VirtualHere For Steam Link

VirtualHere For Steam Link
N/A
Metacritic
47
Steam
45.901
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$13.99
Release date
7 June 2016
Steam reviews score
Total
47 (328 votes)

Add support for XBox One wireless, steering wheels, microphones, flight sticks, and other controllers to Steam Link!

Show detailed description

VirtualHere For Steam Link system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
440520
Platforms
Windows PC
Mac
Linux
Genres
Tags
Languages
Similar games
Wallpaper Engine
Wallpaper Engine

Casual, Indie, Animation & Modeling, Design & Illustration, Photo Editing, Utilities

$3.99 xDr: 91.75
Soundpad
Soundpad

Audio Production, Utilities

$3.99 xDr: 90.21
fpsVR
fpsVR

Utilities

$3.99 xDr: 89.67
OBS Studio
OBS Studio

Utilities, Video Production

Free xDr: 89.37
Popularity
Reviews
Write a new review
Swaghetti Yolonase
Swaghetti Yolonase

Solved a problem Valve should have fixed. Perfectly allowed me to use my HOTAS device via my steam link with zero issues at all.

CHROMIE_BAG
CHROMIE_BAG

good for controller use while in bed

ShazooMcGraw
ShazooMcGraw

Allows for use of the computer on another screen (say downstairs) with the Steam Link Device.

dumpster
dumpster

Niche use case - wanted to pass through a 3D Connexion spacemouse - everything worked on the first try, and now I'm happily puttering along. Will update later if I run into issues with controllers or keyboards.

DarkSunDown
DarkSunDown

Did not work for my purpose of playing Rocksmith on my downstairs TV with the Steam Link. My main PC is on my third floor. No audio came from Rocksmith using Steam Link. And guitar was not found.

JC
JC

Apologies that this review is more of a ‘story time’ than a review, but given the nature of the product and its usage, context is somewhat important. The long and short of it is: It works in my case with a Logitech G920 and EDTracker Pro head tracking without issue once configured.

Props to the developers for putting this on steam and getting support for it so tightly integrated into the SteamOS and in-home streaming. I purchased a Steam Link like so many other people in the great summer deals, only to then have it dawn on me that my wheel and pedal setup wouldn't work with it!

Enter VirtualHere.

I initially found that the VirtualHere client was available as a freeware product on the developer's website, so thought I would give it a go for free to make sure it works for me before financially supporting the project. After around 2 hours of faffing and watching some YouTube videos on the subject, I quickly found that there were no up-to-date how-to’s on the subject. Almost everything pointed to using a Beta client of SteamOS and going round the houses with various settings to get this to work. Since then, and in a more modern-day scenario, VirtualHere’s server functionality has now been built-in to SteamOS, so my Steam Link already had this capability right off the bat, and all that was needed was the client version on my Windows PC! I couldn’t get the freeware version to work properly with Steam as it wouldn’t discover my shared USB devices on the Steam Link, although it would successfully discover other devices I tried hosting from on the network, so I was confident that the concept of the software did at least work.

Took a cheap punt and purchased the Steam version, and after installing it, plugging-in my Logitech G920 wheel/pedal set, and EDTracker head tracking unit into the Steam Link, I was good to go. Went into the settings screen on the Steam Link and just designated which devices I wanted to share from the handy VirtualHere tab, and that was it!
Started a racing game up and my peripherals happily just worked, they (perhaps luckily) were even identified as the same devices in my games, so I didn’t even need to re-set my control schemes, which in some cases would have resulted in having to edit config files manually, so that was a nice extra.

In summary, my usage of VirtualHere wasn't without its teething problems and points of note, although all of this in my case at least was resolved by just buying the paid steam version. It should be noted that the steam link has a puny CPU and is limited to 100mbps maximum network connectivity, which I believe is the erroneous reason for a lot of the negative reviews this product has unfortunately garnered on steam. Some of my peripherals, the head tracker in particular send an awful lot of USB data, and so this resulted in choppy frame rates and dodgy quality. It took me a good hour or so of running up and down stairs, changing settings/config files on both the streaming PC and the steam link to get a quality/performance balance that was acceptable. Be aware that it is going to be a case of having to tune your setup for your individual needs and expectations.

I can see how there is confusion over this software as it does appear on first blush to be such an essential feature that this should just inherently be a feature of the steam link / SteamOS itself. Sadly, it is not, however VirtualHere should be a product that is celebrated for giving us this much needed functionality for a trivial price.
This product in my opinion deserves a much better rating on steam and is a must for anyone wanting to use esoteric devices on their steam link or streaming box of choice. Big thanks to the developers for saving me from having to race exclusively in front of my PC!

For those experiencing problems with the product, I would suggest that you initially look to troubleshoot your individual scenario before simply starting to fire shots off the bow of the reviews section. As a fellow developer, albeit in a different domain, that kind of feedback while useful doesn't necessarily lend to constructively improving the product for your situational usage, especially when its the case that good operation of the software is reliant upon your usage scenario and environment; I suppose I was fortunate in already having a lot of pre-requisites for trouble-free operation already in place, and I'm afraid its going to be one of those things in some cases where you can't expect this to work 100% without perhaps upgrading your network infrastructure, streaming host/client or some combination thereof in conjunction with spending the time configuring bandwidth and in-home streaming settings within Steam.

Courier 6
Courier 6

Doesn't work from the word go. A flaming scam, like I think it actually, seriously might be. Steam Link was always my envisionment of the cadillac of Steam gaming (at least any kind that would ever be affordable to me), and now I've finally got the set-up I thought would be a dream and it can't even run the most basic shit.

