Anyone actually (or claim) to have acceptable VR performance?

I, like many, have been super underwhelmed with a recent hardware upgrade in regards to DCS. I went from a 1080 to a 2080 ti keeping the same i7 7700k CPU w/ 16gb ram. I'm sure everyone has seen or heard it before but I really hadn't done much research into it prior to purchasing as it was really kind of a birthday gift too myself.

After loading up DCS with high expectations of no longer seeing double aircraft when dogfighting or being in the 20fps range if anything is actually going on, or god help multiplayer I was certainly jolted back to reality. Now I didn't JUST get the 2080 ti for DCS, but I certainly had it in mind.

I've seen a few posts on reddit, some chat threads on ED Discord and even the odd forum post here and there with people coming to the same conclusion. Obviously, a lot of headway can be made on the DCS side but in the meantime, I'm wondering if ANYONE has "acceptable" performance on their VR rig, and what that is defined by.

I see all the people talking about playing with ASW/Reprojection off but what kind of monster do you have to be to do that? I can't stand to see the cockpit blur like I've had 6 beers when I move my head. This goes for either Steam or Oculus VR, it's now about the same. Even with ASW/Motion smoothing off it seems like DCS has it's own forced vsync enabled, I'm still locked to 40 or 45 (depending on HMD).

So I guess the bottom line responses I'd love to see are

• If you think your performance is acceptable, in single and/or multi?
  
• What CPU/GPU and mb of ram are you running
  
• Some detail on settings to achieve this
  

This isn't meant to be a thread looking for advice on do this, don't do that OC, don't OC, mhz is king, a used 1080 ti would have been cheaper etc.. it's just truly trying to get a pulse on what people think is "good enough for now" and what it takes to get there hardware/settings wise.

I see all the people talking about playing with ASW/Reprojection off but what kind of monster do you have to be to do that? I can't stand to see the cockpit blur like I've had 6 beers when I move my head. This goes for either Steam or Oculus VR, it's now about the same. Even with ASW/Motion smoothing off it seems like DCS has it's own forced vsync enabled, I'm still locked to 40 or 45 (depending on HMD).

Whether you play with ASW on or off is a personal thing. Some people don't like the blur (me included), some don't like the artifacts generated by ASW. But you have to decide on something, I don't think anyone is able to run DCS in VR at constant 90 fps.

Regarding being locked to 45 fps even with ASW off, don't think it's limited to DCS. Even without ASW, there are other warping algoritms still enabled, which are required to actually comfortably use the headset. I noticed that you have to get into 60-70 fps range to actually start seeing those numbers, if your PC can't maintain that, then it's back to half refresh rate even without ASW.

Still hoping to have ASW 2.0 implemented into game's code in the near future.

What headset are you using?

If it's a Rift, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have very good performance.

I use a Pimax 5k+ and am pretty satisfied with my performance, and it's like twice as taxing on the hardware.

Reading your description of the problems, it seems like something is wrong.

What do you have your graphics set to?

Are you using a higher pixel density?

Are you using some kind of supersampling in another application?

Have you deleted the metashaders and fxo folders?

Have you set "prefer maximum performance" in the NVidia settings?

Rift S here, vey nice performance (steady 40 fps in al MP servers with 20+ players) withh a 1080ti and i7 8700k.

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What headset are you using?

 

If it's a Rift, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have very good performance.

 

I use a Pimax 5k+ and am pretty satisfied with my performance, and it's like twice as taxing on the hardware.

 

Reading your description of the problems, it seems like something is wrong.

 

What do you have your graphics set to?

Are you using a higher pixel density?

Are you using some kind of supersampling in another application?

Have you deleted the metashaders and fxo folders?

Have you set "prefer maximum performance" in the NVidia settings?

I’m with Boris, sounds like something is wrong. I use a i7 with a 1080 and I’m getting excellent performance with a few minor ASW anomalies, running Rift S with 1.5 Pixel Density. I don’t push my graphics to the max, I use the VR default settings with a bump in pixel density, water and I remove any terrain shadows. (I find them to be ugly) just my opinion. Make sure your not running an increased Pixel Density and MSAA, use one or the other but not both. They pretty much do the same thing and in my experience they don’t play well together. Good luck!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

My reverb runs fine.

My Rift S performs well enough on a OC:d i7 8700k @5GHz, 32Gb RAM and a 1080ti.

