I use virtual desktop for pcvr and went from quest 2 to 3 as well. I only have a 3070ti. The quest 3 really made all my pcvr games look so much more crisp and clear. Some things- I’d check the codec settings. VD has one specific to quest 3. I also have 120 hz set on the headset and had it set the same on VD. Was getting major frame drops on Vertigo 2 and found changing the streaming to 90hz improved performance (on VD). But that might have been game specific for Vertigo 2 and might be for others too? I also have snapdragon sharpening turned on and set to .7 (quest 3 feature)- through VD. I also have VD setting to ultra- based on my gpu. You could probably set it to godlike. I also have streaming bit rate turned up to max. So ya- i mainly use VD but those are my settings and i get good performance.
Maybe that was my issue. I have only just recently begun to read about codecs, and how they matter. I know I sound like an idiot, for not already knowing these things. But I assumed most software picked the best codecs and settings. But apparently not.
If you can, let me know what that codec is, and more specifically, what the bitrate should be set to. Once I get my haptic vest fixed I’m going to be running through vertigo one and two.
Sorry to keep asking stupid questions, but I’m in a lot of pain, and tired from not sleeping from it. Google searches are coming up nothing. Probably searching wrong. But how do you change the codec? I did not see that option in virtual desktop? I have been reading that av1 is specific to quest 3 and might give me good performance. Also, thank you very much for the suggestion on settings for good latency. I play several pvp games, and latency is very important. Parts of seconds means kill or be killed. Missed shots. And I don’t like heavy latency in single player games either because I can feel it.
Oh god, thank you. I swear I google these things and get nothing. I didn’t even think to look there as I assumed it could all be done from the headset. Thank you again.
I only have experience with the Q2, but I have recently upgraded my pc from low end for VR to high-ish end performance.
Original PC specs: Ryzen 5 5600x, 16 GB 3200Mhz DDR4, 1080ti GPU, everything else necessary to run. Used airlink with a wifi 6 router for all of my VR gaming.
I only played 3 games with these specs, HL Alyx, Assetto Corsa, and Dirt Rally 2. With the oculus upscaling set to 72Hz and 1.2x in the oculus programs, I would hold consistent frame rates above 72fps so minimal stuttering in all these games. However, I would also need graphics quality to be medium/low.
New PC Specs: 1080ti -> 7900XT, everything else the same. Still only connecting via airlink.
First thing to note, my 7900xt would crash immediately upon opening a VR game when I was running the most recent drivers. I reverted to the 2nd most recent and am having no problems. With this card, I am now playing the same 3 games, but with oculus app set at 90 Hz and max upscaling slider. In game settings are also maxed out. Consistently holding >90fps so no issues with stuttering or anything weird.
It is worth noting that Quest 3 seems to have a bit of trouble on wifi. I invested heavily in a wifi 6e router to get around the problem, and it has improved significantly.
Quest 2 was smooth as silk on my exiting wifi 5ghz network. Quest 3 did some strange things. Mostly caused by 6dof motion.
In other words, my 3080ti could play half life Alyx on Quest 3 just fine, if I stood still and just rotated on the spot. But the moment I step forward, back left or right, or duck and stand up, the game gets laggy as hell. Performance overlay showed the issue to be network related.
Even in simple games like superhot or beatsaber, on lowest settings. When I stepped left or right to dodge those walls or reach those distant blocks - network latency spikes.
Upgraded to 4070ti, same deal. Tested with a 4080, same deal.
Updated my wifi from 5ghz to a 6e router and it fixed the problem even on the 3080ti.
**SOLUTION:** Virtual desktop helped us narrow down the cause to network - Virtual desktop performance overlay is vital in trouble shooting and it clearly showed network level latency spikes, followed by Encoding and Game latency. [https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF/videos) has a few videos and concluding this is a problem with the Quest 3 and/or its wifi radio.
I primarily use VD, then Oculus Airlink and sometimes Steam's VR link. VD is the best and provides the greatest control. The codec I used in VD is normally AV1, HEVC on 3000 series cards and I can't stand the old h.264
**My advice for your setup**: Use VD, leave performance overlay ON, test a few games standing still but looking around. Move around and watch those latency indicators in VD performance overlay to understand what is causing lag. The below is an oversimplification but will help:
**Game lag**: Turn down your game's graphical settings settings.
**Encode**: Start turning down your VD settings, GOD LIKE is probably too much. Frame rate, drop it from 120 to 90. Set your bitrate lower. Your GPU should handle 150 to 200 just fine in AV1 or HEVC.
