I have struggled for the longest time trying to get a reasonable performance in VR from SU3. I have a pretty beefy machine (7800x3d / 4090 / 64Bg of 6000mhz memory, all SSD's, etc.).

Just to try something else since I was running out of ideas, I dropped out of the Beta and went back to SU2.

To my extreme surprise, my sim suddenly was wonderful to use. TAA, pretty high TLOD and OLOD, and game latency below 20 and native framerate (no SSW) of 35-45. Granted I am flying a C172 G1000, not a tubeliner, but my point is not about little planes vs big planes. It is about great VR performance out of SU2 and terrible performance out of SU3.

Is this reasonable? Is this likely something screwed up on my system that could be impeding my ability to get good VR performance out of SU3, even though I can out of SU2?

I need a sanity check here because I am a bit baffled at the enormous difference in performance on my system. I want to use SU3 but the current beta on my system is not playable in VR (without turning everything way down, which looks terrible).

Thanks in advance for all responses. 

Edited July 19, 2025Jul 19 by Rob G
typos

If Asobo fix the LOD issues in SU3, that will like decrease performance (more pixels to calculate a better quality image).  In SU2 the LOD is VERY short where taxi-way signs just a 50 feet away will be blurry until about 20 feet away (this is with everything on Ultra).  Object parts will not be rendered even as close as about 20 feet.  This is great for SU2 performance, but terrible for image quality.

I haven’t tried SU3 so I don’t really know yet if the LOD issues have been resolved, but if they have, then I’m very certain FPS will go down and VRAM usage should increase.

Edited July 19, 2025Jul 19 by SayAgain

Lots of variables here.  They just removed the new LOD curve in the latest SU3 in VR because the performance hit was too much in VR.  I was forcing the latest DLSS prior to this and going back to “use 3d application” to let it use the version that Asobo ships improved VR performance for me by about 10fps.  I’ve seen this reported elsewhere too.  I haven’t tested what the removal of the LOD curve has affected in VR yet.  You’re using TAA so this doesn’t really apply to you but the LOD curves do.  My point is they’re tinkering with stuff and people are also posting bad advice on the internet as far as forcing the latest DLSS in VR cause it does reduce performance.  Anyway it just all makes it really hard to tell without alot of experimenting 

49 minutes ago, thetford569 said:

They just removed the new LOD curve in the latest SU3 in VR because the performance hit was too much in VR.

Please tell me you’re kidding?  So the 98% non-VR users have to be penalized because of the 2% VR users!?  

If accurate then, I’ll give up on MSFS 2024 completely and focus on XP12.  It would be pointless to continue with MSFS 2024.

I really really hope you’re wrong or they bring it back in a future Beta update.  Doesn’t make any sense to have 2% of the market deciding visual quality options for the 98% market.

1 hour ago, SayAgain said:

Please tell me you’re kidding?  So the 98% non-VR users have to be penalized because of the 2% VR users!?  

If accurate then, I’ll give up on MSFS 2024 completely and focus on XP12.  It would be pointless to continue with MSFS 2024.

I really really hope you’re wrong or they bring it back in a future Beta update.  Doesn’t make any sense to have 2% of the market deciding visual quality options for the 98% market.

Nope I’m not kidding but I think you read my message wrong.  The LOD curve was changed for SU3 to make things visible from a further distance.  Which really means the system is now allowing more vertices (faces/triangles) to be drawn further away than the original curve.  This came with a slight performance penalty in 2D.  The new curve allowing more LOD is enabled by default so 2D players are getting it automatically without having to do anything.

Presumably after collecting telemetry the last several builds they have now decided in the latest build to turn the new curve off for VR mode.  This means VR users do not get the increase in LOD.  They said it was because it reduced performance in VR too much.  Personally I have not seen enough yet to determine if I lost performance between the 2 curves.  I have a 4090 card.  Others are saying they didn’t have a loss in performance either and are mad that they have made this choice.

So really it’s the 98% of the market is going to get the increased LOD and the 2% is not.  So if you’re not a VR user then I guess you don’t need to be so upset.

3 hours ago, thetford569 said:

So really it’s the 98% of the market is going to get the increased LOD and the 2% is not

Thank you for the clarification.

I’m a strong believer of hardware will improve and a strong opponent of artificial caps so as avoid users complaining of performance.  I guess “as a customer”, I like to be treated as an adult that can make my own decisions.

This is a common theme of artificial limitations across all games/sims and I’m pretty certain it’s the PMs making the call not the software engineers.  PMs have an irrational fear of complaints about performance based on irrational users that set every option to Ultra/Max and then complain about it on forums saying game X works fine on their PC so this game/sim should too.  Sure we hear that over and over and over again… but it has zero identified impact on actual sales … if anything it becomes the standard by which hardware is judged and tested against (a positive affect on sales).  Sorry, just frustrated at seeing PMs make these same wrong decisions without ANY evidence to support their decisions.

The code limitations for the lowest common denominator rather than code for EVERYONE (from low budget to high budget) … that’s being “inclusive”.

Edited July 20, 2025Jul 20 by SayAgain

The release notes state; 

Deactivated new LOD curve in VR (performance hit is too high with additional vertices & foveated rendering)

And FYI there's more than 2% VR users.

I have enjoyed reading all of your responses. However, my original post was asking for opinions regarding VR in SU2 vs VR in SU3.

Can some of you specifically respond as to that question. I continue to be unable to get good performance out of SU3 VR whereas I can get very good VR performance from SU2.

Are others experiencing the same thing or am I having some hidden problem with VR performance in SU3?

Thanks.

Stick to SU2 until the SU3 goes public, then try again, these betas have been pretty shambolic with regards to performance so it's hard to continually compare back & forth.

2 minutes ago, MarcG said:

Stick to SU2 until the SU3 goes public, then try again

SU3 goes public AND add-on vendors have updated as needed.

Thanks everyone. I am always grateful that people are willing to take the time to respond to me :-)