SteamVR resolution cap: maxRecommendedResolution

[chiliwili69]

In SteamVR there is a parameter called SuperSampling %, this determine the number of pixel to render the scene.

The higher the better definition of the images (not necesarily spotting) but more GPU load. Here you can see the effect of increase it.

 

All devices need an internal level of supersampling (to countereffect the lens distortion) and then we can manully add certain level of %SS depending on how powerfull our GPU is.

 

This is adjusted in the settings of SteamVR, in the "General" or in the "Video" section, it is called Custom "Render Resolution" per eye:

 

The interesting thing is that if you increase the %SS above certain limit, that factor has no further effect in the rendered resolution. There is cap.

 

This cap is a parameter called "maxRecommendedResolution" in your steamvr.vrsettings file located at

c:\program files(x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings

For my Index the value is 3240.

For the G2 it is also 3240.

For the Aero is 8192

 

The weird thing is that the parameter is the same regardeless of the GPU model, it doesn´t matter if you have a 980 or a 4090.

 

In this post, @MilitantPotato was able to use fpsVR to see the effective resolution used when he was applying 500%SS in SteamVR (7104x6928 !!!), but the real resolution revealed by fpsVR was 3240x3160 for the G2:

 

I would like to know if other devices like Aero, Pimax8KX, VivePro2, etc are also having this cap in SteamVR and what value they show in fpsVR when a large number is used (if you have fpsVR)

Or just report the "maxRecommendedResolution" shown in your steamvr.vrsettings file.

 

It seems that OpenXR way has not that limitation.

Edited November 1, 2022 by chiliwili69

[SCG_motoadve]

This is how I run it in my Aero with the 3090Ti and i9 10900K, runs smooth, no AA, no sharpness needed, looks amazing.

I am looking to buy a 4090 though and will sell my 3090Ti.

 

[chiliwili69]

@SCG_motoadve

So, for your Aero the reported resolution by SteamVR is 3524x3020, but if you have the same cap than me (3240), then the real resolution that you are really using is 3240x2778, which is equivalent to 106% SS.

You can just look at the steamvr.vrsettings file and look the value of maxRecommendedResolution.

[SCG_motoadve]

Ok, I will check, you are probably right, this is at high resolution in Varjo software, there is two more  higher settings I can  try in the Varjo software different settings.

[SCG_motoadve]

1 hour ago, chiliwili69 said:

@SCG_motoadve

So, for your Aero the reported resolution by SteamVR is 3524x3020, but if you have the same cap than me (3240), then the real resolution that you are really using is 3240x2778, which is equivalent to 106% SS.

You can just look at the steamvr.vrsettings file and look the value of maxRecommendedResolution.

This is what I have in the file.

"maxRecommendedResolution": 8192,

[chiliwili69]

1 hour ago, SCG_motoadve said:

This is what I have in the file.

"maxRecommendedResolution": 8192

Hey, this is good then. I means that you can really increase the resolution in SteamVR as high as you want. That number is really high, so a 4090 will allow you to increase you resolution and settings with the varjo aero.

[Voyager]

@chiliwili69 Vive Pro 2.

 

500% is 6416x6416. 

 

And its definitely running at a significantly higher resolution.

 

The 10/21 chart was a few days ago, running at 100% or 2872x2872, while the 10/26 one is the 500% chart

 

What's also striking is that its still delivering about 70 fps at that setting. I'm not sure I see a difference in clarity though. It's weird.

 

 

History.zip

[hsthhsth]

On my system the setting is in the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\resources\settings\default.vrsettings, not in the file you mention.

The text in the file reads:

   "These are the default values for settings which are not mentioned",
  "in the user's personal steamvr.vrsettings file (use vrpathreg.exe",
  "to find the location of this file). User settings which match the",
  "default in this file are not written to the user settings file, but",
  "any setting below may be placed in steamvr.vrsettings to override",
  "these defaults."

 

The value in my default.vrsettings file is 8192.

 

So, why not remove the line from the steamvr.vrsettings file and use the default high value?

[chiliwili69]

8 hours ago, Voyager said:

And its definitely running at a significantly higher resolution.

