Quest 3 Stuttering Fixes! (What worked for me)

[disk]

If you're having trouble with stuttering on a Quest:

Wanted to make a discussion post about this since it seems like a documented issue and hopefully save others some troubleshooting time. So, for whatever reason there seems to be a lot of lag on certain VR headsets. Friends of mine who played with a Vive/Rift S said they never had these, but I own a quest and had serious lag. Seems like ppl online report issues with OculusVR and SteamVR at the same time. I was playing on the Quest 3 and had alarmingly bad stuttering issues, especially in the chapter "Jeff". This is likely caused by Oculus VR and SteamVR being finnicky. I did a lot of research to try and fix this and I wanted to share a compendium of known fixes

Here's what worked for me:

• Add the following to the launch options of the game:

  -novid -console -vconsole +vr_fidelity_level_auto 0 +vr_fidelity_level 3 +vr_render_scale 1.0

• Make sure that OVRServer_x64.exe, SteamVR, and Half Life Alyx are priotized as "realtime" in Task Manager
  
• If you have a dynamic wallpaper / wallpaper engine, disable it (sometimes changing desktop images in the background can cause lag spikes)
  
• In Oculus settings, disable running at 120Hz
  
• Use a link cable instead of AirLink
  
• Win + D to minimize the game on your desktop
  
• Disable any background applications (browsers, discord, etc.)

__________

If those don't work, here are some other fixes I've found online that people report fix it:

• Start the game from Steam Client and not from within SteamVR
  
• In Steam VR settings -> Show Advanced Settings. in the Play Area section, reduce the activation distance (m) parameter to about half of what it is
  
• In Steam VR settings -> Video -> Per-Application Video Settings -> under Half Life Alyx, reduce the Custom Resolution Multiplier
  
• In Steam VR settings -> Video -> Per-Application Video Settings -> under SteamVR Home, again reduce the Custom Resolution Multiplier
  
• Disable SuperSampling in SteamVR
  
• Never used it personally, but ppl report Virtual Desktop runs the game better than Quest Link
  
• If you own an RTX card, uninstall Nvidia GeForce experience. Also turn off Gsync
  
• under windows power settings, in additional plans, select "Ultimate Performance"
  
• Disable Steam and Discord overlays

Good luck! Cheers! :P
<3

[floatingmind123]

How interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I just completed Alyx using the Meta Quest 3 and it worked great out of the box, with SteamVR, wireless connections, no cable. Fortunately, I didn't need any of the settings you describe. I suspect it depends on the PC and the speed of the wifi connection.

[necrophonic]

Nice! Hopefully this will help out anyone having issues.

[Cooperkid]

Thank you mate. What fixed it for me was disabling all unnecessary background tasks. Got rid of Epic Launcher, Gog Galaxy, Chrome and all manner of unused programs that occasionally tick away 1% CPU. It runs flawlessly now

[abno8]

Next time you try to give people advice, say the files properly instead of going "disable steamvr" or "half life alyx" because all it does is confuse people dude.
thanks for the help but please list SPECIFIC stuff because no one is going to know what the exact file name is unless YOU tell them.