looking for more information on ASW

I've read all over this forum about ASW but not enough to fully understand what it's affect is and why you would choose one setting over another. Below DerekSpeare posted these shortcuts and brief explanation. Are these shortcuts still active?

CTRL+KP1 - Disable ASW and USE ATW

CTRL+KP2 - Force apps to 45hz, DISABLE ASW

CTRL+KP3 - Force apps to 45hz, ENABLE ASW

CTRL+KP4 - Enable ASW to operate automatically

Thank you.

My understanding is that ASW is useful for lower-end machines for a smoother experience by evenning out the ups and downs in computational demands. OR caps the FPS at 45, discarding extra frames if they go above 45 and by <hand-wavy-dilithium-crystal-positive-power-coupling-voodoo> adding extra frames if they drop below 45? Someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong!

Of course, the downside is that on a chunky machine in caps your FPS at 45, when you might routinely get much higher (some say 90, though I've only gotten that when there is a lot of water/sea in the view). So that's why it seems a good idea to disable ASW. Again, someone please correct me if wrong!

As an aside, a much more effective way to handle this, as well as all things OR, is the excellent Oculus Tray Tool:

Bearfoot thanks for the info. I see mostly 90 FPS or 45 FPS, how do I get it to allow whatever the true FPS is and not control it?

CTRL+KP1 - Disable ASW and USE ATW what is ATW

CTRL+KP2 - Force apps to 45hz, DISABLE ASW what's the difference between these 2

CTRL+KP3 - Force apps to 45hz, ENABLE ASW what's the difference between these 2

CTRL+KP4 - Enable ASW to operate automatically this is understood

Are these shortcuts still active?

Oculus Tray Tool didn't go into much detail on ASW.

Yep, still active you can see it works by looking at your fps counter in the game when switching between different settings. ASW is oculus feature only. Best way to see the difference is when you fly over the busy areas like towns at slow speeds and looking 90 degrees left or right down at the buildings. For me automatic ASW makes everything very smooth but produce artifacts when flying at high speeds. But I always play on CTRL+num1 which is 90 fps ASW disabled because I have a stutter issue every few seconds with ASW enabled and no one else seem to have the same problem at least I couldn't find anyone.

Bearfoot thanks for the info. I see mostly 90 FPS or 45 FPS, how do I get it to allow whatever the true FPS is and not control it?

CTRL+KP1 - Disable ASW and USE ATW what is ATW

CTRL+KP2 - Force apps to 45hz, DISABLE ASW what's the difference between these 2

CTRL+KP3 - Force apps to 45hz, ENABLE ASW what's the difference between these 2

CTRL+KP4 - Enable ASW to operate automatically this is understood

Are these shortcuts still active?

My understanding is, yes, they are still active ... UNLESS they are intercepted by being mapped to something from within DCS. Also, someone mentioned that NUMLOCK must be on. Not sure if this is true or not, but that's how I've always done it.

Because it is so finicky (not sure if intercepted by DCS, NUMLOCK must be one), and there is no visual feedback/indication of the state, I now use the Oculus Tray Tool, and I suggest you do as well. It's so much clearer. It has three states for the ASW setting: AUTO, Disable, 45 FPS. In both cases (keyboard triggered vs OTT), "auto" means that ASW will be enabled by default if your FPS is below 90 (I think). The others self explanatory: force enable (= i.e., cap and manage at 45 FPS) or force disabled (FPS varies freely). ATW I think is an older optimization?

You can tell if ASW is active if you find your FPS capped at 45 even when looking up at blank sky or flying over the sea, and then, when you hit LCTRL-KP1, it shoots up or starts fluctuating.

EDIT: not sure how you can "force 45 fps AND disable ASW" as indicated by your shortcuts?

Here is a more detailed explanation of the keys:

Control-Numpad1: Disables ASW and returns to the standard rendering mode.

Control-Numpad2: Forces apps to 45Hz with ASW disabled. Depending on the application, you are likely to experience judder.

Control-Numpad3: Forces apps to 45Hz with ASW enabled. Enabling and disabling ASW will help you see the effects of ASW.

