ED VR - upgrade thoughts - Rift CV1 to Rift S

I'm sorry if this came up already because I just very quickly skimmed the thread, but in regards to jagged stuff and far away objects being unable to make out.

There is a big, BIG improvement to far away object clarity by setting HMD to 2.0 and SS to 0.5. This will result in no load change on your system resources compared to leaving them both at native resolution (1.0 for both), and it will look the same for close up objects, but distant object will be much smoother.
From there turn up SS as high as you can with your particular system, while leaving HMD at 2.0.

Sounds like something I should try. I am fiddling with settings already, but not this particular combination.
 
Any word on the flashing static issue reported? I found some reports stating that a firmware fix should be out now - only to read that it did not fix the issue. Some conflicting information perhaps?

For me the static flashes have gone since the last Firmware update.

To answer your OP, I don't think the res bump of the Rift S will be enough for you. It is much better and I love it but I think there is a different mindset between those that love VR (like me) and those that can't tolerate the lack of visual clarity (like you). I don't mean that as a criticism, it is just a thing.

An analogy is the Rift has gone from original broadcast TV fidelity to DVD. When it gets to 1080p Blu-ray it will probably blow you away but that is around 4+ years away GPU power wise.
 
I just "upgraded" to the S from the Cv1, huge upgrade, no, worth it, yes, every penny. Are the differences noticeable, yes, is it way more comfortable to wear, yes. Is the sound terrible, no, could it be better, yes, but it's fine as is.
 
I just "upgraded" to the S from the Cv1, huge upgrade, no, worth it, yes, every penny. Are the differences noticeable, yes, is it way more comfortable to wear, yes. Is the sound terrible, no, could it be better, yes, but it's fine as is.

I did the same thing, and have been enjoying the upgrade. But lets not kid anyone, the sound is horrible. It made me appreciate just how good the sound and 3d positional was on the CV1. The Audio is by far the biggest disappointment with this headset, and was almost enough of a reason for me to return it. Instead I plan to keep it for the time being until I can buy something better (Index, or Vive Cosmos), then I'll sell it or maybe just keep it to play Oculus exclusives.
 
What bothers me the most are the black levels, way more than the sound. Sound I could care less about, it's adequate. But the "fog like grey" is disappointing compared to the Cv1. That's just an Ed thing, don't really notice it anywhere else.

What I do really like is the fit/comfort, way better than the Cv1. And, not having those speakers I find to be the most "comforting". The speakers sounded nice on the Cv1, but were irritating to wear after an hour or so, and are guaranteed to fail in time. I sent my first Cv1 back for warranty replacement, and the left speaker on the second Cv1 I was sent is now acting up.

The "S" is a great headset, at its given price point. Not needing sensors is a huge plus as well.
 
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Status update: After fidling with settings, I have gotten a clarity that is acceptable.

Downside is the fact that ASW kicks in almost all the time. I have been looking at posts from people that run insane settings and claiming they observe a 90hz butter smooth experience - same people run rigs that are either on par or slightly inferior to mine. How the h... is that possible? Either are people not aware of what they are getting, or my computer runs on half impulse.

Next problem is the comfort of the CV1. It really is uncomfortable for longer sessions. I have tried all sorts of things that I watched on youtube, but it just isnt comfortable for more than 30 mins tops. Especially not when using glasses.

But all in all, my VR experience with ED has gone up considerably. Just need one of those magic low specced computers that can run HMD at 2.0 with everything else at high and still get "butter smooth 90 hz".

My rig:
Ryzen 2600x (stock)
MSI armor RTX 2070
16gig 3200

My current settings:
140117
 
Status update: After fidling with settings, I have gotten a clarity that is acceptable.

Downside is the fact that ASW kicks in almost all the time. I have been looking at posts from people that run insane settings and claiming they observe a 90hz butter smooth experience - same people run rigs that are either on par or slightly inferior to mine. How the h... is that possible? Either are people not aware of what they are getting, or my computer runs on half impulse.

Next problem is the comfort of the CV1. It really is uncomfortable for longer sessions. I have tried all sorts of things that I watched on youtube, but it just isnt comfortable for more than 30 mins tops. Especially not when using glasses.

But all in all, my VR experience with ED has gone up considerably. Just need one of those magic low specced computers that can run HMD at 2.0 with everything else at high and still get "butter smooth 90 hz".

