My VR Settings & Tips

[fearlessfrog]

I thought I’d put out my settings I used on VR in MSFS, with a i9 9900K, 2080 8GB and HP Reverb G1 system. I’m not sure how applicable they are to others, but there’s a few things in there that aren’t that intuitive so interesting to share and collect them in one place:

In game settings (don’t forget to flip the choice at the top to ‘VR’ otherwise it’s just desktop graphics settings you’re changing):

VR Traffic settings (again, don’t forget to toggle to ‘VR’ in the Traffic section):

(for extra performance, turn off air traffic, it sucks CPU - but I like it).

If you are flying around in small props and doing tourism, then bump up the Terrain Level of Detail and Objects Level of Detail higher and the Render Scaling back down to 90% (or if your machine can handle it, try keeping them higher).

The OpenXR Dev Tool settings (note the Preview edition (v105) selected on, 60% custom resolution and Motion Reprojection turned on):

If you don’t have this tool you can get it here:

Get OpenXR Tools for Windows Mixed Reality from the Microsoft Store

For Nvidia control panel stuff, I just copied these from somewhere else, I think the only key one is the power profile tbh but who knows.

I’m using the latest Nvidia driver and Windows HAGS mode off. Some people get better results using an earlier Nvidia driver but I also play Cyberpunk 2077, so what can you do…

So in example above I set a high game resolution but a lower headset resolution. You can even try it the other way around to experiment for what you like, e.g. 70% Render Scaling, Anti-Aliasing TAA and then OpenXR custom resolution 100% - it’s really a taste thing (these latter settings look nicer in props and for tourism down low, as you can bump up the Terrain and Object LOD sliders more).

[fearlessfrog]

If you ever get a ‘broken dialog’ in VR, like the ATC window comes up but you can’t click it, then toggle it on and off using the menu at the end. A reset off/on tends to fix them e.g. toggle off then on the ATC entry here.

[Poneybirds]

A good friend of mine used to get this 100% of the time when switching to external view and back. Hopefully that’s fixed now.

(is the nda lifted now?)

[fearlessfrog]

[BeachAV8R]

@fearlessfrog

…with a i9 9900K, 2080 8GB and HP Reverb G1 system.

How lucky am I that your system is almost exactly the same as mine!

[fearlessfrog]

@Poneybirds

(is the nda lifted now?)

They never lift the NDAs, it’s sort of like a really pathetic fight-club with wet paper bags. We can just talk about what everyone can see now, and VR is released to all via Sim Update 2. My meme monkey was because the bug is still there.

[Poneybirds]

@fearlessfrog

the bug is still there

[BeachAV8R]

@fearlessfrog

…60% custom resolution…

I just updated my OpenXR, have latest preview selected ON, but am not seeing that Custom render scale slider…

Nevermind…got it updated!

[BeachAV8R]

So with the new version of OpenXR installed…tried again the 60 Custom Render Scale and reprojection on and thought I had hit the Holy Grail for a bit. On acceleration on takeoff things were way more noticeably smoother…silky smooth. Once I was airborne though (in the area of OG20/Fairways Airport)…the little lags were back…maybe tree and object density. I hadn’t messed with any other settings, so there are gains to be made there for sure. And I hadn’t fussed with the NVidia control panel yet either… I’ll have to check to see what my in-game Render Scaling was too… So many choices…

[dachsdk]

I’m a bit puzzled about OpenXR and SteamVR…

I would like to try out OpenXR, to see if it is any smoother than SteamVR, as I keep seeing that mentioned.
But, when I set OpenXR as the default VR runtime, MSFS says no headset detected, and SteamVR complains that it is not default runtime. (which it is not, of course)
So it looks like Index is SteamVR only, or is there a trick to it?

[fearlessfrog]

@BeachAV8R

I hadn’t messed with any other settings, so there are gains to be made there for sure

If you put the Custom Resolution in the OpenXR tools to 60% then you do need to put the sim’s Render Scale to 110% with TAA, otherwise you don’t get really get what’s intended. Why you can probably run the other settings higher, the ones I posted will make things run smoother.

[fearlessfrog]

@dachsdk

So it looks like Index is SteamVR only, or is there a trick to it?

