Varjo Dynamic Foveated Rendering is Here!

[@CanardSwe]

Great video! I installed this yesterday right before bedtime. I was totally blown away. Finally it feels like the Varjo is at full or near full potential like having 4K screens and really good performance. Your video was my confirmation that I did not dream it all yesterday :) . I noticed that activating bloom (as a test) and staring in the suns direction displayed the foveated box for me visibly as an artifact. Man the box moves instantaneously and it is relatively small as default. My old eyes did not notice the outside of the box being of lower quality. (Varjo, 4090,13900K)

[@StrIIker-TV]

Like I said.. what a great time to be flying DCS! In single player on Syria I was generally solid at 85-90 fps. When I got down low and really pushed the sim, I hovered around in the 70’s (in the Hornet flying fast and pulling hard turns). The foveated border becomes more evident at higher altitudes and when there is a uniform texture on the ground (like a forest). It’s not a problem but it’s neat to see it and know it’s actually there! They are looking into ways to adjust the size and shape of the foveated area to better optimize the viewing experience. The crazy thing is that this is just the initial proof of concept release! My only fear is that Eagle Dynamics will do something boneheaded in a future release which breaks this.

[@docholliday1811]

Wow, an impressive video . Thank you for your look.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Thanks for the compliment! I enjoy helping the community out with these.

[@_Dibbler_]

Whoah, just tried it, works amazing!

[@StrIIker-TV]

Great! I'm happy to hear that it's working for ya! I just posted a new video demonstrating Dynamic Foveated Rendering in DCS using a stress test type of mission made by someone else.

[@supershamer]

The multithreading made a huge difference, but the foveated rendering has made the Varjo worth it! Great video thanks so much! Running with all the same settings in DCS but 8x Antialiasing and medium settings on the Varjo getting 60FPS at the low end and up to 80 at times CPU: Intel Core i7-12700KF GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080-Ti SSD: Samsung 870 EVO 4TB - SSD: Micron_1100_MTFDDAK2T0TBN 2TB SSD: Sabrent Rocket Q4 4TB RAM: Patriot Memory (PDP Systems) 3600 C20 Series 2x31.5GB MBD: MSI MPG Z690 EDGE WIFI DDR4

[@StrIIker-TV]

Thank you and I’m happy to hear that you are finally able to take advantage of your headset and hardware finally to get some amazing visuals in DCS! That’s a solid system and it’s going to be able to run DCS for a long time especially as Eagle Dynamics continues to improve their game engine. Happy flying! I think the only real benefit of a 4090 was being able to run Varjo Base at highest which while nice isn’t really a must have.

[@supershamer]

@StrIIker-TV would you consider doing a side by side video comparison of the Varjo medium setting and high setting? I have watched a few videos but can't really see the difference and they are older videos.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hmm, not sure if I responded to this but I can't see the response so here it goes.. a month or so late! Changing the resolutions for the Varjo headset will not show up at all in recorded videos. The videos which people shoot of VR are generally a mirror of the game and does not represent what the headset view actually looks like. It's almost like recording a flat screen session. So, regardless of medium or high or highest in Varjo Base, you will not see a difference in visual quality in videos. You may notice a reduced frame rate in the videos as the system may struggle to hit high FPS due to the amount of rendering needed for the headset at its highest setting. With Dynamic Foveated Rendering and a high end system, the visual I get in my headset is as good as a flat screen display. Everything is super sharp and I get great frame rates.

[@supershamer]

@StrIIker-TV you are absolutely correct, and I feel like everyone forgets that the recordings are not the same as through the lens. I have been running on the Varjo on the highest setting, but I often can't recognize the difference in visuals. Definitely love the content, and thanks for the reply!

[@manic_miner]

Thanks for this Str][kerTV. Locked to a smooth 45fps with Motion Smoothing On and Dynamic Foveated Rendering. Feels like 90fps and hardly any noticeable artifacts with the Aero (compared to my older G2), this is amazing stuff! (5800x3d/4090 OC)

[@StrIIker-TV]

I am happy to hear that it's working well for you! I finally figured out what the issue was for me when. I tried vsync (45 fps lock) and motion smoothing. I was not restarting Varjo Base and so it looked like hot garbage when I tried it. I could not figure out how people could like it looking so bad. I finally thought of restarting Varjo base after setting these parameters and it looks amazing! I will definitely be trying it for the next week or so. I only really fly the Hornet for now so I will see how it handles and looks when things bog down over someplace like Beirut or Cairo, both of which really hammer the frame rate. I've finished shooting my video for installing and configuring the QVFR software so hope to have that up soon.

[@manic_miner]

@@StrIIker-TV I couldn't get Varjo VSync and Motion Smoothing working at all in MSFS last night.. Huge jumps from 10-15-40fps. Not locked at all. Not sure what's going on there. So I used DLSS, locked with RTSS to 45 and it's super smooth and the OpenXR Sharpening/ FSR Sharpening really cleans the image up.

[@SDsc0rch]

been waiting quite a while for this glad it (finally) arrived : )

[@StrIIker-TV]

What's being missed a lot is that this was actually a fix put in by Eagle Dynamics! The Varjo headsets have always had this capability but it needs support by the software using it. They finally (and apparently secretly) implemented the Varjo "toolkit" in the multi-thread release which enabled the quad displays to work. @mbuccia noticed this while poking around and tried implementing it. He had to also fix some small part as Eagle Dynamics' implementation has an error in it. He's been in contact with them to see if they can just add it all natively and fix the problem.

