Thudster

I'm interested to know if anyone has found or uses additional programs or mods for their VR gear? There is a lot of opportunity for use/utility/visual improvement. Apps getting in between the gear and the game seems to be straightforward API's. An example that I use for Prepar3D with the Oculus Rift below: https://flyinside-fsx.com/Features Thoughts?

Happy to say "Found them" thanks for directions and effort!

Yes, ED notes that there are Training Missions in their update statement. However, RAZBAM does not state that Training Missions are included in their current update. So - no Training Missions... Still appreciated updates in the other capabilities and no more disco ball...

Using OTT and once in-cockpit: I've needed to switch to OTT, turn ASW to AUTO, then back OFF again. Both operations confirmed via OTT OSD. Else I sit at 45 fps. Not sure what the reason is, but once noted, it's become SOP for me.

Yup - I'm running on the latest beta. Separate drives, Icons, etc between Released/Open Beta for me. For that reason, not like a mistake like that hasn't happened before ha! Flighter - your note on the benchmark is significant. Somewhere in my tuning, I'm getting higher throughput that shows up in this test. I appreciate what you're getting into for determination of impact on VR. I think though that since ED is heading toward Vulkan and probably other significant changes in the various graphics engine capabilities, not sure it will be relevant past 6 months. But, if there are tunes they can make before that time, well, we get back some capability. I've been tuning my game machines since Air Warrior in 1988 with Kelton Flynn. Never documenting in depth, just tuning for playability. Other than benchmarking during the steps, I found documenting arduous. I'm starting to wish I had taken better notes lol. **Unmentioned to this point, I do have two large swap files on SDD/M.2 drives. I never let Windows manage it. No matter the banter about available memory, windows opens up with swap headroom. Especially if it's on SDD or m.2 drives. I suspect it's 10 things like this that I do on any machine I own that plows the road to speed. Rest assured, nothing stock about my Windows installs. With Process Lasso and Windows Process watchers, I saw many page faults and swaps coming from DCS. This led me to crank up space and see if it helps. Tuning for SQL seems to help DCS engines flex. Similar stress points? Swaps: *32,000-38,000 on M.2 *64,000-68,000 on SDD ** I also saw a jump in FPS with the latest BIOS update for the Gigabyte MB. Included fix #3 from Intel I believe. The Gigabyte part included fixes for "Graphics Card Compatability and Performance" didn't dig into what exactly that was as I was already 3 revs back.

Flighter, if I get a chance I will try it. Awfully similar to the last one I tried up for someone. I can tell you right now it'll be between 80-92 FPS. With drops to 75 briefly and rarely. No lag or tears or jumps will occur. Looking left, right, up, down in the cockpit it will remain the same. The large change comes in external views. I don't use those except for snaps and movies anyway. The level of specificity you are noting isn't going to matter for smooth gameplay. It would matter to chase tight scenario optimization. My goal wasn't quite the same. I've tried lots of aircraft and FPS counters including the Oculus one in hundreds of scenarios. This is where I land on everything in FPS... even in a dogfight. If anyone is looking for a finer level of assurance that spending money on hardware or spending time on tuning is going to pay off, there isn't one that I can see. Too many variables and the VR technology is too new for the graphics engine currently available. It will change in 12-18 months anyway - Moore's Law wins! I wish you luck, generally, you find new things and outcomes you didn't expect when you take the plunge and see what happens. Love to hear what you find as well. I used 1080p Extreme DirectX in the Performance Benchmark Category, not VR. Version 1.0 (build 6181) My goal in using this software was in checking the changes against my own system capabilities, being able to see where my changes mattered broadly. Then flying it in DCS and Prepar3d offline/online to check real-world impact on playability, FPS, and stutter. Besides, this is fun, hate to turn it into a job. ;) (which is funny because I'm an IT Engineering Sr. Mgr)

Whelp - I dunno who listens to anything around the Forums. But in the Open Beta Issues area under VR Issues this thread had more views and posts. Seemed natural to read and respond here. If there are other threads that might be more helpful, do let me know, love to read them. I think ED gets it and is working on what's next, whenever that is. Stal2K thanks for the note, something worked for me it could help others, you nevah know. Others shared, I thought I would too. Ran some tests and I'm getting 0%-20%-35% utilization on the second GPU. Not consistent, kind of spiky. It's taking a load and doing something...

I wonder if there is a much bigger difference in my having the second GPU handling PhysX and whatever overhead Nvidia assigns to it. Even though my cards are disparate, the second card is assigned PhysX and has load on it. I could check it by turning it off, to see how much it carries now that the rest of the tuning is done. Sometime in the next few days, I'll give it a shot. Meantime, if someone has another GPU in the family, try it out.