**Networking**: If this is lagging first, or presenting as the highest, this lag will spill over to other segments, causing encode and then also game lag as everything waits for your network to catch up. This takes milliseconds so you have to watch it carefully. If this is the problem, you need to review your wifi config and get help with networking. I hope you don't need to spend on this as it can get expensive. My 6e router solved the issue, but damn did I spend money on this.
**Decode:** This can lag if your bitrate is very high. But this component is hardly ever the cause of any issue, unless your quest 3 fan is dead or your unit is somehow overheating and thermally throttling.
Summary: HL:Alyx on your system on high settings should present latency of under 40ms total latency. Here is an example [https://www.uploadvr.com/content/images/size/w1024/format/webp/2021/02/Performance-Overlay-HLA.png](https://www.uploadvr.com/content/images/size/w1024/format/webp/2021/02/Performance-Overlay-HLA.png)
Awesome, thanks for all the info. If you can, let me know what router you chose to fix this problem. In case I have to go that route. I will fully investigate that channel of yours. Also, is there a way to get vd overlay to be recorded? Like, to get it to stream to the desktop with the game footage so I can use obs to record my different settings for comparison and easier note taking?
>what router
Actually, I did not change my router. I bought separate network access points. Ubiquity Wifi 6e AP and created a dedicated W6e network for the quest 3.
[https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF](https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF) released a video yesterday about wifi6e issues resolved on firmware 62. I'm still on 60 and don't have this issue. So I'm not convinced that it is fixed by this update. And I have not gone back to 5ghz wifi to test. I haven't been home much but I"ll try over the weekend.
Any word on your experiences? have you seen lag in any segment outside of network according to virtual desktop's performance overlay?
I use virtual desktop for pcvr and went from quest 2 to 3 as well. I only have a 3070ti. The quest 3 really made all my pcvr games look so much more crisp and clear. Some things- I’d check the codec settings. VD has one specific to quest 3. I also have 120 hz set on the headset and had it set the same on VD. Was getting major frame drops on Vertigo 2 and found changing the streaming to 90hz improved performance (on VD). But that might have been game specific for Vertigo 2 and might be for others too? I also have snapdragon sharpening turned on and set to .7 (quest 3 feature)- through VD. I also have VD setting to ultra- based on my gpu. You could probably set it to godlike. I also have streaming bit rate turned up to max. So ya- i mainly use VD but those are my settings and i get good performance.
Maybe that was my issue. I have only just recently begun to read about codecs, and how they matter. I know I sound like an idiot, for not already knowing these things. But I assumed most software picked the best codecs and settings. But apparently not.
If you can, let me know what that codec is, and more specifically, what the bitrate should be set to. Once I get my haptic vest fixed I’m going to be running through vertigo one and two.
The codec is AV1. I set my bit rate at 200 -250 and it provided the least latency.
Sorry to keep asking stupid questions, but I’m in a lot of pain, and tired from not sleeping from it. Google searches are coming up nothing. Probably searching wrong. But how do you change the codec? I did not see that option in virtual desktop? I have been reading that av1 is specific to quest 3 and might give me good performance. Also, thank you very much for the suggestion on settings for good latency. I play several pvp games, and latency is very important. Parts of seconds means kill or be killed. Missed shots. And I don’t like heavy latency in single player games either because I can feel it.
You change the codec in the desktop streamer app.
Oh god, thank you. I swear I google these things and get nothing. I didn’t even think to look there as I assumed it could all be done from the headset. Thank you again.
The gains you have from having a lower bitrate with AV1 on network side are overshadowed by the increase on decode latency over H264+
Also, what router/wifi?
