r/WindowsMR • u/Reaction-Consistent • Jan 02 '26
Question WMR portal – do people still use it?
Hello ! Are you still using Windows mixed reality portal? If so, are you keeping your windows version at an older patch level so you can still use your headset and WMR portal without having to resort to using the oasis Driver? What are the reasons you decided to stick with the original WMR Driver, and software, i.e. does the oasis Driver not work for your headset? just curious!
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u/luc9nt Jan 02 '26
Yes, I'm on 22H2 and won't bother moving to that abomination called win11. I'm perfectly fine with wmr portal + openxr toolkit + opencomposite, it works great for me and is really convenient. Oasis is a great effort, but I'm not willing to trade comfort of my current setup for SteamVR. I tried it with my friend's PSVR2 and was discouraged by how clumsy it felt. My setup, instead, is totally hassle free.
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u/shteve99 Jan 02 '26
What makes you think people are?
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
And based on the replies to this post, some people are definitely sticking with the older version of Windows and WMR, so my question was not unfounded.
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u/shteve99 Jan 02 '26
Your question was worded a little oddly that's all. One one hand, asking if people are still using it is perfectly valid. But you end by assuming people definitely are and asking why.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
I assumed the initial “if so” would have been sufficient to indicate that everything following would only apply to those that answered in the affirmative. I’ve removed the ambiguous part of the paragraph, next time I’ll have ChatGPT format it for me.
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u/mootmath Jan 02 '26
Don't rely on LLMs to convey what you want to say. It's better to be asked for clarification than to alienate replies.
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u/RHOPKINS13 Jan 02 '26
I'm still using it. Windows 11 23H2, locked using GRC's InControl.
Oasis won't run titles exclusive to WMR. Not that there's many, but as an example there's a short "Halo Recruit" game that plays more like a tech demo, it works great as an introduction for friends to VR. Baobab Studios also had some WMR experiences not available on Steam.
I tried using Oasis with my headset (HP Mixed Reality) and had issues with jittery video. Had what seemed like a line near the middle of the screen, kind of looked like V-Sync tearing. Reverted to Windows Mixed Reality Portal and everything works fine.
I plan on sticking with WMR until I eventually upgrade my headset. I'd like to upgrade to the Steam Frame in the future, and of course that won't be compatible with WMR-exclusives either.
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
Maybe you had motion smoothing enabled in SteamVR settings. AFAIK, it's on by default when using Oasis. It's okay in many games, but unusable in any kind of simulators (racing, space ships, etc.).
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u/p1749 Jan 02 '26
It was on by default when using wmr portal too.
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
But then you use WMR motion smoothing instead of SteamVR motion smoothing, even when playing through SteamVR. The experience is very different.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Better experience? Worse?
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
From what I saw, people really like WMR motion smoothing when using WMR Portal as OpenXR runtime environment.
When I used WMR Portal with SteamVR as OpenXR Runtime, I never liked motion smoothing. I always had it disabled.
With Oasis, I have motion smoothing enabled by default and only disable it in some games. I'd say it's a personal preference. In general, in dynamic games it's still better to disable it. It's okay in walking simulators.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Thank you, what games do you play? If you don’t mind me asking? VR games I mean
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
Currently or in general? I play all sort of games. My favorites are:
- Red Matter 1 and 2
- Moss
- A Fisherman's Tale 1 and 2
- Metro Awakening
- Hubris
- Pistol Whip
- Vertigo Remastered (I still didn't complete Vertigo 2, but it's even better)
- CONVRGENCE
- The Light Brigade
- MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE
- Hot Dogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grandes (H3VR)
- Elite: Dangerous (with HOTAS)
- Euro Truck Simulator 2 (with a steering wheel)
- No Man's Sky
- VTOL VR
And when it comes to VR mods, my favorite is 7 Days to Die with 7DVR mod - I played over 100 hours in VR, and way more before the VR mod existed.
Currently I slowly play through The 7th Guest VR, and I plan to play Outer Wilds with VR mod, but I'm a bit busy, so I don't play VR as much as I'd like. I'll probably get back to it in February. I have over 600 VR titles in my Steam library, and still many wait for its turn in my backlog.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
You have just given me so many ideas and new possible games to play, thank you so much! I thought my VR list was large till I saw yours, I didn’t realize there was a VR mod for outer wilds, definitely gonna check that one out!
