New to the Reverb G2 - configuration advice?

[Knarlfin]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

 

I think a lot of it is guys like me who started out with the original Rift CV1 or Vive had put up with a lot worse to get the immersion of being in the plane. So we stayed with it and just got used to the lower resolution and shimmering. Fast forward to now with the quality of the Reverb G2 or Vive Pro 2 and it is different ballgame and much better. But still no comparison to a nice high res monitor especially when talking of looking off in the distance like one does with flight sims.

To me the Reverb G2 and Vive Pro 2 are awesome and I can't get enough. New users just getting into VR now are first going to be really noticing the lower quality of the image especially off in a  distance.

 

For me the immersion far outweighs the lack of quality of the image. But I would also note I do not do competitive multiplayer, single player only for all my games.

And a nice bonus I also enjoy other VR games as well with the controllers. I can truly say if VR came to an end and only choice was to go back to gaming on monitor for me, I would hang it up. And save a crap load of money for sure.

 

That's a refreshingly honest viewpoint which I've not seen said much before.  I guess this is inline with what I'm seeing (and to be fair half expected).  I was starting to get worried though with all the quality talk that somehow people were finding ways to get 4k image quality in VR.

 

24 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Is there a way to tell? I just bought this a week ago, so I assume that it is.

 

With IPD, I am using the lowest setting on the G2. I've tried other values, but that's just caused blurriness. So, it seems like that is working alright.

 

Resolution: I am using (going off of memory at the moment, since I'm away from my gaming PC), is about 120%. Desktop monitor is 3840x2160. Now, that brings up an important question: I see people mention the global Steam VR percentage and then the "per application" setting. On my "per application" page, I'm not seeing an entry to IL2, only a bunch of entries for Steam VR, including Windows Mixed Reality for Steam VR, which I have also set to 120%. Am I missing something somewhere?

 

Motion Smoothing is enabled, yes.

The IPD is very individual, get it checked or at least do a rough and ready measurement in a mirror.  

I've got my global video settings in SteamVR set to 3320x3240 110%.  Unless you need to set different settings for different games, you don't need to worry about per-application settings.  But adding IL-2 as a non-steam game to the library caused it to appear in the per-application list of apps.

Fenris Wolf's guide was a good starting point for me.

 

[Youtch]

The way to check if you have newer usb cable is because the box on the cable is a bigger square and with an interruptor on it. Check on the internet, new usb cable revision for g2. It supposed to fixes some crashes with amd system.

[Charlo-VRde]

A sudden black screen or staticky screen on a G2 would suggest an older version of the cable going bad (as happened twice to me). If your cable has a box with a small black button on it with a tiny light that turns on, you have the newer cable. My newer cable has been perfect, though is only a month or two old now.

 

But IL-2 also crashing is something I haven't seen with my G2, and it makes me wonder if perhaps a mod is causing the crashing.

 

By the way, and this is true for anyone, I live in Los Angeles near LAX, so anyone who would like to experience my rig (JetPad, motion platform chair, Reverb G2) is welcome to visit. I enjoy many many hours of MP VR flight, almost entirely on Finnish Virtual Pilots. I have actually forgotten what IL-2 looks like on a flat monitor since I exclusively fly in VR, so perhaps my visual standards are lower than those coming from a good monitor. But my IL-2 flying is an experience with all the extra hardware I use.  

Edited November 22, 2021 by Charlo-VR

[LVA_Picard]

22 hours ago, Drum said:

I'm using MSAA=2, SteamVR=100% & IL-2 game SS set to 2184 (closest to native res of 2160) with the Nvidia FSR=1.5, Sharpening=0.2, radius=1.5.

