tB0nE/nightfall v0.8.1

on GitHub

Nightfall Meteor, sharper AI 3D, HDR and USB Link 🌙☄️

This is the first stable release of the 0.8 series, bringing everything introduced in the 0.8.0 preview, plus the fixes and improvements developed through community testing. If you're upgrading from 0.7.11, there's quite a lot here!

The biggest introduction is Nightfall Meteor, a small companion app for your gaming PC that moves AI 3D onto the PC's GPU and lets you use the Quest's microphone on the PC. Alongside it come PyroWave, HDR improvements, USB-C streaming, widescreen depth models, better hand tracking and controllers, and new processing to help depth edges line up with the picture.

Nightfall Meteor ☄️

Meteor runs on the PC next to Sunshine (or Apollo, Vibepollo or Polaris). When Nightfall connects to a PC running Meteor, it finds it automatically and streams through it. If Meteor isn't running, Nightfall connects straight to the host as before.

Host depth. Meteor decodes the stream on the PC's NVIDIA GPU, runs the depth model there and sends depth maps to the headset, tagged with their source frames. This moves inference off the Quest and allows larger models:

• EdgePad-512 is the default GPU model, running through Vulkan.
• EdgePad-256 is also included as a lighter option for weaker GPUs.
• Video Depth Anything Small is an optional download from Meteor's tray. It's a temporal model, designed for steadier depth between frames. Meteor downloads NVIDIA TensorRT from NVIDIA's server (roughly 0.5–0.7 GB, under NVIDIA's licence) and prepares engines for your GPU once. EdgePad remains usable while preparation runs.
• CPU inference is available for EdgePad if you'd rather leave more GPU resources for your game. It's considerably slower and is an option for experimentation, not a performance recommendation. Video decoding still uses NVDEC, so it doesn't remove the NVIDIA GPU requirement.

Pick Meteor in the headset's AI 3D model list. The status bar distinguishes H-AI3D (headset inference) from M-AI3D (Meteor inference), with live rate/timing information for either path. More detailed statistics include Meteor's frame-to-map time and frame matching.

Microphone. Turn on Settings → Microphone, or use the microphone shortcut below the screen, and the Quest microphone becomes a PC input you can use in Discord, games and other applications. A blue dot indicates audio reaching the PC. Audio is sent as Opus. On Linux, Meteor exposes a Nightfall Microphone source; Windows uses VB-CABLE.

Private by default. Depth maps and microphone audio are encrypted between the headset and Meteor. Nightfall remembers each PC's Meteor identity. If you replace its pairing identity, use Settings → Forget Meteor Keys before reconnecting.

Meteor is now 0.1.1. It still requires an NVIDIA GPU and driver for video decoding, even when EdgePad inference uses Vulkan or CPU. AMD/Intel-only host support is not included yet. Testing has focused on KDE/Bazzite and Windows with an RTX 3090; other configurations may still have rough edges.

Sharper, better-aligned AI 3D

The on-headset model selection has been streamlined after further testing:

• Auto on Quest 3/3S: widescreen EdgePad-512 (512×288), using OpenCL when available.
• Auto on Quest 2 / compatibility fallback: EdgePad-256, using OpenGL when OpenCL isn't available.
• EdgePad-384: retained as a reference/manual option for comparison.

EdgePad-320 has been removed from the selection. In practical testing, the existing 256 model produced better results. The underlying models haven't been retrained for this release; this is better selection and processing of the existing models.

Two new processing switches are enabled by default, both for on-headset native Android inference and in Meteor's tray:

• Edge Alignment: makes small, bounded adjustments around existing depth boundaries to bring them closer to colour edges.
• Contour Cleanup: smooths jagged depth contours without simply blurring across object boundaries. It runs after Edge Alignment and is disabled when alignment is off.

On Quest, find these under the gear's Settings → AI 3D section. Meteor has its own server-side controls; received Meteor depth isn't processed again by the headset switches.

The permanent Depth Map → On/Off control shows the final processed map used by AI 3D. This is much more useful for checking what the effect is actually working with than looking only at raw model output.

