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HP Reverb G2

Started by Yskonyn, October 18, 2020, 06:45:22 AM

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Jarhead0331

Quote from: Yskonyn on December 17, 2020, 10:27:30 AM
Great find, thanks.

I would not go for high performance texture filtering in Nvidia CP however. Not ever. It disables optimizations to gain a few frames but seriously fucks with transparency in many games.
And he also disables terrain shadows completely.
Those two are serious compromises for quality of picture and I doubt this will help getting lots of frames or reduce stuttering.

The Steam resolution slider, however, is interesting. Debated is that default setting is already 140% super sampling. That's quite hefty.
So that alone might cause the stutters. Need to test.

Still, DCS itself is to blame mostly; its a fairly unoptimized piece of software. We desperately need the Vulkan API update.

Is it true that DCS runs on only one core?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Pete Dero


Yskonyn

Yes DCS still isn't a true (modern) multicore application.
The Vulkan API is what's going to make it into one; seperate threads for sound, ballistics, sensors, AI, etc.

For now the game benefits more from higher core clock speeds over more cores.
I recall reading on the ED forums that the current engine uses 2 cores at most, but mostly for load switching and not for different processes. Which was then argued that this wasnt a feature of the game itself but more an architecture thing of Intel/AMD/Windows.



"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Jarhead0331

I changed some of my nvidia 3D settings based on Bignewy and it seems to have resolved the microstudders. However, I still have a bit of chop when things are busy. Need to work on it some more.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Yskonyn

Have you pinned down which setting resolved the microstutters?
Did you also change the resolution slider in the Reverb's settings?
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Jarhead0331

Quote from: Yskonyn on December 18, 2020, 04:47:29 AM
Have you pinned down which setting resolved the microstutters?
Did you also change the resolution slider in the Reverb's settings?

No. I have no idea which specific setting or settings made a difference. However, a couple were changed from quality or maximum quality to high performance.

I have not changed resolution because, 1. I'm not sure what this will do. Doesn't doing so defeat the purpose of using a g2? 2. The setting is program specific and DCS is not listed in the pull down menu. I have no idea how to get it there. Does DCS have to be running?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Yskonyn

Ok, I forgot I still had PD 1.5 selected in DCS from my Rift usage. Never changed it.
Changing it back to 1.0, reducing the Global SteamVR resolution slider to 100% from the 150% default and making a 'per application settings' profile for DCS with Motion Smoothing Enabled and a per eye resolution slider of 54% (which is pretty much raw resolution per eye of the G2) has transformed my performance into a smooth ride while still having great clarity. In singleplayer at least. Not tried MP yet.

In the sim I have Terrain Object Shadows on Flat and Global Cockpit Illumination OFF, the rest on the same settings as when using my monitor as I didnt see any detectable performance change from the other settings.

"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn

#37
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on December 18, 2020, 07:09:36 AM
Quote from: Yskonyn on December 18, 2020, 04:47:29 AM
Have you pinned down which setting resolved the microstutters?
Did you also change the resolution slider in the Reverb's settings?

No. I have no idea which specific setting or settings made a difference. However, a couple were changed from quality or maximum quality to high performance.

I have not changed resolution because, 1. I'm not sure what this will do. Doesn't doing so defeat the purpose of using a g2? 2. The setting is program specific and DCS is not listed in the pull down menu. I have no idea how to get it there. Does DCS have to be running?

Well (I am not expert), what I understand from the reading I did is that in VR headsets there always is screen distortion because of the fresnel lenses which will 'stretch' pixels outside of the sweet spot where your pupil normally tracks the image. To correct the distortion supersampling is used.
The G2 runs at something like 180% normal res by default in SteamVR, which is weird because:
a) usually the ideal SS rate is deemed 140%
b) you could question if there actually is hardware capable of doing this with good performance anyway

The default res slider shows 150% resolution. Which is just a math way of interpolating numbers, because due to the SS effect its actually 180% more pixels that need to be rendered (I cant explain why just like that but there's a thread on ED forums which does). This causes a whole load of confusion ofc.
Reducing this slider to 100% will still show a per-eye res that's higher than native (2160x2160 per eye) so even on 100%, there is still SS going on.

