Stutter only during first time events, early play?

[Btmmayor]

I having odd stuttering issues the first time an event, animation, etc is triggered on all tables in VPX 10.8gl with quest 3 and virtual desktop or oculus link using Steam VR. For instance, the first time the visor opens on Pinbot or i hit the upper right ramp I get heavy stuttering for a second but it will then smooth out for the rest of my playtime. It makes the first 1 or 2 plays of a table frustrating because everything smooths out nicely after the initial stuttering. Its as if the sound/animation needs to load into memory of some sort before it smooths out.

i’ve done all of the lowering of graphical settings, changing audio drivers, gsync/vsync off in nvidia app, frame pacing enabled, changing VD codec, etc and I’m out of ideas. I’m running a I7 with a 3070 and have no performance issued of this type in any other vr game. Vpx runs smooth except for these initial event stutters. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[BMAC]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:01 AM, Btmmayor said:

I having odd stuttering issues the first time an event, animation, etc is triggered on all tables in VPX 10.8gl with quest 3 and virtual desktop or oculus link using Steam VR. For instance, the first time the visor opens on Pinbot or i hit the upper right ramp I get heavy stuttering for a second but it will then smooth out for the rest of my playtime. It makes the first 1 or 2 plays of a table frustrating because everything smooths out nicely after the initial stuttering. Its as if the sound/animation needs to load into memory of some sort before it smooths out.

i’ve done all of the lowering of graphical settings, changing audio drivers, gsync/vsync off in nvidia app, frame pacing enabled, changing VD codec, etc and I’m out of ideas. I’m running a I7 with a 3070 and have no performance issued of this type in any other vr game. Vpx runs smooth except for these initial event stutters. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Funny you mention that... I am also experiencing this same issue although I think it is only on tables with Pup Packs which led me down the VLC troubleshooting path (to no avail). I am running the latest 10.8 GL beta so I may try earlier versions and see if I experience the same issue. As an FYI, I am running a 4090 with a Quest 2 using Virtual Desktop with VDXR. If I switch from VDXR back to Steam VR I no longer experience the issue although performance is not as good.

[Btmmayor]

2 hours ago, BMAC said:

 

Funny you mention that... I am also experiencing this same issue although I think it is only on tables with Pup Packs which led me down the VLC troubleshooting path (to no avail). I am running the latest 10.8 GL beta so I may try earlier versions and see if I experience the same issue. As an FYI, I am running a 4090 with a Quest 2 using Virtual Desktop with VDXR. If I switch from VDXR back to Steam VR I no longer experience the issue although performance is not as good.

I’ve searched pretty extensively and have never seen this early game stutter issue mentioned before.  I’m sorry you are also experiencing it but I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
 

I’m very new to this hobby having installed baller installer a few weeks ago and kind just of stumbled into the VR version by accidentally launching the vpxgl when I was messing around with the alternate launcher in pinup popper.   When you switch to VDXR in virtual desktop what do you use to launch the game?  I’ve only ever used the pinup popper so I clearly need to learn a bit more about what I’m doing to potentially fix this problem.

[studly_do_right]

11 hours ago, Btmmayor said:

I’ve searched pretty extensively and have never seen this early game stutter issue mentioned before.  I’m sorry you are also experiencing it but I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
 

I’m very new to this hobby having installed baller installer a few weeks ago and kind just of stumbled into the VR version by accidentally launching the vpxgl when I was messing around with the alternate launcher in pinup popper.   When you switch to VDXR in virtual desktop what do you use to launch the game?  I’ve only ever used the pinup popper so I clearly need to learn a bit more about what I’m doing to potentially fix this problem.

Hi Btmmayor, join our Discord and read all about it here https://discord.gg/uAFcfYSbta  if you don't want to let me know and I can post some stuff here.

[BMAC]

17 hours ago, Btmmayor said:

I’ve searched pretty extensively and have never seen this early game stutter issue mentioned before.  I’m sorry you are also experiencing it but I’m glad to see I’m not alone.
 

I’m very new to this hobby having installed baller installer a few weeks ago and kind just of stumbled into the VR version by accidentally launching the vpxgl when I was messing around with the alternate launcher in pinup popper.   When you switch to VDXR in virtual desktop what do you use to launch the game?  I’ve only ever used the pinup popper so I clearly need to learn a bit more about what I’m doing to potentially fix this problem.

 

I use VPX VR-Launcher 4 (an alternative to Popper) - it is the VR view of all my tables (works out of the box). My process when I want to play is, I use my Quest 2 which I have purchased the Virtual Desktop application. I have installed on my Windows PC the Streamer software from the same company (this part is free) - it automatically starts with Windows so I don't have to worry about that. Within its configuration it is set to use VDXR (not Auto).

