Valve Index Hands On

[Wicked.-]

I have the same MB as you, already turned it off....one of the things I did even before I got VR. Already did BIOS and driver updates on the MB/Vid Card. I've done it all, read countless posts, reinstall of the OS, turned off all the gaming stuff in Win 10....power management, tried every nvidia driver, steam vr or dcs open beta update as soon as they come out to see if it changes anything. Even tried a USB 3x card vs using the onboard one which is known to cause issues (more on the Rift S than others) I've done all kinds of benchmarks on it and burn in tests, it scores above or matches similar hardware.

 

Every time I see others posting up their settings I give it a shot to see what if anything changes. In your case the motion smoothing which I don't think I ever tried as most others I've read say leave it off. I've been building computer systems since the XT days and this is one of the few things I've never been able to figure out.

 

 

Man that sucks! The motion smoothing I use is the one under the Video tab. It's awful for me without it. The motion smoothing/reprojection option in the application DCS tab is like ASW and simply locks frame rates to half of whatever hertz you're using. That one I leave at Global.

I simply don't know what else to tell you. Like you I've been tweaking hardware for 25 years and do not understand why nothing works for you. My last two suggestions for you are thus...

 

1. A couple months ago my index was heating up on the bridge of my nose to around 140 degrees. I went round and round with Valve but they finally took it back and sent another which promptly heated up again. At this point I started looking at other components and that's when I noticed I was having USB errors. I bought my board from a local Best Buy so I decided to just buy another and switch it out and see what happens. FIXED. It had been my board all along. I don't play any other games so unlike you I couldn't tell if the Index worked any better on other games which you have. Therefore you may not be willing to do that. Once I found out it was the board I boxed up my old one, took it back and told them the USB's were bad... lol Instant RMA. I know you've checked out your USB's but it could be something else with the board.

 

 

2. I just ran across this thread and am trying these settings currently. I have Windows Game mode turned off already but this is different. So far I've flown on our server and I noticed less frame dips but I'm not giving it five starts yet.

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=4139901&postcount=1

Edited December 20, 2019 by Wicked.-

[*Rage*]

What difference does it make changing the Steam Custom resolution vs the DCS PD setting?

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

[Eaglewings]

What difference does it make changing the Steam Custom resolution vs the DCS PD setting?

 

They do same thing = supersampling

Use of custom resolution is easy on my system configuration compared to dcs pixel density.

I however get sharper image using dcs pixel density of 1.3.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Eaglewings

[Wicked.-]

What difference does it make changing the Steam Custom resolution vs the DCS PD setting?

 

DCS Pixel Density seems to drag down frame rates more than Custom Resolution in SteaVR. However, some people find using Pixel Density instead of Custom Resolution results in a better quality image. So I wouldn’t say that CR is always better than Pixel Density, it varies from system to system. In fact, you can use a combination of the two much like using SteamVR/Application/DCS SS to 138% and CR to 148%. You would instead change the DCS App SS to 100% and then set PD to 1.3. Once again though PD takes more power and can’t be raised as high as DCS App SS.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Wicked.-

[imacken]

Once again though PD takes more power and can’t be raised as high as DCS App SS.

 

Not sure why you say that. I mean PD of 1.3 is equivalent to 170% in SteamSS, and 1.4 about 200%.

(Assuming the Index is at native on 100%, of course. I can't remember for sure.)

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

Ok so disabled hyper thread. Lowered steam resolution in both general and video to 100. Index set at 80mhz

In game PD to 1.8

Ran smooth and flew along side a e3 refueling plane off its wingtip and attempting to refuel

Basically sat at 40 fps. Much better that the 27 I was getting. Actually enjoying the experience now that the nausea has subsided. Would like to get frame rates up a bit but small victories.

Thanks so far for all the help!!

Edited December 20, 2019 by Mr. Big.”Biggs”

[KungFu]

Just out of curiosity, if you have the F16 and PG, what are you guys getting for fps at start and then what does it drop to on taxi before the right hand turn on the island mission?

 

I would say this is probably the most hardware demanding mission I've ever seen other than MP.

[*Rage*]

Aren't all the settings just multipliers? I've tried various combinations and it seems to me it doesn't really matter whether you increase the Custom Resolution and decrease the PD or vice versa. For a given "total" the end image quality and fps is the same.

 

2x4=8 or 1x8=8.

[Wicked.-]

Aren't all the settings just multipliers? I've tried various combinations and it seems to me it doesn't really matter whether you increase the Custom Resolution and decrease the PD or vice versa. For a given "total" the end image quality and fps is the same.

 

2x4=8 or 1x8=8.

