Hippo

Grrrr. Only bought mine recently at £999. Still within the 30 day return period. Would it be very naughty to return it and then buy it again at the lower price?

After multiple reattempts (around eight) I have not been able to reproduce the issue, and the wingman has always behaved correctly, whether I was connected or not. I was actually running two "mods" (sorry for getting this wrong before) when I experienced the issue and which I removed for testing, so, unlikely as it may seem it could possibly be due to them. They are https://github.com/mbucchia/Meta-Foveated @mbucchia https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3321955/

Thanks again. I tried the mission again earlier and, wouldn't you know it, the issue didn't happen. This time I was taking fuel when the wingman disconnected, and now strongly suspect that it might only happen when I'm not connected; still, I don't see why 1. he banks right and doesn't just fall back, and 2. he flies into me. The next time it happens I will post a track in ED's bugs forum. Personally, I rather enjoy AAR, and like seeing it in (some) missions.

Will do. The only thing I'm currently running that is non-standard is mbucchia's dynamic foveated rendering extension for Quest Pro. Next time I try it, I'll make sure I'm un-modded. For a workaround I can just wait for the wingman to finish and then refuel on the port boom. I should add that I was having some difficulty staying on the starboard boom, so it's possible that the wingman flew into me as I was attempting a reconnect - not sure if that might affect things. Thanks.

Second attempt at this mission. First refueler (Texaco). When wingman finishes fuelling he banks right and crashes into me whilst I'm still taking fuel. Any ideas? Great campaign BTW. I've come from SH2, and this is even better than that. Thanks. EDIT: just searched this forum properly and it seems others have seen this issue, which is likely a bug. I will get around it somehow. No need to reply unless there is anything new to add to this, or unless you think it shouldn't be happening.

Same here. Also happening with Quest Pro.

So with my settings (horizontally) 0.4 - (0.4 * 0.4) = 0.24, and so only the central 24% of my fov is at full resolution? I am somewhat concerned / embarrassed to admit that I can't actually tell.* Should I be worried about my eyesight? Is the drop in resolution in the transition band linear? Is there any advantage to having peripheral_multiplier=0.5, i.e. exactly half? * I can notice shimmering quite clearly if I'm in a screen with lots of text, but not in the cockpit. In the F-18 I only really notice shimmering in the IFEI.

I decided to give this another go, and am currently happy with the following settings which give me a good perf (20-25% reduction in cpu util) : visuals. peripheral_multiplier=0.5 focus_multiplier=1.0 horizontal_focus_section=0.4 vertical_focus_section=0.3 vertical_focus_bias=0.28 turbo_mode=0 smoothen_focus_view_edges=0.4 sharpen_focus_view=0.0 On a previous attempt with... peripheral_multiplier=0.4 focus_multiplier=1.0 horizontal_focus_section=0.5 vertical_focus_section=0.5 vertical_focus_bias=0.25 turbo_mode=0 smoothen_focus_view_edges=0.2 sharpen_focus_view=0.0 ... I found that the performance improvement was much less and the peripheral area was too distracting, Which I find odd, since the peripheral area was smaller. Could it be down to peripheral_multiplier and smoothen_focus_view_edges? Or is it some placebo / me having a bad day / dodgy eyesight? I'm just wondering what works for other people, and which settings they find most critical. Could someone please expand on the definition of smoothen_focus_view_edges? What is the value multiplied against? Is the transition band split equally between the focus and peripheral areas, or is containted within just one of them? EDIT: My comparison isn't really valid, as I had also changed my settings 2xMSAA -> 4xMSAA. Also tested with a different mission. Both of these changes considerably affected the relative changes in performance and my visual perception of shimmering. Overall, I am very impressed with the results I get with the second set of settings: when I'm absorbed in a mission and not consciously looking for the DFR I'm almost never aware of it.

Nope.

I don't know, but if you look at where the dip happens, you'll see the GPU util suddenly spike. It's at this point that ASW kicks in and drops to 36 fps. At least that's what I think is happening. I would've thought either CPU or GPU can cause ASW to kick in. In the mission the GPU is already running at 80%. I could take some of the load off (-> MSAA 2x or OFF) for a bit more headroom and see if the same sort of thing still happens. EDIT: Retried with 2xMSAA and did not get that dip, and DID pick the 1st* F-16 this time. Still seeing the odd spike in frame time, but in the sim I just see a constant 72 fps. *I was mistaken yesterday when I said I picked the first F-16 in the list, I somehow missed the two at the top of the list and had picked the first in the group of four. The drop in fps at the end is after I switched back to the desktop in Dash. The DCS frame rate counter does say CPU bound, but I don't know how reliable that is. ab2023_07_02_08_26_58_837.hml

Well, yes, I'm using ASW. If the GPU tops out, it's immediately down to 36 fps. This does happen sometimes. I would have to try to fly this mission over a longer time to get a better feel for overall performance. With the missions I fly I can (mostly) stay at 72 fps whilst having a bit of overhead. But there will always be times where it gets too much. In this case it could've been caused by me looking around causing loading from memory / disk? I don't know. The mission I linked to earlier (flying low over Dubai), I could hold 72fps throughout before I went 2 -> 4xMSAA, and now the GPU can't cope and I have to settle for 36 fps. Turning ASW off and having fps fluctuate continually does not agree with me.

Sorry, I couldn't be bothered with the whole setting up the overlay rigmarole. I attach a log instead. I chose the first F-16 in the list, and mainly just sat in the cockpit looking forward. That dip to 36 fps I think happened when I then had a good look around the cockpit and sorroundings. BTW, my settings are now different to what they were in that post I linked to. The main difference is I am now running 4xMSAA. Hope this helps. My spec is in my sig. If you can't see it, you need to activate the viewing of sigs in the forum settings. ab2023_07_01_22_09_06_440.hml

Sure, can you suggest a suitable mission or track?

