BAM FP BAM OpenVR Guide (by TerryRed)

[TerryRed]

I have always had a hard time with link (Steam VR or OC). I haven't tested either recently (I can't do much in VR, as I'm still recovering from my stroke).

.. but I did a fresh Win 10 install, Oculus, SteamVR, and the latest BAM Open VR 1.5-351.

My PC is i5 9600K, RTX 3080.

Running the newest Sonic FizX using Virtual Desktop Wireless (using the settings above at 60Hz), it looks and runs fantastic.

Using Link with OC or SteamVR means you can't run at 60Hz, and there's more settings to deal with using either Oculus Rift Desktop App, or Steam VR... or both. One could affect the other poorly. So I can't give an update on either right now.

That said... you MUST have Steam VR completely closed AND the VR Server process completely closed BEFORE you start FP and load a table with Quest 2.... every time!

==================

Using Virtual Desktop Wireless... here is my BAM OpenVR install (1.5-351) with all the settings setup like I use in this guide. You cannot use Open Composite with Virtual Desktop Wireless! It gives you the error you showed us. I had Sonic FizX running really nicely with it. Keep in mind.... newer tables are going to be more demanding compared to older tables. So if something isn't setup right, or your PC isn't keeping up... then it will have the ball stutter, etc

Try a fresh reboot, install my BAM files below (backup your current BAM OpenVR first)... then make sure you patch the FuturePinball.exe for 4 GB! (you will probably get an error if you don't). Then start Virtual Desktop, with the settings I show.... be sure Steam VR and VR Server aren't running... then try running a table.

 

[Brodzowski]

Followed your instructions perfectly - loaded up and strangely the ball wasn't quiiiiite as bad as it was before but I can still see it. Again - recorded video shows nothing. The spinning sign is VERY bad - some of the dmd changes do it as well, but the exact same result. Something between the computer and what my quest is feeding my eye because I can't get it to show on video. I also have a pinevent 2.txt error at the top of the screen but it didn't stop me from playing. I know that's not related, but it was there. Thanks for any extra insight you might have. It's obviously NOT my FP installation. It's got to be something I've got set on my headset.

 

[TerryRed]

Be sure that any PinEvent 2 table is in Tables folder, and not in a sub folder. Also, be sure to install the Pinevent_V2_Settings.txt in the FuturePinball\Scripts folder.

If you still get an error for the txt file... then something on your system is restricting access to the file or restricting BAM from working correctly, etc.

One person just enabled PinEvent Custom settings in the table script, and the error went away.... but normally you should never have to do that (only 2 people out of 1000's reported that issue)

 

[Brodzowski]

Make that 3. I had the file in there and my table was in the Tables folder. - enabled that in the script and the error went away. /shrug ---- didn't do anything for my visual issue of course, but it did fix the error. I tried some other tables too and it's not just yours. The flippers do it pretty badly because of how fast they move. It's very hard to explain but almost like it's out of sync. Your dmd does is mildly too as it's flipping through the options before launching the ball. It's something to do with fast moving objects.

 

[kamicki]

Make that 3. I had the file in there and my table was in the Tables folder. - enabled that in the script and the error went away. /shrug ---- didn't do anything for my visual issue of course, but it did fix the error. I tried some other tables too and it's not just yours. The flippers do it pretty badly because of how fast they move. It's very hard to explain but almost like it's out of sync. Your dmd does is mildly too as it's flipping through the options before launching the ball. It's something to do with fast moving objects.

I have the exact same issue with Quest 2 on the most recent BAM-OpenVR. Have you found a fix for it?

 

[Brodzowski]

I did not. When the guru doesn't have an answer - then I kind of assumed I was being picky or it was me / my gear etc. Glad to hear I wasn't crazy at least, but sadly no - problem persists after all my troubleshooting.

 

[kamicki]

I have just tried unzipping all the files from the archive attached by TerryRed and it looked much better after that (still visible though). Then I thought it's a little too dark for my liking and used BAM menu to restore default light settings. And after that the issue is much much worse than before. Maybe the light settings are the culprit? I'll try to tinker with that next time.

BTW for me it looks like moving objects "stick out". It can be visible at DMD, when DMD text is moving it pops out of the DMD frame or something like that. Very immersion-breaking. If I had to guess I'd say it's an issue with sync between left and right eye-view.

 

[Gimli]

@Brodzowski

I have just tried unzipping all the files from the archive attached by TerryRed and it looked much better after that (still visible though). Then I thought it's a little too dark for my liking and used BAM menu to restore default light settings. And after that the issue is much much worse than before. Maybe the light settings are the culprit? I'll try to tinker with that next time.

BTW for me it looks like moving objects "stick out". It can be visible at DMD, when DMD text is moving it pops out of the DMD frame or something like that. Very immersion-breaking. If I had to guess I'd say it's an issue with sync between left and right eye-view.

Did you guys give the specs of your pc's, GPU's etc ?
Also in BAM menu (presss Q or `) take a screen shot.

Here are screen shots of my settings for everything except BAM menu....

 

[Brodzowski]

I'm pretty sure I mentioned what mine were, but... With a 3080. I should be fine.

 

[kamicki]

I'm pretty sure I mentioned what mine were, but... With a 3080. I should be fine.

I have only i7-7700K + GTX 1080. I eventually found that for me the issue is connected to the low performance. I switched from Air Link to Virtual Desktop and tried 90fps, Mid Quality. I looked at the performance overlay and saw that game doesn't hit 90fps. It fluctuates between 75-85. So I lowered the VD setting to 72 fps and the problem was gone (all the time using files that I unzipped from the archive attached by TerryRed). Now I switched to Low quality 90FPS and the HW keeps up and it looks okay.

 

[Spitfire]

I'm pretty sure I mentioned what mine were, but... With a 3080. I should be fine.

I also have the same issue using quest 2 and link cable and as kamicki as stated seems to be a performance issue related to low fps. I am running it on a 2080 super card and have to set my Q2 to 72hz to get sonic to keep a steady 72fps which keeps the ball nice and focused. If the fps drops the ball becomes blurry and sickening.
I also found a big performance hit running fploader in windows 8 compatibility mode so i turned that off to gain alot more performance.
I also couldn’t get Opencomposite to work keep getting following error attached so using steamVR

Is there a way to turn the preview off on the main screen and just have it show in the headset to increase performance?

 

[TerryRed]

I haven't been able to test much in VR for a long while as it's too painful to do so, as I'm still waiting for my heart surgery.

The newest BAM OpenVR "might" no longer require Win 8 to prevent crashing, but I can't confirm that.

I mostly used Virtual Desktop wireless like shown in this guide, as it gave much better results, and much less hassle. My GTX 1080 struggled to keep many newer tables running smooth, last I tested. My RTX 3080 and newer PC runs much better though.

I used the Open Composite DLL included in the first page of this guide, last I tried. You can't use it however if running virtual desktop. Link was always more of a pain to get running nicely, but I'm not sure what new updates for Quest 2 and the Oculus Desktop may have changed, or caused, etc.

FP-BAM is running much more modern dynamic lighting / rendering compared to VPVR (which is mostly just textures for lighting).. and some of my newer releases have much more detailed models, etc on them, so they are more demanding than older FP tables.

 

[Spitfire]

I haven't been able to test much in VR for a long while as it's too painful to do so, as I'm still waiting for my heart surgery.

The newest BAM OpenVR "might" no longer require Win 8 to prevent crashing, but I can't confirm that.

I mostly used Virtual Desktop wireless like shown in this guide, as it gave much better results, and much less hassle. My GTX 1080 struggled to keep many newer tables running smooth, last I tested. My RTX 3080 and newer PC runs much better though.

I used the Open Composite DLL included in the first page of this guide, last I tried. You can't use it however if running virtual desktop. Link was always more of a pain to get running nicely, but I'm not sure what new updates for Quest 2 and the Oculus Desktop may have changed, or caused, etc.