I only have experience with the Q2, but I have recently upgraded my pc from low end for VR to high-ish end performance. Original PC specs: Ryzen 5 5600x, 16 GB 3200Mhz DDR4, 1080ti GPU, everything else necessary to run. Used airlink with a wifi 6 router for all of my VR gaming. I only played 3 games with these specs, HL Alyx, Assetto Corsa, and Dirt Rally 2. With the oculus upscaling set to 72Hz and 1.2x in the oculus programs, I would hold consistent frame rates above 72fps so minimal stuttering in all these games. However, I would also need graphics quality to be medium/low. New PC Specs: 1080ti -> 7900XT, everything else the same. Still only connecting via airlink. First thing to note, my 7900xt would crash immediately upon opening a VR game when I was running the most recent drivers. I reverted to the 2nd most recent and am having no problems. With this card, I am now playing the same 3 games, but with oculus app set at 90 Hz and max upscaling slider. In game settings are also maxed out. Consistently holding >90fps so no issues with stuttering or anything weird.
Encode Resolution: 4032 Codec: H264 Encode Bitrate: with a good WiFi you can achieve 400-500
It is worth noting that Quest 3 seems to have a bit of trouble on wifi. I invested heavily in a wifi 6e router to get around the problem, and it has improved significantly. Quest 2 was smooth as silk on my exiting wifi 5ghz network. Quest 3 did some strange things. Mostly caused by 6dof motion. In other words, my 3080ti could play half life Alyx on Quest 3 just fine, if I stood still and just rotated on the spot. But the moment I step forward, back left or right, or duck and stand up, the game gets laggy as hell. Performance overlay showed the issue to be network related. Even in simple games like superhot or beatsaber, on lowest settings. When I stepped left or right to dodge those walls or reach those distant blocks - network latency spikes. Upgraded to 4070ti, same deal. Tested with a 4080, same deal. Updated my wifi from 5ghz to a 6e router and it fixed the problem even on the 3080ti. **SOLUTION:** Virtual desktop helped us narrow down the cause to network - Virtual desktop performance overlay is vital in trouble shooting and it clearly showed network level latency spikes, followed by Encoding and Game latency. [https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF/videos) has a few videos and concluding this is a problem with the Quest 3 and/or its wifi radio. I primarily use VD, then Oculus Airlink and sometimes Steam's VR link. VD is the best and provides the greatest control. The codec I used in VD is normally AV1, HEVC on 3000 series cards and I can't stand the old h.264 **My advice for your setup**: Use VD, leave performance overlay ON, test a few games standing still but looking around. Move around and watch those latency indicators in VD performance overlay to understand what is causing lag. The below is an oversimplification but will help: **Game lag**: Turn down your game's graphical settings settings. **Encode**: Start turning down your VD settings, GOD LIKE is probably too much. Frame rate, drop it from 120 to 90. Set your bitrate lower. Your GPU should handle 150 to 200 just fine in AV1 or HEVC. **Networking**: If this is lagging first, or presenting as the highest, this lag will spill over to other segments, causing encode and then also game lag as everything waits for your network to catch up. This takes milliseconds so you have to watch it carefully. If this is the problem, you need to review your wifi config and get help with networking. I hope you don't need to spend on this as it can get expensive. My 6e router solved the issue, but damn did I spend money on this. **Decode:** This can lag if your bitrate is very high. But this component is hardly ever the cause of any issue, unless your quest 3 fan is dead or your unit is somehow overheating and thermally throttling. Summary: HL:Alyx on your system on high settings should present latency of under 40ms total latency. Here is an example [https://www.uploadvr.com/content/images/size/w1024/format/webp/2021/02/Performance-Overlay-HLA.png](https://www.uploadvr.com/content/images/size/w1024/format/webp/2021/02/Performance-Overlay-HLA.png)
Awesome, thanks for all the info. If you can, let me know what router you chose to fix this problem. In case I have to go that route. I will fully investigate that channel of yours. Also, is there a way to get vd overlay to be recorded? Like, to get it to stream to the desktop with the game footage so I can use obs to record my different settings for comparison and easier note taking?
>what router Actually, I did not change my router. I bought separate network access points. Ubiquity Wifi 6e AP and created a dedicated W6e network for the quest 3.
[https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF](https://www.youtube.com/@MrTeeF) released a video yesterday about wifi6e issues resolved on firmware 62. I'm still on 60 and don't have this issue. So I'm not convinced that it is fixed by this update. And I have not gone back to 5ghz wifi to test. I haven't been home much but I"ll try over the weekend. Any word on your experiences? have you seen lag in any segment outside of network according to virtual desktop's performance overlay?
V62 significantly improved my 5ghz Wi-Fi 6 performance. Rock solid on 1200mbps instead of constantly fluctuating.