Elite Dangerous Setup Guide - Lets make it Dark Again :)

I agree. Further we can push the full resolution down the pipeline the better. The question is, if the pipeline is seemingly capable of processing the image at arbitrary (to the extent) resolution, why SteamVR SS stops work at 4K res, while at the same time showing “recommended” resolution, which is correct.

It looks to me like that:

  1. I set SteamVR SS to 120%
  2. SteamVR calculates the correct res: 4220 x 3605 and proposes that to the application.
  3. Application, for some reason chooses, to use inferior 4K x whatever

Which seems perfectly fine from the way how the API works, but why the App (ED here) does choose lower res, when, once pushed by HMD multiplier, it can render perfectly fine at higher res.

Were I half a programmer, I guess this is where I would whip up a little something that does nothing more than call the relevant OpenVR function, to check whether what it returns confirms the last half of stipulation 2. Alas I’m not. :7

If it is Elite that rejects a larger value, I suppose it could be e.g. an early stage (instead of checking the final product later) safety check, to prevent the ultimate render target from exceeding 16k, in the eventuality the player were to set both `HMDRenderTargetMultiplier’ and ‘SSAAMultiplier’ to 2.0… :7

Maybe one should make FDev and/or Alex/Joe, or whomever it may be at Valve, aware if the situation… :7

Cool thanks, Think SweViver had Pre-rendered frames set to 3

Once I get my 8K, I plan to test Elite’s in-game SS=2.0 setting. (The 2x is the same as Steam VR 4x, since in ED it means 2x*2y (== 4).)

This is certainly 1 way to get the benefits of greater than 4K resolution rendering.

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Since I was more than half a programmer in the past life, I actually did it when I did the tests. I initialized OpenVR as VRApplication_Background and then called IVRSystem::GetRecommendedRenderTargetSize on it. It reported the same size as is visible in SteamVR settings panel. But the problem is, I am not sure, how Pimax fits in all that and how exactly is the correct size of the rendering buffer exchanged between the application (ED) and OpenVR.

EDIT: I was wrong the things actually work differently https://community.openmr.ai/t/elite-dangerous-setup-guide-lets-make-it-dark-again/13334/131.

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I am not an expert on VR, but should not this to be set as low possible? Common sense says that putting more frames between what happens in the game and what I see in the HMD just adds latency (and hogs the GPU) for no benefit.

The way it is described in Nvidia control panel also suggests that it should be as low possible.

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Yes agree, But its done by the CPU not the GPU, its frames pr-rendered by the CPU before its sent to the GPU.
and as you have done some tests already it would be nice to find out the difference.

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What you wrote made me search for more info on the subject, but it is not as clear as it seems.

  1. Nvidia says that it was introduced specifically for VR to reduce the latency (GeForce Articles, Guides, Gaming News, Featured Stories)
  2. The similar settings in 2D is supposed to be normally set to 3, to allow “smoother” play.

My understanding is that in VR it may actually have both impacts. However to test that, one would need a different test than I did, because it will be about smoothness and not about the frame render time.

I do not need to test it to conclude that both frame render times for the CPU and the GPU have to remain the same (as they do not depend on how many times are they performed), they just might be “shuffled” around differently and give different visual perception, but they cannot give better performance. In other words, it may look smoother, but at the cost of dropped FPS.

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Aha - Nice! :slight_smile:

…………………

I have to correct myself as I was wrong in my previous post. After some more poking I can confirm that indeed the recommended display size (as reported by IVRSystem::GetRecommendedRenderTargetSize) is different from what SteamVR “Settings” panel shows.

I did a new tests with ED, now also using Nvidia Nsight Graphics (which I found to be an interesting tool to inspect and record a whole lot of info about the frame rendering).

Here are the results for ED:

SteamVR SS override: 200%
ED HMD Quality: 1.0
PiTool Rendering Quality: 1.0
SteamVR Settings: 5448 x 4654
ED in game: IVRSystem::GetRecommendedRenderTargetSize() → 4096 x 3499
ED in game render target: 4096 x 3499

SteamVR SS override: 100%
ED HMD Quality: 1.5
PiTool Rendering Quality: 1.0
SteamVR Settings reports: 3852 x 3291
ED in game: IVRSystem::GetRecommendedRenderTargetSize() → 3852 x 3291
ED in game render target: 5778 x 4936

I also verified the disparity by running (again!) a simple app, which initializes OpenVR as VRApplication_Background and then calls IVRSystem::GetRecommendedRenderTargetSize. It reported 4096 x 3499 even when SteamVR settings override was at 150% and the UI showed 4718 x 4031.

