VR Shaders mod for better VR experience

[Steel Jaw]

Ran 2.7.0.4625 (15.4.2021) but no recompiling happened...?

[pixie]

Sorry to jump on this thread and ask some obvious questions for many of you.

I exclusively play VR on a Quest 2, with the latest stable version.   2.7.9 if I recall correctly.
I would of course benefit from a few more FPS, but my main issue is the terrain, which is way too bright while my cockpit is too dark.
Changing the gamma slider doesn't resolve the issue since I must choose between terrain and cockpit readability.

Could a shader mod prove beneficial for my issue ? Can you pinpoint me to the correct package to DL ?

Thank you all for your help

Edited January 9, 2022 by pixie

[Taz1004]

28 minutes ago, pixie said:

Sorry to jump on this thread and ask some obvious questions for many of you.

I exclusively play VR on a Quest 2, with the latest stable version.   2.7.9 if I recall correctly.
I would of course benefit from a few more FPS, but my main issue is the terrain, which is way too bright while my cockpit is too dark.
Changing the gamma slider doesn't resolve the issue since I must choose between terrain and cockpit readability.

Could a shader mod prove beneficial for my issue ? Can you pinpoint me to the correct package to DL ?

Thank you all for your help

I'm not sure what problems you're having but the terrain and cockpit should be balanced by default.

This mod doesn't darken terrain.  However, you can edit a lua file to achieve that if you're sure nothing's broken and you still want to change it.

/Mods/terrains/Caucasus/shadingOptions/Caucasus.lua

gamma setting on Line 7.  Lowering it would only darken terrain surface.

You would have to do this to each terrain.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Taz1004

[pixie]

thank you very much for your help Taz, 

I can assure you the terrain is overblown while the cockpit is fine, I have no idea why, but I have had this issue for a while.

This setting should be perfect

[lefuneste01]

5 hours ago, pixie said:

Sorry to jump on this thread and ask some obvious questions for many of you.

I exclusively play VR on a Quest 2, with the latest stable version.   2.7.9 if I recall correctly.
I would of course benefit from a few more FPS, but my main issue is the terrain, which is way too bright while my cockpit is too dark.
Changing the gamma slider doesn't resolve the issue since I must choose between terrain and cockpit readability.

Could a shader mod prove beneficial for my issue ? Can you pinpoint me to the correct package to DL ?

Thank you all for your help

 

You can also have a look here : https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/207154-3dmigoto-vr-mod-for-dcs-label-masking-color-enhancement-sharpen-fxaa-copypaste-of-radio-msg

 

[Fiztex]

14 часов назад, pixie сказал:

thank you very much for your help Taz, 

I can assure you the terrain is overblown while the cockpit is fine, I have no idea why, but I have had this issue for a while.

This setting should be perfect

I had this issue once due to leftovers from 3dmigoto and files in fxo and metashaders folders. Cleanup and repair of the game as well as cleaning up fxo and metashaders folders solved it for me.

[lefuneste01]

Hello,

I did some testing for the new version of my mod and the last beta... My measurement shown less fps with the shader mod than without...quick mission / A10CII / takeoff.

I used Spead-Of-Heat version of Kegetys mod.

Can you confirm ?

[Ready]

17 minutes ago, lefuneste01 said:

Hello,

I did some testing for the new version of my mod and the last beta... My measurement shown less fps with the shader mod than without...quick mission / A10CII / takeoff.

I used Spead-Of-Heat version of Kegetys mod.

Can you confirm ?

Hi I am currently using Taz's shaders version, but I am happy to test. Please provide links to the mods you used in both test versions and the mod settings you had?

Tnx

Edited January 14, 2022 by Ready

[lefuneste01]

8 minutes ago, Ready said:

Hi I am currently using Taz's shaders version, but I am happy to test. Please provide links to the mods you used in both test versions and the mod settings you had?