Desperate enough to shell out even more cash to hopefully make it work a little better? Here, let them make that so much worse for you. So. So much worse. Ever since this software was installed (and we were playing games for a bit directly before so the correlation was obvious), my Steam Link can't enter handle basic streaming from my laptop with VirtualHere running without crashing completely, becoming unresponsive, and needing to be unplugged. And all attempts made to connect USB devices of different kinds produce no connectivity with the laptop. In short, consider playing your Steam Link with anything but a measley 3 STEAM controllers (and for fuck's sake, 3?? Why not the very, very standard 4? Did you have a fourth friend you guys hated as kids or something?) potentially impossible.

You ruined my night, Valve. I'm so disappointed.

B3rs
B3rs

This worked perfectly for me, I don't know why others had problems with it. Bought the software, selected the devices i wanted to be shared directly with my pc in the SteamLink VirtualHere menu (for example my MayFlash ps3 dongle) and it worked like a charm. It should work with other controllers too (check compatibility on google). Just dont forget to setup the controller on steam if you are using DInput devices (while streaming obviusly so your pc can see them).

Jacob Marshall
Jacob Marshall

Excellent piece of code, fully recommend.

Trying to get Elite Dangerous with a hotas working over the Link was a fail, mainly because I though I already had VH (the Link has it built in).

Bought a copy for the PC, immediate success.

Yes the Link should have this fully operational from the beginning, but it doesn't. The Dev has written a program that overcomes this shortfall, so good job, have some of my money.

Will
Will

Creates .dll error when installed. Will not function.

Sanzennin
Sanzennin

So more than half of what I'm using Steam Link for is watching Netflix or Youtube on my projector on another room. Or just browsing the internet, etc. I rather like my setup, everything is wireless so we don't have any tripwires or junk around the house, thanks Steam Link.

The only downside for me is that guys at Valve designed Steam Link to be in Big Picture mode (which I really don't enjoy), so my keyboard connected to steamlink doesn't do alt+d or alt+tab. So this is how things used to work:
I power up the projector and steam link,
Connect to the machine I wanna use,
It opens up in big picture mode so I physically walk to the room where the machine is and alt+d on it's keyboard,
walk back and watch movies, but steam likes to try and throw that big picture mode back up if I'm not careful. *Sigh*

However, with VirtualHere, my Steam Link connected keyboard is now equal to my PC-connected keyboard, and I can do alt+d all day every day without moving from my pillow fort overlooking the projector.

Oh, and I got an USB-connected 5.1 soundcard working with VirtualHere as well. Xonar U7 if anyone is wondering. So now I can do proper surround with steamlink, no more janky 4.1 copied stereo.

Also, nice thing about Virtual Here is that there isn't any fluff. All you need to do is make sure that it's running on the background and checkbox the devices you want to be redirected to the PC on steam links end and that's it. Super simple and super light.

_RicH_
_RicH_

Was looking for a way to play Guitar Hero using steam link and Xpand controller, which lead me to this.

After reading the reviews I was wary about trying it, but glad I did becuase it works perfectly!

Yes steamlink should have this built in (controller pass-through is a feature of pc-to-pc streaming but not when using steamlink box) and yes it is pricey for what it does, but its easy enough to use and worked fine for me.

tanasinn
tanasinn

Kinda annoying that the steam link doesn't provide full USB support as standard, but this works excellently for handling Singstar microphones - which I occasionally use for Ultrastar

Franswahx
Franswahx

I'm glad this software works for others but be prepared to request a refund as soon as you try it out because it seems to crash for half of people that buy this, including me. I just want to stream my headset microphone through the Steam Link... no online gaming with friends on the couch for me.

DeskLamp
DeskLamp

Single most useless piece of software I have ever had purchase on Steam.

Invader
Invader

I had a hard time deciding if I should give a thumbs up or down for this software, but I'll try to give a fair explanation, for and against, both cases.

note: I got VH in order to use my Thrustmaster T300 RS wheel on my Steam Link and it works, kinda, more on this later

There's no doubt that the underlying technology of VH is awesome, very easy to use compared to other solutions, and as a developer I understand what this software achieves is not an easy task.

Is it worth the price? in my opinion, yes. Should Valve make a deal with VH and bundle this software with all the Links? absolutely! and that's my main problem with VH, having to pay for a feature that should've been standard just feels wrong.

Going back to my T300, VH forwarded the connection perfectly, my Windows computer thought the hardware was connected directly to the computer and no further setup was required. However, it caused and immense amount of lag and stuttering on my Link's stream, why? the processor on the Link isn't better than a Raspberry Pi 2, and it's being fully utilized decoding video, and USB over IP is quite a CPU intensive process, therefore everything will slow down to a crawl.

Is VH to blame? not really, try using VH on a separate device (like a laptop or a Raspberry Pi 3) and you will see it will work amazingly well, no lag or stutter at all !

Is Valve to blame? maybe. VH should be bundled with every Link, even a basic 1 device licence with support for more devices unlocked as "DLC". But performance is still an issue and who knows, VH might work flawlessly on a 2nd gen Steam Link (with Gigabit Ethernet and 4k support, please Valve).

Final thoughts: sadly, to the end user this is far from perfect. VH is an amazing software running on underpowered hardware. Will it work with your device? you must try and see, if it does, you wouldn't mind it's asking price, and if it does not, you can always get a refund, but contact their customer support first, they're awesome !

pro-tip: If you decide to use VH, I recommend to get the client from their website and not from Steam.

