So picked up another link cable to do some further testing and it looks like the vast majority of the issues I faced previously were related to ASW. It seems this wants to default to Auto but I found by leaving the Oculus debug tool open, I could switch back and forth as needed and it worked okay.
First things first, the Oculus software/runtime is in need of some optimisation. With the exact same settings/resolution as per OpenXR Toolkit, I was averaging 74fps in flight via Virtual Desktop/VDXR and 56fps using link cable!
Now, ASW was just unworkable for me - getting horrible artefacts, mostly in the sky with it enabled. I donāt get such artefacts with SSW in Virtual Desktop. Because of the lower frame rate, I found the best compromise with the link cable was to use the Force 45fps/Disable ASW option with my headset at 90Hz. Could have tried 80Hz or lower but not necessary for the purpose of testing.
With h264, bitrate @ 940Mbps and Link Sharpening set to Quality, I was seeing a slightly sharper image over the top settings in Virtual Desktop. I did drop it down to 650Mbps to test and it was a little softer but still good enough. Another benefit with the cable and its lower latency was improved smoothness in the cockpit if moving the head from side to side. Not something you would typically do but a good way to test the image stability.
If you avoid ASW, I think the link cable is a great option for those not desperate to use a Wireless connection or for those struggling with a strong Wifi connection.
My summary:
Link Cable Pros:
Slightly more detailed image
Lower latency, noticeable with fast head movements
Power to headset
Link Cable cons:
ASW seems broken
Unoptimised software
Audio crackling with some sounds on higher bitrates
No 10bit support
I still think Virtual Desktop is the better option for those wanting/needing motion reprojection or with lower spec hardware that could use the more efficient streaming. 10bit support is also present with Virtual Desktop which offers a small but noticeable visual improvement in some situations like flying through cloud in low light.
Take a look at this. You can translate to english using google if it shows Japenese. The youtube video is from Russ Barlow which us how I stumbled onto it. The srcond video is an update to the updates in the program.
Just try this. This is an perfect setting for quest.
Use open xr tool and set cas to 100
in the cfg file turn of sharpen, set it to zero.
In nvidia set texture quality to āhighā
DX12, no Haggs and game mode of
I am sure you will feel very happy after you try this. I spent days in tweaking
ps Indeed asw is a showstopper
good luck!
ps dont know youre Gpu this setting is with an 4090. Otherwise lower supersample.
Quality to Normal gives me more sharpness
works live so test it out.
Appreciate the feedback. I forgot to update my post as I switched Link Sharpening to Normal and it is indeed a little clearer than Quality. Iām running a 4090 as well but why are you setting your encode bitrate to 75 and also enabling dynamic encode bitrate? This gives you next to no control over the bitrate used and this is the one element where the Oculus Link via offers a benefit - higher bitrates.
The Hand Portals are interesting - thanks for the info!
I wanted to mention that for Virtual Desktop and MSFS only, the Color Panel addon (freeware on flightsim.to at ( https://flightsim.to/file/64739/color-panel-for-vr-passthrough )) creates a single rectangular or oval window that is movable, sizable and minimizable with mouse controls. I like it because I can position it over the keyboard or my joystick or a pad of paper so I can write down ATC commands and even read them. The window doesnāt move around and with minimizing easily lets me see what is behind it.
Glad you found about link sharpening seen it somewhere and its so much better with me.
Regarding bitrate. I read about this and in my opinion I noticed that going higher gives sometimes audioproblems. Then started thinking and testing and I read that the more bitrate you use the encoder has to work on that and that can create latency. Furthermore I do not see any improvement on higher bitrates regarding quality so I decided to keep as low as possible.
Dynamic bitrate seem also not make a change with me. I was actualy testing that now. Normaly its of.
Curious if you really think that higher bitrates help you. I think h265 is better also with lower bitrate due to its higher processor use.
But Honestly with the things I told you and these settings the Image on my quest Pro is totally stunning and stutterfree. No hick ups and frame rate about 40ish everywhere.
I have no artifacts and with the cfg trick took all shimmering out. My experiene is just awesome!!
I come from a Reverb g2 but this is so amazingly good. Hope you can enjoy it too.
Great what we can do these days
I actually ended up uninstalling the Oculus Software and will be sticking with Virtual Desktop for the time being. I did get a cheap Ā£7 link cable though which works great so Iāll be keeping it as a backup and retest the Oculus software from time to time in the future. Itās just a bit of a buggy mess at the moment for me whereas Virtual Desktop is rock solid and dependable.