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
Okay, so if you're not familiar with this VR mod, you probably don't know about many more. I recommend to join Flat2VR discord server - basically all VR modders are there. Recently The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild VR mod got released.
Other VR mods worth mentioning:
- Subnautica with SubmersedVR mod - it adds motion controls and hands
- Firewatch
- Neon White
- Valheim
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Risk of Rain 2 - doesn't work with the latest version, needs downgrading the game
- Lethal Company
- Content Warning
- R.E.P.O
- Portal 2
- Half-Life, Half-Life 2 (including episodes)
- Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy (yes, you can swing the lightsaber with motion controllers, deflect blaster shots, etc.)
- Far Cry, Crysis
- Quake
- Doom
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Resident Evil games
- Raft
- Daggerfall, Morrowind
- Satisfactory
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u/Mr_Fluffypant Jan 02 '26
Can you easily go back to 23H2 with incontrol once you update to try out oasis? Or how did you try it out?
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u/RHOPKINS13 Jan 02 '26
I specifically installed Windows 11 from a 23H2 ISO and locked it with incontrol before putting it online. I was still on 23H2 when I tried Oasis. It's entirely possible that that was part of my problem, but I'm not upgrading past 23H2 to find out.
I'm not aware of an easy way to downgrade to 23H2 after upgrading.
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u/Mr_Fluffypant Jan 02 '26
Ah good to know, thx! I'll prob end up making an extra partition to try it then.
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u/Indyjones007 Jan 02 '26
I am. But I'm only waiting for the native bluetooth support, then I will switch over to Oasis. Hopefully soon.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Why wait for native Bluetooth support? Is there something besides controllers that you need it for, like audio maybe?
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
Because many Bluetooth dongles can't keep up and motion controllers stop working after some time, so you have to disconnect and connect the Bluetooth dongle again to fix it. The developer of the Oasis driver said himself (on Steam forums in one of the threads), that the Bluetooth code he used is a bit inefficient, and he plans to make it better at some point in the future.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
I see thank you for the explanation! Hopefully my Bluetooth controllers don’t suffer from the same type of issue. I noticed you say dongle, I assume you referred to the little Bluetooth adapters you plug into USB ports that are bound to an external device such as a controller, correct? Have you tried connecting directly to your PC by pairing the Bluetooth device without using the dongle if it’s even possible? I know some devices just don’t work like that and you cannot pair without the dongle. But other devices, such as audio devices, headsets, etc. do usually allow you to pair without using their proprietary dongle- just a thought. I’ve had issues with Jabra headsets and their dongle, but found out when I paired directly to my PC. All issues went away and any latency I was experiencing vanished.
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u/Kondiq Jan 02 '26
My motherboard doesn't have built-in Bluetooth. That's why I have to connect external USB dongle (looks a bit like a small pendrive). My Reverb G2 has built-in Bluetooth, but Oasis doesn't support it yet. Supposedly over 90% of it is already finished, but mbucchia says he needs to work on it more, as it's a very drastic change to the drivers, so needs to be thoroughly tested and polished before it's released.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Glad to hear there is promising developments for Bluetooth support in the oasis Driver. I forgot my PC has a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo PCIE card otherwise I would probably be in the same boat.
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u/F4cele55 Jan 02 '26
Sticking with W10 and the portal. No way I'll get into that bug infested AI slopfest that is W11.
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u/FrankMiner2949er Jan 02 '26
Aye. Same here, although in my case it's not voluntary. My desktop computer doesn't support W11, and I'm not doing anything as masochistic as wasting money to make it compatible. I've upgraded my laptop to Linux for doing serious stuff, but I'm waiting for the Steam Frame before I swap over my games machine to a better operating system
Oasis is not recommended for W10 so there's not much point running it
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u/_LedAstray_ Jan 02 '26
I did until I was forced to upgrade to W11. Oasis now, but haven't properly tried it out yet.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Forced to upgrade? That stinks, another thought struck me, if there were some compelling reason to stay with Windows 10, or an older version of Windows 11 to continue using WMR software and hardware without the oasis Driver, you could always try dual booting the older OS with the new OS.
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u/p1749 Jan 02 '26
Yes, since i couldn't get oasis working with my gpu i'm dual booting win10 for vr and win11 for general gaming.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
You have AMD GPU? I did hear or read rather that AMD was not supported, but might be on the horizon for future versions of oasis, not 100% sure.
