Ok. Though within EEA so still within single market.
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We pay Norwegian VAT and customs fees on anything ordered abroad.
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Jeez, you mean that your base stations are yet not delivered?
I got my tracking stations today (two separate packages; dispatched from Hong Kong) but no news or details about the headset in Eindhoven.
Facing a weird problem now - the headset is properly recognized and I can see the desktop, but the tracking is gone. No base stations are detected, and when I try to open SteamVR I get a critical error and the software SteamVR resets. Iām a bit lost on what to do now, tried to reinstall SteamVR, delete some settings there, but no change whatsoever. Iāve opened a support case with Varjo now.
Last week 15th Oct we still enjoyed a round of Beat Sabre without any hiccups whatsoever. Would have liked to try out DCS 2.9 tonight with DLSSā¦
Cheers,
TeTeT
Strangeā¦ Iāve been searching for a solution, but this looks like a SteamVR software issue to me.
I agree, this looks most likely. I wonder if there were any recent updates to SteamVR that I missed. I installed a new nVidia driver as well. But no actual changes on the VR setup, at least until it stopped working. Now, I tried too many things already I guessā¦
[Edit] Went ahead and opened another support ticket, this time with SteamVRā¦
I would actually really like to buy one of these, but I just canāt justify it, with 3 current headsets hung up next to me and another, albeit out of date one in the attic.
If I could sell all those, I would go for it. But that isnāt going to happen - not at a reasonable price, in any case. (PS - yes, Iāve been well and truly converted!)
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So current status is, the problem is still unresolved. Some progress though:
- SteamVR support rejected the ticket as the Varjo Aero is not a supported headset
- Varjo support suggested to revert to an old nVidia driver from May as there seem to be issues with 4080 cards. Easy to believe, as an old colleague of mine put it: all hardware is fundamentally broken. However, the problem still exists
- I put the headset on my racing rig computer, installed Varjo Base and SteamVR fresh and everything works
So hardware issue with the headset can be pretty much ruled out. The testing indicates a problem in the softwarestack with steamVR, as the varjo base software also works and the desktop is displayed on the headset, just no positional tracking.
Question of the day is, what is Varjo support going to do with a SteamVR issue when Steam states itās not a supported headset. If Iād where a bystander Iād put out the popcorn, but it feels more like nail-biting to me right nowā¦
Cheers,
TeTeT
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Did you completely delete all the SteamVR stuff?
I had an issue with Virtual Desktop and ended up deleting it completely from my headsets and just to be sure, I also deleted SteamVR - but using the steam uninstaller still left loads of stuff in the personal hidden folders (appdata) so I deleted those manually.
Didnāt hurt at all after reinstalling, so maybe worth a try as well. Iām sure I came across separate tracking files somewhere, too - might be in the same folders.
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Ok, finally got all the bits assembled and installed to try out both DCS 2.9 and the Varjo Aero so this will be a 2-parterā¦
My system
AMD 5900X
64Gb Memory
nVidia 3080Ti, 11GB
M2. Drive + a couple of SDDās
Old VR HMD: G2
New VR HMD: Varjo Aero
Varjo Aero Vs G2
Synopsis:
After a few hours of playin with all the buttons and knobs the numbers (FPS) are about the same. Butā¦
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Easier on the eyes: the Aero at the default [High] Pixels Per Degree is clearer. Better lenses I guess. The complaints Iāve heard about distortion at the edges is there but if Iād never heard those complaints I doubt would have noticed - itās that slight.
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Dynamic Foviated Rendering (DFR): I LOVE this! I found myself subconsciously wanting to readjust the HMD to get the sweet spot back in place - the āG2 5-minute twitchā. But with the Aero + DFR thereās no need; the sweet spot is where your eyes are pointed! Nice. And yes I found myself doing this oftern ā¦
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being able to glance over and read an instrument is really nice now.
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Night Time Is The Right Time: For grins I created a quickie night mission on the carrier with some escorts positioned in view at about .5 mile intervals out to 3 miles. With the G2 it was a squiggly mess and unusable IMO. With the Aero itās not perfect (didnāt test it at Ultra PPD, only High) but now I can [virtually] scare myself in the dark. Still playing with this.
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Making it really sharp: I tried it a Ultra settings (39 PPD) and for the first time I could read the MFDās in the Viper, all while comfortably reclined in the ejection seat. With the G2 I wore out the zoom button on my throttle. This does come at at cost; FPS dropped by about, oh, 30+ percent.
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Comfort: It is. At little more than the G2, which wasnāt bad really. I donāt have to play around with the position on me head very often. Feels like it weighs about the same. Didnāt check the actual values.
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Software: Like it. First time Iāve ever used the virtual desktop for any length of time. Come to think of it this is where my eyes were starting to thank Varjo; wasnāt much of a strain to mouse around that way.
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Build quality: Seems really good. Time will tell of course but the reputation of Varjo (HW and SW) was what made me slap my wallet around and show it who was boss. Note: my G2 started getting ādead pixelsā after about a year of moderate use.
Install & Startup issues.
- I double-clicked my previous MT shortcut and DCS looked, well, it looked not good and really slow. Like 1/2 FPS. Spent 30 minutes here the saw that DLSS was grayed out. Ah, ha! Deleted and re-created a new MT shortcut. Much better. So watch out for that.
The G2 would only work if I plugged into 1 specific USB slot (those tiny little ones) - the Varjo has a real usb connector!
