I was trying to understand the difference between Super Sampling (SS) and Motion Smoothing, and discovered this post from 2018. It stated:
Motion Smoothing is not enabled when using Oculus Rift or Windows Mixed Reality headsets with SteamVR, because their underlying display drivers use different techniques when applications miss framerate.
Does this still apply? I couldn’t discern a difference between it enabled or not with my G2.
I tried the IC Pass version of the VR shaders mod, but my fps dropped considerably.
fpsVR Report: My settings, default shaders
App: DCS World Multiplayer HMD: HP Reverb Virtual Reality Headset G20 (90.001 Hz, IPD 65.6)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (27.21.14.6140) CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz
Delivered fps: 50.65 Duration: 11.1min. Headset was active: 100%
GPU Frametimes:
Median: 16.2 ms
99th percentile: 20.5 ms
99.9th percentile: >30 ms
frametime <11.1ms(vsync): 5.4%
CPU frametime:
Median: 9 ms
99th percentile: 14.3 ms
99.9th percentile: >30 ms
frametime <11.1ms(vsync): 90.8%
Reprojection Ratio: 43.2% (for Index/Vive/VivePro headsets only)
Dropped frames: 78 or 0.1% (for Index/Vive/VivePro headsets only)
Max. SteamVR SS: 100%
Render resolution per eye: 3176x3100(by SteamVR settings, Max.) (HMD driver recommended: 3176x3099)
fpsVR Report: My settings, IC Pass VR shaders
App: DCS World Multiplayer HMD: HP Reverb Virtual Reality Headset G20 (90.001 Hz, IPD 65.6)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (27.21.14.6140) CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz
Delivered fps: 32.33 Duration: 14.5min. Headset was active: 89%
GPU Frametimes:
Median: 14.1 ms
99th percentile: >30 ms
99.9th percentile: >30 ms
frametime <11.1ms(vsync): 7.4%
CPU frametime:
Median: 8.8 ms
99th percentile: >30 ms
99.9th percentile: >30 ms
frametime <11.1ms(vsync): 82.2%
Reprojection Ratio: 63.6% (for Index/Vive/VivePro headsets only)
Dropped frames: 448 or 0.6% (for Index/Vive/VivePro headsets only)
Max. SteamVR SS: 100%
Render resolution per eye: 3176x3100(by SteamVR settings, Max.) (HMD driver recommended: 3176x3099)
Motion Smoothing is the term Valve chose to call their reprojection algorithm (and what Oculus call ASW).
WMR for StreamVR always used its own reprojection (set via a config file globally) and ignored whatever was set in SteamVR for a game. Nowadays (with the beta of WMR for SteamVR, do use that) it does look at that setting and will apply it. So essentially the SteamVR settings are passed down to WMR to turn on/off its reprojection.
Super sampling is up’ing resolution for clarity.
Reprojection is creating in-between synthetic frames based on head movements, so the headset can show native frame rates but the game need only provide half.
It’s a shame about those IC values, as that’s quite the hit and nearly every MP server requires it. Another reason that if these shaders were just added by ED then they could pass IC
Thanks. Yeah, I deleted and reinstalled the default shaders prior to trying them, just to make sure that they wouldn’t be influenced by anything legacy in nature. But they took forever to load (like 10 mins), and then had a major hit in performance. But, I’ve read much about improved VR experience with them. So, must be something particular with my config.
Can you share your SteamVR and DCS setting? I am no where near what you got. I am not using SteamVR Beta, Not sure if that’s why I don’t see an option to turn on motion smoothing. But I got 90 only when above sea and facing the sea, i.e. not other objects. when facing the land, 50, above land 45, above airport facing a group of buildings, 35…
Nice to see a confirmation: same in-game settings seem to perform consistently across systems. And yes to the VR Shaders mod. It used to be a pain to update them every time but I’ve done it so many times that, a) It takes all of 10 seconds, and b) I too ask why it’s not in the base game.
