sominum vr1 setup for DCS with eye tracking

[Gun Jam]

Hello

im having some issues finding info on setting up the VR1 for DCS. I have eye tracking with my HMD and would like to know what software should be installed and how to get things running. A basic setup guide which I cant seem to find.

I have the VR1 tool installed but it looks like its pretty much non functional unless steam VR is running then it has a lot more functionality but with steam VR running and eye tracking calibrated I cant launch DCS I get a runtime error from steam VR.

 

What needs to be running and in what order?

Thanks for the help!

[evanswillo]

Hi the openXR runtime is going through a beta program at the moment the release version is not great for DCS at the moment, the beta is promising.

Suggest you just use Steam to start off with, but that would not include DFR.

SteamVR works fine, ensure you have disabled the OpenXR runtime in VR1 software and that SteamVR is up and running when you launch DCS.

 

Edited March 9 by evanswillo

[Gun Jam]

was the open XR runtime installed by the VR1 toolkit or is this something extra I have to download? I didnt download anything that wasn't asked for by the VR1TK

Thank you!

[evanswillo]

A setup guide was released alongside the Beta this week. Checkout the discord site VR1 announcements.

But yes the VR1 openXR runtime would have been installed at time you first launched the UI, you can always go back to the Software tab and refresh in the VR1 UI.

Let me know how you get on 

[Gun Jam]

I found the guide I haven't had a chance to really read it yet but it doesn't look straightforward as expected. Once I get it figured out ill post it here. That has no business being on discord.

thanks for your help

[Stellatny45]

This is not sounding promising thus far

[Gun Jam]

no its not but i dont give up easy but yeah this has me concerned. not software so much but hardware wise  

Its DCS and Vr I fully expected some issue and the issues im having so far are in line with whats expected. I remember when i first had the g2 there was like 8 steps I had to do each time to get it to run correctly this got better over time but still needed like 2 steps at the end lol. My real concern with the VR1 at this very early stage is the image its self. The image is clear and looks great with good edge to edge clarity. The issue is from what I can tell with about 5 minutes of use is optical Collimation... or lack there of, with both eyes open the image is borderline unacceptable. If I payed 2k for a set of Steiner binoculars and I looked through them and saw and equivalent image they would be back on their way to Steiner in like 15 min accompanied with a WTF letter, there would be no discussion or faq reading.

With the G2 which was my 2nd HMD the first was an Odyssey+ and the very very first one I saw was a psvr in these 3 cases none of them caused eye strain or my brain to be confused my first reaction was wow that awesome and then my complaints were small sweet spot and poor clarity. The only issue to work out was a bit of motion sickness which I was over in about 2 days. this issue with the VR1 is a new animal. Ill see what I can find out.

[Stellatny45]

Looks like the price for the Visionary is now over $3000.00 US. I can't imagine tying up that much money for an unknown length of time, for a product that might not be fully functional if it ever even ships to me. Hope you will continue providing feedback on your VR1 experience!

[Gun Jam]

Okay made some progress.

There was discussion of a beta vr1 toolkit and firmware it says its for use only in native openxr. I installed this beta and could not get DCS to load beyond the main menu. if it made it to the main menu it would lock up in about 5 seconds. I guess this isn't openxr enough although they say it was tested and it showed a 40% boost. maybe I have to physically disable steam vr in the vr1 tool kit despite it not running but I didn't bother this felt too beta to me and switched back.

 

Okay the really important part that's like 1 sentence long but was apparently too difficult to post in a reasonable area for whatever reason. Here is how to make it work:

*** Super important note*** : VR1 tool kit does not have setup functions unless a VR app is running like dcs

Start the VR1 tool kit

Start DCS

Now you can configure eye tracking by starting advance calibration then you can set render resolution and foveated resolution and then once you alt / tab back into dcs it works.

 

HELPFUL notes:

1) the hmd fit is so abysmal that despite eye tracking apparently working it misses where you are looking despite having it say it was successfully calibrated. use heatmap to see how bad it sucks  mine was hitting way high, Crank the head strap down until it hurts then re-calibrate and then use heat map again (on a highish resolution with 100% opacity) and you'll see it get real close to hitting a bullseye now you'll see that eye tracking is indeed working. 

