Setting advice - pulling my hair out

[ACG_Orb]

Hi all

Long time VR user and not had any issues for a quite a time - until I recently updated my machine.

After using a i7 12700K/3080ti for many years, i'm now running:

• AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• 64 GB (2×32 GB) DDR5-6400
•  Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB GDDR6 

I'm using this to drive a Quest 3.

However, I'm finding it difficult to run settings the go beyond what I was using on my older i7/3080 setup. One particular annoyance is my OpenXR tool kit is generally showing +63% CPU and +35% GPU (plenty of headroom), but is spiking red -5ms lag/frame drop every 10-15 seconds. My distance spotting is also abysmal.  Ive tried loads of tweaks, but nothing seems to work.

Is there anyone running a similar setup to mine who can help with settings that has a good balance of graphics and functionality? 
 

VR Setup

Spoiler

Q3 connected to PC using powered cable.
Open Composite with OXR Toolkit

Oculus Debug tool settings:

Service
Pixels Per Display Pixel Override — 0
Force Mipmap Generation On All Layers — On
Offset Mipmap Bias On All Layers — 0
FOV-Tangent Multiplier — 0; 0
Use FOV Stencil — Auto
Bypass Proximity Sensor Check — On
Adaptive GPU Performance Scale — Default
(PC) Asynchronous Spacewarp — Auto
Frame Drop Indicator — Disabled
Debug HMD Type — Disabled
Pose Injection — Disabled

Oculus Link
Distortion Curvature — Low
Video Codec — H.264
Sliced Encoding — On
Encode Resolution Width — 3900
Encode Dynamic Bitrate — Disabled
Dynamic Bitrate Max — 0
Encode Bitrate (Mbps) — 800
Dynamic Bitrate Offset (Mbps) — 0
Link Sharpening — Quality
Local Dimming — Enabled

HUDs
Visible HUD — None

OXR TOOLKIT Settings
Overide Resolution 2684 x 2886
Target FPS 72hz
Upscaling CAS
Sharpness 20%

 

 

Game Settings

Spoiler

BALANCED graphics

[KEY = graphics]
    3dhud = 0
    adapter = 0
    bloom_enable = 0
    canopy_ref = 0
    desktop_center = 0
    detail_rt_res = 1024
    draw_distance = 1.00000
    far_blocks = 0
    fps_counter = 0
    fps_limit = 0
    full_height = 2579
    full_width = 2700
    fullscreen = 0
    gamma = 1.20000
    grass_distance = 0.00000
    hdr_enable = 0
    land_anisotropy = 2
    land_detail = 1
    land_tex_lods = 0
    max_cache_res = 1
    max_clouds_quality = 3
    mgpu_compatible = 0
    mirrors = 0
    msaa = 0
    multisampling = 1
    or_ca = 0.00000
    or_dummy = 0
    or_enable = 1
    or_height = 1968
    or_hud_rad = 1.50000
    or_hud_size = 0.75000
    or_ipd = 0.05675
    or_render_eye = 1
    or_sipdc = 0.00000
    or_width = 1824
    post_sharpen = 0
    preset = 1
    prop_blur_max_rpm_for_vr = 155
    rescale_target = 1.00000
    shadows_quality = 3
    ssao_enable = 0
    stereo_dof = 5.00000
    texture_anisotropy = 16
    usefullresolutionbuffer = 0
    vsync = 0
    win_height = 480
    win_width = 640
[END]

 

Can supply specific AMD Adrenaline settings if needed. 

Any advice would be gratefully received.  I'd love to enjoy some nicer graphics while keeping away shimmering and finding some half decent distance spotting ability - I might just be after the unicorn settings though 😄

 

Cheers!

[imenzum]

Hi ACG_Orb

 

 I don't  know about your gpu, but I had a similar experience .

 

I recently upgraded my system, haven't played  much over the years as I couldn't get  a decent experience in VR and didn't want to go back to flat screen after playing in my old rift s.

I went all in and upgraded to 9800x3d 64gb ram and 5090. decided to buy a used quest 3 nearly new until a display port micro oled hmd comes along that I like the look of.

I run the Quest 3 with a 3rd party powered link cable.

I was not happy as everything I tried to get it to run clear, without a shimmering mess or looking not much better than my rift s, on IL2 and the other SIM "D#S world". I tried and tried, changing settings everywhere multiple times, over and over until I was so fed up. Then... I found it!!!! WOW! for me anyway!

 

Hope this helps you and others.

 

I do not use Openxr toolkit anymore other than the FPS Counter to check what is going on as it is not supported anymore and not needed. You can use oculus debug tool "Visible HUD" but I used both back and forth, to confirm my numbers. once I was Happy I do not use it at all. 

I use OpencComposite as the default runtime for IL 2. I don't have to open this again once it is set . I don't know if this is needed but from my past experience I do not want Steam VR open to steal FPS from my eyeballs. Maybe this is not an issue anymore. You can change to this runtime afterwards to maybe gain a small amount but it is also not supported anymore. I found an old github link on this forum and just chanced it. It seems to work currently for me.

 

There were many settings that alter the way it looks but would not change the shimmering poor quality mess that I was hoping with this upgrade would be gone.

