Half-Life Alyx Runs on Vision Pro Without a Gaming PC

How he did it

The starting point was Valve’s ARM version of Alyx for Steam Frame (opens in a new tab), its standalone VR headset. Valve had already adapted the game for the same processor family Vision Pro uses, while keeping its content intact.

Wertheimer built on Klepton (opens in a new tab), ShinyQuagsire’s open-source project for running Android VR games on visionOS. It handles the work of making software and graphics built for another system talk to Apple’s headset.

The remaining gap was that Valve’s port runs on Linux, rather than Android. Claude helped fill in the missing pieces, then helped with optimization. An existing port, a shared compatibility project, and an AI coding assistant gave him a way to get Alyx onto Vision Pro over a weekend.

How it runs

On his M5 Vision Pro, Wertheimer reports roughly 3K resolution per eye at 60 frames per second (opens in a new tab), smoothed to 120. The game renders 60 frames each second, with smoothing filling the display updates between them.

Getting Alyx running directly on the headset takes the gaming PC out of the setup. For Vision Pro owners, that is a very different prospect from streaming it across the room.

What comes next

Wertheimer plans to share a guide and tools on GitHub (opens in a new tab) so other owners can build it with help from their own AI agents.