mmike87

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 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!

Well, you're right ... This is an expensive hobby for sure. As for the Quest, I'll NEVER under any circumstances by anything made by Facebook or Apple, for reasons I won't go in to. As for being a "good value" ... Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And, IMO the Aero looks goooooood.

Ok, thanks for the heads-up. I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Hi, I am a new Aero user (posted my First Impressions last week) and so far I am really happy with it. But, I enjoy tweaking to achieve the best results. I am currently using Varjo-Foveated for DFR and it's working great. However, it's incompatible with Open XR Toolkit, and I miss some of the features it provided, such as the nicer (IMO) FPS/Latency display, post-processing tweaking, etc. Supposedly, switching to Quad-Views-Foveated instead of Varjo-Foveated allows the continued use of Open XR Toolkit. Before I mess with a working configuration, I wanted to check if anyone is using Quad-Views-Foveated for DFR with the Aero and confirm that OXRTK does indeed work. And, if so - did anyone notice any performance difference (good or bad)? If not, I'll try it when I get back from my trip and report my results back here, but I wanted to check, like I said - before I mess with a working configuration, as we all know how easy it is to end up with hours of troubleshooting. https://github.com/mbucchia/Varjo-Foveated/wiki https://github.com/mbucchia/Quad-Views-Foveated/wiki Thanks, all.

I tried that originally... Then moved to unlocked. There is a tiny stutter when reprojection kicks in ... But honestly I don't notice it unless I'm looking for it, so I've been flying unlocked.

IMO the Aero's reprojection seems smoother and has less artifacts and shimmering, at least to my eyes. That said, with the DFR I don't find myself below 90 nearly as often, anyway. I still have some things I want to play around with to see if I can squeeze some more out of it.

Glad to see everyone's getting their Aeros. So far, my experience continues to be overwhelmingly positive. I do miss some of the tweaks from the open XR tool kit. It's my understanding that if I'm using dynamic foviated rendering that I can't use it. I particularly miss the FPS counter that also showed the CPU and GPU latencies. The DCS FPS counter doesn't seem as informative, unless I'm missing something. Are there there any alternatives to the open XR tool kit FPS counter that provides similar functionality that would be compatible with dynamic flovated rendering?

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I tried it the 45 FPS option with motion smoothing initially and it worked great IMO. I ran OXRTK reprojection locked on 45 FPS the G2 as even the 4090 was unable to maintain 90 FPS natively with good visuals. For me, clarity is king and I ran my G2 at 150% with DLSS "Quality" (I know it's an undersample and oversample, but it worked and produced excellent results). On the G2, I also tried 60Hz with no MR and even with DLSS it would sometimes dip below 60 resulting in terrible stuttering. DLAA seemed to take care of most of the MR artifacts for me on the G2, but it just seems that for whatever reason the G2 (maybe WMR?) just has trouble maintaining consistent framerates. I then moved on the Aero to the "unlocked" mode with smoothing and I think I am leaving it here. MOST of the time, the FPS is at 90 and MR is off. Only when in urban areas flying low typically does it drop to 45 FPS with smoothing enabled. Honestly, they both look great and I don't notice a big difference at all, and unless I watch for it I don't notice the transition at all. The Aero is much more able to hold consistent framerates, especially with DFR. And, I have not noticed ANY microstutters, which even after hours of tinkering, process lasso, etc. I was never able to rid the G2 of 100% of the time. That said, my earlier statement on crashes is no longer true. I have had a couple of startup crashes with the Aero now, but they are exactly the same as with the G2 so it's not the headset. It's also not my PC given I had the same symptoms with my previous build. For me, the startup crashes started with one of the late July builds of DCS and have continued ever since.

13900K with a 4090 and 64GB DDR5-6400. I run Windows on a Samsung 990 M2 and DCS and MSFS on a 980 M2.

