Help running DCS in VR *WITHOUT* SteamVR

[Liqtor]

So as the title say I am wanting to run DCS in VR without SteamVR, I have a PiMax 8K+ and I have loaded the game into PiTool however when I attempt to run the game without SteamVR installed, nothing happens. Task manager shows PiTool running but DCS never starts.

When I have SteamVR installed and launch the game through PiTool everything starts as expected, SteamVR starts followed closely by DCS.

I am wanting to run DCS without SteamVR because I saw SweViver jump from ~45 FPS up to 80 when running DCS with PiTool only.

My system is

Ryzen 3950

RTX2080Ti

32GB 3600mhz G.Skill

ASROCK 570x mb

1TB Firecuda Sata

1TB Firecude M.2

I only ever see ~40 FPS and from what I have seen on various videos my system should be able to do much better than this.

Please Help!

[libory]

I have Pimax 5k and I had the same problem...

 

I fixed it installing oculus drivers.... YES... oculus drivers.. Just install the software. No hardware setups as you don't have an Oculus plugged (I imagine).

 

So go to oculus and install it... it worked for me.

 

You see an increase of fps but not that crazy... but at least the menus and loading screens work much better.

 

Good luck!

[B4ron]

On 9/4/2020 at 1:27 AM, libory said:

I have Pimax 5k and I had the same problem...

 

I fixed it installing oculus drivers.... YES... oculus drivers.. Just install the software. No hardware setups as you don't have an Oculus plugged (I imagine).

 

So go to oculus and install it... it worked for me.

 

You see an increase of fps but not that crazy... but at least the menus and loading screens work much better.

 

Good luck!

Hi. I tried this but it didn't work for me. Do you have to uninstall SteamVR for that purpose or can you simply deactivate it somehow? How does DCS know which driver to use?

[Pyker]

Me too I'd like to know how to play DCS on my Pimax 5K with just the Oculus drivers rather than SteamVR.  I mean, if that increases the framerate.  I installed the Oculus software, but when I start DCS either from Pitools or from the desktop shortcut, it still starts SteamVR.

Does anybody know what I should do ? Should I use a modified DCS shortcut or something like that? Is there a SteamVR setting to change so that with some games like DCS SteamVR does not start?

Thanks in advance.

[ackattacker]

19 hours ago, Pyker said:

Me too I'd like to know how to play DCS on my Pimax 5K with just the Oculus drivers rather than SteamVR.  I mean, if that increases the framerate.  I installed the Oculus software, but when I start DCS either from Pitools or from the desktop shortcut, it still starts SteamVR.

Does anybody know what I should do ? Should I use a modified DCS shortcut or something like that? Is there a SteamVR setting to change so that with some games like DCS SteamVR does not start?

Thanks in advance.

If you use the DCS updater utility to launch DCS, you can launch directly into VR and also choose which rendering driver to use. I have not tried Oculus with the Pimax though. Try it and let us know.

[dburne]

20 hours ago, Pyker said:

Me too I'd like to know how to play DCS on my Pimax 5K with just the Oculus drivers rather than SteamVR.  I mean, if that increases the framerate.  I installed the Oculus software, but when I start DCS either from Pitools or from the desktop shortcut, it still starts SteamVR.

Does anybody know what I should do ? Should I use a modified DCS shortcut or something like that? Is there a SteamVR setting to change so that with some games like DCS SteamVR does not start?

Thanks in advance.

No you will not be able to use just Oculus drivers with a Pimax headset. Nor any other non Oculus headset.

[Pyker]

4 hours ago, ackattacker said:

If you use the DCS updater utility to launch DCS, you can launch directly into VR and also choose which rendering driver to use. I have not tried Oculus with the Pimax though. Try it and let us know.

Thank you, but that didn't work for me. Running the updater asks me if I want to update (I'm still at 2.7.9 stable) and then just launches DCS and SteamVR as usual.

Or did you mean Skatezilla's ultility (which I've never used)?

[Pyker]

Nope. Tried with Skatezilla's utility, but even then, with Oculus API selected instead of SteamVR, it is still SteamVR that starts when I start DCS.

On the other hand, a game that I had bought on the Oculus store does start in VR without starting SteamVR (and neither does it start Oculus Home, which is nice).

[Pyker]

Success! (I think).

I found in some Reddit thread explaining that I had to launch DCS from Pimax VR experience and not from Pitools or from the desktop. So I downloaded Pimax VR experience, installed it, imported DCS into the library, had to restart the app and reboot the PC once and now it seems to work! DCS starts in VR in my Pimax without SteamVR.

Now whether I gain nNY FPS, that's another story...

[Dragon1-1]

You should, SteamVR is a piece of crap. I run a Reverb G2 with OpenXR, but Oculus drivers should have a similar effect. Alternate drivers basically do right what SteamVR utterly fails at. I gained a lot when switching. 

[dburne]

1 hour ago, Pyker said:

Success! (I think).

I found in some Reddit thread explaining that I had to launch DCS from Pimax VR experience and not from Pitools or from the desktop. So I downloaded Pimax VR experience, installed it, imported DCS into the library, had to restart the app and reboot the PC once and now it seems to work! DCS starts in VR in my Pimax without SteamVR.

Now whether I gain nNY FPS, that's another story...

That is a little different than your original question which was how to use Oculus drivers with your Pimax headset which you can not do. 

I would check task manager to see if Steam VR is actually running. It has been known to still launch and run in the background. Maybe DCS added native Pimax support at some point, I don't know. I thought they only supported natively Steam VR and Oculus API.

Edited May 6, 2022 by dburne

[Pyker]

7 hours ago, dburne said:

That is a little different than your original question which was how to use Oculus drivers with your Pimax headset which you can not do. 

I would check task manager to see if Steam VR is actually running. It has been known to still launch and run in the background. Maybe DCS added native Pimax support at some point, I don't know. I thought they only supported natively Steam VR and Oculus API.

 

I just kind of repeated what the first posts were saying. Yes maybe SteamVR is still running in the background. The only thing I care about is whether I’ll gain some FPS (without losing any image quality of course). That’s what the OP seemed to suggest.  I haven’t had the time to do comparisons yet.

[Pyker]

'Just compared, quick & dirty, Pitools+SteamVR versus Pimax VR experience and no "visible" SteamVR, Instant Action.  With my hardware (old) and my graphical settings (almost everything at minimum), barely any difference. According to the internal DCS FPS counter, sometimes I get, at most, maybe 5% more FPS with Pimax experience. Within the margins of error. Maybe SteamVR is running in the background after all.

Oh well it was worth a shot.

[Iggy]

On 5/6/2022 at 9:31 PM, Dragon1-1 said:

You should, SteamVR is a piece of crap. I run a Reverb G2 with OpenXR, but Oculus drivers should have a similar effect. Alternate drivers basically do right what SteamVR utterly fails at. I gained a lot when switching. 

HI mate,

Just wondering how you managed to take Steam VR out of the loop for DCS?  I have OpenXR running but cannot seem to get DCS to run other than through SteamVR.. I'm using a local install of DCS and launching it through DCS Updater but SteamVR kicks in - i have turned it off in WMR settings.  Any help greatfully received pal.

 

[Eugel]

2 hours ago, Iggy said:

HI mate,

Just wondering how you managed to take Steam VR out of the loop for DCS?  I have OpenXR running but cannot seem to get DCS to run other than through SteamVR.. I'm using a local install of DCS and launching it through DCS Updater but SteamVR kicks in - i have turned it off in WMR settings.  Any help greatfully received pal.