OpenXR Toolkit Tuning Guide (updated 21/02/23)

[Jive]

1 hour ago, DeltaMike said:

Personally I think ya'll should try loading up your GPU.  Crank up settings, crank up resolution, whatever it takes to get your frame times up to like 20ms, not much more than that but not much less than that either.  That may be all you have to do, in other words you shouldn't need frame caps or motion smoothing if you're right in that golden range.  And you'll get an awesome image, shoot I'll take supersampling over MSAA every day of the week if I had that option. Which, I don't -- you do.  Shadows, clouds, textures -- go wild.  Bet my own money it works.  I got five cents right here

I don't think you're wrong but the thing with DCS I find challenging there is that settings which will net me 45fps in one environment will inevitably go lower in others, or higher and introduce more of that 3-9 line judder I'm trying to clear up a bit. For my circumstances I prefer it to be capped 45fps with enough overhead to keep it there over busier terrain or conditions. 

Really seems like there is of course no one size fits all solution for everyone, I've found it super valuable reading everyone's takes on things

[DeltaMike]

37 minutes ago, Jive said:

I don't think you're wrong but the thing with DCS I find challenging there is that settings which will net me 45fps in one environment will inevitably go lower in others, or higher and introduce more of that 3-9 line judder I'm trying to clear up a bit. For my circumstances I prefer it to be capped 45fps with enough overhead to keep it there over busier terrain or conditions. 

Really seems like there is of course no one size fits all solution for everyone, I've found it super valuable reading everyone's takes on things

Or 60, I should have said, a lot of people really like 60 hz

I tune to 20ms close to the ground on the Syria map. Up in the air I run a bit higher that but I don't notice the judder at those altitudes.  That's close enough for PG and NTTR, maybe a little fast for Caucasus 

You don't want to be precisely 45 fps because of frame time variability, that's why 20ms works better for me ime than 22ms. And why the plain old eyeball is the final criteria

That said if frame locking is working for you, that's awesome. You're still working a 20ms target and still have room for some eye candy

 

[Slang80]

Hi Guys,

I installed this as per the instructions but I’m getting two issues that I’m sure are “user error” so I’d like to get some ideas on how to fix it as I’m sure most of you are more tech savvy than me.

if I go into DCS in VR with my G2 and I move my head left or right the menu moves too…I could learn to live with this if it was only the menu but sitting in the cockpit if I look around the cockpit does the same thing, it’s a weird motion to describe but it’s killer…also getting lots of stuttering.

Equipment wise I’m running

ryzen 7 5800x, 64gb DDR4 3600, Rx6800xt, Reverb G2

hope it’s an easy fix.

 

[Sr.]

10 minutes ago, Slang80 said:

Hi Guys,

I installed this as per the instructions but I’m getting two issues that I’m sure are “user error” so I’d like to get some ideas on how to fix it as I’m sure most of you are more tech savvy than me.

if I go into DCS in VR with my G2 and I move my head left or right the menu moves too…I could learn to live with this if it was only the menu but sitting in the cockpit if I look around the cockpit does the same thing, it’s a weird motion to describe but it’s killer…also getting lots of stuttering.

Equipment wise I’m running

ryzen 7 5800x, 64gb DDR4 3600, Rx6800xt, Reverb G2

hope it’s an easy fix.

 

Sound like your headset isn't tracking. Try resetting the environment under the WMR settings/Clear environment data.

[Slang80]

Thanks SR,

Tried this and it didnt work.

I even tried a full repair of DCS and A fresh install of MRP and OpenXR and no joy.

the motion is nauseating and its as if the cockpit shifts side to side and when looking left or right.

if I revert to the ol steam setup it works perfectly

[TED]

Check in the openXR toolkit that field of view is set to 100%. Anything else and you’ll get weird effects like you describe. 

[edmuss]

1 hour ago, Slang80 said:

the motion is nauseating and its as if the cockpit shifts side to side and when looking left or right.

Check that your PD is set to 1.0 in the DCS VR options tab. Anything else can cause the symptoms you're describing

[Fiztex]

4 часа назад, Slang80 сказал:

Thanks SR,

Tried this and it didnt work.

