Which VR is best for spotting?

[Diamondaxe 7]

I'm interested in getting VR. My primary problem right now is spotting issues with my 27 inch screen. I want to upgrade but don't have room to sit a few feet back from a 50 inch 4 k monitor. VR sound like an upgrade that doesn't require lots of space, but I hear spotting can be more difficult. The spotting problem is game breaking for me and I havn't been able to fix it despite some helpful suggestions. I would hate to invest in VR and find that I still can't see the enemy or that they disappear right before my eyes. I'm thinking Reverb or Pimax 5k. My only question is which VR is best at helping my to spot and or identify enemies. I prefer not to discuss monitors at this time.

[Alonzo 731]

How old are you (roughly) and how is your vision?

[=GW=a7610783 9]

PIMAX 8XK  XDDD

[YoYo 528]

Take HP Reverb, it has better view for spotting enemy than Pimax 5k+ - 2160 pxt vs 1440 :D. I used both and Reverb v2 its a winner till now. Maybe Pimax 8kX will be better with FOV only, but its a spring/summer 2020 (but vertical resolution will be the same 2160 as Reverb, only FOV better = less FPS).

 

 

Edited November 30 by YoYo

[Senor_Jefe-6 76]

9 hours ago, Diamondaxe said:

I'm interested in getting VR. My primary problem right now is spotting issues with my 27 inch screen. I want to upgrade but don't have room to sit a few feet back from a 50 inch 4 k monitor. VR sound like an upgrade that doesn't require lots of space, but I hear spotting can be more difficult. The spotting problem is game breaking for me and I havn't been able to fix it despite some helpful suggestions. I would hate to invest in VR and find that I still can't see the enemy or that they disappear right before my eyes. I'm thinking Reverb or Pimax 5k. My only question is which VR is best at helping my to spot and or identify enemies. I prefer not to discuss monitors at this time.

At the moment, spotting is easier with all the shimmering and the vr mod zoom.  If spotting is your only barrier to getting vr, then pull the trigger.  Be aware though, you will need a significantly more powerful rig than 2d.  I’d call 1080ti a minimum at this point and you definitely need above 4.5 on the cpu. 
 

I've had the Odyssey+ and i7 9700k with 1080ti and I’m still having to sacrifice quality. So I’m going to suck it up and get a 2080ti and be good for another few years.

[marklar 45]

Whichever headset to choose you will need to use migoto's zoom mod anyway. 

[DD_Arthur 1796]

On 11/30/2019 at 5:05 AM, Diamondaxe said:

 My only question is which VR is best at helping my to spot and or identify enemies. 

 

The best headset to spot enemies?  Original Rift.

 

The best headset to identify enemies?  Reverb.

[216th_Jordan 973]

On 11/30/2019 at 9:12 AM, Senor_Jefe-6 said:

I've had the Odyssey+ and i7 9700k with 1080ti and I’m still having to sacrifice quality. So I’m going to suck it up and get a 2080ti and be good for another few years.

 

What does that mean? What do you have to sacrifice and what are your avg. FPS? Looking to get basically that setup but with a RTX 2070 Super, which should be almost equal to a 1080 ti. I have no problems running high setting with decreased view distance, but I'd like to know what I can expect. Thanks in advance.

Edited December 2 by 216th_Jordan

[Gomoto 15]

What quality do you have to sacrifice? 1080ti is good for 90FPS  with the HP Reverb. More likely you are CPU bound.

[zdog0331 11]

It is harder to spot enemies by far, however that really isn't the point of vr.  I was worried about the same thing, however i am perfectly fine sacrificing spotting capabilities considering the immersion you gain.  I don't really know how to describe it other than you move from playing a video game to actually being there.  The mustang looks identical to the one i sat in 1 to 1 scale which is something you just can't explain.  Trust me it is well worth it regardless of spotting.  As much as i am at a disadvantage when compared to my monitor and trackir setup, i simply cannot go back and enjoy a flat screen anymore.  You cannot look behind you easily like you are used to with trackir and you cannot see much at a distance and even spotting the existence of a plane can be a chore.  None of this even comes close to the benefit of immersion you get.  I would say go with which ever headset suites your needs the best as none of the headsets are really good for spotting including the super high resolution ones.  Get something that is comfortable and suites your desires for VR as resolution is simply not there, yet you will be impressed in spite of the poor resolution in every vr headset (some are worse than others)

Edited December 3 by zdog0331

[Hoots 148]

3 hours ago, zdog0331 said:

