VR not working properly after Win 11 install

[Koekemoeroetoe]

Hi,

I "upgraded" my OS to Windows 11, and now I am not able to play DCS in VR anymore. Worked fine on Win 10. I'm using a Reverb G2, GPU is a RX 7900 XTX. DCS is the Open Beta, stand alone version, using OpenXR. All drivers etc. are up to date.

I start up WMR, this works fine and I can use the headset in the WMR environment. I then load DCS load with the headset not on my head. DCS starts, I see the "screen mirror" pop up and it follows movements of the headset perfectly fine. I can also see through the lenses of the Reverb that the image is being projected to the headset. Now, as soon as I put on the headset, the image freezes and DCS minimizes. This can be replicated by placing my finger on the headsets sensor that detects if you wear it or not. If I then activate the DCS tab, it starts working again until I put the headset on my head.

I have deleted the DCS.openbeta folder from my saved games, but this did not solve it. I am able to play SteamVR games. I don't have much time to play, let alone figure issues like this out, so before I start deleting and reinstalling all kinds of drivers and software, I was wondering if any of you had the same experiences and know a fix.

Hoping someone can help me out, any reply is much appreciated!

Thx!

Koekie.

[Koekemoeroetoe]

Ok, so quicker than I thought I at least got the headset working again. By going into the WMR settings and toggling the refreshrate to 60Hz and back to 90Hz, and also toggling some other options like "best quality" it somehow started working again. Now, problem number 2 is that motion reprojection is just one, big artifact mess... On win 10 it was working perfectly. Is this a known issue, or again some weird stuff in my Windows install?

[slughead]

I never had any issues with Win11 and the G2. Also motion reprojection was "ok". So it sounds like a configuration issue to me.

[The_Nephilim]

try in windows turn too manual input instead of Auto under mixed reality, startup..

Edited November 29, 2023 by The_Nephilim

[Koekemoeroetoe]

I will try to uninstall the WMR drivers, use DDU to uninstall the GPU drivers and then reinstall both. If that doesn;t work, I'll reinstall DCS fully.

11 hours ago, The_Nephilim said:

try in windows turn too manual input instead of Auto under mixed reality, startup..

 

I don't fully understand what you mean, should I find these settings in the WMR portal?

[The_Nephilim]

5 hours ago, Koekemoeroetoe said:

I will try to uninstall the WMR drivers, use DDU to uninstall the GPU drivers and then reinstall both. If that doesn;t work, I'll reinstall DCS fully.

I don't fully understand what you mean, should I find these settings in the WMR portal?

No, Sorry for the confusion but try this:

 

Goto Win 10 Start menu, Settings (the little gear Icon), the settings window pops up go to Mixed Reality, then Startup and desktop, once inthere look for Input Switching which will probally be on Auto Switch it to manual.. IF you need further details let me know..

[Koekemoeroetoe]

Ok, so I did some work on this issue. Good news: I got the headset working "normally" again. Bad news: Motion Reprojection still gives massive artefacts, entirely warped screens and therefore just unplayable.

What I did:

- Uninstall mixed reality and all apps like openxr toolkit etc.

- Uninstal GPU drivers using DDU

- Reinstall GPU drivers

- Reinstall Mixed Reality (for now without the OpenXR tooliit stuff)

- Repair DCS (slow method)

- Delete DCS folder in My Saved Games

Now the headset at least just works again, but when using the OpenXR runtime something strange happens. In the menu's, my left eye is buttery smooth. My right eye however lags and artefacts massively. When I jump into a plane, when looking forward all is good, but when I move my head the screen also lags and makes it feel very stuttery, despite the FPS being like 85 to 90. 

 

Switching on motion reprojection only makes things MUCH worse.

 

I then switched to SteamVR runtime, and this made some massive changes. First of, the menu is now smooth on both eyes. Gameplay in a jet is also more smooth than before, but still a little bit stuttery. Framerate now was 70-ish FPS. Steam Motion Smoothing works better than OpenXR MR, but still artefacts too much for me.

 

So, anyone again any adies how to make the game play smoother?

 

My previous GPU was an RTX 2070, but depsite only getting like 30-35 FPS (and using no motion smoothing), it felt way more smooth than the full 90FPS on my RX 7900 XTX. If for example in the AH-64D and a very heavy mission, the framerate goes to 30 FPS on the XTX, it becomes unplayable, where with the RTX 2070 it was perfectly fine. I know that AMD is not optimal for VR, but this I did not expect and I can not believe it should be this way. Something must be wrong somewhere...

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Koekemoeroetoe

[Koekemoeroetoe]

Something I must add, I also Arizona Sunshine using SteamVR and this worked flawlessly from the start on. Will test more SteamVR games, but maybe it is a bit of a DCS-only issue I experience.

Is it worth reinstalling DCS? Even with a 1 gbit connection that will take quite some time...

[Koekemoeroetoe]

Small update from my side.

Tl;dr - disabling Multiplane Overlay may have fixed the issue. See also this link (also applicable to AMD cards): https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5157/~/after-updating-to-nvidia-game-ready-driver-461.09-or-newer%2C-some-desktop-apps

 Bit longer version: OpenXR runtime was giving me a hard time. Screen tearing, even with stable 90 fps in menus. Weird thing was, left eye was buttery smooth, right eye tearing all over. MR solved this, but causes massive artefacts.

Switching to SteamVR as runtime fixed this, so I guess the problem lies in OpenXR. However, SteamVR causes a performance drop and visual fidelity is also degraded. Additionally, Motion Smoothing still is meh. Also still some frame tearing/stutter with all settings high, despite a framerate of 45+. Especially when moving my head. So, OpenXR is preferred as a runtime for more raw performance and better visual fidelity.

Switching back to OpenXR, again immediatly screen tearing in mainly right eye. I switch back to the desktop, notice the MPO disable registry shortcut (still had it due to an issue with a different, non-VR game) and suddenly think: the Win 11 install might ofcourse have reset the registry. I run the batch file, load DCS and: all smooth, even without MR.

Further testing is needed, but it feels like I'm on to something. Will update this post when I have more news.

Edited December 2, 2023 by Koekemoeroetoe