DCS and Oculus Link

[crispy12]

No matter how you cut it, the Link technology is pushing the video through more of a pipeline than native PC-VR. DCS is already very resource hungry for VR as it is.

 

I look forward to comparing my Quest with Link to my Rift S, whenever my cable does finally get here. Apparently there has been a rush on the Oculus recommended Anker cable.

It would have been nice had Oculus had their own cable ready to order at the time of the Beta release of Link.

 

I'm using a locally bought Anker USB-C to USB-A 3.0 Powerline+ cable (6ft) that works well although the 10ft one would be more useful. Seems like most of the Ankwer Powerline+ range works.

[dburne]

I'm using a locally bought Anker USB-C to USB-A 3.0 Powerline+ cable (6ft) that works well although the 10ft one would be more useful. Seems like most of the Ankwer Powerline+ range works.

 

The 10ft one is the one I have on order with Amazon.

[cercata]

It's very weird the effect of compresion, landscapes are much more beautifull in the Quest than in the CV1. The cockpit is also more beatifull, you see less shimmering on it, but you read the text in the instruments worst than in a CV1.

 

BTW, I'm ussing the 10ft Amazon Basics cable.

Edited November 20, 2019 by cercata

[Larkis]

Worst then CV1? Is that possible?

[cercata]

Worst then CV1? Is that possible?

 

It's weird, you look at the cockpit, and it looks better on Quest, but when you try to read text, there are things I can read with CV1 I can't read with Quest, from the same distance.

Edited November 20, 2019 by cercata

[Larkis]

Had someone the ability to testvit woth a Geforce 970GTX?

[Marujet]

Guess I'll be looking for a Rift S or a Reverb, can't sacrifice fidelity for portability.

[Baldrick33]

It's very weird the effect of compresion, landscapes are much more beautifull in the Quest than in the CV1. The cockpit is also more beatifull, you see less shimmering on it, but you read the text in the instruments worst than in a CV1.

 

BTW, I'm ussing the 10ft Amazon Basics cable.

I guess it is why photographers use soft focus lenses for those dreamy wedding shots and beautiful landscapes! Everything I have read so far suggests the image is very soft which makes reading instruments very hard.

[dburne]

It's very weird the effect of compresion, landscapes are much more beautifull in the Quest than in the CV1. The cockpit is also more beatifull, you see less shimmering on it, but you read the text in the instruments worst than in a CV1.

 

BTW, I'm ussing the 10ft Amazon Basics cable.

 

I have had the recommended 10 ft Anker cable on order from Amazon - guess they have had a rush as mine is showing expected the 23rd.

I wish Oculus would hurry up and get their cable for Link available, I am sure that one would be ideal though a little pricey.

[cercata]

I have had the recommended 10 ft Anker cable on order from Amazon - guess they have had a rush as mine is showing expected the 23rd.

Seems like the Anker was was sold out on amazon in several countries ...

 

 

I wish Oculus would hurry up and get their cable for Link available, I am sure that one would be ideal though a little pricey.

I don't think there will be a dramatic change in the final sofware version with the official cable.

 

Image Quality wise, I would recomend Quest/Link to everyone except flight simmers, so I don't think they are gonna focus on improving that, since that would mean also killing the Rift S.

 

Carmack already said on OC6 they could do better, but they found what they did acceptable, and also it would be transferable to a Wifi link in the future.

Edited November 21, 2019 by cercata

[dburne]

I ordered a different cable today that will be here tomorrow, so hopefully if not too late I will be able to check it out before long.

[D0rmicum]

Have the Amazon Basic cable and it works pretty good. From a quality perspective it‘s not a Reverb but really close to the Vive pro. Can read the gauges in the Tomcat quite good, some smaller text parts are too blurry but overall I‘d say if you have a Quest, it‘s worth trying Oculus link.

I wouldn‘t recommend buying the Quest for DCS if you don’t have it already as I don‘t think it‘s comfortable enough for longer sessions. I‘d say it works quite well, image quality is surprisingly good and IPD adjustment is a pro against a Rift but the Rift is way better regarding comfort. Think it‘s a good thing for everyone who owns a Quest to give VR in DCS a try.

[dburne]

Waiting on my cable to try it out and compare to my Rift S.

It is out for delivery.

[dburne]

Oh for the love - been waiting all day for my cable to get here to try Link out, finally it gets here and I can't get it to work.

Have a look in the Quest and see it is still on version 8 of the software. Says it needs to be connected , powered on and in standby to get an update - now way I see to manually update it. So now I have it sitting here waiting to see if I can get updated to version 11 LOL.

[dburne]

Oh for the love - been waiting all day for my cable to get here to try Link out, finally it gets here and I can't get it to work.

Have a look in the Quest and see it is still on version 8 of the software. It needs to be on version 11. Says it needs to be connected , powered on and in standby to get an update - no way I see to manually update it. So now I have it sitting here waiting to see if I can get updated to version 11 LOL.

