Tips to Increase the Performance of the New Shaders

Here you can find help for how to best run and setup your XWA VR experience.

Re: Tips to Increase the Performance of the New Shaders

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:46 pm

klickhom wrote:
Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:15 pm
B-Wing - Simulator mission 1 - 30fps-90fps. Can be played except exiting hangar.
Have you tried setting your monitor to 60Hz? This problem with the hangar tends to be solved by that and it may also help with overall performance.

Can you PM me your SSAO.cfg and Bloom.cfg files? There are multiple ways you can configure the effects, so having "All Effects On" can be a bit ambiguous.

I'd say you set ssao_type=Deferred in SSAO.cfg since that tends to give the best performance and keep SteamVR at 50% resolution for now. Bear in mind that it's normal to get 30fps when the screen is busy since this game basically still computed in a single CPU core.

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Post by klickhom » Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:07 am

Will do.
Yesterday I played a bit more.

I disabled all video settings in game settings, no noticeable performance change.
I found that text (new mission messages for example) on virtual HUD were having quite an impact on fps, played with 2d rendering settings without too much success.
I lowered in game resolution to the lowest setting. Virtual HUD is readable and bigger. So good.
My screen is set at 1080p 60Hz (can be 75Hz, didn't see any difference).
Oculus CV1 has 3 ASW settings On, off and locked (45fps), can be changed in game if running OTT with Ctrl+Z. (
Virtual HUD size changes every time a change ASW settings. It has 3 settings so HUD size is not tied to any setting in particular it is just changing every time I change the ASW setting.
Changing FOV in game (CRTL+SHIFT+ALT + left/right), changes HUD size and there are sweet spots where performance is better. Its not the lower the better. There are 2 or 3 different fov settings that results in better performance.

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Thu Oct 29, 2020 5:28 pm

klickhom wrote:
Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:07 am
I found that text (new mission messages for example) on virtual HUD were having quite an impact on fps, played with 2d rendering settings without too much success.
The latest beta should have better performance when rendering text. If this is still causing trouble, you can disable the 2D text rendering by opening DDraw.cfg and setting:

Text2DRendererEnabled = 0
Oculus CV1 has 3 ASW settings On, off and locked (45fps), can be changed in game if running OTT with Ctrl+Z. Virtual HUD size changes every time a change ASW settings.
In the VR mod, Ctrl+Z toggles the zoomed-out view of the HUD. Can you map ASW to a different key?
Changing FOV in game (CRTL+SHIFT+ALT + left/right), changes HUD size and there are sweet spots where performance is better.
Yes, this is to be expected. A larger FOV induces a bigger impact in performance. As you noticed, there's a sweet spot where the FOV isn't so big that it causes a noticeable impact, but not too small that you can see the edges of the screen in VR.

Setting your monitor to 60Hz should help avoid performance problems when taking off or landing in the hangar. Otherwise, what you're describing sounds normal to me.

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Post by klickhom » Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:29 pm

CTRL+Z changed, my bad for not finding all shorcuts.

Don't understand a ****.
Today I've been able to play with "full" detail quite well. (Installed blueeffecs again with all options on except active cockpit and then beta from 28th)
150% resolution.
CPU load seem a bit lower, but not much.
I've had GPU at 90% most of the time, thats good.
Slowdowns probably when laser illuminated nearby fighters.

Now is time to have fun.

Thanks for your efforts and support.

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Post by JoeTheAnorak » Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:11 pm

Afternoon all,

Like loads of other people I discovered this through the release of Squadrons. I have to say that while Squadrons looks stunning I'm still finding myself enjoying Alliance more. I've no doubt that wouldn't be the case if it wasn't for the startling efforts of the modding community (and perhaps a bit of misty eyed nostalgia). Truly incredible work. Anyway I've spent best part of a week trying to optimise my VR experience after really suffering from some of the shaking and frame rate issues that other have described. Thanks to all the guys who have posted up so far; so much good advice so I just wanted to give back by and sharing my settings in case they benefit someone else.

My rig is a 4790K, 32GB, 1080TI and I'm running an Oculus Rift CV1. I've done all my testing on the early campaign missions, don't ask me specific frame rates etc. as I haven't really logged these. I activated the FPS display using XWAhacker for a rough idea but I've been more focused on the 'lived experience' and I think I've now got to a place where, despite some stutters, its eminently playable. I still get drops down to 45 FPS when ASW / Smoothing kicks in but very rarely below that. While I've not eliminated all stuttering it's certainly the best I've managed so far. Anyway these are the settings I use for a great campaign experience:

XWUP 1.6 + patch
RebelDynamicCockpits_v2.1
TieDynamicCockpits_v2.0
SuperBackdropsPatch_v3.1.exe
Ddraw 1.3.11
Crew Quarters 1.1
No additional ship installers used.