I even tried a full repair of DCS and A fresh install of MRP and OpenXR and no joy.

the motion is nauseating and its as if the cockpit shifts side to side and when looking left or right.

if I revert to the ol steam setup it works perfectly

The mod is designed for G2, so if you are not using G2 you likely will need to correct distortions manually using this built-in DCS tool:

I used it for my Quest 2 and everything is perfectly fine now.

 

 

[Slang80]

On 4/23/2022 at 12:12 PM, edmuss said:

Check that your PD is set to 1.0 in the DCS VR options tab. Anything else can cause the symptoms you're describing

Thanks for that Edmuss, that absolutely fixed the issue.

just out of curiosity, what settings are you using for smooth performance and good image quality?

[edmuss]

3 hours ago, Slang80 said:

Thanks for that Edmuss, that absolutely fixed the issue.

just out of curiosity, what settings are you using for smooth performance and good image quality?

Personally I'm using 60Hz, 85% resolution with reprojection disabled in OXRDT.  I have FFR on quality wide preset with no upscaling.

DCS is medium water/view/shadow settings, no MSAA with all sliders on full, 16xAF and flat terrain shadows.  On Caucasus I can run high/high textures all round, on Syria it's best to drop them to medium/low to keep the frametimes low enough.

Using the above I can reliably pull 13-15ms frametimes (70-75fps) with occasional dips to 17-18ms (55-58fps) over cities on Syria.  There are zero artifacts and I'll only get minor ghosting when looking 3-9 when it's dropped below 16ms (60fps), as long as I'm facing in the forwards arc when below refresh rate then it's largely unnoticeable.

This is using the A10C II and KA50 II, newer modules, particularly the apache are more intensive so I would probably need to drop settings somewhat to run it.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by edmuss

[nikoel]

Update 25/4/22

OpenComposite Official Branch has been now been merged with Jabbah's 

New installation incoming, but for those who can not wait, you can find the official documentation and instructions here:

https://gitlab.com/znixian/OpenOVR/-/tree/openxr

Note you can install globally (all SteamVR-based games will use it automatically) or via individual installs (per game)

Also! For those of you who are into witchcraft you are undoubtedly using bundled VR controllers whilst flying inside of VR. You might be getting the random vibration activations. Haptics can be disabled via the following line in the .ini to disable the sex toy mode (not tested by me)

haptics = off

(My bad meant to post this on the other thread)

Edited April 25, 2022 by nikoel

[edmuss]

Didn't you mean to update your thread?

Have you tested this against the most recent OC_ACC?

[RvL]

54 minutes ago, edmuss said:

Personally I'm using 60Hz, 85% resolution with reprojection disabled in OXRDT.  I have FFR on quality wide preset with no upscaling.

DCS is medium water/view/shadow settings, no MSAA with all sliders on full, 16xAF and flat terrain shadows.  On Caucasus I can run high/high textures all round, on Syria it's best to drop them to medium/low to keep the frametimes low enough.

Using the above I can reliably pull 13-15ms frametimes (70-75fps) with occasional dips to 17-18ms (55-58fps) over cities on Syria.  There are zero artifacts and I'll only get minor ghosting when looking 3-9 when it's dropped below 16ms (60fps), as long as I'm facing in the forwards arc when below refresh rate then it's largely unnoticeable.

This is using the A10C II and KA50 II, newer modules, particularly the apache are more intensive so I would probably need to drop settings somewhat to run it.

 

 

Single or online?

As a online only player myself im still getting stutters and unexplainable fps dips even with 50% resolution and all DCS settings to low or off at 60hz and no reprojection.

I wonder if anyone with a likewise system as i do (5600x/3070/32gb ram) can play on PVE servers without weird fps dips and stutters.

Specially the Apache is giving me weird dips. For example looking at a direction from inside the cockpit and fps dips and pressing F2 and im back at 60fps still looking at the same direction.

Edited April 25, 2022 by RvL

[edmuss]

Single player only for me but chances are it's CPU limitations that's causing your FPS drops.

Enable the OXRDT performance overlay and keep an eye on the appCPU frametimes, if it is > then appGPU then you're CPU bound and it will drag the GPU down with it.

Tune the GPU so that appGPU stays below your target frametime in SP, mine is 16ms + some overhead, aiming for 13-14ms.  Even on some SP missions on Syria I find that the CPU usage can spike sometimes, there are certain graphical settings that can affect the CPU though; I could be wrong but I think dropping the texture quality a level eased my CPU load for Syria.

