Supmua

My recommendation is to play with those parameters yourself. I don’t have any extra headroom with my setup with the F16 PG free flight, as a matter of fact fps still dips into the 80s in some areas. Your setup might be different. I’d suggest leaving PD at 1.0 if you are going to change focus/peripheral multipliers, this is to avoid stability issues.

Just did some quick flights with the new beta. It seems performance is slightly better (I typically use F-16 PG free flight to tune my setup for 90 fps goal as that one is more stressful compared to other non-Marianas maps). Very nice framerate at 37 PPD with 0.9 pixel density. Currently, I leave both focus/peripheral at 1.

I get pretty smooth gameplay with Steam OpenXR, but the visual is no match for DFR at the same framerates.

I did notice some stuttering with DFR in complex missions which may or may not be specific to my setup, which is why I still play in Steam OpenXR whenever I need everything to go smooth in a long mission. Did a PC reset and still has this, no issue with simple free flights. Haven’t tried the new patch yet though so things might change, hopefully for the better.

I don’t think anybody will be disappointed with the image quality aspect of Crystal, but that’s only a part of the equation. Software that uses to drive it as well as tech support are also as important. How it performs in the real world, how well it operates without glitches, how durable it is, how accessible the tech support is whenever it needs to be repaired or replaced...those remains to be seen. With the Aero, the software side didn’t really catch up until almost a year later and only via a 3rd party intervention that we now have DFR with DCS. I sure hope Pimax have some brilliant software engineers on their side or a lot of these touted specs might be in hibernation for a long time when it comes to real world usage.

DFR in DCS is currently only possible via Varjo’s unique quad view rendering mode which is not offered by other headsets (i.e. nonstandard way of implementing DFR). The target applications also have to support this mode in order for Varjo DFR to work, and currently DCS is the only one besides Varjo’s native apps.

While it is a nice competitor for the Aero based on specs, Pimax’s math is a bit odd here. Both the Aero and the Crystal headsets use similar screen pixels (Aero has a tad less vertical pixels but exact same horizontal pixels), yet the Pimax headset that has higher FOV somehow also yields higher PPD as much as 42? It sounds like marketing to me. Even the Aero’s touted 39 PPD is only achievable via DFR and that PPD isn’t true across the entire FOV.

That’s pretty much what I do also, campaign and small scale MP. The Aero in general will give better performance vs other headsets now because of the DFR mode, but it is still far from perfect.

rBar is now in 5-Common section when you launch NVP inspector. Just enable it from Digital Combat Simulator profile, and use Battlefield V option.

The newest version of NVInspector is out. Didn’t get a chance to check it out yet but I consider this an important tool to have. Anybody notice anything different with this version? https://github.com/Orbmu2k/nvidiaProfileInspector/releases/tag/2.4.0.4

Reshade 5 works via Steam OpenVR layer only so at present you need to run single threaded DCS.exe and depending on your headset may need -- force_steam_VR command line. The VR mode also operates via Steam overlay and not through desktop. Open Steam Overlay while in DCS and look for Reshade icon in lower left, click it with your VR controller to bring up the window.

If you don't know what reBar is then it's not on because DCS is not on their white list for officially supported games, and there are specific workarounds to do to enable it with DCS (What is Resizable BAR, and should you use it? | Rock Paper Shotgun). If the game is still not working right then I'd recommend uninstalling Varjo Foveated mod (and all other mods that you are using) and try to run it without DFR, and see if it's working correctly. The easiest way to test DCS mt (without mods) now is via Steam OpenXR, because Varjo OpenXR wtihout mods will result in quadview mode (with or without DFR depending on whether you choose InstanceExtension wrapper or Foveated mod). Just turn off Varjo OpenXR switch in VB, and select Steam OpenXR runtime in SteamVR setting/Developer. If DCS still doesn't work then the issue may lie with your computer setup.

Lol, I was like nah but then I checked today's date.

Have you tried to disable overclocking, HAGS and reBAR? Also shutdown any background processes that are not necessary.

It depends on your DCS settings and rendering resolution, and as long as you don't max out on everything most people with high-end setup report 90 fps or near 90 at default res. For instant missions or simple free flying, yes. Complex campaign missions or a large MP session, no. DFR, imo, still has issues with more framedrops compared to traditional mode in complex missions especially on the ground/airfield with multiple objects. From my findings, avg and max fps is better but min fps is worse due to intermittent framedrop (or frametime spike), of course this is with my setup only so YMMV.

