I don't understan VR in this sim

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

I've been an Il2 player for several years and have always enjoyed the simulator graphics. For a year and a half I have been playing only in VR with a good level system (RTX2080, i7 9700K, Rift S, opencomposite) but I can't "understand" this simulator. Each update is a lottery game, with almost constant performance drops: a year and a half ago I was playing well, with almost all settings at maximum. Now, whether you lower them or raise them, little and nothing changes. SS at 1 or 1.5, FXAA or MSAA, high level or low ... what you gain or lose is always little, and the game is not very fluid, with almost continuous stuttering ... not that it is unplayable, but it is not fluid as it should, with a disturbing final effect. I've read a thousand posts, but the solution doesn't seem to come. It's me? I dont think, because I haven't problem with driving sim (pCARS2, AC, ACC)... Is it an inherent defect of IL2? Thanks for any suggestions.

Edited January 2, 2021 by I./SG1.Ludovisi

[[DBS]Browning]

What is your frame rate and VR set?

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

I use opencomposite and I have no idea how to see fps (ingame fps are stuck at 40). Setting are SS 1, global setting on high, almost setting on medium except cloud and shadow (high), AA 2x, horizon 100 km... I tried global on low and everiting on low-mid, but the gain was not astonish.

[Giovanni_Giorgio]

Did you experience the performance drop right after the last update? 

I have a strong suspicion that the latest update with introduction of 4K cockpits resulted in a significant hit in VR performance.

[Dagwoodyt]

50 minutes ago, mincer said:

Did you experience the performance drop right after the last update? 

I have a strong suspicion that the latest update with introduction of 4K cockpits resulted in a significant hit in VR performance.

my suspicion also

[[DBS]Browning]

What is your VR set? 

Game rate can be displayed with backspace. 

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

- Oculus Rift S

- opencomposite with SS 1.0

- fps counter 40 stable

 

    3dhud = 0
    adapter = 0
    bloom_enable = 1
    canopy_ref = 1
    desktop_center = 1
    detail_rt_res = 1024
    draw_distance = 0.54500
    far_blocks = 1
    fps_counter = 0
    fps_limit = 0
    full_height = 1080
    full_width = 1920
    fullscreen = 1
    gamma = 1.00000
    grass_distance = 100.00000
    hdr_enable = 1
    land_anisotropy = 2
    land_detail = 2
    land_tex_lods = 3
    max_cache_res = 1
    max_clouds_quality = 2
    mgpu_compatible = 0
    mirrors = 2
    msaa = 0
    multisampling = 1
    or_ca = 0.00000
    or_dummy = 0
    or_enable = 1
    or_height = 2656
    or_hud_rad = 0.85000
    or_hud_size = 1.00000
    or_ipd = 0.06350
    or_sipdc = 0.00000
    or_width = 2480
    post_sharpen = 1
    preset = 2
    prop_blur_max_rpm_for_vr = 155
    rescale_target = 1.00000
    shadows_quality = 3
    ssao_enable = 1
    stereo_dof = 5.00000
    vsync = 0
    win_height = 1080
    win_width = 1920

[[DBS]Browning]

Assuming you are getting less than 90 fps, but above 40 fps (do check), the cause of these stutters is likely ASW. If that is the case, you should notice the stutters more when looking at your wings leading edge when flying at low altitude. 

Disable ASW by pressing right-control and numpad 1 or numpad 0 (I forget which, try both) and see if that resolves the issue. 

 

If your game rate is below 45, reducing your graphical settings will also help. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by [DBS]Browning

[ACG_Orb]

I have a similar experience to the OP. Every major update is like game performance russian roulette.

 

The big kick in the balls for me was the deferred shading update back in April.  It's been a constant downward trend in graphics settings ever since.

 

I'm holding out until hardware upgrades become a realistic possibility later this year.

