Valve index / MSFS

[ʟǟֆȶʟɨʋɨռɢքօɛȶ]

Anyone here use the index with MSFS? I found this guide on optimization and was wondering what anyone else does to run this optimally with it

https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftFlightSim/comments/kjqkc0/valve_index_config_guide_microsoft_store_not/

[Narf]

I use it but I own the Steam version and it works perfectly fine without ever having seen that thread. It explicitly states the guide is for the MS Store version, too.

[ʟǟֆȶʟɨʋɨռɢքօɛȶ]

Originally posted by Narf:

I use it but I own the Steam version and it works perfectly fine without ever having seen that thread. It explicitly states the guide is for the MS Store version, too.

Thanks good to know, I'll just use it for the graphics settings then

[Tosei]

If you get stuttering with VR flying you may have the same problem as I did. This instruction has helped a few people:

I wrote the following in a post from a couple of months ago and since you also have an Index, it may be the same issue. The problem for me was the order I start things for VR. I have similar hardware. AMD 5900 and RTX 3080:

Old bad way: I start up all my VR hardware and start Steam VR. Then I start MSFS, start a flight and switch on VR using ctrl-Tab. Stutters galore!

New better way: I start up all VR hardware, then start MSFS and when I have loaded the flight, I use ctrl-Tab to start VR. This activates Steam VR and I get a buttery smooth VR experience.

[ʟǟֆȶʟɨʋɨռɢքօɛȶ]

Originally posted by Tosei:

If you get stuttering with VR flying you may have the same problem as I did. This instruction has helped a few people:

I wrote the following in a post from a couple of months ago and since you also have an Index, it may be the same issue. The problem for me was the order I start things for VR. I have similar hardware. AMD 5900 and RTX 3080:

Old bad way: I start up all my VR hardware and start Steam VR. Then I start MSFS, start a flight and switch on VR using ctrl-Tab. Stutters galore!

New better way: I start up all VR hardware, then start MSFS and when I have loaded the flight, I use ctrl-Tab to start VR. This activates Steam VR and I get a buttery smooth VR experience.

Thanks for the tip

[ждун]

ive got index too but with steamVR.
I can say it certainly makes sense to do some tweaking. It makes huge difference regarding both quality and performance. With default settings it looks awful you can get much more out of it with some tweaking.

Ive looked at this guide. I have almost similar graphics settings for VR even a bit higher. I do have some settings activated which this guide suggests to switch them off. Reflections in example do not cost me too much performance, i don't even notice the difference with reflections activated, but it looks way better with them.

Some of the settings have larger impact on performance but most of them only a little impact. The main performance eaters are Terrain LOD and clouds at ULTRA settings. If i set clouds to ultra i lose half of fps compared to HIGH, but there is visually almost no difference. So i would certainly suggest not to use ULTRA setting for the clouds. HIGH is enough, but anything below HIGH again doesn't improve the performance much but the clouds actually look much worse. HIGH on clouds is best balanced for VR between performance and quality.

Terrain LOD defines how far you can see buildings and trees. It has only little effect on performance below 150, but anything above depends on your video memory. I have rtx3070 with 8GB i video memory i guess, i have to limit it to 150. At 200 i already notice heavy performance impact in cities with lots of buildings. In VR you don't need to set it higher then 150 though, as with the resolution of the index you won't see much of a difference in the distance anyway. So i suggest set it not higher then 150.

However the graphics settings are not so important in terms of improving quality and performance. More important is
1. how you set up supesampling/rendering resolution in OpenXR client (like steamVR) and in simulator itself, and
2. how you setup motion smoothing.

I would strongly recommend to use fixed fps motion smoothing, that is an incredible feature! when this is set up properly it makes the sim run butter smooth in VR like if you run it at 90fps, even though you have only maybe 20 real fps, but there is no any stuttering anyway with motion smoothing. This feature is basically inserting interpolated frames between real frames. The trick is here to set it to fixed fps (in example 25 fps) and make sure that with your settings you aint dropping below 25 in any situation and any place in the world. If you can keep stable 25 fps, motion smoothing makes 90 fps in the headset for you. When you actually drop below 25 real fps, you may see artifacts though. It looks like something is bending or wobbling. If you see artifacts it means you should maybe consider reducing something on graphics settings so you stay above the fixed limit. Maybe choose a slightly lower resolution.

Resolution scaling is another important topic as it impacts the overall performance and quality. To find a proper setting for your specs may be a little confusing and requires a bit of experimentation. But its worth it, you can make it look much much better and still have nice performance. Its a bit confusing as there are three parameters that can be tuned here.

1. render scaling in graphics settings (sim)
2. rendering resolution in graphics settings (sim)
3. rendering resolution in openXR client (like steamVR)

by default all 3 parameters are set to 100%. You have a good performance with it, but with 100% it looks very awful. Everything is blurry and unclear especially in the distance looks like mess. Playing with these sliders can increase the image quality significantly at the cost of FPS, but you can counter lower framrates with motion smoothing. You should definitely go over 100% in steamVR or other openXR client. At least 150% and you will see a lot better image quality. rendering scale and rendering resolution in sim itself are basically multiplying each other. So in example if you set both to 110% you get 1.10 * 1.10 ~ 121% of standard resolution. I would suggest though to leave rendering resolution as it is at 100% and tune only the scaling if needed at all. You can also leave the settings in the sim both at 100% and tune resolution just with the openXR client. That works best for me. But you should definitely play a bit with all 3 parameters to find the best solution for you.

