resolved VR not starting

[Woxof]

I know you generally like to have certain files to diagnose performance problems -- I've seen your list, Bignewy -- but I never get far enough to have performance problems.  My G2 will not pick up the sim, no matter what.  I get the golden Mig in the golden hangar, but only on my monitor.  The G2 stays in the cliff house and goes no further. 

This is after a year of behaving perfectly normally in VR with no problems.  I'm running the Stable version (no MT) in Windows 10.  The sim runs just fine in 2D mode but stubbornly refuses to show up in VR in the headset.

Just for reference, VR works flawlessly in MSFS 20.  

Is there a command I should be running at startup to get my headset to pick up the sim in VR?  I thought about just opening a trouble ticket and hoping for the best (as my computer-savvy friends are advising), but I wanted to try here first.  I'd be happy to supply any files needed to solve the problem -- as I said, I have Bignewy's list.  

 

[The_Nephilim]

well first thing is did you enable VR in the DCS VR Options menu at the top?

[Woxof]

Of course.  I think you need to have that enabled to get the golden Mig in the golden hangar, which I have, although in the monitor only.

Next question?

Edited April 24, 2023 by Woxof

[BIGNEWY]

Hi, 

can you attach your dcs log after an attempt, we may see some clues 

Go to C:\Users\Username\Saved Games\DCS\logs

the log there is a single file called dcs which is a text file please attach it here

thanks

[Woxof]

Bignewy, sorry for the delay getting back to you.  Real life, etc.  I spent some time in the interval deciding how to provide as  much information as possible.  I ran DCS three times with three different startup protocols.  I performed a fresh reboot before every attempt.

 

log_ONE = Plain vanilla startup with shortcut aimed at D:\DCS\bin\DCS.exe

Result: After DCS loadup box, black screen on the monitor, and in the cliff house in the headset, no changes.

 

log_TWO = Shortcut with the same target, just with the force VR command added, so it's D:\DCS\bin\DCS.exe -force_enable_VR

Result: After DCS loadup box, in the golden hangar with the golden MiG and VR hands visible but no splash screen on the monitor,  in the cliff house in the headset, no changes.

 

log_THREE = Launched using Skate Zilla's DCS Updater/Launcher Utility, using the VR On launch button

Result:  After DCS loadup box, in the golden hangar with the golden MiG, but the splash screen appears over them although they stay visible as background off the left side.  The view is distorted and "zoomed", so the right-side menu is almost completely off the screen to the right, and the screen-top menu is off the edge of the screen above.  This is on the monitor only.  The view in the headset is in the cliff house and stays there.    

Let me know if there's anything more I can supply.  

 

dcs_ONE.log dcs_TWO.log

Here's the third log file.  

dcs_THREE.log

[The_Nephilim]

well I seen the following in all 3 log files:

 

"2023-04-29 18:54:18.953 INFO    VISUALIZER (Main): VRG skip, ask for support if you own VRG helmet"

 

Could this be a reason why the VR does not kick in? Not sure why it does not kick in?

Edited May 2, 2023 by The_Nephilim

[Woxof]

Ah.  So that's what Bignewy meant above when he mentioned "clues".  Got it.

So, whose support do I contact then?  Please tell me it's DCS support, because HP support has been less than helpful so far.    

 

[BIGNEWY]

it looks like you have an error also 

2023-04-29 18:12:07.133 ERROR   Lua::Config (Main): load error Config/main.cfg:[string "Config/terrain.lua"]:2: attempt to concatenate local 'visibRange' (a nil value).

have you edited your terrain.lua in anyway? 

try deleting it and running a slow repair of DCS 

 

then make sure your headset supports steaVR or OpenXR 

 

[The_Nephilim]

4 hours ago, Woxof said:

Ah.  So that's what Bignewy meant above when he mentioned "clues".  Got it.

So, whose support do I contact then?  Please tell me it's DCS support, because HP support has been less than helpful so far.    

 

Yes and as BigNewy mentioned you also have a error inthe terrain lua. just try what he said to do a clean and slow repair of DCS. see if it works then..

 

 

@BigNewy the headset Woxof has is a Reverb G2 which supports Steam vr and open XR I have the g2 and it works wonderfully with openxr..

