Develop

Oculus Debug Tool

Updated: Sep 28, 2026

LINK PC-VR DOCUMENTATION

This topic is about development with PC SDK. To learn about performance optimization for Meta Quest apps, see one of the following topics based on your development platform:

For Native development, see Performance and Optimization
For Unity development, see Testing and Performance Analysis
For Unreal Engine development, see Basic Optimization Workflow

The Oculus Debug Tool (ODT) enables you to view performance or debugging information within your game or experience. It also enables you to tune or configure related parameters, such as the field of view (FOV) size for a mirrored flat-screen view of the VR experience (which could be streamed to an audience in a more comfortable viewing format).

Startup ODT

The Oculus Debug Tool requires administrator privilege. Sign in with an account that has it, then run the executable from the Meta Horizon installation:

Program Files\Meta Horizon\Support\oculus-diagnostics\OculusDebugTool.exe

Run the Oculus Debug Tool from this location so that its version matches the Meta Horizon distribution. A copy placed anywhere else can stop working after an update.

The following screenshot shows the main window with all of the first-level list headings expanded:

Oculus Debug Tool main window with all settings categories expanded.

The ODT user interface is described in the following sections.

Launch App...: Opens a dialog where you pick a VR application executable and its command-line arguments, then launches it.
Validate App...: Opens the same dialog with a list of validation tests. It launches the application and reports the results of the selected tests in a separate validation window.
Restart as administrator: Restarts the Oculus Debug Tool with administrator permissions. This entry appears only when Windows supplies the User Account Control icon.
Exit: Closes the Oculus Debug Tool.

Oculus Debug Tool Tools menu with Performance Profiler, Lost Frame Capture, Scene View, and Mirror.

Performance Profiler: Launches the Performance Profiler. For more information, see Performance Profiler.
Lost Frame Capture: Launches the Lost Frame Capture tool. For more information, see Lost Frame Capture Tool.
Scene View: Visualizes your HMD and controller position.
Mirror: Displays the content that is rendered in HMD on your PC monitor. For more information, see Compositor Mirror.

Oculus Debug Tool Service menu with options to restart, start, or stop the Oculus service.

Restart Oculus Service: Restarts the Oculus service on your local computer.
Start Oculus Service: Starts the Oculus service on your local computer.
Stop Oculus Service: Stops the Oculus service on your local computer.
Toggle console window visibility: Turns the visibility of the console output window on and off. The console window shows the details of all the scripts and applications that run behind the scenes when you are using the ODT. Most users do not need to enable this option.
Logs: Brings up a log window that tracks the details of all the scripts and applications that run behind the scenes when you are using the ODT. Most users do not need to enable this option.

About: Shows the Oculus Debug Tool version and copyright notice.
Show Version Info: Shows the Oculus Debug Tool version and the OVR SDK runtime version. When a headset is connected, it also shows the headset model, serial number, and firmware version, along with the serial number and firmware version of each sensor.

Using ODT

Turn off Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW) so that you can judge how your application performs without it. In the Service category, set (PC) Asynchronous Spacewarp to Disabled. The control offers four values: Disabled, Force 45fps, ASW disabled, Force 45fps, ASW enabled, and Auto.
In the HUDs category, set Visible HUD to the debug overlay you want to show in the headset. The values are None, Performance, Stereo Debug, and Layer.
When Visible HUD is Performance, expand Performance HUD and set Mode. The values are Performance Summary, Latency Timing, App Render Timing, Compositor Render Timing, Async-SpaceWarp Stats, Oculus Link, Oculus Link Detail, and Network Guardian Info. For more information, see Performance Head-Up Display. The HUD enables you or your users to view performance information for applications built with the SDK. Version details are not a HUD mode; use Show Version Info on the Help menu instead. The following screenshot shows an example of the Performance HUD:
When Visible HUD is Stereo Debug, configure the mode, size, position, and color from the Stereo Debug HUD options. The following screenshot shows an example of the Stereo Debug HUD:
When Visible HUD is Layer, select the layer for which to show information or select the Show All check box. The following screenshot shows an example of the Layer HUD:
Select Launch App from the File menu and select the executable of the application.
Put on the headset and view the results.