Tnx

 

Just test the same mission with or wihtout the shader mod. I used Quick mission/ A10CII / takeoff (caucasus) in VR as a bench, because fps are low so it shown if the mod is worth. From my point of view, game should be tuned for lowest fps (of course without saturation linked to too many units).

I used fraps, it work also in VR, and use 30s delay (as soon as OK button is pressed in game) to get min/med/max fps numbers.

I did a full repair, get measurement, install the shader mod and did again the measurements.

Edited January 14, 2022 by lefuneste01

[Ready]

4 minutes ago, lefuneste01 said:

Just test the same mission with or wihtout the shader mod. I used Quick mission/ A10CII / takeoff (caucasus) in VR as a bench, because fps are low so it shown if the mod is worth.

From my point of view, game should be tuned for lowest fps (of course without saturation linked to too many units).

I used fraps, it work also in VR, and use 30s delay (as soon as OK button is pressed in game) to get min/med/max fps numbers.

I did a full repair, get measurement, install the shader mod and did again the measurements.

 

Sorry I don't completely understand;

- You mean to try with and without the shader mod I am currently using (2.7.9.17830 Taz's version)?

- With and without your Migoto mod? (which version, please supply link and settings?)

- You do a full repair before each MOD installation and test? (including clearing the shader folders?)

- You say 'game should be tuned for lowest fps', but I always tune for highest FPS?

- I am using fpsVR to record FPS and CPU and GPU Framerate data, while running a benchmark trackfile and calculate averages. This should also give a similar outcome I guess.

Thanks,

[lefuneste01]

9 hours ago, Ready said:

Sorry I don't completely understand;

- You mean to try with and without the shader mod I am currently using (2.7.9.17830 Taz's version)? =>yes

- With and without your Migoto mod? (which version, please supply link and settings?) => do not take care about my mod, it may only add questions. If you are using it, just rename d3d11.dll into d3d11.dll.old for the testing, it will disable it without having to uninstall it

- You do a full repair before each MOD installation and test? (including clearing the shader folders?) => just before testing the version without shader mod (vanilla game)

- You say 'game should be tuned for lowest fps', but I always tune for highest FPS? => for me the idea is to have the best fps in worst game condition, so things should be tuned for that. I do not cate to have 90 fps in 80% of time if I have 20 fps in 20% of time. I prefer to ne able to have at least 60 or 30 fps in all condition, because game experience will be ALWAYS fluid.

- I am using fpsVR to record FPS and CPU and GPU Framerate data, while running a benchmark trackfile and calculate averages. This should also give a similar outcome I guess. => do it as you know it, the only thing is you should have same time period for your record (if you compare a 1s record with a 3 mins record for the same track ypu will not have same results).

Thanks,

Hello, I put my answers above.

[Ready]

16 hours ago, lefuneste01 said:

Hello, I put my answers above.

Hi, first I removed my VR shaders, cleared the FXO and Metashaders2 directories, followed by a repair.

Then I ran one track file performance test. Track file is about 2 minutes long.

Then I installed the VR shaders mod and ran the same track file again, with headset at the same position (stationary on desk)

	Average FPS	Average GPU Framerate
1. Vanilla	55.8	16.21
2. With shaders	59.8	14.95

My observation is that the VR shaders still work for me. They get me about 7% FPS improvement and about 8% GPU Framerate improvement. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Ready

[lefuneste01]

8 hours ago, Ready said:

Hi, first I removed my VR shaders, cleared the FXO and Metashaders2 directories, followed by a repair.

Then I ran one track file performance test. Track file is about 2 minutes long.

Then I installed the VR shaders mod and ran the same track file again, with headset at the same position (stationary on desk)

	Average FPS	Average GPU Framerate
1. Vanilla	55.8	16.21
2. With shaders	59.8	14.95

My observation is that the VR shaders still work for me. They get me about 7% FPS improvement and about 8% GPU Framerate improvement. 

 

Thanks. So I do not understand why I did not see the same effect (previously it was the case). Maybe it's the patch I made for compatibiliy with my mod ? I'll check.

