New player looking for help

[nikola499]

Hello everyone!

Brand new player here. Just downloaded DCS, bought the F16 module got a sim pit + WingWing Pedals/throttle/Joystick along a Pimax Crystal (OG not light). 

I have to say getting into this sim world is quite overwhelming with all the setup of equipment/hardware + settings in game and then learning the module. 

I am looking for a kind soul that is willing to spare 1-2 hours of their time on screenshare/remote PC and help me set everything up. I am willing to pay for your time. I am just trying to avoid investing 3-4-5 hours to set everything up when I know its prolly a 30 min thing for someone that knows what they are doing. It already took me 6 hours to assemble the sim pit and the WingWing stuff. 

If someone can help me set up the best settings for my VR headset in game and also windows wise + whatever program I need to make it work. Also would need help to set up the WingWing equipment with proper settings. 

If you are willing to help me DM me and we can set a time and day at your convinience. 

PC Specs : 

RTX 4090 / 14900KF / 64GB ram

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nik

[Calvin.Pimax]

Let me check if any users are available to share screenshots of their in-game settings so you can follow their preferred configuration.

[Blackhawk163]

Did you watch this video? It's a good baseline to work from, and of course there's the pinned thread on VR settings for various setups 

[nikola499]

I watched that video it gave me general knowledge but didnt help me with the settings. The VR part is REALLY overwhelming... I have not even gotten to learning the module and settings every button/key to joystick/throttle. I have been trying to figure this out for the last two days.

I need someone to help me get the highest FPS/Quality of image with my PC specs. Most of everything I read online I don't understand half the terms.

Edited November 11, 2024 by nikola499

[Blackhawk163]

Unfortunately there is no one size fits all when it comes to settings. A person might be okay with 60fps and everything on, another may feel that’s unacceptable. Maybe you hit the the cpu/gpu lottery, and can get outstanding fps with maxed out settings. It could be you’re unlucky with your 14900k and run into stability issues. The bottom line is that the video serves as a starting point for you to build on, same with the thread I linked. A search on your favorite search engine for Pimax crystal light DCS settings will give you a breakdown on what they recommend for settings both in DCS with breakdowns as to how each setting may or may not impact your frame rates, and also the settings in Pimax play. 
 

it might seem daunting, I know it was for me a couple of months ago, but though iterative tweaking you’ll get a better understanding of it. 

I personally would steer clear of any other third party add-ons like openxr toolkit etc, until you get comfortable with the barebone settings as presented to you within the two software packages (DCS and Pimax). 
 

lastly make sure your graphics drivers are up to date.

You got this!

[SharpeXB]

14 minutes ago, Blackhawk163 said:

Maybe you hit the the cpu/gpu lottery

That’s a funny thing to say. It’s not a matter of luck whether or not your hardware functions correctly. 

[Blackhawk163]

17 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

That’s a funny thing to say. It’s not a matter of luck whether or not your hardware functions correctly. 

Silly me I threw in an overlocking term in there. Didn’t mean to further muddy the waters for the OP. But when it comes to the last generation of intel chips well… lol 

[nikola499]

2 hours ago, Blackhawk163 said:

Silly me I threw in an overlocking term in there. Didn’t mean to further muddy the waters for the OP. But when it comes to the last generation of intel chips well… lol 

That part is not confusing me I have decent knowledge on how overclocking works and GPU/CPU "lottery". Right now I have Pimax Play installed and thats all. I have figured out some decent settings I seem to have 90 FPS constant with QuadViews / eyetracking and foveated rendering enabled (however you spell that lol). My settings in DCS are pretty much all maxed out. If someone could let me know if this is as good as it gets or I can push even more in terms of quality or optimization. The 90 FPS drops a few frames from time to time but never seen it go lower than 82-85 so far. I would say 80-90% of the time its constant at 90 fps. Are there any Nvidia settings I need to tweak or windows settings ? 

 

Monitor res : lowest possible     

Res. Cockpit : 1024 everytime

AA / Upscaling : DLAA / DLSS at Quality setting

Sharpening : 0.30

Textures / Terrain/ Shadows : High all 3

Flat Shadow / Secondary Shadow (what do these settings do?) : OFF both

Screen Space shadows : ON

Vis Range : Extreme

Civ traffic : Medium

Clouds : Ultra

Water : High

SSAO/SSLR : OFF both

Lens effect : None

Heat / Motion Blur : OFF both

Depth of field : OFF

Canopy reflections : Maxxed - 1.0

Cutter/Grass/Forest/Scenery Details/ Preload radius : ALL Maxxed

Chimney Smoke : 1

Gamma : 2.2

External FOV : 90

LOD : 1.0

Max FPS : 90 

Antisotropic Filt : 16x

Terrain objects Shadows : Default 

Cockpit Illumination : ON

GUI Scale : 1.5

Rain droplets : High

VSync : off

Full screen : ON. 

 

VR Settings : 

Pixel Density : 1.6

Bloom Effect : ON

MSAA Mask size : 0.42

HMD Mask : OFF

DCS Sys resolution : OFF

QuadView/Eye tracking : ON

 

Pimax Play settings : 

 

90Hz Refresh rate

Eye Tracking + IPD adjustement ON

Render quality : 0.75 (should I leave this at 1.0 or on Medium/high)?

Pimax OpenXR Quadviews : Enabled

Pimax Central Priority Rendering : Enabled 

Preference set at : Balanced

 

 

Edited November 11, 2024 by nikola499

[Nedum]

On 11/6/2024 at 4:12 AM, nikola499 said:

Hello everyone!

Brand new player here. Just downloaded DCS, bought the F16 module got a sim pit + WingWing Pedals/throttle/Joystick along a Pimax Crystal (OG not light). 

I have to say getting into this sim world is quite overwhelming with all the setup of equipment/hardware + settings in game and then learning the module. 

I am looking for a kind soul that is willing to spare 1-2 hours of their time on screenshare/remote PC and help me set everything up. I am willing to pay for your time. I am just trying to avoid investing 3-4-5 hours to set everything up when I know its prolly a 30 min thing for someone that knows what they are doing. It already took me 6 hours to assemble the sim pit and the WingWing stuff. 

If someone can help me set up the best settings for my VR headset in game and also windows wise + whatever program I need to make it work. Also would need help to set up the WingWing equipment with proper settings. 

If you are willing to help me DM me and we can set a time and day at your convinience. 

PC Specs : 

RTX 4090 / 14900KF / 64GB ram

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nik

Hi Nik,

 

this Thread, page 2, my posting. Take a look and try my settings. You should get mind-blowing results.

Edited November 18, 2024 by Nedum

[Keith Briscoe]

@nikola499 If I can make a suggestion... since you are still brand new to DCS, I would highly recommend doing a few basics in 2D (monitor only) - - specifically, take the time to do your hotas keybinds while you are NOT in VR.  The initial setting up of this stuff takes time and since you are not familiar with your hotas, I assume, then you'll want to be able to see the buttons and switches as you bind them, then go try them out in Instant Action, then pause re-do, etc etc etc.  Very iterative process at the beginning.  I would even suggest doing your initial system and graphics settings while in 2D.

But, once you have those done and then you start to learn to set up, fly and navigate menus in VR, you'll be able to make adjustments to settings, graphics and keybinds while your headset is on.

Good luck.  Stay patient.  It is totally worth it.