Demonthorn
Demonthorn

Steam link isnt the most refined of systems. this made it unstable as hell. trying to use it for streaming isnt possible from what i can tell as it doesent keep a proper connection. this may however be a drawback of the steam link that is just highlighted by this product.

NineSevenZero
NineSevenZero

I felt it was necessary to review this software as soon as possible after purchasing and testing it for my purposes.

My strong opinion is that this software should have been included and integrated with the Link free of charge. However, I will agree that for anyone trying to utilize input devices other than a Steam Controller or Wired Xbox360/One Controller, VirtualHere is an absolute must!
VirtualHere did exactly what it had advertised and also what I expected, straight out of the box.
For this reason I am going to give it a positive review.

The one thing that I feel is important to state is that I think there are many who bought this that do not completely understand how it works. VirtualHere allows an input device to directly utilize any device drivers from the host PC that it is running on. The catch is that if you don't have those drivers properly installed and working on said 'host' before running this software, then you're not going to have much luck.

Just make sure that whatever input device you are trying to use is tested and working directly connected to the host PC before connecting said 'device' to the Link and expecting this software to work magic.

Steemythepunk
Steemythepunk

For most USB peripherals the Steam Link works fine, If the peripheral is HID of UMS or is a steam controller it'll just work, it's great. However some USB peripherals don't use these standards, and for that, this product says it can cure all your problems, but like any other panacea, it's snake oil.

Perhaps one day in the past this worked, but it definitely doesn't now. while streaming a web camera through the steamlink, the stream grows increasingly unstable, and then crashes. The Steam Link actually goes off line, because the firmware supporting the VirtualHere system appears to be broken. After such a crash, the VirtualHere client software on the PC will be left standing, and your PC will respond to it as it would had you unplugged the peripherals, and you'll find the only error is a server ping timeout. This leads me to believe that the failure point is NOT VirtualHere, but the steam link's firmware.

I've since tried running the Performance overlay and it appears that streaming typically takes up 20 to 30 mbps which is expected, but adding my web cam doesn't just double this figure, infact the graph on the performance overlay skyrockets completely off the chart and maxes out on some capacity limit of which I am unsure. I was using WIFI up to this point and thought maybe if I had a wired connection it would work out. So I strung a ethernet cable between my router and the steamlink, and the problem persists. This is not some ridiculously beefy webcamera either, it's a typical logitech h264 compressed video camera, the throughput should be comparable to the steamlink's video and yet this signal from the webcam is being padded or something that makes it take inordinate ammounts of network throughput. There no excuse for this poor performance.

Many have been giving this product poor reviews as a result of similar difficulties, but I want to suggest that this client software is perfectly functional, It is a VirtualHere client that runs without issue. The issue is that the infrastructure is tainted by the steam link's firmware VirtualHere server implementation, it is in need of an update. However, until the steam link's firmware VirtualHere server is fixed, this product is not worth purchasing. Do not waste your money.

Valve, please fix the steamlink's firmware.

S_666
S_666

Works with my Guitar Hero guitar for Clone Hero with some lag. Also makes my xbox 360 controller work correctly.

StandardJosh
StandardJosh

After 38 minutes trying to get this to work I asked for a refund. Tried several different work arounds but still no luck. If you're able to get it to work or lucky enough that it worked right away that's great. For me it wasnt able to locate the steam link. After mapping it to the link manually it was still unable to install the drivers. From reading forums and help sections it sounds like its a windows driver issue but I am unable to find any driver problems at the moment. Even norton was set to not block Virtual here and bonjour. I gave up.

maxxrox
maxxrox

Beyond awful.

Required to connect the Hyperkin Duke 2.0 controller, but requires a system reboot between each use. Without the reboot, it launches instance after instance of the USB client, until your system is completely maxed on RAM usage (24GB in my case).

Steam needs to blacklist this piece of malware and code in decent controller support or USB passthrough.

willemjhb
willemjhb

no installation guide, no real help, everything has to be found somewhere on Google, but in the end it won't work because nothing is explained properly. Why do people make everything unnecessarily complicated?

C-Dub
C-Dub

Continually crashes and restarts, but the crashed app doesn't close, it just hangs, eating up system resources.

When it works, it works OK. "When" is the important word, however; more often than not after 2-3 minutes of play the controller will cut out and require re-sync with the adapter. In the end, I've given up using my Xbox One Elite controller on my Steam Link, and I'm keeping it hooked up to my PC on my desk. Instead I am using a regular Xbox One controller connected via Bluetooth to my Steam Link.

Utterly useless.

adamornelles
adamornelles

Works astoundingly well once you sort out your internet AND ENABLE AUTO CONNECT IN THE USB HUBS MENU. I use this for the racing wheel in our living room and it works flawlessly with an unnoticeable couple milliseconds of latency. I previously uninstalled and asked for a refund, however it turns out an even remotely spotty signal will completely stop virtualhere from working, and the latency will become so large you'll think controllers just don't work anymore. Since then I attached an ethernet cable to the router through the floorboards and virtualhere works flawlessly with few issues. Don't expect virtualhere to function through the air on either ends of the system.

cyyxxx
cyyxxx

Can't find my steamlink as a hub

After streaming, popped up a "virtualhere client" window but failed to find any usb-hubs

steamlink version: 661

Rider
Rider

Purchased in order to hook a mayflash light bar into steam link in order to connect wii controller. Read bad reviews but decided to give it a try anyway....low risk high reward kinda thing. I can confirm that hooking the light bar up to the link was easy, and it did work and was completed in a matter of seconds. Started playing a game with the wii controller and experienced a stack overflow in about five minutes. Not sure if it's the link's fault, or the virtualhere software. Either way, not able to perform the very specific task I had in mind. At 12 dollars not sure I'm going to refund, or keep it around in case another use might cross my mind. Would give neutral review if given the option. Giving the blue thumbs up because I don't want my review to be drowned out in the sea of red thumbs down.

