DCS 2.7 VR performance

[Krag6]

21 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

you might want to check the old exports.lua file that is often a culprit if that is the cause typically if you use something like DCS BIOS or anything that exports cockpit state it is a massive drain on CPU cycles 

p.s. thats great news!

 

You were kind of right, there was a callback in exports.lua to WWT folder (inside scripts folder), its a WinWing hook that controls APU light for F/A-18C startup and light up gear handle for takeoff panel. It was smashing into the cpu, trippling the frametime. You can disable further writes in WW software, I did that. I will message winwing right away.

Edited May 8, 2021 by Krag6

[speed-of-heat]

yep... i have seen that before, i didnt realise you had winwing otherwise i would have mentioned it. It's one of the reasons i put my hardware &s oftware specs in my sig , so i dont forget what is what ...  glad thats sorted you dont really need the lights in VR!

Edited May 8, 2021 by speed-of-heat

[fearlessfrog]

On 5/6/2021 at 10:47 PM, speed-of-heat said:

No, you still disable it

 

My comment was more about what was doing the reprojecting, but if we're talking about the files to edit then since about build 1.2.5 it should be ok to ignore the old WMR settings file if using the SteamVR UI for settings. The Steam metabase and the WMR for SteamVR dash app is now looked at first, followed by that file; while before it was the other way around.

[speed-of-heat]

18 minutes ago, fearlessfrog said:

 

My comment was more about what was doing the reprojecting, but if we're talking about the files to edit then since about build 1.2.5 it should be ok to ignore the old WMR settings file if using the SteamVR UI for settings. The Steam metabase and the WMR for SteamVR dash app is now looked at first, followed by that file; while before it was the other way around.

yep so it seems, i used to have my guide pegged exactly that way, but, at some point in the last two or three builds that got turned around, for me , not sure why, I retested again and you are correct that is not required any more

[CypherBlue]

On 5/7/2021 at 11:38 AM, peachmonkey said:

 

YourSteaminstallationforlder\Steam\steamapps\common\MixedRealityVRDriver\resources\settings\default.vrsettings

 

edit the file and find the line:

 

"motionReprojectionMode": "auto"            <---(instead of auto it could be set to: none, auto, forced. This line controls motion smoothing using WMR driver)

 

Comment the whole line out, i.e. put either # symbol or // in front of it. 

 

Then make sure the "WMR forSteamVR" app in Steam has Motion Smoothing set to Enabled for DCS in "per application settings".

Hey so I did this and got better performance with my G1, way lower frame time too but SteamVR crashes a lot now, it will run fine for 10-15minutes then crashes. Any Ideas?

 

[peachmonkey]

19 hours ago, CypherBlue said:

Hey so I did this and got better performance with my G1, way lower frame time too but SteamVR crashes a lot now, it will run fine for 10-15minutes then crashes. Any Ideas?

 

 

make sure you're not running WMRforSteamVR beta.

 

- right-click on "Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR"

- select Properties

- Switch it to a stable release (by selecting None, see screenshot). 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by peachmonkey

[CypherBlue]

5 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

 

make sure you're not running WMRforSteamVR beta.

 

- right-click on "Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR"

- select Properties

- Switch it to a stable release (by selecting None, see screenshot). 

 

 

Holy crap that worked great! I was on the Beta version but switching to the stable and no more crashing and great performance! 

[timothyboss]

I am having really good success with this.

I9700, RTX 2080S, 16 GB RAM. HP G1.

 

Textures High

Water high

Vis range low

Heat blur off

Shadows high

MSAA 2x

SSAA off

SSLR off

Bokeh

Dirt & flare

Sliders all mid range

Ground shadows off.

 

Canopy and MFD statics on.

 

Big kicker PD = .5 

Steam SS 250%

The visual quality is that of shadows off, PD 1.0, MSAA 2x.  Difference is by using Steam SS I am able to get really good frames with no stuttering by having shadows on high.  The test was the Syria free flight.  Pretty pleased.

 

Motion smoothing enabled in Steam GUI.

 

I overclocked my GPU with Nvidia performance Auto Tune.

 

Next to come: fine tune the SS value to maximize use.  See if MSAA 4x will offer better visuals with SS turned down.  Once visuals are about as good as comfortable with no noticeable changes from settings I will increase vis range or heat blur to see if it adds value or kills performance.

 

***Update.  MSAA at 4x and Steam SS at 200% is great visually, but performance takes a hit.  I like MSAA at 2x and Steam SS at 250% so far.  

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by timothyboss
More info.

[javelina1]

FWIW, M$ has an update today which has verbiage regarding fixing game stutters, etc.  (I don't experience the stutters, but sharing info nonetheless...)

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-gaming-issues-fixed-in-kb5004296-how-to-download/

Edited July 30, 2021 by javelina1

[NahkaSukka]

I was using older computer (Xeon 1231v3, gtx 1060 6gb and 16gb ram) with VR - no problem at all, just a small framerate. Just got new PC (3070, Ryzen 5800x and 32gb ram) and the game is unplayable. The game stutters REALLY bad. Like every five seconds fps dips down below 10. I had this happen every now and then when i played in 2D as well. Stutter came with some patch, then next patch usually fixed it until some patch brought it back. Super frustrating. I'd really like to know what causes it and can i do something about it.

