3090 and G2 Experiences and Settings

[speed-of-heat]

My specs are in my signature block at the bottom of this post.

 

TLDR

Performance is acceptable on all maps, I get a steady 90 FPS in most normal free flight conditions and between 45 and 90 in combat or very low level  or the channel map of over Reigate 45 FPS, with some very minor edge cases for low level strafing where it flicks in and out of 45 which is "acceptable" , I don't play multiplayer  very often so YMMV.

 

Performance,  comfort, clarity & tracking are all much improved, subjectively I get a "good" FOV certainly no worse than the G1 maybe a little better. 

 

Hygiene and Setup - a lot has changed since WMR came on to the scene, and there is a lot that is “canon knowledge” that whilst historically correct is now wrong... forget what you thought you knew about setting up a headset and follow this guide, it has the advantage of being right.

 

HPET - I had  forgotten I had done this years ago, but turn it off  How To Improve Gaming Performance By Disabling HPET Settings? (silicophilic.com)...

 

NVidia Settings - this is my current settings for Nvidia, i don't use AA so i force it off here as well which bizarrely seems to buy me some ms , texture filtering - quality is a massively misunderstood setting, basically at quality it dithers an object in an attempt to make it smoother ...  turning it to high performance means you get crisp readable text (dials and such) and more perf...

 

Clarity is much improved how much this is due to running at a functionally higher resolution I can't say for sure (I currently run at a steam setting of 80% for DCS (2836 x 2768) and general is set to 100%, I am still using the shader mod as it does still have a frame time reduction which is useful for getting 90FPS, also note Texture filtering Quality is set to High Performance:

 

I keep my in game Pixel Density to 1.0.

 

IPD Adjustment, may also have improved clarity for me, as my IPD is 68.5...  so 68 just gets me there!  

 

Performance For shadows I do use a mod to reduce the frame rate impact (Shadows Reduced Frame Rate Impact.zip), which gives me cockpit shadows but essentially nothing from other aircraft (not sure who i stole it from, sorry), which enables me to hit 45 FPS on the super carrier and still keep shadows active for cockpit immersion.  Now if you absolutely "MAX a map", then yes I will get CPU bottlenecked, but for most of what I do that's not the case.

 

I am still using my version of Kegety's shader mod (as per my sig, Clear Water and TreeFix) as it does increase the 90FPS window enough (about 0.5 to .8ms GPU frame time) to "be more present at 90" (dropping a few percent in steam SS would likely enable you turn that off .. but then you are further compromising clarity ...  

 

If you want the full 3168 x 3096 experience, you will get a constant 45FPS or 60 if you can deal with the "flickering" (I can't), the clarity advantages of this are amazing, but, on The channel  and other intensive maps/missions you start to run into perf problems and drop below 45 FPS.

 

MSAA

I dont use AA as this will force me into reprojection most of the time; now if you cant live without it (x2), you will need to set your AA Mode to Application Controlled in Nvidia Control Panel and obviously in game settings to x2 ... and you will be able to maintain 45fps in most scenarios.  Or if you want to maintain 90 FPS you will need to reduce your steam super sampling to 50% or 60% (a lot will depend on your GPU or CPU at this point).  You may also want to turn water to Medium which will enable you to go to about 70% resolution (and you may want to use Kegetys full mod at that stage if you have adopted medium water as you will get slightly better perf )... go figure to increase the clarity you have to reduce the clarity ... for me it’s a choice between this visual clarity and shadows. 

 

Process Priority

To ensure your DCS.exe, vrserver.exe and vrcompositor.exe are working most efficiently with your CPU set their priority to High, you can do this manually, or via a script I do it via the registry, add the following keys to the registry 

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\DCS.exe\PerfOptions]
"CpuPriorityClass"=dword:00000003

adding for the other two processes replacing dcs.exe with vrserver.exe and vrcompositer.exe respectively.

 

Thrustmaster Scripts/Target GUI

Minimise this window, i havent been able to track down exactly why, but, when i have these open normally, it eats a bout 1.5% of my CPU and causes my frame rates to drop to 45 more consistently; minimising i get 90 back... my frame times suggest that i should still get 90 FWIW...  but minimising i get 90 leaving it up 45...  no idea why.

