My experience with DCS 2.9 new graphic settings

[lwalter]

After all I read on the forums and saw on YouTube, I was very excited to try the new graphic settings of DCS 2.9, especially DLSS.

Note that I use DCS in VR with a Quest 2. In OpenXR, I have no upscaling, only foveated and turbo modes on.

I already had some experience with DLSS with the other civilian flight simulator: it helped for the FPS, but because of the blurriness, even with "DLSS quality", was a no-go. It was impossible to read the gauges properly.

It shouldn't have been a surprise, but same for DCS, DLSS makes the gauges and other texts blurry in the cockpit. Adding sharpness doesn't help much.

The one big improvement for me was DLAA. All shimmering was gone and the clarity was slightly improved, but at the cost of FPS, too much in my case.

So, I just gave back on DLSS, DLAA and continued with my older settings, except that there was one good news with DCS 2.9: I could push the sliders quite a lot to the right for the details, clutter, trees, etc settings and without noticeable FPS drop. That was the good news of DCS 2.9 for me.

Maybe I didn't leverage DLSS/DLAA settings properly. If anybody has alternative suggestions regarding these settings, please feel free to advise.

 

 

[Eaglewings]

The shimmering is considerably taken care of by DLAA for me in vr. TAA works very well too but soften the text on the cockpit panels.
I will stay with DLAA for now and keep on tweaking.
Some bit of stuttering to work out.
I can hold for a while before upgrading my hardware much longer with dcs 2.9

I play Vr most times. DLSS is absolutely great for 2D play. DLSS put my framerate at my 2k monitor 144hz with no visual difference compare to native resolution.

Dcs 2.9 is a big step forward for dcs.

Sent from my XQ-AT52 using Tapatalk

[Glide]

My experience with the HP G2 and Motion Reprojection is very good with DLAA.  These settings work especially well on the PG map.  The forest settings look pretty bad on Normandy, so adjust to your liking.

Headset at 90hz.  Foveated Rendering Performance Wide in OpenXR Toolkit.  HAGS off, NCP all defaults.

[Qcumber]

4 hours ago, Glide said:

My experience with the HP G2 and Motion Reprojection is very good with DLAA.  These settings work especially well on the PG map.  The forest settings look pretty bad on Normandy, so adjust to your liking.

Headset at 90hz.  Foveated Rendering Performance Wide in OpenXR Toolkit.  HAGS off, NCP all defaults.

How does your experience of DLAA compare to DLSS? I am finding that I still get the weird stringy, stretchy, blurring with DLAA; it looks the same as when using DLSS-DLAA. The only way I can get rid of these is through increasing the resolution. So far, DLSS is the best options. The AA with DLSS/DLAA is amazing compared to MSAA and everything is smoother, so no going back to MSAA for me.

Interestingly, I am finding that the Normandy 2 map looks great with 2.9. Are you N1 or N2?  

[Silvera]

Unfortunately, neither DLSS nor DLAA are usable for me compared to TAA or MSAA due to blurriness. I have Quest 2 at 90hz with maxed out in Oculus app, it so easy to spot the difference when DLSS is off. It's meant to be used in 2D not in VR in my opinion, at least for now.  

I am so happy for the results though with 2.9. Even TAA and MSAA gives me very smooth experience!

[dutchili]

Dlaa works fine for me. I could push the PD up to 2.

The MFD text is not as good as it was with MSAA, but I prefer is over the clouds shimmies

[Glide]

I never said Normandy looks bad in 2.9; I said my settings for Forest Detail and Visibility might not be to everyone's liking on Normandy.  I keep my settings low to ensure all my compute power goes to smooth dogfighting experience.  With those settings I posted, I can maintain 45fps through a hot dogfight and the flying experience is incredibly smooth.  So, given I can achieve smooth flight at 45fps with DLAA, I don't really need DLSS.  Incidentally, I tried the same settings (roughly) on the civilian flight sim, and it could not manage 30 fps.  I need DLSS Performance over there to have the same experience. 

I don't notice the ghosting or bubbling that trails objects in the sim with DLAA or DLSS, but I think this is because of my lower graphic settings (3080TI i7 11700k).  I could lower them even further by disabling SSS, but I want to see how that feature plays out.  So far, with DLAA and TAA, it's not a big issue as long as I keep my forest details and visibility low.