[@SDsc0rch]

@@StrIIker-TV -interesting thx

[@jinkers8277]

Update: Foveated Rendering now works with Meta Quest Pro as well.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Yeah! Mbucchia is really kicking ass with his efforts around VR. He made the XRToolkit, a wrapper for the Varjo headsets when there was an issue and then DFR for the Varjo gear and now is expanding that to other headsets. We all owe him some serious appreciation!

[@mbucchia]

This is awesome, thank you for making this step-by-step!

[@StrIIker-TV]

I greatly appreciate your kind words! Thank you for this and all of your efforts to date! You rock!

[@jevadeka]

@mbucchia Is it possible to adjust Foveated Rendering quality dynamically? I can imagine this could work with the Reverb g2: so when FPS is below lower resolution or aggressively reduce foveated rendering quality to try to keep at 90fps: and define a threshold zo you still can run with repojection if 90 fps is not realistic.? Is this technically possible?

[@mbucchia]

@@jevadeka the foveated rendering described in this video only works with Varjo devices, not the G2.

[@Viljapossu]

Greets and thanks for the great video! I was wondering if you still use Aero? I was out of the loop for a while and I noticed quite a few things have changed. Any possibility on getting an update about how to do this now for example in the description?

[@Ready.A-10C]

Holy s%@t. Got the Aero working and it looks great. Still much to tinker with. Thanks so far!

[@StrIIker-TV]

It’s so amazing isn’t it? There are a few things to play with but overall it’s super stable once you tune things to your liking. I’m totally spoiled by it now and couldn’t go back to anything else. It’s such a pleasure hopping into VR for some DCS action. Sometimes I just like to fly around taking in the scenery.

[@Ready.A-10C]

@@StrIIker-TV Yes I am already spoiled :) A few things are quite different from the G2, mostly comfort-wise, but I will get used to it pretty soon I guess. Hope I get OBS sorted out soon as well.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Ready.A-10C Yes, I noticed the comfort differences. I bought two things which for me, made it much more comfortable. First thing was the Comfort Kit from Studio Form (www.studioformcreative.com/product-page/varjo-vr-3-xr-3-counter-balance-comfort-kit-200-gram-7oz) I found the forehead pad become unbearably uncomfortable after about 30 minutes of use. This made a huge difference. Next, I wasn't a fan of the Varjo face pad. I bought a Crystal face pad (Amazon Link: a.co/d/0IR0zeG) and really like it. It's a little bigger around the top / forehead area so it sticks out. I posted some pics on the Varjo Discord under General VR discussions. I like the feel of this face pad. I still feel that the HP G2 was a bit more comfy overall but this is definitely close enough. Enjoy your new world in VR!

[@Ready.A-10C]

@@StrIIker-TV Thanks! the link for the crystal face pad is not working. Is it Varjo specific?

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Ready.A-10C Oops! Here is one I verified... amzn.to/3JXLkyl. It is not made for the Aero or Varjo. It's for the Pimax but it fits the Aero..

[@zxy7529]

Amazing! Just when I thought I should wait for the Pimax Crystal instead of buying an Aero 😂 Also, Varjo gave an Aero to the developer so he could develop this software, so they are involved already.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Yeah I had considered waiting on a crystal last year but decided not to after I watched their cfo (I thank that’s who it was) on the MRTV show which in my opinion was a mess and a whole lot of promises with not enough substance. I can say that I am very happy with my choice to have bought the Aero. It has been almost a year. The addition of dynamic Foveated rendering was the icing on the cake given to us all by Eagle Dynamics with the multi-threaded executable.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@adrenalinejunkie3828 I was merely posting my reasons for passing on the Crystal which I had given very real consideration on waiting to purchase. I felt the long show which I mentioned was poorly done and there was a lot lacking from it and I thought the guy from PiMax was a bit of a hot mess when trying to showcase the early version of it. I honestly don’t care what people buy or use etc. as it doesn’t affect me at all. If waiting for the crystal is what someone wants to do, have at it. If you love the PiMax, great! It you hate the Aero, great too! I’m not trying to convince people to do one thing or another. I’m just sharing my experiences and wanted to help people who I knew would have some difficulty getting this to work. If something better comes along which works well in DCS I will buy it and replace my Aero. The issue with dynamic Foveated rendering was not with Varjo as that feature was always available, it was with Eagle Dynamics as they apparently did not properly implement the Varjo toolkit. (and I am talking out of my element here but I am paraphrasing what I recall was explained by the guy who made the installer to get this working). Apparently in the multi-thread executable, Eagle Dynamics fixed something to allow it to display to 4 displays in the Varjo which was needed to get this to work. Once this was discovered, the guy went and wrote this program and here we are. It took him less than a day after discovering this to get the initial proof of concept installer ready for use. I think Varjo has had its failings with respect to a lot of issues and features as it has taken users to write up code to get things working better for the Varjo users in DCS. Hope this helped to clarify things. Happy flying!

