Vive Pro and Aerofly - Amazing!

  • I believe that Aerofly relies more strongly on the graphics card, and not so strongly on the CPU. So FPS is probably mostly dictated by that 1080TI.......

    Wonder what those 2080's are going to cost......

    Devons rig

    Intel Core i5-13600K - Core i5 13th Gen 14-Core (6P+8E) @ 5.5Ghz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB RAM DDR5 6000 / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070Ti GAMING OC 12G / Sound Blaster Z / Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 6x Samsung SSD/NVME's various sizes / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard DDR5

  • 50 Ghz EXTREMLY NICE :) :) how you keep it cool ? :D=O

    It's water cooled. In fact it was delivered at this speed and I haven't messed with it lol.

    I believe that Aerofly relies more strongly on the graphics card, and not so strongly on the CPU. So FPS is probably mostly dictated by that 1080TI.......

    Wonder what those 2080's are going to cost......

    Indeed FS 2 hardly puts any burden on the CPU at all, nothing compared to Geoconvert, which pushes it passed 90% usage. Even the GPU is rarely showing above 45% in FS 2, which makes me wonder how anything can EVER slow down.

  • 50 Ghz EXTREMLY NICE :) :) how you keep it cool ? :D=O

    It's water cooled. In fact it was delivered at this speed and I haven't messed with it lol.

    Please tell me too where I can get one of these legendary 50 GHz CPUs!!! :D^^;)=O8o

    Oldar Thanks for the nice write-up on how the Pro works with AeroFly and the visual experience in general. I do wish the price wasn't so absurd, but I have a feeling they won't be able to keep it there for too long -- other competition is going to emerge that forces it down eventually.

    Also very interesting that people with these top-spec'd systems are now having framerate issues with the Pro. I've read the same thing from other users with other games/sims too. The 1080Ti is certainly no slouch, and historically each generation of Nvidia's GPUs isn't *that* big of a performance bump relative to the Ti series of their previous gen card. (FWIW a 980Ti is almost exactly equivalent to a 1070 in performance). Also the Ti version of their cards usually comes about a year after the newest gen, meaning we may not see an 1180Ti until... Sept. 2019?!

    I'm really wondering what Nvidia's next gen of graphics card will really be when they finally give out info and release it. Unless it's a revolutionary leap compared to their current offerings, I think we're going to have a GPU-imposed bottleneck on VR for the foreseeable future... until other technologies like foveated rendering can take some of the load off. :/

  • ...Other than that, the pricing seems a little strange in that you can purchase the Original Vive kit (with first generation controllers and base stations) and the Vive Pro for the same price as purchasing the Vive Pro and the improved controllers/Base Stations.

    Too bad the Vive Pro did not come out originally with a kit price instead of a per unit price....

    Hey Saltgrass, we don’t have a price yet on the Lighthouse 2.0 base stations or wands. Those aren’t available yet. The base stations and wands kit is $300 but it’s 1.0 base stations and wands. HTC created that kit for those wanting the Pro but that don’t have the original Vive. The regular Vive full kit is $500. The reason HTC gave for selling only the headset now is that it was to be an upgrade for those that wanted it and the 2.0 base stations aren’t available yet. Valve is making those.

    Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog, MFG Crosswind pedals, 2 dof Motion, Valve Index

  • Hey Saltgrass, we don’t have a price yet on the Lighthouse 2.0 base stations or wands. Those aren’t available yet. The base stations and wands kit is $300 but it’s 1.0 base stations and wands. HTC created that kit for those wanting the Pro but that don’t have the original Vive. The regular Vive full kit is $500. The reason HTC gave for selling only the headset now is that it was to be an upgrade for those that wanted it and the 2.0 base stations aren’t available yet. Valve is making those.

    I don't understand your comment about "base stations and wands kit is $300". When I check the Vive accessories, all I see, and they are out of stock, is $130 for one controller and $135 for one base station.. I understand those are the 1.0 versions. But that adds up to $530... Even though it may be a moot point, where are you getting the $300 number?

    I suppose again I have to ask, why is it cheaper for me to buy a kit which includes a headset, 2 controllers and 2 base stations, for less than I can buy just the controllers and base stations. Marketing is a strange thing, but I think they are making a mistake....

    Thanks for the explanation, I am probably totally misunderstanding the situation.

