Game Compatibility

Graphics API Non-VR OpenXR Legacy Oculus API (OVR) Legacy SteamVR API (OpenVR)
OpenGL
Direct3D 11
Direct3D 12
Vulkan

OpenXR + Vulkan: the game must use XR_KHR_vulkan_enable2 and the xrCreateVulkanInstanceKHR() + xrCreateVulkanDeviceKHR() functions.

Legacy Oculus API (OVR):

  • where possible, OpenXR is strongly recommended instead
  • only Link or Air Link are supported
  • Virtual Desktop or other similar tools are only supported via SteamVR or OpenXR. Virtual Desktop is likely to be supported in the future - any updates will be on issue #608

Leagcy SteamVR API (OpenVR): where possible, OpenXR is strongly recommended instead

32-bit games:

  • in v1.8 and below, only OpenVR is supported for 32-bit games
  • in v1.9 and above, 32-bit OpenXR games will also be supported.

Common Games

Game Non-VR Native OpenXR Legacy Oculus SDK (OVR) Legacy SteamVR API (OpenVR)
DCS World
Falcon BMS n/a n/a
iRacing untested untested
MSFS 2020 ✅ (D3D11 only) n/a
BeamNG.drive untested n/a

BeamNG.drive: as of April 4th, 2024, BeamNG.drive in VR is incompatible except when using SteamVR, because BeamNG.drive does not use XR_KHR_vulkan_enable2 + xrCreateVulkanInstanceKHR() + xrCreateVulkanDeviceKHR().

OpenComposite

OpenKneeboard is not tested with OpenComposite, and issues will not be investigated.

Advice

  • For VR: use OpenXR if natively supported by the game - otherwise use OpenVR (SteamVR). OpenXR will give you the best performance and reliability
  • OpenVR is the least likely mode to have compatibility issues, followed shortly by OpenXR. Non-VR and Oculus have significantly higher chances of issues
  • Setting WinTab to ‘invasive’ in input settings also raises the chance of issues

Anti-Cheat

While OpenKneeboard is not a cheat, it does hook into the games rendering and input pipelines, which over-eager anti-cheat systems may consider ban-worthy. While this is similar to how other overlays work (e.g. Steam and Discord), it is possible that using OpenKneeboard may lead to an anti-cheat ban.

As of March 19th, 2024, the developers have not received any reports of any users receiving any bans in any games, but this remains a theoretical possibility in the future.

Note that OpenKneeboard has NO WARRANTY; see the LICENSE file and full text of the GPLv2 for details.