[Woxof]

I did as Bignewy directed and deleted terrain.lua, then ran the "slow" variation of the repair applet to let the sim restore it.  Then I made sure the shortcut was D:\DCS\bin\DCS.exe --force_enable_VR --force_OpenXR and I started the sim using that shortcut.  

But the result was the same as one I got where I generated Log_ONE -- black screen on the monitor, in the cliff house in the headset.  

It's probably not worth pointing out (but in the interest of completeness I'll do it anyway) that although the terrain.lua was throwing an error (I never modified it, either) I have been running the sim in 2D mode with no problems showing.  Whatever was wrong with the terrain.lua was not affecting 2D operation.

So...still stumped on this end.  

  

   

[The_Nephilim]

"C:\Games\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin-mt\DCS.exe" --force_enable_VR --force_OpenXR

 

Just to be sure do you have the quotations in like my shortcut?? I am not sure but maybe it does not matter?

I see you can get MSFS to works so this is really wierd why DCS will not run in VR, it has to be something. Just checking do you have any mods in DCS?

[Woxof]

Progress! -- of a sort.

After the Stable update today, when I launch using the shortcut described above, I get the golden MiG in the golden hangar on my monitor -- exactly the same as above in my log_TWO entry -- BUT I also get the golden MiG in the golden hangar in the headset.  This is without question some progress.

However, I get no splash screen on the monitor or in the headset, and thus no way to get out of the hangar and into the sim.  So near, yet so far.

Is there something I can press to make the splash screen appear?  I tried the Esc key which in the sim brings up the menu, but it did nothing here.  Neither did the Num5 key, which I've used before in the golden hangar to recenter the splash screen after it got dropped elsewhere in the hangar, out of view.  

Neph, I've never used the quotes in any shortcuts before but I'll try anything at this point.  Unfortunately they had no effect at all so I took them back out.      

   

 

[The_Nephilim]

hey try clearing environment data in windows under mixed reality.. I had a similar issue where the game showed on the monitor but not in the headset. I reset the data and voila it worked as it did before really wierd?..

[Woxof]

Neph, reread my last.  I have the golden MiG in the golden hangar, but on the monitor and in the headset, both.  What I don't have is the splash screen with the right-side and across-the-top menus.  I don't have any way to get out of the hangar, not even back to the desktop.  Any ideas?  

I did as you suggested and dumped the VR environment, but it had no effect.  

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Woxof

[BIGNEWY]

please attach your fresh dcs log it may still hold new clues 

thanks

[The_Nephilim]

umm maybe you need to setup the recenter key in userfiles in the controls option, I am real sorry I dont quite understand your issue but maybe this is it?

[Woxof]

Okay, now it's working.  I've started the sim three times now with no trouble getting into VR.  The only change -- I mean the ONLY change made between not working and working was disabling a few totally unrelated and outwardly innocuous items in my startup folder.  That was all there was to it.

So...whew.  Thanks for your help, guys.  You might think you really didn't do much to help, but that's wrong.  Knowing you were out there trying to help kept me encouraged enough to keep sleuthing away until I got it working.  Thanks very much.        

[The_Nephilim]

yes and sometimes that is enough to get by and solve the issue.. I am glad you figured it out.. So what was the issue? 

Edited May 10, 2023 by The_Nephilim

[Woxof]

Still don't know.  I'll give you the list of items I disabled:

Cortana (useless, I know but I thought harmless, too -- maybe not?)

Intel Graphics Command (also useless when using an external graphics card like my nVidia 3060)

ScanToPCActivationApp (used by HP only when scanning, I thought)

This leaves the only things running in the start folder as the Kensington and Logitech software packages (for the trackball and keyboard, respectively) and Windows Security notifications.  That's it.  

Something in those three items that are now disabled was causing all my problems.  But my system is much better now, thanks.  

 

 

 

[Woxof]

Just to provide some closure to this whole discussion, it turns out my motherboard was defective.  Eventually the computer would not even power up, so I took it to the place where I bought most of the parts -- it was a new-built machine, from February this year.  The place tested the computer, found the MB bad, and honored the warranty by replacing it with a new one. 

They said they're seeing a lot of hardware problems with gear assembled during the Age Of Covid, when companies literally could not find qualified people to run the assembly machinery.   If you run into unexplainable problems, check the hardware.  The likelihood of basic trouble with the hardware has gone from "almost unheard-of'", to "look here first".