Try these settings out, they won't disappoint:

 

{
  "fsr": {
    // enable image upscaling through AMD's FSR or NVIDIA's NIS
    "enabled": true,
    
    // if enabled, uses NVIDIA's Image Scaling instead of the default
    // AMD FidelityFX SuperResolution. Both algorithms work similarly, but produce
    // somewhat different results. You may want to experiment switching between the
    // two to determine which one you like better for a particular game.
    "useNIS": true,

    // Per-dimension render scale. If <1, will lower the game's render resolution
    // accordingly and afterwards upscale to the "native" resolution set in SteamVR.
    // If >1, the game will render at its "native" resolution, and afterwards the
    // image is upscaled to a higher resolution as per the given value.
    // If =1, effectively disables upsampling, but you'll still get the sharpening stage.
    // AMD presets:
    //   Ultra Quality => 0.77
    //   Quality       => 0.67
    //   Balanced      => 0.59
    //   Performance   => 0.50
    "renderScale": 1.50,

    "sharpness": 0.2,
    "radius": 1.5,

    "applyMIPBias": false,
    "debugMode": false
  }

 

Inside IL-2 settings=Balanced base setting.

shadows=ultra

distant landscape detail=x4

reflections=normal

horizon=150km

landscape filter=blurred

terrain=low

clouds=high

antialiasing type=msaax2

gamma=0.8

SSAO & Sharpen=off

hdr, 4k textures, distant buildings=on

i am sorry how to install this FSR ? do i need the folder extract into IL2 confg ore ??? 

[Drum]

 

Hi, Picard.  Yes, put the extracted file into where your IL-2 is located, look for it located here:  Program Files(x86)/Steam/Steamapps/Common/IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad/bin/game.  Just extract the file into the "game" folder of your IL-2 files, here's the link to the FSR file: https://github.com/fholger/openvr_fsr/releases/tag/fsr_v2.0

 

You go to that location after doing so and double click on the "openvr_mod" file to edit it.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Charlo-VR said:

A sudden black screen or staticky screen on a G2 would suggest an older version of the cable going bad (as happened twice to me). If your cable has a box with a small black button on it with a tiny light that turns on, you have the newer cable. My newer cable has been perfect, though is only a month or two old now.

 

It sounds like I don't have the new cable, then, but I will post a photo of it tonight to confirm which one I actually have. 

[LVA_Picard]

44 minutes ago, Drum said:

 

Hi, Picard.  Yes, put the extracted file into where your IL-2 is located, look for it located here:  Program Files(x86)/Steam/Steamapps/Common/IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad/bin/game.  Just extract the file into the "game" folder of your IL-2 files, here's the link to the FSR file: https://github.com/fholger/openvr_fsr/releases/tag/fsr_v2.0

 

You go to that location after doing so and double click on the "openvr_mod" file to edit it.

Thankyou so much tomorow i am gonna try it out .

[kissTheSky]

@Charlo-VR, 

 

As far as one can be within the US here in Washington DC, but if I’m visiting L.A. or thereabouts anytime soon, I will take you up on your offer. 
 

Due to space constraints, me getting a full size motion platform is out of question, but would love to try your Yaw device if it’s delivered by the minuscule time I may visit. 

[Drum]

I agree this is all very frustrating, in the past two years I've learned thankfully from others who have been very generous with their own time and have help.

 

We spend thousands of dollars getting a gamming rig to run the game, not to mention the hundreds of dollars spent on the game itself, for what?  To end up with a subpar image in a VR headset that cost more then ten cheap 1080P monitors that any one of which can run circles around the G2's picture quality?  It's bullsheet, and I don't see us getting any help from the guys who own the game, either.

 

There was a guide (Fenris Wolf's guide) but they went and mixed that in with another form so the new VR guys can't find it now, others have to keep digging up the old information for the new VR guys.  What a joke, I'm on here trying to help guys get their VR running better and I'm probably one of the stupidest VR instructors on the forms!

 

After eleven months of playing around learning how to get this G2 to work well, I'm finally coming to the conclusion that the problem isn't mine or the G2's, it's this sim...

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Drum

[dburne]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

 

It sounds like I don't have the new cable, then, but I will post a photo of it tonight to confirm which one I actually have. 

 

Very easy to tell , the new cable the link box has on on/off button. The previous one did not.

[LukeFF]

58 minutes ago, dburne said:

Very easy to tell , the new cable the link box has on on/off button. The previous one did not.

 

Got it. So I just looked at the one I have, and it is definitely a new one. So then, that makes me wonder what it is that is causing my unit to crash. Too high graphics settings, even though I can run the game smoothly with them? All of the crashes so far have come on the Rhineland map in career mode.