Even though ASW is set to disabled and verified in the ODT, the first time I go into VR, ASW is always running. I then need to exit VR, flip ASW to Auto then back to the disabled and then back into VR for it to turn off. This is consistent every time I go into the sim and ASW is a mess when using the link cable - 3 different cable brands exhibit the same behaviour.
Audio glitches with a higher bitrate. Occasionally I get frame rate limited to 45 (Headset is running at 90hz) even though I have all frame rate and ASW modes disabled.
Tipping point for me was losing audio in VR - was coming through fine until I switched to VR. Tried restarting headset, sim and rebooting but issue remained. Switched over to Virtual Desktop and same with no audio. I could workaround by going into SIM audio settings and manually selecting the headset as the audio device which worked for Oculus Link but not for Virtual Desktop but this shouldnāt be necessary. Uninstalled Oculus software and rebooted and audio was working fine again in VR through Virtual Desktop.
Thatās annoying!
I donāt use the cable (never have, as I want it to charge at same time and USB-C I am told has not enough bandwidth to transmit AND charge togetherā¦ only enough to make it drain a bit slower) but is there any benefit to uninstalling the Oculus software even if I donāt use it?
I remember the install took like 1 hour as their servers are even slower than MSFSās!
Itās a standalone headset so no need for the Oculus software if you are not using the link connection. All software updates etc. can be performed directly on the headset. If you are using Virtual Desktop, you can safely remove the Oculus app.
Oculus SW is a must if you bought any other apps or games through Meta and these apps and games are way better in graphics then the standalone version, if you run them from PCVR (Virtual Desktop). Virtual Desktop can play this Meta games as PCVR but you have to have Oculus SW installed.
Thanks, I saw this, itās very interesting. It looks immersion-breaking in the video. I understand that if you have G1000 built and want to use it in VR, or other complicated controllers - that would be helpful. But my motion VR cockpit is built so I donāt need to see my button boxes, encoder box, throttle quadrants etc.
It is all right where I need it under my fingertips. I will probably implement the rectangle see-through window mentioned in the next post, to show my kneeboard. That would be cool.
Hi all . I am running a quest 3 with VD set to HEVC10 with a 3090. All good, but every so often latency is over 100 and never reduces, rather than its usual 50-60, (game 6-10). Restart generally corrects, any ideas what might be causing this ?
PJONC747 Iāve similar issues running Q3 on 3080 using quest link cable and openxr with sim setting mostly medium, although I rarely get latency below 100. Iām certain itās user error and have monkeyed around with darn near every setting config Iāve come across in forums/youtube/discord.
Iām hoping someone here may have the holy grail. Thanks for asking question.
Like you I have spent hours ātweakingā settings . 8/10 times I get a usable setup. This is using virtual desktop. I also have a link cable and although I get a crisper image (I think ) with link, I cannot live with the ASW motion blur, which VD does not suffer with using SSW. I also use OXRT so overall resolution is 114-117% (shown in VD overlay)
I think what Ive realised is that I am actually just at the limits of what the 3090 can output with the visual quality I want to achieve. If I use a GA aircraft (generally Chancellor 414 or Seneca V or any stock Asobo aircraft) I get low latency and a steady 40ish fps (No SSW) This also applies to aircraft with low complexity cockpits such as the hawk . As soon as airliners or certain helicopters are used latency jumps to around 100 and visual fidelity drops.
This is based on in-game settings of texture, clouds, texture sythesis on high , shadows all set to low, bitrate set to 120. I found that watching VR sim guys (youtube) video on quest 3 with his 3070 works about the best as a start point then alter OXRT to suit your system , my system set to 3500 x ā¦ per eye seems to be the best compromise between performance and visual quality. Obviously this is after doing the usual ā¦ DDU nvidea driver install , nvidea control panel set to high performance, clearing shader cache etc.
What I now have is a setup perfect for VFR flight, which i suppose is what VR is all about . Airliners may have to remain in 2D until i can talk myself into a 4090 or whatever card comes next ! (Hopefully MSFS upcoming update may help performance further also , yippee more tweaking !!!)
Another clarity solution for some of you:
with the OXRT you can reduce the FOV but the resolution stays the same, so you can try to Sacrifice some FOV and get a better sharpness . I can go down to around 85% until I really notice it but it gives me way more clarity in the cockpit without a performance loss.