Shinebreaker
Shinebreaker

I bought this program because I wanted to Stream my GameCube and Wii games from the Dolphin emulator on my PC to the TV in my game room.

TL;DR; - I’m refunding VirtualHere because it lagged out my Steam Link running a GameCube controller.

Let me start by saying that for anyone else hoping to use a Mayflash Adapter in Wii U mode, or the Wii U GameCube Controller Adapter itself, while both will work, they will suffer serious ghost inputs that will cause you to stutter and jerk all over the place no matter what game you play. This can be fixed with a Mayflash Adapter by setting it to PC mode and running it using the standard controller configuration. If you only have the official Wii U Adapter, either sell it or learn to live with the wonky input. There's no fix or planned fix for it right now from what I can tell over on the Discussions page.

Also, you have to turn off Generic Gamepad Support any time you want to run a Dolphin emulation over Steam, or Steam will cause Dolphin to interpret the adapter as a generic xinput controller instead of a GameCube adapter. This means if you have other controllers Steam deems generic that have custom bindings in your games, you'll have to remember to turn generic controller support back on when you want to play those. Again, I don't see any support for or even addressing of this issue online at the time I'm writing this.

Anyway, I finally got Dolphin running across the Steam Link, and Virtual Here made it work with my controllers. Then I hit the one barrier that finally made me throw my hands up in frustration and request a refund: the lag. While VirtualHere is running, my Steam games, GameCube games and even the Steam overlay itself suffer from crackling, choppy audio, and stuttering/full on blacking out video. Let me be clear, I have a very powerful gaming PC, a high bandwidth router, fast internet (if that even applies here), and cat5 Ethernet cable running between said PC, said router and my Steam Link. I keep the Steam Link itself up to date, and have prioritized and meticulously tweaked its network connection both on the device itself and my PC to get the best performance I possibly can, and I can run just about anything on the "Best" quality settings with no controller lag, and perfect 60fps and audio.

I decided to turn down the stream quality from "Best" to "Balanced" to see if that fixed things, and turn on the performance overlay. It fixed nothing, and the overlay showed a HUGE amount of data being sent back to my PC from the Steam Link, even when I wasn't actively doing anything with the controller connected through VirtualHere. When I killed VirtualHere in my process bar, things went back to perfect quality. No lag. No stuttering. Again, I tried to make it work, and tried to find a way to use my Mayflash Adapter without the program, but I could not, which is a real shame. With a little finagling, VirtualHere did exactly what I bought it for, but at such a terrible price in performance it becomes difficult to play anything thanks to the incredible lag.

I don’t know if this problem affects other accessories working with VirtualHere, but for a single GameCube controller to cause so much data use on the Steam Link has made me warry of the viability of this product for use with anything else. I wish it worked. I still want to play my GameCube games from my PC in my gaming room, but for now I can’t without VirtualHere, and VirtualHere can’t without some sort of fix for a problem no one else cares about.

P.S. I forgot to mention that every time I connected my Steam Link to my PC with a USB running VirtualHere connected, the VirtualHere box would pop up over Big Picture, and wouldn't go away until I closed it out myself using the mouse via my Steam Controller.

MatiXx
MatiXx

Do not buy!! The program is useless!!!

paulpetersonvirginia
paulpetersonvirginia

This software is really cool I can use my xbox one controller my usb webcam 720 p and other devices all plugged into the steamlink and it works with a wireless connection. Very cool.

Yv
Yv

Would crash Steam Link every time an attempt was made to use it.
USB item: merely a headset w/ mic.

Pally
Pally

It doesn't work. It's a crap. Don't buy it.

LewishM
LewishM

All this software does is break your steam link. I tried many different ways of using it but no matter what if you use a steam link with this software running it will just freeze. Main pc is fine and can close the software but your steam link will remain frozen, only turning it on and off again will fix it.

A programme designed to add functionality to the steam link breaks your steam link, utterly useless software, avoid this scam.

ZQuickSilverZ
ZQuickSilverZ

This software seems to work for the most part. I had 2 issues with it. The first issue is I would get an error message when plugging in my Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals. The second is when I tried to use my PlayStation 3 Eye for OpenTrack the screen started flashing and the sound started going out. If the developers fix these issues I will update my review.

Please note I was using the Steam Link with a Cat6 cable and a powered 7 port USB hub.

Also note I had the Unlimited Device Upgrade.

Ssylex
Ssylex

It just plain doesn't do what I purchased it to do.

I wanted to be able to use my headset, connected to a Steam Link downstairs, to be able to voice-chat on Discord with friends. I absolutely cannot get that functionality to work, despite hours of trying. On top of that, anytime I have VirtualHere set to connect the headset (via Steam Link's configuration menus), my Steam Link will lock up when Big Picture loses focus, and I have to manually power cycle the Steam Link.