[RAAF492SQNOz_Steve]

16 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Got it. So I just looked at the one I have, and it is definitely a new one. So then, that makes me wonder what it is that is causing my unit to crash. Too high graphics settings, even though I can run the game smoothly with them? All of the crashes so far have come on the Rhineland map in career mode.

Do you get any useful errors in the Windows application event logs?

 

I must admit to getting crashes about once a week when flying with VR in IL2 but have not been able to tie them down to any specific issue. Has only been occuring for the last month or so.

This is flying in the Kuban Map. Two were PC's restarts in mid mission and one was a drop out of IL2 but with the VR environment still active. The last crash reported a VR .dll error.

 

Most nights however I fly (and crash my aircraft instead of my PC) all evening without any computer issues.  If PC or application crashes keep on happening, think I will re-run some long duration memory stress tests.

 

While VR flying IL2, for me, does have shimmering on the horizon I could never go back to 2D flying.

I think they have done an amazing job with what they have achieved so far, for a VR experience ........................

Edited November 23, 2021 by RAAF492SQNOz_Steve
Grammar

[LukeFF]

35 minutes ago, RAAF492SQNOz_Steve said:

Do you get any useful errors in the Windows application event logs?

 

I must admit to getting crashes about once a week when flying with VR in IL2 but have not been able to tie them down to any specific issue. Has only been occuring for the last month or so.

This is flying in the Kuban Map. Two were PC's restarts in mid mission and one was a drop out of IL2 but with the VR environment still active. The last crash reported a VR .dll error.

 

Most nights however I fly (and crash my aircraft instead of my PC) all evening without any computer issues.  If PC or application crashes keep on happening, think I will re-run some long duration memory stress tests.

 

While VR flying IL2, for me, does have shimmering on the horizon I could never go back to 2D flying.

I think they have done an amazing job with what they have achieved so far, for a VR experience ........................

 

No, I've not seen what the error logs say. All of the crashes have been straight dumps to the desktop and WMR's VR-projected screen. 

[LukeFF]

On 11/21/2021 at 2:59 PM, Drum said:

I'm using MSAA=2, SteamVR=100% & IL-2 game SS set to 2184 (closest to native res of 2160) with the Nvidia FSR=1.5, Sharpening=0.2, radius=1.5.

Try these settings out, they won't disappoint:

 

{
  "fsr": {
    // enable image upscaling through AMD's FSR or NVIDIA's NIS
    "enabled": true,
    
    // if enabled, uses NVIDIA's Image Scaling instead of the default
    // AMD FidelityFX SuperResolution. Both algorithms work similarly, but produce
    // somewhat different results. You may want to experiment switching between the
    // two to determine which one you like better for a particular game.
    "useNIS": true,

    // Per-dimension render scale. If <1, will lower the game's render resolution
    // accordingly and afterwards upscale to the "native" resolution set in SteamVR.
    // If >1, the game will render at its "native" resolution, and afterwards the
    // image is upscaled to a higher resolution as per the given value.
    // If =1, effectively disables upsampling, but you'll still get the sharpening stage.
    // AMD presets:
    //   Ultra Quality => 0.77
    //   Quality       => 0.67
    //   Balanced      => 0.59
    //   Performance   => 0.50
    "renderScale": 1.50,

    "sharpness": 0.2,
    "radius": 1.5,

    "applyMIPBias": false,
    "debugMode": false
  }

 

I think I might finally be getting somewhere with settings like these. Thanks! ?

 

(Sigh)

 

Well, I thought I was getting somewhere, but then on my last mission, when I clicked Pause and then went to exit the mission, the game crashed to desktop, but this time there was some error message from Windows, and then my PC rebooted.  

 

This is really getting depressing. 100% SS, 2x MSAA, Medium Clouds, and this sort of thing is happening? There is no way I'm going to try to run a career mode mission in VR if this @@#$@ keeps happening.

[Drum]

Luke, check your VR settings and make sure the headset is not auto shutting down because of losing connection or tracking, and possibly deactivate those settings or at least extend the timings before shutdowns.