 

Looking like it will be tomorrow before I actually get to try this out.

[TomVR]

word from oculus is there is a plan to have a debug tool that will allow you to adjust the streaming resolutions as they experiment in the beta phase to see what works best of end user hardware.

 

They've since dropped the specs too, now it works on as low as GTX970m gpus

[dburne]

Not having any luck getting my Link working properly so far.

Not a lot of time with it this evening but calling it a night. Maybe the Joto cable I got is not going to work for it even though I saw some over on Oculus forums with good reports.

 

Still have the recommended Anker cable coming sometime soon, will give another whirl when I get it.

[dburne]

Ok have to take that back, just tried another USB 3 port - my front panel port - and now it appears Link is working fine. Can't figure out how to get audio through the Quest, coming through my speakers , will spend some more time with it tomorrow.

[dburne]

Ok somehow got the audio worked out, coming through my Quest now rather than desktop speakers. Getting there slowly but surely lol.

This Link software is definitely early Beta stage.

Did not have much time this morning, so did some quick testing in Vader Immortal, it looks pretty darn good.

Also tested with Oculus Tray Tool, and it appears it works as well with Oculus Link/Quest.

 

 

Hope to have some time for testing in DCS later on in the day.

Edited November 23, 2019 by dburne

[dburne]

Well I am struggling getting DCS working with the Quest.

It started out fine, got the cold start mission for the Hornet on the Carrier in Persian Gulf loaded up. When it dropped me in cockpit, I was surprised - it looked pretty good and my fps were actually 72 fps - Quest is a 72 Hz device. However shortly after image just froze up in the headset.

 

May be this particular cable I got - I have the recommended Anker cable coming should be here in next few days - now shows arriving the 25th-27th.

I will give it a whirl again once I have that cable.

[Supmua]

DCS and Oculus Link

 

I’m planning to replace my CV1 and am leaning toward the Quest since it seems versatile, especially if the Link feature works well. This is mostly for non-DCS games such as wireless VR exercises, multiplayer VR games with my kids, etc. Hoping for some good Black Friday deal next week.

Edited November 23, 2019 by Supmua

[dburne]

I’m planning to replace my CV1 and am leaning toward the Quest since it seems versatile, especially if the Link feature works well. This is mostly for non-DCS games such as wireless VR exercises, multiplayer VR games with my kids, etc. Hoping for some good Black Friday deal next week.

 

You will likely be ok with VR specific games. Mine is currently playing some Oculus games just fine, but can't handle DCS and another flight sim. I think it has to do with the cable I got though and hopefully this next one I have coming will work better.

 

Just be aware the software for Oculus Link is in a very early Beta phase and is pretty rough around the edges. I am sure they will improve it over the next few weeks. I finally got sound to come through my Quest with Link, have not been able to get the Quest mic to work with Link yet.

And sometimes it takes me a few attempts just to get the Link connection to kick in with the Quest which can get frustrating.

[TomVR]

check if you have a usb 3.1 port on your motherboards for a possible future upgrade:

 

[dburne]

check if you have a usb 3.1 port on your motherboards for a possible future upgrade:

 

 

Yes my motherboard ports are 3.1.

[dburne]

Ok so it seems I got this figured out today, just don't ask me how - but my Link connection is solid now.

Have spent some time in DCS with it today, along with some other VR games as well.

I will say I am surprised, as I did not think a combat flight sim would run well in a tethered Quest with the image going through the pipeline along with the compression and decompression. I will say, it ain't bad at all.

 

In both it is running quite well, performance is decent - really about on par with Rift S in performance, albeit at a little less fps due to lower Hz of the Quest.

I ran the same SS in the Quest Link as I run in the Rift S.

I would say from my initial testing image quality is slightly less than Rift S, but certainly better than Rift CV1.

I had slightly better clarity of the instruments with Rift S versus Quest Link.

SDE is slightly more apparent in Quest - not as bad as CV1.

Tracking is splendid. Everything was quite smooth, even running when ASW kicked in at 36 fps. Oculus has always done a good job in the tracking department.

 

Oculus has really pulled one off here I think - now when I say that, I mean for mainstream VR - not necessarily for serious combat flight sim folks., like what we do here.

To think all this data being compressed, going through that pipeline via USB, decompressed on the fly in 1/3rd parts into the headset display, and providing

this smooth an experience that looks pretty darned good, is fairly spectacular.

If one wants as good as they can get clarity wise, then of course they will go for their Indexes, Reverbs, etc.

But it is kinda cool one can take a mobile VR device and quickly tether it to their PC and have access to all their PC VR content at the same time.

Pretty versatile.

 

I will be spending some more time with it over the next couple of days before our Thanksgiving company arrives and will update with any further info that might be helpful.

 

This is the cable I am currently using:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017COHTJ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited November 25, 2019 by dburne