VR tips and tricks - Improving your VR experience! -Updated 9th/Dec/2020

[dburne]

10 minutes ago, Operation_Ivy said:

I don't see the point in trying to achieve 90hz when as soon as some action starts reprojection is kicking in anyway. I'd rather play with reprojection and high settings and a bit of ghosting than with 90hz and the game looking like garbage. But maybe i am missing something considering that i am new to the whole thing.

 

That is now my preferred way to play as well.

Motion Smoothing works pretty well for me whilst enjoying some nice high graphics settings.

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

90 fps & 90 hz helps a lot aiming

[Operatsiya_Ivy]

I am curious how you achieve 90fps in a multiplayer dogfight though

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

13 hours ago, Operation_Ivy said:

I am curious how you achieve 90fps in a multiplayer dogfight though

It depends on the HMD and supersampling you are using, with my current setup I am obviously unable to do it, but I'd rather keep it at 100% supersampling and 60-70 fps. I am using Fenris configuration, a EVGA 3080 FTW Ultra will arrive next month. 

 

With the Samsung Odyssey I didn't have a problem keeping 90 fps 

Edited December 27, 2020 by E69_Qpassa_VR

[Operatsiya_Ivy]

Even a 3080 won't be able to hold 90fps with the reverb g2. Maybe it is a driver issue but with 60 or 70 fps aircrafts are getting very jittery while on 45fps with repro the game is very smooth.

[Panzerlang]

Ways to overcome hardware shortcomings, incorporate them (where feasible) into reality. I do see occasional jitters, I imagine airframe shaking, turbulence, banging my head against the canopy etc.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

15 hours ago, Operation_Ivy said:

I am curious how you achieve 90fps in a multiplayer dogfight though

AMD's new 5900X, RTX 3090 Founders Edition, 2x Corsair MP600 NVMe SSDs, 2x16GB DDR4.

 

It holds 90Hz in dogfights in MP. Drops to 87Hz from time to time. Average FPS 89,xy. 

 

See Chiliwili's thread for my benchmarks (which are still with my previous 3080).

 

IL-2 runs on ultra, what I keep disabled are canopy reflections (spotting), rough terrain, Msaa/fxaa, and "just" high clouds. 

 

I'm running on 60-70% SteamVR SS with the Reverb G2, which is well enough. No need to force it to 100% - try doing actual AB-comparisons.

[Operatsiya_Ivy]

I was dirty benchmarking my system (3080, 10600k oc and 32gb 3600) in a quickplay mission with 12 bombers and 3+1 single seat aircraft and while it being a quite demanding scenario i wasn't able to hold 90hz even at 50% steamVR ss with everything on low except for shadows and clouds on medium. Maybe it is a driver issue that aircraft start stuttering around when i disable repro and go blow 90fps. Everything else is smooth except for this but i still prefer "repro high settings" because i can also set shadows to ultra which can help a lot in terms of spotting.

I suppose it depends on the server, mission and dogfight but i still have trouble seeing you holding 90hz in demanding scenarios in MP like a mass raid on TAW despite you having obviously a more potent system.

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Operation_Ivy

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

Your system should be able enough to stay above 80Hz in these situations with Clouds high and Shadows Ultra which doesn't introduce the flicker and lets you keep good aim even when pulling hard into deflection.

 

From my experience your bottleneck should be the 10600K with multiple aircraft-loads like this. Or more precisely, IL-2's architecture under such loads, the CPU itself is potent. And important to know that in VR, IL-2 draws AVX. So you need to set your AVX offset to 0 in BIOS. This bottleneck is best fought by reducing Preset Settings to High. Try the steam-software fpsVR and watch the frametimes.

 

Shadows and Clouds only stress the GPU. Make sure to have SSAO enabled, as it actually improves performance. Nobody knows why  

 

HDR easily takes up to 15fps in much cloud very aircraft situations too, but I wouldn't play without that.

 

[SCG_motoadve]

10 hours ago, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

I'm running on 60-70% SteamVR SS with the Reverb G2, which is well enough

What resolution you get with this setting?

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

4 hours ago, SCG_motoadve said:

What resolution you get with this setting?

2300,2400,2500. I think his issue is he is forcing the reprojection.