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@adrenalinejunkie3828 As a follow up to my comment, I refer you to this post by mbucchia in which he explains what he did and why it's working. Eagle Dynamics had to implement support for the Varjo Dynamic Foveated Rendering which they sort of did in the multi-thread release. So this problem was not on them.. forum.dcs.world/topic/300065-varjo-aero-general-guide-for-new-owners/page/30/#comment-5178705 Varjo does suck with respect to no local dimming as well as taking a long time supporting motion smoothing (and it's still in need of work in my opinion (and others)). It's incredibly frustrating to see them not getting this prioritized but then again, I think we are all accustomed to feeling frustrations with respect to waiting for featurs and fixes to roll out.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV I love my Aero and have no regrets purchasing it, however, I'm annoyed by the login requirements. Upon each bootup of my PC, I'm forced to login. Then I get an error message saying "there are too many logins", which redirects me to my Varjo account page where I have to click something about ending all other sessions or some crap. Once I do that, I can successfully login the Varjo Base and use the headset. Extremely frustrating to say the least.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@redtailpilot I love my Aero as well. I honestly do not have the sign in issues which you are having. You might want to check that out with Varjo to figure out a solution. I have heard of people with that issue before but don’t recall the solution.

[@lorre007]

Thanks alot!! Besides the cpu I got the exact same setup as you! Can't wait to try this out!

[@StrIIker-TV]

I’m happy to help! I think you will be able to get some solid performance regardless of CPU. multi-threading PLUS the dynamic foveated rendering should help significantly.

[@MackTheKnight59]

Great summary! Can't wait to give this a try!

[@StrIIker-TV]

It’s so incredibly good! I mean I was happy with the multi-threading but now.. oh hell yeah.

[@MackTheKnight59]

@@StrIIker-TV yea man it's amazing! I tried it last night and I'm blown away. I honestly didn't expect DFR support until at least 2024... What an amazing surprise! Have you tried flying any of the warbirds with it yet? I tried with the spit and mustang and seeing some strange artifacts with eye tracking. The modern jets work fantastic though!

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@MackTheKnight59 I hear ya! I saw mbucchia and others talking about it on Discord a few days ago and thought that there probably would be some problems which would prevent it from working. Then they started talking about how it was working and how much it was improving the performance, and that for me pretty excited. I woke up the next day to see that they had it all figured out and had released the installer! I haven’t tried it in any warbirds yet. I thought I saw someone mention something on the Varjo discord but can’t recall what was said. You should hop on and ask about it there as they are all very active and love to help out. I have a link to the discord server in the video description.

[@MackTheKnight59]

@@StrIIker-TV figured it out. Had to turn off the lens effects. (Dirt/flare)

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@MackTheKnight59 I’m glad you have it working! Thanks for sharing your solution to the problem. It might help others who had the same issue. Now go have some fun flying!

[@davewills6121]

VR/DCS...how do i see my ''Virpil Throttle/Grips/Streamdeck'' with that monstrosity on my head?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Well.. you don’t actually. If you have a VR headset, you need to learn where the buttons are by feel. It may seem at first like an impossible task but you really do learn where everything is by feel. As for the Stream Deck which I have but don’t use while in VR, I have heard that people stick little rubber pads or pieces of tape onto the buttons to use as a reference. Ultimately, what I do is I use PointCTRL so that I really don’t need all of those buttons while flying. PointCTRL let’s me interact with the cockpit buttons and switches directly with my fingers. I’ve demonstrated this in other videos and you can see me using it in some where I have the little window on the bottom right showing me flying the jet.

[@fargo3620]

Hi Stryker....great video. Thank you. Long time user of the G2, thinking of upgrading to the Varjo. One thing Im wondering...while the cockpit is very clear in the G2, the scenery outside always looks pretty 'hazy'. Wondering if that is the G2 headset or just a bi-product of the VR experience. I believe that you came from a G2 as well so you probably know what I mean. Do you see the same kind of scenery 'haziness' with the Varjo, or is it clear outside as well as in the cockpit?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hi! Are you referring to what the outside looks like when seen through the G2's "sweet spot" as being hazy? The peripheral vision on the G2 (anything away from that central sweet spot) will take on a hazy look as this is an issue with the lens design. This may be amplified with distance (i.e. looking at the scenery outside of the cockpit) because of atmospheric effects in DCS (more distance = more haze). I can say that in the G2, while on the runway, objects such as parked aircraft and hangars etc. looked fine when I stared directly at them through the center of the G2. I didn't see haze. If I looked at something to the left for example, by turning my eyes in that direction, it did look hazy due to the lenses not being clear. I do not see any of this in the Aero. It's quite amazing actually. I can sit in the cockpit and glance around at displays just with my eyes and be able to read them perfectly clear. The outside is similarly super clear and crisp. Objects far away do lose some definition etc. What I would say is, what you see in the G2 through the sweet spot (center of vision) is exactly what the entire field of view looks like in the Aero. On top of that, you get Dynamic Foveated Rendering and so you can increase some settings if you wish to see better details or at the very least, experience improved performance. I paid $2,000 USD on my Aero and I have had ZERO regrets. Consider this, the headset is something which you use all the time and it presents the VR world to you. Make it the best you can get (afford). Getting the Aero (or a similarly performing headset) will elevate your experience in many ways. Visual clarity and improved overall performance. DO keep in mind that you must get external base stations (lighthouses) for tracking. I recommend getting two of the Valve Base stations. One can suffice but your headset may loose track when you turn your head around to the rear to check for enemy aircraft or to watch that hangar explode.

[@brookefore4618]

Im getting a floating label in the lower left corner that is following my eye tracking. It’s not a DCS label. It seems to be coming from the foveated plugin. Has anyone else seen this?

