Fuggzy

Did you ever find a solution for this? I would also like to reposition the IHADSS symbology downward. The target reticle is well above my line of sight, I have to tuck my chin to aim.

Still not fixed with OpenXR. I have my Quest2 system purring like a kitty now, high resolution and silky performance. 2x msaa, 1.5 PD. BUT -- only with Shadows = Off. Any other shadow setting completely tanks it. Cockpits are ugly as sin with no shadows, but I'm doing it.

Right Control + F2 is the default. If it's not coming up when you're in VR at the DCS main menu, it might still be running Oculus api and not OpenXR.

Hi @MHAce75 I think I know what you're talking about, if that vertical shade you see is on the sides - specifically the side you're turning quickly towards? The effect is like the scene isn't quite keeping up laterally, even though fps and performance is fine. In OTT I had set FOV at .8/.8 for a long time for the performance bump, but I discovered that by putting it back to 1.0 it got rid of that noise. My hypothesis is it's still there, but it's now beyond my view. It's still subject to overall performance, and whenever frames take a dive for whatever reason, the shade comes back.

The in-VR-session menu -- once you're in DCS, hit R-CNTRL+F2 and it should raise the OpenXR menu.

I can confirm it makes AIM-9x HMCS targeting in zoom mode not only usable, but fricken sweet too. That is the 1st thing I set out to test in the Viper. Can do now.

L@Justin1Ntime Yes, that! Star Trek Holodeck minus the gravity generator, that I can fly planes in.

Oh fer crying out loud, now we're entering the realm where I can't get away with this without buying her a fancy handbag from the nice mall. I do what I have to.

Earlier today I read here that DCS supports OpenXR natively, and it's easy enough to try, so I did. No changes to start checklist... I always run an OTT profile to get a tiny desktop resolution in DCS (free fps and hell if I know why) and ASW. It ran awesome on launch, maybe faster I dunno. But in fumbling through the OpenXR menu I saw Shakiness Reduction... tried -40% ... oh my. Cranked it to -100% and thought I was going to pass out. THIS is what I've wanted, a helmet display that doesn't track every single muscle fiber twitch in my toe. Just smooth and precise without me having to strain to stay still, like a TrackIR does it. Because the IHAADS is so prominent and necessary in the Apache, I'd all but given up flying it in VR because of the extremely annoying shake on it. Fixed with OpenXR! Now I can put the reticle right where I want it and hold it. Even better, this makes VR zoom usable! Before, it was so dang shaky when in zoom that it totally defeated the purpose. Imagine using binoculars while shivering...you'll see nothing. Now, I zoom in and the picture is nice and stable. Very happy that I gave OpenXR a whirl, just for that alone. Thank you to ED for adding support for it.

@Justin1Ntime Man thank you so much for the details. Now I'm even more intrigued about the wide opening. I'd love it for what you described aligning with HOTAS, do you think it might be feasible to arrange a couple of hardware MFDs so they also align with VR in the Apache/Viper/Hornet? I mean ... if that could work seamlessly then I am really going to go broke.

Not feasible for my purpose. One has to double-tap the side of the HMD, and then is presented with a grainy, B&W, low res image of the surroundings. It's good enough to momentarily see the physical space, but these cameras are purpose-built for tracking, not imaging. It is certainly not mixed-reality like others. Ok but then the real problem. Often I peep and put my finger on a key, and I leave it there until the second I want to click it without looking. To double-tap the headset and get back in game view, I'd have to then use the other hand. In summary, passthrough feature is a pos and barely usable.

And this is from Meta website, saying my major privacy concern with eye tracking shouldn't be an issue. Meta Quest Pro is the first in our innovation line of VR headsets. It comes with inward-facing sensors which enable the eye tracking feature. Eye tracking is used to make your avatar's eye contact and facial expressions look more natural during your virtual interactions with other users and to improve the image quality within the area where you are looking in VR. Eye tracking may also be used as an input, meaning you can interact with virtual content based on where you're looking. Eye tracking is not used to identify you. Eye tracking estimates the direction of where your eyes are looking, and images of your eyes never leave your headset and are deleted after processing. This means that neither Meta nor third-party apps can access these images. But my god they're so expensive -- my wife is going to be pissed.