[chiliwili69]

5 hours ago, I./SG1.Ludovisi said:

SS at 1 or 1.5, FXAA or MSAA, high level or low ... what you gain or lose is always little, and the game is not very fluid, with almost continuous stuttering

 

That´s strange. The settings affect very much the performance.

 

All VR players have to take a decission:

 

A) use ASW (or equivalent) and adapt settings

B) don´t use ASW and adapt settings to be mostly at 90fps (or 80fps in the case of Rift-S)

 

The ASW technologies reduces by almost a factor of 2 the load of CPU/GPU since synthetic frames are "invented" based on trajectories of moving objects. But they are not perfect. Sometimes they introduce glitches or artifacts. So first thing is to try them and decide if you are in A or B.

 

Since we have a benchmark now (Thanks to Syn_Vander) we can test every new game update and check if performance goes up or down or stay the same.

The last big update related to the referred rendering moved some of the load from CPU to GPU. We saw that our CPU frametimes were greatly improved but the GPU was more constrained.

 

I always recomend the fpsVR tool (it is not free, just few dollars but very worth) to monitor your GPU and CPU frametimes and understand better how your system is constrained. And more importantly, how every map, every plane, every setting loads differently the CPU or GPU. So yes, it is a complex problem which can be seen not logical. But there is an explanation for almost everything in SP. In MP I don´t know.

 

It could be also useful to run the IL-2 benchmark or public benchmarks (passmark, userbenchmark) to compare the performance of your hardware versus others.

 

 

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

Default Rift S is AWD on, and it works great with many games I play, never disabled. However, I'll try disabling ASW for IL2, thanks for tips.

[dburne]

3 hours ago, I./SG1.Ludovisi said:

Default Rift S is AWD on, and it works great with many games I play, never disabled. However, I'll try disabling ASW for IL2, thanks for tips.

 

I will take some small graphic artifacts with Reprojection on and higher settings, versus stuttering with Reprojection off and lowering the settings any day. Just my personal preference in all my flight sims.

[Charlo-VRde]

Yep, all personal preference to what you are trying to get from your VR sim experience. I get bounced in MP much more often at 45fps than at 90 fps, so I am balancing eye candy with Steam SS so I stay in the 80-90 fps range.

 

(Though I am pretty much grounded from simming at the moment - two days ago my Reverb G2's cable started causing visual glitches/static/either or both screens going black when I adjusted the headstrap. HP finally agreed they think (and I hope) it is just the cable, and they are sending me a replacement cable - though of course that will depend upon if/when they have any in stock. ?)

[chiliwili69]

10 hours ago, Charlo-VR said:

HP finally agreed they think (and I hope) it is just the cable, and they are sending me a replacement cable - though of course that will depend upon if/when they have any in stock

 

Just one quick check about that. When I gently pluged the cable to the G2 headset for the first time, I thought it was done. But it wasn´t.

Don´t be afraid of putting more force to totally insert the connector

[Ribbon]

1 hour ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

Just one quick check about that. When I gently pluged the cable to the G2 headset for the first time, I thought it was done. But it wasn´t.

Don´t be afraid of putting more force to totally insert the connector

Can you measure outer connector dimensions when fully plugged in?

Mine is arriving tomorrow so that could be useful information!

 

Thnx!

[41Sqn_Skipper]

2 hours ago, =VARP=Ribbon said:

Can you measure outer connector dimensions when fully plugged in?

Mine is arriving tomorrow so that could be useful information!

 

Thnx!

 

There's a little dot on the outer connector, it needs to be aligned with the frame.

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

To obtain a quite steady 80 fps, I use the following setting.

 

- SS 1.0

- Balanced

- Everything on Medium (even clouds and shadows)

- Land detail 2x

- FXAA

- AA x2

- Off: Grass, SSAO, HDR, 4K, distant building

 

I'm not happy about that, but maybe is normal with a rtx2080...

