My 2070 SUPER VR settings and suggestion (Reverb G2 - WMR)

aahh the Holy Grail :laughing: you’ll get there and we thank you for your efforts :+1:t3::slightly_smiling_face:

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I’ve updated the Small Taxi Helpers earlier today with a “slightly whiter” White/None, and and a new Blue/None parking aid!

Thank you for your kind words! I’m about done now finding best settings for the Index, I believe I’ll review my settings for the G2 from now on!

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YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS :star_struck: :star_struck: :star_struck:

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Think I’m pretty settled with G2/2070Super combo after the SU5 fiasco, no doubt it will change with the new options in WU6 but any future changes are welcome and expected of course.

Regardless it’ll be good to see your settings and compare :slightly_smiling_face::+1:t3:

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I’ve posted a few days ago I’m now done testing the Index with SU5 and I’ll start trying the G2. Well, I’ve been trying the last 2 days and here are some preliminary comments.

NB: Like with the Index, I’ve done my tests mostly with the FBW 320 and the CJ4, which are two EFIS heavy aircraft and suitable to test resolutions (because of the EFIS) and perf (because of they are heavy resource wise). I’ve also tested the G2 via SteamVR but it is less good than using WMR directly. It was not only giving slightly lower perf or was switching more often from motion smoothing to juddering, but the FOV setting is not even working properly and causing divergent views if not 100%.

Comments:

The following is about finding the best visuals/perf balance compromises with the least visual experience loss in the overall total VR experience (see point 3 below).

My approach is meant to push the hardware to its limits while targeting a “best visuals” goal. Some might have different preferences (Bloom etc…) but this is not the point here. Some seemingly minor graphics settings like Bloom or Ambient Occlusion can have much more profound performance impact and I prefer not letting personal “taste” impairing the VR experience as a whole.

1- The Index and the G2 differ a lot to me during these tests not much because of the resolution difference but because of the limited range of configuration options in the MSFT ecosystem. For example, the Index with SteamVR gives you from 2:1 up to 6:1 motion smoothing setting, whereas with WMR is is “what MSFT decides is best for you…” (I believe it can do up to 4:1 in practice).

2- Because of this, there are a certain number of settings I can push on the Index knowing I’ll compensate with a higher motion smoothing ratio, whereas with the G2 you have to set it up for the worth case if you want to keep motion smoothing working always (but therefore you’ll be under-utilizing your hardware for the situations you could push more), or you have to set it up for the average case but sometimes you’ll drop motion smoothing and get juddering.

3- It is also clear you can’t make a 2070 running like a 3090 and you have to settle and accept a few compromises. What is very clear to me with this test though, is that although I have been able to raise FS2020 settings and SteamVR SS resolution with the Index since SU5, I can only raise settings with WMR and SU5 but not much resolution itself. This means the cost/benefit per pixel is better in raising the complexity per pixel than in raising the number of pixel. This is really important to understand and this makes it easier for accepting running the G2 under its full resolution potential.

4- Unlike previous updates, I find SU5 is less struggling with VR due to the GPU business itself. I probably lack words to explain this but in short, in previous version you’d have to balance out GPU for the rendering part and GPU for VR part. Since SU5 and thanks to some optimisations, I find I can push the GPU to a given bracket suitable for the GPU class and when in VR it is delivering similarly proportional and expected performance.

5- I also find the recent WMR motion smoothing is working better than when I initially started this topic. However there are a few settings which are definitely impacting motion smoothing directly (when you’re pushing the overall GPU at its limit there is not much leeway). Furthermore, I’m now finding the same settings affecting motion smoothing in similar ways between the SteamVR compositor and the WMR compositor. This is in itself not proof of anything but this corroborates my findings on the Index about the possible reasons (more below)

6- WMR/G2 camera tracking seems to has improved as well since the last time I’ve used it. It still has some perceivable but limited jittering sometimes, and this is highly tamed and nearly non-existent when using motion smoothing though. When you’re used to the Index and its rock solid headset tracking and precision, you can’t help noticing this but although it was really annoying a few months ago, I find it good enough with the G2 now, enough to not be bothering much about it in most cases.

To sum up: my preliminary findings is that I can use nearly same graphics settings between G2 and Index with same results performance wise. This was not the case in previous versions for me. I must however lower a few of them with the G2 to compensate for the 4:1 motion smoothing ratio (I’m using 5:1 with the Index instead to buy some room).


