Patch notes discussion thread 25th January 2023

[some1]

1 hour ago, SPAS79 said:

Just do a shortcut like 
Start DCS.exe --force_enable_VR  --force_steam_VR
that should fix it. 

Thanks. That indeed makes DCS start like it used to and makes the old tweaks like VRperfkit work too. 

[dark_wood]

Hi @BIGNEWY

• Fixed inability for submarines to attack ships.

I have tested with 4 different submarines (Kilo, improved Kilo, Santa Fe and the Chinese one), nothing happens.

Is something that we must set in ME?

Thanks

[Hotdognz]

Who would have thought the biggest item in this patch had no mention and was forgot about (OpenXR) and didn't work very well, hopefully a patch will fix the use of MR very soon as its now unplayable in VR with it off.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Hotdognz

[Devil 505]

Plan on doing a video later but I have also observed a decrease in performance with my PIMAX 8K in the latest patch.  A while back I downloaded OpenXR because everyone said it was the cats ass and increased performance.  I did not really see anything that blew my skirt up.  And it caused issues recording in OBS with openvr plugin.  I removed it and all Openxr tools ect..  Only run off steam VR and the Pitool.  I cannot speak for everyone else, but as of writing this, I can still play DCS just fine only using Steam VR.  I am will not go back to Openxr because I find the best VR videos are captured in the OBS openvr plugin.  Hopefully ED can work on the decrease in VR performance that came out of this patch.  Plan on running a night carrier op later.  We will see how she goes.  The video below was taken a few days ago before the patch.  I will run the same flight later to see how it goes.

 

[Steel Jaw]

I dont get OpenXR:  as a user of Oculus2, do I still need to run the Oculus Client software and does it support the hard wired Quest Link?  And what of Oculus Tray Tool?

[diamond26]

10 minutes ago, Steel Jaw said:

I dont get OpenXR:  as a user of Oculus2, do I still need to run the Oculus Client software and does it support the hard wired Quest Link?  And what of Oculus Tray Tool?

As long as you choose to use Oculus as OpenXR runtime in the oculus app, everything else stays as before.

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/318004-dcs-now-supports-openxr-natively/?do=findComment&comment=5138982

Edited January 26, 2023 by diamond26

[bushido]

Hello,

DCS: F/A-18C Raven One Campaign by Baltic Dragon

• Mission 02: Fixed issue with Smoke not cutting away or flying into space after he is told to cut away.

It is not the case, I have updated my game, flew the mission and the problem is still there.

[Long]

My VR is pico4, it seems that openxr does not support pico4, steamvr was skipped through VD before for gaming, after this update, steamvr will also be started by opening through vd, is there any way to pass steamvr like before?

[Sarowa]

11 hours ago, Sarowa said:

I went from a solid 65-75 fps in multiplayer servers to 35-40 fps. Singleplayer performance seems fine, but that doesn't mean it's not degraded, and I spend most of my time in DCS in multiplayer.

Valve Index
Ryzen 9 5900X
64GB DDR4-3600
RTX3080Ti

 

 

 

I deleted the third-party aircraft I had installed, ran a slow repair, and disabled TacView. I'm now getting a solid 80 fps in multiplayer. I may have seen a slight bump after the repair, but TacView in particular seemed to be hitting my CPU harder after this patch.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Sarowa

[bushido]

3 hours ago, bushido said:

Hello,

DCS: F/A-18C Raven One Campaign by Baltic Dragon

• Mission 02: Fixed issue with Smoke not cutting away or flying into space after he is told to cut away.

It is not the case, I have updated my game, flew the mission and the problem is still there.

I stand corrected, I had a mod for the DCE campaign it look like it was the culprit. Delete the mod and the mission play as intended.

[AdrianL]

5 minutes ago, bushido said:

mod for the DCE campaign

What specific mod was it? For future reference

Edited January 26, 2023 by AdrianL

[bushido]

DCE_missionScript_Mod

The only one mandatory I think to run a DCE Campaign. In any case it was the only mod I had.

 

 

[mbucchia]

20 hours ago, mbucchia said:

You may forward to dev team: the game is doing 2 back-to-back xrWaitFrame() from the same thread, which causes a deadlock.

nullThis condition is probably exacerbated by the frame timing of motion reprojection.

Read more about xrWaitFrame() deadlocks here: OpenXR-Guide/frame_submission.md at main · KhronosGroup/OpenXR-Guide (github.com)

Happy to find a more official channel to discuss. Thanks.