This release also corrects the native inference input orientation and improves depth processing. Model changes are debounced so you can cycle through choices before one loads. Switching GPU models includes a safety pause to give the driver time to release the previous model, so a model change can take a few seconds.

The existing models and conversion notes remain available in the EdgePad model release; no new model release is needed for this update.

PyroWave codec

Nightfall supports PyroWave, a very low-latency codec intended for high bitrates on a fast local connection. It requires a compatible host, such as Nonary's Vibepollo/Vibeshine or Zevro's Sunshine fork. Select it under Stream → Codec; other hosts continue to use H.264, HEVC or AV1.

PyroWave decoding uses the Quest GPU. Honestly, I would generally recommend AV1 or HEVC on Quest, especially with AI 3D: PyroWave is expensive when the app is already competing for GPU time. The option is there for those who want to experiment, and there may be further optimizations in future.

HDR and USB-C streaming

HDR: enable it on the Stream tab to request an HDR10 stream when the host display supports HDR. Nightfall tone-maps that stream for the headset instead of relying on the host to squeeze the HDR desktop into SDR.

USB Link: stream over the Quest's USB-C cable rather than Wi-Fi. It requires a supported Horizon OS version (2.5 or newer) and address_family = both in the host configuration. Meteor works over USB too, and unplugging can fall back to Wi-Fi.

Easier to use

• The top-bar gear opens a scrolling Settings page for diagnostics, language, connection settings, microphone and licences. The top controls now remain clickable while scrolling, and scrolling behaves naturally rather than snapping between rows.
• 21 menu languages, with language selection available on the welcome screen.
• Microphone and AI 3D shortcuts on the grab bar, alongside the existing controls.
• Improved hand tracking: corrected right-hand pinch clicks, primary-hand selection and automatic switching, with only the active hand's ray shown.
• Improved controller pickup/rest detection, so a controller left on the desk doesn't keep stealing the pointer.
• Volume boost up to +12 dB, plus an alternative Android AudioTrack output for troubleshooting. This is not a claim that every reported volume difference has been resolved.
• Licences in Settings credit the open-source software and depth models Nightfall uses.

Fixes and improvements

• Corrected DualShock 4 detection/mapping and improved gamepad reconnect handling.
• Each gamepad gets its own host controller, with corrected Android axis mapping.
• Safer GPU model switching, with the longer post-close cooldown restored after further testing.
• Improved advanced-settings scrolling and fixed controls becoming unclickable after scrolling.
• Fixed depth-stat reporting when changing between headset and Meteor inference.
• Hosts answering mDNS in the additional section are discovered correctly.
• Re-pairing replaces the old host entry rather than creating a duplicate, and an already-paired PC no longer briefly shows a new pairing PIN.
• Host application lists refresh when needed instead of failing after the host restarts.
• AV1 decoding is wired up correctly.
• Added audio-level diagnostics and extensive local depth comparison/profiling tools to make future investigation easier.

For 0.8.0 preview testers

The biggest changes since the preview are corrected headset model input orientation, the return of EdgePad-256 for Quest 2, EdgePad-384 as a comparison option, the new alignment/cleanup effects, a final-depth-map toggle, controller/hand-tracking fixes, scrolling fixes, Meteor CPU/256 options, and safer model switching. Update Meteor as well as the headset app to get the new host-side processing controls.

Downloads

Android: sideload the APK. It is release-signed and installs over previous official releases and release-signed DEV builds without clearing your settings.

Linux: make the AppImage executable and run it. Meteor requires glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora/Bazzite and similar).

Windows Meteor: install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x64) if needed, then run the installer. The installer is not code-signed, so SmartScreen may require More info → Run anyway. Allow private-network access if prompted. Install VB-CABLE if you want microphone forwarding.

Thanks to everyone who tested the preview and supplied logs and feedback. A special thank-you to @dahmatrixdeed-del, @arthurOmanko and @giftederic—you've been incredibly helpful throughout this release, and your testing, detailed reports and patience have made Nightfall better. Please keep reporting problems in Issues or Discussions.