If you reduce the slider to 54% or so, you'll see you approach the real raw resolution per eye of the headset.

So by default, SteamVR pump 180% more pixels onto the display of the G2. No wonder my pc chokes to death.

The strange thing, however, is that on full auto SteamVR settings IL-2 runs flawlessly. So either it intelligently reduces SS or, DCS not being a native Steam game on my system, the full auto system doesn't work. I don't know. But I do know that I run DCS in the G2's native res now, just without super sampling.
It a liiittle less crisp, but still much sharper than any VR experience I had before.

If you want to have DCS show up as an application in the SteamVR settings, first add it to your library as a non-steam title. Then start it from steam. Once its loaded up you'll see it in the dropdown list.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Jarhead0331

This is an interesting idea...

Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Yskonyn

Yeah its weird that it creates three virtual monitors, but results of performance improvements have been sketchy at best. Lots of users report no change after running a script to prevent their creation, while others -like the video- claim its huge.

I'd like to see some official word first. Also an explanation about why it creates these three virtual monitors in the first place.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Jarhead0331

How important would you say is pixel density? I lowered it to 1.0 and I also lowered the resolution in the SteamVR settings to 54%, but the difference in quality was extremely noticeable and it defeats the purpose in having the G2 over the G1 in my opinion. Still have some chop though with the higher settings. It's pretty disappointing. I guess I need to keep hunting for the perfect balance in settings?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Yskonyn

#41
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on December 20, 2020, 07:59:19 PM
How important would you say is pixel density? I lowered it to 1.0 and I also lowered the resolution in the SteamVR settings to 54%, but the difference in quality was extremely noticeable and it defeats the purpose in having the G2 over the G1 in my opinion. Still have some chop though with the higher settings. It's pretty disappointing. I guess I need to keep hunting for the perfect balance in settings?

You control pixel desity already with the resolution slider of the SteamVR settings (anything higher than native raw resolution already increases PD by applying Super Sampling) so its either or, not both.
Its personal really. I've seen a guy run 150% res slider with 0.8 PD in DCS claiming it increased clarity. I don't know, man. It's a minefield.
But Super Sampling is the most effective way to get a sharper image, with the sweet spot being somewhere between 1.4 and 1.8, from what I read.
You will have to fiddle with either going the resolution slider way or using DCS's PD setting. But don't use both.

I am running at PD 1.0 though. Don't have any complaints about clarity, but I don't know what the G1 was like. Still, I don't think DCS will allow silky smooth performance, no matter what we try.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn

#42
Found out that the Preallocated monitors option is actually a known issue listed by Microsoft and the registey key edit to prevent it, is also an official remedy.
Basically it has to do with MS Edge browsing in VR. If you disable the preallocation the system will dynamically allocate a new virtual window if needed, so you don't loose any functionality by disabling it.
Seems like it did make quite a difference on my system for performance in DCS.

I now run DCS with a General resolution slider of 100% in SteamVR and a Per Application setting of 80% for DCS. This way I make sure all games run at full res by default, but DCS gets dialed back a little.
75 to 80% seems to be the sweet spot in terms of still having top clarity (as gauged by the Gun Ready annunciator on the A-10C -which gets blocky from your default position when I go lower and only sharpens again when leaning in-) and running at an acceptable performance.
This is still single player, so probably will have to accept a little less clarity to trade in for additional performance, but I have some room left. Even at native res without supersampling the clarity is acceptable, though definitely less clear.

The tweaking continues, but strides are made.

BTW I don't see any change in quality from running the general res at 150% over 100% (if I dont run a DCS profile) at all, so the default it definitely too high.

HP also seems to stand by their comment that the resolution slider should be set at 100% to get factory spec clarity and performance. So it seems SteamVR is a little too enthousiastic here with its default values.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Jarhead0331

Thanks for all the input.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Yskonyn

I've also uninstalled Geforce Experience and disabled the Xbox Gamebar. Both are known to cause performance hits in VR due to their overlays.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."