Supmua

Ok the final verdict from me, been flying as much as I could whenever I’m home. If you haven’t tried this with the Aero, you’re missing out…big time. The ability to use 100% rendering resolution on the Varjo Aero while retaining decent fps just wasn’t possible before until now. And the visuals are absolutely amazing at this resolution, note that I’m also using Higher mode on the Aero instead of default. Everything just looks crisp, with next to nothing aliasing artifacts. Not only that, things are bound to get better once foveated rendering works properly…and dynamic foveated (eye tracking) is also coming soon at least for the MSFS counter part. Detailed FPS option from the toolkit will display CPU and GPU frametimes, and more for those who like to tinker—so fpsVR is not needed. Sharpening is possible via NIS/FSR setting even at 100% scaling, it’s not as good as Reshade’s lumasharpen in terms of making things pop, but the overall visuals look more natural (a tad dimmer and less vibrant) rather than artificial. The gamma is slightly different in OpenXR mode. I normally use 2.0 with SteamVR, but with this I find that 2.2 is better.

With the center force trim option, I often have to pull the stick back to center myself as it can take up to one second for my stick to spring back (long extension). Same deal with FFB force trim mode which requires letting go of pressure on the stick or pulling back to avoid extra input in that direction. A time-delayed trim might be something that would work better than the default options. Let new positions stick when you press and release the button, but don’t allow further input right away until after half a sec or so. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d rather have new features that are not yet added to make the aircraft feature completed over the trim options any day.

At higher video setting, the clarity is similar to a 4KTV. And that clarity also translates to the peripheral vision. Glance left right up or down and it’s all in focus, this is the main advantage of aspheric lens which also yields crisper images than fresnel. Smoothness is relative as people have varying perceptions, but I don’t find any smoothness issue with the Aero as long as the frame rate is 45 fps. In MSFS, it’s fine even at 30 fps perhaps OpenXR has something to do with this. The headset still doesn’t have motion smoothing (not working properly yet) so if you are used to that from your current headsets you might not like this, but people can always adapt and get used to new changes. It does have something called V-Sync which tries to even out frame pacing, thereby reducing juddering experience—this can cost a bit of fps depending on how close you are to the next reprojection ratio. Pricing is still an issue as it is a lot of money, and by this time next year you will likely see more headset announcements with similar or better features, or even the Aero2. The question is do you want a crazy good VR experience now or are you going to wait another year. EDIT: I take back my now comment on the last paragraph. There are people who ordered on Dec 2021 and still haven’t got their headsets. So getting one now is out of the question.

More observation. 1. It doesn't care if OpenVR setting is on or off in the Varjo app, but Varjo's OpenXR must be on as it will not use OpenXR via SteamVR. I had SteamVR running concurrently and everything was fine. So this makes me think that it will *not* work with headsets that rely on SteamVR for OpenXR (namely Valve Index, Vive Pro series), someone can prove me wrong as I’m too lazy to dig out my old headsets from the basement to test this. 2. It doesn't help lowering CPU frametime. For example, in Apache runwaystart Marinara map my GPU frametime was 20 ms which would typically yield 45 fps, but CPU frametime was up to 25 ms resulting in final fps of 30 (1:3 reprojection instead of 1:2). I'm going to see if lowering rendering res affect CPU frametime or not. 3. It doesn't play nice with Reshade. Deleting Reshade completely allows me to play with FSR scaling (which looks ugly on the Varjo btw). It still wants PD at 1.0, else instant crash. Edit: lowering rendering resolution via Varjo app setting doesn't help improve CPU frametime. Flying over the carrier to the right of the airport instantly gave me a CPU frametime spike over 30 ms. In this type of situation, not even an RTX 4090 will help as my CPU is the bottleneck. Most of the time when you're up in the air however, GPU is typically taxed more than CPU but not by much with this map. It also seems that 32GB RAM may not be enough, after 1.5-2 hr of playing CPU frametime would stay at 30 ms when I landed on the ground (Syria) and CPU RAM usage was saturated at 31.9 GB (out of 32). Not sure if this was intended or due to memory leak.

Imo, the images I can get from the Vive Pro 2/Reshade look very close the Aero in High setting (without sharpening) minus the peripheral clarity/glare/micro contrast due to fuzzy fresnel lens vs crystal-like aspherical lens. It is only when I run the Aero in higher mode (37 PPD—which is actually less since they count dynamic foveated rendering that is automatically applied in Varjo base app, so only true for that app) that I can clearly see a major step up in visuals compared to my older headsets.

Been there done that, too many times I’m afraid. Just have to make sure that you are steady and level prior to touch down, it’s not very forgiving when you land tilted. Slopes are no good either.

