VirtualHere for steam (steamlink app on shieldtv) There are no USB devices plugged in.

Sigh. nothing but frustration with these shieldtv units. I purchased them due to the desire to stream 4k. the steamlinks worked perfectly, but with everything in my house being slowly changed over to 4k, these were the last vestiges of 1080p.

i made the jump and quickly found out that androidTV seems to be cool with hijacking and perma-remapping controller buttons. Im way cool with having to use button combos for something simple like start or select, so i looked for alternatives.

I found this and it seemed perfect. I have 2 shieldtvs which i use interchangeably and figured since steam is largely what I use to stream, i'd scoop up the steam version. (as opposed to having to buy 2 licenses for the android version afaik)

anyways, the first go seemed to work out well. The biggest drawback looked to be the fact that I also use controllers ala bluetooth at my pc, and to go back and forth I was going to have to disable and re-enable bluetooth on the fly. (it was better than using a usb cable all the time, which was the only other way i found around the darned android remapping debacle). There was also the fact id have to use the tv remote to start up/configure the steam link app, but we cant have it all :P

unfortunately I found out rather quickly that simply leaving the steam link app for the home screen and coming back was enough to have the "shared vs ignored" list competely purge itself.

it would show as "no usb devices connected" until I did 1 of 2 things. Either restarted the shield completely (then id get one use out of it again) or doing a force stop of the virtualUSB server (which would give me one use again).

neither are appealing in what has already become quite a janky situation.

Do i have options to simply make this persist like I would hope/expect it to? through restarts, through gaming, through not gaming. apart from having to jostle between disabling/re-enabling my BT adapter on my pc, id really like to be able to open the steam link app and play without having to worry about it being passed due to not showing up resulting in my having to force stop the VH app. (would be the quicker option relative to the two ive found).

#2

ok. So i found a way around the aforementioned issue. You have to open VH server and select start on boot.

last problem that seems to be presented is after im done gaming, VH keeps running on the PC. isnt it supposed to automatically shutdown?

#3

so seems if i set it as a service I can avoid the icon debacle. Only problem now, is my solution to the disappearing ability to configure USB items seems to not be the solution at all. It only helped on 1 of my shieldtv units. On the other, if i leave the steam app and come back. POOF gone.

sigh

#4

one would surmise it has to do with the steam link apps implementation of VH, might have to pony up for a couple VH android licenses and hope for the best. Just to be clear, with 2 shieldTV units I would have to buy 2 android licenses yes?

#5

OK seems you are making things too complicated.

1. Install the virtualhere app on your sheild and run steam. In the virtualhere menu in steam select the device you want to use via virtualhere and then start streaming, everything else is automatic. e.g installing the client connecting to the device etc.

OR

2. If you want to run things outside steam you need to buy a normal virtualhere android license. Then you just put the license key into that and make the virtualhere server start on boot in android. Then you just download the virtualhere client from my website and run it and make sure "Auto-Find" is on and they will find each other then you can just select Auto-Use device and it will work.

If you want to mix the two there will be problems as i have to conform to valve requirement and so switching modes is complicated and its best to just use one or the other method.

#6

hmmmm.. Thats the thing. the virtualhere tab in the steam link app doesnt seem to want to pick up usb devices with any consistency. I was only able to get it functioning with any degree of normalcy by forcing the "start on boot" in the server app.

as for the android version, id considered going that route since it would function for everything, but how would that change the functionality with the already installed steam/steam link app version? Would i just uninstall virtualhere from steam on my pc? I assume the tab would still show up in the steam link app on the shield, and that would avoid a conflict between the two versions?

I appreciate your time and help!

#7

What are the devices you are trying to use via virtualhere? Is it a bluetooth dongle or a high powered wheel etc?

Im wondering if its a power issue with the usb port. Because virtualhere only knows about usb devices that android tells it about. That is, if android cant see the usb device virtualhere wont be able to see it either.

In the virtualhere server after the problem occurs can you open the virtualhere app and in the menu at the top right click System Messages->Copy and try to email me if possible. You can install an email app here https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/281969/email-cl…

#8

In general its a DS4 controller plugged in via USB and/or a Asus USB BT dongle.

Ive had the best luck with consistent appearance in SLA when having them both plugged in simultaneously, even though still hit or miss - its much more likely they appear, whereas if its one or the other, its much less likely.

often required a force close of the virtualhere server, and then upon re opening the steam link app it/they would be present for 1 go, then if i closed the SLA and opened, gone again.

thank you for your time!

#9

sorry, just woke up, coffee's barely permeated :P I missed that last bit. I'll add it to my to-do list. Next time I hop on the steam link ill forward you that information :)

#10

Yes windows doesnt work well with multiple bluetooth radios (i assume your pc also has built-in bluetooth)

Usually you need to manually disable the on-board radio (Device Manager->Bluetooth->Right click on the Intel Wireless Bluetooth device and select Disable Device) to pass the dongle through via virtualhere otherwise windows may not automatically do this.

#11

yes, thats not relevant to this particular circumstance as ive known/done that since day 1.

actually hoped/tried without, but the 2nd bluetooth adapter wont even start unless the first is disabled prior. I actually just finished setting up a powershell script & scheduled task to automate this for me this afternoon.

I'd always come back to my pc and forget to enable bluetooth after having it disabled for the shields etc.

also discovered that you cant use separate adapters for each shield (even if theyre the same brand) unless your using separate controllers for each. Jumping from one to the other wont happen.

I assume its due to controllers usually only wanting to pair to one device and windows saving that relationship even if a device is "hidden" aka disconnected from the pc at the time.

all prices that have to be paid if i dont want a 15 foot long usb hanging across my room :P