[@StrIIker-TV]

I have never observed this before. Are you running the Varjo Foveated Rendering or Quad Views Foveated Rendering? For both, I suggest verifying that you have the latest version installed. I would be curious as to what this label is. Is it a word? Did you ensure that you have lens effects etc. off? This is mentioned on the Wiki for the Foveated software. Also, make sure you are running the Multi-Thread version of DCS. If you still have this issue, I strongly urge that you hop onto Discord and ask there. Everyone is always eager to help out. This is the Varjo Discord server invite. Hop on and then go to the DCS channel and ask there! discord.gg/7SKDKBQAey

[@StarBellySneetch]

Finally found someone with same exact system hmd cpu gpu. Where do you communicate wit hthe other Varjo users you mention? Will be following all videos! This 'game; is getting intense !

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hey! Welcome! The Varjo Discord is where you want to go. Mbucchia is there regularly (the guy who made the foveated rendering software). Everyone on the DCS channel there are very helpful and have probably run into the very same issues you may experience. Here’s the link. discord.gg/7WZ65RMG

[@jamescooper5183]

Wow I can't wait to get home from work and install this! Thanks for posting this video...

[@StrIIker-TV]

Glad to help out! It’s super easy to do as you can see from the video. Everyone who has tried it saw an increase in performance and improved clarity.

[@jamescooper5183]

@@StrIIker-TV Yes man, what a difference! Running with the settings maxed out and flying around with tons of ground units and i'm getting 90fps, I even turned up the Aero to the max setting...Looks beautiful..

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@jamescooper5183 I bet that work day took extra long to end! It’s an amazing experience indeed! It’s a unanimous feeling from everyone that I’ve spoken with on the Varjo discord. Have fun flying! I’ve been working on an annoying issue on my system where I get significant stutters now and then. Trying a new power supply as my old one was borderline sized. If not that then I am swapping my video card for a replacement.

[@jamescooper5183]

​​@@StrIIker-TV Yeah definitely try a new power supply, I have the Corsair 1200W for my 4090 and it does draw a lot of watts, sometimes it will hit over 600 watts for just the card.. My 4090 is overclocked to it's limits, I have a high powered house fan blowing directly on it at all times.. Let us know if you fixed the problem, and good luck.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@jamescooper5183 I tried the new PSU and it didn’t help. I am glad I switched it though and I found a new PSU which I will use on all future builds. The Corsair Shift. It has the cable connectors of the side which makes plugging them all in a breeze. I have big meat hooks for hands and it was a total nightmare trying to connect the power cables to the PSU and even worse when I had to add more to an existing build. Why all PSU’s don’t do it this way now is a mystery.

[@Mako-sz4qr]

Hey Str][ker I hope all is well. I'm sorry if I'm taking you away for more important things but I had a question about QVFR verses DFR/FVR. Around the time when I got my Aero in this video of yours came out and I followed your instructions setting my Aero up and it's a super great 1st time experience... like WOW ! so again thank you for sharing it because I'm not to techy with this sort of stuff but I am learning as I go and do read the wiki's. So now that there is mbucchia's QVFR out I switched to that and it's actually working pretty darn good with my rig - 10900K/3090 and running VB at 37PPD/very high, not sure if should be running it at 39PPD, anywho I just wanted to ask you if your using QVFR or DFR/FVR. Thanks again man !

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hi! I'm very happy to hear that my little video was able to help you out! That means a lot. Please always feel free to ask questions! Helping people out is why I make these videos (even just the ones where I am flying around.. sometimes you can learn from that stuff.. I know I do). If I'm tied up with something, it just takes a little longer to respond. So, QVFR. I am actually working on a video for that! I realized that I should update with the new software and with lessons learned since the last one! I shot most of the footage and am working on putting it together. So first question, should you be running at 39 PPD.. on a 3090 that can cause some frame rate issues. I ran at the next setting down (the one you are on) on my 3090ti and I think it was fine. I think the video card has to work harder to push more into the display when you increase that setting. A 4090 handles it just fine and possibly the 3090 would be good. I suggest trying it out! See how it performs for the type of missions you fly. If you feel that it's a little too sluggish, just drop it down. I doubt you'll notice much of a difference (if any) in terms of clarity between the two settings. I tend to think though that your current setting is where you should be, especially if it's performing to your satisfaction. Last night I started flying using QVFR and it's pretty much the same as VFR as expected. The only current benefits of using the new software is that it allows you to use Open XR Toolkit (mainly for post processing) and it includes built-in CAS (sharpening). You can also blend the focus and peripheral boundary better in QVFR so it's less noticeable (it never bothered me though). I can still see it in some atmospheric and lighting conditions but it is better. Keep an eye open over the next day or so for my new video on QVFR. Hopefully it helps a little bit more for ya!

[@Mako-sz4qr]

@@StrIIker-TV - I will be looking forward to that video for sure. I like the you explain things that make it easy for old knuckleheads like me that has only bees simming for just about 4 years and really starting to get into the tweaking aspect of all this wonderful technology stuff ya really cool. Thanks for your advice and I’ll be looking out for your QVFR video. 👍🏻

[@mruhum]

Where is this canyon located? Long time since I flew fixed wing. Is some of the footage sped up? :) Never seemed to get that sense of speed. Great video btw. Going to save up for the headset

[@StrIIker-TV]

That video was shot in the area of the Hornet cold start instant action mission in Syria. I will hop on later to grab the airbase name and coordinates for you. As for the video, I did not speed it up or do any post processing. I think one thing which helped give better speed perspective was that I’m getting such great frame rates at low altitude. I agree that it looks so much better now. I watched an older video to contrast and man what a difference! The older video is a jittery mess in comparison which translates to a perceived slowness. This one just flows like hot butter. I’m going to shoot another video where it’s just me, flying around enjoying the scenery (and blowing some of it up maybe) and show the frame rates I’m getting.

