mac:
Open Steam on your desktop
Find SteamVR in your Library under Tools
Right click and go to Properties
Select the Betas tab and pick SteamVR Beta from the dropdown