System:

9700K+2070S
Win10 21H1 (with KB5005033)
HAGS OFF, Game Mode OFF
NVidia 471.68 SD (Studio Driver - latest)
OpenXR 107.2108.5003 (latest non preview)

Settings:

FS2020 Graphics Settings (same in 2D and VR)
Setting Value Comments
Render Scaling 100% Best for EFIS
Anti-Aliasing TAA
Terrain LOD 100% Go-To value all around, raise to 200% while up above
Terrain Vector Data Off This is controversial to me, prefer off for now
Buildings High
Trees High
Grass And Bushes High
Objects LOD 100%
Volumetric Clouds Med This has a huge impact for me with WMR+Motion Smoothing. You can save some fps and keep nearly same visuals with Medium instead of High if you’re flying mostly overcast or with non isolated cumulus clouds in the sky. With less demanding aircraft or when high above, I can use High alright though.
Texture Resolution High
Anistrophic Filtering 16x
Texture Supersampling Off saves a few fps and this helps when on ground (with aniso 16x it is ok)
Texture Synthesis Med I was surprised to not see any difference between Med and High even with the G2 resolution, so let’s save some resources if any.
Water Waves High
Shadow Maps 768
Terrain Shadows 256 I don’t see much impact with 512 but not a large visual diff either
Contact Shadows Off eats fps and I prefer raising other things instead
Windshield Effects High
Ambient Occlusion Off/Low Further testing makes me believing it is using a compute shader which is taking a hit on the motion smoothing compute shader. Set this to Off if your system is struggling on the ground for example.
Reflections High
Light Shafts Off I didn’t really measure the impact of this one completely yet, but it might be affecting motion smoothing for the same reasons as Ambient Occlusion
Bloom Off This is reducing the legibility of integral lighting in the cockpit sometimes to me
Depth of Field Off
Lens Correction Off
Lens Flare Off
Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate High
FS2020 Traffic Settings (same in 2D and VR)
Setting Value Comments
Aviation Traffic
- Aircraft Traffic Type Off I don’t need any (flying MP only)
- Show Nameplates . There is no good or bad choice here!
Airport Life I mostly balance between my taste and perfs
- Vehicle Density 15%
- Aircraft Density up to 50% no discernable impact up to 50% for me with generic models
- Worker Density 5%
Land & Sea Traffic
- Leisure Boats 80%
- Road Vehicles 25% Boats are usually lightweight on perfs but cars aren’t
- Ships and Ferries 80%
- Fauna Density 0% this was source of fps loss in the past and I didn’t try it lately
AI & MP Traffic Detail
- Generic Models (AI) On
- Generic Models (MP) Off this would be better if only…
- Traffic Variety High
WMR/OXR Settings
OXR Setting Value Comments
Preview Runtime Off I’m recommending 107.2108.5003 (latest non preview), 108.x is showing lower perf
Custom Render Scale 50% tradeoff between legibility and computing power - this is about the maximum render resolution I can push with TAA100 and motion smoothing on the 2070S with the above FS2020 settings (see “Tips” for more info)
Motion Smoothing Always On I mostly use motion smoothing (see “Tips” for more info)
WMR Setting Value Comments
Refresh Rate 90Hz not much other choices here unlike the Index
Visual Quality High+1080p this is supposed to affect only WMR Portal
Experience Options Best Visual Quality self-explanatory!

Tips:

  • The only SS settings worth the legibility differences to me are 50% or 100%. other scaling values are showing some form of limited distortion and/or “non verging” projection matrices. It is hard to describe but in the end I’m considering anything between 50% and 100% might not be worth it. In other words: choose 50% to give room to your hardware and push the rendering quality for better visuals, or use 100% if your video card allow and adjust the rendering quality up to the point you can still keep motion smoothing overall.

  • If you can further push your video card (most likely you’re with a 30XX instead of the 2070S), I find much better visuals using TAA 150% and OXR 50% than FS2020 TAA 100 and OXR 100. A viable “in between” is TAA 125% and OXR 50%.

  • Remember motion smoothing works on the OXR resolution. If I disable motion smoothing I can use the above FS2020 settings with OXR 100 and this is not bad, but not as good as with motion smoothing and lower resolution in terms of VR experience.

  • If the aircraft/airport is really too heavy, lower Clouds settings to give some room. This is the easiest to adjust live with a significant impact on the perf. With the Index, you can easily change SteamVR settings live instead

.

