DerekSpeare

As long as M$ doesn't strip WMR out of Win10 it should be ok for a lot of people. However, my question is do they think VR is kaput or do they think something else is going to be the next new standard for VR? BTW, the need for a low cost, 140 degree HMD with good clarity cannot be overstated. These expensive samples are going the wrong way if VR is to become anything more than an ultra niche thing.

Hello friends, Awhile back I had the opportunity to test and help another flight simulation project. That project had VR at its core and the developers were keenly interested in tester feedback. My suggestions to improve it were mainly centered around the need for a night vision friendly color palette used on the menus, interface screens/boxes and other non-flying parts of the UI. I see this lacking in DCS and I'd bet it's a simple - hopefully - matter to improve. At present, one can set their missions to take place in the dead of the dark night. When in VR, one's eyes quickly adjust to the low lighting conditions; if you go in the actual real life condition of low light it happens more quickly. After some time goes by your eyes think it's night and your eyes become very light sensitive. But then you have to open a menu for something and BAMMO! You get hit with the bright menus...it's not very comfortable. I'm writing to advocate for an improvement to the DCS UI which has options for various night vision color schemes. Red is a good one, and the overall lighting levels of the menus should be adjusted. While I won't list some of the VR games that have low-light-friendly configurations, they are out there and peeps like them. Additionally, the flat screeners can benefit as well since I am sure a few of them fly at real and game nighttime, so it works for everyone...a WIN WIN! Thanks for reading!

Fortunately, VR hardware has improved a lot since I first made this thread

The rainbows are very cool! However, in VR they seem to be projected from the sky and ground to where they appear to be almost circular and do not stop on the horizon in at some point in the distance. They are a nice feature!

Comms menu does not appear when mapped to HOTAS button; Flaps lever doesn't work with mouse pointer I mapped the comms menu to three different button boxes and hotas and it will not come up. I have to hit the \ key on the keyboard to get it to appear. The flaps lever does not move when trying to set it with the mouse pointer.

Reverb G1 somewhat degraded. Pc specs in sig.

Just like the title says, the screen in VR goes black. If I start a mission in the MB339 first you can see everything, but then after a moment it goes black for a time and then comes back and then black...too frustrating to wait longer. The menu box comes up when the screen is black. You can see the FPS counter when it's black as well. I am on the latest OB update today.

what's the latest on the release?

There was a discord for this(?) one, but it appears to be gone now.

is it out? I'm behind the curve...

I can report that I tested DCS with OpenXR using the toolkit and the openxr_api.dll (or whatever the name is) copied to the correct DCS installation path. System is a 11700k/3080ti/64gb/Reverb G1 and the latest update of the DCS open beta, nvidea 517.48 (the latest) drivers and a completely updated win10 system. I have more testing to do to see if I will stay with it or go back. So far, so good. Posting to add to the "user list", if you will.

passmark says otherwise: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i9-12900KS-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-5800X3D/4813vs4823 The AMD cpu gets trounced all around.

ED needs to give folks the option just to turn off the trees completely.

i went from a 1080ti to a 3080ti. My GPU mem is maxed in DCS. Looks like one can actually buy a 3090ti...I am tempted...my 3080ti is a month old...hm. I am guessing DCS will take all the VRam you have.

install WMR (Windows Mixed Reality) and then install Steam VR and then Windows Mixed Reality for Steam VR to get going. I have a reverb G1...I tried a G2 but kept my G1 over it. Screen rez is the same. I did like the controllers. Anyhow, turn all of your graphics down and then test. See the link in my signature to get some useful tips on going in VR. Make sure you bind a recenter key in DCS first! My recommendations are to get the basics going first in VR before you decide to start using various mods with DCS.

Welcome to the party!

I can confirm that frame rates tank in multiplay. I don't even do it since it's unplayable...on a high end system. Only ED can fix it, none of us can.

yep, easy...just like using buttons in your car without looking at them. It's all feel...as long as the button device is designed with various input control elements (i.e., toggles, encoders buttons, etc.) it's easy and intuitive to use in VR. I have 4 of them! Compare this with a keyboard. With a keyboard all of the keys are the same and unless you are a pro typer-person, they are pretty easy to use without at least getting a glance at it...try it! Close your eyes, guess a key and then try to pick it on the first try...In fact, any well designed button controller MUST afford the user with the opportunity to interact with it else it becomes entirely meaningless it if does not.

turn off MSAA and put your sliders to min except for preload radius, which you can max out. Anisotropic to 8x, 16 does nothing better.

VR induced discomfort is common in folks who are new and for those who have low end pc's. I got VRID back in 2014 when I first got the DK2, but learned how to tune the pc AND what to do to prevent it (that being to stop when it creeps in). Anyhow, nowadays I don't get it...and having a pc that can run all the steps as you intelligently articulated above helps. Of course, with increased frame times/decreased frame rates so goes to rate at which the potential for VRID can occur. As you've recognized, there are a number of links in the chain of processing a visual image once one moves their head to cause it. If ED ever reads their forums, perhaps they will come to the same conclusion, but that's a mystery unto itself. Indeed us WMR users are in that gap of additional processing/render times I believe the Vive and Oculus folks do not occupy. I'm all for the implementation of OpenXR. It makes sense to me. I've not tried a head to head comparison on my PC with WMR4SVR against openXR, but I am guessing it would give a performance gain; right now there's too much fiddling around to get to work, something I am not interested in doing. So reducing the potential for nausea and discomfort among the ED Customer Base who use VR is always a good thing. While it's not the chief reason to do it, it's another legitimate one to support openXR, that is if your hypothesis is correct (which I believe it is)

Get a good quality used Reverb G1. The G2 isn't any better (I have both). Anything better is going to cost $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ FD2020 is crap in VR no matter what you use.

The eyepoint control keys I indicate at Sec 1 are still functional if anyone is still wondering about them. If you're in VR it's essential to have your eyepoint set properly in the cockpit so that the views are not all wonky and strange.

A bit off topic: Which gives better performance, setting PD in DCS directly or setting the equivalent PD resolution in Steam VR and set DCS PD at 1.0? Is super sampling better on the performance than FXAA? MSAA? Which form of AA in DCS has the least impact on frames that gives "some" improvement in visuals? Really, ED has optimizing to do with DCS in VR so it is optimized for the VR player...it is the future, believe it or not.

Since this thread came back, I'll self quote this one ^ ^ ^ I believe it was F15 Strike Eagle 3 that had scaling labels, but I'm not certain. One of the old sims from the early 90's had them, and it's a clever and beneficial way to act as an assist to the pilot...and of course, since labels are an assist by their very nature, scaling by distance is not something that gets in the way of the "muh realism" folks. To ED's credit they have several levels of labels from the dot to the more verbose, though scaling really is something they need to implement in my opinion. But they won't, surely. @Raven (Elysian Angel)what is this custom LUA you speak of???

no, not gonna give up the 3080ti unless i score a 3090...I don't like utilities and tune only in my games from the options there - too many to track across iRacing, Elite Dangerous, FS2020 and DCS. I turned on the Steam VR SS thing to on and upped the resolution to 118% while bringing the DCS PD back to 1.0. I'm getting steady frame times of < 10ms, but this is with one plane on a basic airfield. I do maintain >45 frames with Wags' F16 startup turorial mission...never drops below 45. Overall it's a win, so cool. We can throw hardware at DCS but ED can only optimize it better for VR...we have no control over that...and they really need to optimize DCS for VR in many ways.