My rig:
Ryzen 2600x (stock)
MSI armor RTX 2070
16gig 3200

My current settings:
View attachment 140117
Glad you got the clarity sorted, but I'm a surprised that your other settings (i.e. besides SS and HMD) need to be so low (like really low). With your rig should be getting much more grunt. I have an i7 8700K which has 6 cores and runs at 3.7 MHz stock. Your 2600x has 6 cores and runs at 3.6 MHz stock. Your graphics and ram appear to be similar or better. I get 4.6MHz comfortably out of the i7 8700K at around 68C under load (but have a liquid cooler) and run high to ultra settings comfortably even in VR (albeit with ASW in busy poly areas).

Maybe use 3DMark to do some benchmarking to see where the bottleneck is. It will give you a breakdown of the three components (CPU, GPU and RAM). Once you have benchmarked can target the slowest component. Some suggestions if you're happy to lift the hood:
  • If your motherboard is OC'able go into the bios and bump up the CPU speed to around 4.2 - 4.4 MHz. Don't increase the power, just the clock speed multiplier. Watch the temps though - ideally don't want to be sitting at more than 75C for prolonged use - can adjust your fan speed curve if you have a tool to do it. MSI Afterburner will let you keep an eye on temps and likely let you fiddle with the fan curve. You can OC with it too, but I prefer to OC the CPU through the bios.
  • Have you got ED on an SSD? If not think about a Samsung EVO 960 or the like.
  • Not sure about your RAM speed. If it is well below 26,000 then upgrading RAM is worth looking at.
Oh, BTW turn off Frame Rate Limit (30 Max FPS is just wrong - ASW is 45 FPS and your saying go slower!) and turn off vertical sync if on. As for "blackness" your gamma is pretty high. Moving it left to less than 1/4 should help with any washing out.
 
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I thought the framerate limit and v-sync settings were for the window that runs while in VR, not for VR itself...
This is correct. The hmd governs the refresh rate for itself.

I also think these settings look oddly low.
If I were you I would set things to more medium, set HMD to 2.0 and SS to 0.5 and then walk up the SS setting until it starts to impact performance.
I guess it may depend if you are bothered by ASW. I’m not really, in this game so I’m pretty sure my system is always is ASW but I like how the game looks when I let it do that while using higher detail settings.
 
I just upgraded to a 2080 Super, and I'm having the same issue. Performance isn't nearly as much of an improvement over my 1070 as I was expecting. In the midst of trouble shooting and trying to figure out what's going on. I'm running a Ryzen 2700X with FlareX memory, and my 2700X is getting OC'd through the BIOS performance profiles. I wonder if AMD proc has something to do with it? Shouldn't though, but maybe Elite just doesn't like it. Rift S.
 
This is correct. The hmd governs the refresh rate for itself.

I also think these settings look oddly low.
If I were you I would set things to more medium, set HMD to 2.0 and SS to 0.5 and then walk up the SS setting until it starts to impact performance.
I guess it may depend if you are bothered by ASW. I’m not really, in this game so I’m pretty sure my system is always is ASW but I like how the game looks when I let it do that while using higher detail settings.

My settings listed above is already in ASW in stations, planets and combat zones.
As for peoples claims of high settings, its my guess that they are not noticing the ASW and 'thinks' everything is 90hz.

havent tried the 0.5/2.0 settings combo yet though.
 
As for peoples claims of high settings, its my guess that they are not noticing the ASW and 'thinks' everything is 90hz.

I think that must be exactly it. I was playing around with settings last night, and was pretty much running SS 1.0, HMD-1.5, Medium most settings (a few things off), FXAA.. I wasn't staying above the 80fps consistently. I'm thinking I'll have to drop FXAA, which is unfortunate because I really like how well it smooths everything up (very noticeable improvement). I was testing using the Oculus debug tool, performance overlay, and ASW off.

I just downloaded the 3dmark demo off steam and ran that, hitting over 11k, which according to 3dmark is better than 93% of the other systems out there. So there isn't any issue with my system, unless it's some specific issue with Elite.
 
I think that must be exactly it. I was playing around with settings last night, and was pretty much running SS 1.0, HMD-1.5, Medium most settings (a few things off), FXAA.. I wasn't staying above the 80fps consistently. I'm thinking I'll have to drop FXAA, which is unfortunate because I really like how well it smooths everything up (very noticeable improvement). I was testing using the Oculus debug tool, performance overlay, and ASW off.

I just downloaded the 3dmark demo off steam and ran that, hitting over 11k, which according to 3dmark is better than 93% of the other systems out there. So there isn't any issue with my system, unless it's some specific issue with Elite.

As for settings, its my recent experience that I cant really tell if i.e. textures are high or low. But I can tell if HMD is 1.5 or 1.75! So I prioritize that.
Also tried the 0.5/2.0 combo - Performance seems the same-ish but the image looks out of focus.
 
