Varjo Aero arrived, some starting difficulties

[Jyge]

I got my Varjo Aero today and it is anything but straightforward. Firstly, I got plenty of disconnect and so on messages, somewhere there the base showed me the desktop pic with tracking following the headset movement but the picture in the goggles themselves remained gray. 

After pulling cables in and out and restarting like 20 times I got the picture. Well, once I shutdown the PC the headset kept running the fan so I unplugged it - same problems with disconnects and the stress before I got the picture again.

Is there some graceful way of disconnecting the headset, so that I don't have to go through that hell, or does one just leave it plugged all the time? Is there maybe something wrong with my hardware? I have no idea what I did in order to get the picture back, but the process sure as hell did not please me. In my Reverb 2 I just pulled out the power cord from the connector box? I mean I can also leave the Display Port cable and stuff like that into PC, but I do not really like the idea of the headset running all the time.

I saw that there is this a mile long general guide, but it just did not do the trick, at least as a simple starting point, it was too complex insider information about mods and wrappers and what not. 

Until now I was running multithread executable, worked just fine with my old Reverb G2, but here I did not get DCS to start in VR at all with Aero, I only saw the desktop in the 3D Hanger and the flat DCS came up on the desktop. Finally, when I went for the single-thread DCS.exe and --force_steam_VR option I finally got into VR but the picture looked funny, like my head rotation center was misaligned or something. When I went for --force_openXR I got these four mirrored windows on Varjo Base but at least the game was running in VR and it did not look too bad.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Jyge

[dburne]

Regarding your power issues. I added smart plugs for my headset and trackers, I just power them on and off when needed through app on my cell phone. I also have them set to turn off automatically after 9:00 pm as a safeguard in case I forget. Varjo says no problem leaving them plugged in and receiving power, I prefer to err on the side of caution.  If I did not have the smart plugs, I would unplug headset and trackers at the end of each session.

Ok so with DCS, you are going to want to run the Multi Threaded Version of DCS and run it in Open XR ( it is set already in current beta version of DCS to run in Open XR). You will need to select Open XR and Open VR in Varjo Base. Also put a shortcut on your desktop pointing to DCS-MT.exe.

Start there and see if you can get it going in VR ok. Also advise you to join the Varjo Discord, lot of good info and real time help there as well.

My Aero is very simple to use, I power it on, launch Varjo Base, then launch DCS-MT. Works a champ each and every time. 

Once you get it up and running ok then we can discuss running in dynamic foveated rendering with eye tracking, which you will really want to do - huge performance gain. But get to walking before you start running.

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by dburne

[MAThrasher]

After the initial time to setup the Aero, flying now is just a matter of powering on the headset.  I have a dedicated PC for flight simming, so I just always leave Varjo Base, Voice Ataack/Vaicom, and simshaker running.  When I'm ready to fly, I just power on the headset and fire up DCS.  It never fails or causes any issues.

 

[Jyge]

Ok, I guess I will see it tomorrow if the headset will come up. Power it up after the PC is up or already before starting PC?

did you actually mean exe called dcs-mt.exe in bin-mt folder or just dcs.exe in bin-mt? There is only dcs.exe on my installation under the bin-mt directory. 

 I have a shortcut with "C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin\DCS.exe" --force_enable_VR --force_openXR this is what gives me at least somewhat usable VR (for the 5 min I managed last night).  Changing that to point at DCS.exe in bin-mt will give pancake DCS running on the virtual desktop - I will test it again since I was messing around with all of those parameters and mostly without --force_enable_VR, which I think was the decisive one that gave me the VR on the single core DCS in the end...

EDIT: tested again, with single core executable - Varjo Base window recognizes the Application running and everything is fine, but once changing the path to point at bin-mt folder, Base says that no application is running - I get the pancake. In comparison to flat-out no VR the DCS window is still this VR-View like window (not filling the whole desktop), but unlike with bin/DCS.exe it does not show this quadview, just a single one and it does not react to the headset motion.

So in the end I think I should start with getting the stuff to run with bin-mt/DCS.exe executable in VR - first obvious question is, if my start parameters are the correct ones? After that the question is if I need to clean my install, delete some configs from Users Folders, shaders, cache or whatnot and then comes the question, whether I need to install some mod or wrapper or stuff, but I think there is some artifact from my Reverb G2 messing it up and as far as I can recall I used Reverb only with bin-mt/DCS.exe so it would explain it...somewhat...

Edited July 18, 2023 by Jyge

[dburne]

You create a shortcut for the DCS.exe file that is in your bin-mt folder.