NVidia Settings

After testing many different drivers and settings, I find these the best with the “System” specs detailed above.

NB: I’m now using NVidia Studio Drivers. They seem to be providing more consistent frame time in VR to me, and they are visually free of any artifacts that others are reporting with SU5 like textures shimmering (buildings edges jagged highlights and aliased popup menus are still a problem due to FS2020 itself though).

NB: most settings are using default values in my screenshot. They are inheriting from the Global Settings. If your global settings are different, they will also reflect in your FS2020 custom settings. Besides “Monitor Technology” all the others should match whether inherited or overridden.

Tips:

  • From now on I’ll use Maximum Performance (unlike the screenshot above)
    .
    I can’t really differentiate any particular difference between Optimum Pow. and Maximum Perf.
    The latter may be less performant in practice (hitting temp and/or power caps) so I’d tend to lean toward Optimum Pow in general, but I’m yet to hit any protection with Max. Perf in practice.

  • I get smoother experience and no stuttering with Threaded Optimizations Off. This is very consistent in my experience with the Index and the G2 (along with HAGS Off and Game Mode Off).

  • I don’t find any need to further tweak Low Latency and VSync mode anymore.

Slim Drivers:

Here is how to make your own NVidia Slim drivers:

1. Unzip the NVidia driver .exe (with 7z for example)...

nvidia_slim_step1

2. Delete these folders...

3. Edit the setup.cfg file and remove these lines...

Then run setup.exe, don’t select GEForce Experience then select the components (I only install Video driver and Physx, and unselect USB and Sound)

Credits: several posts at the guru3d forums

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Thanks for the settings with the G2. I will try it tomorrow :+1:

Do you have already the issue with the “broken Antialiasing” in VR? Do you noticed much more shine and shimmer, especially at buildings and trees and menu, than in simupdate 4 or not?

Would great to get a feedback from you :grin:

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Thank you CptLucky for trying these settings out, even though you don’t really use the G2 anymore.
I’ll try them out tomorrow.
Anyhow, much appreciated!

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@sirpelvis1986 @FubarSWE2020
Thank you for your kind words!

You’re right I’m not using the G2 much for months, but this experiment has shown me it has gotten better with FS2020 now, worthy enough for trying it more for some time. It has also opened up a few ideas I’ll have to further try with the Index. I’m also realizing you really have to have the adequate video card to run the G2 with FS2020 and in trying it with SU5 I’ve settled on a different strategy: be in peace knowing I can’t push OXR100%, and try maximizing the quality instead of the quantity for a given res which is working with the hardware and motion smoothing.

As for the antialiasing and all these reported bugs/artefacts, I’ve none. Maybe it is due to using the Studio Driver, but I’ve really pristine visuals with SU5 HF2, both in Index and G2, in terms of artefacts. Or at least nothing more than I’d expect due to the resolution I’m using. Which means thin lines are of course showing some moiré/steps at these resolutions.

However the in-game overlays (the popup panels etc…) are indeed showing more aliasing than before. It could be as simple as they aren’t painting the quad with the right sampler, or something else, but since it is equally affecting SteamVR and WMR, I’d lean toward an in-game shader setup bug.*

I can notice though the buildings highlights are too strong and this is what probably most are reporting as “shimmering”. In this case, it is just displaying too bright and thin, and this certainly is showing aliasing therefore. I didn’t notice this being as pronounced with the Index though, more with the G2. Maybe they just wrongly set the buildings default material to “metallic” and this is reflecting the sun too much.

NB: the popup panels are using the API I’m suggesting to use for higher EFIS legibility here:
[BUG/FEATURE] EFIS Screens Problems and Solutions for higher legibility - Virtual Reality (VR) / VR Wishlist - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

NB: the idea is not to magically increase EFIS res, it is to use full OXR res for EFIS (like all overlays) while setting the game to render at a lower res.


*about the aliasing of the ovelays:

Overlays are supporting different flags which can be affecting their rendering against the “background”:

The OpenXR™ Specification

Flag Descriptions

XR_COMPOSITION_LAYER_CORRECT_CHROMATIC_ABERRATION_BIT
— Enables chromatic aberration correction when not done by default.

XR_COMPOSITION_LAYER_BLEND_TEXTURE_SOURCE_ALPHA_BIT
— Enables the layer texture alpha channel.