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by I./SG1.Ludovisi

[Marvel]

On 1/2/2021 at 3:03 PM, I./SG1.Ludovisi said:

I've been an Il2 player for several years and have always enjoyed the simulator graphics. For a year and a half I have been playing only in VR with a good level system (RTX2080, i7 9700K, Rift S, opencomposite) but I can't "understand" this simulator. Each update is a lottery game, with almost constant performance drops: a year and a half ago I was playing well, with almost all settings at maximum. Now, whether you lower them or raise them, little and nothing changes. SS at 1 or 1.5, FXAA or MSAA, high level or low ... what you gain or lose is always little, and the game is not very fluid, with almost continuous stuttering ... not that it is unplayable, but it is not fluid as it should, with a disturbing final effect. I've read a thousand posts, but the solution doesn't seem to come. It's me? I dont think, because I haven't problem with driving sim (pCARS2, AC, ACC)... Is it an inherent defect of IL2? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Hi, these are my actual VR settings (I taked it in 2D mode, in VR "Enable VR HDM" mode is ticked). You can see my rig features in my signature. These settings works fine from my second fresh install of IL-2 past year and I never more touched it.

Hope this help.

Ciao!

 

M

 

[exmachina]

I've posted elsewhere but the last update did something bizarre to my VR.  First it worked fine, then later on in the same IL2 session it started stuttering severely.  Now VR in IL2 is totally broken--I cannot get it to start in VR mode at all anymore (other VR games still working fine)

 

 

 

 

[Charlo-VRde]

16 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

Just one quick check about that. When I gently pluged the cable to the G2 headset for the first time, I thought it was done. But it wasn´t.

Don´t be afraid of putting more force to totally insert the connector

 

Oh, I've tried just about everything. I didn't reseat the cable as often as everything else since I don't want to wear out that connector, but I do know it needs to be pushed in all the way. I really hope it is just a problem with the cable, since for now that is the only part they are sending as a replacement.

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

Here my setting based on Marvel's suggestion. I just remove 4K (quite useless for VR) and added normal canopy reflection: not a totally steady 80 fps with 16 planes + numerous ground object, but quite good!

According to this results, landscape filter and distant landscape details are very demanding, but I did not consider them because most thread point to other parameters such as shadow and clouds.

[firdimigdi]

i9 9900k/rtx2080/3600MHz ram with a Rift S

 

IL2 is one of the smoothest VR simulator experiences I've had so far. Ever since the last update I was able to bump my settings up to using the Ultra preset.

 

These are the settings I use for rift s with opencomposite, I used to keep SS 1.1 in opencomposite.ini but recently the game doesn't seem to like a local installation so I just use OTT and a global install. Only difference to this is that when I play I use 640x480 fullscreen for the mirror window.

 

GPU frametimes in 8 vs 8 QMB @ Moscow Autumn 12:30 Clear are 6-9msec, lower to the ground it can go up to 10-11msec - in the Rhine area with clouds near a town it can go up to 15msec for a second or two, and that's where the 0.9 dynamic resolution factor kicks in so the resolution drops to approximately what it would be without SS active which I find to provide a smoother transition than with ASW kicking in.

 

 

OTT:

 

nvidia

Setting the VR pre-render frames to 3 seems to maybe have some small gains but I seem to feel its more snappy without that (although it just might be placebo; haven't done enough tests to quantify it).

Edited January 4, 2021 by Firdimigdi

[Marvel]

11 hours ago, exmachina said:

I've posted elsewhere but the last update did something bizarre to my VR.  First it worked fine, then later on in the same IL2 session it started stuttering severely.  Now VR in IL2 is totally broken--I cannot get it to start in VR mode at all anymore (other VR games still working fine)

 

 

 

 

 

In my Win10 last upgrade, 12/16/20, an upgrade of Windows mixed reality, changed the framerate on "windows choice" instead the right 60 Hz. I had a couple of days with flashing blackout, then I check the VR headset settings  and I discovered the changment. I set framerate to 60 Hz and now it works fine.