 

Now for the settings that changed everything for me.

 

In the meta app I've set graphics to 90hz (you can also try 75hz to see if its better for you) and reduced the Rendering Resolution to 1 X at 3264 x 1760. This is so I can increase it in the oculus debug tool higher than in the app.

Launch oculus debug tool.

Then turn on the Quest 3 and click to link to PC in the headset screen.

Once you are linked you will see you're quest / meta library in the headset with the curved options bar below in the display. This curved bar will appear glitchy and a bit grainy as the resolution is low.

Now change these 2 settings in oculus debug tool with the headset linked and on and hit return after them.

they will change in real time. this is the way I got them to change. otherwise I could not see a difference.

Look in the headset at that options bar for this setting, when you hit return! you will see it flash and become smooth.

 

Pixels Per Display Pixel Overide: 1.9                  (try 1.8 and 2.0)   (1 is stock value in meta app)

remember to hit return.

I run at 2.2 I can set it higher but dont see any difference. 1.9 was a big difference . Lower in game setting if you need to 

I did not realize that it wasn't changing every other way I tried to change it.

 

Now for this to not take to much out of your system or if you are struggling to get a smooth experience at what ever resolution you want to run at, you need to lower the FOV-Tangent Multiplier

 

If you double click on the text " FOV-Tangent Multiplier ". it will open up 2 boxes directly underneath " Horizontal and Vertical"

you enter a value below 1 in each so you can reduce the amount of pixels being rendered that you can not see anyway. lowering it further will reduce your field of view by percentage steps but you can run better frame times, so its a compromise.

I set mine to:

 

Horizontal 0.85 then hit return

Vertical 0.85 then hit return                     (there is no field of view loss for me at this amount that i can see)

 

(try .83 or.84 or .86 etc  it all makes a difference and you will see in the headset when it is to much for you. I cant remember if you can see the difference of this setting until you are in game but set it at the same time as Pixels Per Display Pixel Overide)

 

This renders the centre 85% (or whatever you set) of each display in the headset and I cant see the other 15% anyway so I am saving rendering an awful load of pixels for nothing.

They do not have to be the same value so have a play. I have seen some people with lower hardware run 0.75 an 0.7. this enables you to run better visuals with a smoother experience.

 

The above 2 settings have to be set every time you want to launch a gaming session

 

The other settings in my oculus debug tool that are different to yours are:

 

Asynchronous Spacewarp: Disabled  (change to suit you off makes for other planes to be smoother even if you are dropping lower fps occasionally. I click disable and hit return even when it is showing disable.)

 

Encode Resolution width: 4128           ( I just copied from a forum dont know if it makes a difference, try it)

Encode Bitrate mbps: 950           (dont see much difference once its above 600, that is just what it is at now)

Link sharpening: Normal             ( visuals are good so I lowered it to save performance it looks slightly worse on Quality for me)

 

In game settings I use MSAA x2 

 

All other settings have little impact on shimmering they just change the quality of an image which is now smooth!

 

Honestly Once I had found out how to actually increase the resolution over what you can in the Meta App. and it actually have an effect, playing with all other settings became a much more obvious and easier task and not needing Openxr toolkit anymore is a bonus

 

I hope this helps you a bit and anyone else that is loosing the will to live after spending money and then spending hours and hours and hours changing settings, trying to get a result that we had hoped for.

 Cheers

[giftgruen]

Hmmm ... when I did my first steps in VR, a lot of google search told me that it's not a good idea to use AMD GPUs in VR.

While in Flatscreen they compete quite good, in VR NVidia seems to have a clear advantage.

 

Since a 3080 is not THAT slow / outdated, maybe you expect to much ?

Edited yesterday at 08:32 PM by giftgruen

[GOA_AveFenix506*VR*]

Hello,

I recommend using OpenXR. This application will make using VR much easier, both in terms of performance, quality, and fluidity.

I'm sharing the link to a very useful video made by DerSheriff , I hope it's helpful for you.

Regards.

 

[5280magpie]

I have a quest 2 and use 60% fov.  It looks what I'd imagine looking through flight goggles is like.  On my 2060 super I'm at 1.5x full quest 2 resolution, ultra settings, 2x ground, medium shadows, 130 km draw dist, and it's butter smooth. I think its a 13th Gen Intel.  Been frustrated for YEARS . no more. Looks beautiful.

[ACG_Orb]

Thanks all for your suggestions.

 

Quite a few other people in my group have this GPU with VR and have reported good results. I upgraded in the hope I could eek out some better performance for distance spotting... But frustratingly, I can't find that sweet spot. Even with increased hardware fire power. The frame drop/spikes are also confusing me.

 

The sheriff vid was the basis of my old build's settings.  

 

These so many inputs with VR, I never know which application settings to change.  I even spent a few hours testing with chatGPT suggestions, but to no avail. It's doing my head in.

[giftgruen]

Hm - For spotting I'd set HDR to yes for sure --- but since I play my QuestPro wireless with Virtual Desktop, I have no other hint here.

Do I read the settings files correct that you Sharpen in OXR Toolkit ?