1.1.4 Installer options (no beta, I think its smoother without):
Bloom – preset 3
Shader – Deferred
MSAA – Unticked
FXAA – Unticked
Active Cockpits – Disabled

Desktop resolution – Native is 3440 x 1440 @ 120Hz. I've seen almost no difference in performance by changing this, either resolution or refresh rate.

In-Game resolution – I'm using 640x480 but in all honesty I haven't noticed it making that much difference other than the readability of the HUD in early missions.

Steam VR Resolution – 2016 x 2400 (150%). I played around with this a lot and there seemed to be diminishing returns with lowering it. At one point I reduced it to minimum and I still didn't get much joy. Motion Smoothing - Enabled

Cfg variations - The only things I've changed from default are Ddraw.cfg

Text2DRendererEnabled = 0
Radar2DRendererEnabled = 0

Oculus Tray Tool – Highly recommend this small app. I've got a profile running which sets CPU Priority to High - saves you doing this before every launch. ASW remains auto.

Nvidea Settings – I think this is where I did a couple of things I've not seen others suggest. I've no idea why they worked but they did seem to make a noticeable difference to me. Set up a profile for XWA specifically where:

Threaded optimisation = off
VR pre-rendered frames =4
low latency mode = on
V-Sync = off

I can't speak to which setting caused the biggest impact just that as a whole I found them to offer a smoother experience. I might try installing the beta next, and then some ship packs to see if they adversely effect things. Hope someone else find these setting useful.

Thanks again to the modders and community.

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Post by blue_max » Sun Nov 01, 2020 5:39 pm

Thanks for sharing, JoeTheAnorak. I'll add your suggestions to the first post so that they're easier to find. The beta has improvements for the 2D text and radar rendering, so you might want to try re-enabling them.

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Post by Tomsk » Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:48 pm

So I've been trying to get this to work but no matter what I try I get terrible stutter, even on very low Steam VR resolution (like 1080p). Tried all the tips on the first post of this thread but still stutters terribly and according to fraps I'm only getting 30 fps in most missions. Don't have any problem with other VR games (e.g. Squadrons).

HP Reverb, GTX 1080, i7 8700K, 16Gb

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Post by m0rgg » Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:24 pm

Tomsk wrote:
Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:48 pm
Tried all the tips on the first post of this thread but still stutters terribly and according to fraps I'm only getting 30 fps in most missions. Don't have any problem with other VR games (e.g. Squadrons).

HP Reverb, GTX 1080, i7 8700K, 16Gb
Due to how the VR mod is implemented, the original engine still does a lot of geometry calculations in the CPU. It's a 20 year old game that was not programmed to take advantage of modern GPU power.
This means that for complex scenes, there will be FPS drops and the CPU become the bottleneck, regardless of your GPU power or the rendering resolution.

Does the game run fine if you're flying alone in a skirmish, or with only a couple of ships? (90fps or at least 45).
How many fps do you get in non-VR mode?

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Post by Tomsk » Sat Dec 19, 2020 11:09 pm

Okay, I get great frames out of VR .. usually more than 60 FPS, only in VR that there’s a problem. Yeah I understand the engine is old, it’s a shame would love to play XWA in VR, however at the moment it seems kinda unplayable sadly. Guess I’ll have to wait for XWVM 🙂

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Post by Cybrnite » Sun Dec 20, 2020 10:48 am

Tomsk wrote:
Sat Dec 19, 2020 11:09 pm
Okay, I get great frames out of VR .. usually more than 60 FPS, only in VR that there’s a problem. Yeah I understand the engine is old, it’s a shame would love to play XWA in VR, however at the moment it seems kinda unplayable sadly. Guess I’ll have to wait for XWVM 🙂
I would advise to keep persevering, I'm new to VR (Quest 2), but going through the performance tips as Blue suggests, you will sort it.
I am at a stage where the game is very playable with no perceivable lag in the 'dog fights'
Head-tracking is a bit jittery in the Hanger, but still acceptable
My rig is not that powerful:
  • Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
    16.0 GB RAM
    NVIDIA GTZ 1660 Super
Worth the effort ;)

Cybrnite

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Post by Tomsk » Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:02 am

So I've already tried them:
1. I didn't have a hook_d3d.cfg so I created one and put "IsHookD3DEnabled = 1" in it, I wonder if this instruction needs updating to fit with the new XWAUP mega patch ..
EDIT: digging further it seems this setting is now in "Hooks.ini" and is enabled by default.
2. I've downgraded the resolution in SteamVR to 1080P
3. No idea about hook_time.dll .. this seems to relate to an older version of the mod before it was integrated into the latest XWAUP mega patch.
4. Totally disabled MSAA using the config file.
5. Also disabled FXAA just to be sure.
6. Chose the Deferred shader as recommended.
7. Turned SSAO off entirely for extra performance.
8. Turned bloom off entirely for extra performance.
9. Also set all the NVidia settings as described.

