Just before Christmas I purchased a Quest 3, keen to try out MSFS in VR......on that front I can say that it was a failure. My copy of the Sim was a store bought version. It worked well on my PC. Sadly not so on a VR headset. The jerkiness and blurry instruments in the cockpit make it unusable. The minefield of settings is a disaster......PC settings, Nvidia settings, OCT, OTT, Link settings, in game settings.  It's just too time consuming for me. Videos online offer such a wide variety of magic solutions, none of which work for me. Even on the lowest settings (on everything) the jerky cockpit makes me feel sick and I've crossed the north sea in November without the merest hint of sea sickness. Strange inconsistencies when trying to run the sim tell me that the quest 3 and MSFS relationship is unfathomable.....at least....on my machine and the store version and by me. 

Reading other posts reveals the widespread confusion regarding PCVR on the quest. The scene is a mess.

But there have been some fringe benefits: Tweaking and really digging through my PC and Nvidia settings now has my PC desktop version working beautifully. DX12 works a treat now I've switched it on (it never used to, that's why it was off). It looks sweet. 🙂

Other benefits: Elite Dangerous works a treat so the headset wasn't a complete PCVR disaster. Also as a family we've been having a great time with Walkabout Mini Golf over Christmas.🤣😂

.....just my two penneth.

 

Edited January 5, 20251 yr by GaryK
clarity

Though I don't know how up to date your signature is, a 1080 paired with a 4th gen just isn't going to cut it well in VR for something like MSFS.

Though I do wonder did you try running Virtual Desktop (It costs about $20) ? I didn't bother with Quest Link or any other solution. I just used VD and it was more or less seamless. I haven't done any tweaking except enabling SSW (sort of like frame generation for VR) and using AV1 encoding. However, the latter isn't supported by your GPU.

In any case, if you haven't already, I would try VD. I do want to mention it requires a prosumer or dedicated wifi AP/router. I personally own Ubiquiti items, specifically a U6+ which works great.

My specs are a 5800X3D paired witha  7800XT for some context.

1 hour ago, Lucky38i said:

Though I don't know how up to date your signature is, a 1080 paired with a 4th gen just isn't going to cut it well in VR for something like MSFS.

Though I do wonder did you try running Virtual Desktop (It costs about $20) ? I didn't bother with Quest Link or any other solution. I just used VD and it was more or less seamless. I haven't done any tweaking except enabling SSW (sort of like frame generation for VR) and using AV1 encoding. However, the latter isn't supported by your GPU.

In any case, if you haven't already, I would try VD. I do want to mention it requires a prosumer or dedicated wifi AP/router. I personally own Ubiquiti items, specifically a U6+ which works great.

My specs are a 5800X3D paired witha  7800XT for some context.

I knew before I purchased the headset that I would probably have to switch everything off or onto the lowest settings. A GTX 1080 being one of the "Minimum Requirements".  I also know that the more I spend on my rig the higher my chances are of getting good performance......but..... Many online have good rigs but are also giving up because of stutters and blurriness.

The odd issue for me was the consistency of the juddering/stuttering in cockpit mode (really nauseating) whatever setting I used the juddering remained the same. I could improve the blurry instruments in the cockpit slightly but not to an acceptable level.  Externally the results weren't too bad, had that been all I could have lived with it.

I also wear glasses. One pair work well with the headset (which grabs and pulls the frames whenever I take the headset off) , another pair for PC screen.....so very, very awkward and clunky for me. 

The very nature of online posts and YT vids on the subject told me that PCVR with MSFS was a black art at best. Lots of snake oil and placebo posts with nobody explaining why stuff was working for them, just posts saying "these are my settings and I find them OK" ......people are shooting in the dark with VR and MSFS.....some hit the target but a significant percentage do not and nobody knows why.

Fortunately I didn't buy the headset solely for MSFS.....Elite Dangerous looks awesome and I'm having some fun with other stuff.

I did look at VD @ £18 I also looked at OpenXR toolkit but considering the above paragraph I thought "do I have the time to chase things that may not exist?"

Thanks for replying.

Happy new year to everybody.