    HTC Vive Cosmos Elite

    Win 11

  • I'd guess that the performance solution could come from the fixed foveated rendering that the Oculus Go is using. Basically sharp in the middle and lower res on the edges to reduce the rendering burden. The type of moving foveated rendering that follows your eyeline around is going to be much more complex to implement, but the Oculus solution is very neat and simple I think.

    i5-12600K/MSI RTX 3080/Win11/64Gb RAM/Asus Xonar DX+ Beyer DT990 pro headphones/LG 34" UM65 @2560x1080/Quest Pro/TM Warthog+VKB MkIV Rudder pedals

  • Review Addendum:

    It breaks my heart to say this, but I have returned to using the Oculus for FS 2. I have areas that I have done cultivation for, adding in autogen buildings and trees. In many of these the Pro suffers from significant stutters. The Oculus, even when set to a Render Scale Factor or 2.0, does not. I will continue to experiment with various settings, but right now I can't live with the stuttering of the Pro.

    I don't have a problem with the Pro playing any other game. It is a pleasure to use and an obvious upgrade anywhere other than FS 2. But there are too many places that I love to fly that are not optimal with the Pro, and removing the cultivation feels like too much of a sacrifice.

  • Saltgrass, HTC lets you buy the $300 kit of two base stations and two wands if you order it at the same time as the Pro headset. I dont think it’s available anywhere else, though.

    (Edit: Just web search for HTC $300 Vive Pro bundle. I had links but remembered those get posts deleted here so took them back out.)

    HTC responded to that and fixed it. It’s no longer the cheapest solution to just buy a regular Vive kit to be able to use the Pro for those switching to the Pro from WMR or Rift headsets. That price hasn’t changed though. The full kit is still $500. It’s just that if you buy the $300 bundle you get just what you need for $200 less.

    Since I already had a Vive, I could just get the Pro itself. That was the intent of the Pro headset alone (and sidestepping the later release of the 2.0 base stations). But it seems the demand for the Pro was higher than anticipated (sold out now until next bulk shipments hit) and people who didn’t already have a Viv wanted them too. Hence the $300 bundle.

    Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog, MFG Crosswind pedals, 2 dof Motion, Valve Index

  • I bet that’s temporary, Oldar. Time will tell. Hope it is. It sounds like inefficiencies in the added scenery rendering. Bet it is something simple. I don’t get any stuttering but I’m not using the cultivated stuff - so far just the ORBX scenery. For me, the view in the Pro in FS2 is just amazing.

    Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog, MFG Crosswind pedals, 2 dof Motion, Valve Index

  • OK, thanks. I had not heard anything about a kit prior. I have done some searching but since they seem to be out of stock, maybe the option is not currently available.

    Perhaps when the stock is replenished and things slow down, the offer will come back....

    HTC Vive Cosmos Elite

    Win 11

  • Isn’t the Vive pro using steam VR and the oculus using its own run times? Could that be the difference in performance that Oldar is seeing? When I try steam VR I always get slower performance than native oculus

    That was true also for the original Vive. Oculus using it's own run time was better performing than the Vive.

  • I have the Vive Pro too (and love it) and set the Steam SS to manual overide. I set it in video to 100%, then adjust it per application in Steam VR, a new setting which is fantastic!

    Some games, Project Cars 2 for example, I lower the SS in Steam VR application to 80%.

    However, 80% SS on the Pro is equal to the original Vive with a decent amount of SS added. Don't expect all games to run smooth at 100% and 100%, it is asking a lot!!

    Skyrim VR on the otherhand I have at 100% and 120% I believe, and despite all the mods I installed, it runs so smooth :)

  • I have the Vive Pro too (and love it) and set the Steam SS to manual overide. I set it in video to 100%, then adjust it per application in Steam VR, a new setting which is fantastic!

    Some games, Project Cars 2 for example, I lower the SS in Steam VR application to 80%.

    However, 80% SS on the Pro is equal to the original Vive with a decent amount of SS added. Don't expect all games to run smooth at 100% and 100%, it is asking a lot!!

    Skyrim VR on the otherhand I have at 100% and 120% I believe, and despite all the mods I installed, it runs so smooth :)

    Bingo!! That's what I was missing! Thank you!

    I thought that the individual apps SS completely overrode the General SS setting, but it doesn't. It just alters the general SS setting using whatever that setting is as a baseline. By lowering the general SS setting and THEN setting the individual SS setting specifically for FS 2, good images and smooth performance are attainable.

    You have no idea how relieved I am.

  • For some reason though, no matter what you do, the Oculus displays cockpit screens, like an HSI, more clearly than with a Vive. This was true of the original and is still true with the Pro. It is especially true of pink or magenta text and numbers. It must have something to due with the less vibrant color palette of the Oculus. I actually prefer the brighter colors of the Vive for external scenery, but the Oculus has an edge inside the cockpit.

    The Pro is fabulous for other games though. When you can crank up the resolution in the Steam VR settings you notice details in textures and objects that you just didn't before. Except for in FS 2 I haven't noticed any performance issues either.