Guide for getting the best images when playing PC games

Guide for getting the most clear and high-quality images when playing PC games on Link and Air Link

Guide for getting the best images when playing PC games

Important:
Apply the settings one item at a time. And check the AIR Link’s work.

There are several places to customize the graphics:

OculusDebugTool. Located on the way “C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics\OculusDebugTool.exe “. To apply the settings, you need to restart the entire Oculus program: PC program->settings->beta->restart. You can also restart via the top menu debug tool-> Service -> restart oculus services
Device Settings (Quest 2) in the Oculus app on PC for Link mode. (resolution slider and screen layout)
SteamVR graphics settings. It is necessary to additionally enable advanced settings by switching in the settings. To apply the settings, you need to restart the game together with SteamVR.
Graphics settings inside the game (sometimes they are partially hidden and adjusted on the fly by the game itself, as in HL:Alyx)

A brief guide on setting up a wired Link:

OculusDebugTool set Link sharpening enabled. This is a new parameter, it increases the clarity of the image without loss of performance. But perhaps in some cases you can leave it on auto mode.
In OculusDebugTool set Encode bitrate 400 (if there are no problems, 500 is possible) This parameter will get rid of compression artifacts. In the new firmware and the Link program, a restart is needed for the application. Through the PC app->Settings->Beta->restart. (to return the default value, set 0 and restart. 0 in this case equals 150-200mbit in practice). Setting this parameter breaks the AirLink! To fix it, reset it to 0.
For GTX1000 series cards, you should set 300 mbps, for rtx2000 and rtx3000 400 and higher. This item does not affect fps if the video encoder on the card is sufficient (on old AMD RX580\8, for example, it is terrible and there is no bitrate more than about 100, but on Nvidia GTX1060 – everything is normal)
In OculusDebugTool set Encode resolution width 3970. If it doesn’t work or causes glitches/artifacts at the bottom of the screen, then reset to 0. A restart is needed for the application. Through the PC app->Settings->Beta->restart. With a sufficiently powerful encoder, this parameter improves the picture without loss of performance. BUT on cards with a weak encoder, there will be lags and frame losses (for example, AMD RX580 8Gb could only encode about 2000 in this value) This parameter will make the resulting final (after rendering and adapting to lenses) image on the helmet clearer, due to the transfer of the final video stream to the helmet in a higher resolution. By default, when setting 0, the value 36643680 is applied if the GTX1000 card is of a version or newer, otherwise it automatically decreases depending on the video card. After the tests, it was noticed that an increase in this parameter can add micro-shaking of hands. If you are facing this, it is better to reset.
In OculusDebugTool, the distortion curvature set to high. This parameter will allow you to get more clarity of the image in the center of the lenses. To apply, you need to restart the oculus software. But perhaps this parameter requires rechecking.
Changing Encode bitrate, Encode resolution width and Distortion curvature does NOT cause a decrease in fps in the game itself, if the video card has a sufficiently powerful video encoding unit. But it may slightly increase the motion-to-photon delay.(the most complete delay from the movement of the head/controller to the display of this on the helmet screen, it is not correct to compare with the delay in VD.) Also, encode resolution width can affect the micro-folding of hands, if you encounter it, it is better not to increase and leave it at 0
At this point, in the quest 2 settings in the Link program on the PC, you need to set screen refresh rate and the render of the image. To begin with, I advise you to put 80HZ, and then start from the performance of the video card. 80Hz will remove the nasty white flicker on the screen.
Each step of the stamping consumes approximately 10% of the performance.
Next, we need to set the resolution of the render. It directly affects the quality of the picture, but also hits the FPS and the load on the video card / video memory consumption.
There are two ways and a some trick:
– Increase the resolution of the rendering of applications and games globally, through the Oculus app-> device settings. Here the base resolution is set, going further as 100% in SteamVR.
– Increase the resolution in SteamVR or in individual games in SteamVR or in the games themselves. When setting the target resolution in steam, a little less video memory is consumed, BUT it is important to uncheck the additional filtering in the video add-ons in SteamVR.
It is also worth considering that there are games that independently increase and decrease the resolution dynamically from the installed one. (SteamVR Home, HalfLife:Alyx)
In general, there is no difference in the final clarity of the picture, where exactly to set, the main final resolution in pixels (dots). Not as a percentage in SteamVR, and not as a multiplier in the Link program. For SteamVR games, the final resolution is written in the SteamVR settings, for games on the Oculus SDK, the value is immediately taken from the program settings for Link.
The ideal resolution for our helmet is 5408×2736 inclusive and higher (supersampling). With this resolution, we will get the clarity of the image from the application pixel to the screen pixel in the center of the image. I.e. 5408×2736 is really the “native” render resolution for quest 2. Briefly: It is larger than the screen resolution due to the need to eliminate lens distortion and viewing angle. So on all headsets that the render resolution is about 30-40% higher than the screen resolution. PROOF from the Oculus developer:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/comments/jv5do3/psa_with_link_v23_to_achieve_true_11_apptodisplay/
BUT only Nvidia RTX3080-3090 can stably pull such a resolution at 90Hz. Therefore, we need to find the optimal value for our card. To understand the performance margin in a VR game, use Overlay HUD -> perfomance in the Oculus debug tool, for example, on Nvidia RTX3070, the render resolution usually turns out to be around 4400* 2200, on weaker cards it will be even less.
In the game settings, set the settings to your taste and the performance of the video card. The main thing is to try to get the maximum resolution (quality) of the render. Please note that sometimes games adjust the resolution of the render on the go, thereby spoiling the picture, but achieving acceptable performance.
It is better to try to run games bypassing SteamVR using the Oculus SDK. This will save several gigabytes of video memory, make management more responsive, the picture clearer, and performance higher. To do this, you need to run games with a special argument, and sometimes with a closed SteamVR. Or choose which version to launch in the Steam interface. When starting games without SteamVR, obviously, SteamVR settings are not taken into account, but are immediately taken from the Oculus program.
The settings listed above will not reset, it is enough to set it once, but the resolution of the render and the refresh rate of the screen (72-80-90Hz) may need to be changed for a specific game so as not to slow down.