[j9murphy]

2 hours ago, NahkaSukka said:

I was using older computer (Xeon 1231v3, gtx 1060 6gb and 16gb ram) with VR - no problem at all, just a small framerate. Just got new PC (3070, Ryzen 5800x and 32gb ram) and the game is unplayable. The game stutters REALLY bad. Like every five seconds fps dips down below 10. I had this happen every now and then when i played in 2D as well. Stutter came with some patch, then next patch usually fixed it until some patch brought it back. Super frustrating. I'd really like to know what causes it and can i do something about it.

 

have you tried running the windows task manager to see what might be interrupting the cpu? sort the list by cpu time and then look to disable/kill whatever processes are getting cpu  while you are playing DCS - or better yet uninstall them completely if they are something you dont use.  Could also be that windows defender scanning dcs.  I typically exclude the DCS path from security scans. you can google for instructions on excluding directories.

[Fillbiker]

I spent few hrs today fighting with microstutters and finally found good settings.

my rig is rtx 3080 (10gb), i5 8600K (@4.9GHz), 32 GB RAM, dcs on M.2 hdd and Windows 10 on the same drive. HP Reverb G2 and display 4k tv 59Hz.

Now settings:

first need to say the biggest improvement was edited default.vrconfig file (commented out motionreprojection) for WMRforSteamVr as many said here before. 
In steamVr dcs app turned on motion smoothing, ss 175%.

DCS:

vr tab:

- pixel density in VR tab 1.0

- MSAA antialising mask 0.1

- use dcs system resolution on

system tab:

- textures high

- civ traffic low

- water low

- object distance (or how it calls) middle (low,middle,high,ultra)

- shadows low

- clouds low (can be even high, no big difference)

- resolution 1080p

- MSAA 2x

- next all that bottom fields SS turned off

- preload radius 70.000

- trees 80%, quality 1.0

- scene quality 0.5

- terrain shadows off

- full screen on

- vsync off

with this I got buttersmooth F-16 over Vegas on the ground, very low over city, mid altitude, high...all speeds. Just perfect with amazing resolution for me. (Tested 0.5 in dcs and 250 in steam but looked much worst than 1.0 and 175).

Last note:

I am using openVR NIS config file for upscaling image with 0.80 and 0.92 sharpening.

Few hrs before I had constat stuttering and now with this setup it is 100% perfect vr experience.

I believe biggest impact was visible range from high to middle, turning motion smoothing on with editing that file first and then just tweak and test increase steamvr resolution until microstuttering appear, ended up with 175 without any stutter.

for sure ALT+Enter in the game but didn't notice any difference.

 

i hope it will help some of you

Edited January 6, 2022 by Fillbiker

[Glide]

I have the 3080Ti with the G2.  I have found that high resolution, with FXAA=ON in NCP and all other AA off, and textures set to LOW across the sim, gives the game engine a real boost in VR.  Try these settings in the community mod a4e-c over Dubai at treetop level at sunset with a full moon.    This is a very modern cockpit model that is great for testing and a pleasure to fly.  It looks better with low textures and shadows compared to the F-16, for example.

The key here is no stutters and high frame rates.  After a week of flying these settings even in 2D I don't even notice the jaggies.  Highly recommended.

 

[unlikely_spider]

5 minutes ago, Glide said:

with FXAA=ON in NCP

My understanding has been that settings in NCP don't affect the VR image?

[Glide]

1 minute ago, unlikely_spider said:

My understanding has been that settings in NCP don't affect the VR image?

Did you try?

[speed-of-heat]

4 minutes ago, Glide said:

Did you try?

I did, and could see no difference,  except in performance, which was exactly the same as when i turned off MSAA ... but if it works for you 

the big delta for me is in the amount of shimmering between MSAA and FXAA (because it can get switched on the 3Dmigoto VR mod for DCS) ... 

[Glide]

1 hour ago, speed-of-heat said:

the big delta for me is in the amount of shimmering between MSAA and FXAA (because it can get switched on the 3Dmigoto VR mod for DCS)

So, it works if you turn it on via the 3Dmigoto mod?  But not if you turn it on via the NCP?  Still, blazing fast with no AA and low textures.  It performs quite well in VR IMHO. 

[speed-of-heat]

yes but the shimmer is still noticeably worse,  i mean really bad (but i seem to be sensitive to that sort of flicker) but as i said if it works for you don't let me stop you, but i can easily hit the magic 11ms or less without MSAA enabled... 

[Glide]

Yes, it's not perfect, but that is a headset issue.  These same settings in 2d on a 4k monitor are very nice as well.  High resolution seems to cut down on the shimmer and shake.  MSAA x2 pretty much eliminates it.  I can do MSAA x2 and SSAA 1.5 very easily with my setup in VR.  Pumping raw pixels (no AA or AF) in 2.7 in VR is a bit like putting the top down; you can't quite see with the wind in your eyes, but it sure feels good.

[Glide]

I'm not sure if FXAA can be detected at high resolutions, but it's certainly not free.  I am back to running my G2 at 100% full native resolution with 3840x2160 and no SSAA, MSAA, FXAA or AF.  High resolution eliminates the screen jaggies better than aliasing, filtering, sharpening or scaling.  The only drawback is the large frame size, but this is not an issue on my system.