XR_COMPOSITION_LAYER_UNPREMULTIPLIED_ALPHA_BIT
— Indicates the texture color channels have not been premultiplied by the texture alpha channel.

If you set unpremultiplied for example and the overlay texture is premultiplied… or the reverse…

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  1. Your recommendation is mostly for reprojection enabled. I prefer resolution of the outside view vs. the super-smothness offered by reprojection. Would you recommend the same settings for reprojection off?

  2. In your original G2 recommendation you suggested different TAA and OXR settings for best quality in the cockpit (EFIS) vs. best scenery. What would you recommend after SU5?

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Nice Question. I also would like to know your recommendation without reprojection Captain :+1:

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@stekusteku @sirpelvis1986

One step at a time! :slight_smile:

First, motion smoothing has come a long way with WMR compared to when I started this topic, to the point I find it now usable with the G2 and my test system (9700K+2070S). Even if you don’t prefer using it, it might be worth it you give it a try in adjusting your settings exactly like in my post above to get started and see how does it feel for you. To me, it is much better now compared to 6 months ago, and I find it similar to my Index experience albeit in adjusting a few FS2020 settings differently in order to compensate for their differences (NB: if you’re trying my settings above on similar hardware - in terms of perf - beware and stick to these settings first because some are really just “too much” to sustain motion smoothing)

Having said this, I’ve experimented a few hours without motion smoothing but not enough to conclude anything major for now. In short, the settings above are upping my previous G2 recommendation, thanks to SU5, but the resolution advices when not using motion smoothing are still mostly relevant (in their explanation i.e. outside vs inside vs EFIS legibility). Compared to 6 months ago though, I’ve been able to run a few times with TAA100+OXR100 without motion smoothing and with my settings above with the FBW 320 at an acceptable fps (and juddering) but only when higher up in the sky. On the ground at a complex airport, forget about it.

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I’ve forgotten to add this observation:

With the G2, unlike the Index, I’ve found that with motion smoothing and when on the ground at a complex airport, say when looking through the side window (it is more visible this way), the rendering is like working in burst mode. That is you get a few frames smoothed out, then it is as if the time is slowing down, then there is a burst of frame and you’re back to the cycle smoothed, slow, burst, smoothed, slow, burst…

I didn’t take the time to open up any GPU or frame timing tool or anything when this was happening, but this ressemble in its visible effects as if the GPU is struggling loading data from RAM to VRAM and during this time, the bus and the GPU are busy and the rendering has a hard time to keeping up. It is just how it looks like, not what is really happening (or at least I’m not sure what is happening really).

I’ve found out though that when this is happening a way to cure it is to change the Terrain LOD setting to a lower value, like 50% or even the minimum. When you do this, it won’t change much the visibility in the distance because you’re on the ground at the airport surrounded by buildings or other clutter, but this will instantly stop the smoothed, slow, burst cycle (at least it did to me).

I’m yet to find a more permanent solution to this, and this is not happening at all with the Index/SteamVR either. The latter seems less affected by this even if running at higher resolution probably because I’m also running it at a 5:1 motion smoothing ratio instead of the default 3:1 (or 4:1) with WMR, which gives more breath per frame. The Index on my test system is not immune to slow downs at heavy airports, and this shows in the form of motion smoothing having a hard time keeping up, but in this case it is really convenient and quick to just press the headset mounted button to open the SteamVR settings and change them live to disable motion smoothing temporarily.

I get the exact same thing. I’ve just chosen not to use motion reprojection for the time being. When you get the view right it works great but it’s these bursts I find really take away from the experience. I wish I could find a permanent solution as when it is functioning as intended it looks good now. I’ve also noticed in general that wmr reproj has improved quite a bit overall in the last several months. I just wish this aspect of it could be improved. This may sound contradictory but I find when flying around with it enabled one moment I’m thinking this is great and then a few moments later when I turn my head it’s… not so good.

Btw thanks for all the work you’ve done investigating these vr settings for months now. Appreciated.

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I have to agree with most of these findings. The sharpness gained by disabling motion smoothing is immediately lost as soon as you look at buildings and trees below and they are just a vibrating juddery mess. With motion reprojection off, when banking the aircraft while looking out the window you see the vibrating effect. Then it smooths out once you stop banking. It’s the transition from aircraft rolling to a static angle is what bugs me the most. I cant change my bank and look outside at the same time. :sweat_smile:

When you lower your resolutions and TLOD and the smoothness kicks back in you can see the buildings and trees correctly, albeit a little softer.

