Possibly related error: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1127310/discussions/0/2793873675750454871/?tscn=1596852293

I will test on CV1 system, but have not personally seen this error on 5 different setups.

Will reinstall steam and SteamVR latest Beta as suggested and report back. Everything else works fine so Win10 reinstall would be troublesome and unfruitful imo. SFC and DISM report no errors, nor do virus/malware scans.

Pretty sure you won't run into the problem or it would have been reported already aside from a single other case.

Potentially relevant info: When I did a custom directory scan, 3D Fix Manager app picked up a non-officially supported game for VR: We Happy Few - it runs fine except from the error(s). Could the missing HelixVision manifest be due to it being not officially supported?

I don't have access to other games at this moment in time...

Uninstalled Steam/SteamVR; purged registry entries. Reinstalled everything fresh, including HelixVision latest Beta. Unfortunately same error.

Came across this:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/troubleshooting-error-systemnullreferenceexception-object-reference-not-set-instance-object-when-launching-controller

Could it have something to do with said .NET? My system seems to be up to date as far as windows updates are concerned.

Try running just the Katanga app by itself. HelixVision root->Tools->Katanga->katanga.exe

That will run it in slide-show mode, but everything else is the same, and the part that is not working is the VR Manifest/controllers. This is a simpler test case for this error.

See if you are getting the same error, and also check if your Touch controllers are working in the app. If you get the nullptr still, probably will not work.

Check the root folder of Katanga, and see if the manifest files are there. You should find all the bindings like bindings_oculus_touch.json. And actions.json.

Those bindings are matched to a SteamVR file that is specified on their server, but should have no way to get out of sync.

We did have an error several months ago where the files did not match the server name, which showed up as this missing VR manifest error. As far as I know this is now setup correctly.


Would be worth doing a clean reinstall of HelixVision itself, including deleting the leftover HelixVision folder. Not impossible that it somehow has conflicting manifests or leftover files that conflict. Latest beta is the ci_beta branch. v0.9.34 in About.

Could maybe be worth going to %appdata% LocalLow and delete the Katanga directory. Should be irrelevant but was implicated in an earlier naming problem.


Also reset the Unity prefs to defaults, using backtick+backspace at once on the keyboard, while the slideshow is running and window is in front. Not likely to be related, because nothing related to naming is saved as a Unity pref.

The help window on the left is shown/hidden with F1, but full reset will bring it back.

Originally posted by Bo3b:

Try running just the Katanga app by itself. HelixVision root->Tools->Katanga->katanga.exe

That will run it in slide-show mode, but everything else is the same, and the part that is not working is the VR Manifest/controllers. This is a simpler test case for this error.

See if you are getting the same error, and also check if your Touch controllers are working in the app. If you get the nullptr still, probably will not work.

Slide show runs fine and controllers work perfectly. Quite spectacular actually - all the shadows and effects actually working vs VorpX makes for a spectacular impression. Suggestion: make this a simple downloadable demo for people to see how amazing their games will look in VR (S3D) if they persevere in getting things working.

I believe the hurdle isn't the price, but rather the technical aspect. Recent studies showed that over 80% of PC gamers never even go into a game's options menu even to adjust simple things such as resolution because they deem it too technical. I would like to believe VR /S3D people are more technically inclined.

Question: I see one of the slides as having FPS in the top right corner - this would be tremendously useful to enthusiasts such as myself - is there a way to enable this inside the HMD? Fraps works in the screen mirror window but not inside the HMD of course.

Originally posted by Bo3b:

Check the root folder of Katanga, and see if the manifest files are there. You should find all the bindings like bindings_oculus_touch.json. And actions.json.

Those bindings are matched to a SteamVR file that is specified on their server, but should have no way to get out of sync.

We did have an error several months ago where the files did not match the server name, which showed up as this missing VR manifest error. As far as I know this is now setup correctly.

Manifests are indeed int he root folder. Inside HMD, the complaint is that they cannot be found in "x:\steam\config\\". I tried to copy them into said location but that doesn't work either, maybe because of the double \\.

Originally posted by Bo3b:

Would be worth doing a clean reinstall of HelixVision itself, including deleting the leftover HelixVision folder. Not impossible that it somehow has conflicting manifests or leftover files that conflict. Latest beta is the ci_beta branch. v0.9.34 in About.

Clean installed onto new drive after purging registry keys and files/folders from system - problem persists. Also tried with 0.8x - same problem.

Originally posted by Bo3b:

Could maybe be worth going to %appdata% LocalLow and delete the Katanga directory. Should be irrelevant but was implicated in an earlier naming problem.

Done; no effect.

Originally posted by Bo3b:

Also reset the Unity prefs to defaults, using backtick+backspace at once on the keyboard, while the slideshow is running and window is in front. Not likely to be related, because nothing related to naming is saved as a Unity pref.

Done on British keyboard layout - also pulled both triggers as seen in another post. Problem persists.

Katanga.log:
..Unity Native C++ logging enabled.