 

Memory; what can i tell you, we know that memory reported  is allocated not used ... that said maps like the channel allocate 13Gb+ of vRAM on my settings, i can reduce the amount of memory allocated by reducing the settings... I dont know if this impacts anything (and i have no easy way doing deterministic testing on it) but I "feel" that it does, anyway I'm glad I got more than 10.

 

Overclocking - I do run a slight OC on my 3090, its XC3 so its not built to OC  with a power limit of 104 and a temp limit of 91 (it doesnt go above 79 in game and is typically running at 2010 or 2025Mhz with a custom Voltage/Frequency Curve:

 

I also OC my CPU to 5.0ghz, I can get stable at 5.1 but it seems to make very little practical difference other than costing me power.

 

Tracking, much has been said of the G2's tracking, I am comparing it with the G1, which always used to loose tracking when I looked down in the cockpit, to switch on the OBOGS or something, I dont get that anymore. so for me the tracking is a big improvement. 

 

Comfort, I really don't know where to start I liked my G1, but, I always felt tight in it I had to put foam pads in the nose and forehead to make it "comfortable" and the cable... The G2 its completely dark, its lighter and that is noticeable, the cable is no longer a constant drag, and the headset... the headset isn't "crushing"  against my ears anymore... its comfortable... I can wear it for hours and not notice it...  

 

 

In summary a lot of money spent for good effects. YMMV.  Anyway I hope it helps some people... 

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by speed-of-heat
Updated nVidia Settings and HPET, more stuff i forgot, corrected a typo!

[SimHog]

For me coming from a CV1 to the G2.

 

Positves:

• The G2 is lightweight. I couldn't believe how much lighter it was compared to the CV1.
• The G2 resultion is, I think it goes without saying ... OMG!

 

Negatives:

• I've got a decent sized head and the G2 face mask / frame is way too narrow for me, especially compared to the CV1. I get constant pressure around my eye sockets to the point where I have to stop. I'm investigating the feasiablility of 3D printing a wider frame.
• Probably due to the above, the G2's central focal area (sweet spot) where everything is clear is smaller than the CV1, i.e. looking peripherally, the CV1 has a larger area / zone where the image is in focus compared to the G2.
• The software setup for DCS is very cumbersom - Windows Mixed Reality, Steam VR, then DCS itself - too many levers to pull to get it going just right.

Edited December 26, 2020 by CoderX71

[speed-of-heat]

21 minutes ago, CoderX71 said:

Negatives:

• I've got a decent sized head and the G2 face mask / frame is way too narrow for me, especially compared to the CV1. I get constant pressure around my eye sockets to the point where I have to stop. I'm investigating the feasiablility of 3D printing a wider frame.
• Due to the above, the G2's central focal area (sweet spot) where everything is clear is smaller than the CV1, i.e. looking peripherally, the CV1 has a larger area / zone where the image is in focus compared to the G2.
• The software setup for DCS is very cumbersom - Windows Mixed Reality, Steam VR, then DCS itself - too many levers to pull to get it going just right.

 

 

I think this is where it all starts to go sideways, with any headset it has to fit you right, if its not then the sweet spot is smaller or bigger etc... so this will always vary between user, at least HP published the CAD drawings .. so you can use those to customise a face mask.

 

The software set up i dont really think about too much as i had this with the Oddessy and the G1,  it is considerably improved over the last year or so!  But if you are comming from the Oculus world it will be a "culture shock" of just asking "why like this, why in two places" , so yes I agree the latter is a negative... (but do it once and its done)

[SimHog]

8 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

 

... at least HP published the CAD drawings .. so you can use those to customise a face mask.

 

Music to my eyes, I didn't know that, I'll need to look into it, thanks.

[sultan.of.swing]

Picked up my G2 a few days ago, Still tinkering around with settings and trying to figure everything out.
My rig is a 10940x@4.9ghz all core and a EVGA FTW3 Ultra 3090.

I may give your settings a try and see how they work out, I did download the Shader mod earlier.

[speed-of-heat]

4 minutes ago, CoderX71 said:

 

Music to my eyes, I didn't know that, I'll need to look into it, thanks.

3D printed HP Reverb G2 Face gasket from Valve Index : HPReverb (reddit.com) (as an example of something) a chap on reddit has done

[sultan.of.swing]

Have you made any tweaks to the masks sizes in the shader mod at all?

