Need a bit of advice RE 2.5.6 Performance

Just wondering what you guys and gals recommend for getting the best experience in VR at the moment?

I’ve just purchased the Epsom and Big Show campaigns as I reckon now is as good a time as any to learn the beautiful Spitfire (me and my family are in week 3 of self isolation, oh boy is it challenging) but I’m a bit concerned over how well it’s going to run at he mo.

So my question is would it be best to:

A) Change to Stable (if so my next question would be how? :smilewink: )

B) Roll back to the last version of 2.5.5

C) Hold tight and wait for an update that actually fixes it

I love DCS and ED do a stand up job most of the time but they keep saying they are going to improve performance but then opposite happens, kinda sucks. Have they dug themselves a bit of a hole of which it’s not easy to get out?

Anyway that’s enough complaining, at least I can still breath!

Anyhoo thanks in advance and stay safe :pilotfly:

I have both stable and OB on my computer. When I just want to fly without fuss I use the stable. There are still some servers that are fun and well populated. If I want to just futz or play SP I run OB and see how far I can push before it goes gonzo. I do have pretty good results in the F14 in the Just Dogfight server as long as I don’t try to fly wing w another teammate. That seems to really upset the mix. Especially next to an F18 for whatever reason.

Enjoy and stay healthy!!

If you still have some 90 GB disk space, better more, then have both versions installed.

Use this for managing, updating/downgrading installs simultaneously.

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=160053

If you are experiencing lower performance on 2.5.6 and it is an unpleasant experience, go back to Stable.

I myself am not , guess I am one of the lucky ones for whatever reason.

Same here my performance is actually pretty good, there is an occasional instance when some object or AI drops the sim to 20 fps for about 5 seconds then returns to normal. I only Notice this sometimes around Vaziani and Surrounding cities.

I can Run Rift S great in 2.5.6 but not WMR with OD+ ive totally given up on WMR, every update from steamvr ruins clarity in headsets then it comes back then goes away plus all i do is fart around trying to find settings that work and never do. So life is Fun and Easy with the Rift s for me.:joystick:

Not really experiencing performance issues myself with 2.5.6, but some of the other glaring annoyances with it are enough to make me glad I have 2.5.5 stable installed as well. From my experiences with the various versions, I'm starting to think that if the version number ends in an even number, its going to have issues. The odd-numbered versions, on the other hand, seem to have all been reasonably trouble-free from the day of their first release. Heh, not really much into numerology or anything, but I can't deny the observations I've made. :D

Thanks guys glad to hear you’re not seeing any performance decrease.

I’m pretty sure I am though. Was happily plugging away at the SAM sites in Operation Clearfield (excellent mission btw) before I had my little DCS sabbatical, but now it chugs quite a bit and I’m getting the old ASW wobbles all over the place.

I even did a fresh install of windows but it didn’t help.

Do you see any difference in FPS between stable and ob? I’ve only ever used ob myself. I’ve also only ever used DCS in VR but I’m starting to wonder if I should get trackir and spend more time flying and less time in the settings menu.

May I also ask if any of you have played the 2 Spit campaigns in vr and have any tips to increase performance in those missions? I’ve yet to try them but if even my homemade practice range mission is suffering now (used to be fine) I’m expecting a slide show. That being said they looked too good not to try.

Thanks again

I think some need to delete the following folders if not done already

in dcs saved games folder delete

fxo

and metashaders 2 folder

this will make dcs rebuild shaders, i do it after every update and keeps it running good.

Also with 2.5.6 delete these following folders

Mods\terrains\Caucasus\misc\metacache\dcs. this will be for every terrain you have

which is in your dcs install folder of whatever drive you have it installed on.

After doing all this the first missions you load on each map and aircraft may stutter briefly as things are rebuilt. This should ensure your best chance for best performance

Thanks Sniper175, I do the 1st 2 after each update (though now you mention it I may not have since the last update.) but that third one is new to me, I shall do it tonight.