[LukeFF]

36 minutes ago, Drum said:

Luke, check your VR settings and make sure the headset is not auto shutting down because of losing connection or tracking, and possibly deactivate those settings or at least extend the timings before shutdowns.

 

I've been having a suspicion that's the issue, yes. Where would those settings be located?

[Drum]

Look in your SteamVR settings, and for the most part turn it all off or give yourself more time before the headset enters standby or whatever it's named.  Sorry can't think of those exact settings right now, IL-2 VR mind burnout's setting in I guess.  ?

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, Drum said:

Look in your SteamVR settings, and for the most part turn it all off or give yourself more time before the headset enters standby or whatever it's named.  Sorry can't think of those exact settings right now, IL-2 VR mind burnout's setting in I guess.  ?

 

Ok yes, I found the settings. I'm beginning to see now why IL2 has been crashing on me, since the default timeout setting is 5 seconds. ? Little wonder why the game was shutting down - by the time I hit Pause and then clicked on the Escape button and chose Finish Mission, the headset had timed out. Hopefully, oh so hopefully that was the root cause, since I think I've found good graphics settings I can work with.

[Charlo-VRde]

Inside the Windows Mixed Reality Portal, click on “See more”

Click on “Settings”

Go to “Headset display”

You are now in the display settings of your HP Reverb G2. Besides the display resolution and refresh rate, you can also set the standby timer here.

 

Edit: I see Luke found it just as I posted the above

Edited November 23, 2021 by Charlo-VR

[LVA_Picard]

I used fsr , drop dow the ss per apclication to 50% makes the quality horrible in my situation , i went go back up to 110% i think 3400x3400 and general video setting to 100% 

 

Terrain on sharp and sharp on in Il2 settings .

 

That gives me the highest quality and around 70 fps , motion smooting off . 

 

 

 

 

[Knarlfin]

The headset timing out and going to sleep shouldn't be causing your PC to reboot - drop out of the game to desktop, yes, but not a reboot.  Additionally mine will not go to sleep while I'm wearing it, so it could be another problem either with some conflicting software or the G2 itself.  I would be checking the event viewer and isolating any other software to narrow it down further if it continues.

[dburne]

7 minutes ago, Knarlfin said:

The headset timing out and going to sleep shouldn't be causing your PC to reboot - drop out of the game to desktop, yes, but not a reboot.  Additionally mine will not go to sleep while I'm wearing it, so it could be another problem either with some conflicting software or the G2 itself.  I would be checking the event viewer and isolating any other software to narrow it down further if it continues.

 

Yep agreed.

Check Sleep Timeout in WMR Settings. Mine had defaulted to " Let Windows Decide" and my headset was going dark shortly after starting a flight. I changed that to "Never" and that issue went completely away.

Edited November 23, 2021 by dburne

[LukeFF]

3 hours ago, Knarlfin said:

The headset timing out and going to sleep shouldn't be causing your PC to reboot - drop out of the game to desktop, yes, but not a reboot.  Additionally mine will not go to sleep while I'm wearing it, so it could be another problem either with some conflicting software or the G2 itself.  I would be checking the event viewer and isolating any other software to narrow it down further if it continues.

 

3 hours ago, dburne said:

Yep agreed.

Check Sleep Timeout in WMR Settings. Mine had defaulted to " Let Windows Decide" and my headset was going dark shortly after starting a flight. I changed that to "Never" and that issue went completely away.

 

Aha, yes, I need to change that as well. I have it set to 30 minutes right now, so I need to change that, for sure.

 

Thanks again for the help! This reminds me of the early days with TrackIR, when everyone was fiddling around in much the same way, trying to find the best settings. ?

[Knarlfin]

Not sure if this holds any water but not all USB ports are equal - Does your PC detect the G2 if you switch it on after you have booted into Windows or do you need to reboot before it can connect?

If not try it in a different USB port and/or USB hub. Anecdotally I felt I had less issues when it was on the more reliable USB ports and it was detected successfully without a reboot (I'm on the old cable too).

Definitely reminds me too of the old days, tweaking for every last bit of performance - I've gotten lazy ?