Once I figured out the pattern, I was able to 100% reproduce the issue. When my headset was connected to the Steam Link, and the device was sharing via VirtualHere, minimizing Big Picture caused the Steam Link to lock up. After power cycling the Link, disconnecting the headset, and re-connecting to my PC via Steam Link Streaming, I was able to reliably minimize Big Picture, and my Steam Link would no longer lock up.

I attempted to refund the software, but I was denied due to spending more than 2 hours trying to troubleshoot the issues I was having. Buyer beware. This software stays running in the background, which will run up the "playtime" if you're not careful.

bug ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
bug ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

this is awesome. Using headphones, and joystick / throttle all on USB through steam link. amazing technology.

Supremelo
Supremelo

Didn't work with Xbox One controllers

Jipvh
Jipvh

Don't expect too much of this software, but it does what is advertised. Made me finally get my mic working with my Steamlink. I've tried anything and everything to get it working, but after just buying VirtualHere and setting my Steamlink up with my USB Blue microphone, it just works. ++Review from me tbh.

P.S. Don't try to use this for your 'gaming' mouse btw, just plug that in regularly in your steamlink. If used through VirtualHere, it starts to have insane input lag. But for micorophones it's perfect.

T@X
T@X

For me this does exactly what it is supposed to do.. flawlessy. No fiddling with settings, just plug and play for your HID devices. Please be aware that you have to install the driver of your usb controller on the source machine before trying to make it work in the destination Steamlink.
Now i can use my Taranis X-Lite while lying in bed; Isn't that cool ?

Printenhart
Printenhart

I gave it a try although there are so many bad reviews. I got an old Logitech Driving Force Pro working with this solution without any trouble. Using it with DIRT 3 and Project Cars on Windows 10. The steam link is connected via LAN. Can't really comment on price although it seems a little high compared to the free Android app, which some seem to be using in parallel to steam link with some success.

Mr. Meeseeks
Mr. Meeseeks

Steamlink sucks is what I determined. What is the point of having one if games can't even know if you have a controller connected!? VirtualHere doesn't even solve the problem, even after connecting a USB dongle to the steamlink (which mind you already has the ability to connect to the controller).

The fact that VirtualHere exist (though doesn't work) is a testimate to how poorly thought out the steamlink is.

Phuler
Phuler

Used virtualHere for indoor bike training. Bike is set up on a indorr trainer next to a TV with steam link attached. Ant+ dongle plugged into steam link so that I can connect bike sensors eg speed/power/heartrate to my PC in a remote location which is running training software.

Used a number of times and appears to work perfectly with only minimal setup required on the very first use.

therandypi
therandypi

UPDATE:

Kudos to the Devs!

Originally I was disappointed because VirtualHere would not at all work with the Steam Link App (Android), but then they added it.
Unfortunately it was then impossible to pass through the Steam Controller (because, for whatever reason, Valve made that decission?!) and I wrote my initial review to which VirtualHere replied, they passed that issue allong to Valve.

ONLY ONE UPDATE LATER they have already changed this restriction and now I can pass through my Steam Controller (both wired or with the Dongle) to my PC! I am certain that this has improved input latency and stability (no more jittering), over using bluetooth

Great Support from VirtualHere and Valve! I can recommend it without reservation now and would even go further to advise using VirtualHere if you have a Shield TV (or any other Android TV with available USB ports) and use the Steam Link App

Ol Dirt Mcgirt
Ol Dirt Mcgirt

right out of the gate the software didnt work, tried updating it and restarting the program and it still wouldnt boot and error. after about 5-10 mins of fiddling with it i deleted it gave up. I noticed that even though the software was no longer on my SSD it was still sayin that i was using the program on steam. restarted steam and computer and after login would immediately show that the software was still running. after looking into how to request a return on the purchase for this i finally got home and requested a refund. a day later Steam got back to me rejecting my request because of "Hours Played" so i sent a follow up fully explaining my issue in detail and still got rejected. all in all, this software is trash, steam let me down hard, and buying this is a full waste of time and money. FU steam link and proprietary trash software

reddlotus #23
reddlotus #23

Tried multiple USB devices and nothing worked. Might be something on my side but, in the end you're better off buying a 50 ft extension cable for your usb rather than paying $13 for something that should be included with the steamlink. Dissapointed.

GOB3
GOB3

This works exactly as advertised. I got it for my steam link so I could use my wired xbox360 Guitar Hero guitar, and there is absolutely no input lag. I have both my computer and the steam link connected to wired ethernet, which probably helps significantly as there is less than 3ms latency on the link overall.

pmjb
pmjb

DONT BUY - ITS CRAP!

Purchased this addition for the SteamLink could not figure out how to use it at first since the documentation is very bad for it on steam. Once I figured out how it was supposed to work it took like four hours to get it working - well sort of - I could not get it working to a usable degree. My intuition was to stream flightstick movements that does not work at all. Also trying to stream Audio (microphone from the SteamLink and Audio to the SteamLink) there is at least some signal but the noise that comes out of the speaker is not audio only cracking sounds and static.

Mozgus
Mozgus

If you have any games that have control issues on your SteamLink, which do not have issues on your PC directly, just buy this. A good example for me was Dead Rising 2. After this purchase, when all else fails, I know I can always run a micro USB cable from controller to SteamLink and it will now work. Just remember to enable the USB sharing for the device in your SteamLink setup.

This applies to both SteamLink and the SteamLink Raspberry Pi app.

I was misled into thinking this is ONLY for various obscure USB input devices. No. This applies for all USB connections on SteamLink. Even bluetooth adaptors, although reliability upon streaming with mine has been a bit spotty. Sometimes it fails to connect. Maybe it's fighting with SteamLink's internal bluetooth.