I think that must be exactly it. I was playing around with settings last night, and was pretty much running SS 1.0, HMD-1.5, Medium most settings (a few things off), FXAA.. I wasn't staying above the 80fps consistently. I'm thinking I'll have to drop FXAA, which is unfortunate because I really like how well it smooths everything up (very noticeable improvement). I was testing using the Oculus debug tool, performance overlay, and ASW off.

I just downloaded the 3dmark demo off steam and ran that, hitting over 11k, which according to 3dmark is better than 93% of the other systems out there. So there isn't any issue with my system, unless it's some specific issue with Elite.

For no ASW everywhere HMD 1.5 is probably quite a big ask. 1.25 is probably more realistic on the Rift S. I’m still stuck on my 1080 and had to drop from 1.25 to 1 to stop ASW kicking in on the S.

Something else to consider is I’m convinced there is a problem with the debug tool with the Rift S. I have gotten all sorts of weird performance issues when using it. As an example I tried setting HMD to 1 in the game and increasing it in the tool to get the most my card would give before ASW but sometimes it made no visible difference but hammer the card or lowering it after ASW kicked in would leave the GPU just as stressed. Stuff like that.
 
For no ASW everywhere HMD 1.5 is probably quite a big ask. 1.25 is probably more realistic on the Rift S. I’m still stuck on my 1080 and had to drop from 1.25 to 1 to stop ASW kicking in on the S.

Question: Can you lower the HMD quality on the Rift S as compared to the CV1 and still get a visual improvement?
 
For no ASW everywhere HMD 1.5 is probably quite a big ask. 1.25 is probably more realistic on the Rift S. I’m still stuck on my 1080 and had to drop from 1.25 to 1 to stop ASW kicking in on the S.

Something else to consider is I’m convinced there is a problem with the debug tool with the Rift S. I have gotten all sorts of weird performance issues when using it. As an example I tried setting HMD to 1 in the game and increasing it in the tool to get the most my card would give before ASW but sometimes it made no visible difference but hammer the card or lowering it after ASW kicked in would leave the GPU just as stressed. Stuff like that.

Thanks for this Gortron, I'll keep toying to try and find my sweet spot. I don't expect no ASW everywhere, I just want to reserve that space for when it really needs it. I'll play around with HMD 1.5 and no FXAA and HMD 1.25 with FXAA and see which I prefer. Also, thanks for the tip with the debug tool. Anyone happen to try the Nvidia FCAT VR Performance Tool? I've been meaning to give that a try.

Question: Can you lower the HMD quality on the Rift S as compared to the CV1 and still get a visual improvement?

I'd say so yeah. No amount of playing around with the settings really made Elite look that good in the CV1 in my opinion. Especially the text. There is only so much that can be done to overcome the low resolution. The screen of the S really is that much better. I'm still pretty disappointed in the sound and that they didn't improve the FOV though.
 
I thought the framerate limit and v-sync settings were for the window that runs while in VR, not for VR itself...

Stand corrected :)

As for the settings discussed above, personal preferences aside, I have tried numerous combo's (read too many to count) and have not found anything better for image quality in VR than FXAA, SS 1 and HMD 1.75. Changing the HUD colours also helps with text readability. FXAA is a cheap form of anti-aliasing and works well for ED jaggies so I'd recommend staying with that.

Note, I have a CV1 not an Oculus S so can't comment on the S.
 
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I would like to mention that the heaviest load in Vr while playing ED is at Guardian Ruins.So if you go in a guardian ruins site and set your graphic settings there , elsewhere it will be faster.So it is a good place to start/check performance
 
Stand corrected :)

As for the settings discussed above, personal preferences aside, I have tried numerous combo's (read too many to count) and have not found anything better for image quality in VR than FXAA, SS 1 and HMD 1.75. Changing the HUD colours also helps with text readability. FXAA is a cheap form of anti-aliasing and works well for ED jaggies so I'd recommend staying with that.

Note, I have a CV1 not an Oculus S so can't comment on the S.

Thanks for clarifying you're running a CV1. From your previous posts, your running an i7-7800k & 1080Ti, leaning on ASW.. So sounds about right I guess comparing my 2080 Super, which I'd say is only moderately faster than your card.

So far my finding is similar to yours. On the Rift S I'm going to play around with SS 1.0, HMD 1.25 or 1.5, along with FXAA on and off to see what is optimal. Going to play around with the draw distance as well, I found things got a little heavy when dogfighting in a Haz Res site. I think rendering several KM worth of asteroids probably has a negative affect on my performance lol.

While I agree FXAA looks good, I wouldn't call it cheap. Enabling it definitely is a huge performance hit at supersampled VR resolutions. It is the most performance friendly AA option though, any of the others were an absolute no go!
 
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