But, I have lowered the graphics settings quite a bit. No MSAA, low and flat shadows, etc.

I get 90FPS, most of the time with occasional dips into 45 and ASW, in single player.

Rift S, performance is good here on a 1080TI, 4790K@ 4.8 and 32GB of ram. (32GB of ram improved things overall hugely. Specially with the F-14)

My reverb runs fine.

Harli, what does fine mine? Is it pretty much locked at the 1/2 frame rate for motion smoothing?

What headset are you using?

 

If it's a Rift, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have very good performance.

 

I use a Pimax 5k+ and am pretty satisfied with my performance, and it's like twice as taxing on the hardware.

 

Reading your description of the problems, it seems like something is wrong.

 

What do you have your graphics set to?

Are you using a higher pixel density?

Are you using some kind of supersampling in another application?

Have you deleted the metashaders and fxo folders?

Have you set "prefer maximum performance" in the NVidia settings?

Boy I hope you're right, I've kind of run the gamut of what I would think the normal solves are. I actually have both a Rift S and Index to see if one or the other is better. Although I slightly prefer the Index as a HMD, the Rift (always has) gives slightly better DCS performance mainly due to the superior ASW > Motion Smoothing.

As far as my graphics go, I've tried everything from the VR best practices settings you can find in a lot of places, to potato settings given to me by BIGNEWY and sort of settled on what I'd consider traditional - MSAA off, anis off, shadows flat/default (also tried off), and PD is 1.0 in DCS. I've learned to do my super sampling in the native software.

I have not deleted the metashaders and FXO since messing with Kegetys VR mod, which was definitely this patch, I can always give it another go.

Yes I've tried all number of things within NVIDIA settings and have since returned to default to minimize the variables while I troubleshoot. The only thing that seemed to provide some benefit was adjusting the number of VR frames prerendered to 3.

I've come to understand the dance between CPU and GPU for VR with DCS, my GPU usage is never more than 60%. It was actually running too fast for my CPU and causing problems. For context, when I upgraded from my 1080 DCS actually ran WORSE in terms of stuttering framerates *UNTIL* I bumped up the super sampling (to 200%) to the point it would tax my GPU enough to have a good rhythm with my CPU.

The one thing you didn't ask but is probably relevant is my overclock(s). I've tried with and without an OC'd CPU, and settled on a conservative 4.6ghz which I verified is the highest I can run it without it ever being throttled by thermals (AIDA64) to rule out a janky OC. My GPU is the EVGA FTW 3 hybrid, which basically comes with an AIO water cooler - I've also tried that both stock (puke) and conservatively, very stablely overclocked. I get better results from overclocking the memory than the GPU itself to be fair.

It is reassuring enough of you are happy with it because there must be something wrong. I'm at the point where I'm just going to reinstall windows and perhaps consider a CPU / RAM upgrade. I know DCS likes 32gb and I currently have 2400mhz ram which isn't doing me any favors but I don't feel like it should be the line between OK/Not ok performance.

My Rift S performs well enough on a OC:d i7 8700k @5GHz, 32Gb RAM and a 1080ti.

But, I have lowered the graphics settings quite a bit. No MSAA, low and flat shadows, etc.

I get 90FPS, most of the time with occasional dips into 45 and ASW, in single player.

Goblin you're the first person I've seen claim to get 90 FPS that is reassuring. The one trend I've noticed between this thread and the other ones I've parsed is that every one that is happy seems to have 32gb of ram. I am leaning more towards something is wrong on my PC/hardware specifically and/or 16 more gb of ram really can be the difference-maker. I've used even lower graphic settings with a 5ghz overclock and it was no better.

In fact, with this 2080 ti I can crank my settings to really high and get the same outcome as if they are in potato mode. Seeing a few other folks having similar outcomes made me think it was just DCS - you guys are giving me hope though that this is a problem you can brute force with hardware, yay!

I, like many, have been super underwhelmed with a recent hardware upgrade in regards to DCS. I went from a 1080 to a 2080 ti keeping the same i7 7700k CPU w/ 16gb ram. I'm sure everyone has seen or heard it before but I really hadn't done much research into it prior to purchasing as it was really kind of a birthday gift too myself.

 

After loading up DCS with high expectations of no longer seeing double aircraft when dogfighting or being in the 20fps range if anything is actually going on, or god help multiplayer I was certainly jolted back to reality. Now I didn't JUST get the 2080 ti for DCS, but I certainly had it in mind.