There is no question that there is fps gain using OpenXR vs OpenVR (at least through Steam). However, losing SteamVR’s functionality can also be a bummer (losing windows overlay, fpsVR, Reshade support, etc.). Image quality through OpenXR is superb but without sharpening it lacks a little pop. Sort of like calibrating your home theater TV with zero sharpening, which may be great for video purists in terms of movie watching. But for gaming, a little extra sharpening can add a bit to the experiences. One thing I haven’t tried is OpenXR via SteamVR, not sure if it’ll work though. Perhaps tomorrow.

If it starts to tip I typically would try to go back into hovering and raise the altitude a bit to avoid crashing. Also when you're under IGE, around 10 ft I find that you will experience a lift which may cause the aircraft to float upward again even with no change in collective input, this requires further drop in the collective torque to force the descent (gentle touch). If you're steady and level at 5 ft you can just plop down. I don't trim unless I'm absolutely level and steady else it would typically mess up my landing, I know there're people who trim all the way down though. If you drift to the right of the landing zone, you can drift left by allowing yaw to the right then push cyclic left, this will allow you to crab left. Then correct the yaw (left pedal) followed by the cyclic right afterward to go back to the steady state.

I'm not sure if OpenXR dev tool would work with the Aero, since it's meant for WMR headset, I'll see if I can test this. So far I've tried changing PD which caused instant crash on start, and also changing Varjo's rendering res on its own app (only 6 settings). Edit: Nope. Managed to install OpenXR dev tool and runtime, reduced rendering res to 20%. Zero changes observed. It seems the rendering goes through Varjo's own OpenXR pipeline not WMR's runtime, so the scaling needs to be provided by either Varjo or Toolkit developer themselves. I also tried scaling via NIS and FSR (OpenXR Toolkit), which resulted in instant crash or perpetual crash upon restart. Or maybe, just maybe ED could develop its own OpenXR wrapper. This might just solve all the compatibility issues.

Ok some more findings below (with FFR off). 1. At Higher setting on the Varjo Aero, the ground detail is on par with OpenVR/Reshade and the cockpit is sharper due to higher rendering res. This costs 10-12 fps compared to High setting (which looks similar to my Vive Pro 2 in terms of central clarity). 2. With Vertical sync on (Varjo app), juddering is completely eliminated provided that you can maintain 45+ fps, still see slight motion blur similar to movies when camera pans around. It is completely smooth flying low. This costs around 10 fps which is substantial if you go with Higher setting. 3. There is extremely minimal shimmering at higher setting, and this is better than OpenVR/Reshade at lower samplings to achieve similar fps. There is no shimmering on buildings (tested in Dubai with strong sun), only noticeable on the shoreline and even that is minimal. Virtually no shimmering inside the cockpit around text borders, etc. (I do get a bit of that with OpenVR/Reshade option since rendering resolution isn't optimal to achieve good fps). And this kind of visuals is quite stunning. 4. FFR only saves 2-4 fps, so it's probably not working as intended. 5. After eye calibration, the lua file for this is named HP Reverb G2 (hah!) rather than the usual Hedy for the Aero. So right now Higher setting it is for me as the image quality is super good, and still this can get even better with a sharpening filter. FPS is still a bit of a concern with congested maps, but more testing to do.

FFR does work, perhaps not as 100% intended but check this out. Non-zoom snapshot from my phone. The area inside the red circle is where the inner ring is, notice how it's completely non-pixelated, compared to rest which represents the outer area. The further away from the inner area, the more pixelated it becomes. You can even see these changes when switching presets around between performance/quality, wide/balanced/narrow.

OK, I've spent 1.5 hours with this thing. So far it's not bad but I have some reservations. Pros: 1. Performance friendly. It can moderate reduce your GPU frametime (or significantly if you don't know how to optimize your settings), thus results in framerate increase (provided that you're not CPU limited, which can occur in some situations in DCS). 2. Image quality in the inner circle is crystal clear, since it's typically 100% rendering or even higher (depending on the setting on the Varjo app). This is slightly better than my OpenVR/Reshade setting since I typically downsample to around 80%. Cons: 1. It's sort of a hack, kinda like OpenXR wrapper for OpenVR, so stability can present an issue. At present it is crash-prone. For example, attempt to change upscaling NIS/FSR or sometimes image processing, FOV, wordscale, would results in perpetual crash--this can be recovered by running OpenXR Toolkit companion app and enable safe mode, then press CTRL+F1+F2+F3 to delete all settings. What's worse is that attempt to reduce PD results in perpetual crash, which requires editing the options.lua and manually change PD back to 1.0. 2. No good way to set rendering resolution at present, you rely on Varjo app for this and options are limited (6 settings, nothing in-between) which prevent fine tuning to get just the right frametime for your particular setup (With SteamVR you can specify percentage in digit numbers of your choice). Now I typically run the Aero resolution at Higher setting since web browsing or movie watching at this res looks awesome but the performance in this mode is too taxing in DCS--worse than my current OpenVR/Reshade setup. I have to lower it to High setting, to get the performance that is better than my typical settings. 3. Ground and distance detail is no match for OpenVR/Reshade. Since fix foveated rendering relies on rendering outer area at low resolution, you can imagine what would happen to distance detail when you look further up/down/left/right--compared to non-FFV where the ground detail is clear all the way up to the horizon, although this will probably change when we get dynamic foveated rendering. For the time being, I'll keep using it and see what happens.

