Question about Oculus Rift S and MSFS

[Republic3D 1,229]

Hello, I'm considering buying the Oculus Rift S to have a try with VR in Flight Simulator.
I have tried VR before, I had the original Vive back in the day, but I sold it due to lack of content at the time.

I'm wondering:

- Is the screen door effect be bad? I do like flying both VFR and IFR, but I do most flying in GA aircraft either way. I just want to be able to read the instruments and avionics. Is it possible without having to zoom in all the time?

- Am I going to be able to reach 60 fps? Or 30 fps? And is that going to be enough to NOT make me sick when flying? I did try War Thunder with Vive years ago, and although it was smooth I got a bit nauseas after a while. 

I understand the Reverb G2 has better resolution, but it is twice the price and even more difficult to run smoothly.

I would appreciate any input. Thank you!

My specs: R9 5900X / RTX 3090

[Blackthorn 12]

I think different people have different perceptions of what is an acceptable frame rate. I have low specs (i5 6600 and GTX 1060) and I’m quite happily flying an ultralight at 22.5 FPS! It seems smooth enough to me going at relatively low speed. My settings are mostly medium. It becomes slightly less acceptable in the TBM at 200 kts say.

The Rift’s screen door effect does make it difficult to read most instruments without zooming in. I fly simple planes so it’s not that difficult to tell what the reading is just from the position of the pointer on the dial. With your specs you could probably ramp up supersampling to max. That may help a little.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Ian C

[Republic3D 1,229]

3 minutes ago, Ian C said:

I think different people have different perceptions of what is an acceptable frame rate. I have low specs (i5 6600 and GTX 1060) and I’m quite happily flying an ultralight at 22.5 FPS! It seems smooth enough to me going at relatively low speed. My settings are mostly medium. It becomes slightly less acceptable in the TBM at 200 kts say.

The Rift’s screen door effect does make it difficult to read most instruments without zooming in. I fly simple planes so it’s not that difficult to tell what the reading is just from the position of the pointer on the dial. With your specs you could probably ramp up supersampling to max. That may help a little.

Thanks for the answer!

The screen door effect is what worries me most, I remember not being able to read normal text in the Vive. 

But I know VR is so awesome in simulators, I might have to give it a try anyway. 😃

[andreh 125]

I guess the screen door effect is subjective as well. I don't think it's bad with the S. Surely much better than the CV1. With some supersamling via the oculus tray tool and you will barely notice it. Supersamling requires a good rig, though.

 

 

[Blackthorn 12]

11 minutes ago, Republic3D said:

Thanks for the answer!

The screen door effect is what worries me most, I remember not being able to read normal text in the Vive. 

But I know VR is so awesome in simulators, I might have to give it a try anyway. 😃

Yes - there are times when I get fed up with the screen door effect but, as you say, VR is so awesome that I can mostly ignore it. It’s the effect on distant scenery that actually bothers me the most. Using the Rift you could run very high settings with your PC I imagine. It would be interesting to see a direct comparison between the Rift on high settings and the Reverb G2 on low settings. Somebody must have done that by now. Or maybe it’s comparing apples and pears.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Ian C

[Republic3D 1,229]

1 hour ago, andreh said:

I guess the screen door effect is subjective as well. I don't think it's bad with the S. Surely much better than the CV1. With some supersamling via the oculus tray tool and you will barely notice it. Supersamling requires a good rig, though.

 

 

Thank you for the input! Yes its probably subjective how different people deal with it I guess. But as far as I understand, the Rift S is an upgrade from the original Vive too I think? I wish I could go somewhere and test it for myself. 

[Republic3D 1,229]

1 hour ago, Ian C said:

Yes - there are times when I get fed up with the screen door effect but, as you say, VR is so awesome that I can mostly ignore it. It’s the effect on distant scenery that actually bothers me the most. Using the Rift you could run very high settings with your PC I imagine. It would be interesting to see a direct comparison between the Rift on high settings and the Reverb G2 on low settings. Somebody must have done that by now. Or maybe it’s comparing apples and pears.

I saw a comparison between the two somewhere, but the settings used in the end were fairly simlar. Except he ended up supersampling the Rift S, and downsampling the Reverb G2 to make them run good on his system. 

Yep, I spent a lot on this computer for sure, I couldn't get hold of a 3080, and I tried to "futureproof" my rig, hoping it would last at least 4 years, maybe more. Even though there's really no futureproofing when it comes to computers, there's always something better around the corner. I wanted to get back into simming with Flight Simulator 2020, so it's been a priority for me. 

I really wish there was somewhere to go test the VR headsets so I could see for myself. 🙂

[Truthan 75]

I have the Reverb G2 and Rift S, but I'm staying with my Rift S for now in MSFS. Here's why...

