Varjo Aero: General guide for new owners

[Supmua]

Just now, dburne said:

Yes it does whilst I do not fly it very much I have already tried the Open XR option for MSFS2020 and it does well.

Question for ya - have you tried Varjo Base vsync on and locked to 30 fps? I know you tried 45 fps but curious if you had tried 30 fps.
I have been doing the Apache weapons range instant action in Persian Gulf and it seems to do fairly well with fps locked to 30. Can't say if I am imagining it but seems like I may be losing a little image clarity off in the distance but gaining good smoothness when flying low. 

Going to try the Hornet off the Supercarrier in the Persian Gulf and see how it does and looks with fps locked to 30 in Varjo Base.

I haven’t tried 30 fps lock with DCS, but I’m quite familiar with playing MSFS at 30 fps especially prior to having OpenXR Toolkit and foveated rendering. Personally I’m not super picky about framerate but I’m obsessed about having great visuals else I’d still be flying on my older headsets. 

[dburne]

58 minutes ago, Supmua said:

I haven’t tried 30 fps lock with DCS, but I’m quite familiar with playing MSFS at 30 fps especially prior to having OpenXR Toolkit and foveated rendering. Personally I’m not super picky about framerate but I’m obsessed about having great visuals else I’d still be flying on my older headsets. 

I just did the Super Carrier cold start mission with my Hornet in the Persian Gulf.

Started the aircraft and taxi to catapult, launched and the flew around low over the water and terrain then back for a carrier trap. It did really well locked at 30 fps. Also noticed my GPU was running 8-10c cooler at this setting hence getting a higher boost clock on the GPU.

So might dial a little more graphics settings in and see how she does. Right now I am thinking I will hang at 30 fps locked for a while and see how I get along. If it does this good by just enabling these vsync options I look forward to when they get their motion smoothing working - if that is better it will be sweet.

[Supmua]

I might as well give this a go when I get home. The GPU load reduction is a given at lower fps. I remember the time back when I used to push my Valve Index fps to 80 via settings and that really gave the GPU quite a workout with increased fan noise and heat. 

[dburne]

37 minutes ago, Supmua said:

I might as well give this a go when I get home. The GPU load reduction is a given at lower fps. I remember the time back when I used to push my Valve Index fps to 80 via settings and that really gave the GPU quite a workout with increased fan noise and heat. 

Yeah let me know what you think about it when you do - like I say I am pretty happy with it and probably going to leave it at 30 fps and maybe up some graphics settings as well.

Hmm maybe I will try using the "Higher" setting in Varjo Base versus the default of High and see how it does with that and the 30 fps locked frames. Will be tomorrow though at this point.

Edited May 4, 2022 by dburne

[Supmua]

Just tried the 30 fps lock, not for me, too much blurring artifacts when looking side to side especially in the cockpit.  Personally I like vertical sync as it smooths things out pretty well.  It doesn't give sharp fly-by image like motion smoothing, but the overall effect is more natural (smooth blurring if you will without stuttering) like watching a movie when the camera pans quickly.

Can't really complain though, as I think what I'm getting right now is the best it's ever been.  I got clarity as good as 4KTV, great stereoscopic 3D effect, next to nothing shimmering, no stuttering in most maps (except Marianas).  Don't really need 90 fps, I'm ok with 45 (30 is too rough for me though).

Edited May 4, 2022 by Supmua

[dburne]

26 minutes ago, Supmua said:

Just tried the 30 fps lock, not for me, too much blurring artifacts when looking side to side especially in the cockpit.  Personally I like vertical sync as it smooths things out pretty well.  It doesn't give sharp fly-by image like motion smoothing, but the overall effect is more natural (smooth blurring if you will without stuttering) like watching a movie when the camera pans quickly.

Can't really complain though, as I think what I'm getting right now is the best it's ever been.  I got clarity as good as 4KTV, great stereoscopic 3D effect, next to nothing shimmering, no stuttering in most maps (except Marianas).  Don't really need 90 fps, I'm ok with 45 (30 is too rough for me though).

 

 

Ok yeah I think I can understand what you are talking about. I may well go back to 45 also. I seemed to see a degradation of the terrain off in the distance more at 30 fps. But like I say man if they can implement a motion smoothing process that is better than this vsync option that would be really good. Funny thing is I never see them really talk about doing something with Motion Smoothing. Maybe I will ask the question over on their Discord channel.