12 minutes ago, GaryK said:

juddering/stuttering in cockpit mode (really nauseating)

stutters are mostly due to the CPU, the X3D chips really alleviated a lot of stutters. It's not a perfect experience by any regard but with VD it's pretty plug and play for me except for GSX tooltips not working but that's not the end of the world.

 

15 minutes ago, GaryK said:

I also wear glasses. One pair work well with the headset (which grabs and pulls the frames whenever I take the headset off) , another pair for PC screen.....so very, very awkward and clunky for me.

I know this isn't a solution but there's companies that create prescriptions lenses that you can insert into the headset without the need to have your glasses on. Just something I heard on the grapevine

17 minutes ago, GaryK said:

some hit the target but a significant percentage do not and nobody knows why.

I think not a lot of people know about VD or underestimate the wifi requirements. instead using quest link or steam link which are both horrendous compared to VD. Then there's tinkering the quest link app, or if using openXR, tinkering with that. absolute nightmare.

 

18 minutes ago, GaryK said:

I did look at VD @ £18 I also looked at OpenXR toolkit but considering the above paragraph I thought "do I have the time to chase things that may not exist?"

I'm just giving you my experiences. I went straight to VD, didn't use anything else. In the VD Streamer app, I set the OpenXR Runtime to VDXR (It's a fork of OpenXR that VD has been maintaining), which apparently has better performance than SteamVR. After that it just.. works. I haven't tinkered with any other apps or settings. Though like you said, people have different experiences.

If you're willing, I really hope VD works out for you.

You need a powerful GPU for VR, at least a 4080, and your CPU as well. based on your specs

Then you can use Virtual Display, i wouldn't bother with META's airink or link

Are you serious, the GTX 1080 is almost 10 years old now! What were you expecting? My 6800XT could barely run the Q3, on MSFS lowest settings.

1 hour ago, avistudent said:

You need a powerful GPU for VR, at least a 4080, and your CPU as well. based on your specs

Then you can use Virtual Display, i wouldn't bother with META's airink or link

Well maybe at least a 3090. My sig is below and I am running the Pimax CL on 100% resolution and getting 40fps with pretty much medium setting across the board with MSFS 2020. Its spectacular! VR does have pros and cons but the cons list is much shorted than it used to be. My main grip now is FOV  I'm sure the 40fps I see on the PImaxXR overlay is actually 80fps in the Headset with 90hz (lab) in Pimax Play. At least It looks like that.

Which version of MSFS were you trying, @GaryK ?

I notice you are in UK.  So am I, and there have been some fairly widespread issues here with both versions of MSFS over the holiday period that are far from clear in terms of cause or cure.

  I tried the Quest 3 this evening, on fairly low settings, and it was a stutterfest.  And I am running on a pretty fast pc with a 4080GPU.

PS. That said, I think a 1080 is going to struggle whatever the MS servers are doing in UK...

Edited January 6, 20251 yr by AJZip

AJZip.......Store purchased.

strider1........yes I am serious. Published minimum requirements state very seriously that GTX 970 is supported. I have GTX 1080 which they state as supported also. I have been using incarnations of Microsoft flight sim for 20 plus years, I thought I had a fairly good idea what the tech demands would be regarding tweaking. The VR tweaking required for PCVR with MSFS was beyond anything I've previously experienced. My GPU is at the low end as is my rig generally......However, I did expect my setup to give a usable experience with MSFS, albeit with absolute minimum settings. What I got was unusable. There are no vomit bags in the light aircraft I use. I've been a sailor for 20 odd years and I've experienced some pretty bad weather and never, ever had sea/motion sickness. I know I'm rock solid in that respect.......juddery MSFS cockpit yuck.

