ShaunX

That's worrying. I'm kinda teetering on the edge of running the update as I'd love to see the improvements...but, my VR experience is damn near perfect at the moment (due in no small part to this thread) and I really don't want it spoiled ! I do have the disk space to do a seperate install but never tried that before. Maybe I'll read up on it while the dust settles and in the meantime I'll run some FPSVR baselines on 2.7.6 with clear water vs simplex 2.0 so I can do a comparison when I take the plunge. ..actually, are they just reporting -10 FPS because their shaders mods don't work anymore ? in which case Simplex may be the cure.

Thanks brother. Feel better soon!

Why ? Because I had to get creative and do a spot of DIY ?

Sorry to hear that mate, I remember you said you were fighting off a cold a few weeks back, so did it turn out to be COVID ? Here's wishing you a speedy recovery! Would you happen to have a copy of Simpex 2.0 ? Looks like only 2.1 is available in user files. .. or is 2.0 just 2.1 without the -- Compose.hlsl commented out ?

So I guess the question is - is clear water with metashaders commented out more performant than Simplex ? .. and still worth the additional rebuild time ? Also interested as to why IC pass still works as it still has grass.fx and grass2.fx in metashaders Haven't had the opportunity to upgrade DCS yet to try it I'm afraid.

I can recommend this solution for VR if you're a rightie. The trackball is hotglued to the joystick. It looks fragile but hotglue is amazing at creating an instant rock solid bond over a small surface area but can also be removed again with a sharp twist and doesn't leave any residue (ask any woodworker who makes temporary jigs). The trackball is excellent and is an "ELECOM Relacon Wireless trackball mouse" which has 9 assignable buttons and track speed setting. Not widely available but I can see there are a few on ebay at the moment. It's a short, reliable movement from my joystick grip to trackball, thumb on the ball and scrollwheel, and there are 2 triggers on the front of it (not in the photo) for left and right buttons, so my grip and fingering is essentially the same as on the joystick. Equally, you could hot glue to your throttle I guess (forget duct tape !)- of course you'll need a hot glue gun but they're pretty cheap.

She's a beauty. I asked because she is the double of our male Wegie (inexplicably named Brian). My profile pic is actually him at 3 months

Very nice..looks very sturdy! Is that a Norwegian Forest Cat in the background ?

If you're going to start modding, the first thing you should obtain is a mod manager. This is a tool which allows you to apply mods with a click and to also safely remove them without impacting your DCS implementation...which you will need to do whenever you're going to update DCS version. Most of us use OvGME, available here with instructions for its use. Note, when you're setting it up that you'll need to define 2 profiles in OvGME, one which points to your Saved Games DCS folder and one which points at your DCS game installation folder. Mods like this one and the 2.7 shaders mod need to go under the latter profile as they add/replace files in the DCS Installation folder.structure. Others, like Aircraft mods add files to the Saved Games folder structure so go under the former. If you have DCS Openbeta 2.7.6 make sure you implement the "2.7.6 Hotfix" version from the link below as there are issues with the original in this version..

True. Second vid is through the headset - demonstrates visual quality but not performance unfortunately.

Amazing clarity aside, in the first vid, he's flying low over Guam in the Marianas without reprojection at 40-50FPS with zero apparent ghosting! With my G2 and 3090 I have to enable Kegetys and FSR to achieve that. How's that possible ? Is is because there's no WMR or SteamVR involved and it's natively supported by DCS perhaps ?

..they now have a link to register to "witness the unveiling" on their site.. https://varjo.com/product-updates/varjo-launch-event-october-2021/?utm_source=var-referral&utm_medium=systmactv&utm_campaign=systmactv-referral&__s=zqyeza6b3ev1oszl24ge

Weird. I have to press left Alt+Enter to fill the screen with the DCS VR View (i.e. fullscreen mode). Try left ALT+Enter to see if it toggles back to the central area. FYI, its actually been demonstrated that you get better VR performance when in fullscreen mode so no bad thing.

..and to re-arm the Laser Target Designator after each rifle I've actually got that mapped to my hotas to save me craning my neck over in my VR headset every time.

Shaders mods need to go in your actual DCS.Openbeta game installation folder, NOT your Saved Games\DCS.openbeta folder. Go into OvGME and create a new profile. Call it "DCS Live" or something like that and point it at your actual DCS.openbata game installation folder. You'll also define a new folder for that profile to store all its mods. Place the shader mod in that folder. When you open OvGME, select the new profile and you'll just see the shader mod. When you enable it, OvGME will place it in the DCS.openbeta instalation folder structure. So going forward, you store aircraft, terrains and tech mods in the saved games profile folder, and shader mods (and things like FSR and Reshade) in your new DCS Live profile folder You just need to be careful when you download a mod to check its folder structure. It'll be obvious which OvGME profile it needs to go in (The shader mod has bazar\shaders structure so obviously goes in the Live DCS profile as that structure only exists in the DCS.openbeta installation folder)

