mmike87

Thanks!

I've searched this forum and the web, and found a few that seemed to have been pulled down. I am looking for IRIAF skins for either the AI F-14 or the paid module. I recall there being a skin available for the AI plane at one point (I've created missions with it a while back) but I'll be darned if I can get it to show up in the mission editor. Maybe my search terms are lacking, but if someone has a link to one of these skins, or an idea of why I can't get it to show up in the mission editor, I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

How did you get reShade working in VR? I installed it, selected Dx11 and OpenXr, and reShade opens and works in the mirror window but not in the headset?

I was able to spend more time with this update over the past weekend, and all I can say is, "Wow, what an improvement!" Running a Varjo Aero, 4090, 13900K (hyperthreading disabled, 5.6GHz all cores, undervolted), and 64GB DDR5 6800 and even with this hardware I had intermittent stutters and had to play around with settings to get good, smooth performance. My setup now: Aero at max resolution, locked at 45 FPS with motion smoothing enabled Running Varjo foveated with 1.0/1.4 settings DCS set to 1.4 DLAA enabled NO upscaling Trees, Grass, etc. set at about 3/4 to the right High details on textures Ultra viewing distance Primary and secondary shadows enabled and at high! Clouds and Water set to High SSAO and SSLR enabled nVidia pre-rendered frames set to 1, ultra latency, and the anti-aliasing set to enhance the game settings I limited my FPS to 50 in both the game and nVidia control panel (not sure this is right, but it seems to work great) Vertical syn in-game enabled I experience no frame drops or stuttering, even flying over Beirut on the Syria map. Everything is very smooth and consistent. There is a little ghosting close-up with fast-moving objects, but a little motion blur at speed up close is not unreasonable (or inherently unrealistic IMO). And - with all of this, I am still not GPU-limited at least according to the in-game display. I have bumped up the PPD higher but lowered it as it didn't seem to make much difference over where I have it now. I am still experimenting with how the focus area and peripheral areas with DFR and the in-game PPD (which is applied across the entire image I assume) play with each other. It seems odd to use both ... I would think I could leave the PPD at 1.0 and just adjust the DFR, but I have yet to find a combination that looks as sharp as what I have now. It's fun (I know, I am a bit sick in the head) playing around and experimenting with all the settings. One observation - I have tried Quad-views as I wanted to use The OXRTK to take advantage of the post-processing and FPS display features, however, no matter how I set it up, the performance was worse and the visuals were inferior. I know Varjo Foveated is a simpler configuration, but OOB it looks and performs better. I'd like to find a config for Quad Views that works as well, as I really miss the OXRTK. As far as the FPS limit and vertical sync go, opinions on the web are all over the place on this. But at least for me, right now - the above settings are killing it and are by far the best experience I have had with this game in VR so far.

FYI I tried this today, and copied in the new DLL from the nVidia SDK. I really didn't see a difference in overall quality, BUT with DFR enabled for my Aero, there was an odd, thin horizontal line of "noise" that tracked with my eyes at the bottom of what I assume is the primary focus area. Switched back to the shipping DLL that is part of the DCS install and the issue went away. I was using Varjo Foviated and not Quad Views, FWIW.

I was only able to free-flight for a bit in the F-18 and my initial thoughts are overwhelmingly positive. The F-18 feels different, but I will have to spend some more time with it to re-acclimate myself. As far as performance goes, I spent a lot of time dialing in my settings with my Aero/13900K/4090 and already had a pretty good experience ... but there was always still some micro-stutters sometimes. With this patch, everything seems smoother and more fluid. I will go back to a default config and re-optimize everything around this patch, but so far - the VR performance definitely seems improved!

I have trouble across the board with 6.x ReShade. I was running it with Baldur's Gate 3 and it crashed frequently. Downgrading to the last version 5 works great. I'm not sure 6 is ready for prime time.

I noticed recently that after I play Baldur's Gate 3 with reShade that DCS MT 2.9 is 15 - 20 FPS in VR. I've tried every remedy I can think of but only rebooting "fixes" DCS. I normally see 90 most of the time with my Aero/4090. Odd.

