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Getting Started with Meta XR Simulator

Updated: Apr 17, 2026
Outdated XR Simulator Version
This information applies to an older version of the XR Simulator, for new projects use the Standalone XR Simulator which supports any OpenXR application.
Meta XR Simulator is a lightweight Extended Reality (XR) runtime built to speed up XR application development and testing on your development machine.
The simulator uses the same XR API specification as mobile and PC VR runtimes, allowing it to integrate with your engine’s IDE without modification. The simulator includes a predefined input mapping schema and a user interface that provides information on how the runtime composites the final view and simulates input.
This page provides a brief overview of Meta XR Simulator and basic installation and usage instructions.

Standard installation locations

Simulator binaries are not bundled with the Meta XR plugin; they are fetched dynamically. The standard install location is:
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Local\MetaXR\MetaXrSimulator\[xr_sim_version]
  • macOS: ~/Library/MetaXR/MetaXRSimulator/[xr_sim_version]
These locations will be referred to as <INSTALL_DIR> for the rest of this document.

Features

Unreal Engine support

  • UE5 (primary)
  • UE4 (partial)
Note: Meta XR Simulator is supported in SDK v57 release and above. To try the simulator in UE4 or previous releases of UE5, see the Getting Started instructions for Native App Development for Meta XR Simulator.

Graphic API support

  • DX11
  • DX12
  • Vulkan (limited)

Reference compositor

  • Projection Layer
  • Quad layer
  • PassthroughFB layer
  • Cylinder layer

Meta XR device profiles

  • Meta Quest 2
  • Meta Quest Pro
  • Meta Quest 3
  • Meta Quest 3S

Input simulation

  • Meta Quest Touch controller
  • Meta Quest Touch Pro controller
  • Meta Quest Touch Plus controller

Session capture

Session Capture allows for the recording and replaying all inputs and poses. It also allows for taking snapshots for future automation and regression checking.

Setup

  1. If SDK version v76 or above, skip this step. Download the latest Meta XR Simulator. Unzip it and copy content to <INSTALL_DIR>.
  2. Create a VR project. You can create a VR Template project or create one from scratch by following Create Quest App.
  3. If SDK version v76 or above, skip this step. Go to Project Settings > Plugins > Meta XR. Set Meta XR Simulator JSON File to <INSTALL_DIR>\meta_openxr_simulator.json. Note that this setting is only needed once for each project. Meta XR Plugin Backend
  4. If SDK version v72 to v74. Download the Synthetic Environments package⁠. Unzip it and copy content to somewhere for easy access, like C:\UE5\MetaXrSES. Set Meta XR Synthetic Environments to folder where you have the synthetic environments unzipped (C:\UE5\MetaXrSES).
  5. Still in Project Settings > Plugins > Meta XR, make sure to use Oculus OVRPlugin + OpenXR backend as the XR API.
  6. In Project Settings, go to Platforms > Windows and make sure DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 is the Default RHI. Vulkan support is limited at this moment. Unreal RHI Setting
  7. Enable Meta XR Simulator by checking the Meta XR Simulator toggle, under the Meta XR Simulator dropdown on the main toolbar. Run on an instance of SES (Synthetic Environment Server) if passthrough is used in the project. Enable Meta XR Simulator.
  8. Click VR Preview to launch Meta XR Simulator. Launch GameRoomVR Preview

Examples

Scene sample

  1. Get the Scene Sample project by cloning the Unreal-Scene GitHub repository⁠.
  2. Double click Scene.uproject to open the project.
  3. Start Launch Living Room for SES. For SES setup instructions, see Simulate a Mixed Reality Environment. You should see a room show on the Simulation window. You should see a room show on the **Simulation** window.
  4. Enable Meta XR Simulator as in the above picture.
  5. Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 from the Setup section above.
You can also view other layers by clicking Graphics Details > Layer Details > Layer 1 or Layer 0. For testing, press the u key to drop balls that interact with the scene.
Click Stop Server when you are done with SES.

Spatial Anchor sample

  1. Get the Spatial Anchor Sample project by cloning the Unreal-SpatialAnchorsSample GitHub repository⁠.
  2. Double click SpatialAnchorsSample.uproject to open the project.
  3. Start Launch Living Room for SES. For SES setup instructions, see Simulate a Mixed Reality Environment. You should see a room show on the Simulation window. You should see a room show on the **Simulation** window.
  4. Enable Meta XR Simulator as in the above picture.
  5. Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 from the Setup section above.
  6. You can also view other layers by clicking Graphics Details > Layer Details > Layer 1 or Layer 0.
  7. Press the y key to select Create Anchor. Press the y key to select Create Anchor.
  8. Press the t key to create anchors. Press the y key to select Select Anchor on the menu.
  9. Press the y key to select Select Anchor on the menu.
  10. Then move the controller to point to a created anchor.
  11. Press the t key to open the sub menu, then press the b key to save the anchor. Press the t key to open the sub menu, and then the b key to save the anchor.
  12. If you want to erase an anchor, press y to switch menu to Erase Anchor and press b to execute.
  13. Restart the game. Press the y key to switch to Load Anchors and press the t key to execute. You will see the saved anchors.
Click Stop Server when you are done with SES.
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