Terrible VR Performance - how to get rid / hide / cover the 2D Desktop Window without loosing focus to fix performance?

[HiasvonMinga]

*EDIT: I fixed it (nah, I found a workaround), see in the thread - frametimes are excellent for the first time in ages now *

Hi everybody,
I am struggling with performance in VR with my Valve Index, 5800X3D and 4090... fiddling around, I found it seems the 2D desktop window that really is the source of problems.
I can proove it: right now my ship is parked on the pad in a station, I am on the desktop typing, the 2D windows (set to 800x600) is hidden behind my broswer and this is my SteamVR frametime graph:

Now I will just move the 2D window from behind the browser window to where it is visible:

The difference is brutal!
I have tried moving the window out of the visible area - that does not work. I have used EDProfiler already to set it to the minumum size and reduce the framerate to 30fps in this windows. That does not make a noteable difference. I need to get rid of that window or cover it but keep focus to it so my inputs will still go to the game.
Is there a way to do that?
Is this a bug?
Has this been discussed before?

 

[jojon]

Have you checked this with the Advanced Frame Timing window? (Available under the "Developer" section of the screenshot window's menu (It has a tickbox that makes it visible in-HMD, attached to the back of the hand on one of the hand controllers, if you have any))

It will show you more detailed graphs, and separate ones for GPU and CPU.

What we see may not necessarily be what we think they are.

To begin with, one need to keep in mind that when the game window is not in focus, the game does not receive input. (EDIT: ...as you yourself pointed out)

(I have no idea how that affects its running simulation loops, nor timings and handshakes between game, SteamVR, OS, and OS middlewares, nor where in that whole chain the snag could be...)

SteamVR will also send a running VR application a message to go into power-save mode, when the SteamVR dashboard is open... This is immediately visible with some titles, which halve their resolution (...but I do not notice that with Elite, at least).

 

[HiasvonMinga]

I have fixed it!!!!!

After this finding yesterday I have also found the solution: The framegraphs (and the performance, the stutter, the degree I can crank up the quality settings) are good when I set the 2D view to fullscreen instead of windowed.

I am just as thrilled as I feel screwed over by this game for years of performance problems. Thank you FDev. 2080 Super, 3080, 4090… and the fix is this setting in EDprofiler.

 

[Morbad]

Been a while since I used SteamVR, but apparently they removed the ability to disable the desktop game theater in recent non-beta versions. Either try using the beta or manually disable theater mode.

 

[HiasvonMinga]

Been a while since I used SteamVR, but apparently they removed the ability to disable the desktop game theater in recent non-beta versions. Either try using the beta or manually disable theater mode.

Hi,
I am not sure what desktop game theater mode even is but it sound like you could use your VR goggles to play 2D games on a huge virtual theater screen? That's not what happens here, I have a 3D game inside the goggles and 2D Window on my windows desktop that shows a reduced image of what I see inside the goggles. And it causes huge frametime increases and instabilities as long as I have this window ... in a windows. If I set it to full screen in the EDProfiler settings (not sure if I can do that in elite), it's fine.

 

[Planewalker]

A recent finding is that steamVR upon launch will set windows power management to a non-useful state. (super irregular by all standards)

IE to work around this issue a user must reset the power management to a useful setting after the game has started.