Great post/thread @Justin1Ntime, thank you! I am currently in the holding pattern with a decent card (4070ti) and Quest2 (my only VR experience), wondering which headset will get me out of my binoculars in the sim. I assumed one with a huge FOV like a pimax and a monster 4090ti would do it, but the most compelling part of your review to me is your experience with the lenses. I assumed that it would feel bizarre to move the view with eyes and not head (I'm a TrackIR user for decades, since it was version 1). Since eye movement is actually moving the view in the headset, I just realized it'd replicate how our normal vision works -- wherever they aim is always the center of the visual field --- and holy crap that eye tracking thing must make it feel like you're no longer looking at the world through 1x binoculars. I have one question about the resolution of the tracking: how would you describe the precision and resolution? Does it feel lock-step connected to your eyeballs, or like a poorly-tuned TrackIR? (edit): Oh also, you mentioned how you can see out of the headset downwards at your RL body, did I understand that correctly? To me that'd be a godsend, I still occasionally need to see the keyboard and have developed the habit of craning my head upwards and peeping through the tiny opening by my nose to find a key. I think having an actual opening at only the bottom would be lovely. thank you again for taking the time to write up a thorough review on it, very helpful to others

Per tidbits on the web, I have tried getting OpenXR to work better than native Oculus in DCS, and I can't come anywhere close. I get best performance using OTT/Oculus. Bonus is it's the easiest method to setup and run.

Thought it was just me. I can't read the A-10 MFCD's at all in VR/DCS2.8 without moving my head down close to them. Other aircraft don't seem to be affected, or as.

I digress for a moment to stand back and marvel at the experience of VR in DCS. When it is working and fluid, it's a different beast altogether from when it was choppy and suffering. VR is VR, we all have similar expectations regarding "reality" in this context. What caught me by surprise is that after flying for a couple of weeks, and I mean flying all my aircraft obsessively, I've observed a new level of realism comes with getting the FPS and system super fluid - no microstutters or anything amiss. With all motion flawless and connected with tiny movements, it FEELS real. It feels like I'm part of the jet, and am there. I get butterflies on big maneuvers. Sometimes in the middle of big WWII furballs my brain will decide that it knows I should be feeling G's right now, so ... here ya go, Imagination Station, make him weigh 800 pounds in his game chair, until he comes back to reality. I'm really astonished at the cumulative experience of VR in DCS when it runs well, I can only imagine with monster hardware pushing better resolutions that it's my childhood dream come true. I'm kinda old, btw, I've been wanting Holodeck for a very long time.

This is a good question. in DCS for my VR "custom3" config, I've always had it set to the lowest value that DCS presents, which I think is 1200x1020. ?? If memory serves, I think I did get some performance improvement doing that. But when I noticed that by using a profile in OTT that one can expose a setting to choose 800x600, I figured why not try the least graphical loading possible, right? The result was a performance gain far exceeding any expectations I had. I think that it's either 800x600 is just so much lighter that it makes the difference, or doing it through OTT is doing it differently -- like maybe scaling the entire windows desktop environment down and not just the sim.

I assume that yes, this will hose the ability to capture VR mirror at high resolution. I've never tried making VR videos and didn't test it, but it'd be great to know from someone that does record VR vids with Oculus if it's still possible to capture high resolution video with an intentionally gimped desktop resolution like this.

Hi @Tusk.V I've tried it off/on, but am not sure what it actually does or if it makes any difference on my system. Performance and image seem the same to my eyes. I have the NVIDIA driver setting for Image Scaling set to "Off" globally, which I *think* is the same as Adaptive GPU. So it's possible that my setting it on in OTT isn't doing anything in the first place... something to test more. AFAIK, this function deals with scaling images to correct aspect ratio differences, to help sharpen the overall image more. But I'm talking all hypothesis here, not sure tbh. You have me more curious now At this point I need to take the recommendation to get CapframeX and peck-out the truly optimal settings combo between Oculus, OTT, and Nvidia driver settings. Then type it all up clearly and concisely, if I can.

