Supmua

Optimal headset placement, appropriate IPD adjustment, and 20/20 corrected vision

D3DCompiler_47.dll is usually already in the System32 folder for general Windows operation, but that version might not be the latest or fully compatible with the latest OpenXR mod. In order to avoid messing with the entire system while maintaining good compatibility I put it in the DCS bin folder so the program would use that one instead of the system one (the old OpenCompositeACC also uses this route). You can copy it over the old one in System32 folder and delete the one in DCS folder, but that's messing around with your default Windows installation. I generally try to avoid hacking or modding at the system level including regedit stuff unless I really have to.

Everything should be the same as other headsets except maybe the ini file which really doesn’t need an update. The files that will likely be updated in the future would be the custom openvr_api.dll that can be downloaded directly from the main Opencomposite OpenXR GitHub page (per-game section), and the OpenXR Toolkit from their own download page.

No, I would avoid those upscaling methods because they introduce significant aliasing artifacts especially shimmering. Those can improve fps BUT it is better to keep image quality as pristine as possible, because that’s the main reason why we get the Aero. This setting is located in a different menu section called resolution override or something like that.

Don I suggest the following also. In the OpenXR menu, Appearance tab, Postprocessing On, Exposure 51, Saturation 52.5. DCS setting, gamma 2.1.

Unless you change it in the settings, CTRL-F2 will bring up the Toolkit screen. CTRL-F1 and -F3 move the menu selection left and right, CTRL-F2 moves down, CTRL-SHIFT-F2 moves up. I'm at work so not 100% on this but the resolution change is in the tab menu next to the last one on the menu screen, turn that on and you should be able to change resolution.

Well, getting the OpenXR to work at all is a good first step. But yeah, it will use the full resolution without OpenXR Toolkit so you were rendering at >4.1K horizontal pixels per screen without downsampling lol, 30 fps sounds about right. It should look very good at default, but I'm used to better visual quality with those Reshade filters so I'm a bit more picky.

OpenXR Toolkit is a must if you're running the Aero at higher or highest setting, else you'll be rendering at 7-8K pixels. Use the toolkit to set custom res and reduce per-screen pixel to whatever suits your need, I typically aim for 3300-3600 horizontal pixels. You can try fixed foveated option using presets but I don't think it's working correctly with DCS yet, saves about 0.5 ms frametime which isn't much. Also, the current Toolkit and Varjo OpenXR don't play nice with Revive especially Star Wars: Vader Immortal series (at least on my setup). So, if your old oculus games don't work I would uninstall the OpenXR toolkit and turn off Varjo OpenXR from the base app before running those games. Interestingly, I have no problem leaving Reshade files in the DCS bin folder, swapping back to OpenVR and I get access to Reshade right away.

No that’s the system-wide install, you might not like that especially if you don’t like mods in general. For one, it doesn’t support controller framework so your Index controller will be treated as generic in other VR games.

The zip is called OpenXRDCS.zip https://forum.dcs.world/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=270052&key=2a2a063b1b472dc9bf4f01999625033e Should be at the end of the very first post. Direct link above.

Don try the files from the zip that I uploaded on the Varjo Guide thread (the first post). Drag and drop, no need to do anything else. If you don’t like it delete them (or just the openvr_api.dll) and Repair DCS.

I find that Higher setting is optimal for DCS in terms of performance and visual quality, but I just leave it at Highest since my headset is now used as a regular monitor these days. Once you reduce the per-game rendering res appropriately for a particular game, the performance is the same.

The latest openvr_api.dll update (yesterday) from the Github page works fine on my setup. I noticed a bit more shimmering than the older version (could be placebo), but low flying is fairly smooth compared to OpenVR even at fps below 45. I wonder if OpenXR has some sort of built-in or superior reprojection by default. Image quality-wise OpenVR is still sharper and brighter, but more ground juddering when fps drops below 45. I commented out a lot of stuff because they're either not needed or no longer present on the main OpenComposite OpenXR fork. Remember that this is kind of a hack so don't expect full compatibility with every PC setup, but it's still quite remarkable to get DCS to run in OpenXR.

You can try my zip from the Varjo general guide. Those are straight from my DCS bin folder including the .ini file.