2) at the top in "rendering" tab rendering resolution is the crap on your peripheral vision you'll set this low ish

3) foveated rendering resolution is your focal point you'll set this high ish

For testing I ran a small foveated area and low peripheral resolution so it was obvious if it was working. It looked like crap and still ran like crap.  I was getting maybe 50fps which is way worse than 50fps in the G2 I could get 60 for a few seconds and that was a choppy mess as well.

4) there's obviously more settings that need to be adjusted. Can you provide a screen shot or describe the values of all applicable vr1 tool kit settings that provided you a decent experience?

 

below is the description of how to setup dcs for eye tracking per sominum

 

 

 

To fully utilize all Somnium VR1 functionality with DCS World, we recommend running it through our custom
vrg/somnium OpenXR runtime.

Please follow these steps for basic setup:
- Turn off SteamVR (if SteamVR renders image into the headset DCS OpenXR will not be able to
initialize properly).
- Alternatively, you can disable the SteamVR driver completely (either through Somnium VR1 Tool in
Settings - Software - Drivers page, or through SteamVR in Startup/Shutdown - Manage Add-ons).
- Make sure that the Somnium OpenXR runtime is enabled in Somnium VR1 Tool (homepage or
Settings - Software - Drivers page).
- Adjust the resolution and foveated resolution values in Somnium VR1 Tool (Settings - Headset -
Rendering page).
- DCS will use quad views (foveated rendering) by default, so we recommend adjusting at least the
main Resolution slider to lower values (for example 40-50%) and keeping the Foveated Rendering -
Resolution slider around 100%
- Start DCS in VR mode.
- Reset your view position (UI Layer shortcuts - recenter VR Headset).
Additionally, if your Somnium headset has eye tracking support you can enable dynamic foveated rendering:
- Follow the same steps as mentioned above.
- Select if you want to use Simple or Advanced eye tracking calibration (Settings - Headset - Eyes
page).
- Calibrate eye tracking (either with the button in Connected Device section or in Settings - Headset -
Eyes page).
- Enable eye tracking (Settings - Headset - Eyes page).
- Alternatively, you can enable the AutoStart option (Settings - Headset - Eyes page), which will
automatically start eye tracking after successful calibration.
- If the eye tracking is enabled, the foveated area in DCS will automatically move according to the eye
tracking results.
 

 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Stellatny45 said:

Looks like the price for the Visionary is now over $3000.00 US. I can't imagine tying up that much money for an unknown length of time, for a product that might not be fully functional if it ever even ships to me. Hope you will continue providing feedback on your VR1 experience!

yeah dude it was a big gamble Im still not sure how its going to work out. If you ordered one today you probably wouldn't get it this year. I have a feeling some of these are going to show up on ebay... there's lot of people who thought this would work out of the box and be 100 / 100

[Gun Jam]

Lots of success ditching the openxr software and just running steam vr. I went from a choppy mess in the dcs menu at 50 fps to 90fps in the menu and a solid smooth 45 fps in game!

The smoothness is now on par with the G2,

the field of view is way better it makes looking over your shoulder nice.

The overall image quality is much less than the G2 and not usable. Objects up close like a cockpit part or gauge that you can move to about book reading distance look fantastic as distance increases the ability to focus on them decreases, things like citys, planes, spotting dots, mountains all just become a mess. You can actually feel it destroying your brain as the visual cortex is like OMGWTF! Part of this issue maybe due to poor fit but I still haven't had any success resolving this.

[evanswillo]

Welcome to the VR1 journey, the beta is only testing the openXR runtime function and will improve as features of the VR1 are added to the beta test.

Prior to the beta program the original openXR had serious issues with multiple error messages and crashes, the beta is stable and locks the fps to the selected freq of the headset.

The SteamVR runtime is a good starting point, I am surprised you are saying the VR1 image quality is lower than a reverb G2.

May I ask what VR1 resolution you are running and what scaling you are trying. 

[Gun Jam]

3 hours ago, evanswillo said:

I am surprised you are saying the VR1 image quality is lower than a reverb G2.

May I ask what VR1 resolution you are running and what scaling you are trying. 

Please share your settings as well.

