Every streamer knows that pausing gameplay to look at Twitch chat is often never a good idea.
That’s why most people have second monitors so they don’t have to pause gameplay to read Twitch chat.
While that works for regular video games, how is one supposed to see Twitch chat when they’re playing a VR game?
Quick Summary
In this post, we will shed light upon:
- How to see Twitch chat in VR with LIV
- How to see Twitch chat in VR with Hotrian’s OpenVR Twitch Chat
- Compatible VR headsets for Twitch chat
So without further ado, let’s get started.
How to See Twitch Chat in VR with LIV?
You can download LIV from their official website. The streamer kit is completely free and it’s a great way to add new ways to interact with your chat in your stream.
Download and install LIV first.
After that, you’ll have to choose between a variety of modes to get the best VR experience possible.
The type of mode you select with LIV will depend on the type of VR game that you intend to play. Different modes will work better with different types of games so it’s a good idea to play around and decide which one works best for you.
The different modes included with the LIV streamer kit are:
Basic Mode
This is the default mode that LIV will be set to when you first load it and it’s also the mode that works best for the majority of VR games out there.
With this mode, Twitch chat will be “on the back of your hand”. What that essentially means is that whenever you’d like to read Twitch chat within VR, all you need to do is look at the back of your hand and it will pop up.
It’s a great mode for VR games with constant movement.
This includes FPS VR games such as Pavlov VR, Superhot VR, etc. It keeps Twitch chat completely out of the way and invisible during gameplay. However, whenever you’d like to read it, you can look at the back of your hand to respond to chat.
World Mode
World mode allows you to mount your Twitch chat onto a specific part of the virtual space that you inhabit within the particular VR game you’re playing.
This mode doesn’t work for VR games where you’re constantly moving. However, when it comes to VR games where you’re relatively static and the VR space doesn’t change too much, it’s the perfect match.
Examples of such games include Beat Saber.
As you’re slashing through boxes with your lightsabers and dodging obstacles, you’ll be able to see Twitch chat in one corner or another.
As you can probably imagine, you can adjust the positioning and size of the Twitch chat window to ensure it doesn’t get in the way of any game elements.
Head Follower Mode
Head follower mode is exactly what it says it is. It essentially follows your head movement and the Twitch chat is placed right above your head.
Hence, wherever you go in the virtual space, Twitch chat will always be present above your head. Thus, whenever you’d like to read, you can just look up.
This is great for VR games that require you to use your hands in one way or another. This is because you can’t really make the Basic mode work with such games since Twitch chat would continuously pop up when you don’t want it to.
Thus, head follower mode is what works best for such PvE VR games.
How to See Twitch Chat with Hotrian’s OpenVR Twitch Chat?
To make use of Hotrian’s OpenVR Twitch Chat, you must visit the GitHub page first and download it.
Go to the page and scroll down to assets and download “OpenVRTwitchChat-v1.0.7.3-beta.zip” as shown below:
Important note: Save this zip file somewhere where it’s easily accessible. As a person who streams VR, you’ll need access to these files every time you want to stream in VR and have Twitch chat visible.
To see Twitch Chat with this program, follow these steps:
Step 1: Launch Steam VR.
Step 2: Check to ensure that your VR headset, controllers and all other equipment is properly connected and working as intended.
Step 3: Launch the OpenVRTwitchChat.exe file that’s present in the .zip folder.
Step 4: You’ll be asked the following information so that the app can connect to your Twitch profile:
- Username
- Stream key
- Channel name
Provide the relevant information and then click on “Connect”.
Step 5: Next, you must choose which controller you want to use in order to control the app and, thus, Twitch chat.
It doesn’t really matter which controller you use, and it’s all just based on your personal preference.
You can choose which particular controller to use by accessing the drop-down menu in the bottom-left part of the screen. From here, you can choose either the left or the right controller.
Step 6: Next, you can adjust the Twitch chat overlay by changing its opacity as well as its size.
To do this, open the drop-down menu on the bottom-right-hand side and select “None”.
You’ll now see two fields with sliders that you can adjust.
The top field is for the opacity, whereas the bottom field is for the size.
Go ahead and adjust these parameters until you’re satisfied with how the Twitch chat looks.
Once that’s done, you can begin streaming.
Compatible VR Headsets for Twitch Chat
Here are some of the most popular VR headsets that are compatible with the programs we described above as well as other programs you can use to see Twitch chat.
These VR headsets include:
Meta Quest 2
The Meta Quest 2 runs on the dominant Oculus platform and can work with a variety of programs to display Twitch chat with ease.
Please note that you will have to buy the Oculus Link Cable separately to connect it to your PC, however.
HTC Vive Pro 2
The HTC Vive Pro 2 is a high-end VR headset that works with programs such as OVRDrop, Virtual Desktop and LIV.
It’s highly customizable and you can use it to easily integrate Twitch chat into your VR gameplay.
Valve Index
The Valve Index is easily compatible with programs such as VRCapture, OVRDrop and Virtual Desktop.
Furthermore, it offers a variety of customization options to ensure that you don’t run into any technical issues while trying to integrate Twitch chat into virtual reality.
Wrapping Things Up…
It can seem daunting to put Twitch chat into your VR games since it sounds like quite a technical feat to achieve.
Luckily, there are a ton of resources out there for streamers that make the job much easier than you’d expect.
What do you use to see Twitch chat in your VR games? Let us know in the comments section below.