[LukeFF]

4 hours ago, Knarlfin said:

Not sure if this holds any water but not all USB ports are equal - Does your PC detect the G2 if you switch it on after you have booted into Windows or do you need to reboot before it can connect?

If not try it in a different USB port and/or USB hub. Anecdotally I felt I had less issues when it was on the more reliable USB ports and it was detected successfully without a reboot (I'm on the old cable too).

 

Yes, it's always on and ready to go when I boot up my computer. My guess is that it's the timeout setting that's the culprit - otherwise, it would just seem to be way too coincidental that it crashes every time I try to end a mission, especially when it had been running just fine for the last 45-plus minutes without issues. 

[Patricks]

Just got the G2, following setup here, better than the Quest 2 but no way I can ID planes until i'm on top of them. Be great if there was some way to get better clarity of outside planes while lowering other things that mean little to me..

Edited November 24, 2021 by =LD=Icer

[LukeFF]

So, this is what I've settled on with my Reverb G2:

 

Steam VR resolution: 50%

Nvidia: max performance for power output

IL2: maximum settings, except for MSAA set to x4 and clouds on Medium

 

That gives me a consistent 60 FPS even on the biggest maps and even more importantly it prevents the game from crashing. 50% in Steam VR is pretty much the native resolution of the G2, and from what I can tell that is what was causing me so many problems with crashing - too much overhead being placed on my 3080. The game looks just as good as it does at 100%, and I no longer have any need for the FSR mod.

 

The only thing is that there is some aliasing present even with these settings, but I can live with it.

Edited November 27, 2021 by LukeFF

[-332FG-Gordon200]

@LukeFF I found adjusting the in game IPD gave me much needed image clarity with my Reverb G2.

Settings are in key mapping under Service. Increase IPD - left ctrl and num pad +, decrease IPD - left ctrl and num pad enter. Changes are made in 3% increments and best image for me was +21%.

[Drum]

23 minutes ago, QB.Gordon200 said:

@LukeFF I found adjusting the in game IPD gave me much needed image clarity with my Reverb G2.

Settings are in key mapping under Service. Increase IPD - left ctrl and num pad +, decrease IPD - left ctrl and num pad enter. Changes are made in 3% increments and best image for me was +21%.

Interesting, Gordon200.  I never heard anything about that setting so never tried using it, will try it myself.

[dburne]

20 minutes ago, Drum said:

Interesting, Gordon200.  I never heard anything about that setting so never tried using it, will try it myself.

 

Yeah you can also assign to button on HOTAS and adjust on the fly. Of course once you have it for best image no need to adjust it anymore.

It is really mostly a scale size thing of the plane.

Edited November 28, 2021 by dburne

[LukeFF]

4 hours ago, QB.Gordon200 said:

@LukeFF I found adjusting the in game IPD gave me much needed image clarity with my Reverb G2.

Settings are in key mapping under Service. Increase IPD - left ctrl and num pad +, decrease IPD - left ctrl and num pad enter. Changes are made in 3% increments and best image for me was +21%.

 

Is that IPD setting any different than the slider on the bottom of the G2?

[-332FG-Gordon200]

 

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

 

Is that IPD setting any different than the slider on the bottom of the G2?

Yes. It is intended for vr headsets that have no IPD adjustments. However, with headsets with IPD adjustments it acts as a fine tuner that better aligns the two images. Also reduces eyestrain for a more enjoyable experience.

I used the Reverb G2 IPD slider to get the best image possible then used the in game IPD adjustments to obtain an even better image. Wish I had discovered it ages ago.

[LukeFF]

4 hours ago, QB.Gordon200 said:

Yes. It is intended for vr headsets that have no IPD adjustments. However, with headsets with IPD adjustments it acts as a fine tuner that better aligns the two images. Also reduces eyestrain for a more enjoyable experience.

I used the Reverb G2 IPD slider to get the best image possible then used the in game IPD adjustments to obtain an even better image. Wish I had discovered it ages ago.

 

Thanks, will check it out.

 

Any advice on how to get rid of the shimmering and aliasing I'm still seeing? I've tried so many different settings but can't figure out what I can do to get rid of that.