My shortcut I created I have "D:\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin-mt\DCS.exe" --force_OpenXR. Note there is a space after the last asterik and before the two dashes. In this example my DCS is installed on my drive D. I don't think you even need to append the shortcut with the --force_OpenXR any longer as the MT version should run natively in OpenXR.

If you have any mods you might want to run a repair of DCS first to get it back to stock. Also note if you run the Open XR Toolkit previously you will need to disable it as it currently is not compatible with the eye tracked DFR you will eventually want to run once up and going.

 

[Rodeo]

If you don’t want to go the smart plug route (which is a great idea) I am using this for my Aero. 
 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BW8KS2Y1?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

[Jyge]

Ok, no joy with bin-mt/DCS.exe - I am not sure about the Open XR Toolkit, where is it and how would I disable it? What else could it be? I ran the clean and the repair utilities for DCS Updater.exe but it was no use. 

Furthermore, yes, I put the lighthouses and the headset connector box on a separate extension cable with switch, unfortunately after I switched it on, the base was not really complaining about anything but the headset was again gray, then I did my merry unplugging/plugging number until I got the picture. It is very irritating, I am about to contact the support on this one.

[Burt]

It's here where you disable it. Should be in your Program files. 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Burt

[Burt]

If I can add some help, this is what got me started with my Aero. 

1

2. 

 

[dburne]

What do you mean by no joy with the bin-mt dcs.exe? What exactly happens?

I have a feeling you are very close, do not give up yet. It really is not this hard. All I do is launch Varjo Base, then launch my DCS shortcut that points to the MT version and voila few moments later am in DCS in VR.

Show what is in the command line for your shortcut. Just copy and paste the line in here.

Edited July 18, 2023 by dburne

[Jyge]

I actually do not even have that OpenXR Toolkit installed on my rig (additionally, that would effect the bin/DCS.exe as well, wouldn't it?). I did a fresh install on Windows 11 Pro some time ago, I barely got my DCS running after that, played couple of times with Reverb G2 and then I got my Aero, so with my older install I had more of this OpenXR stuff that is meanwhile not required anymore. I made a minimalistic approach but it seems that I probably still have some artifacts. Maybe I could install the toolkit in order to deactivate it, but then on the other hand - why does single thread DCS.exe run in VR but multi-thread not?

As for the "no joy" part with bin-mt dcs.exe. I have the VR running succesfully with bin/DCS.exe once I change the path to bin-mt DCS starts on desktop without VR. In the former case Aero recognizes the application and in the latter case it says no application running, although DCS is actually running. 

I think I will just backup my Save Game Folder and delete it and try once more, maybe there is something there. Other than that, I can only think of a whole new clean install of DCS, which is kind of stupid as clean&repair should normally give me the same result.

EDIT: deleting the save game folder did not help anything - Varjo Base says "Headset view - no application running" and DCS is running 2D on desktop. After deleting the save game folder I reactivated the use Virtual Reality checkbox, DCS restarted but still in 2D. So there were no artifacts in User Folder. Other than that I send my grievances with the cables to Varjo Aero - rocky start for 2K $ Hardware...

Maybe as next I could try "his is done via mbucchia's Varjo Foveated mod Home · mbucchia/Varjo-Foveated Wiki · GitHub, note that OXTRK is not compatible with quad view and should be disabled." from the big Varjo Discussion, but from what I have understood the bin-mt/dcs.exe should at least start in VR out of the box. I have now tried force_steam_VR and force_openXR and I think also without options, one that I did not try until now was --force_varjo_VR or whatever it. I also do not understand a damn thing about "-OpenXR-InstanceExtension wrapper is required for Varjo OpenXR runtime to disable quad view output (no need for Steam OpenXR runtime).  When you update VB, this will also need to be reinstalled."

Edited July 19, 2023 by Jyge

[dburne]

@Jyge

Do you have both Open XR and Open VR selected in Varjo Base? Multi-Thread by default uses Open XR, apparently your issue lies within Open XR running proper for the Aero. Need to make sure Open XR is toggled on in Varjo Base.

Edited July 19, 2023 by dburne

[Burt]

I don’t have openvr enabled just OpenXR. Is there something I’m missing having it disabled? I’m mainly and perfer Multithread.

Thx !

[dburne]

Just now, Burt said:

I don’t have openvr enabled just OpenXR. Is there something I’m missing having it disabled? I’m mainly and perfer Multithread.

Thx !

No.

[dburne]

Might have a read here also:

I personally do not have this issue but apparently there are some that do.