So happy that somebody else found the same smooth-as-butter result, there @RuskyV To briefly recap my latest settings that give me performance: Oculus - 72Hz, max resolution (slider all the way right) OTT - ASW at 30hz, Supersampling/PD at 1.0, FOV multiplier .80 on both, Adaptive GPU=1, Mirror=0, and the most important setting of all: Desktop resolution = 800x600 (in profile) DCS - everything as low, lean, and mean as I can get it -- except MSAA=2x and Anisotropic filter = 16x Then, make sure to start everything up in the right sequence so that OTT is really used. In all aircraft and cases, I'm holding a rock-solid 24FPS, AWS takes care of the ghosting, all dials/displays are completely legible, and I know it sounds crazy... but that 24FPS truly feels like 60FPS without any micro stuttering or hiccups at all. Fast movement doesn't phase it. This is all with an RTX2060 Super card. The day I get my mitts on 24GB video card might be the day I can add high textures and "stuff" back in. Until then, this is quite playable.

Hi @diamond26 -- Wow you were right, I got some very interesting (and pleasing) results testing different Oculus refresh rates. First, all my numbers above were with Oculus at 120Hz, full resolution. And in all these tests, I keep resolution maxed: 90Hz - I'd say the average FPS goes up a bit, but there is some strange flicker at that rate with the Apache's rotor that bothers me. Other than that, it's the same as 120Hz to my eyes and the FPS improved maybe by 2. 80Hz - This provides a very stable 40 FPS in the F-16. Almost as stable in the Apache, but looking at the FPS and Frametime lines on the graph, FPS is kind of jittery. But this felt very smooth. 72Hz - Solid 36 FPS, no deviations. Still some minor little spikes up/down on frametimes, and an occasional hiccup on FPS that just shows as a blip on the graph. Very good. Then I added ASW into the mix: 90Hz w/ ASW at 45 -- It rendered 45 FPS in the game menu, but FPS was all over the map in the game. Large spikes, FPS really can't maintain 45 but more like 40. That was the worst combo yet, very choppy and bad. 72Hz w/ ASW at 30 -- THIS IS THE SAUCE. When I first launched in, I almost bailed out at the game menu... it showed 24FPS. 24??? I expected 30. But I went ahead and fired up the Viper anyways, and had my socks knocked off. I had never used ASW before because I never could get enough baseline FPS to use it. But like this, it is absolutely the smoothest experience I've had in DCS VR yet. I know 24 FPS sounds like crap, but the thing is that it never deviates from 24 a single frame up or down, in Viper or Apache, in cities, shooting stuff, everything is solid. The framerate and frametime graphs are completely solid lines, no jiggles. Best of all, it fixed the bad ghosting. Now I can look out the side fast on the deck, and actually make out objects clearly as they whiz by me. This alone makes the whole experience a million times better to my brain! This is just awesome. After I've spent the next week tweaking more stuff to get the most out of it, I'll post a concise settings list for anyone that might be interested. Happy, happy day.

Thank you for the thoughtful reply, @diamond26 Good to know about the link cable, it's such a pain to plug in when it's on my head -- like trying to plug in something behind the couch. I definitely need to use CapframeX or something similar to get better analysis. And that's a good idea to try 90Hz on the Oculus and compare! Prior to now, when performance was in the toilet, I didn't use ASW at all because I couldn't maintain 30 FPS, and enabling it at 30 created a stuttery effect that would get worse over time. But now that my system can breathe... I think I'll play with Oculus/ASW at 90/45, 80/40, heck maybe 72/36 if it's rock solid might be best. I'll probably write another wall of text on that.

I'm sorry, I actually did leave out an important instruction. After I click the DCS icon on my desktop to start it, I immediately click the DCS icon that spawns in the taskbar so that it's highlighted. This ensures it's in focus.