Ah. TBH, because I have been struggling to get acceptable performance with VR for many years, I have avoided "heavy missions" (and don't do multiplayer). I suppose it's very possible you could see considerable improvements owing to the CPU in those circumstances. I have not tested with such missions - I suppose I really should at some point.

I don't think you've mentioned which headset you're using but if it's QP or Q2 you could try doing what I did here and see if your results are very different from mine. I'd be quite interested to know myself.

Supposedly sealed and maintanance-free - so no, and never. I suspect air cooling would've been fine for me, and it's what I've always used, but I was keen to try one of these out and it does look much nicer and tidier. Installation was pretty simple, but care needs to be taken, with the radiator being 360mm, that it will fit without issue in your case.

Cooler Master ML360 Illusion CPU Cooler. VR a handful of cores just under 60 C, the rest around low 40s C. According to MSI Afterburner. Don't do non-VR, sorry

Please note that I refer to DCS F/A-18C only, with somewhat limited testing, and to visible, perceptible improvements in using the sim in VR. I don't care if my CPU frame times have reduced substantially if my experience in the sim is exactly the same. My main aim is a consistent 72 fps and at least 2xMSAA, ASW to kick in as rarely as possible - ideally never. This was very difficult with the 1080 ti. Also, see my sig for more details. Feb 2023, I had i7 8700k + 1080 Ti + Quest 2 -> I was considering a 4090 but decided that "no way am I ever spending £1,800 on a GPU". I instead picked up a 2nd hand 3080 Ti on ebay. Very noticeable improvement. I could now get 72 fps 2xmsaa, with lowish settings and Oculus at 1.0. April 2023, upgraded to an i19 13900kf. No practical, visible improvement whatsoever. My system was limited by the GPU. June 2023, just said life's too short and bought a 4090. This thing has taken me up another level and t,he performance I have seen has been above what I was expecting; it's a monster. Oculus all the way to the right at 1.3, 4xmsaa and highish settings, and I can hold 72 fps in the sort of stuff I'm doing (SP, e.g. I am currently playing the Persian Lion campaign). Two weeks ago, I went for a Quest Pro, greatly improved visuals at no performance cost. For my particular circumstances I have a system which gives me a fantastic DCS experience. I have never bought "top of the line", as I have always balked at the extortionate cost involved. Before I have always gone mid-range and had to compromise in some way or other, endlessly trying to tweak to eke out that last bit of performance; now I'm just enjoying DCS. I think I should've bought the 4090 first and tried it with the 8700k as my first step. I suspect that I would've been fine with that. I really regret not going this way, because I really would have liked to have tested and compared. I'm not unhappy though, as I use the PC for more than DCS, and it was time for a change that mobo and cpu being over 5 yrs old. BTW, I have used an exteral power meter to measure the power draw, and the PC has never gone over 500W when running DCS. I don't intend to o/c (yet) - so my old 850 W PSU has been perfectly adequate. Having said all that, for a new build, with a 4090 I would just go for the 13900k, because, well, in for a penny...

I assumed so but I don't see... when I run it, in the overlay I just see frame times (not percentages), and nothing about headroom?

Apologies, but what is this?

Very much looking forward to your video. Nudge... nudge... And whether you find the performance improvement as significant as with the Aero?

Thank you again. I'd never noticed this before (I'd always assumed it turned on the AA mask and always had it ticked on), but the following images are PrintScreen screenshots: mask off, mask on (QP), and mask on (Q2). So, it does appear to make a difference, and the mask from the QP is different to the Q2 (although that screenshot is from May I don't suppose the difference is due to a version change). However, I am seeing no improvement in performance whatsoever from having it turned on. I also don't think I see any difference in the headset. Could it be that it's only changing what is seen on the monitor? This could all be cleared up by an explanation from ED, instead all we have is uncertainty. Regarding the AA mask, I used to rely on Kegetys's mod back in the day but I would be surprised if it were adopted by ED "as is", since it used to cause minor graphical problems. Whatever the case, if it is doing nothing now, why on earth does it remain in the options? EDIT: On further testing, I think might be a small performance improvement. EDIT: Does anyone on QP think it reduces thesize of the image they see in the headset? I can't say I noticed any difference, but I find it hard to test for.

Please could someone who is getting an uplift >= 30% post their Oculus, DCS and Meta-Foveated settings, and system spec? Thx.

My understanding is that they're both (Q2 and QP) pushing (around) the same number of pixels, so performance should be about the same. It's just the QP's lenses are so much better that you end up with a clearer, brighter image. I've just bought a QP, and my Q2 is now on ebay, the improvement in image quality is very significant. I had some issues with comfort, but I'm getting used to / around those. I did not notice a change in performance going Q2 -> QP. You should be fine for a decent experience with your system (though this is very subjective), just don't expect to be able to run everything at high fps with highest quality settings. There's of course also the option to wait for the Q3. For me, the foveated rendering, and this is just a first impression, is not providing a significant performance improvement. Many others are seeing one So I don't know, and it's still early days. There are so many different configs and expectations... P.S. If you are referring to this sort of thing I would say that, in my opinion, that video is wrong and does the QP a huge disservice, more so now that the price has gone down. P.P.S Have you checked out? Many interesting views and links there.

I would love to see that sort of gain. and would like to try to replicate what you're doing on my system. If it's not too much trouble, please could you kindly provide your settings: (oculus, meta-foveated, DCS), how you're measusing, which mission you're using to test? What is your system, btw?