Im using DLSS in dcs

the image up close is sharp with the vr1 the G2 well out performs the vr1 at distance. The g2 image at distance was a bit blurry (this could be improved with the openxr sharpening tool) but the left eye and right eye could focus on distant object no problem. The Vr1 image at distance is a bit blurry and the left and right eye dont agree on what they are looking at. Closing one eye appears to help sharpen the image a lot or at least let me focus on an object. I need to maybe work harder at getting a good HMD fit.

[evanswillo]

As far as fit is concerned I have switched out the stock Head strap for the BOBOVR M2 Plus Head Strap and added some extra weight to balance the Headset.

If this is under SteamVR 80% Render is good if you can maintain the fps, are you using DLSS 4 preset K, Quality or Balanced.

Artur will always say the user will take time to adjust to the VR1 visuals.

I take it you have no need for lens inserts.

 

[Gun Jam]

34 minutes ago, evanswillo said:

Artur will always say the user will take time to adjust to the VR1 visuals.

yeah he does....

I dont need lens inserts my vision is still good I can read this just fine and can spot the red stripe on the bottom of an Emirates A380 at 50,000 feet slant range.

I wonder whats messed up with these that require a reprogramming of your brain? There are so many layered issues that its still hard to isolate any one problem as there are primary and then secondary problems. The poor image might still simply be secondary to bad fit.

What HMD did you have before?

Did the VR1 fit you even reasonably well?

Did it take you time to adjust to the image in the vr1?

[evanswillo]

I had the Reverb G2 before moving the the VR1, I was on the VR1 train from day 1.

I found the VR1 tended to drop and tilt down with the stock head strap and the only solution was to tighten it well beyond comfortable.

The BOBOVR M2 was a straight swap out for the default and the weight of the VR1 is countered by the Halo and some extra weight I have added.

I will not altered the image with the VR1 UI until we get the openXR runtime fully integrated and using eye tracking.

At the moment I am working through the beta trying the included upscaling as DLSS4 is still giving me some ghosting.

[Gun Jam]

2 hours ago, evanswillo said:

I had the Reverb G2 before moving the the VR1, I was on the VR1 train from day 1.

when I switched my first thing through the vr1 was the steam house I was like "what the hell" then I looked right and it had some text on a screen about HL Alyx and trying to read the text i knew this wasnt going to be easy. This is disappointing to me because it was the only win I was expecting I knew all the other stuff was going to be a long process and some trial and error but having a great image was suppose to be the motivation to solve those other problems. Without that great image its been slower for sure.

You had no issues image wise going from the g2 to the vr1?

[evanswillo]

I am lucky my PC is simply for DCS / MS2020 so I am more than happy to lay down a fresh install of windows when ever I feel a massive change has been made.

So all my WMR stuff was gone and a fresh install of VR1 software and Steam applied.

I would check your SteamVR OpenXR runtimes are correct and your Steam setting are not conflicting with the VR1 resolution options.

Really comes down to your preference on frametime / fps some people are happy to go for a low fps longer frametime for better quality, for me at the moment with this beta I am looking to stabilize my frametime to ensure a solid 72fps 72hz 13.88 ms as DFR and FFR become available I should in theory be able to increase the resolution.

I have seen a lot of people asking the VR1 to display a resolution was above what their rigs can maintain a decent fps at and run into crashes and difficulties

For now the beta is still taking small step forward, lets see what come in the next weeks. 

 

 

 

[Nanolab]

21 hours ago, Gun Jam said:

Please share your settings as well.

Im using DLSS in dcs

the image up close is sharp with the vr1 the G2 well out performs the vr1 at distance. The g2 image at distance was a bit blurry (this could be improved with the openxr sharpening tool) but the left eye and right eye could focus on distant object no problem. The Vr1 image at distance is a bit blurry and the left and right eye dont agree on what they are looking at. Closing one eye appears to help sharpen the image a lot or at least let me focus on an object. I need to maybe work harder at getting a good HMD fit.

Hello !

You said that you use DLSS in DCS settings (DLSS 4 with preset K enabled I suppose), but you're also using VR1 tool own upscaling algorithm : that's redundant !

One or another is the way to go.

As for my experience, I disabled VR1 upscaling to let DLSS alone (AFAIK it's more up to date than VR1 algorithm) with a perfomance preset at 0.7 sharpening.