 

I've seen a few posts on reddit, some chat threads on ED Discord and even the odd forum post here and there with people coming to the same conclusion. Obviously, a lot of headway can be made on the DCS side but in the meantime, I'm wondering if ANYONE has "acceptable" performance on their VR rig, and what that is defined by.

 

I see all the people talking about playing with ASW/Reprojection off but what kind of monster do you have to be to do that? I can't stand to see the cockpit blur like I've had 6 beers when I move my head. This goes for either Steam or Oculus VR, it's now about the same. Even with ASW/Motion smoothing off it seems like DCS has it's own forced vsync enabled, I'm still locked to 40 or 45 (depending on HMD).

 

So I guess the bottom line responses I'd love to see are

• If you think your performance is acceptable, in single and/or multi?
  
• What CPU/GPU and mb of ram are you running
  
• Some detail on settings to achieve this
  

 

This isn't meant to be a thread looking for advice on do this, don't do that OC, don't OC, mhz is king, a used 1080 ti would have been cheaper etc.. it's just truly trying to get a pulse on what people think is "good enough for now" and what it takes to get there hardware/settings wise.

I upgraded from a 1080ti to a 2080ti on the same rig, with same CPU, and my results were pretty disappointing. I had no noticeable performance gain, and no added ability to turn up graphics settings.

Strangely enough, what did end up giving me huge performance gains for VR was my recent acquisition of an HP Reverb Pro. When you have an HMD that has a native resolution that good, you don't have to use performance killers like higher PD and SS.

Goblin you're the first person I've seen claim to get 90 FPS that is reassuring.

And I must appologize for that... I meant 80FPS, which is max on the Rift S. I’ve been up since 03:30. That’s my excuse ;)

I actually got 90 FPS on the Rift CV1, as well, but more frequent dips into 45 ASW.

With the Rift S I could set Pixel density back at 1.0 and still get a better picture than the CV1 while also getting better performance. I guess 10 frames less every second helps too...

VR runs great for me.

HP Reverb. 9700k OC to 5, 1080ti, 32 gigs.

PD 1.0, SS 90% (default), MSAA x2

I am certainly pleased with my performance in DCS with the Rift S.

Harli, what does fine mine? Is it pretty much locked at the 1/2 frame rate for motion smoothing?

45 fps here. If i unlock it it gets like 60. And if i turned stuff down/off i could get 90. But 45 looks good enough ti me so i cranked stuff up and live with it.

Harli, what does fine mine? Is it pretty much locked at the 1/2 frame rate for motion smoothing?

It looks like it's the case for every headset: Index, Rift S, Reverb.

But I'll tell you that: I used to be sick and uncomfortable with CV1 at 45fps.

After months not using CV1, I'm totally fine with Rift S at 40 fps.

So fps isn't the end of everything.

It looks like it's the case for every headset: Index, Rift S, Reverb.

 

But I'll tell you that: I used to be sick and uncomfortable with CV1 at 45fps.

After months not using CV1, I'm totally fine with Rift S at 40 fps.

 

So fps isn't the end of everything.

No it isn't, I'm just wanting to achieve stability. I gather from the responses I likely need 32gb of ram and possibly a new CPU to get that. I'd love if I was locked @45fps all the time but the reality is I dip into the 30s if I'm doing anything other than free-flight, 20s at an airport and multiplayer is around 15-20 as well.

I haven't delved into multiplayer yet, but my experience is acceptable. Wish it was better, but still very playable and looks pretty good. I do use Kegetys' VR mod.

Settings:

Specs are in my sig. I set PD depending on how resource heavy the module or map runs. Huey I can get away with 1.3-1.4, whereas on the Tomcat I have to drop it to 1.1-1.2. Same idea for Caucasus vs. Persian Gulf. Get 40fps most of the time.

I mainly would like more headroom so I can get some less ugly shadows, a bit of AA and at least 1.5 PD. Might get a 2080 super if there are good deals around the holidays.

My first venture into VR with the Reverb Most setting on High MASS 2 SSAA on 2 rarely drop below 45 so I'm Happy.

edit: Never mind. Already answered

I have found that DCS responds better to a CPU upgrade vs a GFX upgrade. It is just the nature of simulators. They crunch a lot of numbers on the back end before they even get to your graphics card. The 1080 is more than enough card to run DCS. The i7 7700 is an older generation and while still a capable chip you would have seen a bigger jump in preformance in DCS if you had upgraded the cpu instead.

