Got a Quest 3...total nightmare....

[RobJC 2,069]

5 hours ago, Donka said:

Supersampling is the key to getting sharper graphics with the Quest 3. Unfortunately, that means you really need a strong GPU to drive the extra resolution. A 3080 is still capable though through Virtual Desktop as long as you are sensible with the resolution, run DLSS mode and also apply Fixed Foveated Rendering using the OpenXR Toolkit.

Thanks. I was able to tweak the settings of Virtual Desktop and it is a lot better. And MSFS likes VD a lot better than Air Link. Looking for the OpenXR toolkit now!

[Skywolf 992]

You do not need OpenXR Toolkit when using Virtual Desktop.  The new runtime is inside it already

[Donka 645]

5 hours ago, Skywolf said:

You do not need OpenXR Toolkit when using Virtual Desktop.  The new runtime is inside it already

The OpenXR Toolkit and the VDXR runtime are two separate things. The VDXR runtime which is now included in Virtual Desktop allows you to use a more efficient OpenXR runtime than SteamVR. The OpenXR Toolkit is a separate application that gives you access to various settings to tweak the experience including things like changing resolution, sharpening, foveated rendering and much more.

[EGLD 439]

I spent my longest session in VR ever yesterday thanks to the combo of Virtual Desktop and the VD XR runtime, settings all around medium I think, and a solid 30-40fps, with very very clear visuals in the headset - Quest 3 in this config, IMO, far out performs the G2 - and it's wireless, which really cannot be overstated - the thick cable coming out the back of my head is very frustrating with the G2.

I have a wifi5 5ghz connection to my router, I'm thinking of getting a wifi6 AP to connect to the switch my PC is connected to just because this performs so well, why not really, but I think the bottleneck is the PC performance

spec is quest 3, ryzen 9 5950x, 64gb, 12gb 3080ti

[GEKtheReaper 364]

So just to conclude: you guys uninstalled the Oculus SW entirely and use VD instead?

I come from the era of Oculus Tray Tool etc, and stopped trying to get better visuals after OpenXR launched and configured it to a point I could not get anything better out of my rig.

Under my opinion to "never touch a running system", I no longer spent time researching other possibilities. I did find some saying "VD is the way to go" and others stating "Oculus SW has become much better and there is no need for VD" :O.

Are there any recent YT videos showing how to set all up?

[Donka 645]

I would suggest Oculus link (USB) can still gain a slight sharper image and has less latency but Virtual Desktop performs much better (at least on my system). If you have a strong system and want the best visuals, go Oculus USB. If your system isn't the strongest or you want wireless, go with Virtual Desktop. I would also suggest Virtual Desktop to those who have a good home wifi network and want the most 'plug and play' solution.

[JacquesBrel 639]

12 minutes ago, Donka said:

If you have a strong system and want the best visuals, go Oculus USB

This is also my experience. I have tried Virtual Desktop but I prefer USB Link. With USB Link and the Oculus Debug Tool I can tweak more settings than the Virtual Desktop UI allows. For one thing, I get better image quality with H.264 and as much bitrate as the connection allows. In the Virtual Desktop UI I cannot go higher than 350 mbps with H.264 selected. In the Oculus Debug Tool I can set whatever bitrate I want, and my wifi can reliably pull 500 mbps through Oculus Air Link, and my USB cable can go up to 750 mbps. Not surprisingly, 750 mbps gives me the best image quality.

[EGLD 439]

4 hours ago, GEKtheReaper said:

So just to conclude: you guys uninstalled the Oculus SW entirely and use VD instead?

I come from the era of Oculus Tray Tool etc, and stopped trying to get better visuals after OpenXR launched and configured it to a point I could not get anything better out of my rig.

Under my opinion to "never touch a running system", I no longer spent time researching other possibilities. I did find some saying "VD is the way to go" and others stating "Oculus SW has become much better and there is no need for VD" :O.

Are there any recent YT videos showing how to set all up?

I didn't remove the Oculus software, I just set the OpenXDR runtime to VDXR in the Virtual Desktop Streamer that runs on your PC

 

 

Edited January 30 by EGLD

[RobJC 2,069]

I got a higher quality usb-c cable and now Quest 3 recognizes it. I turned back on Air Link to test. Visuals in Alyx were a little better but stability is still an issue. MSFS would not load consistently and was just a mess. VD seems to be the best solution for my system.

With VD i did get MSFS to load up and although my system cannot handle ultra settings i can see how immersive this could be. At this point i think a 4090 as part of a new build is the direction i will eventually go. 

I have never rebooted my pc so often due to crashes in VR that cannot be resolved except via a reboot. There’s some amazing gameplay locked in here but I think we’ve got a ways to go before this resembles anything close to plug and play. 

[Donka 645]

56 minutes ago, RobJC said:

I got a higher quality usb-c cable and now Quest 3 recognizes it. I turned back on Air Link to test. Visuals in Alyx were a little better but stability is still an issue. MSFS would not load consistently and was just a mess. VD seems to be the best solution for my system.