I actually find the laser mavs far easier to deploy than MAVFs with the ATFLIR (and only a 30 second cooldown). They lock onto a beam almost immediately and consistantly when uncaged in range. Worth a try if you can rearm in the campaign ? I find the best way to find and lock a target is to fly on a parallel course 5-10 miles to the right of the area I know it's in (as I usually have the ATFLIR on the left cheek). This gives me more time to find it and if I go too far past and the FLIR gets masked then I just turn 90 degrees towards and I'm parallel again. That way you have plenty of time while maintaining 5-10 miles out. I'll then try to spot and use the JHMCS to roughly designate and then fine tune on the ATFLIR DDI with the TDC, before turning in and uncaging the mav. This method also works great to circle a moving convoy and pick them off one by one with laser mavs. For moving vehicles I do find ATFLIR struggles to engage auto track mode above about 12,000 feet, but that might just be me. No idea if this is the correct method but it works for me.

Just happened to be reading the manual and noticed this note in the "New in this Version" section at the top. I don't fly the F14 so not sure what this means.. Tomcat pilots’ reminder: from plugin version 2.5.23 onwards to enable/disable ICS Hot Mic you must use the in-cockpit switch; selecting hot mic in the configuration window is no longer applicable

You need the new Hotfix version, S-o-H has posted at the top of this thread I believe it's exactly the same as Clear Water but has Speedtrees 5.1 commented out (i.e. addressing the error you're seeing above).

Seems unlikely as I haven't installed the latest patch yet. My issue ONLY occurs after I've used the "Options" Viacom voice command to override the fact that I've got menus disabled. Are you sure that you haven't got that TX Viacom radio button also assigned to the comms menu in DCS settings ? - either in general settings or for the aitcraft you're flying ? Do you have the ‘Disable Menus’ option selected on the Viacom Preferences tab ?

When I started using Viacom I was using TrackIR, headphones and a decent studio microphone. I spent hours training MS Speech rec to understand me, messed around with settings and mic levels (even tried the "recognise non-native accents" option) but couldn't achieve better than a 50% success rate in Viacom. I still have a Northern English (Geordie) accent (even though I haven't lived there for 30 years!) so I just assumed Microsoft (like much of the US) thinks everyone in England speaks English like the Queen Then I got my Reverb G2, and a new build (so MS Speech untrained) and Viacom immediately started getting everything I say in the headset first time ! Doesn't make any sense but I'm not complaining

I always fly with the ‘Disable Menus’ option in Preferences selected, but have the "Options" command enabled. I then only call "options" if I need to execute mission specific F10 commands via "Take 10" etc. What I've noticed however, is that once I've used the Options command once in a mission, menus then appear to have become enabled again, such that the menu pops up with relevent options during comms with an ATC for example. Am I missing something ?

If I may throw another option into the new build pot... Although earlier posts are quite rightly suggesting that it might be very wise to wait for Intel's Alder Lake with DDR5 to hit the market, concerns have also been raised over initial price and initial DDR5 availability/compatability and even how much perfromance increase this will actually give in DCS. All unknown factors until the dust settles. An alternative would be to go for an AMD build. The Ryzen 9 5900X and 5950Xs are arguably, currently the fastest gaming processors around. I personally have a 5900X with a 3090 and Reverb G2 and can testify that it's VR performance in DCS with high graphics settings is excellent with no overclocking required. AMD, like Intel, will be bringing out a new line of even faster architecture (Zen 4) which will support DDR5 and which, like Intel, will undoubtedly require new motherboards. However, they're unlikely to be available for another year/18 months at minimum and in the meantime, they're planning to start producing 3D V-Cache variants of their 5000 series cpus which have demonstrated a further 15% average gaming performance boost. So there's an upgrade path on their existing x570 motherboards should you need one. https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/amd-unveils-more-ryzen-3d-packaging-and-v-cache-details-at-hot-chips https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amds-prototype-zen-cpu-delivers-15-gaming-boost-and-will-be-in-production-by-the-end-of-the-year/ Just some further food for thought. Life is short. Carpe Diem

Assume you've installed Steam, Steam VR and WMR for SteamVR ? You need all 3. Once done.. Run the Steam app. Bottom left hand corner, "Add a Game", "Add a non-Steam game" and add DCS.. It should now appear in the left panel. (I add it to favourites) Open its properties and tick "Include in VR Library" Now you'll see it in your Steam VR library when you run Steam VR and you can run it from there. Doing this also lets you set Steam VR options specifically for DCS , such as resolution and motion smoothing. That said, after doing the above you shouldn't need to run Steam VR first to run DCS. When your headset is powered and WMR is running, if you run DCS from your desktop Steam VR will recognise it and load in the background automatically.

Getting the best out of your G2 in DCS can be a challenge. This is the best thread on the subject in these forums in my opinion. Highly Recommended..

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-reality/enthusiast-guide/using-steamvr-with-windows-mixed-reality