It was a nice benefit though seeing that GPU running so much cooler and boosting higher. But with the locked frames I guess that really does not matter.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by dburne

[ciae985]

Quote

12 hours ago, Supmua said:

Did you do the cross eye correction step to correct the distortion?

 

I have no cross eye distortion with the image in VR, however do have double blue mouse cursors . Would you still suggest the cross eye correction step for this?

[Supmua]

34 minutes ago, ciae985 said:

I have no cross eye distortion with the image in VR, however do have double blue mouse cursors . Would you still suggest the cross eye correction step for this?

Yes I believe it is mandatory for the Aero (for now anyway), in modules such as Apache you might not see the entirety of George AI interface without cross eye correction.  The utility's name is a misnomer it doesn't just correct cross eye, but also positioning of certain interfaces.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Supmua

[Supmua]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

 

Ok yeah I think I can understand what you are talking about. I may well go back to 45 also. I seemed to see a degradation of the terrain off in the distance more at 30 fps. But like I say man if they can implement a motion smoothing process that is better than this vsync option that would be really good. Funny thing is I never see them really talk about doing something with Motion Smoothing. Maybe I will ask the question over on their Discord channel.

It was a nice benefit though seeing that GPU running so much cooler and boosting higher. But with the locked frames I guess that really does not matter.

 

 

Yeah they have something called Motion Prediction which takes into account of animation, camera and head transations of previous frames to predict the next one.  Right now it's just an option that doesn't really work.  If you can get them to finish that it would be super.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Supmua

[dburne]

25 minutes ago, Supmua said:

Yeah they have something called Motion Prediction which takes into account of animation, camera and head transations of previous frames to predict the next one.  Right now it's just an option that doesn't really work.  If you can get them to finish that it would be super.

 

Ok I have asked the question over on their official Discord channel, will let you know if I can get any feedback from them on it.

 

[ciae985]

Have run the cross eye correction but still have the double blue mouse cursors so  useless for cockpit interaction.  Was also a bit cheeky and went to Varjo support who , understandably redirected back to DCS support. I also rechecked and have to run steamVR manually as the step one --force_steam_VR  in the exe shortcut still breaks VR for me. Oh well , waited 6 months for the headset , what's a few more weeks to set it up...will submit a ticket to DCS and report back any insights.

[Supmua]

7 hours ago, ciae985 said:

Have run the cross eye correction but still have the double blue mouse cursors so  useless for cockpit interaction.  Was also a bit cheeky and went to Varjo support who , understandably redirected back to DCS support. I also rechecked and have to run steamVR manually as the step one --force_steam_VR  in the exe shortcut still breaks VR for me. Oh well , waited 6 months for the headset , what's a few more weeks to set it up...will submit a ticket to DCS and report back any insights.

How exactly did the DCS shortcut break VR?  Is the path to DCS.exe correct?

Unless you run DCS via shortcut the game will *not* use Steam’s OpenVR and will instead use Varjo’s OpenVR (doesn’t matter if you start SteamVR manually or not).  So you need to somehow get this step to work first. 
 

One easy way to tell is to look at the 2D monitor with DCS running. If the VR mirror shows 4 screens then you are in Varjo’s OpenVR mode which is not recommended as it is still not working correctly. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Supmua

[ciae985]

Supmua - let me first say thankyou for your time - very generous. 

When using "--force_steam_VR" , DCS starts  in the normal 2D screen - that's what I meant by  "breaks VR" .  As soon as I remove the "--force_steam_VR"  DCS runs in VR again. I do get the 4 screens as you describe so sounds like my system has reverted back to Varjo's OpenVR mode.

OK , more learnings for me. I have little understanding on how to proceed but will focus on getting the forced SteamVR shortcut to work somehow. Might try reinstalling steamVR.

(I do have OpenVR disabled in Varjo Base)

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by ciae985

[dburne]

25 minutes ago, ciae985 said:

Supmua - let me first say thankyou for your time - very generous. 

When using "--force_steam_VR" , DCS starts  in the normal 2D screen - that's what I meant by  "breaks VR" .  As soon as I remove the "--force_steam_VR"  DCS runs in VR again. I do get the 4 screens as you describe so sounds like my system has reverted back to Varjo's OpenVR mode.

