SteamVR Beta 1.7.10 Motion Smoothing Changes

[Twwhitey]

Found it interesting that the current SteamVR Beta v1.7.10 change description explicitly mentions DCS World. Granted it seems to imply a fix to a previous fix (that apparently made DCS worse) however I’d be curious if the subsequent fix actually improves the experience with motion smoothing on for DCS. I found the SteamVRs implementation of motion smoothing slightly worse than ASW (Oculus’s implementation)... not by much but noteworthy. An improvement on the Steam side would be great IMO.

 

Would be curious if any Index users out there give it a try (either in Beta or if it eventually gets rolled into stable) and notice improvements.

 

In my experience motion smoothing would introduce a fair amount of warping artifacts (canopy bow on the FA-18, missiles tips on the wing tips warping during aggressive maneuvers or my least favorite seeing 2 - double vision - enemy planes when at a fast moving merge in a dogfight). ASW does it too just a bit less than Steams version. Maybe the new changes improve that?

 

Disclaimer - I sent my Index kit back to Valve for a refund due to multiple RMA issues but I’m hoping quality control improves to the point I’d consider re-ordering again in the future.

 

https://steamcommunity.com/games/250820/announcements/detail/1599262707997233111

 

Compositor

 

Improved throttling logic when motion smoothing is enabled. Previously, throttling and prediction were locked together when motion smoothing is enabled. Last week throttling was temporarily disabled for cpu bound applications to help with No Man’s Sky, but made some other experiences worse (e.g. DCS World). This update allows throttling to back off of the prediction level based on the current average gpu performance. A typical example is when an app can render at half-rate (i.e. each rendered frame takes more than a single frame to finish, but less than two), but spends an extra frame on the cpu performing the draw calls, etc. This makes each of those frames a total of three frame latent, but can still deliver a new frame every other vsync interval. Note: This only applies to Lighthouse based hmds (e.g. Vive, Index) since most other headsets (e.g. Rift, WMR) use their own compositor and associated logic for throttling and prediction.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Twwhitey

[Willie Nelson]

Thanks for the heads up, it was suggested by people smarter than me to not subscribe to SteamVR betas as there have been some problems in the past but I’ll at least have a look at this. It’s easy enough to unsubscribe from betas.

[Willie Nelson]

Yep, I was at Khasab in the Hornet the other day and was dropping to less than 35 FPS, it would appear that resubscribing to SteamVR beta (I’ve always been in WMR beta also) was what made the difference. No problems maintaing a stable 45 today. Thank for your help.

[RealDCSpilot]

Cool how fast they reacted to fix the problem, using SteamVR bug reports works.

[FoxDelta]

just tried it. yes motion smoothing is ok again but still not as good as the oculus one. too much warping imo. regarding the actual performance troubles i am having when coming close to F18s eg parked on the carrier, which got worse few patches ago, i can t see any improvement here. i assume this is an DCS issue.

 

 

INDEX user

[Baldrick33]

Being a bit thick but how do I get to "in headset display settings"?

 

• Added brightness control, set in-headset under Display Settings (firmware update required)
  
• Enabled column correction to mitigate vertical "screendoor" (firmware update required). Column correction is only active during SteamVR [beta] usage. Controls are available in-headset, under Display Settings -> Advanced.
  

I can get to Settings by clicking on the SteamVR window on my desktop but don't see these settings. Do I need SteamVR home or an overlay to get to in-headset settings? I don't have any controllers and couldn't seem to navigate SteamVR home without them

[imacken]

Being a bit thick but how do I get to "in headset display settings"?

 

• Added brightness control, set in-headset under Display Settings (firmware update required)
  
• Enabled column correction to mitigate vertical "screendoor" (firmware update required). Column correction is only active during SteamVR [beta] usage. Controls are available in-headset, under Display Settings -> Advanced.
  

I can get to Settings by clicking on the SteamVR window on my desktop but don't see these settings. Do I need SteamVR home or an overlay to get to in-headset settings? I don't have any controllers and couldn't seem to navigate SteamVR home without them

 

It’s on the main Steam overlay in VR when you have the headset on. Usually accessed by hitting the system button on a controller.

[Baldrick33]

It’s on the main Steam overlay in VR when you have the headset on. Usually accessed by hitting the system button on a controller.

I don't have any Index controllers though, I do have an xbox controller but hitting all the buttons on that does nothing!

 

Edit: Found the button on the Index but the xbox controller won't let me navigate the menus, I can get to settings but none of the options above!

 

Edit2: I can get to the top section by pressing the menu button but when I click on Display settings I can't change anything

Edited August 28, 2019 by Baldrick33

[imacken]

I don't have any Index controllers though, I do have an xbox controller but hitting all the buttons on that does nothing!

 

Edit: Found the button on the Index but the xbox controller won't let me navigate the menus, I can get to settings but none of the options above!

 

Edit2: I can get to the top section by pressing the menu button but when I click on Display settings I can't change anything

 

Press the system button on the bottom of the Index, but I’m not sure how you can use the buttons with no controller.

[Baldrick33]

Press the system button on the bottom of the Index, but I’m not sure how you can use the buttons with no controller.

Seems not. Hopefully it will get added to the settings menu on the monitor, or I can find the config files to edit. I don't have an issue with vertical lines but wouldn't mind seeing what impact the brightness settings have.