[@mruhum]

@@StrIIker-TV thanks man. Again great video. I had the cv1 for about a month, a year or two ago. But this has gotten me excited to finally try out VR again.

[@MinhNguyen-xv9bh]

Hello StrikerTV, i experiences image flickers when using the foveteated rendering, it is not present when i play with dcs normal and aero. Do you know why ? Thanks

[@StrIIker-TV]

Very likely you still have lens effects turned on. In the DCS World settings, you must disable 'VR' -> 'Bloom effect' and 'System' -> 'Lens Effects' as they produced poor visuals when using foveated rendering. Make sure you also disabled DCS in OpenXR Toolkit. Check those and let me know.

[@Ready.A-10C]

Hi I have a bunch of questions, the discord link for Varjo does not seem to work. Currently on G2 with 4090 5800x3D and am considering stepping over to the Aero. Am having stutter issues with my recordings and am running G2 on 60Hz because 90 Hz looks bad. How do you record? Motion Reprojection on? You no longer use OpenXR-Toolkit?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hi! The Discord invite links seem to have a default expiration of 7 days. Here's a fresh one for you! discord.gg/8WZ8rxyB. I'm actually working on a video to show how I do my recordings. There are various ways to do this and it took a lot of digging around to figure out how to do it in a way which works for me. Ultimately, my video recordings are all done using OBS. I record the mirror which DCS presents. There's a way to remove the HMD mask (that black stuff in the mirror view) so that I can get a full screen width to record. I can detail that if you want. I used to record at 30 fps in OBS but with my new CPU and I guess video card) I can now record at 60 fps. There's a way to get 4k recording resolution on the mirror (it's not full 4k because the aspect ratio is not correct but it gives me solid quality). There are also settings in OBS which need to be set to record at the correct bit rates etc. I do not use motion reprojection although that's not available on the Varjo exactly (they call it motion smoothing but I don't care for it personally so I don't use it). So, at the end of the day, I only am recording the DCS mirror view which is on your display while in DCS. I don't use any other plugins for OBS to record that view. As for OpenXR-Toolkit, I was using it before dynamic foveated rendering started to work (although that only affects the display in the headset, not the DCS mirror and hence, will not affect your video recording). With DFR, you have to disable OpenXR-Toolkit. DFR does have Turbo mode enabled by default so there's at least that from the OpenXR-Toolkit still available. mbucchia stated that he's going to work on getting the OXRTK to work with DFR on the Varjo headsets. As I mentioned in the video, I had (and still have as a backup) a G2 and I really loved it. It's an amazing headset. I'm very happy with my move to the Aero as the entire display is now the "sweet spot". There's a slim ring of distortion around the field of view but after about 5 minute or so in the Aero, I stopped even noticing it. The Aero does have some finicky stuff to sort through at times but it has been a solid headset for me for a year now (well almost.. in a couple of weeks it will have been 1 year). If you have additional questions, please feel free to ask! Hopefully I was able to help enough to get you thinking about what you wish to do around recording. If you would like more detail, let me know. I can get that video finished up finally and it may help you out a bit more.

[@dcsworldiran]

Force OpenXR is not necessary for MT as it uses OpenXR by default.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Very true! At the time I probably left it in out of habit from "the before times" to get things working properly. (heck I think it's still in my command line shortcut!). Man, this video is from 7 months ago! Time passes quickly! Here we are with 3.9 now.

[@dcsworldiran]

@@StrIIker-TV ☺️

[@vTango888]

Hey Stryker. Great video. Is this info still valid now that Varjo quad views/foveated is supported for DCS directly in Varjo Base?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Yes, it’s still very much valid. The native Varjo quad view does work however you can’t tune it as you can with the version from Mbucchia which I speak of here. With mbucchia’s Varjo Foveated software, you can adjust various parameters to adjust the resolution of the focus and peripheral as well as the size of the focus and transition of the boundary. I still use mbucchia’s and it’s still perfect. Mbucchia also put out one which is more generic called Quad Views Foveated which works on numerous other headsets including the Varjo ones. If you are using an Aero, I strongly suggest using the Varjo Foveated Rendering one from Mbucchia as there are some issues at times with the generic one. Hope this helps and also, thank you for your kinds words! Please do feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[@vTango888]

@@StrIIker-TV thank you for the detailed answer! I do have an Aero, and after joining and reading through this Discord today I’ll go back to Mbucchia with the addition of some setting tweaks. Hopefully performance improves!

[@redtailpilot]

Looking forward to trying this out! Thanks for the video. I have a high-end PC with a 4090 that I built a few months ago. One thing I'm still not sure about is the "Full Screen" checkbox, specifcally in VR. What's your experience? Better On or Off ?

[@StrIIker-TV]

You want to check that to ON as it provides some additional performance boosts. This was from Eagle Dynamics themselves.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV OK thanks

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV I don't know what kind of magic this is, but VR never looked so good! Syria never looked so good. I went from an averaage high 60's/mid 70's to a solid 90fps in most cases so far! My Aero looks even more incredible than it did before, making me that much happier to have one. Thanks so much for this video. Hats off to the modders and ED for their awesome job!!! 👍🏾

[@webweaver3015]

Do you know if XRNecksafer works with this DFR enabled?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Yes, I use XRNecksafer and DFR without issue.