Yep, the Microsoft WMR OpenXR bits are purely for WMR devices. The way to think of it is that the only reason WMR headsets like the Odyssey and Reverb could use the SteamVR API was that the app ‘WMR for SteamVR’ essentially ‘fakes’ that they are true SteamVR (nee OpenVR) devices, like the Index.

OpenXR is a common VR API, where each platform vendor supplies an implementation. The advantage is the game developer just has to use the one API now. Here’s the marketing slide:

On the right of the diagram you can see all the games developers can now use a single ‘Application Interface’, so that’s good. Beneath that each VR platform vendor supplies a ‘Device Plugin Interface’ for their runtime, so we get one from Valve, Oculus and Microsoft. Beneath that is the underlying device drives of the headset vendors.

So the only thing to remember on the above diagram is that the ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ (WMR) logo also has a compatibility app to ‘fake’ being a ‘SteamVR’ device, hence why things like DCS and IL-2 that only supported either Oculus or SteamVR could be used on WMR (via the SteamVR fake out). It’s also why we can switch between the Valve OpenXR runtime and the Microsoft OpenXR runtime (because WMR can fake being a SteamVR device).

OpenXR hopefully will help VR adoption, as just the one API now. MSFS is pretty much the only OpenXR title out there, so we’ll have to see if other sims bother to change over (they don’t need to of course, the old stuff isn’t going anyway).

[chipwich]

Excellent graphic, which makes things a lot clearly. I hadn’t comprehended that there was a device plugin in addition to the API. Mr. fearlessfrog, didn’t you say that a migration from SteamVR to OpenXR wouldn’t be a major undertaking? I guess when resources are thin, that any migration might take some time, regardless of the needed effort.

[fearlessfrog]

@BeachAV8R

Nevermind…got it updated!

The Windows Store update is pretty rough, it will only do it once unless you prompt it. At a Start prompt in Windows, go ‘Store’ and then when it opens hit the ‘…’ in the top right and go ‘Downloads and updates’ and then ‘Get Updates’, that’ll unplug it.

[fearlessfrog]

@chipwich

I guess when resources are thin, that any migration might take some time, regardless of the needed effort.

The API is about 90% the same, the only real difference is in setting up the initial scene stuff. The API is managed by the Khronos Group, so not held by one single evil empire (it’s more a series of evil empires propping it up) and unlike Vulkan, the OpenXR isn’t really a paradigm shift.

I would expect X-Plane to move to it, as they are pretty good about open platforms. For DCS, it’ll really depend on if the old SteamVR (technically called OpenVR) starts to receive less fixes now, as in Valve spends time on making their OpenXR implementation better rather than both OpenVR and OpenXR - if that starts to become the case then maybe that’ll prompt Eagle Dynamics, 1CGS to take a look. Oculus is pretty much out of the PC game, so not sure what’ll happen on that side.

One new ‘feature’ purely in the OpenXR WMR platform runtime is the 30 fps Motion Reprojection option (rather than the 45/90 like now), and as you’ve probably witnessed already is pretty much needed purely for the only OpenXR title out there, boss GPU hog MSFS.

The existing API’s aren’t going anyway, so it’s sort of like DirectX11 vs DirectX12, if it works then don’t mess with it but if you’re starting something new then maybe look for the highest number.

[BeachAV8R]

@fearlessfrog

The advantage is the game developer just has to use the one API now.

They’re gonna make us get rid of the headphone jack next aren’t they?

[eFalcon]

My rig is quite similar to OP’s.
AMD 5900x, 1080ti, HP Reverb G1.

Is it possible to see the mcdu clealy without leaning to it? I am already using taa 100% and openxr ss 100%. But it seems not helpful.

[schurem]

FWIW I really really like being able to duck into and out of VR by pressing CTRL-TAB. That is a neat feature.

[Troll]

@schurem

neat feature.

I’m inclined to agree… Not such a bad idea after all.
But what about that tab VR menu? When I select camera-external, I can’t go back to cockpit view…

[Aginor]

Welcome to Mudspike!

I don’t have that particular headset but I am pretty sure that it is not possible to get the smaller stuff clear without leaning in. Not with current hardware.