ALL THIS APP DOES, is allow the SteamLink to fool your PC into thinking a USB device is connected physically to the PC. This dev has a patent on this technology that Steam has been trying to work around but has in some cases failed to do so. This cures those cases.

Hoover1980
Hoover1980

Works perfect with my Xbox one wireless adapter and steam link.
For best result use wired connection on pc and steam link

Filikous
Filikous

Works great with my Thrustmaster T150 racing wheel. Just remember to do a few things:
1. Plug the USB controller into the host computer that will be running the games first to install the drivers, then disconnect and connect it to the Steam Link.
2. On the Steam Link, before connecting to a host computer, go to Settings->VirtualHere and configure the controller.
3. It may be unnecessary, but I launched VirtualHere on my host computer right after installation, thinking that maybe it needed to do some initial setup.

I have not had any issues like other folks, so maybe those 3 tips will help others. I'm using official Steam Link hardware with the latest updates as of March 15, 2019.

Aart Schlepper
Aart Schlepper

Works like a charm with thrustmaster tx leather and assetto corsa

Mastaloui
Mastaloui

I bought this today (30/05/2019) to use with my Raspberry Pi with SteamLink on it.

Steam Link did not recognise my Logitech G27 steering wheel, but this software helped solve that.

After installing VirtualHere i rebooted the Raspberry Pi and booted up Steam Link, and it allowed me to select VirtualHere and the Steering Wheel as a controller. Awesome software that does exactly what it promised.

I can now enjoy playing driving games from the comfort of my living room :)

Q
Q

Over Priced
Crashes
Lag on high speed wired network
Unable to process inputs from wiimote without breaking

Nowaker
Nowaker

It's worked great for me for months. My kids spent hundreds of hours playing LEGO games using Xbox360 USB controllers connected to Steam Links. You no longer have to depend on annoying Steam Link controller mappings. With VirtualHere, Windows will act as if the device was connected directly. VirtualHere client running on Steam Link passes all USB events via network to VirtualHere server running on the host computer. Fully recommend.

Rikard
Rikard

First impression:

It works as intended with my xbox one gamepad with pulugged in headphones to it.

kkristof999
kkristof999

Basically useless because a 10 year old laptop is better than the SteamLink.

NikkRose
NikkRose

I got this thinking I could use my Steam Link in my living room and my PC in the back room, connect an Xbox controller and use it AS an xbox controller on my PC, but it only recognizes it as a steam controller which is not ideal for a lot of games.

Laudrac
Laudrac

Steam Link crashed immediatelly After activading virtualhere does mit mather if i activate it in the steam link or on the pc. Soon active steam link need a Power unplug no vorher way to get it working again so really usles or better bullshit.

Muazen
Muazen

I hesitated to buy this product, because it should be part of the steam link software in the first place.

But because of shitty ea games programming, i needed this software to get my controller run properly on dragon age inqisition.

It was not possible to get this software running on the first try, but after pressing "not use" and "use" again in the software, it worked eventually. Unfortunately i found out that it killed my streaming performance. Without this software the game ran just fine via steam link...

i cannot recommend this product, even if u exlude that it should be part of the steam link software anyway

edit. im getting a refund

Jebbel
Jebbel

absolute and utter garbage. do not buy; it simply does not work.

OmniFurious
OmniFurious

Doesn't allow the communication of devices through local connections, only internet connections. While this should in theory work if you have access to the router settings to forward some ports, I can only imagine a LAN party using flight sticks that this would be viable, not when in a hotel or relatives home in most cases.

Not to mention the stupid price, lack of setup instructions, no mention of port forwarding on the steam page, and the fact that there's an "Unlimited Device Upgrade" DLC that costs nearly as much as the program itself (which there's a free copy on their website).

Dirk Diggler
Dirk Diggler

This product is absolutely necessary to use a USB headset mic while using a steam link. I'm going to recommend only because it is a must, however, I disapprove of the fact that this app is even needed in the first place. I'm not against
supporting devs that solve problems. But valve should have handled this themselves. I find it extremely hard to believe that the firmware couldn't have been easily updated to expand USB devices.

P.S. You must disable the headset in steam link audio settings before connecting to your PC. If you don't then the steamlink will lock up when exiting Big Picture Mode.

h
h

I think I might be addicted ngl

Sporko
Sporko

Useful utility, allows you to connect USB devices "directly" to your host computer. I use it with the Steam Link application on my 2017 NVIDIA SHIELD. I was using it to pass a blue tooth dongle through my Shield over IP to my PC, but due to inherent issues with blue tooth connections or possibly the quality of my dongle I was having latency and connection issues. I dug out an old Xbox 360 wireless controller adapter for PC and a few Xbox 360 controllers and everything is working flawlessly now. I imagine if you used the newer adapter for Xbox One controllers or the official Sony windows adapter for DS4's the performance would be excellent as well.
Additionally, the software works with other USB peripherals like thumb drives, or my Logitech headset USB dongle with no issues.
Accessing devices remotely from the internet does work, but I have not had a "smooth" experience with it, and typically it has taken many attempts to establish a connection to get it working at all. This could easily be due to network configuration or conditions in the remote locations I have tried it in.
Since Steam does have built in controller support you might not think this would be useful but for me, having a bunch of non-steam games and windows store games, controller support was very hit or miss and this application resolved those issues.