Had to change my entire āsoftware stackā if you will
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Turned off OpenXR toools
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Download & Install SteamVR: play with it; plug it all in - no joy; try it again, and again. Then Disco! Worked fine. Sometimes I think the issue is I donāt use hand controllers (donāt like them) - everything expects them to be there and it gets fussy at first, then it gives in.
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Single base station: Hard to call myself cheap when I spent $2,000+ bucks here but I only went with one. Hereās were being old can save you money: it will track my head as far as my stiff, creaky old head/neck can turn No issues at all. So far.
DCS 2.9
Synopsis: Uh, okay?. Canāt say I see a huge difference here. In fact it may run slower. But thereās a lot more things to fiddle with. If I āmake it uglyā then āput some lipstick on itā it will run about the same. Definitely not faster - I ran it at my 2.8 settings for a while before digging into the options.
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But smoother? Maybe some of this is the Varjo (DFR) but while the numbers are not better, at all, so far it seems a tad smoother.
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DLAA/DLSS/FSR/MSAA, blah, blah, blah: So, I went both ways, left and right (with the sliders and such). Again I can make it look almost like the G2 but as mentioned above the DFR and better lenses help a lot. With the leverās all gang-loaded well, my, itās pretty (and so sharp I think Iām looking at the āreal worldā. But then itās 25-35 FPS. Ick.
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Ghosting: Never noticed it with DLAA/DLSS at Balanced.
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The clouds look bad when I lower it to Performance or Ultra Performance. Really bad. But man, they look fantastic on/above High.
Everything is (and has always been) a tradeoff.
Thanks for playing
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Nice summary, thanks!
I got my Aero on Tuesday and had a longer flight yesterday. I am coming from a G2.
I would agree with pretty much all you say with perhaps two exceptions:
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Comfort: I think the G2 was way more comfy. Aero is difficult to wear comfortably and after a 1h flight, I could feel hotspots on my head. Never had that problem with the G2. Though I suppose it is just a matter of time and practice to get it right.
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Barrel distortion: It is definitely there and it is much more noticeable than in the G2. At first I just could not stand itā¦ but after a few minutes into the flight (trying to figure out few things in an An-2 over Georgia - more on that in the Christmas flight thread) I somehow got used to it and when safely on the ground had to look for it to actually notice it. Interesting how a human brain works.
My conclusion? Aero is certainly a step up in terms of resolution and clarity (sweetspot). There is some regression in comparison to the G2 (vertical FOV, chromatic aberration, barrel distortion) but then again - I got used to these issues rather quickly and if that is the āpriceā to pay I am fine with that.
At least we have something to look forward to in next gen HMDs.
I am keeping the Aero and put the G2 into its original box. Not sure Iād sell it anytime soon as in case of problems, I would like to have a fall back option.
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Did you guys try this:
Not sure if this still is an issue as I havenāt tried DCS in months now.
Yeah, I suppose I should have said, āitās as comfortableā, to me, for my noggin. This is my third HMD and I canāt wear any of them more than about 2 hours - the first one (forget the name now) was near torture after about 45 minutes.
Not sure what that is exactly. After another flight Iāve decided:
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The FOV isnāt quite as good; not that itās bad but I can see more of the structure of the HMD, esp. around my nose.
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I found this: Home Ā· mbucchia/Varjo-Foveated Wiki Ā· GitHub
Heard about it on yt. I guess I thought the Aero did not come with DFR. It does but without the above it doesnāt work - or work as well - in DCS. So I tried it. Makes a difference in performance and clarity! Hard to explain but it was like I was running it at something above āhighā quality yet was using DLSS/AA on performance.
Giving performance numbers is tricky as everyoneās system is different and the condition they play are too. But, conservatively Iād say the above gained me 20 FPS - was above 85 most of the time with my setup. Now Iām back to 2.8 levels of performance with the G2 (months of tweaking BTW) - and - it looks so much better. Guess itās just a better version of DFR or DFR wasnāt really working the first time I tried in in DCS.
Not sure I had the new ādotā thing on (I donāt normally) but spotting other flights moving about was much easier too. I have semi-random air traffic working (was flying a training mission to the bombing range) and could see them - they stood out more than in the G2 where it was more of smudge moving across my field of view.
And the HUD looked clearer too. Everything really. I guess that gizmo above really does do something. Or something extra. Was an easy install, esp. since Iād just cleaned things out (removed OpenXR Toolkit, etc).
Thanks.
PS: Itās almost a new sim with this clarity. Just wish it had about 60 more degrees FOV 
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DFR doesnāt work in DCS, without mbucchias tool.
Yah, I just figured that out last night. Made a noticeable difference.
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Not sure this has been posted beforeā¦very complete guide to using QFR (quad-view dynamic foveated rendering) with the Aero in DCS.
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I hadnāt seen itā¦
I have noticed that mbucchia released a QV DFR tool, but I was unsure if it provided anything extra for Varjo users, over the Varjo DFR tool.
Still not sure, TBH, but I guess the Q4 tool is the one that will be developed for the futureā¦?
Right, so after two weeks of customs and UPS problems (see the similarities here 
) I finally received my Aero and have it set up without problems. DCS and IL-2 runs pretty much flawless and I donāt find the FOV particularly smaller than the Reverb G2. So far Iām very happy even though I āhad to sell a body partā to afford it 
Donāt have controllers for VR so I connected my X-Box controller to the PC and it works perfectly to maneuver in Steam VR menus for the VR sims/games that need that interface.
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