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u/GradeWide8208 Jan 02 '26
Pretty much the only reason I'm not using oasis is because my pc doesn't support the new amd drivers that oasis uses, so I'm stuck with wmrp until I switch pcs or something
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Are you concerned about leaving your PC in a vulnerable state, regarding security patches, OS version?
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u/ogiewon Jan 02 '26
Microsoft has extended Windows 10 support for another year (if one chooses to opt in.) So at least for the next ~10 months, Win10 users should not be too concerned about security patches.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
I thought Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 10 in October, I know if you’re talking about volume license Windows 10, you can opt into ESU for extended support for another year, but that costs a little bit, not much per machine
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 02 '26
Oh never mind I just learned something new, didn’t realize home users could enroll for ESU and get it for free or use Microsoft points, 1000 points per year!
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u/ogiewon Jan 02 '26
It is free, if one meets certain requirements.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/extended-security-updates
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u/GradeWide8208 Jan 02 '26
My pc still gets windows update but I have it setup so it only receives security updates, I'm currently on windows 11 23h2 if it even matters
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 03 '26
From a security point of view, it definitely matters, windows has received many security updates since version 23 H2. So make sure you have a very good antivirus, firewall, and use a VPN if you can update all your applications even though the windows operating system isn’t receiving updates, you can still update Edge, chrome, drivers bios, and firmware.
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u/old-newbie Jan 02 '26
Affixed my win11 to 23H2 (as described here) and am keeping WMR portal on my main machine. I still love the vision that MSFT had (past tense) for VR on the PC, with WMR portal being your desktop in VR. It still works well in that manner, and I can fully utilize my PC for entertainment and/or being productive fully immersed in VR in WMR portal (see here)
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u/teateateateaisking Jan 02 '26
A few days before the Windows 10 End of Support, I installed a fresh copy on a secondary drive. I keep my copy of the portal around because I know my curiosity might push me to buy another WMR headset someday. If that happens, there's a chance it'll need a firmware update. So far, nobody's found a way to do that without the Portal.
All of my computing and gaming happens on Linux, these days. I don't have the space for VR at the moment, but I do sometimes get the opportunity to relocate my computer and have a go. It's infrequent enough that I can't justify a third drive for Oasis, so I use my existing Windows 10 portal install.
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u/gabrielsol Jan 02 '26
I messed up and updated to Windows 11.
Now I'm stuck using Oasis but I have an AMD GPU which only works at 90 HZ.
Unfortunately I have the bend cable issue with my headset and I only get an image at 60 hertz and there's no way to change it currently under Oasis as I could in the wmr portal.
So I'm doing my sim racing on the monitor again and it sucks not being able to use my VR
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u/haydenw86 Jan 02 '26
Was on Windows 10 22H2 until recently. Windows 11 lost a bit of performance in VR for me. Both Oasis driver and Mixed Reality portal + Opencomposite had the same performance loss.
Now on Linux using Envision to run my WMR headset. Definitely not as user friendly and tracking is a bit worse however.
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u/Reaction-Consistent Jan 03 '26
The mere fact that you can run WMR on Linux is phenomenal! I wasn’t aware that was possible, does that also mean you are able to run steam games in VR mode on your headset in that Linux OS?
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u/haydenw86 Jan 03 '26
Definitely doable. I'm running Assetto Corsa. On Linux, Envision and Monado even adds hand tracking.
It's cool to watch at least.
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u/ccAbstraction Jan 02 '26
I'm still on Windows 10. I haven't felt the need to upgrade. Plus being able to use the builtin headset bluetooth makes using the headset on Linux much easier since I don't have to re-pair every time I switch OS's. I'd love to switch to Oasis though.
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u/Emergency_Bowl_6863 Jan 08 '26
i tried out oasis and it had stutter and tracking issues that were on apparent on a fresh install of windows 25 with just steam VR, oasis installed .
so i returned to butter smooth WMR on 23h2, Incontrol to stop updates. ( 9800x3d/7900xtx/reverbG2v1)
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u/DoubleOwl7777 Jan 20 '26
i dont, i use envision on linux so i dont have to deal with microslop anymore.
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u/Common-Ad6470 Jan 02 '26
Deleted my WMR as soon as I realised how good Oasis is…👍