Ragnar
Ragnar

Works with Logitech g29 on forza 4 using steam link

Enter a profile name
Enter a profile name

Bought this to use the bluetooth passthrough feature of the Dolphin emulator with a bluetooth dongle plugged into the Steam Link. Works out of the box and had no problems remapping the driver as required by Dolphin. Can recommend for this usecase.

Hyst
Hyst

should be free for steam link buyers.
same for the "unlimited device upgrade"

Joker
Joker

Set this up yesterday so I could do Zoom meetings on my couch (using a Logitech c920 camera). Worked fine; easy peasy as long as you remember to support the device in the Settings. Zoom recognized the video and audio streams from the camera (which was physically connected to the Steam Link box).

freaz
freaz

Xbox One and Steam controller plugged into a Steam Link showed up as one device. Xbox One controller would only send DPAD inputs and not analog inputs. VirtualHere did not see the devices and did not assist in this problem. Refunded.

Tim
Tim

Worked with my Fanatec wheel and pedals with Assetto Corsa. Followed the instructions. However I had to unplug my device in the Big Picture menu as a steering wheel screws up your input (endless scrolling).

Antrnx
Antrnx

Application wouldn't launch, it would say it's running but nothing popped up. Almost lost my opportunity to refund because it was running for 10 hours straight because it wouldn't close. Now I can't even uninstall the application. Guess I was just unfortunate, but I don't want to deal with it.

UltimateUsername2
UltimateUsername2

I bought this because Steamlink doesn't work with Sea of Thieves from the MS Store even when added to the Steam Library. Apparently it's to do with being UWP application and hence this is required.

Does it work? Yes. And No.

Whilst playing Sea of Thieves using this, the only sound I have is that of the Steam menu constantly scrolling. Even though Steam is not the active window, for some reason BOTH Sea of Thieves AND Steam are receiving the controller commands. Every 15 minutes or so Steam opens another application on top of Sea of Thieves, and I have to go back to my PC to stop the new game so I can continue playing the actual game I want.

So would I recommend it? Not really no. It lets me play my game more or less, but it's a massive pain to use.

BobTheBobish
BobTheBobish

Didn't ever find my dolphin bar or any other devices on my network, Very much would not recommend.

Anonymous
Anonymous

This is garbage , never worked for me and support will not refund it , help

bungi
bungi

DO NOT BUY. NOT WORKING ANYMORE!

Narcotyx
Narcotyx

The bottom line is that it works but the user experience is imperfect. The first point would be this shouldn't even be necessary but that's really the fault of Valve for not integrating native support for mainstream peripherals from third party vendors such as Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec. In my particular case this was for my current Thrustmaster T300RS GT edition racing wheel. I say imperfect because this doesn't immediately enable plug & play, even though I'd already gone through all the steps of setting up my wheel at the PC with the latest firmware and configured the wheel in Windows and in my game(s).

To actually get every thing working you have setup your peripheral at your PC and set your in-game profile for your peripheral. Exit the game, then map the peripheral at your PC in Steam > Settings > General Controller Settings for use in Big Picture Mode GUI. Depending on your peripheral, you will want to skip binding certain buttons on your peripheral. My T300RS has no Analog sticks so I skipped binding those as I will be only using the d-pad on the wheel to navigate the steam-link GUI and the Big Picture Mode GUI. I suggest documenting your Big Picture Mode bindings to use the same bindings later when mapping the peripheral to operate the Steam-link.

You also need to go your game > Manage > Properties > Controller and Disable Steam Input so that your Big Picture Mode control map won't override your bindings for your peripheral in-game. Once everything is configured at your PC, then you can disconnect the peripheral and plug it into your steam-link or USB hub for your android device. Once your peripheral is interfaced and powered on, before you connect to your PC and launch everything, you have to navigate to Virtual Here in the steam-link's main menu and "share" your USB peripheral AND map your peripheral to operate your Steam-link if you don't want or intend to leave a mouse or gamepad plugged in to operate the Steam-link itself.

Overall, Valve really needs to implement separate generic controller profiles like there are for Playstation and Xbox gamepads; they need a "Generic Flight Stick" and "Generic Racing Wheel" pre-mapped in the Steam-Link app and Big Picture Mode to make the first time set up a lot more user friendly.

Neither Valve or Google have good native support for Flight Sticks and Racing Wheels and the peripheral manufacturers have not bothered working with them to support the Steam-Link app or Google TV. If Valve and Google are going to rely on Virtual Here as a middleman work around, VirtualHere Pty. Ltd. should request partnerships to improve Virtual Here integration for their customers.

TL;DR

Not recommended until Virtual Here makes peripherals it supports plug and play with Android/Google TV devices and Nvidia apps with Gamestream & the Steam-Link app. Currently only recommended on the condition that the user intends to use a dedicated separate input remote/controller that is actually supported by their streaming device itself OR they have the patience to bind their peripheral multiple times, first to make it work in-game and two more times to operate their streaming device without overriding the binds needed to play.

6.5/10

OrdinaryTimeChristMarneusCalgar
OrdinaryTimeCh…

not sure what the reviews saying this product is obsolete are on about. My Thrustmaster 150 racing wheel wasn't recognized in Dirt 3 / Rally over Steam Link. This fixed the issue. It's a bit fiddly and I wouldn't give it 5/5, but I definitely recommend it if you're having a similar issue

Berard
Berard

Does what it says. I use it to allow my thrustmaster wheel to be used via steam link.

Should this be possibe by default? Yes.
Can we blame the developer(s) of VirtualHere? No.

It did not work out of the box for me, but the helpline was extremely good, even during the hollidays.