I want to share a huge performance boost that I bumbled into and can reproduce reliably. I have a pretty low end system for running VR, and after about 9 months of tweaking every possible thing, it's finally playable with this one trick. Dang. System summary: Core i9-10980XE @ 3.0 -4.1Ghz 32GB NVMe RAM RTX 2060 Super, 8GB of VRAM Pretty low-end card for VR yes? 8GB just isn't much, neither is the 20 series. But as long as I keep all in-game textures Low, Shadows off, trees low, anything that requires loading more VRAM, I can make it workable. That brings up my premise here -- I'm trying to get maximum FPS/fluidity and stutter-free as possible while in VR. Don't care about eye-candy yet. Here was the situation, the Oculus setting and DCS result before I began: FRESH install of DCS, because I moved all my licenses for many reasons from Steam over to ED. Note that I still had crap performance even after I reinstalled native DCS, that wasn't what helped framerates. I bring it up because I am making the change and getting these stellar results with a completely vanilla, mod-free installation of the latest DCS 2.8 - there is nothing else to complicate my test. DCS in-game settings are all turned down to be as fast as possible. - Low textures, sliders low, shadows Low, etc. The only exceptions are MSAA = 2x and Anisotropic Filter = 16x, I always have those on regardless because they make it visually bearable. Oculus Quest2 -- Using Link Cable to a truly 1Gbps USB3.0 card, Oculus Menu settings at 120Hz, Res Slider all the way to the right. Yes...to the highest resolution possible. Baseline using these: F-16 Viper, Caucasus, Instant Action - Takeoff and Apache AH-64D, Caucasus, Instant Action -- Runway takeoff (also, I'm using only the ingame FPS/Frametime Counter to measure) Before change: In-game menu: 45FPS solid line F-16 in game: Avg of 32 FPS, dips into 27 near cities/units, max of 45 at altitude looking up through canopy. Micro stutters frequent, in all phases. Apache in game: Avg of 29 FPS, dips as low as 19 near units/fires/smoke, max of 34...never saw higher than that in many hours and missions. Micro and macro stutters abound. After change: In game menu: 90FPS solid line F-16 in game: Solid avg of 45 FPS, dips to maybe 40 while on the runway looking at the city ahead. After takeoff and a little bit of altitude it averages 60FPS with a Max of 84 FPS looking up. No stutters at all. It feels as fluid as water in all phases, I love it! Apache in game: It holds a solid 43-45 FPS in all situations except in the middle of burning fires and smoke, where it dips to maybe 38 at the lowest. This is remarkable considering I was seeing FPS in high teens before....awful. It gets a Max of 62 FPS when at high alt and looking down away from the rotor, but it just never dips down low enough to notice it lagging in just about any phase of flight. I can fly it so much smoother and better, it feels like butter. Best of all, it looks good -- very playable to me. Someday I'll throw a 24GB card at it and then make it really pretty. But everything is clear, crisp, I can read all gauges in the Viper and Apache just fine. What's the secret? Desktop resolution size, basically. I was unwittingly running mine full-bore for the last year, and I assume that it's been sapping resources from VR. Once I found this way to definitely force re-size it and use a specific start procedure, I come into the game with hugely better performance. Most importantly, I can reproduce it at will and turn the performance gain on and off by only modulating the desktop resolution size here in Oculus Tray Tool (OTT) profile. In OTT, as far as I can tell there is only one way to do that -- create a Profile for the DCS executable, and use that Profile. I was always just setting the main menu settings of OTT and running it, but if you use a Profile you can activate two important features at the red arrows below. Audio confirmation box -- a nice lady informs you when OTT recognizes DCS launch so that you know your Profile is applied -- after all, you're in an HMD and can't look. Desktop Resolution -- The first time I saw this box it was set to my real desktop resolution of 3440 x 1440. I changed it to the smallest possible, 800x600, and eureka! -- THAT is the performance gain. I think now DCS is not trying to render the 2D desktop game at highest resolution and stack it onto VR load, and at 800x600 it's not a bad drain? Seems plausible to me. null One last super important thing. There is literally only one way to make sure this works, at least for me, after changing it. I swear the Oculus will cache Link settings inside