[@chrisdawndennis1146]

Very nice system. thank you for providing the step by step procedure in setting this up. What would be your estimate of minium performance for those that perhaps cannot build a top end system? In other words, to take advantage of the improved performance of foveated rendering, what would be the minimum CPU & GPU? Nice video thanks

[@StrIIker-TV]

I’m not too sure of minimum system configurations. The main thing is to tune DCS settings to get you to a happy balance between performance and visual quality. In the past this often meant sacrificing visual quality to get to at least an okay performance level for most. Until recently I was on an Intel CPU from 2018 which was bleeding edge at that time and I was happy with what I could squeeze out of DCS. Once I upgraded my CPU and motherboard I saw noticeable improvements and then the new multi-threaded executable came out and cranked it all up to 10. This latest dynamic Foveated rendering addition blew it all to 11+. So, back to your question, with all of these recent improvements to DCS plus having a Varjo headset, you should see some pretty solid performance with great visuals. It will come down to picking some settings, flying around and see if you are happy and then adjusting. I suspect that you will be able to have an amazing experience now!

[@EbonySeraphim]

Does the Varjo Aero need a separate base station for head tracking? Or if Varjo has a package sold together with base station, how much was it?

[@StrIIker-TV]

The Aero requires at least one base station for tracking. If you can swing it, I'd get two which is what I have. The Aero does not ship with base stations nor do they offer a package with them included. I highly recommend the base stations from Valve which are gen. 2 base stations. I had older gen. 1 stations from HTC and while they did work, I had some odd tracking issues which went away when I replaced them with the Valve gen. 2 base stations. The base stations here in the US are $150.00 each from Valve and they are no longer problematic in terms of having inventory. Regarding price, the Aero I think still sells for US $2,000.00. I seem to recall Varjo having a sale last Christmas I think where they sold for $1,800.00. One other thing to keep in mind is that you will need to provide your own audio headset (earphones and microphone) as the Aero does not ship with any. It does come with some earbuds but they are laughable and pretty much everyone throws that away. The lack of included / integrated sound is a common criticism of Varjo for the Aero which I suspect they will address whenever they put out an "Aero 2" but there's no indication of when that would happen.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV Yep, same experience with my gen 1 base stations. Sold them and bought 2.0 and the tracking issues went away. The integrated sound was never an issue for me, because I have a dedicated sound system in the mancave. I do understand the criticism though and not everyone is lucky enough to have a mancave 😂

[@Hani_Santa]

What about motion prediction? Can you combine that with Foveated Rendering? I noticed that the steamvr Motion Reprojection is actually way smoother then the openXR reprojection for my g2, but I only have a 3090 so it's hard to have 45 fps in all scenerio's. I heard Varjo is working on one of the smoothest Motion Predictions. So I guess one's they figured that out, you maybe can have a smooth experience also in multiplayer.

[@StrIIker-TV]

On the Varjo, you definitely can combine motion smoothing with dynamic foveated rendering. There were some players on the Varjo discord who have done this already and have commented quite favorably about it. One said there was only a small amount of distortion in specific viewing situations but that it was working great. The combination of the multi-threaded DCS executable and dynamic foveated rendering significantly helps boost your ability to maintain sufficient frames per second to lock in at 45 fps and enable motion smoothing. The 3090 is a very capable card and you could tweak settings to be able to maintain enough frames to use smoothing. Multi-player will always be pretty hard on systems so it may be problematic there. In single player you should be in great shape. This also depends upon your cpu though as it’s now doing a lot more to help DCS render.

[@redtailpilot]

Hi, are you still using this? I've been away from DCS for a few months. Now whenever I use this, I notice some odd behavior in my Aero. The picture quality randomly degrades as I fly. It fluctuates between sharp and grainy and is most noticeable in the HUD. Have you experienced this? BTW, I'm using his current version (0.2.0). Thanks.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hello, I am still using the Varjo Foveated Rendering. There is a different version called Quad Views Foveated Rendering which works on the Varjo (and other headsets). With QFVR you can use the OpenXR Toolkit which allows you to use some of the handy features in that program. I made a video about it as well. If you choose to try it, I suggest reading the Wiki on the Git page (good to watch the video as well). There are a few things you need to do to make sure it works well. If you have questions, please feel free to ask. I am still using the Varjo Foveated Rendering one because the QVFR has an issue for a small number of people and I am one of the lucky ones I guess. There is some issue where sometimes the headset does not pass eye tracking to the software when starting DCS so it renders at a lower resolution. It is very obvious when this happens as the displays in the cockpit are blurry. It doesn't always happen though. I can usually play DCS without issue after a reboot of the PC and once more after. Then it takes about 4 tries to get it working (start DCS, see no eye tracking and aliasing in the hangar, exit DCS, start DCS..) Eventually it works so I just stick with VFR. I have started experiencing the odd resolution dip but it only seems to happen when I am in the Strike Eagle looking down at the left console switches. I think it loses eye tracking because I am looking down with my eyes so far. If I move my head down further, it clears up. In your case, I suggest running the eye calibration more often (can do this from the headset buttons on the right). Also do a quick wipe around inside the headset with a proper lens cleaning cloth to ensure the sensors are happy. Lastly, make sure the headset sits low enough / properly on your face. It can be picky. I think the headset loses eye tracking momentarily and drops the resolution. I'll play around a bit more with this on my end to see if it's more of a problem but I never see it while facing the front. I wonder if the drop in eye tracking shows up in the log file. Have a look if you can remember and know where to find it and I will do the same. One other thing to keep in mind is that DLSS will be available in the next update to DCS (3.9.0) which should come out within a week or so I think. DLSS may be a better solution for some in VR but you can't use dynamic foveated rendering and DLSS at the same time so you might wind up no longer using it (in terms of effort to figure this out).

