lvra.gitlab.io/content/docs/steamvr/pairing.md

weight	title
200	Pairing

Pairing Lighthouse Controllers or Trackers

To pair lighthouse-tracked hardware such as the Valve Index "Knuckles" Controllers, HTC Vive Wands, HTC Vive Pro controllers, Tundra Labs Trackers or VIVE Trackers you'll need enough receivers (generally one for each device).

Receivers can be:

• Watchman dongles (plugged in your computer, preferably not on a USB hub)
  • Tundra Labs "SW"-series dongles (now discontinued) can theoretically connect 3 or even 4 (depending on the version) devices. However stability leaves much to be desired when connecting more than 2 (respectively 3) devices.
• If you have a lighthouse-tracked HMD (e.g. Valve Index, HTC Vive, Bigscreen Beyond), two receivers (for the controllers) are already built in.

Assigning Trackers

After pairing Trackers, you need to assign roles to each tracker.

This can be done through SteamVR Settings > Controllers > Manage Trackers

Alternatively you can also edit the settings-file $HOME/.steam/steam/config/steamvr.vrsettings by adding the following section:

"trackers" : {
      "/devices/lighthouse/LHR-xxx" : "TrackerRole_LeftShoulder",
      "/devices/lighthouse/LHR-xxx" : "TrackerRole_RightShoulder",
      "/devices/lighthouse/LHR-xxx" : "TrackerRole_Waist",
      "/devices/lighthouse/LHR-xxx" : "TrackerRole_LeftFoot",
      "/devices/lighthouse/LHR-xxx" : "TrackerRole_RightFoot"
   }

Replace LHR-xxx with the Serialnumber of each tracker. Serialnumbers can be obtained (after pairing) from $HOME/.steam/steam/config/lighthouse/lhr-xxx

TrackerRoles are formatted TrackerRole_<yyy> with <yyy> one of:

• None
• Handed
• LeftFoot
• RightFoot
• LeftShoulder
• RightShoulder
• LeftElbow
• RightElbow
• LeftKnee
• RightKnee
• Waist
• Chest
• Camera
• Keyboard

Pairing via SteamVR

You can follow the normal pairing process by launching SteamVR, and opening the pairing window (in the Devices menu).

If however for some reason this does not work (in particular, if the pairing window does not render), you can work around it by doing the pairing process via lighthouse_console.

Pairing via lighthouse_console

In a terminal, launch lighthouse_console by running

~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/SteamVR/tools/lighthouse/bin/linux64/lighthouse_console

Identifying available receivers

You'll be greeted by a shell which starts by listing the serial number of attached receivers (both dongles and built-in, if your HMD is connected).

Selecting a receiver is done by running serial <serialnumber> in the opened shell. When pairing new devices, you'll want to find a receiver that isn't paired with a device already. After a receiver is selected, you can run identifycontroller to check if the receiver is paired with a device (assuming the device is on).

In general, built-in HMD receivers will have longer serial numbers than dongle ones.

If either you want to replace previously paired devices (e.g. when changing controllers) or you're struggling to identify which receiver to use, run unpairall. This will unpair all lighthouse devices!

Pairing a device

Once you have selected an available receiver with serial <serialnumber>:

1. Turn on your device
2. Put it in pairing mode (e.g. hold System+B for Valve controllers), the LED should be blinking blue
3. Run the pair command

After a few seconds, the LED should turn green, and the device is now paired.

Do this for each device you want to pair (remember to use a different receiver for each device), and exit the shell by running quit.