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Companion App guide
for Haptic VR accessories
The Companion App creates a backwards compatibility for SteamVR and OpenVR games to our haptic devices, such as the ForceTube gunstock and the ProVolver pistol.
We call this SteamVR compatibility.
What does it mean?
- This little software will detect when your avatar presses the trigger of your in-game weapon(s).
- It will understand what kind of weapon(s) you are using and do some wizardry (quite a lot of maths and electrical conversion, tbh).
- The Companion App sends a signal to your haptic device(s).
- The device(s) will activate, replicating the recoil and rumble of what's happening on your in-game weapon(s).
What do I need?
You only need the Companion App if you are using PCVR. If you use a Meta HMD with PCVR, you need to changes the runtime. More info in the FAQ.
If you are using a headset as a standalone (such as Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 without PCVR link), our haptic devices are natively compatible with an extensive and ever growing list of VR games.
Compatible games and mods
Through our collaboration with VR studios, the compatibility and calibration of our haptic devices are directly integrated into games.
This native integration does not require the use of the SteamVR compatibility feature and is present in over 60 titles across multiple platforms including PC, Quest, & Pico headsets. This list of native titles is growing continuously.
In addition to these titles, modders from the community are adding mods to enable native integration into popular games that do not. For games with such a mod, usage of the Companion App SteamVR compatibility feature is not required, just like with native titles.
For PCVR games that are neither native thanks to the game developers, nor have a mod thanks to the wonderful modders from the community, you need to use the Companion App SteamVR compatibility feature.
For PCVR games that are native, you can use the Companion App to finetune your experience.
A huuuuuge thank you to Ponballon, an helpful member of our community who created this page. We are currently working on our own version.
Install the Companion App
1. Go on the Companion App Steam page.
2. Add the Companion App to your Steam library.
3. Install the Companion App from your Steam library, like any other game.
4. Use the created shortcut to start the Companion App.
Companion App instruction Manual
General preview
Definitions
- Device: Your electronic equipment you're connecting to the app
- Channel: A reserved space where you can connect your devices and isolate specific received signals
- ms: Milliseconds
- Preset: A configuration file that contains saved channels and device info
Top bar Widget
Auto research
Whether or not you want to add paired devices.
Useful when you are using multiple devices and/or multiple companion-apps in your gaming space.
Preset Manager
Double-clicking on a preset will load the config.
New : Creates a new preset with the name in the black text box and saves current configs including:
- Assigned device channels
- VR settings
- Native Compatibility Settings
- Knuckles Fix values
Import: Import existing config file.
Export: Export current config as file.
Delete: Deletes the selected preset.
Left Side panel
Default mode
You have a few tabs available by default:
Advanced mode
By clicking on Advanced Mode, you can easily enable/disable advanced features. With this mode, you can finetune your experience.
Connected devices and Channels
This is the page you land on when you start the app. You will see each connected device here.
By clicking on Advanced mode, a "Channels" button will appear under each device. Clicking on it will pop a menu where you can manually assign channels to your device.
What are channels?
To operate, the Companion App catches in-game signals, converts them and send them to your devices, making them kick.
These signals go through Channels.
There are 6 of them. By default, the signal will go through the 6 channels and your device will kick.
Why are channels important?
If you have 2 or more haptic devices, channels allow them to kick separetly.
If you prefer they not kick at the same time, you need to select a specific channel for each of them.
Doing so, you avoid the ProVolver Pistol kicking when you use your ForceTube Rifle for example.
Or if you have an Akimbo setup (pair of ProVolver haptic pistol), you only want to feel the recoil on the hand holding the firing weapon.
Connecting your new device will assign it to a signal channel automatically in this order:
RifleButt - RifleBolt - Pistol1 - Pistol2 - Other - Vest
If you connect more devices than the total channel number available, auto-assign will loop back to RifleButt and so on.
SPECIAL CHANNELS FOR SOME GAMES
To ensure maximum compatibility and flexibility, a game only sends signals to a channel if its developers have set up that specific channel.
Some developers have only set up 1 or 2 channels for their game. If you use custom Channels setup instead of the Default one for these games, you have to select the configured channel.
From our own testing, we established a list of games and their specific channel(s). You can find this list within the Special Native Customization section below.
Default mode
Advanced mode
SteamVR
Customize the SteamVR Compatibility Feature.
If you use a Meta HMD with PCVR, you need to changes the runtime. Every step in the FAQ.
Default mode
Listen Events: Whether you want your channel to react when your left/right hand triggers an haptic event.
Kick Power: Controls the kick power of your devices.
Kick Threshold: Adjust this variable to control required power for SteamVR events to trigger you device Kick response. Each game has different values defined by the developers, you will have to do some testing to get a good result
Rumble Threshold: Same as Kick Threshold, but for the Rumble feature. Useful if you need to react to rumble when i.e. picking up an object.
Advanced mode
Interpret as kick / Interpret as Rumble: If you want your right or left controller events being interpreted as kicks, rumbles or both.
Shots Delay: This parameter limits the reaction rate of your devices (in milliseconds). Avoids triggering event bursts on each interaction, like picking up an objects.