I too have an RTX3090 but with an I9-10900KF processor and 64GB of 3400 RAM, so our rigs are similar in their "beef" as it were. However, over the last several days since the MSFS VR release happened, getting my Reverb G2 to consistently deliver smoothness in the sim has been a struggle to say the least. I've tried every technique and tweak out there but the results are totally inconsistent. The clarity is truly awesome, and the screen door effect is essential non-existent, but different weather, scenery density, or just changing my view direction frequently throws it into a stuttering mess time and again. The WMR / OpenXR reprojection algorithms frequently refuse to lock the frames into a consistent divisive of the G2's 90hz refresh rate (i.e. 45hz, 30hz, 22.5hz, etc.) It's really frustrating. It'll be smooth one minute and stuttering again the next.

My trusty old Oculus Rift S on the other hand is a totally different story. It requires so much less from the sim or my system that I can overcome the lower resolution by cranking up the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA / HIGH and Super Sampling to 1.5 or higher, and with Oculus' proprietary ASW reprojection locking down on a solid frame rate it remains buttery smooth almost all the time. What's more, if if I fly into denser scenery areas or heavier weather, it adjusts the ASW divisive values of the Rift S native 80hz on the fly (with amazing precision) to either 40, 27.5, or even 20, and sometimes at values in between them - but remarkably, it remains smooth in the sim, with little to no stuttering  - and pretty much all the time. 

I'll continue to try and find ways to get the Reverb G2 to "act nice" with MSFS, but in the meantime...

With the RIFT S I can crank the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA, set super sampling at 1.5, and then (aside from the unavoidable - but still slight - screen door effect) actually enjoy as good if not slightly better visually immersive results than I have with a "settings turned way down" Reverb G2 in order to get it to run smoothly. I don't worry about tweaking or monitoring FPS... I just fly.

Bottom line for me thus far: A "settings all maxed out" Rift S currently beats a "settings all hobbled down" Reverb G2 for performance, reliability, good visual immersion, and consistently hassle free flying.

[Flying Fisherman 41]

11 minutes ago, Truthan said:

 

With the RIFT S I can crank the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA, set super sampling at 1.5, and then (aside from the unavoidable - but still slight - screen door effect) actually enjoy as good if not slightly better visually immersive results than I have with a "settings turned way down" Reverb G2 in order to get it to run smoothly. I don't worry about tweaking or monitoring FPS... I just fly.

Bottom line for me thus far: A "settings all maxed out" Rift S currently beats a "settings all hobbled down" Reverb G2 for performance, reliability, good visual immersion, and consistently hassle free flying.

Thanks very much for making that assessment and comparison. I won't be in a hurry then to upgrade to the Reverb G2, especially considering I've only got an RTX 2070 Super graphics card.  I've got MSFS VR working really nicely now with my Rift CV1 - clouds on high, trees on high, anisotrophic filtering 16X, most other settings on medium, and it's running really smoothly at all stages in flight and on the runway with the glass panel cockpit planes. It only slows down a bit when taxiing close to the main terminal at the busiest airports. With the great lighting visuals, detailed cities etc... I'm really happy now with the immersion. So glad that Asobo decided to release the first VR implementation to everyone 🙂 

[blueshark747 1,843]

28 minutes ago, Truthan said:

I have the Reverb G2 and Rift S, but I'm staying with my Rift S for now in MSFS. Here's why...

I too have an RTX3090 but with an I9-10900KF processor and 64GB of 3400 RAM, so our rigs are similar in their "beef" as it were. However, over the last several days since the MSFS VR release happened, getting my Reverb G2 to consistently deliver smoothness in the sim has been a struggle to say the least. I've tried every technique and tweak out there but the results are totally inconsistent. The clarity is truly awesome, and the screen door effect is essential non-existent, but different weather, scenery density, or just changing my view direction frequently throws it into a stuttering mess time and again. The WMR / OpenXR reprojection algorithms frequently refuse to lock the frames into a consistent divisive of the G2's 90hz refresh rate (i.e. 45hz, 30hz, 22.5hz, etc.) It's really frustrating. It'll be smooth one minute and stuttering again the next.

My trusty old Oculus Rift S on the other hand is a totally different story. It requires so much less from the sim or my system that I can overcome the lower resolution by cranking up the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA / HIGH and Super Sampling to 1.5 or higher, and with Oculus' proprietary ASW reprojection locking down on a solid frame rate it remains buttery smooth almost all the time. What's more, if if I fly into denser scenery areas or heavier weather, it adjusts the ASW divisive values of the Rift S native 80hz on the fly (with amazing precision) to either 40, 27.5, or even 20, and sometimes at values in between them - but remarkably, it remains smooth in the sim, with little to no stuttering  - and pretty much all the time. 

I'll continue to try and find ways to get the Reverb G2 to "act nice" with MSFS, but in the meantime...