 

You clearly run at higher resolution, but perhaps not 6416x6416.

You can know the real limit either looking at the file or using fpsVR.

1 hour ago, hsthhsth said:

why not remove the line from the steamvr.vrsettings file and use the default high value?

 

I believe that the steamvr.vrsettings file is overwrited everytime that SteamVR is launched. With the cap.

 

I don´t know if changing the default value in the default.vrsettings will be then used for the value in the steamvr.vrsettings file.

 

What headset do yo have?

[dburne]

14 hours ago, SCG_motoadve said:

This is what I have in the file.

"maxRecommendedResolution": 8192,

 

Out of curiosity what did you move to the 3090 Ti from?

Edited October 27, 2022 by dburne

[Voyager]

2 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

You clearly run at higher resolution, but perhaps not 6416x6416.

You can know the real limit either looking at the file or using fpsVR.

 

I believe that the steamvr.vrsettings file is overwrited everytime that SteamVR is launched. With the cap.

 

I don´t know if changing the default value in the default.vrsettings will be then used for the value in the steamvr.vrsettings file.

 

What headset do yo have?

6416x6416 is what fpsVR was reporting, along with 9-10Gb of vram usage. 

 

What I'm wondering is if this is a manifestation of the 30 series' fairly flat scaling with resolution. I think I just left the resolution at 100% when I went from the 1080 Ti to the 3080 Ti, and I recall the only time I did set the resolution up was when I accidentally set the render resolution slider to maximum in MSFS. That overflowed the VRAM and turned the whole game into a slideshow. 

 

Basically, I need to experiment with image quality settings and see if I've been under utilizing my GPU. And this may also mean that what I really need isn't a new GPU, but a new CPU, even though my CPU times are good with current settings, I don't have CPU intensive things like mirrors turned up. 

[SCG_motoadve]

43 minutes ago, dburne said:

 

Out of curiosity what did you move to the 3090 Ti from?

From a 3090, I try to upgrade all the time , so I can still sell my older card for a good price.

[dburne]

1 minute ago, SCG_motoadve said:

From a 3090, I try to upgrade all the time , so I can still sell my older card for a good price.

 

Was it worth it?

Well crap I had my eyes on a new in box EVGA  3090 Ti FTW3 ultra that was in stock, however just checked again and yep is is out of stock now.

I have an EVGA 3090 FTW3 Ultra now in this rig.

[hsthhsth]

@chiliwili69, I also have the Index.

 

The text I copied comes from this default.vrsettings file. It says that any setting, not in the (personal) steamvr.vrsettings  file will be taken from this default.vrsettings file.

Therefore, if you remove the max setting in your steamvr.vrsettings  file it will be taken from this default.vrsettings file.

[chiliwili69]

On 10/27/2022 at 2:14 PM, Voyager said:

6416x6416 is what fpsVR was reporting, along with 9-10Gb of vram usage.

The fpsVR reported resolution is just what you put in SteamVR.

 

To know exactly the resolution you are using there is two ways:

 

1. Use fpsVR function to detect the effective resolution:

 

 

2. Look at the parameter "maxRecommendedResolution" in the personal file at c:\program files(x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings

 

In theory both shold be the same. Which is yours for VP2?

 

On 10/27/2022 at 5:15 PM, hsthhsth said:

The text I copied comes from this default.vrsettings file. It says that any setting, not in the (personal) steamvr.vrsettings  file will be taken from this default.vrsettings file.

Therefore, if you remove the max setting in your steamvr.vrsettings  file it will be taken from this default.vrsettings file.

 

Is this what you have done for your Index?

 

Are you then able to run your index at 500% without the cap?

[Voyager]

@chiliwili69 Well, that's truly weird.

 

Using the fpsVR Detect Resolution I get 3530x3530 when set to 6416x6416, however the the maxRecommendedResolution in my steam.vrsettings is 3240.

 

I almost wonder if the HTC software is changing it on launch. Whenever I launch it, the HTC Vive Service Helper requests permission to change software on the computer. However, after turning VR off and back on again, it's now reading 3240x3240, except when it's reporting 3272*3272.