[LucShep]

On 12/28/2021 at 6:33 AM, speed-of-heat said:

Well since you asked:

				Frametime in ms		Delta From Baseline
Ver	Test	Baseline	FPS	GPU	CPU	GPU	CPU	Changes
2.7.9.17830	124		61.33	14.72	6.90			Baseline Standard Settings no MODS, 100%SVR
2.7.9.17830	128	Test 124	75.71	11.74	6.83	2.98	0.08	FSR set to NIS 0.8 Render Scale, Sharpness 0, Radius 0.5
2.7.9.17830	129	Test 124	79.32	11.21	6.71	3.51	0.20	FSR set to NIS 0.8 Render Scale, Sharpness 0, Radius 0.5 + 90 CRM in Steam VR
2.7.9.17830	130	Test 124	80.30	10.97	6.87	3.75	0.03	FSR set to NIS 0.8 Render Scale, Sharpness 0, Radius 0.5 + 100 CRM in Steam VR + Simplex 2.2
2.7.9.17830	131	Test 124	80.55	10.60	6.98	4.12	-0.08	FSR set to NIS 0.8 Render Scale, Sharpness 0, Radius 0.5 + 100 CRM in Steam VR + Taz1004's variant of Kegetys Shaders

There is very little overall difference in performance between, running at 90% and implementing any of the currently  available shader mods, Taz's has just over 0.6ms improvement,  that has to be offset against the one time "cost" of compiling the shaders, which is not present in Simplex (for similar performance) , but overall I doubt you would see the difference in terms of raw performance especially if you are locking at 45hz, between either of the options (Simplex or Taz/Kegety) but Taz/Simplex is faster than 90% by about 0.5-ms and about 5fps more than running at 90%.

As to which is better visually thats a matter for the observer, and I'm not sticking my sensitive parts in that bed of razors, as its hard to get really objective data about that sort of subjective information.

Personally, I'm leaving towards Simplex, as it doesnt have the "up front" cost and delivers very similar perf.  HTH
 

On 12/28/2021 at 7:16 AM, Taz1004 said:

Thanks for that test.  Always wondered the performance difference but don't have the benchmarking tools.

Obvious difference between Simplex and Kegety's is IC.  So if IC is important, then there's really no choice.

Another reason for using original Kegety's over Simplex is for its features.  I first modified the haze and realized it required recompile anyway.  And to me, Haze is worth the up front cost.  So I decided to use the original.

 

And there are other features Simplex removes like Albedo texture sharpening, NVG scope adjustment, etc.  Below is difference between Simplex and Kegety's only.  No other mods.

I'm not biased over one or the other.  Both are great options.  Just providing information for people to make right choice.
 

Taz1004 is technically correct.

The idea with SIMPLEX is exactly what the name suggests....  simple and uncomplicated.
It tries to be as close to "stock" as possible in all aspects, while delivering most of the noticeable performance benefits of Kegetys' shaders.
With no slow loading of missions. No noticeable impact in image quality compared to stock. And no I.C. issues for Multiplayer.

Of course, that also means some of the modified niceties/features are left out, such as clear water, or Albedo texture sharpening, or NVG scope adjustment, etc, because all of those cause the extremely annoying slow loading upon any new mission, and can easily break I.C. for Multiplayer, unfortunately.
Albeit a bit compromised, SIMPLEX works as intended and is good for everybody, with 2D or VR, in SP or MP. And that's it.

Although there are (small) performance gains with latest 2.7 versions with these shader mods, unfortunately the very high GPU usage and VRAM consumption with decent quality settings is still impossible to fix with any of these mods (and I'm not even using VR) - that one is on ED developers hands.
So, until I can afford one of the latest high end GPUs (which now, more than ever, seem really necessary, but at outrageous prices), I'm not going to further update SIMPLEX shaders for latest versions. I'm done with 2.7 and its performance B.S.