Control-Numpad4: Enables ASW. ASW automatically turns on and off, depending on whether the app maintains a 90Hz frame rate. This is the default runtime rendering mode.

from here: https://developer3.oculus.com/documentation/pcsdk/latest/concepts/asynchronous-spacewarp/

Again, though, OTT is the way to go for now, I think. Lots of other nifty functions (e.g., stop/start/restart OR, control of usb ports, etc.)

ATW - Asynchronous TimeWarp is a rift feature. You can google it for more info.

...KP2 locks the game at 45fps with ASW disabled

...KP3 locks the game at 45fps with ASW enabled

))

Thanks to you both, I see the settings in Oculus Tray Tool. Is it just a matter of selecting which option I want and then start Oculus home and then DCS or is there a specific order that these programs have to be started.

It seems that Control-Numpad4 is the way to go...the best of both scenarios.

Wait I think I take it back...wouldn't it be better to be allowed to get 75 FPS than either 90 or 45 FPS with nothing in the middle?

Haven't tried oculus tray tool, gotta check that out but I always use debug tool which I think is something similar. I alway start oculus home first. Not sure if it the same with tray tool but I always make sure that the debug tool supersampling option is set to the same as in DCS otherwise debug tool setting overides dcs setting.

Thanks to you both, I see the settings in Oculus Tray Tool. Is it just a matter of selecting which option I want and then start Oculus home and then DCS or is there a specific order that these programs have to be started.

I use OTT for Oculus management. It does not matter what order it is started, since it controls Oculus (e.g., you can both start and stop Oculus from the tool). However, I do make sure Oculus is not just started, but has the desired settings before starting DCS.

NOTE: You MUST run the Oculus Tray Tool as Administrator!

Haven't tried oculus tray tool, gotta check that out but I always use debug tool which I think is something similar. I alway start oculus home first. Not sure if it the same with tray tool but I always make sure that the debug tool supersampling option is set to the same as in DCS otherwise debug tool setting overides dcs setting.

Oculus tray tool is allowed to start at system start-up so I guess it can be run first.

I'll try tonight running with it set at CTRL-KP1.

I get an hour glass when my mouse is in the Tool Tray program and the systray icon says 'starting up please wait'.

I just finished testing in flight and ctrl-kp1 [off] allowed me mostly 75-90 FPS flying low over a town but when using ctrl- kp4 [auto] it went to 45 FPS over the same town.

So it would seem that for the faster computers it's not beneficial to use ASW.

 

I get an hour glass when my mouse is in the Tool Tray program and the systray icon says 'starting up please wait'.

Were you running it as Administrator?

I just finished testing in flight and ctrl-kp1 [off] allowed me mostly 75-90 FPS flying low over a town but when using ctrl- kp4 [auto] it went to 45 FPS over the same town.

 

 

So it would seem that for the faster computers it's not beneficial to use ASW.

I guess so, that's what many people say as well. But I wish I could enable it when flying over busy areas cause that's when my frames drop to 45 anyways but with ASW enabled that makes game butter smooth. The only problem I mentioned before is that it stutters every few seconds and that is very annoying, others don't seem to have that issue. Do you?

System: Asus Z170 DELUX i7-6700k, GTX980Ti, TridentZ 16GB @3400Mhz

Were you running it as Administrator?

Yes I was.

So it would seem that for the faster computers it's not beneficial to use ASW.

More testing done now I'm not so sure about what I said above.

Yes I am pulling much higher FPS with ASW disabled BUT I'm getting smoother motion graphically with ASW enabled at 45 FPS than I get with ASW disabled pulling near or at 90 FPS.

What's that about?

So it would seem that for the faster computers it's not beneficial to use ASW.

 

More testing done now I'm not so sure about what I said above.

Yes I am pulling much higher FPS with ASW disabled BUT I'm getting smoother motion graphically with ASW enabled at 45 FPS than I get with ASW disabled pulling near or at 90 FPS.

 

 

What's that about?

That's what I'm talking about. When flying over and looking at the distant objects like buildings they are very smooth but now shift your attention to the edges of your aircraft and you see it is sort of blurry also things get worse when you start flying at high speeds.

That's what I'm talking about. When flying over and looking at the distant objects like buildings they are very smooth but now shift your attention to the edges of your aircraft and you see it is sort of blurry also things get worse when you start flying at high speeds.