Minimum Rumble Duration: Controls the duration between each vibration (in milliseconds).
Haptic demo
Default mode
Mainly used to simulate different types of weapons your device can imitate.
Advanced mode
Custom Single Shot: Shoots once using specified parameters in sliders.
Custom Auto Shot: Same as Single Shot, but loops based on Frequency slider.
Kick Power: Controls the kick power.
Rumble Power: Controls the rumble power.
Rumble duration: Controls the rumble duration on each shot. Max is 500 ms.
Autoshots Frequency: How many times per second you want to shoot with Custom Auto Shot.
Native and Mods
Customize inputs for native or mod-compatible games.
By default, your device will listen to all channels at once ensuring most of the compatibility.
Make sure to connect any desired device to the app first. Then start your game.
Default mode
Kick Power: Controls the kick power.
Rumble Power: Controls the rumble power.
Rumble duration: Controls the rumble duration on each shot. max is 200 ms.
Advanced mode
To finetune custom setting for each of your devices, enable Advanced mode. This will also allow your devices to kick separately.
Your devices need to use the correct channels set by the developers for customization to take effect (check Special Channel Settings below).
Any channel: Change specific channel tuning by cliking on a channel button.
Identifier: Sends kick command to the selected channel.
Special Channel Settings
For the following games, make sure your Haptic devices are set in the right channels when enabling Native Customization (Advanced Connected Devices and Channels section).
If a game on this list doesn't work, search and enable ForceTube settings in your game menu.
If your native or mod-compatible game doesn't appear on this list, you will have to find the used channels via trial and error. Any game that is not native or mod-compatible will work with SteamVR compatibility.
| Dead Second | Pistol1 |
| Surv1v3 | Pistol1 |
Cactus cowboy Plants at War | RifleButt |
| Cactus cowboy 3 Fully loaded | RifleButt RifleBolt |
| Hotdogs Horseshoes and Handgrenades | RifleButt RifleBolt |
| Larcenauts | Pistol1 Pistol2 |
| Resist (enable parameter in game settings) | Pistol1 Pistol2 |
| Onward | RifleButt RifleBolt |
| Contractors | RifleButt RifleBolt |
| Tales of Glory 2: Retalation | RifleButt |
| Vertigo 2 | RifleButt |
| Gun club VR | RifleButt RifleBolt |
Warchasm | Akimbo out of the box |
| Gambit ! (Pistol only, right hand only. Start the Companion app after the game connects to the devices) | Pistol2 |
Valve Index with Knuckles
A few players using a Valve Index HMD and their Knuckles reported us their in-game hands fly away while shooting in long burst.
We have developed a driver to fix this.
If you don't own a Valve Index headset or your in-game hands don't fly away while using the Knuckles controllers with your Index HMD, you can skip this section.
Since this Driver alleviate a conception default within the Index-Knuckles tracking, the driver does not work with other headsets; only Valve Index.
Install the driver
1. Go to your Companion App installation folder.
2. Open the folder "Valve-Index-Knuckles-driver".
3. Install the driver.
4. Restart the Companion App.
Finetune your Knuckles settings
Accelero Max: Limits max acceleration of your in-game hand.
Freeze Duration: How much time your hand gets frozen after a kick if it hits max acceleration.
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Meta HMD and PCVR
The Companion-app currently works with OpenVR runtime exclusively. If you own an Oculus/Meta HMD, you can follow these steps to enable OpenVR globally.
Method 1: changes runtime globally.
- Open Oculus App
- Go to Settings
- Go to General
- Select OpenXR Runetime
- Set SteamVR as active
Method 2: change runtime for specific games.
- Open Steam
- Go to your desired game
- Open setting
- Open file Location
- Right click the .exe file
- Properties
- Compatibility
- Run in compatibility mode for Windows 7
Note: OculusSDK-exclusive games won't work with the companion-app even by changing the runtime.
Pistol1 is not always Left hand
Pistol1 may not always be the left hand, and which gets assigned to it depends on which device pairs to game first.
Games that have Pistol1+Pistol2 have an 'invert channel' option or 'swap hands' option in the settings to allow you to change which hand your 2 ProVolvers are in to be correct.
More than 2 devices kicking at the same time impossible
It is only possible to use 2x devices at a time.
If one tries to pair 3x or more, only the first 2 devices paired to a game will receive events. The rest receive nothing even if they pair to the game.
In some games, pairing more than 2x, or having more than 2x devices in device history even if only 1-2x are powered on to actually connect to game, completely breaks pairing, causing an infinite feedback loop of all devices reconnecting to the game every 5-20 seconds.
To use any mod on PC, you must only have 2x devices in device history for game to give events to devices properly. Otherwise it can't tell that the devices that aren't powered on that are in device history aren't the ones being used, so it will always pick one of the ones not actually powered on to receive Pistol2 signal
More than 2 devices and game crashes with Companion app
Dead Second and some mods simply don't work with Companion App at all when using 2x devices.
If Companion App is already running, affected games crash and won't launch properly.
If one launches Companion App after game is running, it may still crash, or haptic device constantly pair over and over.
Even if none of these occur, any changes made to native game effects will not apply no matter what.