[@redtailpilot]

ok, thanks for your help. I'll look into this and keep an eye out for DLSS

[@ji3200]

Yes varjo dynamic foveated is here with price tag of $5000

[@StrIIker-TV]

Actually dynamic Foveated rendering currently has a $2,000 price tag as it’s only available to the Varjo headsets. There is an assumption that you already paid the price of entry to own a computer capable of playing DCS and you don’t need a super high end system such as what I recently upgraded to. Actually I think the Aero was briefly available for $1,600.00 (or somewhere around that price) during a sale around Christmas. Dynamic Foveated rendering would actually bring great benefit to a lower powered system as it eases up on rendering processes.

[@wheelwrightpl9429]

Is the "sweet spot" resolution the same as looking at 4k monitor ?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Well, I will speak in non technical terms as I don’t know how the two compare. I have a 4k monitor and in my opinion, the two look pretty close if not the same. This is my perception though so some people may disagree. I can honestly tell you though, that my envy of flat screen DCS flying completely disappeared once I got the Varjo Aero. I always knew they had some great looking graphics and frame rates to go along with them. Today I am completely satisfied with what I get. Consider that we now have: Multi Threading DCS, Dynamic Foveated rendering, 4090 GPU’s and very powerful CPU’s (I use the AMD 7950x3D CPU). This all allows me to fly with high settings and get 90 fps or close to it. Some people still gripe about fps or detail levels etc. so it is very much subjective. The difference if flying in VR is that you are IN the aircraft, with it wrapped around you in 3D and the world has depth vs watching DCS on a flat screen.

[@wheelwrightpl9429]

@@StrIIker-TV Thank you for the detailed reply.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV Spot on! I concur. The Aero is the best thing I've experienced in DCS to date! I don't even want to consider going back to a flat screen. I've recently added a motion rig (still finishing setup) and boy...I'm blown away!!!

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@redtailpilot Mmmmm Motion Rig.. That's my long term wish list item.. Some day.....

[@jimj2683]

I want to be able to aim with my eyes in DCS!

[@StrIIker-TV]

That definitely would be cool! I thought that the IHADSS in the Apache can track the eye of the pilot / gunner but I’m not sure now.

[@webweaver3015]

Then fly the Apache

[@VIKNG137]

I have a Pimax 8K+ not the X and run 120 FOV ( seems to be the best without distortion ) been considering the Aero How is the actual FOV ? I Tried other headsets but dont want to feel like I am wearing a scuba mask.

[@StrIIker-TV]

The FOV is pretty much the same as other headsets, like the G2. Some found the vertical FOV was slightly less but I didn't really notice. If you like and prefer the PiMax FOV then you will not like the Aero. It will feel like you are in that scuba mask unfortunately. The Aero is really about full screen clarity and now.. Dynamic Foveated Rendering in DCS which helps boost performance. It's not all 90 FPS though as mentioned in the video. I am going to post a few videos of multi-player sessions with the FPS counter up to show what I am experiencing. My dream headset is the Aero but with an improved FOV and better black levels but I'll take just the FOV improvement. I tend to think that within the next year or two, a new headset will come out which adds to the FOV in a meaningful way (and maybe not from Varjo). With that extra FOV though, it is a necessity to also have DFR in order to keep up FPS and that will require games to support it.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV As someone who had a Pimax 8kX prior to the Aero, I concur. I miss the FOV of the Pimax, but the clarity and sweet-spot of the Aero is top notch, especially when it comes to reading cockpit instruments and screens! So, as a flightsim only VR user, I have no regrets selling the Pimax to help pay for my Aero. I started out with a CV1, then RiftS, then Pimax.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@redtailpilot It's always good to hear from someone such as yourself to share your experiences with both headsets. Some people really want FoV over full screen clarity but I have often wondered if that preference would melt away once you have experienced a full display level of clarity which the Aero has. You have answered that question for me. :) I personally feel that the visual clarity in a flight sim is of utmost importance. It's incredibly nice being able to glance down (with my eyes) to read gauges or looking to the left to see what's outside the cockpit. It just feels more natural. The FoV for me is fine. Of course we would all love more FoV. It just comes down to individual preferences and what compromises you are willing to accept to meet your top criteria. More FoV with less screen clarity or full screen clarity with lower FoV (scuba mask as it was put..)

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV Yep, you've pretty much nailed it. Flight simulation is the only thing I do in VR. In fact, it's the only form of entertainment that I do on my PC, so clarity for me is of utmost importance. Probably even more so since I'm a real world private pilot who flies both steam gauge and Glass cockpit. If anything I have a low tolerance for in VR, it's lack of clarity and smoothness. I need as close to the real thing as possible or it's not worth it to me. Most of my flight simulator time is for entertainment in DCS, but occasionally I do some serious practice stuff. As for the small FOV, it forces you to look around more, which is actually closer to what you do in actual real world VFR flight. So I'm not too far out of my normal flight mode anyway 🤣

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@redtailpilot I've fallen into that mode as well in that I only fly in VR and it currently is only DCS. I used to play all kinds of VR games before I fell deep into DCS. I had an HTC Vive as my first VR headset and loved my first experiences in VR. It was truly epic and mind blowing. Prior to the HTC, my VR experience was limited to a game called Dactyl Nightmare back in the very early 90's and that was at a fair. I later added the wireless to the HTC and it was simply amazing. I tried using it in DCS and immediately disliked it due to the poor visuals. It was very difficult to read anything and the screen door effect was very pronounced. I bought the HP Reverb G2 next and that completely pulled me into DCS and VR. I've barely played any other VR games since then (or any other games period to be honest) as I use up all of my leisure time in DCS. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts around the move from Pimax to the Aero. It was very helpful.