With the RIFT S I can crank the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA, set super sampling at 1.5, and then (aside from the unavoidable - but still slight - screen door effect) actually enjoy as good if not slightly better visually immersive results than I have with a "settings turned way down" Reverb G2 in order to get it to run smoothly. I don't worry about tweaking or monitoring FPS... I just fly.

Bottom line for me thus far: A "settings all maxed out" Rift S currently beats a "settings all hobbled down" Reverb G2 for performance, reliability, good visual immersion, and consistently hassle free flying.

Solid post from someone who understands the ins and outs of their HMD tech!

This is why I see no reason to upgrade from the Rift S!

[craigeaglefire 195]

so far, the most extreme test for the Rift S has been KBUR to KLAX shuttle flight at night, very low level, in CJ4 & A320, with All Traffic & Live Weather,

this is obviously more taxing on the system (9700K, 32GB, 2080Ti) than a regular GA flight,

using OTT & adjusting MFS VR settings on the fly, was able to quickly tweak the Rift S for smoothness & acceptable visual clarity using this test Scenario.

[Republic3D 1,229]

2 hours ago, Truthan said:

I have the Reverb G2 and Rift S, but I'm staying with my Rift S for now in MSFS. Here's why...

I too have an RTX3090 but with an I9-10900KF processor and 64GB of 3400 RAM, so our rigs are similar in their "beef" as it were. However, over the last several days since the MSFS VR release happened, getting my Reverb G2 to consistently deliver smoothness in the sim has been a struggle to say the least. I've tried every technique and tweak out there but the results are totally inconsistent. The clarity is truly awesome, and the screen door effect is essential non-existent, but different weather, scenery density, or just changing my view direction frequently throws it into a stuttering mess time and again. The WMR / OpenXR reprojection algorithms frequently refuse to lock the frames into a consistent divisive of the G2's 90hz refresh rate (i.e. 45hz, 30hz, 22.5hz, etc.) It's really frustrating. It'll be smooth one minute and stuttering again the next.

My trusty old Oculus Rift S on the other hand is a totally different story. It requires so much less from the sim or my system that I can overcome the lower resolution by cranking up the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA / HIGH and Super Sampling to 1.5 or higher, and with Oculus' proprietary ASW reprojection locking down on a solid frame rate it remains buttery smooth almost all the time. What's more, if if I fly into denser scenery areas or heavier weather, it adjusts the ASW divisive values of the Rift S native 80hz on the fly (with amazing precision) to either 40, 27.5, or even 20, and sometimes at values in between them - but remarkably, it remains smooth in the sim, with little to no stuttering  - and pretty much all the time. 

I'll continue to try and find ways to get the Reverb G2 to "act nice" with MSFS, but in the meantime...

With the RIFT S I can crank the MSFS VR graphics settings to ULTRA, set super sampling at 1.5, and then (aside from the unavoidable - but still slight - screen door effect) actually enjoy as good if not slightly better visually immersive results than I have with a "settings turned way down" Reverb G2 in order to get it to run smoothly. I don't worry about tweaking or monitoring FPS... I just fly.

Bottom line for me thus far: A "settings all maxed out" Rift S currently beats a "settings all hobbled down" Reverb G2 for performance, reliability, good visual immersion, and consistently hassle free flying.

Thank you very much for this post, it's highly informative! 

The Oculus ASM reprojection sounds like a G-Sync for VR. That would certainly be very helpful for a smooth experience. Consistancy and response time is probably just as important as the refresh rate / fps when it comes to having a good and immersive experience. 

I think I will go for the Rift S. It seems like a good HMD for the price these days.

[Truthan 75]

And one last note Republic3D...  since you have an R9 5900x processor, and thus may possibly have the an X570 mother board, the Reverb G2 has been widely reported as having issues with AMD boards. A Google search for "Reverb G2" along with "AMD" and/or "X570" will bring up a host of recent issues from many other users. Thus going with a Rift S may likely save you a ton of headaches. 

[andreh 125]

I too will sing praise for Rift S. I managed to crank the settings up quite a lot with the S and a humble 1070. Still smooth. And the Rift is the most plug and play HMD currently available. You just plug it in and works.

[Republic3D 1,229]

11 hours ago, Truthan said:

And one last note Republic3D...  since you have an R9 5900x processor, and thus may possibly have the an X570 mother board, the Reverb G2 has been widely reported as having issues with AMD boards. A Google search for "Reverb G2" along with "AMD" and/or "X570" will bring up a host of recent issues from many other users. Thus going with a Rift S may likely save you a ton of headaches. 

Yep I have the Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming. These issues are probably going to be sorted out with chipset updates or driver updates, but good to know! When you spend money on something you're gonna want it to work out of the box. 🙂

 

7 hours ago, andreh said:

I too will sing praise for Rift S. I managed to crank the settings up quite a lot with the S and a humble 1070. Still smooth. And the Rift is the most plug and play HMD currently available. You just plug it in and works.

Thanks for your input! That's what I want. A plug and play HMD.