How to Play Half-Life: Alyx Standalone on Meta Quest 3 (No PC Required)

1. What Qualyx Actually Is, and What It Isn't

Qualyx is an open-source project, publicly available on GitHub, built specifically to run Half-Life: Alyx natively on standalone Meta Quest hardware — meaning the game runs directly on the headset's own processor, with no PC, cable, or wireless streaming connection needed once everything is in place. It's built and tested primarily on Quest 3, with Quest 2 support available but using reduced graphics settings to accommodate the older hardware.

The project's own documentation states this directly and unambiguously: the Qualyx release does not include Valve's game files. You need your own Steam copy of Half-Life: Alyx. What Qualyx provides is the player — the native code that loads and runs the game's assets on Quest hardware. The actual game content has to come from a copy you've purchased and installed yourself through Steam, the same as playing it on PC VR.

2. What You Need Before Starting

• A Meta Quest headset with Developer Mode enabled, set up through the Meta Horizon companion app.
• Your own legitimately purchased copy of Half-Life: Alyx on Steam, installed on a Windows PC.
• Roughly 70 to 80 GB of free storage on the headset itself — this is a genuinely storage-heavy install, so check your headset's available space before starting.
• A USB-C cable to transfer files between your computer and the headset.
• An archive tool like 7-Zip or WinRAR, in case any of the files you're working with are compressed.

3. Step 1: Preparing the Game Files on Your PC

1. With Half-Life: Alyx installed through Steam on your PC, locate its installation folder (by default, inside Steam's steamapps/common/Half-Life Alyx directory).
2. Inside that installation, find two specific subfolders: hlvr and core. These contain the actual game content Qualyx needs to run.
3. Copy both folders to a location on your hard drive that's easy to find for the next step — you won't need to modify or extract anything beyond simply copying them as they are.

4. Step 2: Transferring Files to the Quest 3

1. Connect your Quest 3 to your PC using the USB-C cable.
2. Put the headset on and grant the file-sharing permission prompt that appears.
3. On your PC, open the headset's internal storage, and create a new folder with a clear name — something like Qualyx works well for staying organized.
4. Inside that folder, create a subfolder named game, and copy both the hlvr and core folders into it.
5. Given the size involved, this transfer can take a meaningful amount of time depending on your cable and port speed — a USB 3.0 connection moves considerably faster than USB 2.0 for a transfer this large.

5. Step 3: Installing Qualyx on the Headset

1. Download the latest Qualyx APK directly from the project's official GitHub releases page, rather than from any third-party link aggregator or unofficial mirror.
2. Install it using ADB with the command adb install -r Qualyx-<version>.apk, or through a sideloading tool like SideQuest if you already have one set up. The -r flag matters specifically when updating an existing install, since it preserves your existing settings and data rather than wiping them.
3. Once installed, open your app library inside the headset, navigate to Unknown Sources, and launch Qualyx from there.

6. Step 4: Pointing Qualyx at Your Game Folder and Shaders

Before you go on, you can find all needed files in this telegram group https://t.me/+4fl2iQ5X_eg5YWQ8 Follow the above youtube tutorial for instructions. 

1. Inside Qualyx, select Choose Game Folder.
2. Browse to the exact folder you created earlier — Qualyx/game — and confirm with Use this folder, granting whatever permission is requested.
3. Download the Shader Pack that matches your Qualyx version from the project's official source.
4. Back inside Qualyx, choose the option to import the shader pack, select the file, and wait for verification to complete fully before continuing — this step confirms the shaders are intact and matched correctly to your build.

7. Step 5: Launching and Tuning Performance

1. Before launching for the first time, close any other apps running in the background on the headset to free up available memory.
2. Select Launch in VR.
3. The very first launch typically takes noticeably longer than normal, since the system is building and compiling shader data for your specific hardware — subsequent launches are considerably faster.
4. Once in-game, open the Options menu to adjust control and graphics settings to your preference before diving into the campaign properly.

8. Performance Tips Worth Knowing

Current Qualyx releases include selectable graphics profiles — Standard, Balanced, and Performance, plus a Custom option for adjusting individual settings yourself. Standard keeps the fuller resolution range and visual effects; Performance deliberately trades resolution, particle effects, and shadow quality for a smoother frame rate. It's genuinely worth trying more than one profile rather than assuming the default is automatically the best fit for your specific play style.

• This is a demanding, resource-heavy game running on mobile-class hardware — always clear background apps and free up memory before a play session, not just the first time.
• If motion sensitivity is a concern, switch between Snap Turn and Smooth Turn in the control settings until you find the option that feels comfortable for longer sessions.
• Keep Qualyx itself updated through its official GitHub releases page — the project receives frequent updates addressing specific bugs and adding performance profile improvements.
• Since Qualyx is explicitly described by its own developer as experimental, occasional bugs or inconsistent behavior between updates is normal for a project at this stage, rather than a sign something went wrong on your end specifically.