Edited December 28, 2020 by E69_Qpassa_VR

[Operatsiya_Ivy]

11 hours ago, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

Your system should be able enough to stay above 80Hz in these situations with Clouds high and Shadows Ultra which doesn't introduce the flicker and lets you keep good aim even when pulling hard into deflection.

 

From my experience your bottleneck should be the 10600K with multiple aircraft-loads like this. Or more precisely, IL-2's architecture under such loads, the CPU itself is potent. And important to know that in VR, IL-2 draws AVX. So you need to set your AVX offset to 0 in BIOS. This bottleneck is best fought by reducing Preset Settings to High. Try the steam-software fpsVR and watch the frametimes.

 

Shadows and Clouds only stress the GPU. Make sure to have SSAO enabled, as it actually improves performance. Nobody knows why  

 

HDR easily takes up to 15fps in much cloud very aircraft situations too, but I wouldn't play without that.

 

 

I am actually very satisfied with 45fps and repro but i did some testing anyway because i am curious.

 

First of all i think i noticed a mistake on my side. I assumed that steamVR SS is the custom resolution multiplier. Reducing the custom resolution multiplier to 60% SteamVR SS helped a lot with the performance for obvious reasons and my dirty benchmark ran a lot better while not being able to really tell the difference between 90% (previous setting) and 60% steamVR SS. I was also able to run high settings. So much for "i am missing something obvious" ...

 

On a side note, I am pretty sure that the stuttering resulted from the gpu not the cpu because the frametimes were fine on the cpu when the stuttering happens. This is also supported by another test where i set everything to minimum except for clouds to medium. No stutters at all, High 80-90 fps and low frametimes. Increasing general preset was causing stuttering again.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Operation_Ivy

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

Its impossible you are struggling with the 3080 and that processor, as soon as I have it I will pass my configuration as another way to configure but in no way you should play at 45fps..

[Operatsiya_Ivy]

11 minutes ago, E69_Qpassa_VR said:

Its impossible you are struggling with the 3080 and that processor, as soon as I have it I will pass my configuration as another way to configure but in no way you should play at 45fps..

 

With SteamVR SS at 60% i am not running at 45 fps. Maybe this wasn't well put in my post above. I am running relatively comfortably at 85-90fps in that scenario.

[=FF4H=Blackbird71]

Just for those waiting for new RTX cards and other upgrades.....

 

I have 10990K (overclocked to 5.4Mhz), 32Gb RAM @ 4133MHz, ASUS STRIX RTX3090 OC to 2070MHz, Odyssey G9 monitor and Reverb G2.
I aim for a rock solid smooth 90fps and get this with:

High settings in IL2

80% SS in Steam VR for App (100% global)

Sharp landscape

Clouds High

The scenario I check with is Rhineland Summer, 2 flights of 4 each fighters and 2 flights of 4x C47s

Clouds set to mid no of clouds setting (I use cloud mods as well and Rhineland terrain mods)

 

The key seems to be set all your preferred il2 graphics settings and then move the %SS setting down from 100% in steam vr until you get the desired fps rates.

The scenario and cloud effects you choose is also key to checking as a busy one like above will drop it by around 20fps compared to say a 1 on 1 scenario in clear sky so I tend to check with worst case type scenarios.

 

I found that dropping %SS from 100% to even 70-75% was minimal difference.

Here are my full settings which give 90fps under high il2 stress conditions with Steam VR G2 set to 80%

 

1920x1080 screen res

100% ui scale

ultra shadows

medium mirrors

4x landscape detail

canopy reflections off

100km horizon

sharp landscape filter

low terrain roughness

grass off

high clouds

fxaa antialias (x4)

target fps off

gamma 0.8

vsync off

ssao off

hdr on

sharpen on

4k textures on

distant buildings on

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

6 hours ago, Blackbirdkevini1963 said:

Just for those waiting for new RTX cards and other upgrades.....

 

I have 10990K (overclocked to 5.4Mhz), 32Gb RAM @ 4133MHz, ASUS STRIX RTX3090 OC to 2070MHz, Odyssey G9 monitor and Reverb G2. [...]

Hey, that's very nice to hear,congrats!