@BIGNEWY this issue is also affecting certain PimaxXR users. Same exact situation, regardless of whether they have motion reprojection or not:

null

[diditopgun]

Hi !

Quote

• Fixed stuck SON-9 radar when aircraft fly directly overhead it at high altitude.

Indeed it's fixed for SON-9 radar, but KS-19 guns are still stuck after the aircraft fly overhead it...

[St4rgun]

To have some good feedback also in this thread: for me on my system the picture quality is a bit better and the fluidness of the head movement is substantially better. I also switched off the OXR Toolkit's fixed foveated rendering, because the now as the performance seems more balanced because of the native OXR implementation, so it's not needed anymore (with terrain shadows switched off of course). And I'm not using motion reprojection.

Right now I became really curious on the future DLSS quality, not to mention MT and Vulkan. That would be aweseome!

[SPAS79]

23 hours ago, Eldur said:

  It's been very WIP for over 4 years by now. But now you say it will get obsolete - does it mean that Single Pass Stereo will finally be fully implemented making that switch obsolete? Would be very much appreciated and probably do more for our performance than having multi threading (in the end, everything counts, though)!

I've never tried that OpenXR mod... is the support now officially integrated into DCS so that mod gets obsolete? Could you maybe elaborate on this? I'm still stuck with SteamVR firing up and with the Quests, performance with either AirLink or Virtual Desktop is just atrocious, wired link is totally broken anyway. On top of that, the notes don't read anything about the up to 60% fps loss from 2.8.x over 2.7.x yet (I do even have that in pancake, so it's not just the flat shadow bug).

try openXR, I'm running it with airlink at 150-200 Mbps on Q2 and it is smooth. 

[Devil 505]

So has anyone found a way to run DCS without this option of trying to run OpenXR automatically.  I can run DCS with my PIMAX 8K and it is running through steam, but man has performance dropped.  FPS is jittery even during the day with little assets around.  It reminds me of when I tried Fixed Foveated Rendering with the PItool back in the day.  When I turned it on jittery, when I turned it off, ran just fine.  Now I feel like DCS is trying to force it.  I wish this was an option to enable/disable.  Whatever they implemented for OpenXR has kicked performance in the crotch with PIMAX.  Everything was running smooth prior to the patch.  Be curious to see what others come up with over the next few days.  I really hope Multi Core, Vulkan and DLSS eliminate VR performance issues and there is no longer a need for OpenXR. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Devil 505

[lvnona69]

I need my OpenXR Motion Reprojection back - without it G2 in VR unplayable - all the time micro stutters flying low level or turning head!

Befor Patch was all was smooth 75-90fps

[Hive]

Oh no, even worse performance in VR is what we needed... 

I appreciate the switch to OpenXR which surely was Intended to boost performance and it is completely fine if it has some problems at first in an open beta, but I wish ED would communicate such changes a little more transparent.

[Nuggetz]

Clearly many people have experienced issues following the recent patch including my self but I appear to have resolved those issues experienced. 
 

DCS crashing, hanging, VR mouse pointer freezing and a reduction of FPS into the 20s/30s was experienced in multiplayer (rig details below). 
 

My solution: 

Delete Open Composite completely. 
Delete OPENXRTK completely. 
Delete SteamVR completely. 
Run DCS full repair. 
Install PimaxXR and set to Pimax. 
Ensure software/drivers up to date. 
 

Result:  FPS now at 75 FPS (@75hz headset, Normal FOV @ 3840 resolution) most of the time, but typically fluctuating 68-75 FPS. This can be lower in more demanding areas but usually 50+. All Single Player so far. Will report back after trying Multiplayer later. 
 

if OPENXRTK is used the VR mouse pointer freezes before entering the cockpit. I would like to use OPENXRTK so I hope this can be resolved. 
 

Assuming Multiplayer performance remains high my hopes are high the when MT, DLSS and Vulkan have been added then FPS will be pegged at 75 FPS (for my system) and provide potential for upward tweaks of DCS System Controls. 
 

HTH

Edited January 27, 2023 by Nuggetz

[Thinder]

I understand zilch to all if this. I was able to find a terrific set up for Steam VR Beta and flew a mission with the Mirage F1 with my Pico4, both either incompatible or unsupported, which proves it is possible to achieve but sorry, I am not a programmer, if I'm able to use CATIA to model the F100 wing accurately using DRYDEN data for fluid simulation in Fluent, don't ask me to find a folder in DCS...

So what I can't comprehend is why doesn't developers for DCS, headsets manufacturers and VR packages sort out their incompatibility issue, we should be able to install a complete package without having to fiddle with specific files (i'm down to my 6th restore and I'm lucky I didn't experience yet another Critical system Failure)...