[@yhdez85]

So what's the mod to correct the night vision issue with DFR?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Tacca’s NVG mod. You need to basically turn off all of the grain in the. View for now. forum.dcs.world/topic/127345-taccas-nvg-mod-for-25/

[@yhdez85]

@@StrIIker-TV I got it and I installed it using the JGSME mod installer but it did not work

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@yhdez85 You do need to edit the file inside of it to set the amount of grain. Unfortunately it’s not just a file you can grab and use. It can do a bunch of things to the display. I will respond a bit later with the details of what you need to set. If you look at the instructions in the post I listed, it mentions the file you need to edit. There are two values inside which you need to set.

[@yhdez85]

@@StrIIker-TV I think i found them : Gain/Color/Noise controls - NOW WORKING!!!!: NVG_LIFT = gain multiplication value (50 for A10 and 40 for KA50 are good starting points) Collorize_COLOR = hue of NVG color as a percentage of 360 degrees when using a HSL color wheel (eg divide Hue value by 360) NVG_NOISE = noise division value, larger value means MORE noise (0.2 for A10 and 0.4 for KA50 are good starting points)

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@yhdez85 awesome man! Yeah that’s the stuff there. I got caught up trying to work on a problem with my system and didn’t get around the the settings but that’s it! It passes integrity checks on multiplayer servers as well so it’s a good one to use for now until things get sorted out for DFR.

[@webweaver3015]

What tool are you using to display your FPS counter?

[@StrIIker-TV]

This is the included FPS counter in DCS. The default key bind I believe is Right CTRL Pause. If you hit it again it provides some additional information.

[@strikkflypilot927]

Hi. Only Varjo is mentioned here. Do You mean the Varjo Aero or all of them?

[@StrIIker-TV]

This works on the Aero and VR-3 confirmed and probably the XR-3 but I don’t think anyone has tested it in that yet.

[@mikecannon752]

Does this install affect any other games, or is it only utilized in DCS world?

[@StrIIker-TV]

This is only applicable to DCS. Other games have to support dynamic Foveated rendering. This started to finally work mainly because Eagle Dynamics finally implemented the Varjo SDK in DCS. They didn’t do it quite right which is why we need mbuchia’s program to get it working properly. Ideally other games will work on including support for DFR.

[@mikecannon752]

@@StrIIker-TV thanks

[@Ginuwine-kx2iv]

How did you get your FPS up there like that?

[@StrIIker-TV]

There is an in-game FPS counter. By default it is set to Right CTRL and Pause (I think sometimes also labeled as break). You can move it around using the mouse but it has to be the dot cursor. If you hit the key command again it brings up an additional window with some more info and then one more press closes them.

[@Sandboxcode]

Hello there I know it can take a long time to make and edit these vids but if you ever get a chance can you at least reply to me with the perf you get on Plazma Torture map in MT preview build? If I dont get a reply I udnerstand it can be a pain runing benchmarks. I enjoy your videos; just keep doing what you doing

[@StrIIker-TV]

Will do! I was busy working on my new system getting some issues sorted out. I will give this a shot.

[@Sandboxcode]

@@StrIIker-TV Hey there I still dont see the benchmark but dont worry bout it. I know it can be time consuming making these videos. Keep up the good work; thanks!!

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Sandboxcode Oh man! Thanks for the reminder! I get distracted with this and that. It’s no problem doing the video! Let me get cracking on it!

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Sandboxcode Hmm. Okay I give up after looking around. Can you please give me a link for this map or track I am guessing?

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Sandboxcode okay I found the mission and ran it a few times (swapped the Hornet in though). Had some interesting observations which I will discuss in my video n

[@smithers930smith7]

Just to confirm you need to have the toolkit closed still after you do these steps and play DCS?

[@StrIIker-TV]

The toolkit needs to be disabled via the companion application. I think there may be an additional way to disable it. The toolkit, when enabled still affects DCS regardless of if it’s open or closed as there are settings which you can set within it to change how DCS looks (sharpening for example) Mbucchia indicated last night on Discord that he will be working on getting the two to work together so hopefully he can work his magic yet again soon!

[@StrIIker-TV]

Just had my mind refreshed. In the Toolkit, you can deselect DCS from the list of programs on it (towards the bottom in the companion app) if you use the toolkit for other games OR you can disable the toolkit all together. You just can't use it in DCS.

[@ComdrStew]

Wait until DLSS gets put in.

[@StrIIker-TV]

Yeah the Vulkan upgrade I think may be more beneficial. DLSS will definitely help with the visuals and I’m looking forward to both!

[@Steadymobbin711]

​@@StrIIker-TVwhen is this supposed to happen?

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Steadymobbin711 There is no set time for DLSS or Vulkan for DCS. It's being worked on by Eagle Dynamics and will get rolled out when they are ready.