I use the per-app method. The only needed file is the custom openvr_api.dll, which should be the exact same version as other headsets. And that is from the main OpenCompsite OpenXR GitHub page, the one I put in the zip in the Varjo guide thread is the latest 64-bit version. The ACC version is dated and no longer supported by dev. You might not need other files at all as one would be in the system folder and the other is just .ini, but I’ve included them in the zip anyway since the system one you have might not be the same version. This way it only works with DCS and won’t mess up other games. What happens is that games will first use whatever dll that is in the same folder as the program exe, if not found then it’ll use the system one instead. Switching between OpenXR and OpenVR takes seconds. From OpenXR to OpenVR you only need to restore the old api via repair DCS (delete the custom api first). To switch to OpenXR again just drag the custom api from the zip (or from the GitHub page) and copy over the default one.

I’m still going back and forth to make sure things are working well using both methods with DCS, this week is the OpenXR week for me. You can easily run the Aero at highest settings, because of the video compression it doesn’t tax the system as much as the true uncompressed resolution would. Just have to make sure to downsample via in-game rendering resolution to get acceptable fps for a particular game. For example, in OpenXR I would set custom res via the toolkit and in SteamVR I would use per app custom res also. For desktop viewing such as movie watching, highest setting is optimal and it doesn’t really tax your system much (even with 1.3-1.4x supersampling you will still get smooth 90 fps). I’ve been playing nonVR games on the headset like this, the new Vampire Masquerade adventure game looks really good on the Aero. Besides that, a lot of games can be played in side-by-side 3D stereoscopy mode via Vorpx or Reshade5.

I found it to be smoother in OpenXR, hence no need for vsync or forced 45 fps. OpenVR still gives crisper images, so I’m still going back and forth between the two modes. Haven’t done any MP recently though.

I'm staying out as well, not really into recommending people for or against buying things.

I'm not sure what else to tell you, but I also have a 55 in 4K OLED 1.5m in front of me for comparison with the setup. It's not going to be the exact same of course as we're comparing apples and oranges. At the Highest setting the rendering res is 4148x3556 pixels for each eye (more complex if foveation option is on in supported apps)--while the actual panel resolution is less, you know upsampling works really well in VR vs flatscreen. These are also not true but compressed pixels via NVIDIA DSC tech to make it a bit more complex due to the bandwidth limit. However, for the purpose of gaming I cannot tell the difference in clarity between the two.

a) no idea, don't have a G2. b) at the Highest setting which is what I've been using currently, the image clarity is the same as my 4KTV and that includes shimmering (pretty much none) and distant spotting. But it is quite a performance hog in this mode as the default horizontal res is >4K, so I'm undersampling with OpenXR Toolkit at ~3800 horizontal pixels currently (OpenXR), for MP I might reduce it a bit to around 33-3400 pixels. General clarity alone doesn't make a great HMD, imo, it's the edge to edge clarity that is more important. Vertical edge to edge clarity for me is 98-99% (display area that is in optimal focus), horizontal edge to edge is around 95%--note that I'm using lens inserts so if you wear glasses this will be lowered.

Which mode are you running DCS with, Varjo’s OpenVR or Steam’s OpenVR or OpenXR? Did you check out the Varjo general guide thread?

Try to redo SteamVR setup or reinstall SteamVR.

FWIW, I had zero tracking issue with base stations 1.0 + Index controllers with the Aero. However, I have since upgraded to base stations 2.0 a few months ago and passed my old stuff to a friend. v1.0 base stations are more limited in terms of tracking distance and number of supported base stations, but they are much quieter than v2.0.

You need a controller to setup and operate SteamVR as there is no Steam system button on the Aero unlike other SteamVR headsets. Buy a used Vive wand from Amazon or eBay if you don’t want to spend much, but make sure that it is compatible with your base station (wand v1 is not compat with base v2).

With the latest NVIDIA update I ran DCS right after, so so 3D effect. Ran NVI and made one arbitrary change (stereo profile on) which probably not even needed, and click Apply changes. Ran DCS again, and got improved 3D visuals and clarity like before the update. So I think each NVIDIA update somehow gives us suboptimal images in VR as it always resets your profile, and this is fixed by just using NVI and save over the default profile. Check and see if this is the case with you when the next update comes.