Seating it up and waiting but right now, I can't play DCS in VR.

[draconus]

1 hour ago, Thinder said:

I was able to find a terrific set up for Steam VR Beta...

...but right now, I can't play DCS in VR.

1 hour ago, Hive said:

Oh no, even worse performance in VR is what we needed... 

4 hours ago, lvnona69 said:

without it G2 in VR unplayable

5 hours ago, Devil 505 said:

Everything was running smooth prior to the patch.

Then why not revert to previous verison?

or simply DCS_updater.exe update @release

[Baldrick33]

1 hour ago, Thinder said:

I understand zilch to all if this. I was able to find a terrific set up for Steam VR Beta and flew a mission with the Mirage F1 with my Pico4, both either incompatible or unsupported, which proves it is possible to achieve but sorry, I am not a programmer, if I'm able to use CATIA to model the F100 wing accurately using DRYDEN data for fluid simulation in Fluent, don't ask me to find a folder in DCS...

So what I can't comprehend is why doesn't developers for DCS, headsets manufacturers and VR packages sort out their incompatibility issue, we should be able to install a complete package without having to fiddle with specific files (i'm down to my 6th restore and I'm lucky I didn't experience yet another Critical system Failure)...

Seating it up and waiting but right now, I can't play DCS in VR.

Coming form a corporate IT world having such an array of hardware and third party software is nigh on impossible to support anything close to well. The simple answer would be a couple of mainstream headsets are supported and no third party products other than those that are supported directly by the headset (e.g. SteamVR)

If we want all these devices working then we have to reach out to the community - which in fairness does a pretty good job here. It is just blips like this release that throw a spanner in the works but look how quickly the community have worked the issues it out.

TL;DR be careful what you wish for!

[Thinder]

3 hours ago, Baldrick33 said:

If we want all these devices working then we have to reach out to the community - which in fairness does a pretty good job here. It is just blips like this release that throw a spanner in the works but look how quickly the community have worked the issues it out.

I agree with this but it's not other players the issue, it's my lack of education on the field, as I mentioned I'm a CG graphic technician (was), it took me 3 weeks to build an industry accurate aerodynamic model of the F-100 wing from zero knowledge of CATIA coming from 3D studio Max, but don't ask me to touch stuff in folders, I'm prone to errors and had to reinstall everything after restoring my O.S several times over.

I don't know how many of us are capable of following the most advanced stuff here but it might cause similar issues to those I encountered, not because of the posters but not everyone is advanced enough to get it right.

ps I wish I was better than this because as I mentioned previously, I managed to get the best VR settings I had ever but was unable to reproduce those settings and it worked only once. I have the replay, Mirage F1EE at Nellis take off, that's all but I have no clue how I made it happen, all I know is that it is possible to play the Pico and the F1 in VR and Steam VR Beta...

 

3 hours ago, draconus said:

Then why not revert to previous verison?

or simply DCS_updater.exe update @release

I might try this...

Edited January 27, 2023 by Thinder

[Baldrick33]

1 hour ago, Thinder said:

I agree with this but it's not other players the issue, it's my lack of education on the field, as I mentioned I'm a CG graphic technician (was), it took me 3 weeks to build an industry accurate aerodynamic model of the F-100 wing from zero knowledge of CATIA coming from 3D studio Max, but don't ask me to touch stuff in folders, I'm prone to errors and had to reinstall everything after restoring my O.S several times over.

I don't know how many of us are capable of following the most advanced stuff here but it might cause similar issues to those I encountered, not because of the posters but not everyone is advanced enough to get it right.

ps I wish I was better than this because as I mentioned previously, I managed to get the best VR settings I had ever but was unable to reproduce those settings and it worked only once. I have the replay, Mirage F1EE at Nellis take off, that's all but I have no clue how I made it happen, all I know is that it is possible to play the Pico and the F1 in VR and Steam VR Beta...

VR is still pretty immature and yes it can be hard to keep on top of everything. IMHO it is worth it though.

We are fortunate to have guys like @mbucchia @edmuss@nikoel @speed-of-heat and others who share a wealth of knowledge here. Following them is a good start!

One of the biggest issues is the way we (the community) have adopted the beta version of DCS as the "normal" version. By its nature a beta version will regularly change and undo stuff we had working great! ED did mess up with not giving a heads up such a massive change was coming for VR users but the fact we typically update as soon as a new version comes out exacerbates the issue in my view.

Edited January 27, 2023 by Baldrick33