If that doesn’t help I’ll try rolling back, getting stable is a last resort due to time and disk space.

Fingers crossed :)

Thanks Sniper175, I do the 1st 2 after each update (though now you mention it I may not have since the last update.) but that third one is new to me, I shall do it tonight.

 

If that doesn’t help I’ll try rolling back, getting stable is a last resort due to time and disk space.

 

Fingers crossed :)

Don’t do the 3rd one. These are fixed DCS files, and only those who use the questionable shaders mod delete those folders.

Also, one or two people on this thread say they don’t have an issue with 2.5.6, well that’s fine, but there are many others who are experiencing BIG FPS VR issues in several other threads.

3rd one was suggested by the Dev's when 2.5.6 released, i myself had never done that but after i did i noticed an immediate improvement on my system. also i never use that shader mod as in my opinion destroys the fidelity of dcs atmosphere. Most people i fly with dont have significant issues with vr performance. The loud minority when things do not work best are usually the ones who are heard the most.

Do agree though performance can always be better, but i think everyone needs to take steps to insure they have a healthy and fresh install of dcs after 2.5.6 dropped.

:pilotfly:

Deleted those files and it may have made a small difference but performance in any mission with more then a handful of units is pretty dire. Thanks for the suggestion though Sniper175. Interestingly I have the same rig as you except my 8700k is 4.8ghz.

2.5.5 I had pd 1.4, 2x msa, Distance High, shadows low, high textures and other bits and bobs on and I was really happy with how it was performing. Now to get similar performance it’s everything set to off, medium view distance and a pd of 1.2. And even still those 2 campaigns I’ve mentioned are pretty much unplayable.

Anyway I’m not here for a moan up however tempting it might be, I’m going to try rolling back tonight to see if that helps, just need to find a list of the different versions....

My settings and i Run pd 1.3

Thanks, had a look and mine used to be similar but now I’ve had to drop it all down.

I’ve just found that other thread about VR performance, I should have just posted there sorry.

PCs are strange beasts, they can look very similar on paper but 2 people with what would appear to be the same system can have 2 very different results.

Thanks for the help :)

Interesting re: Deleting Mods\terrains\<terrain-name>\misc\metacache\dcs.

I will add this to my notes for future updates. I did try it and did not notice much improvement.

The dcs folder did not get rebuilt after deleting them and restarting DCS and playing a mission that uses the terrain.

However, after a repair, the dcs folder was back and full.

Your results may vary, but a good discussion.

Cheers --- back to testing the Trial F14 Tomcat for me...

Interesting re: Deleting Mods\terrains\<terrain-name>\misc\metacache\dcs.

I will add this to my notes for future updates. I did try it and did not notice much improvement.

The dcs folder did not get rebuilt after deleting them and restarting DCS and playing a mission that uses the terrain.

It gets rebuilt in the saved games folder (either fxo or metacache, I don't recall which).

And so I return, cap in hand and head bowed seeking further advice.

I have switched over to the stable branch after downloading skatezilla’s updater utility and this is on a reinstalling of win 10 and fresh dcs install. But my performance woes remain and last night I had pretty much given up all hope.

But I have noticed a couple of odd things today that may offer a clue to those more knowledgeable than myself, at least I hope so, of what is going on.

My computer’s guts are:

CPU 8700k @4.8ghz

GPU 1080ti

RAM 32gb ddr4 3000mhz

Dcs installed on a Samsung SSD

Graphics settings

NVCP

Prefer max performance

Vr prerendered frames 2

Cockpit textures High

View distance High

Everything else off

Pd 1.2

And I’m testing on the Spitfire Instant action Dogfight on the Normandy map.

The first interesting thing that seems to be happening is that setting PD with the oculus debug tool seems to be having no effect. Today I went from a pd of 1.1 up to 2 and I saw no or very little change in visuals or performance. Lots of ASW ghosting, and general bad performance. Also if I try to disable ASW via the debug tool it too has no effect though I can adjust it with cntrl and numpad.