It is harder to spot enemies by far, however that really isn't the point of vr.  I was worried about the same thing, however i am perfectly fine sacrificing spotting capabilities considering the immersion you gain.  I don't really know how to describe it other than you move from playing a video game to actually being there.  The mustang looks identical to the one i sat in 1 to 1 scale which is something you just can't explain.  Trust me it is well worth it regardless of spotting.  As much as i am at a disadvantage when compared to my monitor and trackir setup, i simply cannot go back and enjoy a flat screen anymore.  You cannot look behind you easily like you are used to with trackir and you cannot see much at a distance and even spotting the existence of a plane can be a chore.  None of this even comes close to the benefit of immersion you get.  I would say go with which ever headset suites your needs the best as none of the headsets are really good for spotting including the super high resolution ones.  Get something that is comfortable and suites your desires for VR as resolution is simply not there, yet you will be impressed in spite of the poor resolution in every vr headset (some are worse than others)

 

Exactly this. The feeling of light flak coming up at you is pretty overpowering and for the first time I get the description you read in books, slow at first then impossibly fast when it gets near you. It’s impressive. I don’t fly MP anymore and just have icons on to help with spotting. Works for me. 

[capt_nasties 36]

you will find that in VR IL2 is CPU bound the vast majority of the time.  This might sound crazy but IMHO a 4.9gHz processor and fast ram are a requirement.  Unless you want to be in re-projection mode...which is less than ideal to say the least.  

[Senor_Jefe-6 76]

On 12/2/2019 at 5:56 PM, Gomoto said:

What quality do you have to sacrifice? 1080ti is good for 90FPS  with the HP Reverb. More likely you are CPU bound.

I'm running an i7 9700k at 5.2gHz, 16gb ram @3200.  I'm 100% GPU bound per Steam Advanced VR monitor, MSI overlay and Windows Performance Manager (used separately, because I couldn't believe my 1080ti wasn't cutting it).  There seems to be a huge HOWEVER, here though.  In single-player, it runs flawlessly.  In MP, my GPU takes a shit and is a bottleneck.  Don't have that in any other game, and interestingly enough, this is the ONLY game that I have any fps issues on.  

 

My FPS issues are limited however, in that they go from 90 on my Odyssey+ to stuttering down to 70fps.  While this doesn't seem overly hateful, it's enough for me to materially notice, and make me hate my eyes, especially if it's during an intense fight.  You could negate all of this and run ASW full time at 45 fps with reprojection carrying the load, but to me, it looks like doodoo and I'm not willing to sacrifice the visuals 100% of the time for the 15% of the time it's screwy.

 

I do anticipate devs eventually fixing this issue (since it appears to be an engine issue, according to another VR thread with 100s of posts), but I'm not a patient person, so I'll just spend another $1.3k to get a 2080ti and be done with it.

[capt_nasties 36]

😂@Senor_Jefe-6 stop motivating all of us at 5.0 to go up even higher 😂  *goes into bios*

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf 779]

Señor el Jefe seis, that CPU is monstrous. What vcore are you using? Please tell. Is there an AVX offset? Jealous indeed!

[Gomoto 15]

Thanks for your answer Jefe. A last question: how much influence has the HUD on/off in Multiplayer for you. Thank you.

[Senor_Jefe-6 76]

On 12/7/2019 at 10:13 AM, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

Señor el Jefe seis, that CPU is monstrous. What vcore are you using? Please tell. Is there an AVX offset? Jealous indeed!

Screenshot of my MSI Mobo Manager my dude:

 

I run at 4.5 at all times unless I'm using VR, then I'll ramp it up.  Probably saving a few percent of lifespan in doing so.  AVX Offset is 0

On 12/7/2019 at 1:44 PM, Gomoto said:

Thanks for your answer Jefe. A last question: how much influence has the HUD on/off in Multiplayer for you. Thank you.

You know, surprisingly to me, not as much as I would like it to.  I use HUD on minus the markers/compass (Disable the "I" HUD and keep the "H").  It's probably hitting me for 3-5 fps but I'm stable at 90 until you get that MP stutter, which the HUD doesn't hurt it any more than that.  

 

I really only use the HUD now for  MP chat/notifications.

Edited December 9 by Senor_Jefe

[capt_nasties 36]

thanks for that @Senor_Jefe-6  pretty damn impressive for *only* 1.34 on the v core.  

[Gomoto 15]

When I go for 60 FPS 200% rendering 3116x3052 Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR Beta  spotting in VR becomes quite good.

 

This is on a 3600x and a 1080Ti and a HP Reverb.

 

You have to set the refreshrate of the HMD to 60 FPS to achieve a constant frame rate. Then it is a very smooth experience. (Much better than if you leave it at the standard 90 FPS refresh rate and experience floating FPS.

 

(I use the Ultra Graphics setting with SSAO off.)

Edited Monday at 07:02 PM by Gomoto

[QB.Creep 72]

48 minutes ago, Gomoto said:

When I go for 60 FPS 200% rendering 3116x3052 Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR Beta  spotting in VR becomes quite good.