[DeltaMike]

43 minutes ago, RvL said:

Single or online?

As a online only player myself im still getting stutters and unexplainable fps dips even with 50% resolution and all DCS settings to low or off at 60hz and no reprojection.

I wonder if anyone with a likewise system as i do (5600x/3070/32gb ram) can play on PVE servers without weird fps dips and stutters.

Specially the Apache is giving me weird dips. For example looking at a direction from inside the cockpit and fps dips and pressing F2 and im back at 60fps still looking at the same direction.

 

Everybody does

Online play is gonna affect CPU times primarily.  That'll also increase GPU times a bit but that should only affect your frame times  if GPU settings (resolution, anti-aliasing, textures) are really close to the line.  

Basically comes down to whatever you can do to optimize your CPU.  Overclocking with Ryzen may slow you down on several levels. Make sure you have XMP profiles set for RAM.  Clean out any background processes that might be taking up CPU cycles.  In DCS settings, turn down anything that uses CPU.  Water, clouds and especially shadows, which you might need to turn completely off.  You might try reducing vis range and tree visibility although that doesn't help as much as it used to.  

Check your ping, if you're on wireless choose a 5G connection if you can.  Or try a wired connection to your router.  

Other than that, sometimes you just have to live with it. 

 

[RvL]

Seems like i will have to live with it then since i already dropped everything to low or off and being at a 300/30mb cable internet connection that cant be the issue.

When is ED finally again giving some information about multicore/VR optimalisation. But this time quality info instead of false announcements about it like the past 5 years.

I love ED/DCS, especially the online gameplay. But the tweaking and being busy for hours searching for a performance sweet spot is really frustrating.

[edmuss]

If you're still getting FPS spikes with low GPU settings and it's your CPU that bottlenecking then turn the GPU settings up and enjoy the view more; like Mike said, if you're on the borederline of your render target then it may dip below so get some overhead tuned in.

Obviously I'm discussing setting a render target of refresh rate, if you're in 90Hz this is virtually impossible because the CPU frametime only needs to be over 11ms and your GPU is suffering, motion reprojection mitigates this performance defecit but at the expense of image quality.  Setting 60Hz sets a far more realistic target of 16ms for both CPU and GPU and gives a generally very stable experience.

 

[DeltaMike]

You could try 30fps using MR maybe? 

[Sr.]

6 minutes ago, DeltaMike said:

You could try 30fps using MR maybe? 

I'm loving life a 60Hz, no MR.

If I'm gonna be flying NTTC I will crank up to 130% and it's smooth and gorgeous.

Caucuses, I can get away with 100%. Even in the Apache.

Syria, I may need to reduce to 80% depending on airframe etc.

 

Still gorgeous nonetheless. And see little to no flicker.

[DeltaMike]

Just thinking, it might be handy to have 30-some-odd milliseconds to work with in MP

[RvL]

1 hour ago, DeltaMike said:

You could try 30fps using MR maybe? 

Too much visual distortions using MR with the Apache unfortunately.

[speed-of-heat]

3 minutes ago, RvL said:

Too much visual distortions using MR with the Apache unfortunately.

Use the 3dmigimoto mod, to turn off the rotor blades

[RvL]

10 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

Use the 3dmigimoto mod, to turn off the rotor blades

Got any link? can't seem to find it in the ED user files, google or on this forum.

Wonder if that passes the IC playing online though..

Edited April 25, 2022 by RvL

[speed-of-heat]

Bad spelling on my part:

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/207154-3dmigoto-vr-mod-for-dcs-label-masking-color-enhancement-sharpen-fxaa-copypaste-of-radio-msg/

[edmuss]

I had a quick play with 3Dmigoto again the other night, now that it supports OXR.

The HUD/MFD text sharpening works quite nicely when using low resolutions to clean it up, I think I used around 1.200 - 1.500 sharpening and 0.900 luma to take some of the bloom off. If I sharpened too much then the HUD text had a hard dark outline against the sky.

I didn't test the rotor removal as the only helo I have is the ka50 and I don't know if it's a universal rotor shader or specific to the apache. I should have tested it really

However because of how OXR resolution works, the performance gained by running the lower resolution (with increased aliasing) and the text sharpening to achieve the look of higher resolution isn't worth it for myself. Definitely something to consider if you can't run close to 100% OXR resolution.