Coincidently: Over Christmas (Plenty of time) I did some research, I dug deep so deep, I spent hours reading and watching this that and the other......... Reinstalling windows 10, reinstalling MSFS, tweaking PC and Nvidia settings, all in a vain effort to get VR working. I now have MSFS running on my PC in desktop mode brilliantly, so much (much, much, much) better than before.  With mostly high settings (but the usual suspects, blur, bloom etc switched off)  I've just flown from Lydd UK (my local)  to London city in the stock Caravan with Photogrammetry, real time weather and a spattering of road and AI air traffic........No stutters, visually good FPS, no popping textures and no post apocalypse buildings.......It was beautiful with no immersion busting glitches. (incidentally, London City was closed to IFR but I went in anyway, twas a bit patchy and bumpy today🤣)

Regarding all your suggestions regarding Virtual Desktop and a dedicated router......I'm feeling a little tweaked out ATM but I'll take another look👍. It's the stutters/judders in cockpit view that have killed it for me.

If I do go down this path where would you all recommend for VD/MSFS specific tech info and support? (apart from here of course🙂)

Thank you all for your replies.     

8 minutes ago, GaryK said:

Published minimum requirements state very seriously that GTX 970 is supported. I have GTX 1080 which they state as supported also.

That'll be for 2D not VR though, you can run VR on older cards depending on the HMD used but seriously a 1080 is simply not going to be any good whatsoever. 

43 minutes ago, GaryK said:

If I do go down this path where would you all recommend for VD

Their discord, super helpful bunch even have suggestion on how to improve performance, increase wifi channels, what router to get etc etc.

23 hours ago, GaryK said:

Just before Christmas I purchased a Quest 3, keen to try out MSFS in VR......on that front I can say that it was a failure. My copy of the Sim was a store bought version. It worked well on my PC. Sadly not so on a VR headset. The jerkiness and blurry instruments in the cockpit make it unusable. The minefield of settings is a disaster......PC settings, Nvidia settings, OCT, OTT, Link settings, in game settings.  It's just too time consuming for me. Videos online offer such a wide variety of magic solutions, none of which work for me. Even on the lowest settings (on everything) the jerky cockpit makes me feel sick and I've crossed the north sea in November without the merest hint of sea sickness. Strange inconsistencies when trying to run the sim tell me that the quest 3 and MSFS relationship is unfathomable.....at least....on my machine and the store version and by me. 

Reading other posts reveals the widespread confusion regarding PCVR on the quest. The scene is a mess.

But there have been some fringe benefits: Tweaking and really digging through my PC and Nvidia settings now has my PC desktop version working beautifully. DX12 works a treat now I've switched it on (it never used to, that's why it was off). It looks sweet. 🙂

Other benefits: Elite Dangerous works a treat so the headset wasn't a complete PCVR disaster. Also as a family we've been having a great time with Walkabout Mini Golf over Christmas.🤣😂

.....just my two penneth.

What sim are you using (2020 or 2024)?  That's the first thing.  Second look at my specs especially the video card. Anything lower than that will struggle with VR.  Third the best bang for your buck is Pimax Crystal Light.  Q3 is hit and miss on it's best day.  You need a direct connection to your video card.🤔 

Motion sickness in VR is a very different feeling than motion sickness in car/air/sea.

For a good VR Flightsim experience with a wifi/link connection you'll need to keep your target FPS up-warts of the native refresh freq of the headset. For MSFS (and DCS for example) you'll something else than a 1080 and a i7-4790k.
If you drop below that refresh freq FPS, artifacts and stutter will be your companion. And the lower you go in setting to counteract that effect, the uglier it will look. Same goes for the compression setting. The lower you go the higher your FPS will go but it will look pretty bad.
As Dillon says, a headset with a display port connection delivers far better results, no need to compress/decompress the image like on wifi/link headsets, less artifacts, less ghosting etc...

Using MSFS 2020

As I said earlier, I'm having fun with other titles so still a good investment. Going to give DCS a go.....I may try Virtual Desktop at a later stage. For the moment MSFS is a non starter for me.

Lots of useful suggestions here for future options so thanks folks.

Edited January 6, 20251 yr by GaryK
typo

3 hours ago, Dillon said:

What sim are you using (2020 or 2024)?  That's the first thing.  Second look at my specs especially the video card. Anything lower than that will struggle with VR.  Third the best bang for your buck is Pimax Crystal Light.  Q3 is hit and miss on it's best day.  You need a direct connection to your video card which the Q3 doesn't offer.🤔