Blackouts?

Globusdiablo · Jan 29, 2017

Anyone else getting blackouts in busy CZs?

I'm using a Vive with well ventilated gaming rig (asus 1080, 6600k) no temps above 65 C. Everything works fine except for really busy CZs. My Vive simply goes black for half a second and then comes back online. If I pull away from all the laser fire, the problem goes away.

Very annoying when I'm in the thick of it in my FAS.

[hotas]

Craith · Jan 29, 2017

I have something similar, but it's not completely black but that wireframe dome thingy. I suspect that one of my laser boxes resets for a moment. If the second one has a bad angle at that moment - blackout.

As a reason for the loss of one box I suspect unstable power supply, the cat tried biting one of the cables and it only occurs when the dishwasher on the same power circuit is active.

Globusdiablo · Jan 29, 2017

Craith said:
I habe something similar, but it's not completely black but that wireframe dome thingy. I suspect that one of my laser boxes resets for a moment. If the second one has a bad angle at that moment - blackout.

As a reason for the loss of one box I suspect unstable power supply, the cat tried biting one of the cables and it only occurs when the dishwasher on the same power circuit is active.

Cheers Commander. No problems today, so not really sure what was going on yesterday. Instancing seemed a bit wack, so that might have annoyed the Vive. No clue.

wildw1ng · Feb 4, 2017

I have the same issue since yesterday. My Vive screen is turning black for a second during Hyperjump and a few seconds after. I had never encountered this problem before.

CMDR Spangle · Feb 4, 2017

Yep im getting this as well. Its started happening after updating steamVR. seems to happen randomly, hmd goes completely black for a second. its getting annoying.

ArachAu · Feb 4, 2017

SteamVR will black out if your frame rate goes low enough for long enough if ATW or Repro can't compensate. I get it sometimes flashing up for half second when entering a RES or loading up the system or galaxy map.

If you get it kicking in during life and death gameplay I'd kick your visual settings down. If it's laser fire, it's probably from the Effects setting because it spits out a whole bunch of particles and demands some crunchy fill rate on higher settings.

Globusdiablo · Feb 4, 2017

ArachAu said:
SteamVR will black out if your frame rate goes low enough for long enough if ATW or Repro can't compensate. I get it sometimes flashing up for half second when entering a RES or loading up the system or galaxy map.

If you get it kicking in during life and death gameplay I'd kick your visual settings down. If it's laser fire, it's probably from the Effects setting because it spits out a whole bunch of particles and demands some crunchy fill rate on higher settings.

Sounds very plausible. I might have to turn some settings down a notch.

CMDR Spangle · Feb 4, 2017

ArachAu said:
SteamVR will black out if your frame rate goes low enough for long enough if ATW or Repro can't compensate. I get it sometimes flashing up for half second when entering a RES or loading up the system or galaxy map.

If you get it kicking in during life and death gameplay I'd kick your visual settings down. If it's laser fire, it's probably from the Effects setting because it spits out a whole bunch of particles and demands some crunchy fill rate on higher settings.

Ah, ok, ill try turning some settings down. Just was playing for a couple of hours and it was happening again. For me it happens seemingly at random - just in supercruise where i would assume the gpu isnt taxed as much? Anyhoo ill try reducing some settings but its a bit frustrating. Didnt get this issue before updating SteamVR and so having to now reduce quality sucks a bit.

Globusdiablo · Feb 4, 2017

CMDR Spangle said:
Ah, ok, ill try turning some settings down. Just was playing for a couple of hours and it was happening again. For me it happens seemingly at random - just in supercruise where i would assume the gpu isnt taxed as much? Anyhoo ill try reducing some settings but its a bit frustrating. Didnt get this issue before updating SteamVR and so having to now reduce quality sucks a bit.

Remember to turn ASW on, and the other one off (can't remember what it's called). It helps alot with high and steady frames.

wildw1ng · Feb 4, 2017

I have steady 90fps.
Asynchronous reprojection is on and interleaved is off.
During Hyperjumps my fps would drop off because the game loads another system. This was OK.
Turning the whole screen black for seconds with this SteamVR "update" is very annoying.

pudkud · Feb 6, 2017

Just wanted to chime in and say it is happening to me as well. Things had been running fine previously. Launched other games such as Raw Data and didn't have an issue there. Obviously E

asks for more, but right now it is the only game that is doing it to me.

pudkud · Feb 6, 2017

pudkud said:
Just wanted to chime in and say it is happening to me as well. Things had been running fine previously. Launched other games such as Raw Data and didn't have an issue there. Obviously E asks for more, but right now it is the only game that is doing it to me.