Service Settings Reference

The Service category holds the settings that control how the Oculus runtime renders, composites, and streams frames. The following tables list the settings and their accepted values.

Setting	Values	Description
Pixels Per Display Pixel Override	Decimal, 0 or greater	Overrides pixels per display pixel, so the application renders at a higher or lower resolution than the display.
Force Mipmap Generation On All Layers	`Off`, `On`	Turns on mipmap generation for every composited layer.
Offset Mipmap Bias On All Layers	Decimal, -20.0 to 20.0	Offsets the mipmap bias on every composited layer.
FOV-Tangent Multiplier	Two decimals, entered as `Horizontal;Vertical`	Overrides the default render field of view. The Larger FOV for Streaming Game Play section covers this setting in detail.
Use FOV Stencil	`Off`, `Auto`	Controls whether the runtime applies the field-of-view stencil.
Bypass Proximity Sensor Check	`Off`, `On`	Keeps the headset display active without wearing it.
Adaptive GPU Performance Scale	`Off`, `Default`	Disables the adaptive resolution scaling option in applications that support it. Use it for better visual fidelity when your GPU has the headroom, or to uncover frame loss.
(PC) Asynchronous Spacewarp	`Disabled`, `Force 45fps, ASW disabled`, `Force 45fps, ASW enabled`, `Auto`	Sets the PC Asynchronous Spacewarp mode.
Frame Drop Indicator	`Disabled`, `Enabled`	Turns the frame-drop HUD on and off.
Debug HMD Type	`Disabled`, `CV1`	Simulates a headset of the selected type. A value other than `Disabled` opens a debug mirror window.
Pose Injection	`Disabled`, `Enabled`	Turns pose injection on and off.

Oculus Link Settings

The Oculus Link group sits inside the Service category. A change to any setting in this group takes effect after you restart OVRServer.

Setting	Values	Description
Distortion Curvature	`Default`, `Low`, `High`	Overrides distortion curvature. Higher curvature gives more pixel density at the center.
Video Codec	`Default`, `H.264`, `H.265`	Sets the video codec.
Sliced Encoding	`Default`, `On`, `Off`	Turns sliced encoding on and off.
Encode Resolution Width	Integer, 0 to 15360	Overrides the encoding resolution width of the frame in pixels and keeps the aspect ratio.
Encode Dynamic Bitrate	`Default`, `Disabled`, `Enabled`	Lets the encoder adapt the bitrate up to the target.
Dynamic Bitrate Max	Integer	Overrides the maximum dynamic bitrate.
Encode Bitrate (Mbps)	Integer, 1 to 2000	Overrides the encoding bitrate in Mbps. High values can cause instability.
Dynamic Bitrate Offset (Mbps)	Integer	Adds a constant offset to the dynamic bitrate, which helps when dynamic bitrate stays too conservative. A larger offset raises baseline visual quality and raises the visibility of lags and stalls, so review this setting after a software update. This setting overrides the maximum bitrate setting.
Link Sharpening	`Disabled`, `Normal`, `Quality`	Sets the Link sharpening level, or turns sharpening off.
Local Dimming	`Disabled`, `Enabled`	Turns local dimming on the headset on and off.

Larger FOV for Streaming Game Play

The FOV-Tangent Multiplier setting is provided by the Oculus Debug Tool, as the following screenshot shows. This setting can be used to improve the viewing experience when streaming game play to an audience. With this feature, you can increase the size of the field of view (FOV) as it appears on mirrored flat screens, relative to what is displayed within the headset. This makes it more comfortable to view streamed or recorded game play since the FOV that is used within the headset can appear too constricted on flat screens, and thereby cause motion sickness on the part of the viewing audience. The FOV-Tangent Multiplier feature has two settings: Horizontal and Vertical. Set these values to the desired multiplier for the FOV. For example, if you set Horizontal to 1.2 and Vertical to 1.1, then the streamed FOV will be 20% larger horizontally, and 10% larger vertically, relative to the FOV within the headset. The ODT shows the Horizontal setting, followed by a semicolon, followed by the Vertical setting. So the previous example would be entered as 1.2;1.1 on the FOV-Tangent Multiplier line: