(EDIT: I’m not a techie. If anything in here is inaccurate, please let me know!)
CptLucky’s guides are amazing and super helpful, but they assume some basic understanding of what OpenXR even is. I spent hours messing around to understand what is now obvious, so I wanted to offer an explanation for dummies like me.
In the terms I understand it, “OpenXR” is a way for the simulator to talk to your headset using a set of commands that are the same regardless of the headset you’re using. That way Asobo doesn’t have to change the simulator every time a new headset comes out.
If you have a WMR headset, you have a choice of two implementations that you can use: WMR/Microsoft’s default, or Steam’s version.
The first OpenXR implementation comes with the WMR runtime. This is the thing where you launch into the Cliff House. If you’re using that, you can change settings in Steam VR all day and all night and it won’t do anything at all to MSFS.
This default implementation works TERRIBLY. This is why some people are posting that VR is unplayable, and others are thrilled. By default, it is trying to render the full resolution of the G2, which even my 3080 can’t do. Or, you can set it to let Windows decide the resolution (“Adjust Display Resolution->Automatic upscaling”) in WMR settings, in which case it creates a blurry mess.
The FAQ recommends downloading the Open XR development tools from Microsoft, but doesn’t explain why. There are two reasons.
First, you can set a “custom render scale.” This really important. This is the “render res” above, except in pixels, instead of % in the tool. I set mine all the way to 50%. The recommendations from CptLucky are probably smarter.
Regardless, it is important to understand that you’re not really cutting your resolution in half when you do this. Instead, some magic happens. It upscales the 50% to 100% using some magic algorithms. Personally I then set in game scaling to 100%, and that looked really good to me, believe it or not. Like, magically good. The suggestions above are probably even better.
There is a second reason to use development tools. If you allow it to use the pre release version, then you can force motion smoothing/reprojection. This is more magic. If your GPU can only hit 45 fps even with reduced render scaling (like my 3080), it magically inserts every other frame by drawing and “average” image to bring you up to 90 fps. It’s good, but not perfect. Some people don’t like it, maybe because the base frame rates are too low, but for me it brings that silky smooth 90 FPS experience, especially in the cockpit where any lower FPS breaks immersion and makes me queasy. And it smooths out the world too. The only visible distortions for me are right around the edges of the propeller, which I can live with.
Before I figured this out, I did the same thing through Steam. That involves switching to the Steam open XR, instead of the WMR one. (SteamVR->Settings->Developer->Use SteamXR). Now the Steam VR settings will actually do something! (If you open the WMR application after doing it, it will suggest you switch it back. Or you can do it through the registry. There are instructions out there on how to do this.)
Having now compared the two at identical settings, that is with reduced resolution, and motion smoothing/reprojection, Steam OpenXR does a better job than the default WMR OpenXR.
But the preview version of development tools OpenXR does an even better job. It’s brilliant. I went from being very frustrated over VR in the morning yesterday, to being absolutely astounded. I flew around my home state of Colorado last night until my eyes bled.
NOW you can take CptLucky8’s advice.
I hope this helps at least someone!