 

What I'm interested in is whether your 3090 also exhibits a chirping sound under load, often confused with coil whine.

 

Because my new 3090 does so, very extensively and quite loud. 

 

It's like Jiminy Cricket is having a cricket party down there in the case.

[unlikely_spider]

My 3080 FE made loud noises while gaming until I changed my PSU. I went from a PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 950W to a Gigabyte 850W, and now it's quiet.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

1 hour ago, unlikely_spider said:

My 3080 FE made loud noises while gaming until I changed my PSU. I went from a PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 950W to a Gigabyte 850W, and now it's quiet.

Thanks. Here's hope mine will change as well.

 

I'm going from a Seasonic Focus Gold 750W (2017) to a Seasonic Prime GX 850W (2020). They've sent me the 12-PIN cable already as well, everything should arrive tomorrow.

[maaz]

I think I had a similar issue going form a CV1 to a G2.

 

I found a fix on here for G2 users which removed the fisheye, out of focus look in menus and game.

 

Go into the WMR Headset settings (Win10 settings option) and change the Expereince Option from "optimise for performance" to "Best visual quality"

[E69_Qpassa_VR]

Is there any workaround for the planes which flicker? Sometimes it feels that planes dissappear and reappear. 

[Dutch2]

On 12/20/2020 at 2:41 PM, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

 

 

Update on settings

 

SSAO switched on (ssao_enable = 1), as it improves performance. Yes, I did test it precisely 6 times, it's true. Weird, but welcomed 

 

One remark then about ### Performance Issues ###  here the SSAO is still at 0 for better (GPU) performance ??‍♀️

[kirk66]

SCG_Fenris_Wolf, do you still have the preferred settings for those of us still running a RiftS and a 1080ti? It would be nice if they were still somewhere on the original post...

 

Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year!

 

Vulture

 

 

[[DBS]TH0R]

On 12/20/2020 at 2:41 PM, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

Update on settings

 

SSAO switched on (ssao_enable = 1), as it improves performance. Yes, I did test it precisely 6 times, it's true. Weird, but welcomed 

 

What about the negative effect of having SSAO in terms of the plexiglass blur. I don't use VR but trust the same applies to non desktop use...

[peregrine7]

On 1/1/2021 at 10:06 PM, E69_Qpassa_VR said:

Is there any workaround for the planes which flicker? Sometimes it feels that planes dissappear and reappear. 

 

I have noticed this too, there is no way to fix it without introducing blur (from additional supersampling). I think it may be from the LOD-enlargement not taking into account the variable pixel-density in VR.

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

But SSAO activation improve perfromance only for Reverb or even Oculus/opencomposite?

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

  

On 1/3/2021 at 6:10 PM, [DBS]TH0R said:

 

What about the negative effect of having SSAO in terms of the plexiglass blur. I don't use VR but trust the same applies to non desktop use...

Thank you for getting me to check it again. 

 

Something has changed again since last patch. So it did improve performance until last version, confirmed by @chiliwili69 (who found this, while he did all the work to map the different settings and what they'd produce in performance difference) as well. Now it doesn't, now it robs performance. So I have removed it again.

 

Keeping up with version changes, first post edited. 

On 1/3/2021 at 6:23 AM, kirk66 said:

SCG_Fenris_Wolf, do you still have the preferred settings for those of us still running a RiftS and a 1080ti? It would be nice if they were still somewhere on the original post...

 

Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year!

 

Vulture

 

Hi, 

 

I don't have a 1080ti nor a RiftS here anymore, so I can't check it properly. I haven't had Oculus gear in a while, just recently I tested the Quest 2 (which is great imho!) from a friend who brought it along (thanks @StG2_Raven_VR !). So I would only estimate and guess, and that would not be good enough imho.

 

It seems very important that you switch to OpenComposite and don't run the game via SteamVR, as that could induce a considerable performance hit, as mentioned by @dburne who is one of the Oculus Pros.

 

You can start with 1,32x multiplier to your resolution. So that it shows to have 1690x1900 for the resolution. Then put Preset to High, enable sharpen, shadows to high, canopy off, grass off, landscape filter blurry, land rendering range 4x, enable HDR, disable bloom (in startup.cfg). Check your fps with fpsVR or an app comparable in the Oculus store. And if it's too low, you may want to check wether your GPU is exceeding the max frametime. If it isn't, the issue is the CPU - which is often not properly shown. You can tell it is the CPU, if the GPU is beneath the needed frametiming, but the game still does not run at your desired framerate.