FWIW, I got back to DCS 2.5.6 and not regretting it one bit - also using a respective SIMPLEX version for it - got 30% GPU usage improvement (!!) while using graphics settings and smoother performance that, honestly, I could only dream of with these newer 2.7 versions! 

Edited January 18, 2022 by LucShep

[lefuneste01]

1 hour ago, LucShep said:

Taz1004 is absolutely correct.

The idea with SIMPLEX is exactly what the name suggests....  simple and uncomplicated.
It tries to be as close to "stock" as possible in all aspects, while delivering most of the noticeable performance benefits of Kegetys' shaders. And that's it.

No slow loading of missions. 
No noticeable impact in image quality compared to stock. 
No I.C. issues for Multiplayer.

Of course, that also means some of the modified niceties are left out, such as clear water, or Albedo texture sharpening, or NVG scope adjustment, etc, because all of those cause the extremely annoying slow loading upon any new mission, and can easily break I.C. for Multiplayer, unfortunately.
Albeit a bit compromised, SIMPLEX works as intented and is good for everybody, with 2D or VR, in SP or MP.

But, although there are (small) performance gains with latest 2.7 versions with these shader mods, unfortunately the very high GPU usage and VRAM consumption with decent quality settings is still impossible to fix (and I'm not even using VR) - that one is on ED developers hands.
So, until I can afford one of the latest high end GPUs (which now, more than ever, seem really necessary, but outrageously priced), I'm not going to further update SIMPLEX shaders for latest versions. I'm done with 2.7 and its performance B.S.

Got back to DCS 2.5.6 and not regretting it one bit - also using a respective SIMPLEX version for it - got 30% GPU usage improvement (!!) while using graphics settings and smoother performance that, honestly, I could only dream of with these newer 2.7 versions! 

 

I confirm for simplex, that's too bad I didn't test it before...It give 95% of fps win you can have with Kegetys shadermod with the encrypted shaders of current DCS version, without any of the drawbacks of other version of the shadermod.... The next release of my mod will be compatible with it.

Edited January 18, 2022 by lefuneste01

[Sr.]

2 hours ago, lefuneste01 said:

I confirm for simplex, that's too bad I didn't test it before...It give 95% of fps win you can have with Kegetys shadermod with the encrypted shaders of current DCS version, without any of the drawbacks of other version of the shadermod.... The next release of my mod will be compatible with it.

 

Yes please!

[Fiztex]

13 часов назад, LucShep сказал:

FWIW, I got back to DCS 2.5.6 and not regretting it one bit - also using a respective SIMPLEX version for it - got 30% GPU usage improvement (!!) while using graphics settings and smoother performance that, honestly, I could only dream of with these newer 2.7 versions! 

 

Did you try 2.7.9? I feel like it brought back the performance lost with first introduction of 2.7, so I don't think there's a reason to keep 2.5.6 anymore, unless maybe pushing older modules to the limits while ignoring clouds. Ka-50 SP or other helos would probably benefit the most from 2.5.6 in normal weather. Although I must say you made me curious so I'll try out 2.5.6 too for a comparison sake, maybe make a helicopter version out of it

Edited January 19, 2022 by Fiztex

[LucShep]

6 hours ago, Fiztex said:

Did you try 2.7.9? I feel like it brought back the performance lost with first introduction of 2.7, so I don't think there's a reason to keep 2.5.6 anymore, unless maybe pushing older modules to the limits while ignoring clouds. Ka-50 SP or other helos would probably benefit the most from 2.5.6 in normal weather. Although I must say you made me curious so I'll try out 2.5.6 too for a comparison sake, maybe make a helicopter version out of it

Yep, of course I did.
It's somewhat closer to 2.7.6 performance, maybe slighty better but, for me, still utterly terrible, as has been with whatever version of DCS 2.7.
With whatever 2.7 version, with moderate settings and 60fps locked, my GPU (RX5700XT 8GB) works at 99%~100% usage, temps get overly hot, and VRAM consumption (actual real usage, not allocated) reaching and often surpassing the 8GB VRAM limit on it (F-14 A&B and Syria, for example).