So it seems that the limit is imposed by SteamVR/OpenVR. But when the app decides to use larger target (as ED did when pushed by HMD quality to 1.5) it seems to work ok. I am still however unsure where the final pre-warp happens as I did not find any (significant) reference to IVRCompositor in the frame rendering trace.

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Interesing results. I am pretty sure it would be pi_server (or whatever else Pimax has running), that takes care of the distortion, given the “hilly” nature of the lenses, which I believe is too complex for the algo used with the Vive. Don’t know whether OpenVR does much along the line, or just hands the pointers right over to Pimax, but since it does composite its stuff on top, I doubt it is quite as simple as that…

Sjefdeclerk also dug into… I think it was the pi_server binary - may misremember… and extracted, from within it, json format data for the various headsets, including config for a 12 (was it?) point spline, describing the warp characteristics.

Incidently, a configuration set can be downloaded from the 5k+ (…or from pi_server as an intermediary, possibly pulling the data from elsewhere) using lighthouse_console, but the distortion parameters in it are all null. :7

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had to disable SLI (and GSYNC) for the test.

SLI doesn’t work in VR, Having it enabled is probably what’s causing your issue.

I tried this tonight, but somehow I have lost the “space dust” in the process? Is this an unintended side-effect?

Yes, I think that’s one of the settings that the script intentionally disables. It’s likely that you can restore that setting and keep the others, but you’ll need to dig into the file(s) to find the setting. (Sorry, I have no intention of running this, so I won’t be able to provide any info as to how to do this.)

You can disable or enable any shadder in games. Read setting file.
Based my observation removing space dust save us couple fps

" DISCLAIMER:

  • 3DMigoto is a modding tool, so I’m not telling you to use it. If FD bans you or your pet explodes then its your problem. That being said, 3DMigoto has been around for a while and is used by the “Space Dust Remover” mod in ED. Moreover, 3DMigoto can be easily uninstalled at anytime simply by clicking on the “uninstall.bat” file in the above game directory."
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Thank you! I found it - it’s under the “Elite Dangerous Game Options”.

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@Yata_PL Thanks very much for these settings.
Im new to elite. 2 hours in, so Just setting out.
These settings make it look considerably better than it did before.
My settings:
Fov normal, 72hz mode, Pitool @ 1.0, steam ss 200%
(i have changed the vr maxrecommendedresolution to 8192 which was mentioned in another thread).
Im running it on a 2080ti oc’d & it seems to be holding stable 36fps (72hz smart smoothing).
Looks & feels great so far.
I went with your settings & pastebin, but upped a few others to ultra.

Maybe im being stupid but every now & then my hmd view goes way off ie… if i put the headset down.
Can anybody tell me how i recenter it?
I read that it is F12 but it does not work for me.
Just makes a sound but nothing happens.
I cant see a setting or find a button to reset it.
EDIT. Noob alert.
Dont worry found the option to set a button under miscallaneous settings

Personally I don’t like smart smoothing or any ATW , ASW frame tech. becouse of ghosting effect which is pretty anoying in RES /CZ dogfight situations.
For me SS 200 % is just too munch for long gameplay session even with RTX 2080 ti. It’s not my way setting up games but if you like it than enjoy :slight_smile:

Ah ok. I havent really noticed any ghosting yet but ive only been doing training missions.
Maybe it will be a problem later on or maybe im not sensitive to it. I dont think im sensitive to much. Ive previously had games running as low as 50 fps & i wouldnt have known if it wasnt for fpsvr letting me know.
I will try lowering settings & turning smart smoothing off to compare

I guess what @Yata_PL is saying is that there is nothing wrong about enjoying the ED in full detail in the training missions, but once you find yourself in the heat of the fight in the resource or combat zone with your 100M+ credit ship at stake, you start to prefer the other aspects of the visuals :wink:

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