Edited January 5, 2021 by SCG_Fenris_Wolf

[=FF4H=Blackbird71]

Hi Fenris,
 

Yes interesting you mentioned about the RTX buzzing sound "like a cricket"
My 3090 buzzes a lot and it seems this is a common problem with RTX 3000 cards. It increases as they are loaded more.

It is caused by the power coils vibrating as more power is fed to them and I have heard that after a while it reduces as the coils 'bed in'. It has reduced a bit now but still not silent !
Not good though especially when we have all paid so much for the bloody cards !!
When I next take the waterblock off I will try to position some thermalpads over the coils which should hopefully stabilise the vibration.

 

I highly recommend the ASUS STRIX OC RTX 3090 card as it has very good power delivery compared to many other 3090 cards and I have managed to overclock in MSI to +590 on RAM and +190 on clock with 123% power settings (max). This gives 14900 score on 3DMark Port Royal benchmark.
Thermals are very low (I have custom cooling loop with EK Water cooling block and 2 x 480mm rads on GPU dedicated loop...overkill) and never exceed 50-60degC.

 

With a 5.4OC 10990 CPU its my CPU which is more loaded and I may get an 11990 when they come out which should get me an extra 10% single thread throughput hopefully but will wait to see real world benchmarks when it is released in March.
 

Picture of PC below (minus glass front panel).....its the first one I have built from scratch since I made a Sinclair ZX80 and Acorn Atom by soldering from kits........anyone remember those?

 

[FTC_Mephisto]

Impressive build, @=FF4H=Blackbird71. What settings can you achieve in VR for IL-2 with this set-up? 

[unlikely_spider]

@=FF4H=Blackbird71, you may want to add some cooling components to that PC

[=FF4H=Blackbird71]

I have now fitted a VR Cover faceplate to my G2 which replaces the magnetically attached HP one.
It is really worth doing as I found that FoV improves by approx 5-10% and for me the best bit was improved sharpness towards the edges of your view.

It does this by moving your eyes 5-10mm closer to the lenses so if you wear glasses it may not be a viable mod to do.
 

Comfort is at least as good as as the HP on as it is a soft padded plastic.

There is a small gap around the nose so not as good a light seal as the HP one but I prefer this as it allows a slight view of keyboard if you need it....you could always eliminate this by moving the rubber HP nose cover over but this would require cutting it off so up to you.
 

The mod requires https://eu.vrcover.com/products/facial-interface-foam-replacement-basic-set-for-oculus™-quest-2 (currently showing as out of stock but should be in again soon or maybe available elsewhere.)

To attach to the G2 just buy some self adhesive 10mm wide velcro (approx 30cm of hook side only needed) as this attaches direct to the soft velcro side of the VR cover.
When you stick the velcro on to the G2 just avoid the holes with magnets in so then you can just swap over the HP one with the VR Cover one as you wish.
No irreversible modding required.
 

Highly recommended.......

 

I should be getting DOF Reality H6 motion platform tomorrow so I will post some more then on assembly and setup specifically for il2 of that over next few days/weeks if anyone is interested.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

Guys, please stick to this thread for the mod 

 

 

let's talk about graphics settings here and keep hardware somewhere else. I am also guilty of this by mentioning the chirping sound. Thanks  

[TWHYata_PL]

I only want to say that Today I got a “flash” and tested IL 2 with FFR Active - it’s finally working like a charm !
Tested FFR conservative over 1h at Bodenplatte map and it’s not crashing like before. I can finally enyoy this sim with ultra settings with my “old” rtx 2080ti

Nvidia 260.89 , PT .087v2 , FW .295

[paul_leonard]

On 12/21/2020 at 8:26 PM, sydale1972 said:

I need some help, i've recently started playing il2 again after a long absence but now with a HP Reverb G2. I used to have an Oculus Rift CV1 which worked pretty well.