 

To be extra trippy, it seems to be locking the resolution at 3240x3240 even when I set it 2448x2448. Fun. Or sometimes 3295x3295.

 

It seems like it only uses the reported resolution the first time I start VR after waking the computer up, and afterwards it just sets things to what it wants to, but will have to do more testing to be sure.

 

 

[hsthhsth]

There seems to be an upper limit to the resolution. I've tested with different fps settings in SteamVR and changed various values in the global section and the per-application section.

fpsVR gives a correct picture of these settings, for both the global and the per-app setting.

 

The highest value I can get is 3227x3586, despite setting the fps to 500%.

 

File default.vrsettings has not changed during the testing and still has the same line: " "maxRecommendedResolution": 8192,".

File steamvr.vrsettings also has not changed during the testing and still has the same lines:

              "LastKnown" : {
                       "HMDManufacturer" : "Valve",
                       "HMDModel" : "Index"

 

Might be useful to test with different hardware (VR headsets) to find out if this is a steam-imposed limitation.

 

[Voyager]

So, did folks figure out how to change the setting on this? 

 

For whatever reason, my VP2 apparently does everything in 3240*3240, sternly regardless of what I set it to in Steam. 

[dburne]

3 hours ago, Voyager said:

So, did folks figure out how to change the setting on this? 

 

For whatever reason, my VP2 apparently does everything in 3240*3240, sternly regardless of what I set it to in Steam. 

 

That is weird - no problem changing Steam VR resolution for my Aero. You sure you don't have it on some sort of adaptive setting?

[chiliwili69]

22 hours ago, Voyager said:

For whatever reason, my VP2 apparently does everything in 3240*3240, sternly regardless of what I set it to in Steam

 

I understand that you change the SteamVR slide bar to higher values, but the effectvy resolution remains at 3240x3240, right?

How do you see your effective resolution?

[Voyager]

53 minutes ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

I understand that you change the SteamVR slide bar to higher values, but the effectvy resolution remains at 3240x3240, right?

How do you see your effective resolution?

I'm using the "last detected resolution" dialog from fpsVR. 

 

I'm going to be out of country for a week starting tomorrow, but I can try and record a video either tonight or when I get back. It's super trippy. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Voyager
words, words. I cannot do words...

[Voyager]

@chiliwili69

 

Finally had time to record it:

 

Basically, I can set it to 500% and I can set it to 20% and the last resolution is exactly 3240x3240, and the GPU/Memory usage is exactly the same, except when it isn't, which seems to be random.

[mbucchia]

1 hour ago, Voyager said:

@chiliwili69

 

Finally had time to record it:

 

Basically, I can set it to 500% and I can set it to 20% and the last resolution is exactly 3240x3240, and the GPU/Memory usage is exactly the same, except when it isn't, which seems to be random.

Do you have Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR installed? Perhaps from before you had your Vive?

If so, uninstall it, or use the WMR for SteamVR settings app to enable "Allow resolution above recommended".

[chiliwili69]

Thanks for the video. It shows clearly the cap 3240x3240. I don´t see any logic there.

 

Normally when I change %SS in SteamVR or change Freq Hz I always restart SteamVR.

 

In your case, you have the Vive software running as well.  Have you tried to re-start both (SteamVR and Vive) every time you change SteamVR %SS?

 

The proof of your changes has no effect is that the GPU frametimes are always the same, regardeless of the SS% you apply.

 

Apart from this, I see you use 120Hz mode.  Why?

[Voyager]

@mbucchia I did have WMR installed, but had previously uninstalled the WMR for Steam app. I tried installing the steam app and changing the settings, the uninstalling broth it and SteamVR, but no change. 

 

@chiliwili69 So, restarting it did seem to change the memory usage, but the reported resolutions were weird, and sometimes when doing the resolution check the vram usage would reset to 4.9 Gbs, which seems to be the 3240 resolution. 

 

Now setting the Max recommended resolution to higher then 3240 and setting the Steam scalar up to 5x or 6416 does have an impact. I'm using 7.4 GB of vRam, and the reported resolution is 5209.