When I am ASW disabled at 90FPS there is some choppiness/studdering when I look out at a bit of distance, it smooth's out when ASW is enabled...regardless of FPS.

They know what they're doing by having ASW enabled by default.

So it would seem that for the faster computers it's not beneficial to use ASW.

Wrong!

If your computer can pull 90 FPS all the time, then it doesn't matter if you have ASW on or off. It's disabled.

If your computer can't generate 90 FPS in game and ASW kicks in, then your game starts to work at 45 FPS, but the important thing is that your Rift still works at 90 FPS. The missing frames are interpolated by Oculus software, which usually makes a pretty good job with it. Sometimes you get visual artifacts though, especially with fast flickering objects like rotor shadows in helicopters or prop shadow in Spitfire (which destroys Spitfire gunsight with ASW enabled). But that is more a problem with DCS rubbish implementation of those shadows than Oculus algorithms.

If you have ASW disabled but your computer can't make 90 fps in game, then you have fluctuating FPS, which for Oculus means stutter, blurs when moving your head (that's old ATW smoothing algorithm kicking in), and usually worse experience than with ASW on.

Maybe stupid question. I can not see FPS with Oculus Rift on - I have tried all switches to toggle it on, but simply can not see it. Where do I need to look at?

Wrong!

 

If your computer can pull 90 FPS all the time, then it doesn't matter if you have ASW on or off. It's disabled.

 

If your computer can't generate 90 FPS in game and ASW kicks in, then your game starts to work at 45 FPS, but the important thing is that your Rift still works at 90 FPS. The missing frames are interpolated by Oculus software, which usually makes a pretty good job with it. Sometimes you get visual artifacts though, especially with fast flickering objects like rotor shadows in helicopters or prop shadow in Spitfire (which destroys Spitfire gunsight with ASW enabled). But that is more a problem with DCS rubbish implementation of those shadows than Oculus algorithms.

 

If you have ASW disabled but your computer can't make 90 fps in game, then you have fluctuating FPS, which for Oculus means stutter, blurs when moving your head (that's old ATW smoothing algorithm kicking in), and usually worse experience than with ASW on.

Hmm, I have worse experience with ASW on. It stutters or better say I get micro freezes every few seconds. Very annoying and makes it unplayable for me.

Maybe stupid question. I can not see FPS with Oculus Rift on - I have tried all switches to toggle it on, but simply can not see it. Where do I need to look at?

RCTRL+Pause. look top left when inside a cockpit.

Wrong!

 

If your computer can pull 90 FPS all the time, then it doesn't matter if you have ASW on or off. It's disabled.

 

If your computer can't generate 90 FPS in game and ASW kicks in, then your game starts to work at 45 FPS, but the important thing is that your Rift still works at 90 FPS. The missing frames are interpolated by Oculus software, which usually makes a pretty good job with it. Sometimes you get visual artifacts though, especially with fast flickering objects like rotor shadows in helicopters or prop shadow in Spitfire (which destroys Spitfire gunsight with ASW enabled). But that is more a problem with DCS rubbish implementation of those shadows than Oculus algorithms.

 

If you have ASW disabled but your computer can't make 90 fps in game, then you have fluctuating FPS, which for Oculus means stutter, blurs when moving your head (that's old ATW smoothing algorithm kicking in), and usually worse experience than with ASW on.

Thanks some1, I appreciate the re-alignment in thinking. I didn't realize 75-85 FPS ASW off would be worse than ASW on generating 45 FPS but now I understand that Rift is actually generating 90 FPS when I see 45 and the Rift experience looks real bad below 90 FPS.

Hmm, I have worse experience with ASW on. It stutters or better say I get micro freezes every few seconds. Very annoying and makes it unplayable for me.

RUS38, that's strange, based on what some1 mentioned which seemed to make sense. You have the key commands correct?

CTRL+KP1 - Disable ASW

CTRL+KP4 - Enable ASW to operate automatically

What is your FPS when ASW is disabled v. enabled?

Wondering about your DCS settings especially your pixel density, is it below 1.5?

But again based on my new understanding of what ASW does no matter how low your FPS is the visual experience should be better if ASW is enabled.