I was using 40 OXR & 100 TAA which gave me enough headroom for the settings below but it’s right on the edge of working:
Ambient Occlusion - LOW
Clouds - HIGH / ULTRA

But i also lowered:
Reflections - OFF (Too broken to look good IMO)
Buildings - MED
Grass - LOW
Trees - MED/HIGH.ULTRA - (Not much difference IMO)
Water - MED

I will be trying @CptLucky8 settings tonight and expect them to work well. 40% OXR is too blurry and 50% is a good bit better. I will miss the Ultra clouds though. After all the trials and tribulations its nice to see some consistency appearing between users with similar hardware and results shared.

9600K @5GHz + 2070 Super

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@Jonny5Alive6618
You’re right, it would be good to see more consistency between users and it seems it is getting there when comparing your experience.

For example there has been a lot of changes in the way some settings are now working. Buildings and Trees for example are now independent from TLOD and this decoupling is helping getting less diverging results I believe (and also why I can now push all of Buildings+Trees+Grass to HIGH on the same hardware). Reflections are really not taking much cost though and this is the kind of setting where given the SU5 bug introduced with reflection you’d choose more based on taste and/or area you fly, more than for fps saving reasons in my opinion.

However ambient occlusion is a clear fps killer to me when using motion smoothing, both G2 and Index. Given how this effect is computed in practice, either or both using a compute shader and large render buffer reads, but also it can’t be amortized among many frames easily and it is computed nearly last in the chain, I believe it might explain it’s higher impact on the motion smoothing. Because both are struggling with the pixels near the end of the frame rendering cycle right before and after the “present”, they might also be both be using the same silicon without enough “time” between the two (I just try to keep it simple here - this is just speculation not a FS2020 fact either). In effect, you have to “present” the view earlier in VR than in 3D but there is no video card “tick” you can use, just heuristics. And if prior the present you’re taking just a tad too much time, you’ll present to late and won’t give enough time for the motion smoothing to do its task between the submit, and the actual real view “present”.

Unfortunately for Clouds, I can really measure its impact especially with motion smoothing. With the Index I can use HIGH more often than with the G2 (complex airport ground and aircraft) but I believe it is only due to the fact SteamVR can motion smooth up to 6:1 ratio (I use 5:1) whereas WMR maximum is 4:1 IIRC.

Probably what would be a better set of settings is one preserving Clouds HIGH always even if reducing other things which are as equally important for the pilot. This might be a next goal I’ll try later but I’m really open to any suggestions here, and maybe it would be easier finding this collectively in starting with a common known good working settings giving similar results to everyone. I hope the above will prove giving similar results to most so that we can eventually consider these the basis to start experimenting from for example.

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I have a 3090, and 9900KS 5GHZ, 64GB RAM. G2. I get a rubber banding effect whenever I try and use motion re-projection. So, I just leave it off.

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Oh i agree, at first i prioritized having this on (low) as I liked the look but I actually turned it off last night while playing around and quickly adjusted to it, or should I say, quickly adjusted to the smoothness that came from disabling it!

I see Nvidia are predicting GPU shortages to continue throughout 2022 so i may as well find some graphics settings that work and get used to 'em.

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Thank you for all your contributions. They have been a great help. I wasn’t able to sign up to the forums till now but I avidly followed your posts and used your recommended settings as I also have a 2070 super with a Reverb G2. One question. Does your finding of in-game 70% render scaling being the sweet spot for per pixel performance rendering stil stand or has that changed? I’ve been using 100% OXR and 70% TAA even after SU5, but now want to apply your latest settings. Thanks again.

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Thank you for your kind words!

I believe I’ve commented about these earlier today, a few posts above answering the question about my settings without motion smoothing. The problem with TAA different than 100 is that it is still not good enough in the end especially with EFIS. This probably is where it might be important adjusting per you aircraft preferences but the goal to me was finding an ideal compromise working with anything I can use, at every type of airports. If you’re mostly if not only flying the C152 classic gauges over small airfields I’m certain you can push some of these settings or the resolution higher, but even in this case, and given the actual differences of legibility in practice, I’m really starting to consider the different approach to this question is probably better in practice and less frustrating overall:

Also don’t underestimate this alternative I wasn’t considering before:

You might like it, or not, but it is worth trying to see for yourself whether you do! (TAA150+OXR50)