 

In the background, I run the OpenComposite RuntimeSwitcher which automatically keeps the OpenXR 32 and 64-bit DLL's up to date - By default, I have OpenComposite as the default (which is greyed out when it is active). I believe this intercepts any VR requests through these libraries but you can configure specific programs to target certain runtimes if needed. I.e. I use 32-bit VPX 10.7 for an old table that will not run in 64-bit nor 10.8 (but these are all nice-to haves in addition to getting the basics working).

 

Once all the above is said and done, I start my Quest 2, select the Virtual Desktop application and it connects to my computer (you will need to do some manual setup to start with). Once that is loaded up, I start VPX VR-Launcher 4. I am now in a virtual world with all my pinball machines. I then browse to the table I want and then start it. SteamVR will not open if all is good.

 

I managed to sort out my audio issue - I just switched audio to use my Oculus instead of my computer so not sure if it is fully fixed but I don't get any issues with the audio using this method.

 

[Btmmayor]

Thank you guys so much for the help and thanks for the detailed startup info BMAC.  I’ll definitely check out the Discord link and see if I can get this dialed in.  

Edited January 11, 2024 by Btmmayor

[Btmmayor]

So I was able to set up OpenComposite so I can now run VR without Steam.  Unfortunately this has not helped the micro stutters.  I noticed when turning on the VD performance overlay that my framerate holds a solid 90 but when I get the small stutters it goes to 86 for a second then goes back to 90.  Only dropping to 86 frames makes me think its not a problem with graphic settings or cpu/gpu load but something else causing the hitch when the framerate lowers slightly.  

 

One thing I did notice in my endless setting changes is that when I set Virtual desktop framerate to 72 instead of 90 it got worse.  Does it make a difference what the desktop/monitor refresh rate is when playing in VR?  Do I need to sync them  up somehow with VPX  and Virtual Desktop involved?  Just grasping at straws at this point...lol. 

[remybakker]

Hello, I have the same problem with the latest OpenGL 10.8 64 bit RC1. Different tables have some stutter moments when an event is triggered for the first time (+/- 20fps drop). After this, I get a solid 144fps when the  same event hits. I don't use VR so the issue is not perse VR related. Help or clarification would be appreciated

 

@studlygoorite I also joined the mentioned Discourt group but couldn't find the specific topic.

[armyusde]

I have been struggling with micro stutters for a long time in VR and it did appear to be when first time events were triggering. I am running a 5800X3d and 4070ti and would still experience this issue no matter the refresh rate on the oculus quest 3. When I used the windows resource manager, I noticed something strange. At the same time that I saw the FPS dip, I saw the GPU drop down and it showed a spike in a graph both in GPU and CPU usage. I installed the MSI afterburner program to try and get some better information and all of a sudden, everything started running normally without the micro stutters. I saw a perfect 120FPS graph on the tables that usually had stutters. I tested this out again without afterburner running and the stutters came back. I turned it back on again and the stutters went away. 

 

I am wondering if there is something with MSI that is causing the CPU not to drop which in turn causes the GPU not to drop. It may just be a fluke but it definitely fixed my issue. I will test with a few other tables that had stuttering issues to make sure it is gone. If it is then I will try and add afterburner to the startup process and see if it still resolves the issue after the reboot. I really don't care if it is running in the background if the frame rate is solid. I will update this if I find any different results

 

UPDATE:

I tried darkest dungeon and it is very noticeable with MSI on vs off. Significant stuttering without MSI and none with it on and the graphs running. After setting MSI to load on boot minimized, the tables still play smooth. I tried a few more and I don't notice the stuttering like I used to. Tried a few games so far and they are all running smoothly at 120Hz. 

 

UPDATE2:

After a day of playing with about 10 tables and MSI afterburner running, I am no longer seeing the micro stutters. This doesn't make any sense to me to solve the problem but I can't deny what the results are. I will continue monitoring the results but right now it is running the best that it has been. I may even put it to the godlike setting for virtual desktop at 120hz just to see if it can handle it without any FPS dips.

 

After taking another look, I think the MSI settings were affecting the performance by boosting the specs. So it would make sense in that case. 

Edited May 22, 2025 by armyusde

[armyusde]

After changing some settings around, I noticed the biggest improvement coming from changing the horizontal and vertical tangent to 75. That cleaned up any remaining fps issues I had and tables are running extremely smooth. I will always tinker with the settings but this new addition to virtual desktop to have custom FOV adjustments may be the biggest increase to the FPS for my VR pinball