Hope this help.

Ciao!

 

M

[Ribbon]

On 1/3/2021 at 11:12 AM, chiliwili69 said:

 

Just one quick check about that. When I gently pluged the cable to the G2 headset for the first time, I thought it was done. But it wasn´t.

Don´t be afraid of putting more force to totally insert the connector

I avoided putting more force and just did more attempts (4 attempts) until it gently slide in and aligned connector dot with headset.

If female connector is hard soldered onto headset pcb than brute force can bend and damage it so i would suggest to make more attempts rather than using brute force.

[Dutch2]

13 hours ago, Firdimigdi said:

i9 9900k/rtx2080/3600MHz ram with a Rift S

 

IL2 is one of the smoothest VR simulator experiences I've had so far. Ever since the last update I was able to bump my settings up to using the Ultra preset.

 

These are the settings I use for rift s with opencomposite, I used to keep SS 1.1 in opencomposite.ini but recently the game doesn't seem to like a local installation so I just use OTT and a global install. Only difference to this is that when I play I use 640x480 fullscreen for the mirror window.

 

GPU frametimes in 8 vs 8 QMB @ Moscow Autumn 12:30 Clear are 6-9msec, lower to the ground it can go up to 10-11msec - in the Rhine area with clouds near a town it can go up to 15msec for a second or two, and that's where the 0.9 dynamic resolution factor kicks in so the resolution drops to approximately what it would be without SS active which I find to provide a smoother transition than with ASW kicking in.

 

 

 

I also use the DRF only in my case 0.8,  SteamVR is set to 140-150% resolution and Reprojection set to auto.  So at a few clouds I’m running the 140-150%, when its become cloudy  my DRF is reducing to keep the FPS. Still problems then my 45FPS reprojection  does automatic shift in. 

Still do not know why the use of DRF and auto reprojection is neglected, I think an very usefully tool when running a low spec Vcard like mine. 

 

 

 

[firdimigdi]

Yeah I find that usually switching to DRF is smoother than the switch to ASW in the Rift as the threshold for the latter is ambiguous and it can persist in reprojection mode well after the cause for it is gone. With the above settings I don't see it going under 60-70fps under normal circumstances which usually doesn't last long and I really have to pay attention to notice when DRF kicks in to alleviate it.

 

The only stutter I get is the loading induced stutter documented in these threads:

 

[21.Gr.CT.Ludovisi]

Please, give me more infos about DRF, I did not pay attention to it before:

1) Does it works only if ASW is disabled?

2) Does it reduce stuttering better than ASW?

Thanks

[shirazjohn]

On 1/2/2021 at 11:30 PM, Charlo-VR said:

Though I am pretty much grounded from simming at the moment - two days ago my Reverb G2's cable started causing visual glitches/static/either or both screens going black when I adjusted the headstrap. HP finally agreed they think (and I hope) it is just the cable, and they are sending me a replacement cable - though of course that will depend upon if/when they have any in stock. ?)

Hi also had black screens when adjusting the headstrap but found when pulling the strap back the cable was pulling on the connector.  I fitted a cable restraint as shown in photo using a small cable tie so the cable can't slide back past the larger cable tie ( the headset cable clip broke within the first week). I have not had a problem since. Hope this makes sense and is of help.

Edited January 5, 2021 by shirazjohn

[Charlo-VRde]

On 1/2/2021 at 3:30 PM, Charlo-VR said:

(Though I am pretty much grounded from simming at the moment - two days ago my Reverb G2's cable started causing visual glitches/static/either or both screens going black when I adjusted the headstrap. HP finally agreed they think (and I hope) it is just the cable, and they are sending me a replacement cable - though of course that will depend upon if/when they have any in stock. ?)