I started DCS in VR earlier in the year and was able to snag a G2 new on Amazon for under $400. I was generally pretty pleased with the G2's clarity but soon found myself wanting more. G2 Likes: Great clarity Inside-out tracking, at least for me, was flawless 99% of the time Light and comfortable IMO Value for the money ... IMO still the best value for sims and a good gateway drug G2 Disliked: The FOV was not great, like looking through a tube The colors, even with tinkering via OXRTK post-processing, always seemed a little washed out WMR just leaves a lot to be desired. I frequently had issues where the framerate on the headset after starting DCS would be like .5 to 1 FPS. I could restart DCS (sometimes several times) and then it would be fine and work all day. I built a new system from scratch a few months ago, and it did the same on the new system as well. Not sure if it's the headset of WMR. DCS would often crash on start as well. It was comfortable, but a little more adjustability would be nice I ran the G2 for a few months and was already on the prowl for "better" once I knew I was hooked. I teetered back and forth between the Pimax Crystal and the Aero. The Areo's $2000+ investment was a real turn-off. And, I was apprehensive about the base station requirements, drilling holes in walls to mount, etc. It all just seemed like an expensive PITA. However, when the price of the Aero was basically cut in half, the equation changed. The Pimax seemed like it had some things going for it, but it still just looks HUGE and the battery requirement, IMO is just frankly stupid and ultimately landed the Crystal in the "no thanks column". I ordered the Aero and two base stations and in about 3 weeks I had everything. Varjo charges your card ~5 days before shipment, and they charged me a few days after I ordered. It shipped and arrived exactly when they said it would. The base stations shipped separately and arrived about a week later. This could have been made clearer during the ordering process but at the end of the not a big deal. I uninstalled the WMR OXR apps first but left OXRTK installed. For the base stations, I saw someone suggest using adjustable shower curtain rods and cheap Amazon clamp-on camera mounts. IMO this is the perfect solution - the rods clamp between the floor and ceiling, I can wrap the power wire around the black rods, and I can move it around wherever I want. Highly recommend this solution if you don't want to wall-mount or want the flexibility to re-arrange in the future. I also bought a cheap 4-pack of smart plugs and use them to power the two base stations and the headset. I have an Alexa routine "VR On" and "VR Off" to control their power. The setup of the base stations was pretty straightforward. You just plug them in and Steam VR just seems to pick them up and they just work. From the Varjo website, you'll create a simple account and verify it. You can then download the Varjo Base software. I installed the Varjo Base software. The hookup instructions for the Aero was basically a picture where everything hooks up - basically exactly the same as the G2 aside from the fact that it's a USB A connector instead of C. If you know anything about setting up a PC, it's easy. The setup process was very simple, and farms you out to Steam VR for base station calibration with the headset. In about 10 minutes I was up and running. I started DCS and voila ... it worked! I immediately wanted to jump in with DFR and proceeded to install the software (see the great "First time setup" thread on this forum for the Aero, great stuff on there!). I started DCS and CRASH! Tried several times, rebooted, and crashed every time. C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll # E06D7363 (Unknown exception code) at 00007ffc80e0cf19 00:00000000 SymInit: Symbol-SearchPath: 'D:\DCSWorld\bin-mt;', symOptions: 532, UserName: 'mwrig' OS-Version: 10.0.19045 () 0x100-0x1 0x000000000002cf19 (KERNELBASE): RaiseException + 0x69 0x0000000000006720 (VCRUNTIME140): _CxxThrowException + 0x90 0x000000000003b522 (MSVCP140): std::_Xlength_error + 0x22 0x0000000000004880 (Effects2): Effects::Rain::operator= + 0x8F0 0x00000000000a226c (Effects2): Effects::releaseParticleSetCB + 0x670CC 0x0000000000036a58 (Effects2): Effects::OParticleSystem::isStatic + 0x12E8 0x000000000003632b (Effects2): Effects::OParticleSystem::isStatic + 0xBBB 0x0000000000035e1f (Effects2): Effects::OParticleSystem::isStatic + 0x6AF 0x0000000000033cd1 (Effects2): Effects::OParticleSystem::operator= + 0x581 0x000000000003452f (edCore): ed::this_thread::yield + 0x54F 0x000000000002460a (edCore): ed::make_render_thread_tasks + 0x1A 0x000000000013c736 (Visualizer): smCamera_Implement::getClipRegion + 0x193B6 0x0000000000128736 (Visualizer): smCamera_Implement::getClipRegion + 0x53B6 0x000000000013fbd2 (Visualizer): smSceneManager::DestroySceneManager + 0x13D2 0x00000000000335b1 (edCore): ed::thread::_get_current_thread_id + 0x71 0x0000000000021bb2 (ucrtbase): _configthreadlocale + 0x92 0x0000000000017344 (KERNEL32): BaseThreadInitThunk + 0x14 I backed out all mods, but still crashed. I uninstalled the Varjo-Foveated package and everything worked. I then reset all my graphics settings back to default, including settings in the Nvidia control panel and profile inspector. I re-installed the DFR software and everything worked great. I re-applied my graphics settings incrementally, and everything still works great. In fact - it's not crashed on start (or at all) for two days. With WMR/G2 this happened at least once on startup with nearly every session. So far, flawless. So, first what I like about the Aero: The image clarity is superior to the G2. And, even without DFR the edge-to-edge clarity it MUCH better. The G2's sweet spot was tiny. You can look around the cockpit with your eyes and read everything. It's pretty amazing, frankly. The colors are much better IMO The outside-in tracking works great, but to be fair I had no issues with the G2's inside-out tracking. The adjustability - the knobs to adjust the headset in three directions are fantastic. I also like the temple adjustment as it really helps position the headset on the face. This is something I struggled with a bit on the G2. And, the G2 adjustability mechanisms are much cheaper, quality-wise. The FOV seems better suited for me. It just seems less like I am looking through a tube. The auto IPD adjustment is nice, but I'm the only user so I would likely set it and forget it anyway. Dynamic Foveated Rendering is AWESOME with the eye-tracking. The FPS boost combined with the superior lenses compared to the G2 just makes this an entirely different experience. So far, ZERO crashes with the Open Beta MT DCS client once I had it fully set up. Performance - running DLSS Quality and pretty high settings across the board, performance is much better than the G2 (see below). Ease of setup - IMO it is pretty simple to setup, and if you're already into PCs, VR and flight sims you'll be fine. What could be better: I miss the G2's integrated audio. I am using the Conquest VR clamp-on solution, and it sounds just as nice, but it's an additional expense and is much bulkier. You can always use more FOV The outside-in tracking works great, but IMO inside-out is the future and is much more convenient. This setup just has more moving parts, but so far everything has worked well and as designed. The performance of this headset, even before enabling DFR is superior to the G2 even with the same DCS settings and the highest quality setting (39 PPD) in Varjo Base. Using DLSS "Quality" I run 90 FPS most of the time. I have the motion smoothing enabled in Varjo Base and synchronization OFF. I can see in DCS when smoothing kicks in as the FPS drops from 90 to 45. Visually, I can notice the transition slightly IF I am looking for it. In combat, I never notice it. Microstutters no longer occur like they did with the G2. I have not noticed ANY. With DFR enabled, I stay at 90 even more. Am I happy? You bet. I wouldn't have been as happy at $1900, but at $990 this headset is 100% worth it for me. It's a worthy upgrade from my G2, which I will keep on hand as a backup should I need one in the future. Overall, when compared to what I know and have read for other units, if you're looking for a sim-focused headset ... 8.5 / 10

