Windows 1903 patch

Hardware & Tech Questions
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This is just a heads-up that the patch correcting the blurriness on WMR devices on Win 1903 update is out.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/719950/discussions/0/1640915206497451607/

Users are reporting that the issue is gone.

Milan

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That’s good to hear. I patched up last night and jumped into Flying Circus in VR. Although I thought that it was a little less blurry, it’s helpful to have confirmation.

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Back from some traveling and am going to give this a whirl this morning. This is what one user on Reddit posted about the 1903 patch:

I’ve noticed multiple changes:

  • It appears the resolution is increased overall in SteamVR.
  • Blurriness is severely reduced, improving image clarity.
  • Significant 20% Performance boost when using “motionvector” instead of “auto” in “Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR settings file” *Tested in SkyrimVR
  • Slight performance boost (5%) in all forms of motion reprojection

Overall, a pretty good update, thanks a lot for the hard work to everyone who contributed to this update.

How to install this update:

  1. Utilize Windows Update and install the following KB patch: KB4507453 you can also click here and directly download the package for your system.
  2. Download and Install Windows Mixed Reality - After installation, right click the software in your Steam Software Library → Properties → Betas → Select the “Beta” - Public Beta" branch.
  3. Your SteamVR should be in beta mode too according to WMR beta instructions, simply follow instructions in Step 2 and utilize them for SteamVR application too.
  4. If you wish to use the new and improved WMR Motion Reprojection, you’ll need to enable it, to do so open up your steam library, right click: “Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR” → Properties → Browse local files → Resources Folder–> Settings folder → Open up “default.vrsettings” with Notepad and delete the two slashes (//) behind: “motionReprojectionMode” : “auto”, & “motionReprojectionIndicatorEnabled” : true, (Reminder: change auto to motionvector if you want motionvector instead of auto).
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Great post :+1:

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So I installed the new 1903 version and I’m getting some odd results.

First of all, my cockpit have never been clearer. In Aerofly FS2, I can read the co-pilots instruments from the captain seat clear as day. It looks great.

Performance-wise - something funky is going on. I originally had reprojection ON and even Aerofly FS2 (which is very VR framerate friendly) was juddering and not very smooth. I turned off motion reprojection in the defaultvrsettings file (changed “auto” to “false”) and regained good performance oddly enough.

Then after firing up X-Plane, again…the visuals look fantastic, performance is kind of poor at first blush. I was trying NY scenery, but that is always awful, so it might have been that.

BUT…I’m also reading some reports on the Steam forums that the Windows 1903 patch and SteamVR (in beta mode) have changed the required Super Sampling values. Comments are all over the page…

For instance, one user is reporting that for O+ users the 100% setting is now equal what used to be 147%. Which makes me thing perhaps my SS is set too high.

Another user reported that they had to uninstall WMR for Steam and re-install it. I’m doing the same and will report back…because when I tried to get the motion reprojection bug/indicator in the upper left corner of my Reverb, it was not showing up. So some general funkiness going on.

And to add more mud to the water - a Microsoft rep in that thread also indicates that now values higher than 2.0 in render target scale are possible and perhaps needed for those that are using high SS settings:

“Scaling went through a number of changes - it’s not unexpected that you are getting a different behavior with the same settings. renderTargetScale was being artificially clamped to 1.25 as an example.”

“I’ll work on clear guidance on how to best set renderTargetScale and what the impact is. For now, the default of 2.0 should work for all existing headsets; it creates a large enough buffer to avoid artificially scaling for the HP Reverb. It is possible to set the value up to 5.0, resources permitting.”

“Short description is it (renderTargetScale) controls the size of the buffers we hand to SteamVR for app rendered content. If you set too small a value then the buffers will be smaller than the what the content was originally rendered at and you get downscaling. If you downscale too much, then we later have to upscale to match the resolution of the displays, and you will see blurriness and image quality issues. If it’s set too high, you end up with a much larger buffer than is needed.”

“There is a point on SS where you’ll need to increase renderTargetScale, or you will trigger a downscale. If you try 2.5 or 3.0 you should see the drop-off go away. This is assuming you aren’t hitting performance issues. In terms of tuning, what you are looking for is the point of diminishing return on upping SS. At some point any value of doing a higher quality initial render either isn’t noticeable or impacts your ability to maintain framerate.”

Another comment from another user - take it for what it’s worth…I’ll test it today as well:

“Reprojection experience is more consistent when it’s forced to motionvector (always on), instead of auto. Someone measured that in this mode it’s 20% better than before”

Back to the Microsoft guy:

“…we’ll be releasing updated betas. These won’t help if you set 60Hz mode, but should help with motion reprojection giving you a consistent experience which should be preferable. Thanks for your patience with this.”

I, for one, am happy to see a MS face addressing this after the two-month black hole. So maybe we will get some improvements and hot fix type action.

Another user with a Reverb specific comment:

“With my reverb, I had to lower SS to 90-85% or so to get decent 90fps performance.”

So I do think my Steam SS value of 188% is now too high. If I set Steam to automatically set my headset it is giving me 142% and says it is rendering each eye at 2996 x 2924, which I think is going to be too high. I would think I’d want to be down around the 2160 x 2160 native resolution.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness posting, just trying to see what the “new” 1903 did, how it is working with Steam VR Beta and WMR for Steam Beta (I guess it is also important to mention I’m using betas of everything at this point).

I knew I should have bought @fearlessfrog a Reverb to goad him into obsessing over squeezing the maximum out of it…haha…maybe I can write another one off my taxes as a training aid… :thinking:

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…aaaaaannnnddd…confirmed…Steam SS value at 180% was what was causing my performance issues. All good now, although 80% might not be where I want to be. I might want to be higher. More experimentation to follow, but super happy I don’t have to roll back Windows again.

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Well from what I can tell my Odyssey plus renders each eye @ 1,440 x 1,600 and the closest to that is at 98% in Steam Resolution setting…
It states I can run at 150% but that is way above what each eye is I am going to test and see if I can see a difference in the way it looks…

I don’t see going higher then the res of the Odyssey Plus headset res. I did also notice I can use the mouse more fluidly then it did with 1803. Before the mouse would jump all over the place and was very hard to use in desktop mode in VR…

I like the new patch so far just need too work out the teething issues I have encountered which where minimal and not hhard to workaround…

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I’m having trouble getting my Reverb to run at 90Hz…I’ve set it in WMR to do so, but Steam is still showing it running at 60Hz…

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Ah. Well, I had 90Hz selected in WMR and put it to auto, rebooted, and am at 90Hz. Weird. WMR sure is a funky piece of kit.

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Holy cow if anyone had concerns with Steam VR and Windows integration this would certainly solidify them.

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Feels just like summer last year, all the betas and config tweaks.

Do I understand correctly that I, as a freshly updated ( to 1903 from 1803) user get none of the good stuff and all of the blurriness if I do not opt in to all the betas?

Or is all the beta opt-in only necessary to get the quick hotfixes that are incoming?

EDIT: did the 2 clicks in Steam to get betas of SteamVR and WMR for SteamVR, Windows says the KBxx patch is already installed. Moved sliders in SteamVR display settings to get sensible pixel numbers (~1400x1800 for approximate Odyssey (also for +) native resolution) and I’m done. May look a bit sharper, maybe a bit smoother, but no radical changes from 1803 this way.

Thanks for the list, as always!