Version 2.5.6 is the last version that the game worked ok for me, much happier now after returning to it - better perfomance and also gained in eye-candy, as I can pump a few settings a little more too (nicer overall image, plus no ugly canopy baked reflections).
The Caucasus looks just as nice with few mods done: https://imgur.com/a/2KZgvXv/all  (even feeling tempted to update the CGTC mod again)
I don't care about newest fancy clouds, water reflections or fire/explosions, if that means rendering the game unusable for me after so much invested in modules/maps.

Edited January 19, 2022 by LucShep

[Ready]

I totally understand and am considering downgrading as well. If only our multiplayer server would allow it..

Edited January 19, 2022 by Ready

[Fiztex]

1 час назад, LucShep сказал:

Yep, of course I did.
It's somewhat close to 2.7.6 performance, maybe slighty better but, for me, that is still utterly terrible as has been with whatever version of DCS 2.7
With whatever 2.7 version, moderate settings and 60fps locked, my GPU (RX5700XT 8GB) works at 99%~100% usage, temps get really hot, and VRAM consumption (actual real usage, not allocated) reaches and often surpassing the 8GB VRAM limit on it (F-14 A&B on Syria, for example).

Version 2.5.6 is the last version that the game worked ok for me, and much happier after returning to it - better perfomance and also gained in eye-candy (nicer overall image), as I can pump a few settings a little more too.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Shxx41WoyiVsTArAVlGxXoSwM7UKMWss?usp=sharing
Even feeling tempted to update the CGTC mod for Caucasus (for both 2.56 and 2.7).
 I don't care about fancy clouds, water reflections or fire/explosion effects, if that means rendering the game unusable for me after so much invested in modules/maps.

 

Yes, I'm testing 2.5.6 now and already can see that performance is better comparing to 2.7.9, especially with kegetys VR shaders for 2.5.6. The difference allows to set msaa 4x and PD 1.1 when 2.7.9 allow only msaa 2x and PD 1.0 with the same other settings. If only I had 3dmigoto for it, it would be great, I'd be using it for low level flying where I don't care much about clouds, otherwise the haze is just crazy. Do you have 3dmigoto for it by chance?

EDIT: managed to reduce haze by studying Taz1004 shaders, apparently it's all in one line in atmosphere.hlsl:

return color*transmittance + inscatterColor * gAtmIntensity * 0.5; //Taz1004 Haze

Add 0.5 multiplier for any version of kegetys shaders in this line and that's done, no need for 3dmigoto for that. Now I need to kill these horrible static reflections in some cockpits and it's pretty much ready to play

Edited January 19, 2022 by Fiztex

[edmuss]

If you turn off the simple glass shader in hmd.hlsl on kegetys shader mod it gets rid of the static cockpit reflections. I've noticed no significant loss of performance because of it.

[speed-of-heat]

so 

#define ENABLE_SIMPLE_CANOPY  0

?

[Fiztex]

27 минут назад, edmuss сказал:

If you turn off the simple glass shader in hmd.hlsl on kegetys shader mod it gets rid of the static cockpit reflections. I've noticed no significant loss of performance because of it.

Cockpit glass and HUD I solved by liveries and some textures from mods, but how to kill reflections from instruments on a10c and Ka-50? Will backup my fxo and metashaders and give it a try later today.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Fiztex

[edmuss]

32 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

so 

#define ENABLE_SIMPLE_CANOPY  0

?

 

17 minutes ago, Fiztex said:

Cockpit glass and HUD I solved by liveries and some textures from mods, but how to kill reflections from instruments on a10c and Ka-50? Will backup my fxo and metashaders and give it a try later today.

 

Yup

That gets rid of the static baked in reflections on the A10 and KA50 for me, both from HUD, canopy and guages/MFDs

[speed-of-heat]

awesome i will give it a go.