..Katanga:CreateSetupMutex--> 0000000000000C88
..Katanga:ReleaseSetupMutex: ReleaseMutex ERROR_NOT_OWNER

..Katanga:DestroySetupMutex<-- 0000000000000C88

============
vrclient_katanga.txt:

Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.376 - katanga.exe 1.14.5 startup with PID=21268, config=S:\Steam\config, runtime=S:\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.376 - vrclient type=VRApplication_Scene
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.378 - [Settings] Load Default Json Settings from S:\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\htc\resources\settings\default.vrsettings
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.378 - [Settings] Load Default Json Settings from S:\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\lighthouse\resources\settings\default.vrsettings
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.378 - [Settings] Load Default Json Settings from S:\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\null\resources\settings\default.vrsettings
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.378 - [Settings] Load Default Json Settings from S:\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\resources\settings\default.vrsettings
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.378 - [Settings] Load Json Settings from S:\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.391 - Closing pipe SteamVR_Namespace because it was broken from the other end
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.391 - CSharedResourceNamespaceClient::Init(): received namespace data 18676
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.397 - Received success response from vrserver connect
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.398 - App key after connect message:steam.app.1127310
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.409 - Received success response from vrcompositor connect
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.409 - Initializing the limited version of CVRCompositorClient
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.409 - Attempting to load initial input config
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.409 - Failed to load binding file. We'll wait and try again when CRC or load count changes( computed CRC=0, old CRC=0, shared CRC=1, load count=0, shared load count=1
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.409 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.518 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.627 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.733 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.842 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.949 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.056 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.163 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.270 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.379 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.485 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.591 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.699 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.806 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:16.915 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.022 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.130 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.237 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.343 - Failed to find device container 100000004. Waiting some more.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.454 - Initial config load timed out
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.466 - Capturing Scene Focus
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.498 - Found Windows 10 or newer, so enable advanced image processing of scene textures.
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:17.505 - Setting max texture dimensions to 2152x2562 before requiring downsampling
Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:48.348 - VR_Shutdown called

Fixed by modifying steamapps.vrmanifest under Steam\config to change

"app_key": "steam.app.1127310",
"action_manifest_path":
"launch_type": "url",
"strings": {
"en_us": {
"name": "HelixVision"

to manually add my steam Katanga path:
"action_manifest_path": "S:\Steam\steamapps\common\HelixVision\Tools\Katanga\\",

i.e:
"app_key": "steam.app.1127310",
"action_manifest_path": "S:\Steam\steamapps\common\HelixVision\Tools\Katanga\\",
"launch_type": "url",
"strings": {
"en_us": {
"name": "HelixVision"

I don't know if this is a permanent solution as the system may now look for all (non-helixvision) game configurations under this path as well.

Slide show runs fine and controllers work perfectly. Quite spectacular actually - all the shadows and effects actually working vs VorpX makes for a spectacular impression. Suggestion: make this a simple downloadable demo for people to see how amazing their games will look in VR (S3D) if they persevere in getting things working.

This actually is offered as the free Demo from the store page. Because of Steam restrictions, people who already own the app cannot download and use the Demo, so I set it up this way, such that running Katanga directly invokes the Demo code.

...
Katanga:ReleaseSetupMutex: ReleaseMutex ERROR_NOT_OWNER

..Katanga:DestroySetupMutex<-- 0000000000000C88

============
vrclient_katanga.txt:

Sun Aug 09 2020 07:47:15.376 - katanga.exe 1.14.5 startup with PID=21268, config=S:\Steam\config, runtime=S:\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR
...

Hmmm.. assuming you did not modify that file name, that is the problem there. By default that file will be named 'output_log.txt' and is generated automatically by Unity. If the underlying Unity exe name/manifest has changed, then it won't match what Steam has saved for the app, and thus not find the VR manifests.

The default currently built into Unity builds is: 'application.generated.unity.helixvision.exe'

I currently have no idea how that might have been changed. Especially in light of the Demo working with the controllers, which is essentially an identical runtime path. It seems like maybe some other software is wrapping the VR environment somehow.

I tested on my CV1 setup, and it was working as expected. I also did a clean install of Win10 2004, DCH Driver 432.00, WMR, including AVG: and it was working as expected.

My steamapps.vrmanifest shows:

With the notable difference being the "\\" on the path, which is how it is specified on the Steam server page. In your example, it's blank, which is why it doesn't find the VR manifests, because as you found the path itself is thus wrong.

I think the reason the Demo works is because it's not actually registered with Steam, and thus uses a default path of the exe root to the manifest files. I'm not sure though, none of this is documented in SteamVR or SteamVRUnityPlugin.


In any case, having specified the path manually as you've done should be fine and continue to work. You might want to experiment with setting it to "\\". I'm not sure when or how this setting is sent to end-users. I think it is done at app install time, but I would say that it is not being properly updated.

i had that same issue with Katanga: NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

i did as Bo3b said to clean install Steam and that fixed it.

after awhile i bought the Cosmos Elite (HMD Only) to upgrade my Vive setup and got the same error again, but this time a clean install did not fix it.

i fixed it by modifying steamapps.vrmanifest.

it was "action_manifest_path": "\\", by default.

i change it to:

"action_manifest_path": "D:\Steam\steamapps\common\HelixVision\Tools\Katanga\\",

but when i start SteamVR it revert back to "\\", and i get the same error.

i modified steamapps.vrmanifest again but this time i made it "Read Only" and that seems to fix my problem.

Thanks very much for the added detail and experience here. This will help me narrow down the problem.

I think that Steam is somehow corrupting this file as part of an installation or setup procedure, which is why it's relatively rare. I'm fairly certain that my configuration for the app is correct now, but am still at a loss for why my config is not being properly downloaded in all cases.

This was reported as a bug against the SteamVR github, but I haven't seen any improvement.

Modifying the manifest file no longer works for me but I have managed to fix it (touch wood).

After delving deeper (I'm not a coder so things are not obvious for me), a post somewhere by bo3bber mentioned admin rights - it seems in my case the issue has to do with running HelixVision with administrative privileges - I have UAC turned fully off so everything automatically runs with admin privileges. I have a suspicion others complaining about the issue may also be like-minded old school individuals.

https://superuser.com/questions/171917/force-a-program-to-run-without-administrator-privileges-or-uac

Running this reg key allows me to run HelixVision desktop shortcut without elevated privileges, which has thus far made the error stop and controllers work as intended without having to modify any manifests or do any other workarounds.

Hopefully others having similar issues can also fix their versions using the same approach...