I don't believe there is going to be another Aero. They plan on offering the new XR4 to individuals at some point in the near-ish future I believe.

https://www.studioformcreative.com/product-page/varjo-vr-3-xr-3-counter-balance-comfort-kit-200-gram-7oz

I'm also a recent convert, and agree with your assessment. In regards to the vertical FOV ... I really only notice because the DFR is so good. I can't see the transition between the hi and low res areas myself. With the G2 I was so used to moving my whole head, so the FOV was never an issue. Particularly, I'd like more vertical FOV to improve my ability to glance down at the instruments and MFDs just with my eyes. I can do so somewhat ... But to get to the AMPCD on the 18 I still need to move my head to get down that far. For audio, I am using FIFINE "Studio Monitor" headphones ($30) that have a removable cable, and a short, coiled, angled wire, both from Amazon. The combo works great. I also had CTDT on DCS start 50% of the time, even after building a whole new system with the G2. I've not had a single crash with the Aero that was not related to a mod. Definitely invest the $35 in the comfort kit with the strap and counter weights. I could wear it all day. Overall, I'm very pleased. Not perfect, but very good

Has anyone else noticed that this mod seems to break the function of ships (and possibly more) after the latest Open Beta release? For example, if I choose one of the F-18 Carrier Takeoff missions, all the ships are missing and my F-18 just falls into the ocean. If I try and cycle through ships in the external view, all of them are missing from the mission. Disabling this mod solves the issue.

Confirmed... Grippen mod seems to be/the culprit.

You have a 4090? Are you CPU bound? I have a 13900k and a 4090 and get 90 with DLSS on Quality and DFR configured. I adjusted the outer ring down to .7 and the inner ring to I think 1.7. everything is razor sharp and I'm at 90 most of the time, but I leave MS on to handle the drops. I'm at 39 ppd in Varjo Base.

I know everyone's DCS experiences vary widely, but FWIW I simply used OvGME to install this and gave it a quick run. I see what everyone means about the fuselage hardpoint, but it's not a huge deal for a free mod IMO. I haven't had any issues whatsoever so far. I am going to install the liveries next. My assessment after 15 minutes in the air, so far is "nice job" and thanks for all the hard work putting this together!

It's a huge upgrade IMO. Better clarity across most of the view even without DFR, more adjustments for fit, better software, better performance, and no crashes on startup line I had with my G2. The FOV is fine ... IMO comparable to the G2. We can always use more FOV. Audio? I like the option of choosing. I bought the Conquest VR clip-ons and a $30 pair of light headphones with a 3.5mm jack and a $10 coiled short cable with angled connectors. Works great.

I uninstalled the WMR bits first. I disabled the openXR Toolkit for DCS as it's incompatible with the Varjo Foviated DFR software. Installed Varjo Base, went through the setup, and it worked. I then set up DFR and had crashes on start. I uninstalled it and reset my Nvidia settings to default and reinstalled Varjo Foviated and everything worked fine. Re-applied the Nvidia control panel and profile inspector settings and everything had been perfect ever since. In all about an hour including base station setup. No crashes when launching in VR ... Works every time, which I couldn't say for the G2.

You won't regret it. I did the same a few weeks ago. Very happy so far.

It's pricey, but it's also state-of-the-art. It'll probably take a year or two for consumer software and hardware to catch up. That said ... I'll give it a year and see where it goes. I mean, didn't Apple have a $1200 monitor stand at one point? LOL

I'm still on Windows 10 and have a fresh-ish install and a 13900K and have had no issues with DCS allocating threads to appropriate cores. I don't want to upgrade to Windows 11 yet -I have no reason to.