The main point is that Motion Reprojection seems to work very well with DLAA in the F-16.  The AH-64D is good too.  I have noticed the leading edges of the P-51 wings still dance around.  These are called de-occlusion artifacts, and just like the jaggies or shimmering, this is something you can learn to ignore if it's not too bad. 

BTW, these settings on the PG map at dusk or dawn will shock you.  No shimmering lights.  That's a first.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Glide

[Mike_CK]

I play VR so the whole DLSS thing is lost on me. And frankly….I can’t see a bit of difference between MSAA 4x and MSAA off..so I leave all aliasing off. I do run my Oculus 2 max res, pd at 1.3 and textures high/high and get 45fps…so any AA has a decent impact on my frame rates. Guess it’s good I can’t tell the difference.

that said…I’m liking the new SSS shadow thing. You csn really see it on the caucuses map when you are over dense woods. The shadowing gives it much more of a realistic “full” look over previous. 
 

other than that, I don’t use any of the new settings and just hope for continued optimization of maps and MT

[5ephir0th]

4 hours ago, Mike_CK said:

I play VR so the whole DLSS thing is lost on me. And frankly….I can’t see a bit of difference between MSAA 4x and MSAA off..so I leave all aliasing off. I do run my Oculus 2 max res, pd at 1.3 and textures high/high and get 45fps…so any AA has a decent impact on my frame rates. Guess it’s good I can’t tell the difference.

that said…I’m liking the new SSS shadow thing. You csn really see it on the caucuses map when you are over dense woods. The shadowing gives it much more of a realistic “full” look over previous. 
 

other than that, I don’t use any of the new settings and just hope for continued optimization of maps and MT

Try this:

• Increase your resolution by 20%
• Enable DLSS Quality
• Set sharpening on 0.9 or 1

You should still get better performance than with your usual resolution and MSAA x2 but with a sharp picture and no jaggies

Edited October 23, 2023 by 5ephir0th

[Michel0079]

I use Pico4 and finally discovered the MT works only when started from Steam and not from the "MT" bin. But the results are not good at all here. 

It is stuttering like crazy and unsharp. I have a 4090. Maybe im doing something wrong?

Edited October 23, 2023 by Michel0079

[evilnate]

I run 4090 with 13900 and G2.

With 2.8, I needed to cut most beauty settings off to get 90 FPS. I still have PD 1.0 and MSAA off, but DLSS on quality with sharpening 0.75 and full shadows. Still have 90 FPS.

Excellent work ED!

[lwalter]

7 hours ago, 5ephir0th said:

Try this:

• Increase your resolution by 20%
• Enable DLSS Quality
• Set sharpening on 0.9 or 1

You should still get better performance than with your usual resolution and MSAA x2 but with a sharp picture and no jaggies

 

@5ephir0th I'd like to give it a try, but which resolution should be increased by 20%? 

[5ephir0th]

52 minutes ago, lwalter said:

@5ephir0th I'd like to give it a try, but which resolution should be increased by 20%? 

The resolution you use on your Quest 2

[HansPeter1981]

On 10/31/2023 at 11:15 AM, HansPeter1981 said:

Hello There. 

I have to say 2.9 especially with SSS and TAA (sharpening 0.7)enabled me the first time to enable Full Shadows without flickering / late or wired build up and almost no performance hit.
Where as with MSAA and 2.8 I had Terrain Shadows off due to performance and immersion-breaking effects as described above.

I am on a stock 6800XT 250W (Adrenaline Settings: Target Framerate at 59FPS and Sharpening at max) . The card is 65-89 percent at times 99% close to the ground.
I do not use and neither believe in upscaling. This is a simulation and not counterstrike. Fidelity is highest priority, DLSS and FSR are not targeting Fidelity

So in my humble opinion TAA is where the DEVS should invest their efforts it would benefit AMD and NVIDIA owners. There is still minor ghosting and could look more detailed from further away i.e. But the Performance gain is massive.

DCS Settings at 4K (only thing I changed in the meantime is to enable Clutter Grass to Max):