PS; a FFB thrustmaster wheel can be fixed by clicking "Auto-use device", waiting for reïnitialisation, then click it again.

Akamaz
Akamaz

software works great, but 14.99 for something that the steam link should already do is dumb. and an additional 9.99 to not limit you to 3 devices is worse.

devilsclaw
devilsclaw

I have a raspberry pi 4 stock buster installation, and a unbuntu 20.04 desktop, the app worked for a couple days, but it was unstable and caused crashing of the games or steamlink. Then even after reboot it would not start up anymore, so I uninstalled and reinstalled it and it started working, then it stopped working again and I can't get it working anymore, even with uninstall and reinstall. I switch to the linux implementation of usbip and have been happy with out this piece of software every since.

Jugsy
Jugsy

Attention Sim Racers!

YES this works with Logitech (g920 but I assume all recent wheels)

NO the performance is not any good, latency is too high for driving.

Avoid! I'm going to drag my PC in to the lounge room.

Modigy
Modigy

No longer works. My Xbox One controller and Logitech G920 wheel sometimes work on the main Steam Link menu, but once I connect to my PC the controllers both stop working. It used to work fine with the Xbox controller.

Than
Than

The good: Took a bit of effort to get this working. Really wish the FAQ was on the store item or the page in my library.
Once I discovered this, I realized I had to go into the settings -> virtual here settings on the Steamlink itself before connecting to my pc. This allowed me to share devices plugged into it through the virtualhere application -> usb hubs. After this the device/app properly forwarded microphone data to my computer.
The bad: It doesnt like to shutdown when you hit stop. You will have to force quit steam to shut it down or at least I did. keep this in mind if you cant get your hardware to work with it as its easy to lose your 2 hours trial time before you can no longer get a refund.

Spanner
Spanner

Will be trying to get a refund. It runs but shows no evidence of running, seems to need yet more external hardware to be used. Absolute waste of time. It shouldn't be this hard to plug in a controller and have steam recognise it as such

Slaghead
Slaghead

It works great if you have a SteamLink, RIP, and need to replicate the USB functionality.

Rodrigo V.
Rodrigo V.

It's not perfect, but it works. And it's very very useful.

sigma
sigma

Doesn't work. Crashes Steam Link, waste of $14

Rusty
Rusty

Steam Link mostly works for me, using a beefy desktop as host over a 5Ghz wifi network and the Steam Link PC app for windows on a laptop with an Xbox 360 USB adapter + controller. It's possible for me to stream with high video quality and a bit of latency. But for just a few games (Steam and non-Steam games) the controller won't do anything while Streaming, but works, when playing directly on the desktop.

I thought VirtualHere might be a solution, but it didn't work. Basically it didn't seem to do anything at all. There was just an icon in the tray and when I clicked on it, it said "USB Hub". That's it. No additional controller support, as the app promises. Quickest refund ever for me. I'm not against paying for apps, but then I do expect them to "just work" without much fiddling. The FAQ and troubleshooting tips from the dev in the forum were not particularly helpful and sounded like "well, it should just work...".

Landorin
Landorin

Yes, it really works! it allows my Saitek X52 joystick to connect from my Android phone to my remote Windows computer and it's detected correctly (e.g. Elite Dangerous). It works amazingly lag free, even over the internet. Yet note that the latter only applies to the standalone version of virtualhere (they offer trials). This version that is offered in the store, however, is exclusively usable with the steamlink app. In this combo using USB devices over the internet will not work. Unless you want to play outside of your local network the few bucks are a really good investment.
I even read you could hook up VR glasses remotely that way but did not have time to test it myself yet.

Sir Sid
Sir Sid

Works great for me! I just use the steam link as an input streaming device now, as I think the video streaming looks kinda blurry. I just have a 15m HDMI Cable now for video. The steamlink is still pretty useful in 2021, when you stream input only. I tried a steering wheel and a dolphinbar with virtualhere. Works great.

Installing as a windows service doesn't really seem to work well though, I don't mind that much because I just make a shortcut and throw it in my startup folder in appdata>roaming>Microsoft>Windows>start menu>startup

skutbag
skutbag

Anyone wondering if it would work well enough to run a Webcam and USB Mic through, in my experience, it was too laggy to be practical. Only using a Powerline connection, maybe a direct ethernet would be better. A shame Steam didn't better support the Steam Link in the first place.

Supermuskox
Supermuskox

I bought it for the Dolphin emulator, to use a Bluetooth Dongle in the Steam Link as the device with which Wiimotes can connect. Works for that purpose, so it gets my approval.

I am a little dissapointed with the fact that using unlimited devices costs over 8€ extra, I have not run into that limit as of right now. It would also be great if Steam would not set my status as "Playing VirtualHere".

prosaik
prosaik

Should it be included as part of the steam link package? Probably.
Did Valve add it? No.
Do I begrudge a 3rd party making an excellent tool which works almost without effort on my part for £11? Nope.

Its great: allows me to play non-steam games perfectly on the steam link, no controller issues at all, even with 2 player games. Even lets me plug in a webcam to take family zoom calls from the living room. Well worth the money.

amadeusvong
amadeusvong

Worthless, does not connect 3 devices as put in the description... Total scam please stay away from this

Mario Speedwagon
Mario Speedwagon

Pretty expensive for what most would consider core functionality

sktl
sktl

still don’t know what this does or why I needed it but I think it worked?

Batlet
Batlet

Induces input lag on usb device. Seems like every few minutes it will lag significantly.