I think it's better in every way. However, from what I have gathered in my 9 months or so of being a self-proclaimed, wanna-be VR expert (LOL) everything really seems to vary from person to person. I think the distance that your eyes are from the lenses is likely one of the most important variables. I wish there were more faceplate options for many of these headsets. For example, in my G2 I can get significantly better visuals and FOV is I tighten it so that it's VERY snug on my face. It's uncomfortable, but the visuals are noticeably better. However, with the G2 it's hard IMO to make the fit repeatable from use to use. I love the adjustments on the Aero - I can get the adjustments where I want them, and to take it off back off two clicks on the temple adjustment and 1/2 turn on the knob at the back of my head. Easy to repeat it to come close to where I had it previously when putting it on. With the Aero there is no "sweet spot" per se if you're using DFR, and IMO there is no good reason not to unless you can't get it to work for some reason. Just like your real vision, the "sweet spot" is wherever you're looking. I got used to moving my whole head with the G2 and I am still trying to break that habit. The Aero (for me) only has some distortion right at the extreme edge, and I never notice it unless I look for it. My only big criticism of the Aero is the FOV - IMO it's comparable to the G2 and it's not bad - but more is always better I think. However, if it simply resulted in more pixels to render and poorer performance, I'll take the crystal-clear clarity, DFR, and 90 FPS "most of the time" performance over a slightly wider FOV. Everything is a trade-off, at least with the current state of technology.

We have an unwritten agreement ... she says nothing about my VR and various PC hardware addictions, and I pretend there is not a new package from The Real Real on the porch every week. I provide insight into my experience with the Varjo Aero simply to return the favor for all the posts and articles I read before I pulled the trigger. This is why I love PC gaming in general - there are so many combinations out there, that it's possible to really dial in your experience. That of course also brings frustrations, incompatibilities, etc. but that is the hidden cost of having options and choices. In regards to having "more money than sense" as ShaunOfTheFuzz so elegantly put it - well, he's entitled to his opinion. Back on topic ... an update on my Aero experience. So, far - still love it! It's much more stable than the G2 ever was, on this machine or my previous build. I would often start DCS in VR and the frame rate in the headset would be .5 - 1 FPS for some reason, so bad it was hard to actually navigate to exit the app and restart it. Not sure if it was the G2 or WMR, but regardless, this issue doesn't seem to happen at all with the Aero. I still sometimes get a crash on start, but it's less frequent. Not sure if that is due to recent updates to DCS or the Aero, or both. In regards to the audio - the Conquest VR solution sounds great. My first unit would intermittently lose audio in the right earpiece, however, Conquest promptly replaced the unit without question or drama. The product does 100% what it says it does, and it works well. I am torn between the Conquest and my old Steel Series Arctis 7 vintage ~2016. That headset has its own 2.4GHz base station is low-latency, avoids Bluetooth lag, and it's comfortable. It fits over the Aero perfectly. It does make it a two-step operation to take it on and off, BUT I also avoid the bulk to the Conquest units. Again, if the Aero had a ticker portion to clamp to, I think the Conquest would be held in place better, and despite the added bulk at least it wouldn't feel like it was going to come off. When I clamp it down towards the rear of the band, it's hard to get the earpieces centered and squared up over my ears due to the angle. The unit has a LOT of adjustability, but I still have found it awkward. It also adds a lot of bulk and heft to the headset and makes it a little more challenging to don/doff the headset without knocking the Conquest units off. They really seem designed to clamp onto something a little thicker than just the headband. I want to look for a lightweight headset with a boom mic that can plug into the Aero's jack to maintain positional audio. I think that will be the sweet solution for me. And, FWIW one of the integrated speakers on my G2 seemed to start to intermittently lose audio - seems like a loose connection or broken wire or whatnot. I'll try and see if I can take it apart and fix it ... BUT I would say one advantage of not having as many items integrated as it increases your ability to upgrade or affect repairs. So far, no regrets. Is the Aero the best there is? No idea. From what I gather from my considerable research, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder - and each headset has advantages and disadvantages. I would not have paid $2000 for an Aero, but my total lack of common sense tells me that at the new price point, it's competitive, especially given the build quality and the maturity of the software. And, the DFR combined with the aspheric lenses on the Aero makes it a winner if clarity is Job One for your needs. There may be "better" headsets, but in the words of Stephen Stills, I'll "Love the one I'm with".

mbucchia, thanks for the info and everything you do for this community.

I may try it again when I have some more time and play with the settings some more.

So, I had a chance to give this a shot. Quad-views installed correctly, and I was able to bring up the Toolkit normally after resetting to defaults. However, the DFR didn't seem as clear as Varjo Foveated. I played a bit with the settings, enabled the debug eye tracker, and verified that the tracking was working (the two dots appeared in the game and moved with my eyes). So, I went back to Varjo Foveated for now - it seems to provide the best clarity, at least to my eyes. Thanks!