[SYN_Vander]

32 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Thanks, will check it out.

 

Any advice on how to get rid of the shimmering and aliasing I'm still seeing? I've tried so many different settings but can't figure out what I can do to get rid of that.

For shimmering of landscape use the blurry option in IL2 settings.

 

Aliasing is something to get used to given the limited resolution. I use a higher SteamVR setting of 70% I think (I have a 3080 ti) with 2x MSAA which gives a slightly better picture. But there just aren’t enough pixels to cover the whole field of view with enough detail.

 

I also tried FSR ( both algorithms) and although they improve frame rate, they always result in more aliasing. Specifically distant cities become a shimmering mess.

[LukeFF]

21 minutes ago, SYN_Vander said:

For shimmering of landscape use the blurry option in IL2 settings.

 

Aliasing is something to get used to given the limited resolution. I use a higher SteamVR setting of 70% I think (I have a 3080 ti) with 2x MSAA which gives a slightly better picture. But there just aren’t enough pixels to cover the whole field of view with enough detail.

 

I also tried FSR ( both algorithms) and although they improve frame rate, they always result in more aliasing. Specifically distant cities become a shimmering mess.

 

Thanks - I am already using the Blurred terrain option, so I guess this is just something I'm going to have to live with.

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

I have HP reverb G2 and  the in game shimmering, visible already in hangar was so bad  for me that after few weeks trying to reduce it or just use to it I never returned to playing il2 in VR again. This was like year ago.  I can't play like that, the  game engine is not VR friendly,  in 2D there are shimmers visible when looking at rivers,  roads,  some fields etc. towars horizon at low med altitudes. Especially with sharpen enabled if you don't use crazy AA values but VR is already tasking too much at those 9.5 million pixels. 

[SCG_motoadve]

3 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

Thanks, will check it out.

 

Any advice on how to get rid of the shimmering and aliasing I'm still seeing? I've tried so many different settings but can't figure out what I can do to get rid of that.

In the HP Reverb, the image is sharper, I have had the G1 and G2 which I think are great (It was shimmery but I got used to it) and now have the Vive Pro 2 and the image in the Vive Pro 2 is softer and has les shimmering, with 2xAA shimmering its almost gone, but is has other problem in Il2, the image is warped when looking sideways at certain angle, developers have been saying they will fix it , but so far no luck.

[LukeFF]

4 hours ago, SCG_motoadve said:

In the HP Reverb, the image is sharper, I have had the G1 and G2 which I think are great (It was shimmery but I got used to it) and now have the Vive Pro 2 and the image in the Vive Pro 2 is softer and has les shimmering, with 2xAA shimmering its almost gone, but is has other problem in Il2, the image is warped when looking sideways at certain angle, developers have been saying they will fix it , but so far no luck.

 

Yes, I've heard similar things about the G2 - both the pluses and the minuses.

 

I think at this point I'll continue to use the G2 and then see how much of an improvement the Varjo Aero is. The claims being made right now about it make it out to be extremely good, but who knows how good it'll actually be in reality.

[Patricks]

15 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Yes, I've heard similar things about the G2 - both the pluses and the minuses.

 

I think at this point I'll continue to use the G2 and then see how much of an improvement the Varjo Aero is. The claims being made right now about it make it out to be extremely good, but who knows how good it'll actually be in reality.

 

Considering the G2 is on sale at HP right now for $399, you could buy SIX of them for what the Aero cost if you add the 6DoF sensors that you need to buy for the Aero to make it equivalent (and doesn't it require a separate headset also?).. I'm looking at the Arpara 5k, may turn out to be very good also..

Edited November 28, 2021 by =LD=Icer

[SCG_motoadve]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

 

Yes, I've heard similar things about the G2 - both the pluses and the minuses.

 

I think at this point I'll continue to use the G2 and then see how much of an improvement the Varjo Aero is. The claims being made right now about it make it out to be extremely good, but who knows how good it'll actually be in reality.

G2 is great ,using FSR sharpen instead of in game sharpen might help soften the picture, I look forward to the Varjo Aero reviews from Il2 users, I have the feeling its going to be the best headset out there by far.