Glide

That sounds like a leak, and given that it's reproducible ED is no doubt working on it along with the shader cache issue. These issues can't be solved with a settings tweak. I've got my system running great at 4k, so I know it's going to be fabulous when it's fixed. I've been spelunking in the old forums on this issue, so I know it's been a frustrating wait for awhile now. The fixes are coming fast and furious now, so I hope the wait won't be much longer.

Well, I believe there are challenges to the shader cache at the high resolutions needed by VR and 4k. My settings "minimize the challenges" of the shader cache and let the card go as fast as it can so you have a snowball's chance of getting the FPS you need. There really should be no difference because the VR headset is just another set of monitors to the video card. The problem is that VR wants 90FPS at very high resolutions. That's a tall order from a flight sim.

Good article on some parts of this stack: https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-vrss-a-zero-effort-way-to-improve-your-vr-image-quality/ The MSAA Mask option puzzles me. I don't use any AA in my settings, so would that option be ignored?

I am not sure that thread is conclusive on a VRAM leak. I think they are saying they "hit a VRAM wall" that drops FPS suddenly, but it seems they cleared it up by taking the weight off the settings. The OP's problem is very unusual, and I suspect it's disk related. By moving shader cache up to memory it may solve his strange issue. Next step would be new SSD so DCS can live on it's own drive. If VR VRAM handling is broken then its a waiting game for the fix, but I have never seen a memory issue yet.

It might be very hard to see on those small VR screens. Tearing is where you have small slanted lines across the cockpit as the screen draws. Low Latency = Ultra is supposed to limit predrawn frames to zero. ON is supposed to be one predrawn frame, and OFF allows frames to queue up. It makes sense that Ultra would drop the odd frame and cause a tear. I believe this is similar to Virtual Reality Pre-Rendered Frames. Leave VR Pre-Rendered Frames at 1 with your CPU because it can feed your GPU easily. I have the i7-7700 CPU and it's got no problems keeping up. I think Low Latency Mode might just provide more consistent frame rates by acting like a governor on the pipeline engine. Let us know if you spot any difference in the G2. I was running smooth as silk for months before I even noticed this option in an Nvidia truning article. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/system-latency-optimization-guide/

BTW, I am not convinced Low Latency Mode = Ultra is the best option. I see tearing in the cockpit on Ultra. I have noticed the card works harder when Low Latency Mode = OFF. I am experimenting with Low Latency Mode = On now. No tearing so far.

Nice work! Gonna get written up for that one! I love the smoggy camera affect.

These are my settings overall for my 1080Ti, and they are totally AWESOME! I hope this helps.

You will get long loading times at "Wating for Pooled Task 1" the first time you load each map. If you explode and reload the mission, the second time the load will be short.

Your 1080Ti is a great card (same one here) and one of the few that has 11GB of VRAM. You can get some miles out of it yet. Check out the posts on turning the Shader Cache OFF in the NCP. This moves the Shader Cache from disk to memory, and you have room for it with that rig. Also turn your Terrain Textures to Low for now as there may be issues with higher resolutions and the shader cache. I run at 4k, and I find this eliminates some stuttering for now. I am sure improvements are on the way for this issue, but for now many are finding improvements with this strategy. How much disk space left on that SSD? Doesn't take long to eat that up if you are running on the same disk as the OS. I have DCS on it's own drive. Watch out for network or cloud drives. If you use Tacview, put your Tacview drive in a location where OneDrive or User Permissions cannot create havoc. I put them in their own directory on C:.

You don't need ED to tell you. Just sample the community and look at the ratio. Run a poll to see how many have each and both. Or look at the posting numbers on the forum. 95k to 32k Hornet over Viper gives some sense of how interest is splitting.

Take the great visibility and handling of the P-51 Mustang, give it jets and computers, and you've got the F-16. The bubble canopy makes it feel like riding a motorcycle or a magic carpet at 20000 ft. I know it's supposed to be multi-role but there are better birds to fly for ground pounding. Dogfighting is the sweet spot for the Viper, IMHO. You just can't beat a bubble canopy.

Solved. Deleted options.lua and restarted. Menu options for SSAA returned.

IKR, how much fun would that be!

Along the same lines, will the reservoirs have varying levels of water in them depending on the season?

You should check out the AI Darpa fights on youtube:

You want the Su-27 and Mig-29S. Bad boys. Not sure how you set up your dogfights, but guns only is one option. Short range missiles with ROE to restrict fire zones is another good one. I like to wade into a furball with 4 Blue AI buddies against 5 or 6 Red AI's. Your F-14 is designed for BVR engagement more than dogfighting. I have the module myself, so I'll drop one in a mission and see if it can keep up.

I love kicking AI butt! Try the Mig-21Bis. I don't put those nasty fellows in my missions anymore unless I want a long gunfight. They can out-turn the F-16 every time.

That's normal. The GPU is doing all the work.

BTW, I started on Steam and moved to Standalone for OpenBeta. I uninstalled Steam to make room for Stable. Could this be related to my issue?

I decided to install Stable (separate drive from OpenBeta), and I noticed that SSAA is not available as an option at 4k in Stable. The dropdown only shows OFF. I thought this was a Stable feature, but now I can't tell. It seems to be the same in OpenBeta. Is anyone else seeing this?

I can turn the stutters on and off at will by simply flipping the terrain textures from High to Low. Try this. Launch a mission where you start at Beirut. As soon as you spawn in the cockpit, turn your head back and forth across the city. It will stutter like crazy, but it will get better after 2 or 3 turns of the head. This is the shader cache thrashing to get shaders into memory for all the geometry that is coming into the viewport. Turn the terrain textures to low, and I can turn my head without stutters at all. This is because the shaders are in memory waiting to be called. It's broken.

Same issue here. No problem with Stable.

I believe we are trying to help our fellow flyers have a better experience, the same great experience we are having. As for empirical data, I am sure ED has people who get paid to do that stuff. I'm happy with my settings now, and I've shared them, hopefully for the betterment of everyone. I find DCS is more fun without the FPS counter on. Thanks for the feedback. Cheers and fly safe.