Another secret tip that i have discovered just recently, which can improve performance by about 30% for pretty much no loss in quality is using NIS scaler software.

Its basically a shader for VR that makes the sim render at slightly lower resolution, and then upscale it back to normal resolution. You have almost no loss in quality but it boosts performance quite a bit and allows you to increase some of your graphics settings in example.

check this video for instructions
https://youtu.be/cDToBDj8b_U

but i would suggest to do it as final step. First tweak everything else so you are happy with the results without NIS. When you found your settings, then you can additionally enable NIS and get it a bit smoother.

[ʟǟֆȶʟɨʋɨռɢքօɛȶ]

Originally posted by ждун:

ive got index too but with steamVR.
I can say it certainly makes sense to do some tweaking. It makes huge difference regarding both quality and performance. With default settings it looks awful you can get much more out of it with some tweaking.

Ive looked at this guide. I have almost similar graphics settings for VR even a bit higher. I do have some settings activated which this guide suggests to switch them off. Reflections in example do not cost me too much performance, i don't even notice the difference with reflections activated, but it looks way better with them.

Some of the settings have larger impact on performance but most of them only a little impact. The main performance eaters are Terrain LOD and clouds at ULTRA settings. If i set clouds to ultra i lose half of fps compared to HIGH, but there is visually almost no difference. So i would certainly suggest not to use ULTRA setting for the clouds. HIGH is enough, but anything below HIGH again doesn't improve the performance much but the clouds actually look much worse. HIGH on clouds is best balanced for VR between performance and quality.

Terrain LOD defines how far you can see buildings and trees. It has only little effect on performance below 150, but anything above depends on your video memory. I have rtx3070 with 8GB i video memory i guess, i have to limit it to 150. At 200 i already notice heavy performance impact in cities with lots of buildings. In VR you don't need to set it higher then 150 though, as with the resolution of the index you won't see much of a difference in the distance anyway. So i suggest set it not higher then 150.

However the graphics settings are not so important in terms of improving quality and performance. More important is
1. how you set up supesampling/rendering resolution in OpenXR client (like steamVR) and in simulator itself, and
2. how you setup motion smoothing.

I would strongly recommend to use fixed fps motion smoothing, that is an incredible feature! when this is set up properly it makes the sim run butter smooth in VR like if you run it at 90fps, even though you have only maybe 20 real fps, but there is no any stuttering anyway with motion smoothing. This feature is basically inserting interpolated frames between real frames. The trick is here to set it to fixed fps (in example 25 fps) and make sure that with your settings you aint dropping below 25 in any situation and any place in the world. If you can keep stable 25 fps, motion smoothing makes 90 fps in the headset for you. When you actually drop below 25 real fps, you may see artifacts though. It looks like something is bending or wobbling. If you see artifacts it means you should maybe consider reducing something on graphics settings so you stay above the fixed limit. Maybe choose a slightly lower resolution.

Resolution scaling is another important topic as it impacts the overall performance and quality. To find a proper setting for your specs may be a little confusing and requires a bit of experimentation. But its worth it, you can make it look much much better and still have nice performance. Its a bit confusing as there are three parameters that can be tuned here.

1. render scaling in graphics settings (sim)
2. rendering resolution in graphics settings (sim)
3. rendering resolution in openXR client (like steamVR)

by default all 3 parameters are set to 100%. You have a good performance with it, but with 100% it looks very awful. Everything is blurry and unclear especially in the distance looks like mess. Playing with these sliders can increase the image quality significantly at the cost of FPS, but you can counter lower framrates with motion smoothing. You should definitely go over 100% in steamVR or other openXR client. At least 150% and you will see a lot better image quality. rendering scale and rendering resolution in sim itself are basically multiplying each other. So in example if you set both to 110% you get 1.10 * 1.10 ~ 121% of standard resolution. I would suggest though to leave rendering resolution as it is at 100% and tune only the scaling if needed at all. You can also leave the settings in the sim both at 100% and tune resolution just with the openXR client. That works best for me. But you should definitely play a bit with all 3 parameters to find the best solution for you.

Another secret tip that i have discovered just recently, which can improve performance by about 30% for pretty much no loss in quality is using NIS scaler software.

Its basically a shader for VR that makes the sim render at slightly lower resolution, and then upscale it back to normal resolution. You have almost no loss in quality but it boosts performance quite a bit and allows you to increase some of your graphics settings in example.

check this video for instructions
https://youtu.be/cDToBDj8b_U

but i would suggest to do it as final step. First tweak everything else so you are happy with the results without NIS. When you found your settings, then you can additionally enable NIS and get it a bit smoother.

Thanks for this, I'll be using SteamVR too

[ʟǟֆȶʟɨʋɨռɢքօɛȶ]

Just had my first flight in VR around the snowy mountains of Japan, world scaling @ 180%, everything else default / 100, graphics settings on low because it's all my 1070ti seems to be able to handle with this sim in VR

Doing wide banking turns and barrel rolls in the FA18 and looking out of the dome is amazing :)