The frame rate is still unplayable sadly, not sure where else to go.

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Post by Ace Antilles » Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:24 am

Silly question but have you run Babu Friks Configurator from the launcher and adjusted the Effects settings in that
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Post by Tomsk » Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:28 am

Ace Antilles wrote:
Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:24 am
Silly question but have you run Babu Friks Configurator from the launcher and adjusted the Effects settings in that
Yes, I turned everything to minimum.

EDIT: It's actually not *just* the frame rate it seems, although that can get pretty bad in some missions even at absolute minimum settings. It's that the head tracking isn't "smooth" it jerks and jitters when you turn your head, even at 45 FPS (which it locks at due to ASW). This only happens in XWA, as I say, I don't have this problem in Squadrons, DCS, HL Alyx or a whole bunch of other VR games. If other people aren't experiencing this perhaps it's a HP Reverb or Windows Mixed Reality problem specifically.

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Post by m0rgg » Sun Dec 20, 2020 3:25 pm

I wonder if it's due to the fact you use Windows Mixed Reality.
The SteamVR performance was only tested with Oculus SDK and PSVR, as far as I know.
Anyone else has got it to work fine with WMR?

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Post by Gutersnipe » Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:34 pm

HI

I also have a frame rate issue. Only get between 7-9 in the menus and barely 45 in game and it is not very smooth. I have a RTX3090 and an HP reverb G2 (WMR) headset. Anyone had luck sorting out the FPS issue.

Thanks

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Post by Gutersnipe » Fri Aug 06, 2021 10:47 am

Turns out, that even for VR, I need to drop my monitors refresh rate. Dropping it to 60 or 100 from 144 did the trick and the menu items where a lot smoother

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Post by Gutersnipe » Thu Aug 12, 2021 10:07 am

Hi

Something I noticed with Steam VR and performance when playing in VR, so I thought I might share in the hope it helps. I have a .

I noticed that the monitor refresh rate effects the refresh rates I get in the game in the headset. I disabled motion smoothing / reprojections.

When I ran my monitor at 60HZ the framerates I got in my headsets was 60fps.
When I ran at 85HZ, I was getting 80fps in my headset (this felt so smooth and nice 😊)
When I ran at 100HZ, I was getting 72fps and menu performance started dropping a lot
When I ran at 144HZ, the menu's performance dropped to low single digits and where a struggle, in game, headset fps was 72fps.

I recommend keeping you monitor refresh rate bellow 100hz and as close to but below the max refresh rate of your headset.

Hopefully this helps others with their performance issues. Caveat, I am only on mission 4 in the campaign and haven't had to deal with a large amount ships on screen yet.

I have a HP Reverb G2 (90HZ refresh) that uses SteamVR via WMR, Ryzen 7 5800X, Nvidia RTX 3090 and running 2200x2200 per eye resolution and using the beta ddraw. Ingame the resolution is set at 1920x1080

Cheers

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Post by a1adin » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:24 pm

I have just found out that there is no hook_d3d.cfg in my Star Wars - X-Wing Alliance folder,
but I have installed update 5.0 with no error.

do I need to reinstall?

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Post by m0rgg » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:31 pm

It's possible you have the same settings in hooks.ini

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Post by Ace Antilles » Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:34 pm

Yes the settings will be in Hooks.ini.
Cfg files are only used now for custom configuration
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Post by a1adin » Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:30 am

thanks for the reply Ace and m0rgg.

yes I have found "IsHookD3DEnabled = 1" in hooks.ini

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Post by heloguy » Sat May 21, 2022 10:30 am

Hey all, I was asked by Blue Max to post the results of some recent troubleshooting we were talking about over on Discord. I recently upgraded to a new Win 11 machine (specs in my sig) from what was a decently smooth running Win 10 machine. I was shocked that both the old 5.0, and beta ran terrible. I had a feeling it was something to do with Win 11, but it took quite awhile to figure it out (mostly due to me being in and out of town for work).

Anyway, if you have a Win 11 machine, and you are having frame rate issues with SteamVR games (I've found it mostly to be older titles that may or may not have originally been VR), this fix helped me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WobzhnDw86g

If you go to the 1:00 mark, he tells you to opt into SteamVR Beta. At about the 1:32 mark he goes into the Windows 11 Display/Graphics settings to turn off Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling. That last one I believe is a Win11 exclusive 'feature' which is the main culprit I believe of the issue I was having with FPS and XWAU/TFTC in VR.

Hope that helps someone else.
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