One thing that occurs, albeit a bit late now is that did you clear out your per-user cache of the shaders first before changing them, as that might help? You need to nuke everything in these two locations before starting DCS:
Inside that zip is a folder called ‘bazar’ (I think it should be called ‘Bazar’ with a capital B. hmm). Using the windows explorer, just click into it, so it looks like this and copy the ‘shaders’ directory:
Go to your DCS World OpenBeta install, mine is here:
C:\Games\DCS World OpenBeta\Bazar
Click into the ‘Bazar’ folder and then right mouse button ‘Paste’. It should look like this:
That will overwrite your ‘shaders’ directory (once you confirm you want to). If you want to be really safe then you could copy the existing shaders directory (don’t rename it), rename the copy e.g. ‘shaders-backup’.
When you start DCS the next time it will probably take about 10+ minutes doing stuff (it’s recompiling the shaders, which can take a while (which is why ED provides then precompiled in the install, but this is just a one-off wait while it writes new entries into Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\metashaders2
etc.)). If you’re in VR already then it’s basically like being stuck in a flickering lit deep well, so you can roleplay being a prisoner or something.
Only other thing I can think of is to do what I suggested to @chipwich as well, which is clear out your shaders cache under the ‘Saved Games’ bit.
Not sure if I’m helping but the shader mod bazar folder is just a file structure that can be dragged and dropped into the DCS folder, which overwrites the necessary folder and files in the bazar folder, which is the shaders folder.
With the earlier mod you also had to delete the terrain shaders in each terrain folder. Is this no longer necessary? I haven’t found any conclusive info on this.
Repair DCS, just to get to a good known state. You can use ‘Eagle Dynamics Repair DCS OpenBeta’ installed shortcut for this, or just the command line of: \Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\bin\DCS_updater.exe repair
Double check we are talking about the right ‘Saved Games’ directory. In Windows Explorer, paste this into the ‘location’ bit (usually has ‘This PC’ in it initially):
%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta
…and empty out the ‘metashaders2’ and ‘fxo’ folders containing those temporary files.
Like @Troll said above, the downloaded zip file of the shaders mod has three files in it, a ‘bazar’ folder and two text readmes. The readme says this:
Install:
Backup your Bazar/shaders directory (but keep the files in place)
Extract files from this zip, overwriting the existing files
Run DCS World. The shaders will be compiled as they are used
for the first time, so first startup and loading of mission will
take a while (can be 10 minutes or more). While playing you can
also see some stutters when new shaders are compiling for the
first time. These will stop after everything has been compiled.
One extra bit of info is that the metashaders2 folder won’t be populated with cached files until you load up a mission, e.g. you’re sat in the cockpit ready to fly. It’s really the ‘loading DCS’ bit after you hit ‘fly’ that takes a long time, not the startup of DCS.
To check your files from the mod are installed ok, go into this directory:
C:\Games\DCS World OpenBeta\Bazar\shaders\deferred (or wherever you have DCS installed)
…and check that the file `_helper.hlsl’ has been modified recently (click ‘Date modified’ in Explorer to sort by changes).
Let us know if this helps.
Apparently so, as the install instructions definately used to say that, and now they don’t for sure. It worked for us without having to delete anything in the DCS install, so I think it’s ok.
Well, it says it comes with a thin and a thick foam padding, so it is possible that the thin foam will increase the FoV as it will bring the lenses closer to the eyes.
So, I flushed the two folders in Saved Games as specified, but still had low fps with the VR shaders. Then switched to your settings and that did the trick. Something in my settings didn’t jive with the VR shaders, perhaps MSAA 2x. It’s not a huge fps boost over my settings and the default shaders, but comparing the two, the VR shaders and your settings seem to be smoother and because the contrast is higher, objects are easier to identify. A good test for me is to load the Instant Action, F-16C, Syria, Free Flight mission, and fly close formation with the AI flight lead. Very smooth with your config. Thanks fearless
Well I have the G2 in my hands… It is definetly much clearer and crisp then my O+. I was able to squeeze my glasses in there it was a very tight and uncomfortable fit so if you wear prescription glasses and are nearsighted the Aftermarket lenses are a must…
I will report back after I make some adjustments but DCS quict test wqas OK for the FPS I can adjust further but as it was it was not bad with the 1080GTX…
is that did you clear out your per-user cache of the shaders first before changing them, as that might help? You need to nuke everything in these two locations before starting DCS:
