Run an OpenXR VR scene and a separate control panel simultaneously

[Nahid_Hasan]

Godot Version

Godot 4.4

Question

I’m working on a VR setup where a participant wears a VR headset and interacts with a virtual environment, doing tasks like exploring, picking up objects, or following instructions.

At the same time, I want to act as the researcher who watches everything from a regular computer screen. From there, I should be able to control the virtual scene—for example, change the environment, adjust difficulty, pause or restart the session, and even collect data based on what the participant is doing.

So my question is:

How can I build this kind of system, where the VR scene runs for the participant using OpenXR, and I can simultaneously control and monitor everything through a separate 2D window on the PC?

I want both to run at the same time and be able to communicate with each other.

Here is a visual explanation of what I want to do.

[blackears]

I’ve not used XR/VR with Godot before, but I would expect you could do this with a Subviewport. Just add a camera to a scene and have it render to the viewport, and then you can use the viewport texture in a SubviewportContainer. There are a bunch of security camera tutorials that should be helpful for this.

Godot 4 — EASY Security Camera with in-game Monitors (3D Tutorial)

[Nahid_Hasan]

i was able to do this with Window node

Godot 4 Popup Window Tutorial