I for example am running a i5 8400 and a gtx 1080. with a oculus rift s. I have everything but water maxed(oddly that is my frame rate killer) and am getting betwen 50 and 80 fps depending on what is going on. The i5 8400 is a newer and depending on whos bench marks you look at better cpu than the i7 7700. Swapping my old gtx 970 back in barely affects my frame rate at all. But you should still be doing better than 20 fps. The i7 7700 is old but it ain't that old.

I have found that DCS responds better to a CPU upgrade vs a GFX upgrade. It is just the nature of simulators. They crunch a lot of numbers on the back end before they even get to your graphics card. The 1080 is more than enough card to run DCS. The i7 7700 is an older generation and while still a capable chip you would have seen a bigger jump in preformance in DCS if you had upgraded the cpu instead.

 

 

 

I for example am running a i5 8400 and a gtx 1080. with a oculus rift s. I have everything but water maxed(oddly that is my frame rate killer) and am getting betwen 50 and 80 fps depending on what is going on. The i5 8400 is a newer and depending on whos bench marks you look at better cpu than the i7 7700. Swapping my old gtx 970 back in barely affects my frame rate at all. But you should still be doing better than 20 fps. The i7 7700 is old but it ain't that old.

In light of all these responses, I might do an experiment with memory aka justifying buying myself a new 3600mhz 32gb kit.

You aren't wrong at all about the CPU but I didn't just purchase the 2080ti for DCS. I mean, I won't lie its probably what I was looking forward to the most but I'm not regretting my purchase because of the outcome. I was using a tool (fpsVR) I saw Swevivr use that although costing $3 and displaying nothing new, offers a very nice overlay within the HMD and visualizes exactly what is going on. It's definately the CPU choking, like you said the 7700 ain't that old and with a nice high clock speed shouldn't be holding the system back like it is (that is on DCS).

However the thing I'm noticing aside from pretty much everyone that says they are content with VR performance having 32gb of ram is the number of folks with a Reverb / Pimax that are almost universally satisfied. It gives some credability to two things I can't quite prove but have seen evidence of;

1) DCS imposing it's own frame lock based on a hardware detection for the more mainstream HMDs. I've seen both PiMax and Reverb users claim to see frames between 1/2 and full refresh of their HMDs. I haven't seen anyone with an Oculus product or Vive claim anything other than the appropriate "ASW on" frame rate, full bore (80-90) or less than half. I don't want to go on a big long spiel here but you can see evidence of this in the big VR performance update thread where they were asking for users to post their results - so many people were saying 1/2 the frame rate to the point Wags and company were trying to walk people through disable ASW/Reprojection even though people said they did. I currently have a Rift, Rift S, Vive and Index handy to test and can never get it to register between 1/2 and full regardless of ASW state

2) DCS VR is masochistic perf wise - The other angle for the "yay reverb / PiMax" crowd is the resolution, as you pointed out. One of the first things I realized moving to the 2080 ti is that DCS actually ran BETTER the more SS(PD) I threw at it. The GPU was outpacing the ram/CPU so bad it was causing massive dropped frames and slowing it down via increased resolution just resulted in a poor frametime vs poor frametime + dropped frames.

I might just update the initial post in case anyone else could benefit from this, especially after I get the RAM, after that I'll get a new CPU just to see what actually gives the most gains. Since I'm not going to get another HMD anytime soon, I'm hoping that my crappy 2400mhz ram is starving my CPU by proxy. Otherwise I might try something with NVIDIA panel or hardware spoofing to try to hunt those witches I outlined above :) Maybe using NVIDIA to 'ghetto super sample' I can mimic or force a similar render outcome to that of a pimax or reverb.

I swear by the time I'm done tweaking this I'm not going to want to actually fly anymore :) Thank you, everyone, for your inputs thus far!

I for example am running a i5 8400 and a gtx 1080. with a oculus rift s. I have everything but water maxed(oddly that is my frame rate killer) and am getting betwen 50 and 80 fps depending on what is going on. The i5 8400 is a newer and depending on whos bench marks you look at better cpu than the i7 7700. Swapping my old gtx 970 back in barely affects my frame rate at all. But you should still be doing better than 20 fps. The i7 7700 is old but it ain't that old.

He has a I7 7700K which has nothing to by shy about against a I5 8400 :smilewink: