VectorXR v0.19.1

VectorXR 0.19.1 - Frame Generation Fixes for Varjo, SteamVR, and Slow Games

Fixes Frame Generation's Dynamic mode on Varjo headsets, a periodic stutter on SteamVR, and generated frames dropping out in slow games that hitch. The On-Screen Display now shows when debug logging or a Frame Generation diagnostic view is on. Settings carry over from 0.19.0 unchanged.

Frame Generation

• Dynamic works on Varjo headsets. After a game paused its frames, as DCS does while loading a mission, Varjo's runtime reported frame times far in the future for up to a minute. Dynamic could engage meanwhile and show old frames instead of generated ones, and stopping could freeze the game for about two seconds. Frame Generation now waits for the runtime's frame timing to recover before it engages, and the On-Screen Display and the app read Waiting for the runtime's frame timing to recover meanwhile. Stopping never holds the game for more than a moment.
• Steadier when the runtime briefly drops to half rate. Varjo's runtime holds frames to every second refresh for a few frames after a late one. Frame Generation no longer lets that push the game's frames further ahead, which added latency and repeated frames.
• No more periodic stutter on SteamVR under heavy load. When SteamVR missed a refresh, Frame Generation briefly took the game's pace to be half the refresh rate, pushed the next frame several refreshes ahead, and bunched the ones after it: a small stutter every fraction of a second, worst with a busy GPU (low flying, heavy graphics mods). It now keeps the game timed to the refresh rate.
• Slow games that hitch keep their generated frames. Each hitch made Frame Generation time the game a refresh further ahead, and it did not come back down before the next one. In a game running near 30 fps, such as Star Citizen, the game soon ran further ahead than the frames Frame Generation keeps, refreshes repeated old frames, and Dynamic eventually stood by. Hitches now add at most one refresh, and it comes back off between them.

On-Screen Display

• Diagnostic settings show in the header. An amber tag after the VectorXR name reads DEBUG LOG while debug logging is on, and TINT VIEW, FLOW VIEW, or CONFIDENCE VIEW while a Frame Generation diagnostic view colors generated frames. Left on, the tint view looks like flicker, and debug logging costs some performance. The On-Screen Display preview in the app shows the same tag.

Diagnostics

• On Varjo headsets with eye-tracked foveation, debug logs show whether the game submits the focus views' field of view as the runtime located it.

Known issues

• In helicopters, Interpolate can show artifacts around the rotors and in the sky behind them. Reports with Export Debug attached are welcome.
• On Varjo headsets with Quadviews, focus sharpening is off in DCS while Frame Generation runs (as in 0.19.0).