DCS VR - SteamVR has encountered a critical error

,

Since 2min breaks is about all I can get these days, here are another couple of minutes :slight_smile:

In all fairness, @fearlessfrog, I’ve never said I didn’t think it would work…

I just found it a bit confusing, since SteamVR was mixed up in the initial instructions from @McNasty_UK. And then @SkateZilla started writing about DCS.exe being initiated by SteamVR and since you also wrote that…

…it made me think I needed to start SteamVR from WMR portal and then somehow start DCS from within SteamVR. I normally never start DCS via SteamVR.

I just didn’t understand the instructions.

And just to be clear… Enter WMR Portal go to the VR desktop, start DCS and let SteamVR autostart…? Or should I start SteamVR manually, from within the WMR Portal VR desktop?

Yep, those exact steps worked for me, in that I can now use reprojection / Motion Smoothing without triggering the SteamVR crash with DCS. I only played for 20 mins, so it might not be a true fix but I’ll report back if it crashes again. Ironically, like @chipwich said, I think I prefer it off anyway, so this is all a bit moot. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Managed to try it now.
No crashes or blackouts. But then again, I haven’t had any problems since I uninstalled that Open Hardware Monitor… I had a couple of crashes after I installed that.
Motion Smoothing on. Not forcing DX11 mode.

2 Likes

You could science it, and with those settings that just worked now just try starting DCS from the desktop, with neither WMR or SteamVR running? If it crashes then that’s data. :man_scientist:

Do you mean with the hardware monitor installed and running?
Because since I uninstalled that I haven’t had any issues.

Since my first encounters with these VR crashes, I reinstalled Windows and everything else. I then carefully installed everything, one app at a time, testing DCS in between. It wasn’t until I installed the Open Hardware Monitor that I got into trouble again. I uninstalled it again and everything worked just fine.
Now, I haven’t tried installing the hardware monitor again, which I really should do to either confirm or rule it out.

Edit. Do you have a hardware monitor running?

For me it was crashing, so I wanted to try this. For you I didn’t realize it wasn’t crashing, so you trying it was really only for an outcome that would be worse. :slight_smile:

I don’t have hardware monitors running. I can recreate (DCS/with reprojection on, with Force DX11 off) crashing launching from desktop but not crashing launching it from within WMR Portal via the VR desktop widget.

Well, I probably made it sound like I’m completely sure everything is ok. I’m not. I haven’t had much spare time for flightsimming, lately, so I don’t know for certain.
I’ll continue to start DCS via the WMR desktop from now on, to see if it happens again.

1 Like

@fearlessfrog it was set at 8GB due to the misconception that using an SSD and having 32GB RAM would prevent the need to have a pagefile.

Full disclosure is that it never caused me issues until DCS VR with the Reverb G2.

Its back to Windows Managed now.
Critical SteamVR errors have stopped.

Specs:
Intel 9700K at 5.0Ghz
32GB RAM
RTX3080ti
Asus Z390 mobo
SB AE-5
Win 10 Pro
4x Samsung SSD

1 Like

Blimey, You guys are way over my head here.

I’m glad it works for some of you. Having Hardware monitors or other back programs running could jinx things ?

I will re-iterate my method now sat in my " Flight-Deck ."

  1. Click the Steam VR icon. NOT DCS World Steam Edition.
  2. Put headset on & wait in the dark :¬)
    3 ROOMS | RECENT APPS | Steam Friends wall displays.
    4 Select the DCS icon here ( I use my VR handset)
  3. Launch & wait in " Death Valley" as I call it for the DCS menu to show.
    That’s it.
    Sometimes I have to Alt+Tab ( With my Headset raised ) to the Mixed reality Portal to adjust seat height but nothing else.
    I also minimise those two windows so’s not to get “Windows out of focus” text show.

My version of DCS World Steam is 2.7.613435
Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit Ver 10.0.19042 Build 19042
NVidia GTX 1080 Display Control app Ver 496.49
Direct X runtime ver 12.0

Dont think if I’veever accessed DCS via Windows Mixed reality portal icon. Always the SteamVR icon.

Hope this helps.

McNasty_UK

1 Like

Oh well, it looks like DCS is pretty random if it wants to crash or not. I’ll try eye of newt as well. :slight_smile:

I haven’t used my G2 in a long time but the other day I decided to give a try. Of course it took me several hours of tinkering to get everything configured right for VR again. I’m not sure if its the same problem you guys were having but I also was getting SteamVR critical error crashes either when launching DCS or within the first few minutes of flight.

The problem for me was the virtual monitors Microsoft added in a recent WMR update. After disabling that through the registry no more SteamVR crashes. I added DCS to my Steam Library and launch it straight from within SteamVR.

Sure sounds like it.

Did you launch DCS from SteamVR when you had the crashes too?
How do I add DCS Open Beta to the Steam Library, without downloading it through Steam?

Yes, I tried all methods of launching. It wasn’t until I disabled virtual monitors and rebooted that my crashing stopped. I really hate the WMR places so I’m happy to be able to just jump straight into SteamVR and launch DCS from there.

1.) Open steam on your desktop
2.) Click ADD A GAME on the bottom left
3.) Select “Add a non-steam game”
4.) Select DCS World OpenBeta from the list
5.) Go to your Library, right click on DCS and select Properties
6.) Change the target to just DCS.exe instead of the updater
7.) add –force_enable_VR in the launch options
8.) Check the “Include in VR Library” box

Then jump into Steam VR, bring up the steam menu, select the library button and you should be able to find DCS in there now. Best way to launch IMHO.

1 Like

Thanks for the tutorial. I will try it out. Adding DCS to the Steam library will make it easier to change the SteamVR settings too.

So I did a ton of testing today and now have a really stable and smooth experience. I followed speed-of-heat’s recommended settings on the DCS forums:

There’s some good stuff in there that I had missed when tuning my system back for VR. I think the main things are-

1.) disabling virtual monitors
2.) Forcing always-on motion smoothing per-application
3.) page file set to a 32968 to 65536 range

1 Like

Just a follow-up on my part: I hadn’t been having issues until I started test flying my longer missions. Twice in a row, after ~1+45 - SteamVR crash error. Grrrr. Happened at about the same time.

So, using your instructions - starting from Cliff House | Desktop - I never use controllers and always start from desktop - Windows 10 & 11: last mission went the distance without a glitch (2 hours 15 minutes). Only one test but I’ll keep an eye on it.

Confounded machines!

Thanks again

Seems SteamVR ran an update today when I booted up the computer after a week. Now I’m getting these critical error crashes as DCS menu page loads. I’ve checked that my vid drivers are current. I’m on 512 and it had done this on 511 earlier in the night.
Was there a definite fix found? I’m running a Reverb G1, btw.

Forcing DX11, disabling motion reprojection, and launching from the VR desktop help (see above). But the definite fix is to ditch SteamVR and use OpenXR.

3 Likes

Seams to be the only option I’ve got. I’ve heard from several guys in my virtual group and they all too are having the crash after this week. So Steam royally screwed up. Smh…
Thanks chipwich

1 Like

Forcing DX11 makes a huge difference in performance, at least for me with the G2/3080/7700K combo. Switching to OpenXR did as well, and so far no crashes so I’d recommend trying it. The guide makes it pretty painless.

3 Likes