DFR's been more stable for me today but I'm locking 45 fps (without motion smoothing), also reduce textures to medium. Air spotting is much easier when the resolution is high (focus 1.2 PPD 37). I had much easier time spotting and chasing the 2 Mirage leads in the Syria Camp DLC 1st mission, before this had to use AA radar to help track at times because I couldn't see jack whenever they pulled away. Still with significant frame drops on the ground at airport vs Steam OpenXR but better in other aspects.

DFR looks great but I’ve had more stability issues both in terms of crashes and frametime spikes with it especially with long missions. So for complex missions I’ve been using Steam OpenXR instead because crashes mean another hour of repeating everything all over again. For light flying 10-15 min, DFR works fine for me. For heavy duty stuff stability comes first. YMMV. Try turning off HAGS if you are using it, also NVIDIA reBAR, these may contribute to instability.

Good to know. I've never used values below 0.7. I'm actually seeing much more stable performance in Steam OpenXR than the DFR mode in complex missions. For example in the Hornet Syria DLC campaign 1st mission, there would be intermittent GPU FT spike to >22ms on my setup while taxiing to the runway after the 2 Mirage jets. Compared to Steam OpenXR run, my GPU FT never exceeds 13ms with zero spikes (13 vs 22 is huge by any standard), and this is reproducible since I've run this mission at least 4-5 times now. Steam OpenXR also shows no hiccups through out the entire mission, while Varjo DFR can cause 1-1.5 sec hiccups on occasion. I'm not saying this will happen with everyone, but on my setup Steam OpenXR provides smoother performance even though not visually as pleasing. I have to try Varjo OpenXR stereo mode to see if this mirrors the Steam method.

This is why some of us here lower the PD setting instead of peripheral_multiplier. Focus_multiplier is pretty safe, but reducing peripheral_multiplier can cause crashing issue unless you're using 39 PPD.

I'm at work so can't do any testing, but try OpenXR Explorer tool (https://github.com/maluoi/openxr-explorer/releases) and see what it shows.

Yeah focus 1.5x is something else in terms of clarity.

It's the same concept but not the exact same because with pixel density setting you change the resolution of the entire screen, whereas with DFR mode you have more flexibility such as downsampling the peripheral screen while upsampling the focus screen. You can also see the exact rendered resolution after PD setting changes using OpenXR explorer or OXRTK log file, at least with the non-DFR mode. I haven't yet had a chance to checked with DFR mode (quad view) which works differently than stereo view.

Just reran the first mission from Op Inherence Resolve Campaign via Steam OpenXR and got some interesting findings. Cons: 1. Visuals are not as crisp as DFR mode. 2. Max fps is not as good due to 1-1.5 ms higher GPU FT. (This is mitigated by reducing SteamVR Sampling to 90%) Pros: 1. No 1-1.5 sec pauses during the entire mission (these pauses were seen occasionally with DFR mode). 2. Min fps is much better. Taxiing to the runway from parking I never dropped below 60 fps, whereas I saw as low as 40s with Varjo OpenXR DFR. 3. No white square box in the center of view. Once you've seen this you can't unsee it even though how faint it might be. So Steam OpenXR actually gave me smoother overall gameplay without any hiccups even though visually it's not as good. Once I'm airborne I'm also 90 fps in this mode so the performance is up there with the right settings. Note that I haven't changed any DCS settings, just downsampling SteamVR to 90% to equalize GPU frametimes.

Right now DCS fps counter works (RCTRL+PAUSE) with DCS mt via Varjo OpenXR DFR. It shows fps and GPU frametimes, not ideal but better than nothing. You can also use Varjo analytics tool but it’s cumbersome. I've been observing GPU frametimes between Varjo OpenXR DFR vs Steam OpenXR and the difference is actually not that big (using DCS fps counter, GPU frametime tracing is the white line on the lower graph area). GPU frametime in Varjo mode is around 1.0-1.5ms less (at 1.0 multiplier for both focus and peripheral screens), which is similar to what you can get with fixed foveated rendering in stereo view, although you can probably increase this gain by reducing the multiplier values. Unfortunately there's no good way for me to check CPU frametimes in Varjo DFR mode, with Steam OpenXR it's pretty easy to see everything via fpsVR. An ideal testing scenario would be to look at both CPU and GPU frametimes for multi-threaded Varjo OpenXR DFR vs nonDFR vs Steam OpenXR vs single-threaded counterparts.

So stand alone works for you but not the Steam version. Interesting. I don’t use the Steam version nor have any more storage to install it so won’t be able to check this out. I think most DCS users/old timers here also use the stand alone version. If you want to look further though, run fpsVR then run your Steam version of DCS and see if fpsVR works or not.