Im starting to suspect that the debug tool is not working at all, has anyone else had issues with it?

Also at a pd of 1.2 and all gfx pretty much off am I wrong to expect minimal use of asw and not see double every time a fw190 flys past? Hell even at 1.1 it was still happening.

The second thing I noticed was gpu usage in vr compared to 2D. I tried the Hornet Free Flight instant action on the PG map. In 2D with all the graphical bells and whistles on my GPU was at 99% usage. The same mission in vr with the settings I’ve mentioned above saw only 70% max but averaging 60%. Ive read many posts about GPUs being underused by dcs due to cpus bottlenecking them (have i got that right?) but I assumed that would be the same in 2D as VR where as I’m only seeing it in vr. And just for the record my GPU never goes over 70% in vr no matter what mission.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me some insight as to what is going on here, I’d love to fly my spitfire around and do some dogfighting but all the ghosting and juddering makes it a rather uncomfortable and frustrating experience, so any (more) help will be gratefully received

That is odd, I would think with your rig you should certainly be seeing better performance with those settings.

1.2 PD should be plenty with the Rift S, I would set it in DCS and not in Oculus.

I would also put the VR Pre-rendered frames back to 1.

I personally do not really use the Debug tool so can not really comment on it.

Not unusual for the GPU to not be fully used in VR.

I have a slightly higher spec rig than yours, but no problem on my end really flying with ASW set to it's default of on. I sometimes will see a slight hiccup when it switches on, but not really bad enough to ruin the experience for me or anything. And I also play with fairly high GFX settings.

Understand to each individual can perceive things differently. IE what looks great to me may not look so great to another.

I really can not think of another thing to offer ya, as it sounds like you have already tried everything for the most part. Understand also there are many that experienced performance issues lately with DCS in VR and there are others that did not experience the same drop. Could be a future update might help as well.

Thanks dburne, yeah I’m stumped.

Do you know if the skatezilla tool auto loads presets that can’t be altered?

I flew over Dubai in the hornet with pd 1.2 and 1.5 and saw zero difference, very strange. Also I see the same levels of performance in a 2v2 dogfight as I do in a 12v12 (spitfire v 109/190).

It’s all very confusing.

I will try setting pd in dcs and see if it helps, thanks again

Thanks dburne, yeah I’m stumped.

 

Do you know if the skatezilla tool auto loads presets that can’t be altered?

 

I flew over Dubai in the hornet with pd 1.2 and 1.5 and saw zero difference, very strange. Also I see the same levels of performance in a 2v2 dogfight as I do in a 12v12 (spitfire v 109/190).

It’s all very confusing.

 

I will try setting pd in dcs and see if it helps, thanks again

Most welcome, hope you get it figured out.

As far as I am aware no SkateZilla's tool does not auto load presets unless you specify it to. I use the tool also occasionally to start the sim in 2d if I need to make adjustments to control configurations.

Edit: I will usually clean out my fxo and shader files though after using it as I think it maybe throws more of those into the mix when used for 2d. Just a guess on my part though.

Oh I forgot to say, you’ve given me hope.

If you’d expect better from my system then chances are the problem is on my end and therefore fixable, hope springs eternal and all that :)

Just an update.

Turns out the first setting I had to lower was the one marked High Expectation, followed by view distance. Setting view distance to medium seems to have had the biggest impact for me. I can now maintain 80fps in a dogfight 90% of the time with a pd of 1.3 so I’m a happy bunny.

Do hope the channel map has better performance than Normandy though I don’t know how that would be the case as it looks like there will be even more eye candy.

 

Do you see any difference in FPS between stable and ob? I’ve only ever used ob myself. I’ve also only ever used DCS in VR but I’m starting to wonder if I should get trackir and spend more time flying and less time in the settings menu.

 

Thanks again

Took me over 100 hours of trying to get VR in DCS to run well before I retired my HMD until the 3080 Ti comes out.