Def does change. Doesn't for long and no frame drag, lag, or jumps associated with the occasional flux. As long as it stays smooth and in the top range of FPS, now I just fly. No more tuning until something in-game changes and demands more adjustments.

Looking forward to Vulkan. I'm hoping that means Vulkan will open the locked-up GPU and advanced card capabilities for DCS use. The world has changed a lot since this simulation started. It takes a lot of effort and time to engage all of it. Sounds great that things are headed this way.

Sorry - truly didn't mean it to sound defensive. More of a - yes it's possible. I do wish there was one "ah-ha" moment in the tuning to point to. **And you've turned off ASW??**

Here ya go. Carrier Take-Off mission in the AV-8B. Ctrl-Pause counter in VR. Also my custom skin AV-8B of the Ohio Air National Guard, circa 1980. IE: A7-D type lol.

CTRL-Pause brings up a counter in-VR. (Oculus anyway)

You search YouTube of course...

I use the Oculus overlay or Oculus Tray App for in-game FPS. I use FRAPS as well and I get screenshots using FRAPS. But their FPS counter lags when I take a screenshot with their software. ** I should probably note that this is NON-STEAM...

What I've heard from folks that might be different is: * Thinning out windows processes * Ensuring memory is in XMP mode * Motherboards matter. This one is known for high throughput internally. * Overclocking matters. *SSAA: That's a non-VR setting for me I use with Delan Engineering Tracker for setup or learning an aircraft.

I hope this helps. I'm stable and done tuning until the tech or the game changes again, lol. Doesn't sound like anyone here is new at this, so I'll skip most explanations and only reiterate what maybe tends to get skipped. Thud's DCS/Prepar3d Setup Oculus VR and Non-VR settings (noted where variable). Setup is: Non-Steam VR and non-steam DCS Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 5 Motherboard i7-8700K CPU @ 5.0 GHz OC 32 GB DDR4 2800 XMP (x2) M.2 PCIe NVME SSD EVGA 1080 Ti Superclocked 11gb Driver 398.11 +50\+400 EVGA GTX1070 (PhysX) Corsair Hydro Series H60 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 750W Gold PS Where are the gains? Stability is a gain, network or CPU or GPU. Consistently available horsepower helps before you overclock anything. Approx Gains for me from my start: **Stabilization: 15+fps for consistent frames and performance, reducing variable rates, ending on the higher numbers and staying there. **Overclocking: 20+ fps with gains from both CPU, GPU, and memory tweaks. your mileage may vary here. Best gains outside of hardware buys. **Hardware: 30+ fps EVGA GTX1070 cards in SLI configuration to EVGA 1080Ti card paired with a GTX1070 in non-SLI mode. Fast drives, M.2 & SSD. **Network Tuning: Stabilized connectivity removed client-side lag and variability. Stutters greatly reduced. **DCS Settings:+20/-20 FPS based on adjustments. Decide what is important for a given scenario or mission or flight and create configs for each. That choice for me is: Distance Clarity vs FPS Speed vs Close-Up Clarity in the Cockpit. Choose Two, One will suffer. Tuning Operating System engineered by removing bloatware, non-essential Microsoft Services and Software. This is for memory, CPU, threads, network utilization tuning. Process Lasso for the remainder of the mess. Over Clocking CPU Overclocked to 50mhz. Water cooled, room air conditioning piped into the back between the CPU and GPU. With supplemental cooling I never get near any of the temp alerts for GPU, CPU, Memory, or Power Supply. "Supplemental Cooling" means I used a shop-vac hose & parts to send cold air into the back of my PC. $25. GPU Overclock to stable clock rate multipliers and memory multipliers. Only run in OC while gaming. Memory locked into XMP Mode. EVGA Precision and test test test. Using Superposition Benchmark from unigine. Results benchmark to 6300-6700. I do not run the video cards at their highest capable overclock. I prefer longevity and stability. Process Lasso (purchased) Bitsum Highest Performance Mode DCS.exe and Oculus process have been given higher priority for CPU, Memory, and IO. Creating a Game Profile with these reductions lowers other processes or stops a non- essential process. Though minimal once you're in Bitsum mode, I'll take all I can get. Network Cable Modem delivering average 150mb down/40 up. Low latency to the POP. Mesh Wi-Fi network so no shared bandwidth to the PC. I see no difference in Wi-Fi vs Hardwired in my config. cFos Speed network tuning utility. Comes with the Gigabyte motherboard. Helped create an optimized and stable packet environment. Normally your packets and frames between your cable modem, wi-fi router, and PC are not optimized and can cause lag if they are well out of whack and retransmit a lot. This takes care of that leveling. Or have a network engineer friend help you. Tools: Process Lasso: Windows processes and optimization EVGA Precision: GPU Card tuning and OC Superposition Benchmark: Change, test, repeat Oculus Tray Tool: Control Oculus and ASW [if you don't turn off ASW you're stuck at 45 fps forever] OvGME: Manage mods modules in DCS DCS Updater Utility: Ya, gotta have it. BIOS Tuning: For CPU and Memory OC. Intel Extreme Tuning Utility: Hand to find where you what to be or create profiles if you don't want the PC running hot all the time. DCS Settings Textures: High Terrain Textures: High Civ. Traffic: Off Water: High Visb Range: High Hear Blur: Off Shadows: Flat Only Resolution: 2560x1440 @ 165hz Aspect 1.777 Monitors: 1 Screen Res of Cockpit Display: 1024 MSAA: 2/4x (Variable based on need) Depth of Field: Off Lens Effect: None Motion Blur: Off SSAA: 1.5/Off (Variable based on need) Clutter/Grass: -150000 Trees Visibility: 75% (personal preference) Preload Radius: Max Smoke Density: 1 Gamma: 2 Anisotropic Filtering: 4/8x (Variable based on need) Terrain Object Shadows: Off Cockpit Global Illumination: Off Rain Droplets: Off Disable Aero: Checked Vsync: Unchecked Full Screen: Checked (and Alt/Enter after launch) Scale GUI: Unchecked VR Settings Enable Headset Checked Pixel Density: 1.2/1.4/1.8 (Variable based on mission/need) Use Mouse: CheckedCussor Confided to Game Window: Checked Use Hand Controllers: Unchecked Force IPD Distance: Unchecked Use Built In Audio: Checked