OK , more learnings for me. I have little understanding on how to proceed but will focus on getting the forced SteamVR shortcut to work somehow. Might try reinstalling steamVR.

(I do have OpenVR disabled in Varjo Base)

 

If you have not give this a try to clean out Steam VR and do a fresh install.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/250820/discussions/2/1640917625015598552/

[ciae985]

Quote

52 minutes ago, dburne said:

If you have not give this a try to clean out Steam VR and do a fresh install.

 

Tried the definitive method of uninstalling steamVR and reinstalled , but have now picked up as new error...

SteamVR seems to still run and I get the "Display Connection Trouble - Your graphics card cannot successfully connect to your HMD display. Try other ports on GPU etc"   . Have tried all GPU ports , swapped with monitor etc.

Edited May 5, 2022 by ciae985

[dburne]

2 hours ago, ciae985 said:

Tried the definitive method of uninstalling steamVR and reinstalled , but have now picked up as new error...

SteamVR seems to still run and I get the "Display Connection Trouble - Your graphics card cannot successfully connect to your HMD display. Try other ports on GPU etc"   . Have tried all GPU ports , swapped with monitor etc.

 

 

Something odd is going on there and likely something is off in the software somewhere. Might need to try a fresh install of both Varjo Base and Steam VR. Make sure any and all remnants of both are cleaned out. Only thing I can think of to try. I would only try getting it running with Varjo Base and Steam VR first, don't mess with trying to set up Open XR/Open Composite for it at this time. Just try to get it to run proper with the native support. It should not be this hard, it was very easy on my end. But I did do a thorough cleaning out of all VR stuff prior.

[dburne]

15 hours ago, Supmua said:

Yeah they have something called Motion Prediction which takes into account of animation, camera and head transations of previous frames to predict the next one.  Right now it's just an option that doesn't really work.  If you can get them to finish that it would be super.

 

Ok I got a response from Arch at Varjo this morning.

Quote

It's on a roadmap, but as there are more urgent things to do (dead pixels and blur) it has been pushed back for now. No ETA yet

So it is coming but don't know when...

[Supmua]

5 hours ago, ciae985 said:

Supmua - let me first say thankyou for your time - very generous. 

When using "--force_steam_VR" , DCS starts  in the normal 2D screen - that's what I meant by  "breaks VR" .  As soon as I remove the "--force_steam_VR"  DCS runs in VR again. I do get the 4 screens as you describe so sounds like my system has reverted back to Varjo's OpenVR mode.

OK , more learnings for me. I have little understanding on how to proceed but will focus on getting the forced SteamVR shortcut to work somehow. Might try reinstalling steamVR.

(I do have OpenVR disabled in Varjo Base)

 

 

 

It seems there’s an ongoing problem with SteamVR and your headset. So that needs to be corrected before you can do anything else otherwise you’ll be stuck with Varjo’s OpenVR mode only.  I’m not sure whether this is software or hardware related. 
 

The OpenVR switch in Varjo Base seems messed up since last update, always showing OFF position no matter what so I suggest clicking on it one more time. 
 

I also suggest the following:

1. Remove all DCS mods if you have any, including OpenXR stuff. 
2. Run Repair DCS from Windows startup menu. 
3. Uninstall and Reinstall SteamVR, use the latest beta branch.
4. Reseat all cables that are attached to the Aero, BOTH ends. 
5. Reset Varjo using the Base app. 
 

**also make sure you turn on VR mode in DCS setting/VR Tab, check the VR check box to make sure it is on. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Supmua

[wrycu]

On 5/1/2022 at 5:38 PM, Supmua said:

How to: SteamVR's OpenVR Mode

1. This mode supports all SteamVR extensions.  Which means you use Steam overlay, desktop window display within DCS, fpsVR, Reshade, etc.

2. Locate DCS.exe, create a shortcut on desktop.

3. Right click the shortcut, properties.  In target window add a command clause so that it shows "*:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin\DCS.exe" --force_steam_VR

4. Run DCS via this shortcut.

 

I use a DCS config manager to swap between VR/non-VR (can't get DCS to launch in VR without it) and haven't found a way to pass command-line args to DCS to fix the cursor being split issue. Any suggestions?

