Feature request question: Would disabling monitor rendering help in VR performance?

Once in VR I never need to look at the monitor. I wondered if it’s possible to cancel out the rendering of the sim on a monitor so we can gain a significant boost in VR performance? I’m not a games programmer so unclear on how the sim renders out each frame.

I think this would be a great feature if it were possible for VR users.

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I suspect that the 2d image on the monitor is just a mirror of what has been rendered for the VR headset, so there shouldn’t be any saving, not major at least, from hiding it.

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I usually minimize it into the tray, then I know graphics aren’t being used Willy-Nilly by FB oculus and the sim itself.

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I’ve not noticed any difference when the monitor is switched off or the screen minimised, or the resolution lessened, which leads me to a view that what is requested will have negligible impact.

@HURCN30 I’d suggest you search the forum because this very question has already been discussed and explained.

I did but all I’m saying is I have not noticed any difference.

@YearlingDeer319 this was a topic reply, not a reply to your post. I’m updating the post to make it clearer.

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That’s what I thought too, but if you set pancake to 1080p and low grafix setti gs, the mirror changes accordingly! That suggests it’s not a true mirror and is being rendered (or at least output) twice, right? Weird…

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This is what I thought. I also have the screen resolution set to 800x600 in PC mode with the lowest possible settings. Then in VR I have mostly Ultra and High for every setting. It’s definitely rendering twice or splitting the render pipeline between two.

Worth exploring.

Did the same thing a while back, same result.

It’s definitely NOT a mirror. It’s rendering twice in VR.

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That doesn’t necessarily mean it is rendered twice. Why would Asobo do something like that?

It could just be that the same image is scaled down to fit the screen resolution. If you want to prove it, turn reflection on in VR and off in PC, and see if it disappear in the mirror image.

I set everything to maximum-low. 640x480, everything low or off. 2D looked like FS2.0. VR looked normal. It is definitely rendering twice.

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It can’t. The mirror image you’re seeing on the monitor when in VR is the exact blit copy of the render buffer which is sent to OXR Views API functions. Nothing more, nothing less.

It it were, I’d urge you to take a screenshot of the monitor and a through the lens photo of the same scene at the same time (well one just after the other unless you have 4 arms) and file a Zendek and alert Jummivana for the next Q&A.

That was a good idea.

Cub cockpit, at KIAH, in VR mode. Two pictures taken seconds apart (I don’t have 4 arms), looking down at the Garmin map. I tried to keep the headset in the same position and pointed in the same direction (or only inches of difference).

First picture was my 2D monitor showing part of the “goggles”, with the resolution set to 1280x720 (monitor settings and in game at 100%TAA rendering), taken with my phone.

Second picture was taken through-the-lens. HP G2, at 100%TAA in game and 90% SS in OXR. I wasn’t even right on the sweet spot.

Try to read the KIAH and and MAXJO labels. Or the OAT and zulu time displays.

No way that 2D rendered image on the monitor is the same bit-for-bit as what was sent to OXR/G2. They have to be two separate frame renderings. One at 1280x720 and one at whatever OXR is set to receive. OXR couldn’t have made up all that extra detail.


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So, to the OP, yes, I think disabling the 2D display would help conserve resources (may be a little, maybe a lot).

Or, if they wanted to be gentlemen, give us a nice static display of grid lines or dots…something to help the tracking cameras as they stare out at the monitor.

Of course it is the same, just displaying at a lower resolution! compare the OpenXR 90% with a G2 view resolution (close to 3K x 3K pixels). Please understand your video card can blit a source image from 3000x3000 to 1000x1000 in about 1us (micro seconds) at most…

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Is there an easy way to turn off the monitor display while using vr?

It would be very stupid to render it twice, there may be a little bandwidth overhead for the extra connection (similar to having 2 monitors connected with Duplicate option) but the performance impact would be totally negligible.
In case you’re not convinced, switch off the monitor or set a very low resolution with low details in non-VR settings: if you gain 20 fps in VR then it means it’s rendering the scene twice… but you won’t.

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Since the last sim update 3, lowering PC resolution setting brings bad image quality in VR, especially in pop-up windows like Navlog or VFR map. Asobo might make VR pop-up window resolution determined by PC resolution setting.

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