Okay, so picture this: Microsoft kinda threw in the towel on supporting their whole WMR (that’s Windows Mixed Reality, if you’re not in the loop) thing on Windows 11 last year. I mean, they just dropped it. So bizarre, right? And then — out of nowhere — there’s this unofficial SteamVR driver popping up, trying to revive it all. How wild!
It’s a bit of a bummer, really. When Microsoft decided to ditch the Mixed Reality Portal app, along with Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, it essentially turned a bunch of PC VR headsets into – well – fancy paperweights. I’m talking gear from big names like Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung. That whole update, Windows 11 24H2, just pulverized them last October. Harsh. And yet, if you haven’t switched over to the fresh OS or if you’re still hanging out on Windows 10, Microsoft’s like, “No worries, play SteamVR stuff till, what, November 2026?” But still, it feels kinda grim for folks using the HP Reverb G2. That thing’s not even that old!
So now here’s this Reddit guy — or gal? — going by ‘mbucchia’, saying there’s an unofficial driver on the horizon. The big idea is to get all those forgotten WMR headsets back online this Fall. Fingers crossed, right? Anyway, there’s this vibe like, “Who knows if that’ll pan out?” But hey, hope springs eternal.
They’re calling the thing the ‘Oasis’ driver. Ironic, or what? This driver somehow doesn’t need the Mixed Reality Portal, which the Windows 11 24H2 update left in the dust. Yep, Oasis supposedly works on Windows 11 24H2 and up, boasting full 6DoF tracking with motion controllers. Sounds rad? Mbucchia’s saying it should theoretically work on any WMR gear — like even the OG Acer AH100, if you remember that one. But they also don’t have every headset to test it out. So, it’s a bit of a gamble.
And get this — mbucchia isn’t just some random coder. Turns out, they might actually be a Microsoft employee or something, having worked on some Mixed Reality bits there. Blows my mind. But they’re pretty adamant about not stepping on any NDAs or using Microsoft secrets to make Oasis happen. They dropped this whole thing about leveraging SteamVR without borrowing Microsoft brainpower. It’s kinda touching, in a totally nerdy way.
Oh, but don’t get too excited for sneak peeks. Oasis isn’t gonna throw out a beta or pre-release version before its grand Fall 2025 debut. Shoot, they’re not even going open-source. I guess all that reverse-engineering stuff is just too dicey to share. They’re avoiding legal messes with Valve and Nvidia like they’d avoid a cat with rabies.
Looks like mbucchia is planning to drip-feed updates in the Windows Mixed Reality subreddit ahead of that 2025 deadline. So, let’s wait and see if this whole adventure lifts the WMR headsets out of obscurity. Could be a trainwreck or a masterpiece. Or both.