 

I'll need to go do math. It's possible I'm bumping into the display port limit. 

 

Setting the Steam resolution back down the 74% or 2468 get a vRam usage of 4.3 GB, but the vRam jumped to 4.6 when I checked it and reports as 3257 again. 

 

Setting the Max recommended back down to 2448 gets the same 4.5-4.6 usage and a 3461 reported resolution. 

 

Last check setting the max recommended resolution to 4986, it uses 6.9Gb and reports 4024...

 

It does look like something is artificially resetting my resolution up to some sort of minimum value. Turning off Steam VR home shows the raw compositor uses a 3512 resolution, so I suspect it may be the VP2 software doing weird things to scale the image to its home resolution. 

 

On why I'm running the 120 Hz mode right now, the game I'm currently playing can't make 90fps, so I've set it to 120hz with a 1/2 FPS preference to effectively lock the frame rate at 60fps.

 

For me, I find a stable 60 fps to be better than a higher but changing one. 

 

Addendum: It may well be something got jacked up from all the various betas and VR tweaking I've done on the current OS install. Been debating getting a 4090 next month a D doing the upgrade to Windows 11, anday want to just go ahead and do a complete fresh install. Not looking forward to that. Still haven't figured out a good way to keep the steam library raw files downloaded, so would likely have to re-download everything, again ?

Edited January 21, 2023 by Voyager

[mbucchia]

9 hours ago, Voyager said:

@mbucchia I did have WMR installed, but had previously uninstalled the WMR for Steam app. I tried installing the steam app and changing the settings, the uninstalling broth it and SteamVR, but no change

Meanwhile, since my message, someone else (I thought it was you at first) came with the exact same question on my Discord.

So yes it looks like it isn't the same issue as WMR for SteamVR caused system-wide (they confirmed too).

 

I don't have a solution for OpenVR/SteamVR mode, but the other user I talked to used OpenXR and OpenXR Toolkit, and with that configuration, there is a way to unlock the higher resolutions.

Edited January 22, 2023 by mbucchia

[chiliwili69]

13 hours ago, Voyager said:

Now setting the Max recommended resolution to higher

 

How do you do that?  Modifiying the steamvr.vrsettings?

 

So it seems that doing that you are able then to run at higher resolutions that your VP2 (and your card) deserves.

 

I have been plotting you tests:

 

So, it looks like a factor of 0.81 is applied to the resolution you apply to SteamVR. Perhaps the VP2 software.

[Voyager]

@chiliwili69 Installing the new video card and unloading to Windows 11 seems to have shaken something loose. Steam now recommends a 150% resolution of around 5k*5k but if I set steam super-sampling to a different resolution, it does take in the game'a actual flight engine.

 

The resolution is still weird in the Steam VR home, and in the game's menu interface, but I care less about that than the in-flight resolution settings. 

[Chipless]

So, has anyone figured out a way to override/increase the render resolution on an HP Reverb G2 to more than 3240x3164 when using SteamVR? That's currently what the render resolution is fixed at for me no matter what I set resolution slider to. Also, I don't even have the "maxRecommendedResolution" line in my steamvr.vrsettings file. I tried adding one manually, but it erased it when I started a new SteamVR session. It seems to erase any changes I make. There must be a way to actually adjust the resolution of this headset!

Edited February 18, 2023 by Chipless

[chiliwili69]

I don´t know where but I heared that the SteamVR Beta allows to override that limit. I have not tested myself.

[mbucchia]

19 hours ago, Chipless said:

So, has anyone figured out a way to override/increase the render resolution on an HP Reverb G2 to more than 3240x3164 when using SteamVR? That's currently what the render resolution is fixed at for me no matter what I set resolution slider to. Also, I don't even have the "maxRecommendedResolution" line in my steamvr.vrsettings file. I tried adding one manually, but it erased it when I started a new SteamVR session. It seems to erase any changes I make. There must be a way to actually adjust the resolution of this headset!

Go to the WMR settings under SteamVR and choose "Allow resolution higher than recommended". You must have at least version 1.3.64 of WMR for SteamVR for this option to show.