The third preview build of the new in-development Desktop+ version is now available.
These builds are supposed give a glimpse into the ongoing development process.
Starting from this build, this branch should be fine for daily use if you can live with the missing features. Don't treat it as stable however, as it just isn't.
While bugs are to be expected and there are a few known issues already, feel free to report anything you find in the NewUI Preview Build bug report thread.
What is Desktop+ NewUI?
Desktop+ NewUI is what eventually will become Desktop+ 3.0.
See the announcement post for the NewUI Preview Build 1 for more details.
What's new in Desktop+ NewUI Preview 3?
Custom Laser Pointer
The long assured to be eventually added feature has finally made its way in. The custom laser pointer allows for laser pointer input outside of the dashboard without stealing all input and opens doors for enhancements, such as support for middle mouse and full-state auxiliary buttons (press & release for "Go Home/Back").
Another one of these enhancements is with the keyboard. The keyboard now supports simultaneous input from multiple pointers at once when outside of the dashboard. This is not limited to your hand controllers either. Any input device that has Desktop+ laser pointer actions bound can participate in this.
On the topic of input actions, this update added a bunch of default bindings for common controllers that mirror how the controller is bound for SteamVR laser pointer interaction (this also means middle mouse is not bound by default).
If you have any customized controller bindings for Desktop+, you'll have to revert to defaults or configure laser pointer bindings manually.
VR Keyboard Improvements
The keyboard has received numerous enhancements and fixes. The user input part got basically rewritten to support the multi-laser input method mentioned above. Over from the beta branch, the input simulation improvements for DirectInput games got pulled in too.
Other keyboard changes:
- Right-click to toggle is now possible for every key type
- Any keys still held down by the VR keyboard are now released on Desktop+ exit
- Keyboard can now be shown outside of dashboard even when unpinned (repositions and pins automatically)
- Show Keyboard action label now adjusts to keyboard visibility
- Position of the keyboard window can now be reset by holding Show Keyboard action button for 3 seconds
- Keyboard now automatically hides itself if it was initially shown for UI input and is no input field is focused
- Fixed keyboard not hiding automatically if the overlay it was shown for was being hidden
- Fixed wrong key code used for numpad decimal key on QWERTY and QWERTZ keyboard layouts
- Fixed AltGr key behavior not working on QWERTZ keyboard layout
- Keyboard window is no longer shown automatically in desktop mode
Overlay Drag Settings
No need to get tilted about the overlay orientation being slightly off or distorted by curvature quirks anymore.
It's now possible to force overlays to stay upright when dragging them. Simply tick the box in the Overlay Position Change page of the Overlay Properties window. This setting is global and applies to normal and gesture drags, but not to UI window drags.
Even More Settings Return
The Advanced settings return to the Overlay Properties window. 3D, Gaze Fade and overlay input settings can now be configured again. Each with minor enhancements compared to the original UI.
A few overlay Interface settings were also added. It's now possible again to customize overlay names and toggle display of desktop buttons in the Action Bar.
Speaking of the Action Bar, Action settings... have not yet returned. Due to the complexity and seemingly low usage in comparison, those are things that will have a to wait a while still.
However, as actions are kind of put in the spotlight again, it is now possible to access the old Action settings interface in a limited manner as a stop-gap solution. It will always open on the desktop and only allow changing the global Action Bar list, but is otherwise capable of customizing actions for this version of Desktop+.
Keep in mind the action format may change drastically in the future... or not. No forward compatibility guaranteed here.
And if you don't like the new settings at all, you can just restore the defaults ones. "Restore Default Settings" is back in the Troubleshooting section of the Settings window.
Warnings Are back
Warnings are functional again. They don't work any differently from before, appearing in the Settings window. However, there's also a little exclamation mark on the Settings button in the Overlay Bar when there's a warning, so it's harder to miss than before.
Other Changes
- Fixed overlay context menu crashing in desktop mode when Desktop+ wasn't running
- Fixed missing captures on launch not being automatically hidden when overlays are set to be hidden on capture loss
- Fixed overlay opacity & and crop not being reset correctly when removing an overlay that isn't the last one
- Fixed Overlay Properties window not changing properties properly after removing overlay of lower ID than the active one
- Fixed dashboard origin overlays moving upwards after finishing a gesture drag
- Fixed flicker after resizing the primary dashboard overlay
- Fixed dashboard disappearing during active drags possibly resulting in invalid overlay positions
- Dashboard origin overlays are no longer shown right after start if no valid dashboard position is available yet
- Overlay auto-names now use localized strings
- Various minor UI adjustments
The NewUI Preview branch also includes all changes of the stable branch up until now (v.2.6).
The wait for this one was longer, but I think it was worth it.
There are still quite a few things missing, especially profile, actions and performance settings. Everything will return in some way eventually, though.
Until next build.