VR quality and framerates have been great, but some how today the generic controller settings in steam changed and in the process of getting them working again I've had to reset all my controls again  (why is there not a load /save feature??). In the process of doing that I also noticed that my head position in VR seems to be locked (it was ok last time I played). If I move my head side to side or fwd/back the entire cockpit moves with me rather than being able to move my head around the cockpit. With the old rift all I had for setup for view controls was one for re-centering the view, external view, flyby and zoom and thats all i needed but looking at the menu now there are now a load of controls for setting camera positions etc!

 

Any ideas for what may be up??

 

Thanks in advance!    

 

On 12/22/2020 at 3:36 AM, JG51-Hetzer said:

I've had this and I put such issues down to glitches. Rebooting the PC fixed it. The WMR software is the culprit in my opinion and I can't wait for somebody out there to offer a way to disable the 'cliffhouse' and all its associated shite.

 

Well it is a WMR issue related to the Cliff House.  What is happening is that you have likely skipped, or not completed, the Cliff House routine of looking left, looking right, and looking down.  This centres the headgear in real space.  Then launch SteamVR for WMR and then iL-2.  You should be able to move your head around the cockpit.  Reboot implicitly works as well only because you probably ended up completing the alignment process.  Just as effective although rebooting requires more cuss words.

[dburne]

40 minutes ago, paul_leonard said:

 

 

Well it is a WMR issue related to the Cliff House.  What is happening is that you have likely skipped, or not completed, the Cliff House routine of looking left, looking right, and looking down.  This centres the headgear in real space.  Then launch SteamVR for WMR and then iL-2.  You should be able to move your head around the cockpit.  Reboot implicitly works as well only because you probably ended up completing the alignment process.  Just as effective although rebooting requires more cuss words.

 

Odd I have never done that, have not had any issue like that with my Reverb G2. In fact I do not even put my headset on until after I have launched the game.

My process is I launch WMR for Steam VR Beta, it launches and also launches Steam VR, then I launch the game.

Edited January 13, 2021 by dburne

[[FF]Daman123]

Thank you very much for your settings, I am running an Oculus Quest 2 and went from 35-45 fps to 80-90 fps. Night and day for my experience, many thanks.

[peregrine7]

On 1/14/2021 at 10:06 AM, dburne said:

 

Odd I have never done that, have not had any issue like that with my Reverb G2. In fact I do not even put my headset on until after I have launched the game.

My process is I launch WMR for Steam VR Beta, it launches and also launches Steam VR, then I launch the game.

 

The process you are describing skips the calibration step. With WMR open (but not SteamVR or the game) you should put on your headset, it will tell you to look around.
 

[unlikely_spider]

6 minutes ago, peregrine7 said:

 

The process you are describing skips the calibration step. With WMR open (but not SteamVR or the game) you should put on your headset, it will tell you to look around.
 

Most of the time I just go into WMR home - how do you get that prompt? And does it improve tracking each time it is done?

[dburne]

52 minutes ago, unlikely_spider said:

Most of the time I just go into WMR home - how do you get that prompt? And does it improve tracking each time it is done?

 

Same here, I just put headset on and off I go. Never had a need to calibrate.

[peregrine7]

 

On 1/18/2021 at 10:57 AM, unlikely_spider said:

Most of the time I just go into WMR home - how do you get that prompt? And does it improve tracking each time it is done?

 

On 1/18/2021 at 10:57 AM, unlikely_spider said:

Most of the time I just go into WMR home - how do you get that prompt? And does it improve tracking each time it is done?

 

It only shows the prompt if it is unsure of the tracking environment (usually because it's darker than usual, or you're sitting up near your PC), but you don't see the prompt if you put the headset on after having already launched steamvr/a game.
So if you get into the game, put on your headset and find your head position is "locked" this is why. 

 

To fix it, close steamvr (and possibly restart WMR?), either way you'll know it's right because either the prompt will pop up or immediately upon going to WMR cliffhouse positional tracking will start working.

 

If your tracking is fine regardless, these tips aren't for you. My room can get a bit dark at night and while tracking is fine, it does mean I have to make sure I put the headset on with WMR running before I run the game.

Edited January 19, 2021 by peregrine7

[II./JG77_Manu*]

Thank you very much @SCG_Fenris_Wolf, helped me a lot to get the G2 dialed in swiftly