[SimHog]

Yep found it, thanks again ...

 

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by CoderX71

[speed-of-heat]

7 minutes ago, sultan.of.swing said:

Have you made any tweaks to the masks sizes in the shader mod at all?

yes,  its currently set to 575 for me

[sultan.of.swing]

My biggest thing in VR is aliasing/shimmering at longer distances.
G2 helped out in that aspect a tons,  I loaded your settings and I will give them a shot over the next couple of days.

 

[SimHog]

Yeah ... Just done a little experiment using the G2 without the face plate attached, it's definately the cause of the issue I'm having with the sweet spot, the FOV was also much higher.

The faceplate is definately a poor design in my opinion.

[speed-of-heat]

And while I remember for the love of all that is perf related disable the HPET!

 

How To Improve Gaming Performance By Disabling HPET Settings? (silicophilic.com)

 

I had done this years ago  and was just reminded about it now ... 

[javelina1]

15 hours ago, speed-of-heat said:

3D printed HP Reverb G2 Face gasket from Valve Index : HPReverb (reddit.com) (as an example of something) a chap on reddit has done

Yes, something I can try out!  Gonna look into this and print.  A week or two ago, I order the face gasket.  just waiting for it to arrive (from overseas).

[javelina1]

printing now as we speak.  About a 12 hour print.  Once finished, I'll post pics.

[zildac]

Had one printed just before my G2 decided to die, didn't get a chance to try it. Would be interested what you think.

[javelina1]

13 minutes ago, zildac said:

Had one printed just before my G2 decided to die, didn't get a chance to try it. Would be interested what you think.

will do.  I ordered one of these covers noted in the video, which shipped from Thailand on Dec 10th. 

 

 

It landed in New Jersey on the 22nd.  Just awaiting for it to make it's way to Arizona.  I'll then attach to this printed face plate.

[javelina1]

cool beans!  my FrankenFOV cover arrived at the local post office today.  I should have it tomorrow, and my print is about 60% complete.  I'll definitely post some picks tomorrow, once I have everything in place. 

[SimHog]

3 hours ago, javelina1 said:

cool beans!  my FrankenFOV cover arrived at the local post office today.  I should have it tomorrow, and my print is about 60% complete.  I'll definitely post some picks tomorrow, once I have everything in place. 

 

Please do, my son is also getting a G2 and he tried mine and had the same issue with the face plate being too tight - fat heads run in the family ... 

[C3PO]

Would a second 3080GTX in "SLI" - or whatever it is called now - boost FPS?

[speed-of-heat]

No, for two very important reasons, firstly the 3080 doesn’t support SLI and secondly the 3080 doesn’t support sli ... now I know that only seems like one reason but it was so important I thought I would mention it twice....

 

the 3090 does and it won’t help you either cause dcs doesn’t really support it either...

 

finally neither does Vr...

[javelina1]

It was a 12 hour print, and one of the more nerve racking cleanups for removing the supports.  (Was being extremely careful not to "snap" anything.  Here's a couple of pics.  It did "pop" into my G2, so the originator of this design (via Thingiverse), congrats!  It still needs a little more clean up, but overall, I'm happy with the output.  I used the recommended settings via the developer for the print....  (details on Thingiverse).

 

I'm now just awaiting my VRcover, which should be inbound today.  After I'm finished with the whole setup, I'll post more detailed pics.  Plus an action report. 

 

 

 

[speed-of-heat]

It looks really good, I have some custom lenses from Vr optician, so I will be interested to see how much closer you are, as these stand out about 6mm from the normal lenses.

 

fingers crossed for you Jav

[TAW_Impalor]

Did anyone think to just sand off the legs of the original faceplate? I know there are magnets inside, but maybe they can be pushed deeper somehow. 

[speed-of-heat]

3 minutes ago, impalor said:

Did anyone think to just sand off the legs of the original faceplate? I know there are magnets inside, but maybe they can be pushed deeper somehow. 

 

that feels like a very final solution ... i would suggest getting it wrong would be expensive... 

[TAW_Impalor]

On 12/26/2020 at 11:36 PM, speed-of-heat said:

For shadows I do use a mod to reduce the frame rate impact (Shadows Reduced Frame Rate Impact.zip)

Nice mod! Any chance to make it pass the IC?