FP-BAM is running much more modern dynamic lighting / rendering compared to VPVR (which is mostly just textures for lighting).. and some of my newer releases have much more detailed models, etc on them, so they are more demanding than older FP tables.

Hi Terry,
Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear about your condition. Hope you get well soon. I can confirm that FP has only crashed once with the win 8 compatibility turned off and there is a huge performance increase with it off for me using Quest 2 and link cable. The Open Composite used in the link doesn’t work for me with FP i will try another version and report back so stuck with Steam VR. Nonissue using OC with VPXVR. So hoping to get it working too improve performance.
Also can i improve performance by somehow turning the preview on my main cabinet screen? How do i turn this off and only see table in headset? Can this be done?

 

[TerryRed]

Can't turn it off as far as I know.

You can set it to a lower resolution in FP settings. That won't affect the resolution in VR.

 

[Spitfire]

Can't turn it off as far as I know.

You can set it to a lower resolution in FP settings. That won't affect the resolution in VR.

Hey Terry,
So spent a bit of time today testing both the new Sonic and Jaws table in VR. I was able to get Open Composite to work with the Quest 2 and link cable using the latest update from Gitlab. Using it gave a little performance boost however for some reason the special effects lighting that can be seen using Steam VR are not working with OC so tables look terrible. So I have my setup on a 2080Super using steamVR on Quest 2 with link cable running these tables pretty well with smooth non blurry ball movement even with SS set to 1.2 in tray tool and AA set to 4x. Even with all features turned on such as dof pupdmd pupssf and pupstream. I can get a solid 30% headroom available and solid 72fps.
My quest 2 however is only set to 72hz at 1.0 automatic resolution any higher and start having fps drop outs which cause severe blurring and make games unplayable. Also unable to run the new ray ball shadows on jaws as these make the ball look very blurry like to or 3 balls are there which make it very sickening and unplayable. Also no need for setting fploader to windows 8 compatibility as this has a huge performance hit.
So hopefully this helps anyone trying to get there Quest 2 with link cable to run these great tables.
They now play so well straight out the box with the new FIZX flipper physics which made FP and your amazing tables unplayable in the past.
Thanks to everyone involved to make these new physics available as this is a real game changer for FP BAM and if you haven’t tried it now is definitely the time to get on board!!

 

[Spitfire]

Further update. Tried the new Star Wars table and was unable to get it to run well enough to be playable. Even after turning off all the bells and whistles. Older versions of the table ran well any ideas?

 

[TerryRed]

No... even for me it struggles on my RTX 3080.

 

[AnonTet]

Start wars: DEAD VR Edition :D

 

[Spitfire]

No... even for me it struggles on my RTX 3080.

Sad to hear this. FP makes it really hard to integrate it into your VPin setup with it being so hardware hungry. Can only run on my Q2 at 72hz Res x1 where VPX runs at 90hz max res with the same pc setup.
Love your table Terry but without FP BamVR being more hardware friendly it seems very unlikely the majority will be able to enjoy them.
Are there any plans for this to happen in the future? As a shame these table cant be enjoyed in VR as they look amazing.

 

[TerryRed]

I don't know what specifically makes that table update run poorly. I would probably have to remove many things from the original Epic Space Battles.

Most other tables run great for me in VR though.

 

[Gimli]

All pinevent 2 tables running great on my rig !!
Amazing stuff Terry

 

[Gimli]

 

[Spitfire]

Even the new starwars table? What pc specs you have and what settings you running at?

 

[Gimli]

From above post it seems you aren't happy unless FPS is 90 ?
If I recall I get 70 fps on some table...it looks like at end of Video I have it up to 56 fps in DSA...but I don't pay attention to that...I find it VERY playable with my current settings
I have a 5g Wireless network so for me...Virtual Desktop is mandatory...I find the link cable useless

See zip file below for my settings and rig info

From Video it looks like enabling "SSW" in Virtual desktop makes a big impact on FPS ?

 

[Spitfire]

Most of your video is showing 26fps which is unplayable and will make you feel sick after a few seconds with the ball jumping around and blurry. 56fps with ssw enabled will be better. I will try enabling ssw and see what happens.