[hannibal]

22 hours ago, dburne said:

I just did the Super Carrier cold start mission with my Hornet in the Persian Gulf.

Started the aircraft and taxi to catapult, launched and the flew around low over the water and terrain then back for a carrier trap. It did really well locked at 30 fps. Also noticed my GPU was running 8-10c cooler at this setting hence getting a higher boost clock on the GPU.

So might dial a little more graphics settings in and see how she does. Right now I am thinking I will hang at 30 fps locked for a while and see how I get along. If it does this good by just enabling these vsync options I look forward to when they get their motion smoothing working - if that is better it will be sweet.

where do you guys lock the FPS?

is it in the varjo base application? the nvidia control panel? please share a screenshot to where this setting is, please!

[dburne]

24 minutes ago, hannibal said:

where do you guys lock the FPS?

is it in the varjo base application? the nvidia control panel? please share a screenshot to where this setting is, please!

It is in the Varjo Base software. Kind of hidden. Analytics window, performance type. Drop down box you can choose vsyn on and also additionally select 45 fps or 30 fps , you will need to minimize this analytics window if you close it vsync will remain on but at the default of 90 fps. Experiment with each and see what you prefer.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by dburne

[dburne]

Ok so after a few more hours today experimenting with both the Hornet and the Apache, I think I am going to settle for vsync on and locked to 45 fps in Varjo Base. Now to try and up some graphics a little and still maintain the 45 fps rate.

I am very much ready to get back to some Hornet campaign flying and continuing my learning process in the Apache. 

[Supmua]

1 hour ago, wrycu said:

I use a DCS config manager to swap between VR/non-VR (can't get DCS to launch in VR without it) and haven't found a way to pass command-line args to DCS to fix the cursor being split issue. Any suggestions?

If you see split cursor, you're likely in Varjo's OpenVR mode.  I suggest removing all the mods.  Try to keep things simple and there will be less likelihood of errors.  When dealing with a new headset, you want to use it *as originally intended* first to make sure everything works properly before even thinking about modding.  Now, DCS defaulting to Varjo's OpenVR mode wasn't really originally intended as the game historically would start in Steam's OpenVR mode, this however has changed over the past few updates which isn't a good thing since it has messed things up for quite a few people.

I suggest:

1. Remove all mods, run DCS repair.

2. Run DCS normally (without special commands).  In DCS setting, go to VR tab and make sure the VR box is checked, leave PD at 1.0.  Then quit out of DCS.

3. Make the DCS shortcut as outlined in the first post to force SteamVR mode and use that to launch DCS.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Supmua

[wrycu]

2 hours ago, Supmua said:

If you see split cursor, you're likely in Varjo's OpenVR mode.  I suggest removing all the mods.  Try to keep things simple and there will be less likelihood of errors.  When dealing with a new headset, you want to use it *as originally intended* first to make sure everything works properly before even thinking about modding.  Now, DCS defaulting to Varjo's OpenVR mode wasn't really originally intended as the game historically would start in Steam's OpenVR mode, this however has changed over the past few updates which isn't a good thing since it has messed things up for quite a few people.

I suggest:

1. Remove all mods, run DCS repair.

2. Run DCS normally (without special commands).  In DCS setting, go to VR tab and make sure the VR box is checked, leave PD at 1.0.  Then quit out of DCS.

3. Make the DCS shortcut as outlined in the first post to force SteamVR mode and use that to launch DCS.

 

First of all, thanks for the help!

I ran a cleanup/repair and re-opened DCS (with the binary directly - not using the config tool). It opened in VR with the split cursor issue. I then re-opened it with --force_steam_VR and it launched flat screen and gave this issue in SteamVR:

Which is the same problem @moggel was having (it only pops up when using --force_steam_VR)

[Supmua]

11 minutes ago, wrycu said:

First of all, thanks for the help!

I ran a cleanup/repair and re-opened DCS (with the binary directly - not using the config tool). It opened in VR with the split cursor issue. I then re-opened it with --force_steam_VR and it launched flat screen and gave this issue in SteamVR:

Which is the same problem @moggel was having (it only pops up when using --force_steam_VR)

Do me a favor, try clicking on OpenVR switch in Varjo Base once (I know it’s probably off but click on it again just once).  Then Reset Varjo via Base  Then try to run DCS via SteamVR again.