And fot the record that's under SteamVR as OpenXR runtime, with 9800X3D 64gb ram and 5090 FE (as native OpenXR via VR1 tool is currently not working with VR1, beta or stable, at least for me)

[evanswillo]

Hi, yes just trying out the inbuilt up scaling option as this should be fully integrated into the Beta Somnium runtime and in theory should provide better performance rather than using an up scaling option at the application level.

I do think that the advances we have seen in DLSS4 however outweighs approach, its a shame that nvidea and amd will not include their latest up scaling tech in the SDK so hardware providers could integrate into the runtime.

Yes steam is not part of the current beta.

Hopefully next update will help more.

[Gun Jam]

Okay Thanks for the tips. I switched upscaling off in VR1 and set DLSS in DCS  PD of 1.0 and DCS sharpness to like 6.

Spending some more time adjusting fit seems to have slightly reduced the apparent image issues..

There was something like the OpenXr toolkit That you could adjust from inside DCS like from the plane that allowed you to set a sharping amount. This made a world of difference with the G2. Is this still applicable? The DCS sharpness slider appears to do little if anything at all. The terrain still does not look as good as it did in the G2 its blurry im wondering if it could benefit from the sharping in the openxr toolkit or whatever that was. OR is there another sharping option that I should be using in steam VR (haven't checked yet)

Thanks

[Nanolab]

I've run succesfully OpenXR Toolkit with the VR1 under SteamVR as runtime for OpenXR. 

But I only tested its Fixed Foveated Rendering, not anything else.

 

[Gun Jam]

I got the openxr toolkit to run just fine as well. I enabled FRS sharpening and it made an improvement. I still found my self annoyed trying to look at anything beyond book reading distance.

I plugged the g2 back in as a reality check and found I could easily focus on outside object and the terrain was like an instant 3x improvement and certainly benefited from the sharping I had used this in the past with the g2 but had to reinstall windows and never got the toolkit reinstalled until just now. Its super nice.

There is no reason to unplug the g2. Im out for now i just want to fly. Ill re-investigate perhaps at some point.

My instant reaction to the VR1 was its knocked out of Collimation... one eye is seeing a different focus point than the other or one eye is looking off center from the other. My current reaction is the same as my initial reaction... as in I put it on and look at something ..WTH this cant be right... 

Thanks for your help. I haven't given up yet but It feels broken on a foundational level and I need a break from that. Time to fly for a few days and chill out on all this.

 

 

Edited March 18 by Gun Jam

[eFirehawk]

8 hours ago, Gun Jam said:

I got the openxr toolkit to run just fine as well. I enabled FRS sharpening and it made an improvement. I still found my self annoyed trying to look at anything beyond book reading distance.

I plugged the g2 back in as a reality check and found I could easily focus on outside object and the terrain was like an instant 3x improvement and certainly benefited from the sharping I had used this in the past with the g2 but had to reinstall windows and never got the toolkit reinstalled until just now. Its super nice.

There is no reason to unplug the g2. Im out for now i just want to fly. Ill re-investigate perhaps at some point.

My instant reaction to the VR1 was its knocked out of Collimation... one eye is seeing a different focus point than the other or one eye is looking off center from the other. My current reaction is the same as my initial reaction... as in I put it on and look at something ..WTH this cant be right... 

Thanks for your help. I haven't given up yet but It feels broken on a foundational level and I need a break from that. Time to fly for a few days and chill out on all this.

 

 

Are you in the EU? If so you have 14 days to return the headset. If you can't get it to work properly it would be advisable to do that instead of having a non-functional device that is very expensive. I've seen a VR1 on eBay already lol

[Gun Jam]

No US. Even if I had a 14 day period im not sure what I would do yet. At least this way im not rushing trying to figure out if I should keep it or not lol

 

[Gun Jam]

I got a new face gasket that made the fit much more comfortable so I decided to spend some more time with it and made an interesting observation. the top and bottom 1/3 of the image are perfectly clear and I have 0 issues focusing on objects close or far. So if I move my head down and look up using the top 1/3 of the image to view the object of interest it is fantastically clear with no issue focusing. As i move that object towards center by moving my head up I can see chromatic aberration begin to appear and the image begins to get a slight double vision appearance and looks pretty much trash.

any ideas why the edge which is usually the worst part of a lens looks best in this case?

is binocular overlap less at the edges?

can anyone else observe this?

Thanks!