SteamVR 2.17 Registers a 32-Bit OpenXR Runtime, and That Is the Line Worth Reading

SteamVR 2.17 left beta on September 10. The release post opens by saying the update "makes more Steam features available in VR, adds 32-bit OpenXR support, and improves the streaming experience," and it is the middle item that is worth stopping on, because it is the one that changes what software can run at all.

Why a runtime has a bitness at all

OpenXR is the cross-vendor standard that lets one build of a VR app talk to any headset. An OpenXR runtime is the piece of software on your machine that actually answers those calls, and SteamVR is one. Monado, which we covered in June, is another.

Between your app and the runtime sits the loader, and on Windows the loader finds the active runtime by reading the registry. Khronos documents the key in the OpenXR loader specification: the value ActiveRuntime under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Khronos\OpenXR\1, holding "full directory path of the runtime's JSON file."

Then comes the part that explains Valve's release note. The spec flags it as Important: "If using a 32-bit application on a 64-bit Windows install, 'WOW6432Node' is added before 'SOFTWARE' in the preceding path." A 32-bit app does not read the same key you do. Windows quietly redirects it to a parallel branch, and whatever runtime is registered for 64-bit apps is not registered there.

So a 32-bit OpenXR app on a machine with only a 64-bit runtime installed does not find a broken runtime. It finds nothing. That is the gap Valve just closed, in its own words: "Added support for 32-bit OpenXR applications. Users will be prompted to set SteamVR as their default OpenXR runtime after installing this Beta, which will set up the 32-bit runtime alongside the 64-bit runtime."

Note "this Beta," in a post announcing a stable release. Valve carried the line over from the beta notes without editing it. You will get the prompt either way, and if you have ever wondered why SteamVR asks again about a setting you already chose, that is the second registration going in.

Which means the change is narrower than "SteamVR supports more stuff" and more useful than it sounds. If you maintain anything still built as x86, you no longer have to tell people it will not see SteamVR as an OpenXR runtime. Valve registers both, and the loader finds the right one.

The rest of 2.17

The dashboard work is the headline for most people, and it is the same work that went into the Steam Client Beta in July. It is now stable. Achievements, community guides and notes are reachable from inside the headset. The Quick Access Menu, borrowed from the Steam Deck, sits on the VR Dashboard bar with notifications, volume, brightness and battery. Valve also added a slider for environmental and camera brightness, made overlay apps quittable from the dashboard, and put a user preference for laser pointer length under Advanced, Dashboard, Laser Pointer Length.

Valve lists improved streaming on slow connections, a fix for stutters on NVIDIA cards, a fix for one frame being dropped every few seconds, and Contrast Adaptive Sharpening before encoding, which you tune in SteamVR Settings, Steam Link, "Sharpen image before encoding."

And this line: "Adds initial support for USB streaming. Note: Requires new Steam Client Beta." That is the wired path we went through on September 3 arriving in stable SteamVR, with the client-beta requirement still attached. Stable on one side, beta on the other.

Linux got real attention too: wired headset support that "previously required third-party add-on layers," a Steam Link crash fix when games submit invalid textures, and better streaming recovery.

SteamVR is free and updates itself, so there is nothing to go and get. Say yes when it asks about your default runtime.