Hi folks - I’m running a tuned 7800X3D+4090 setup, and can get a “stable” 72Hz on my Quest 3 (good weather) in MSFS VR mode.
I was curious what other people prefer - would you rather fly with a “mostly stable” 72 Hz that occasionally dips down, or would you rather lock in a guarenteed reprojection - like 120 hz (reprojection to 60 hz almost all of the time). Why would you prefer one over the other?
(Also 80 and 90 Hz are interesting - I can get 80 some of the time but not nearly as consistent). I’m asking as I definitely see/feel a difference between 72, 90, and 120Hz in Elite Dangerous - 120 feels great!, so it’s not clear to me in MSFS if 120/60 with repro will feel better than straight up 72Hz.
If it matters I’m sometimes prone to nausea in VR; though having a cockpit in simulators/games is pretty comfortable for me.
Probably depends on what , where, and how you sim imho. I prefer flying heli’s low and slow in cities like NYC and Tokyo (mainly dusk and dawn). I’ve found I get the best, smoothest performance and clarity with both my Q3 and QPro/rtx4090 with my official Link cable at 650mbps bitrate, and setting my oculus desktop app device settings to 80Hz refresh rate with the res slider full right. With OTT I set ASW to 45fps fixed (so 40fps in my case) and I add 1.20 pixel density (super sampling). Both can also be done with ODT of course. You can also change ASW modes on the fly with keyboard commands;
ctrl+num1 (numeric keyboard 1, not top row 1) = ASW off
ctrl+num2 = FPS fixed to 1/2 your refresh rate and ASW = off
ctrl+nun3 = FPS fixed to 1/2 your refresh rate and ASW = on
ctrl+num4 = ASW = Auto (default)
Note; None of these settings are applicable if you are using VD since it doesn’t actually contain the official Oculus sdk’s, just the VD developer’s approximation of these.
Personally, I’ve never liked using ASW (or SSW with VD) because I get too many wavy artifacts. Motion smoothing with SteamVR is even worse, lol!
Then in msfs, I use dlss/quality. The extrra 1.20 SS basically boosts the dsll/quality to Ultra Quality, so everything as clear as I can get with TAA, but much smoother and far less shimmering. I also use msfs rear projection depth = on but tbh there’s not a lot of difference with it on/off. Also, tlod/olod both at 150, AF 8x, 4x4, trees med, grass/bushes off, clouds high, rest high to ultra.
Anyway, lots of different ways to skin the same cat, but all this is currently working great for me.
I’m not exactly what you mean by “native” OpenXR. With my Q3 and QPro using Link I’m using the Oculus OpenXR runtime only and not running it through SteamVR or VD (which also has its own OpenXR runtime = VDXR). Nor am I using OpenXR Toolkit btw.
So for my headsets, I think I’m about as “native” as I can get, but maybe I’m missing something. Maybe you could explain this for me, thanks mate.
Yep, DX12 and HAGS off for years now. Runs amazing, except there are now semi-regular CPU spikes that can cause stutters. This started with SU14, really annoying.
Guess I could try DX11 to see whether it makes a difference to the spikes, doubt it though.
The spikes are directly related to TLOD (I always run 100). But going down to 30-50 reduces them so much that they no longer cause stutters. Not acceptable though, TLOD 100 should run flawlessly on a highest end PC.
@BearsAreCool510 Thanks for the reply mate. I tried out the new nvidia 551.23 driver today and it’s the first one that I’ve found works well for me with DX12. Bit lower latency and better cockpit clarity with dlss/balanced. I flew heli’s in a few cities with my QPro and Vive Pro1, and everything worked great.
I also tried enabling HAGS and it worked ok with msfs but I didn’t notice any improvements with it. Unfortunately it did cause a few stability issues (stutters and a crash) with a few other VR apps, esp. SteamVR apps, so I had to disable it again. Maybe one day HAGS will actually do something useful for me with PCVR, lol!
I can’t say I’ve noticed any CPU spikes with my i9 13900k but I’ll keep an eye out for these. Thanks again mate and cheers.
This is great info! I’m going to have swap keyboards since the one I’m using doesn’t have a keypad - I never knew about those functions in the Oculus software. Great way to see what’s working best. I am using the official Link cable fwiw.
Just curious what made you choose 650 mbps- is it a balance between overhead and quality? If you were aiming for 60+ fps locked would you need/want higher than 650 mbps?
Based on your comments it sounds like you’d rather have ASW off overall, even in situations where there are some dips - is that correct? (I’m just looking for perspectives).
Thanks for the other settings - I’ll play with this.
@XebecR301 Ya, those ctrl+num1-4 ASW modes are very handy indeed. Being able to do these on the fly to immediately monitor results really swings things in favor of using Link and Air Link, for me anyway. I’m currently finding ctrl+num2 = FPS Fixed to 1/2 your refresh rate (40FPS for me with 80Hz) and ASW = OFF, together with msfs Depth rear projection enabled and AMD sharpening = 100 works best. Again, your results may vary.
As far as my Link encoding bitrate goes, there’s not a lot in it using bitrates above 500mbps imho. I’ve chosen to currently use 650mbps because with anything higher I didn’t notice any significant visual improvements and I started to notice latency increasing, plus the odd audio/visual stutter, when using higher values.
As far as compression artifacts goes, with Link I’ve found using at least 450mbps gets rid of these. Distance object clarity can improve using +450mbps but for me these don’t seem to significantly improve much above 650mbps.
I can see very small visual improvements using 960mbps, but this also comes at a cost of a bit higher latency (~10ms more compared to 650), and sometimes a tiny amount of visual/audio stutter. Probably depends on your PC’s usb3 ports, Link cable used, your eyesight, and your msfs TLOD and OLOD settings (I’m currently using 150 for both). If you are using 100 or less for these (esp. OLOD = distant LOD), you may not even notice any differences much above 450mbps anyway imho.
Like everything PCVR, all observations are somewhat subjective and everyone’s opinions may vary. So, probably something you’ll just need to try out for yourself. I do recommend starting off with 500mbps encoding bitrate when using Link though. Anyway, I hope this helps mate. Cheers.
I did finally start to see this stutter after installing some new scenery yesterday (usa modern cites volume 1). Workaround that works for me in VR (with latest nvidia driver, dx12, hafs disabled, without frame gen since it’s not supported) is to go to msfs settings and change whatever msfs rear-projection option you are using (I normally use Depth), then save setting, and then change it back and save again. All smooth sailing after that, for me anyway.
Update; I ended up going back to dx11 and all these stuttering problems are gone. Hopefully one day both dx12 and HAGS will work well for me with PCVR, lol!
Thanks. I tried DX11 too but it was less smooth in general and the stutters were the same.
I don’t use any of that projection stuff so not too relevant for me. But what I have noticed is that the CPU spike stutters simply aren’t there on some days, all else being equal. I had a couple of days and they were completely gone, no spikes on the monitor. Then they were back again. Very strange, I really hope the next SU improves it, or FS2024 at latest…