So ah… I took the wrong route to passing parameters to the .exe through the launcher. Is there a right way?
Is openXR still in the list of vr systems it polls, or is the force openxr thing necessary?
It is.
Quoting @bignewy’s post in the ED forums:
OpenXR is removed from autosearch. DCS has a chain of VR vendors in priority oculus, OpenVR, Varjo, etc. OpenXR was in that chain in top priority, now it is removed from this chain and only available when you explicitly specify it in command line of DCS.
Question for OpenXR users: can you please give some pros/cons for switching to native OpenXR?
I have not been using OpenXR with DCS yet, but DCS native support for it sounds tempting. I am using Reverb G2 currently (45fps reprojection).
Pros.
No more flickering loading images.
Better performance, at least for me. YMMV here.
Works with OpenXR ToolKit which brings several performance enhancements to play around with.
Cons.
Can’t think of any…
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all wrong man, there are people out there who drings scotch with coke or red wine with coke and they cant stand ‘cheap’ brands in the coke 
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Hi all. I think I have this right, but just to be sure:
I have the latest OpenXR runtime installed, In OpenXR Tools I have the WMR runtime set to OpenXR (the version numbers match). In Windows Setting, (Mixed Reality, then Startup & Desktop) the option to automatically start SteamVR is off. I haven’t installed Open Composite because there is already a ‘openvr_api.dll’ in my DCS/bin folder.
So all I need to do is add ’ --force_enable_vr --force_OpenXR’ to my DCS.exe?
to the shortcut, yes.
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Thanks is there anything I need/can to do in your most excellent utility to launch it from that or should I just launch from the desktop shortcut?
What he said. I just can’t speak for the performance difference as I’ve not used SteamVR (I have a Reverb G-2) in a long time.
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I went back and tried to use SteamVR a couple days ago and found performance worse than with either incarnation of OpenXR, with the Reverb G2.
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The Public version of my old app doesnt support new features just released,
The next Version will, but it’s not due to be released until almost Q2
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Yea…I wasn’t happy going back to Steam VR,OpenXR just seems incredibly Smooth which just makes a huge difference in immersion.
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Some notes on my experiences with Oculus in this new environment:
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OpenXR drastically impacts my performance to the negative. The reason being that a ‘hack’ for performance with Oculus is using Oculus Tray Tool to force the desktop resolution to 800x600. This is worth an additional 40-50% higher FPS on my rig. It does not work in OpenXR.
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Open XR visuals are markedly better; with colors richer, lighting more accurate and clouds incredible.
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Using the OpenXR hand tracking utility, I’m able to do hand tracking within DCS
I have reverted to Oculus based on performance alone; which is now where it was pre-2.8.
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I’ve GOT to look into that!
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Can you guys think of why a sound mod (in the saved games folder) might cause dcs to crash?
After the last open beta I was getting ctds (game would freeze, and then eventually ctd). Fortunately not something I’ve really had to deal with before when playing dcs. Figured it was something going on with the new computer, so had the logs all ready to go and was about to post over at ED when I read the usual “make sure you remove all mods” admonishment.
Of course my first reaction was ‘surely not this mod though?’ it’s the only mod I was using and it’s been working fine for a year, it can’t be that.
Low and behold no crashes since I removed it from the saved games folder (it was wwII speech mod, and I’m really missing it flying the spit).
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Never used a sound mod but, yeah, had a mod that seemed very innocuous until Strange Things happened, and intermittently too. Took hours to figure it out.
Guess that’s why @SkateZilla stays in business
IMHO, about the only ‘mods’ that seem [mostly] safe from updates are texture maps - pixels.
The term ‘mod’ used with DCS to me is a bit misleading. But us crazy people try anyway cus, well, DCS needs help sometimes.
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hey thanks, yeah innocuous was what I was thinking too but who knows what may have changed. Certainly not me, and I don’t really have much of a clue how to figure it out. Next open beta I’ll pop it back in the saved games folder and cross my fingers.
All I know is while it was an amicable split between Enfield 1-1 and myself, I could have used a little more time apart before hearing from him again.
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Thanks for everyone who helped me decide to try out the DCS native OpenXR. I thought to share some first impressions thus potentially helping others on the fence. Hardware: Reverb G2, RTX 3090, Intel 8700K.
Setup
Easier than expected. Just add the command line parameters for DCS.exe and you are ready to rock. Bye bye SteamVR.
Optional and recommended install also OpenXR Toolkit, which has pretty much all relevant settings of SteamVR + foveated rendering + FSR etc.
Image quality
With default OpenXR (& Toolkit) the picture is very clear and sharp as others have also stated.
Video is also subjectively overall smoother and robust. I still got strange stutter in some places, but then again this has always been DCS ‘feature’.
Performance
Difficult to make comparisons with SteamVR since I did not try the latest patches with it. Subjectively OpenXR feels a bit slower than SteamVR and the default compositor with earlier DCS patches.
On the other hand I think the automatic reprojection is better in OpenXR: you can go all the way down to 30fps in tight spots, and even under that and it does not stutter badly, but more like warps and wobbles the image.
Conclusion
I like it very much!
Definitely going to stick with OpenXR and tweak some more. Performance could be better, but there are very useful tweaks in the Toolkit to squeeze out every last fps (FFR, FSR, auto reprojection).
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Can anyone tell me if 2.7 missions work okay with 2.8? Not likely, I know and why break the habit of a lifetime- but maybe, just maybe…?
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Yes I really like that. I’m on a 3080Ti /AMD 5900X/64Ram and I think DCS has gotten slower over the last year. But not by much (all this is on OpenXR with/without OpenComposite). However I think Repro at 30 is working well and I see less wobbling than a couple of weeks ago. All with same mission/map/weather/aircraft.
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