 

This is on a 3600x and a 1080Ti and a HP Reverb.

 

You have to set the refreshrate of the HMD to 60 FPS to achieve a constant frame rate. Then it is a very smooth experience. (Much better than if you leave it at the standard 90 FPS refresh rate and experience floating FPS.

 

(I use the Ultra Graphics setting with SSAO off.)

I will have to give this a shot... this is quite different than the setting I currently have with my Reverb. I went with @capt_nasties settings from his YouTube video and think it is quite good, but I do have a terrible time spotting contacts in the 5-10km range. 

 

One last question - you mentioned setting the refresh rate to 60FPS - did you mean 60hz? I tried that and I noticed a sort of "flickering" that was especially noticeable in the areas of the display where the colors were lighter. Really did not enjoy it so forced it to 90hz. I wonder if there is something I am missing there.

Thanks for the info!

[Gomoto 15]

I have a problem right now. When streamVR starts up accidently in 60hz and WMR settings are 90 hz everything is fine.

 

But when I force 60hz in WMR i get a distorted fisheye view. Sad because when I hit accidently 60 hz I can crank up the resolution quite a bit.

 

I have to inverstigate and will report back. (This is a known issue, there are other posts about it.)

Edited Monday at 10:02 PM by Gomoto

[Senor_Jefe-6 76]

I have to recommend 90hz for the masses.  60 fps (fps and hz interchangeable for my argument) will be smooth, but physiologically you run a much higher risk of getting sick.  

 

I've always been of the mindset that you need to do whatever it takes to get to 90fps 24/7, and be prepared to be on the bleeding edge of pc tech.  

 

If you can get away with 60fps, then consider yourself blessed and I envy you!

[Gomoto 15]

Since I can not force 60hz, for now I use 90hz with the 200% supersampling and just turn the FPS counter off. 

 

I am VR affine and used already a DK2 and CV1. I do not get easily VR sick 🙂 

 

 

[Senor_Jefe-6 76]

13 hours ago, Gomoto said:

Since I can not force 60hz, for now I use 90hz with the 200% supersampling and just turn the FPS counter off. 

 

I am VR affine and used already a DK2 and CV1. I do not get easily VR sick 🙂 

 

 

I've read in a few different places that a SS above 150-160% actually blurs the image a bit, so it is recommended to run IL2 anywhere between 130%-150% depending on headset.  Not to mention 200% for me is a performance hog.  You say you're running Ultra? Is that in MP?

 

I have to use Balanced settings with clouds medium (they seem to kill my performance the most).

[capt_nasties 36]

6 hours ago, Senor_Jefe-6 said:

I've read in a few different places that a SS above 150-160% actually blurs the image a bit, so it is recommended to run IL2 anywhere between 130%-150% depending on headset.  Not to mention 200% for me is a performance hog.  You say you're running Ultra? Is that in MP?

 

I have to use Balanced settings with clouds medium (they seem to kill my performance the most).

I agree with these philosophies as well.  Sounds very close to my settings (but ss at 100% on the reverb) 

Edited Tuesday at 09:12 PM by capt_nasties

[Gomoto 15]

I just finished a 33 minutes flight in multiplayer: combat box with these settings:

 

Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR Beta

Custom Resolution 200% 3116x3052 

Advanced supersample filtering disabled 

Use SteamVR Home disabled (FPS gain)

 

Ultra Graphics setting

Screen resolution 640x480 (FPS gain)

Full screen enabled (FPS gain)

Shadows medium

Distant landscape normal

Horizon 40km

Landscape filter off

Grass normal

Clouds low

Antialiasing 2x

4k textures enabled

Distant buildings enabled

SSAO disabled

HDR disabled

Sharpen disabled

 

Framerate avarage 70, low 60, high 80 

 

3600x 1080ti HP Reverb

 

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf 779]

That's great @Gomoto, you are running on 141.13%, with multisampling 1 (AA 2x). So you are precisely doing what others have mentioned as well.

 

 

 

(That it is quoted as 200% in your SteamVR implies that you are not using the "Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR" App.)

[Gomoto 15]

What do you imply please?

 

3116x3052 is the resolution I am rendering. 

fpsVR reports also 200% SS

 

Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR (Beta):

It entered 60hz mode accidently this time, will enjoy smooth 60 FPS without distortion today. Would love if I could find a way to force this mode without the usuall 60 hz distortion 🙂

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:21 PM by Gomoto

[Gomoto 15]

 Just back from mp. In heavy action I achieve only 50 FPS with this settings.

[Gomoto 15]

I turned of antialiasing, I really do not need it at 200% rendering

[Gomoto 15]

I switched to medium clouds with no noticeable performance penalty. (up to 84 fps on combat box, 71 avarage)