This was helpful. It's each of the steps from CPU and Mem XMP & overclocking, Card OC, second GPU, SSD's and M.2, killing un-needed services and apps. No one thing cranked it up to 90 fps.

I never did when I used CPU for PhysX either. In SLI mode I saw 20% utilization on my second 1070 card. Mostly PhysX and some management overhead I guess. 1080 Card alone was a big uptick in framerate from the 1070 cards. Adding one 1070 card back into the box and framerates again climbed, where I started getting 90 fps in VR. 1070 Card is running 20-30% utilization. Other tweaks and overclocking give me stable 75-90 FPS in VR. This is ASW OFF. PD 1.2 to 1.5 PD 1.6-1.8 if I want more clarity which trades for more frequent bounces in FPS. Bottom line, it remains stutter free, no laggies, not getting seasick, can see all the words in the cockpit. Depending on the mission I'll sacrifice some framerate for added distance clarity if needed. But never am I getting low impactful framerate drag, no matter what the counter says as it hits 70-90 fps in PD 1.8.

I'll get them together shortly. Also a pic of the Ohio Air National Guard AV-8B I'm working on lol [An artist is doing the real work...I'm not an artist for sure] https://imgur.com/a/XyHcpzE

FYI - SkateZilla - I do love and appreciate your skins and work in DCS. The DCS Updater Utility is divine.

Non-VR with the Asus G-Sync monitor in 165hz - 190 fps and on rare occasion more. I built this rig for Prepar3d and really just shoved horsepower where I could. That it tunes well for DCS is a bonus.

Sorry - gets busy around here. I posted some pics with a specific setup requested by Hippo. My settings yield a better rate. I'll post my settings, but my OC settings are in my signature. FPS counter in the lower left is FRAPS. I used it for screenshots, each time I did its own counter dropped but the internal counter remained accurate. Overclock on the card and CPU makes a big difference. I'm also running a GTX1070 card, runs the physics for the 1080Ti, or so says the Nvidia software. I used to have (2x) 1070 in SLI - which as was noted is not supported in DCS. Switched to 1080Ti but kept once 1070 to see what happened... https://imgur.com/a/nshqdY9

"Big D" for A-7's of course. Maybe even a "K" model. Especially "Scrappy". My Ohio Air National Guard Unit - a long time ago lol. Back then it was the 178th TFG, 162nd TFS. Now they are the 178th TFW. Of course no more A-7D's lol. https://imgur.com/a/XyHcpzE

Here ya go. https://imgur.com/a/nshqdY9 These were as requested by Hippo for his specific scenario and settings. I'll get some shots at another time with my settings and FPS while flying, which stays around 90.