With VD i did get MSFS to load up and although my system cannot handle ultra settings i can see how immersive this could be. At this point i think a 4090 as part of a new build is the direction i will eventually go. 

I have never rebooted my pc so often due to crashes in VR that cannot be resolved except via a reboot. There’s some amazing gameplay locked in here but I think we’ve got a ways to go before this resembles anything close to plug and play. 

With your specs, I would genuinely stick with VD for the time being, it seems to be much more efficient using the built in VDXR runtime and you'll get more fps with it over Oculus link.

[EGLD 439]

I've been playing with this today with some spare time, I've got it to a point where there isn't too much difference between link cable and VD, but there is a difference in picture quality and smoothness with VD being the noticeably superior solution - I have a wifi6 AP being delivered tomorrow which will sit right next to the PC and headset

it's very stable as well, I've been switching between cabled and VD, restarting MSFS multiple times, enabling and disabling VR during the sim session multiple times - I think with a decent spec Quest VR is stable in general, I had lots of fiddly issues and crashes with my G2

Edited January 30 by EGLD

[craigeaglefire 197]

A full reinstall of the Oculus desktop app solves many of the problems you may be experiencing,

Quality WiFi 6 router definitely helps,

Quest Pro works great with AirLink here,

I have Virtual Desktop software - but absolutely no need to try it again (bit clunky previously)…

[Dillon 2,197]

On 1/28/2024 at 3:16 PM, RobJC said:

I thought VR was "close" to primetime, but the Quest 3 I just bought leads me to believe that primetime is a ways off. There's no way we are going to get mass adoption with an experience like this. I have 30 years of IT experience, and this experience has been pretty terrible. After unpacking the device and controllers, I charge up the Q3. It took maybe an hour to charge as it was already partially charged. First up, I had to download and install the Oculus software. Easy enough. Then I tried to add the device to the app. This is where the problems began. I bought a USB-C to USB-A 3.0 cable, and no matter what I did the Oculus software did not detect the Q3. So then I tried wireless and that did not work either. Lovely. After troubleshooting for an hour, reading reddit, etc. I ended up installing a new bios for my motherboard. That didn't work either. 5 or 6 reboots of my PC, following troubleshooting checklists, plus resetting the Q3 a few times, and blam! It connected wirelessly. 

To say this is the least user-friendly device known to man would be an understatement. This process literally eliminates 95% of the public. Maybe more. But let's continue. 

So I download Half-Life: Alyx and fire that up. But now my headset is dead, because evidently you get maybe one hour of usage. That's a bummer. Time for bed.

I wake up, fire up the PC and Q3, and now SteamVR won't connect. I guess I needed to restart the AirLink process? Okay now I am in Alyx. Really good experience. The graphics were excellent, and even the dreaded "screen door effect"  wasn't really a factor. Sound from the headset was very good. Overall not bad at all. So then I decide to give MSFS a shot. 

Big mistake. 

Trying to load the sim and an hour glass starts spinning. This would be a Q3 thing telling me that bad things are about to happen. After what seems like forever I decide to Ctrl+Alt+Del by PC. I try again and now SteamVR is reporting an issue. So I restart my PC and Q3. I forget which attempt I finally got to the main menu, but we'll call it number 3. I go into my MSFS settings and put my settings on Medium. Headset is dead now. TIme to close out and charge it back up.

I load it all again a couple hours later and get back to the main menu after reloading everything, doing the AirlInk thing, firing up SteamVR, and loading MSFS. And to think I complained that MSFS took a few minutes to load. I get into MSFS and change my graphics settings to Medium. And then MSFS starts wigging out and the hour glass shows up again. Another crash. 

I read about people running this sim with a 3080 but oh boy is this process a complete mess. I ordered a PCIe USB controller and it just arrived, so let me try that and continue this saga later.     

This is exactly why I bought the HP Reverb G2 as this was my experience with the Quest.  I've been in IT for over 20 years and setup shouldn't be this hard.  Even if you get it working the juice is not worth the squeeze.  A headset with a wired connection to the video card as well as it's own power source cuts out all this word not allowed and takes Wifi out the equation.  Imagine being limited to an hour of use, wow...🙄 I'm hoping in another two years another headset presents itself.  That's more than enough time for the technology to advance but today the Q3 isn't it (at least not for MSFS).

[joby33y 152]

41 minutes ago, Dillon said:

A headset with a wired connection to the video card as well as it's own power source cuts out all this word not allowed and takes Wifi out the equation.

Couldn’t agree more.   I still have my Quest 2, and it’s great for other experiences (have you tried Richie’s plank experience?), but direct connection to the video card (DP) with the G2 is absolutely flawless for FS.   

I was flying one of the bush trips last week.  Dropped down to 100 feet over the Danube river, looked outside & saw trees & etc whizzing by, smooth as silk.  No frame counter needed.  

[EGLD 439]

Quest 3 is great for MSFS 😆

I have a G2 and the clarity of the Q3 is superior

you can get cables to charge while playing, and headstraps with addon batteries