 

 

Yes, you're correct with the math, you're adding anything over 100% together to get to a total of 168%, 204% or whatever your system can handle. The reason for trying it using two different forms of Super Sampling, IE, Pixel Density/Custom Resolution/SteamVR Application Resolution is each method performs the super sampling in a different way. I have no idea what makes each way different but different hardware/software can respond better or worse depending on how you go about it.

[imacken]

Aren't all the settings just multipliers? I've tried various combinations and it seems to me it doesn't really matter whether you increase the Custom Resolution and decrease the PD or vice versa. For a given "total" the end image quality and fps is the same.

 

2x4=8 or 1x8=8.

 

Not totally sure what you mean. Just be aware that PD and Steam SS numbers have different ways of stating number of pixels. So, for example a DCS PD of 1.3 in each axis is equivalent to SteamVR SS of 1.3x1.3, or 170%.

[Wicked.-]

Not totally sure what you mean. Just be aware that PD and Steam SS numbers have different ways of stating number of pixels. So, for example a DCS PD of 1.3 in each axis is equivalent to SteamVR SS of 1.3x1.3, or 170%.

 

 

I'll admit it's a form of Voodoo. Anyway, I mix and match to see the difference.

[Nahemoth]

Wicked, did you try this?

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=257972

[Wicked.-]

Yes, I’ve been using the registry edit for a couple days but haven’t noticed much improvement. I started changing my mirroring to full screen tonight but I was flying online and couldn’t get a good idea as I didn’t have a baseline for the missions we flew. I will get a better test but both Reverb using friends reported much better results by hitting ALT ENTER once in DCS changing the monitor mirror to full screen. I believe I had less dips in frame rates as well but will test again tomorrow.

[*Rage*]

Not totally sure what you mean. Just be aware that PD and Steam SS numbers have different ways of stating number of pixels. So, for example a DCS PD of 1.3 in each axis is equivalent to SteamVR SS of 1.3x1.3, or 170%.

 

Yes exactly.

 

So set CR to 170% and PD to 1.0. Observe frame times and image quality.

 

Then set CR to 100% and PD to 1.3. Observe same frame times and image quality.

 

So no need for complicated voodoo combinations of the two. Just use one and titrate to your preference.

[imacken]

Yes exactly.

 

So set CR to 170% and PD to 1.0. Observe frame times and image quality.

 

Then set CR to 100% and PD to 1.3. Observe same frame times and image quality.

 

So no need for complicated voodoo combinations of the two. Just use one and titrate to your preference.

 

The general consensus is that SS does a better job than PD, but your experience may be different. I always have my PD set to 1.0.

[Nagilem]

@Rage - in theory yes. All of it is super sampling and works similarly. The difference is in who wrote the code to apply it. While 1x8=8 and 2x4=8, the way the math is done matters just as much as the answer.

 

 

I personally have found that the MSAA and PD algorithms in DCS are slow in frame times and FPS, and cause me stuttering and lots of warping and artifacts. Steam for me seems slightly better in terms of performance and not causing as much visual artifacts to the HMD.

[Supmua]

Valve Index Hands On

 

Has anyone tried OpenVR Benchmark (free download on Steam)? This is a pretty decent synthetic VR benchmark app.

 

My score is 54.31, 80Hz mode.

 

Edit: ran it ten times, avg scores in mid-high 53 FPS.

Edited December 21, 2019 by Supmua

[Wicked.-]

I couldn't get it to work without controllers.

[Nahemoth]

Finally I have ordered the reverb, let's see how good is compared to the index taking into account that my IPD is 58 (with lazy eye)...

[Wicked.-]

Finally I have ordered the reverb, let's see how good is compared to the index taking into account that my IPD is 58 (with lazy eye)...

 

If it works for you I very well may get one too. My IPD is 58 as well. There is an app now that allows you to further adjust the lens spacing inside DCS. That wasn’t available when I tried the Reverb and it was slightly cross eyed. That said I’ve been pretty happy with the Index in the Viper lately. I’m going back and forth between 184% and 194% CR only and the pit is looking VERY good with mostly 45 FPS locked on even heavy online missions.

[imacken]

An app for lens spacing? Where did you see that?

[Nahemoth]

imacken, did you manage to install all the software for the reverb and index at the same time?

[Wicked.-]

An app for lens spacing? Where did you see that?

 

 

 

 

 

It's called OpenVR debug tool. It's for use with DCS. I just spent the last ten minutes looking for a link. BigNewey posted about it but I can't find it. It's basically to help eliminate being cross eyed. My Index is fine but I would have liked to try it on the Reverb.

[Kinger]

So for you guys that have used both the Index and the Reverb in DCS, is there really that significant of a difference visually?