Well hope this helps out others that will go through this, the difference was well worth it! I had seen the scatterings of posts on this and had to piece a bunch of items together, so maybe this will help someone else.
(as comments come in correcting and improving bits, I'll update this post).
How to get Oculus SDK Runtime 0.8 running with Horizons and Windows 7 64 Bit and Direct mode!
First some prep-warnings/things that will freak you out at first:
1. You
will get a desktop Mirror/Window now with SDK 0.8. This is normal, enjoy it. No idea how to kill it yet. Now your wife can see what the heck you are doing.
2. Your DK2 will no longer show up in Windows as a monitor/display nor in Nvidia Control Panel. This is normal. You will be running in direct mode now.
3. The top Monitor settings in Elite Options only affect the Mirror window, they do not affect the DK2. Dk2 will always run at 75fps and 1080p in direct.
4. If you find everything seems okay but after all this you can't see Elite even though the sound is running, you vision/camera may be 180 degrees out. Try recenter.
Pre-requisites:
- Latest Nvidia Driver (sorry AMD guys, I assume the same applies but no idea)
- Steam Installed and working
- DK2 connected properly and working under a previous runtime (0.5 or 0.601 etc).
- DK2 properly setup for your height, eye relief etc.
Instructions:
1. Download Oculus Runtime for Windows V0.8.0.0-beta from here (
https://developer.oculus.com/downloads/).
2. Un-install old Oculus Runtime using Control Panel, it will want to reboot, let it.
3. Upon Re-Boot, ensure all Oculus items are gone from install Programs.
4. Install Oculus Runtime for Windows V0.8.0.0-beta, again it will reboot.
5. Upon Reboot, check your Rift Config util and ensure all is well with 0.8 (try demo scene etc, not that Extended mode is now gone).
6. Go to Steam and install SteamVR (if it is not already installed).
7. Go to Steam Menu -> Settings -> Account -> Beta Participation -> Change -> Select Steam Beta Update
8. Go to Steam View -> Games Library -> Change Search bar at top from "GAMES" to "TOOLS".
9. Scroll down to find "SteamVR". Right click on it and select properties, Select Betas Tab and select "beta - SteamVR Beta Update".
10. Ensure the beta is downloaded and installed from Library -> Downloads.
11. Once all installed, run SteamVR and configure it. It should auto detect your HMD (DK2) without issue with SDK 0.8. Don't try this with 0.6, it won't find it (trust me... I did lol).
12. You can also purchase and download things like Project Cars which was now AWESOME rift support to test your SDK 0.8 install. But I'll leave that up to you.
13. You can close SteamVR now, it's not needed.
Note: The steps below are the rather confusing ones... everyone appears to be slightly different but here is how mine more or less went:
13. Run ED Launcher and select Horizons 64 Bit (note I did not have SteamVR running the first time I tried this, but had done the steps 1-12 above).
Note: You will see a new icon in the taskbar open briefly, this is normal (can't recall the name right now, openVR or something).
14. You will see a desktop window now (mirror mode) for the rift,
THIS IS NORMAL for the new SDK. We have been wishing for this for a year and voila, now we got it and almost no performance hit.
15. You will likely find the judder/fps is TERRIBLE on the first run, just use the desktop window to chance your Primary Display Setting Refresh Rate from 0 to whatever the max it supports (my Primary Display was 60hz). I have no idea why this setting affected the DK2 but it did.
NOTES:
- At this point I didn't even bother using the Dk2 to view, I used the desktop mirror as it was much smoother and easier until all was sorted out
- The upper part of the Graphic Options under SDK 0.8 no longer apply to the DK2 (or at least as much as I can find). The DK2 will now run in Direct mode, so it automatically selects 75hz and 1080p. The settings up here are now for the mirror window, set them however you like.
- You can confirm this with a program like MSI Aferburner, it will show the framerate at 75fps even if the desktop mirror is set to 60hz or less.
16. You should still have DK2 setup as "HMD (with headphones)" or "HMD (with speakers)" which is perfect, that selects the DK2.
Note: Don't panic (like I did), as of Horizon's Elite no longer lists the Oculus Rift as a specific device, simply pick the HMD option (Head Mounted Display). Yes I spent too much time trying to get it to detect as "Rift" like it used too, *sigh*.
17. You may find your vision/camera is 180 degrees out (look behind you and you'll likely see the ED menus). This weird effect went away for me suddenly but I suspect all I did was hit F12 to reset the center position of the HMD/DK2. Try aiming the DK2 right at the camera hitting F12.
Note: You MUST now have the Desktop Mirrored Window "Selected" to send keystrokes to ED... I think this is what threw me off first, I was hitting F12 and nothing happened till I used the mouse/Alt-Tab to ensure Horizons (and not the launcher) was the active app. This will bite you quite a few times in the future, you will alt-tab or move the mouse on the desktop to do something, go back to DK2 and wonder why you can't fly or do anything... just Alt-Tab/Mouse select the Elite window again.
Note: This next step is CRITICAL, it will sort out all the Judder that is left. No idea why but it does.
18. Go into Graphic Settings in Elite (likely using the desktop mirror if the HMD is still hard to read) and change your graphic setting preset to "LOW". This appears to be the major difference. We have no idea yet which exact setting sorts it out but all of a sudden you will have PERFECT 75fps even in a station.
Note: You can then start cranking the settings back up one by one as required but I think you will be impressed how it looks even at "low" settings. I actually left it at Low for a while till I sorted everything out (even after cranking things back up it stayed at 75fps! Wow...). Driving around planets with terrain set both to Ultra is impressive to see nearly 75fps constant. I did crank it back down a notch to High just to be safe.
19. Enjoy direct mode, SDK 0.8 and MUCH better performance. All my station judder in 0.601 is gone and I can crank settings on the planet now.
If you had previously changed application specific performance settings in Nvidia Control Panel, you might want to reset them and start over as things are working very different in direct mode.
If you find random black flashing, you may have forgot to install the SteamVR beta. That appeared to fix that issue for me. I had installed the steam beta but NOT the SteamVR beta as that setting as freaking buried DEEP in Steam lol.
Extra Bonus Features:
- You will find that SDK 0.8 has some new "Performance HUDS" buried in the config tool for Oculus, one of them is a nice FPS, usage, latency graph which also shows dropped frames (if any).
- You can now use the "CTRL-F" to see the frame rate, it will show on the desktop mirror however.
- Don't forget to adjust your gamma after doing this as you can no longer adjust brightness of the Rift via the Nvidia Control panel. Rift likes brightness but don't forgot you likely won't see a change until you make a transition of some time (Frameshift in or out). Anything that causes a "loading screen" basically.
- Until things get better, I use the Low preset in stations and once outside switch to Ultra (and turn blur/occlusion off) for the rest of the game/battles/etc. Only dropping back to low (if I happen to remember lol) when entering a station.