Important:

If objects and hands in the game began to double when moving, then the video card can not cope and falls into the projection (ASW – Asynchronous SpaceWarp) at half the refresh rate of the screen. You can turn them off, but it will be better with them NOT in races or simulators (if the video card only sometimes falls into them. This can be seen by enabling Visible HUD prformance in OculusDebugTool.
When the fps is activated and reduced due to ASW, the card may not be loaded at full, this is normal, since the card did not cope with the full load and begins to cope with at least half. Therefore, at the same time, the load of the video card in the region of 55-90% is the norm. Until it drops to stable <50% of the fps load, it will not recover, since there is still little capacity. Adaptive ASW can change the situation a bit. Enable it through a separate Oculus tray tool program. You can find instructions in Google.
On different video cards (hereinafter referred to as GPUs) with different performance, the settings may differ. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the resolution of the render.
On AMD cards, due to a weaker encoder, setting the bitrate and encoding width can give lags.
If there are performance problems on any settings, then reinstalling with the removal of the remnants and SteamVR beta settings, and Oculus software can help.
Don’t forget to update the drivers for video cards, Nvidia has greatly fixed the work in VR in early 2021.

Guide for getting the highest quality picture when playing PC games via wireless AirLink

Important:

EVERYTHING is similar and relevant from the top of the guide, except for the first point.
In OculusDebugTool, be sure to set Encode bitrate 0 and restart the program, as mentioned above.

Setting the bitrate:

It is important to determine the maximum possible bitrate on your router, since by default a dynamic floating bitrate with a limit of 100 mbit is used. The bitrate depends on the speed of your wifi network & the quality of the router (not just the theoretical speed figures from its box) and how the PC is connected to the router (for normal operation, a 1000Mbit (1Gbit) cable connection is required.
Dynamic bitrate gives better stability, but the picture quality can jump.
If the delay has increased and the picture is lagging, then the router is not coping, reduce the bitrate.
AirLink slightly increases the delay (by 10-15ms), but it strongly depends on the quality of the router.
With the same bitrate, the picture on AirLink and wired Link is the same. But because of the higher maximum bitrate and stability over the wire, the picture is still better. But the picture is better on AirLink than on VD.