Update on my own post - I’ve become so reliant on IL-2 in VR to occupy me during the pandemic that last Sunday I bought another G2 from someone who couldn’t enjoy theirs because of IPD issues (one of the advantages of living in a major metropolitan area is I can often find used , hard-to-find items). 
 

Sure enough, the issue I started experiencing last week was with the cable, not the headset, which works perfectly with the second G2’s cable. So at least I can get in some flying again when I’m not working or watching the news. But the build quality of the cable is pretty suspect to me right now.

 

And I just received an update from HP that the replacement cable is out of stock and its ETA is March 10th. I’m glad I bought this back-up headset, though if this cable goes out, too, I may need to look at a Quest 2 as a back-up.

 

 

[dburne]

3 hours ago, Charlo-VR said:

Update on my own post - I’ve become so reliant on IL-2 in VR to occupy me during the pandemic that last Sunday I bought another G2 from someone who couldn’t enjoy theirs because of IPD issues (one of the advantages of living in a major metropolitan area is I can often find used , hard-to-find items). 
 

Sure enough, the issue I started experiencing last week was with the cable, not the headset, which works perfectly with the second G2’s cable. So at least I can get in some flying again when I’m not working or watching the news. But the build quality of the cable is pretty suspect to me right now.

 

And I just received an update from HP that the replacement cable is out of stock and its ETA is March 10th. I’m glad I bought this back-up headset, though if this cable goes out, too, I may need to look at a Quest 2 as a back-up.

 

 

 

Shame on HP for not reserving cables for warranty issues.

[Charlo-VRde]

On 1/6/2021 at 10:23 PM, Charlo-VR said:

Update on my own post - I’ve become so reliant on IL-2 in VR to occupy me during the pandemic that last Sunday I bought another G2 from someone who couldn’t enjoy theirs because of IPD issues (one of the advantages of living in a major metropolitan area is I can often find used , hard-to-find items). 
 

Sure enough, the issue I started experiencing last week was with the cable, not the headset, which works perfectly with the second G2’s cable. So at least I can get in some flying again when I’m not working or watching the news. But the build quality of the cable is pretty suspect to me right now.

 

And I just received an update from HP that the replacement cable is out of stock and its ETA is March 10th. I’m glad I bought this back-up headset, though if this cable goes out, too, I may need to look at a Quest 2 as a back-up.

 

And another update. I decided to vent a little to HP by replying to their email as follows: "I got to use the $600 headset I pre-ordered in July and received in November for about six weeks, then the cable apparently died. And now I need to wait nine weeks for a replacement cable? This is less than stellar."

 

Today I received a revised ETA of February 10th for my replacement cable, so now only 4 1/2 weeks away. In the meantime I'm babying my second G2's cable even more than I babied the first one

[Panzerlang]

12 minutes ago, Charlo-VR said:

 

And another update. I decided to vent a little to HP by replying to their email as follows: "I got to use the $600 headset I pre-ordered in July and received in November for about six weeks, then the cable apparently died. And now I need to wait nine weeks for a replacement cable? This is less than stellar."

 

Today I received a revised ETA of February 10th for my replacement cable, so now only 4 1/2 weeks away. In the meantime I'm babying my second G2's cable even more than I babied the first one

I've been holding off on submitting an RMA for mine (a tiny cluster of dead pixels), lest I be without for weeks/months.

[NiiranenVR]

28 minutes ago, Charlo-VR said:

babying my second G2's

well , its a G1 and in the end it Brocken anyway 

( Got a new set up same way ) 

[dburne]

I must be really lucky - fingers crossed. I have a tremendous number of hours in with my G2 now and so far it has been glitch free.

Yes I am also knocking on wood.

[ACG_Orb]

I'm currently waiting for a second G1 replacement.  The most recent lasted three months before the shite plug of doom gave me black screen.

 

Very poor design. 

[DD_Crash]

I would love to buy/order a G2 but I cant do that in the UK, and the only card I can buy is a £1600 3090

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by DD_Crash