So I continued to search around the internet for the source of this. One thing that does look interesting is this video which shows how the top HDMI connector can cause this issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HPFvcOx-Zg&feature=youtu.be

This actually makes sense as to why I do not have a problem in any other game as I am standing during those. I am going to re-seat my connection and run the cable a different way just to test. I kinda feel like this may actually be it as it would often do it when I was looking left to my Nav panel which may jiggle my cord or lift it in a way. May need to get a new 3 in 1 though the shipping is crazy.

CMDR Spangle · Feb 7, 2017

pudkud said:
So I continued to search around the internet for the source of this. One thing that does look interesting is this video which shows how the top HDMI connector can cause this issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HPFvcOx-Zg&feature=youtu.be

This actually makes sense as to why I do not have a problem in any other game as I am standing during those. I am going to re-seat my connection and run the cable a different way just to test. I kinda feel like this may actually be it as it would often do it when I was looking left to my Nav panel which may jiggle my cord or lift it in a way. May need to get a new 3 in 1 though the shipping is crazy.

Yeah good detective skills - im thinking its a wire issue as well. Last night i was still getting the blackouts but i was also losing sound as well (which wasnt happening before). I will try fiddling about with the wires next time i get a chance to play and see if that does anything.

pudkud · Feb 8, 2017

Yeah, I do not think this actually worked or helped in any way. A am also not able to reproduce it manually by moving the cables. I am moving off of this as a focus. I am seeing other people report this in other threads as well.

Edit:
Added a new transition UI that appears when an application is starting, stopping, or not currently rendering. In some applications it will appear during level transitions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamVR/comments/5r45zv/steamvr_update_for_13017/

I think this is actually it. The timing is about right and I am pretty sure I have seen Elite spinning and have seen my want on the table during this as well when I have gotten a bad one. It would also explain why it happens a lot when in SuperCruise even though you may only be looking at space.

wildw1ng · Feb 8, 2017

The screen blacks out as soon as i hold my head still for a few seconds and stare in one direction. I don't have any issues while turning my head continuously during a dogfight. And i have tried to push and pull on my hdmi cable too, nothing happened.
Very strange bug.

wildw1ng · Feb 9, 2017

https://youtu.be/TUgTz0tBSxE

CMDR Spangle · Feb 9, 2017

pudkud said:
Yeah, I do not think this actually worked or helped in any way. A am also not able to reproduce it manually by moving the cables. I am moving off of this as a focus. I am seeing other people report this in other threads as well.

Edit:
Added a new transition UI that appears when an application is starting, stopping, or not currently rendering. In some applications it will appear during level transitions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamVR/comments/5r45zv/steamvr_update_for_13017/

I think this is actually it. The timing is about right and I am pretty sure I have seen Elite spinning and have seen my want on the table during this as well when I have gotten a bad one. It would also explain why it happens a lot when in SuperCruise even though you may only be looking at space.

Yep. agreed. Tested wiggling the wires around and didnt make any difference. Tried lowering settings and i got the blackout whilst on the menu screen, before even starting the game world (when in the hanger at the main menu) so im pretty sure its not graphical. Nearly smashed into a station last time it happened just as i was manoeuvring through the slot. Hope this gets fixed soon.

ArachAu · Feb 9, 2017

Have you guys having the issued tried blowing your settings to something crazy high to see if you encounter the issue more frequently?

Mendaharin Tusca · Feb 10, 2017

Happened twice for me, once as I came in for docking, once as I was approaching a planet.. less than a second each time but very unsettling. And there also happened once that it went black, and stayed black, had to restart the game. Made me wonder if the HMD had broken till I saw the window on the screen also was dark, and this was when I was just sitting in the hangar. So no clear pattern to explain it.

Globusdiablo · Feb 10, 2017

I've noticed that If you're running the game in windowed mode, you can accidentally click the desktop, leaving all in-game controls off while the game still runs... Lift your HMD and check that the E: D window is still primary (blue/active frame).