the HMD and it caused me a lot of frustration as random changes didn't seem to affect anything. So, as a general method to make your life easier, after making any change to Link, disconnect Link cable entirely and then restart the HMD. Doing this makes sure all Link configurations get reset. If you want to just try what I did and quickly see if it does anything for you, I highly recommend doing it like this: Shutdown Quest app and hardware, disconnect Link cable (this is important) Launch OTT, Create a profile as above. I haven't tested any settings like ASW, SS >1.0 yet but like I said... this is barebones yet very playable and a good place to start. On the main page, my key Link settings are: 2912 Encoding width, bitrate 150, Sharpening Enabled Save that profile by closing the Profile window and then hitting Save on the main OTT menu. Recycle it with the Services tab for good measure. Close OTT and Oculus app. Delete all files in \Users\you\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\fxo and metashaders2 folders. It may not matter if you skip it, but I hypothesize that it actually is important in this procedure to make sure DCS rebuilds them cleanly within VR/desktop combo environment. Reboot PC Once you've done all that one time, this is how you're going to launch DCS every time. Launch procedure: Launch OTT. Hit View/Edit Profiles and put a checkmark on DCS if it's not already there, verify the 800x600 setting is still there, and close the Profile window. Either Start or Recycle the Oculus service from the Service and Startup tab of OTT, probably best to just recycle it in all cases before next steps. Make sure Oculus App closes and reopens when you recycle. (NOTE: for me, sometimes OTT crashes at this point, I don't know why. I just start it again, recycle again, and make sure it stays running after it shows Status as a green UP in the Service tab.) Minimize all desktop windows including OTT and Oculus App. Do NOT close or exit them, just minimize them to bar. Remember it's going to run your desktop in 800x600, so if you get another window in front of DCS it can ruin your session. No windows showing on the desktop here = no future trouble. Put on Quest2 HMD, start it up. Once it's at "home", and only then, plug in the Link cable. You'll see an info bar let you know Link is ready. Launch Oculus Link with your controller as usual. Once into the infinite white world of Link, immediately shutoff Explore and have it where it's just you, the infinite plane, and the oculus Dash bar in front of you. Then point and click the Desktop button on the dash to enter your PC desktop in VR. It is REALLY important that you do not launch DCS from the Oculus Explorer or Library or anything other than from the PC desktop, via VR. There is something about clicking the DCS icon on your PC desktop with the mouse - while in VR - that can make or break this, at least in my tests. TL;DR - You want to click the DCS icon that's on the desktop, using your mouse (not Quest controller), to launch DCS. When DCS launches, you'll first hear the nice lady report that the OTT profile is active and you'll see part of your PC desktop - at 800x600 with giant icons, is the initial VR splash screen. That will have the DCS launch splash almost entirely filling it up. Get excited right now because it's working for you, the VR version of your desktop is truly rendering at a super fast, low resolution now! Once the in-game menu loads, hit R-Ctrl + Pause and look at the menu framerate. It might be much better here, maybe not. But fire up the same mission you baselined before doing all this (haha you did pre-test right?) and tell me if it helped you, I'm super curious! I suspect that older/lesser cards like mine will see most benefit. If you did all this and it doesn't improve, you might've already had your desktop rendering at a decently low setting. Remember that I went from my highest 2K resolution to 800x600 ... from one end of the spectrum to the other. I imagine that your own results will vary depending on how big this delta is for you. I'm very tickled. I can fly lookin really good in VR at 45 FPS or greater all day now.

I need to make sure I'm understanding correctly, @Fiztex -- I just can't run some SP stuff if it's got too many units, like any of the WWII campaigns. Would running a server on a different machine and playing in VR from main PC make it possible? And this draws attention to it being a CPU bottleneck, no? I can't figure that out as I thought my CPU ( i9-10980XE extreme edition) shouldn't be part of the equation -- maybe it is. I think I'd like to try what you're cookin'.