I finally received my base stations from Varjo (they shipped separately from the headset) and I have everything set up. In regards to the Conquest VR, they work pretty well. They were originally designed for the Quest series, and I think that affects the fit a bit. They do not feel very secure when clamped onto the Aero's headband, but once on mounted, they have not come off. The included wiring fits the Aero nicely. The sound quality is really good and on par with the integrated solution on my G2. The level of adjustability is good, and you'd be hard-pressed to not be able to fit them over your ear. I think the headband on the Aero is thinner than where the clamps were designed to mount on a Quest, and that makes the mounting not feel that solid. But, like I said - they have stayed on. They do move around a bit (again, thinner headband at the mounting point) which makes them move off the ear sometimes, requiring some adjustments in-flight. Overall, I'll give it a 6.5 / 10, mainly because you can tell the mounting would work much better on a Quest from the pictures I have seen. They'd probably be 8/10 or more on a Quest. I am going to play around with the mounting points and maybe see if I can come up with something to firm up the mounting. Someone could probably 3d print something. If you look at the clamp, it's very wide, designed to clamp on the ticker portion of the Quest.

I just received the balance of my shipment today (base stations) and got it all running. At first, DCS crashed every time at startup. I uninstalled the DFR software, reset all DCS graphics and Nvidia settings to default, reinstalled the DFR package, and DFR worked. Reapplied settings, still works. So, yeah ... DFR works with 2.9 fine. First impressions ... Wow! Big improvement over my G2

If you contact their support folks they can see if there are any black ones left to ship. That is what I did. I don't recall where mine shipped from, but it shipped Monday and I had it UPS Thursday this week, so only a few days. Not sure why they are not advertising the black units.

I received my Aero a couple days ago. It shipped about a week and a half or so after I ordered it, and took about a week to get to the US from China. BUT ... The base stations just shipped separately, so I've been unable to try it yet. I also bought a black Conquest VR for audio.

FWIW I have been experiencing random crashes on startup with the MT version since one of the later 2.8 updates around the end of July. I am on a G2, but my Aero is en route right now. I seem to have better luck starting WMR first, and then the game with the forceVR flag. Some days it works every time, other days I turn on the system and it's several crashes in a row. Whatever it is, I don't think it's headset-specific.

I solved the issue - for whatever reason, going through the Windows 10 joystick calibration restored the proper functionality of the slider and dial.

So, I was playing with the axis/button/axis and button settings for the slider and dial in SimAppPro and now, in axis mode both the slider and dial seem to have three axis values, 0, mid, and max. If I move either off center, it goes to min or max. I've reset to defaults several times to no avail. Calibration has no effect. But, if I plug it into my laptop, it works in axis mode properly. What do I need to do to fix this in Simapppro?