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by dburne

[Jyge]

I think I already mentioned that I tried deactivating and activating the VR checkbox once more. Did not work.

I have both of those checkboxes activated in Varjo base.

[Jyge]

5 hours ago, dburne said:

@Jyge

Do you have both Open XR and Open VR selected in Varjo Base? Multi-Thread by default uses Open XR, apparently your issue lies within Open XR running proper for the Aero. Need to make sure Open XR is toggled on in Varjo Base.

Is it then so that the single thread executable employs OpenVR? I mean, I have --force_openXR on the command line, doesn't it force it with single thread executable anyway. Where is the actual difference to multi-thread? I could disable the OpenVR switch and try it out both with single thread and multi-thread.

Ok, I tried --force_varjo_VR and it did not work with multi-thread executable. I tried switching off the OpenVR and VR worked with single thread but not with multi-thread. So I am kind of running out ideas?

Can I somehow try a fresh install of DCS? How would I do it? Copy my actual installation somewhere, uninstall DCS and start installation? I mean I do not even need to reinstall any modules, it is enough to see the GUI comes up?

Is there something on Varjo configurations (where ever they are?), should I somehow first disable the foveated rendering completely and see if the multi-thread runs at all without it? As I said I haven't (at least knowingly) installed any wrappers or stuff. Would it help to install that mbucchia's wrapper.

I do not run SteamVR, I guess there is no need to start it from Varjo Base?

Edited July 19, 2023 by Jyge

[dburne]

No you do not need to do a new install of DCS, a long Repair would be sufficient.

Forget the single thread, you only want to work with the multi thread executable.

Are you on Discord? If you are suggest you post over in Varjo Discord, I am sure someone would get you up and running in no time.

Edited July 19, 2023 by dburne

[Jyge]

Yes, I merely mention the single thread in order to point out that the system is actually running or that the start options that I am using are correct, indeed I want to get to the multi-thread and foveated rendering and anything that the headset can provide, but I think it helps to narrow down the errors to have hat comparison.

Yes, I will try out the discord. That should be fun, I am admonishing my kids all the time since they hang around discord all the time and now I am falling down the same way. I need to close the door and see that they don't catch me red handed...

[Jyge]

Meanwhile I looked at the log in DCS and saw this.

2023-07-19 19:28:22.649 ERROR   VISUALIZER (Main): OpenXR exception: runtime is not available
    Source: Projects\Visualizer\Source\OpenXR\openxr_program.cpp:322

After looking up, I saw this discussion - did not solve my problem though...If I launch with I launch with --force_enable_VR I get this narrow feedback window on desktop, like  I usually do when the game is running VR (it does show only single view to DCS, "distorted" like viewing through the headset, not the quad one). If I launch without that force option, I get full desktop size 2D window of DCS. Also the "VR-like" window does not follow headset movement or anything. It is like the game would be running with VR, but completely oblivious to the existence of a headset...

P.S at least Varjo support answered - they suspect my connector box or something may be defect and they are going to send me some stuff...we'll see how that will turn out...

Edited July 19, 2023 by Jyge

[dburne]

Sounds like you may be making progress there @Jyge - let's hope!

Having the force enable VR nomenclature just does the same as ticking the VR on in DCS graphics options. Either or is fine. But definitely have Open XR selected in Varjo Base.

[Jyge]

Ok, somebody gave a hint in discord about rolling back the DCS version.  I gave .\DCS_updater.exe update 2.8.6.41066@openbeta and the rollback seemed to work, afterwards I got the VR, most likely with foveated rendering as well, as I installed the Varjo-Foveated-0.2.0.msi somewhere there when I was trying to resolve the VR issue. I even installed the OpenXR toolkit only to be able to disable it...

Anyway the rollback seems to be the solution for now. Hope ED will solve this one in the coming versions. I think I need to post the heads-up on that Bug thread as well

[DroptheHammer]

I'm having the exact same issue as OP!  Reading this thread was like mimicking all my frustrations of the past 4-6 hours trying to get this to work.  I've done a DDU, latest nvidia drivers, full repair install slow (twice) and cut and pasted enough shortcut endings to go nuts.

 

@jyge, did you just roll back and update again? are you on the latest OB now or is this a problem with the latest version of OB regardless?

[Jyge]

No, I am actually running the 2.8.6.41066, I'll have to see in one month or so if there is then the next version out and then try that one out. Eventually it will work, it always does.

[DroptheHammer]

My problem is I’m supposed to be testing and or returning this headset in a limited time window and DCS is the only app I’m really concerned with. 
 

I assume you’re flying ok in the older version so i suppose I’ll rollback to test…