The specs are great, but there is still no live demo which is concerning because it’s supposed to be released this year. I also don’t like that they will be using Wigig 1 instead of 2, which would give this super high res headset quite a handicap in terms of bandwidth.

Oh I’m familiar with OpenXR toolkit, been using it with MSFS since they added FFV. They have sharpening with upscaling NIS/FSR but nothing beats Reshade’s lumasharpen so far, it’s like having a free sharpening with no detrimental effect on shimmering.

I’m away but will have to try this when I get home later today. So you want to run DCS in SteamVR mode while turning off OpenVR? This sounds like Revive but for OpenXR instead of Oculus runtime. Currently I rely on Reshade 5 filters to provide the best possible image quality (sharpening, color balance, brightness, etc.), but let’s see if this can give a performance lift while retaining good visuals.

The UI seems to be rendered in both eyes which is probably unintended. For now I just close my left eye temporarily whenever I need to see the interface.

For the first iteration of an early access release, I can’t really complain. There’re some minor QOL issues, bugs, missing features, etc. but in a year it should be great like the Hornet and the Viper. MP with a copilot is a lot of fun.

Can you post a picture that shows this? I can see tinted canopy in VR in various aircrafts (more prominent with the Hornet), but don’t have any visibility issue.

IHADSS looks ok to me. I can see George commands in CPG just have to glance downward, the target list position (from Pilot) could be a little higher though. I’m using right eye only setting.

Hovering skill is vital with the Apache though since attacking while hovering at the distance plays a big part of the game. What I did that seems to work for me is. 1. put more curves on stick if you are not stable. 2. maintain tight collective control, don't let the FPM go too high or too low especially at low speed. 3. at low speed the aircraft will spin right more and need more countering force from the left pedal. Also increasing collective will spin the aircraft more to the right (more rotor torque) and lowering collective will spin left. 4. observe the IHADSS symbols. To get to hovering, pull the circle back (stick control left right) to merge with the crosshair in horizontal plane, and chase the circle with the crosshair (up and down) in vertical plane. Make a small correction at a time, sort of like midair refuel. This might also help.

I’ve noticed that my VRAM can get saturated up to 21 GB with the RTX 3090 since the last update. Been flying the Apache mostly though.

Yes this is exactly my point, this way I don't have to look at the darn diagram every time to make sure my cyclic or pedal is really back in the original neutral position. I don't really want to fly with that window open. It is meant to help prevent me from getting into trouble in the first place, since not everybody is a skilled pilot. BTW, there's already a built-in cheat mode for trimming. With pedals for example, assign button inputs for rudder left and right. When you want a slight adjustment just tap the corresponding input then trim hold right after and it will stick, hassle free. This is better than central trimming since you can dial in extra input right away without waiting for the pedal or stick to spring back to the center. This is also better than the other trimming mode since it will not add sustained input right after. Same thing with cyclic controls, for those who want to use them. Personally I only use it with pedals and only in long flights. For hovering and landing it's mostly manual control for me at least until I've achieved hovering state. Also for those who fly with FSSB R3, the force trim and trim reset are also built-in and configurable in the software...and works wonderfully.

Trim reset is a way to ensure that you know your cyclic and pedal would be back in neutral corresponding to their original positions for people with spring-based stick and rudder pedal without having to cross check with the joystick diagram on the screen. Its used will be situational (a backup mechanism if you will) to help get you out of hairy situations or to just reset back to the original state so you would ensure the device is always back at zero x and y position when you let go. As Redkite illustrated in his video, force trim up at +50% won’t allow you to pull beyond -50% in the other direction. Unless you have the joystick diagram up all the time you might not realize that this has happened, and a quick trim reset coupled with cyclic manipulation can help. Now in ideal situations this shouldn’t happen, but things that can happen do happen at unfortunate times. Not everybody does things the exact same way. Ultimately, the customers are kings and there should always be option to accommodate various styles of play to keep people happy. Similarly, there are also folks who don’t or can’t use rudder pedals for various reasons, so don’t literally expect them to do so. Instead providing methods that can help make things easier is the proper way to do business. After all this is just a game.

Redkite released a nice video illustrating how it works, and how it can also become a problem without trim reset.

Right now if I want to do a perfect hovering or plop down at the exact spot and at heading that I want, manual control is the best option for me. May be I’ll learn to trim better but the current options just don’t seem to work well with my brain, especially the rudder part.