VR experiences IL-2 Korea

[Koziolek]

4 hours ago, Joch said:

So VR experience for me so far is pretty good, about on par with DCS.

1st thing was setting the SteamVR resolution to 70%

I agree, when it cames to performance Korea on 70% is about on par with DCS on 100% 🤣

Edited August 7 by Koziolek

[YoYo]

I tried a career and well... 😞

 

[Joch]

2 hours ago, Koziolek said:

I agree, when it cames to performance Korea on 70% is about on par with DCS on 100% 🤣

Do you even reread what you wrote? You are saying that Korea performs 143% better than DCS. 😂

Sheesh, the maturity level around here is depressing ….

[Joch]

5 hours ago, YoYo said:

What you're suggesting here is unacceptable to most of us. Of course, you can always fly at 1600 pixels even and it will be fine, but those were the standards about six years ago, when Reverb was released. Reducing the settings to such low settings and enabling DLSS, which further downscales the image, is unacceptable, at least for me. 

In my experience, most gamers overestimate what their system can achieve. They crank up settings way too high, turn their game into a slide show and then rail against the Devs for not “optimizing” the game. I see that behaviour way too often on flight sim forums.

A more realistic approach is to balance your settings based on the current status of the game and your hardware and have playable settings that allow you to enjoy the game. When the game is updated or you upgrade your system, you can always revisit your settings.

I prefer my approach, but you can play the game as you wish.

[Papa]

5 hours ago, YoYo said:

What you're suggesting here is unacceptable to most of us. Of course, you can always fly at 1600 pixels even and it will be fine, but those were the standards about six years ago, when Reverb was released. Reducing the settings to such low settings and enabling DLSS, which further downscales the image, is unacceptable, at least for me. Today, most people fly at resolutions of 3000 pixels and higher. I'm not talking about 8K HMDs, because that doesn't work well in many cases for sure.

I also disagree that the IL-2 Korea performs better than the DCS. What you wrote is not true, that a newer engine = better performance. It doesn't work that way, and there are many other factors involved. In the case of Korea, it turns out that the bottleneck is the code that goes to the CPU. Have you flown, as I understand it, a campaign, a ground attack mission against long convoys, or flown over Seoul or a mission with multiple AI? Check there.

There's a significant performance gap between DCS and Korea, favoring DCS. With the same settings, Korea generates about 1/5-1/4 FPS less, and over cities, it's even half of what I get in DCS, and DCS sometimes has cities several times larger. Needless to say, it's difficult to compare Paris '45 to Seoul '50, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunately, it's not as rosy as you're describing. Run your goggles in DCS with 2500pxt and in Korea, without any DLSS, enable MSAAx2 and I guarantee you that you will have PowerPoint presentations.

It's always worth testing all the options and then reporting back with feedback, but of course, if everything works fine for you and everything works as you'd like, then congratulations.

There are real performance issues, but I think we also need to have a reality check: hardware to run these games on top end VR headsets without DLSS just doesn't exist. I think DLSS works really well in Korea, and people who struggle with performance should give it as shot. blur and ghosting is basically imperceptible for me (on quality), and you get perfect AA for free as well. Expecting to run full res raw with MSAA is a bit much. CPU bottleneck is another issue...

[YoYo]

46 minutes ago, Joch said:

In my experience, most gamers overestimate what their system can achieve. They crank up settings way too high, turn their game into a slide show and then rail against the Devs for not “optimizing” the game. I see that behaviour way too often on flight sim forums.

Nobody here is using Ultra/High settings and MSAAx4 and I don't think anyone here fell on their head. It's clear you either haven't tested Korea in its entirety or you don't fully understand how to verify it. You say you're using DLSS Quality, meaning you have a 1438×1438 pxt image with Upscalling. Don't you see the paradox in what you've written? DLSS, despite the artifacts it causes and which are unacceptable in online battles, is an option in every simulator, especially for relatively weak GPUs or.. HMD with very high resolutions, in the order of 8K. It's also clear that you haven't tested Korea in complex locations and are either relying on quick judgment or don't know how to test. If you think that Korea works like DCS, then either your DCS is set up very very badly, or you are unable to draw the correct conclusions. The simulator can also maintain a high frame rate, but it also has a problem with CPU bottleneck, so even DLSS performance won't help you in such situations. Expectations and tastes vary and are generally not discussed, but honestly, no one here is saying they want a Ferrari. Of course, I wish you good flying.

30 minutes ago, Papa said:

I think DLSS works really well in Korea

That's right, in combination with DLAA, although this whole system is flawed in quality and the lack of shimmering is quite good.

Edited August 7 by YoYo

[Papa]

well, I guess I just need to upgrade my CPU to not be CPU bound in situations like @YoYo describes, and I'm good for performance.

[=ILS=_Abu_27]

说了多少回了怎么设置了，完全可以达到bos时期的游戏体验，不知道有些人为什么就是固执的纠结vr不能按所谓的高标准运行。什么城市，什么战役，去服务器打一打，现在就可以做到流畅 清晰 顺利的战斗了，这在目前就足够了，剩下的单人体验什么的，可以给开发者一点时间，不知道那几个抱怨的人在没完没了的纠结什么，各个帖子里面在抱怨。 vr玩游戏从来搜是需要你要用经验和脑子来调试，取舍，最后找到适合自己的设置，你说朝鲜是那种无论如何都无法使用vr玩的游戏吗？显然不是，闭嘴，安心去调试你的游戏，去享受它，而不要在这里不断误导新人了。

How many times have I said it? With the right settings, you can absolutely get BOS‑era gaming experience. I don’t know why some people are so stubbornly fixated on VR not running according to so‑called high standards. What cities, what battles — hop onto a server and play. Right now you can already get smooth, clear, seamless combat. That’s more than enough for the present. As for the rest of the single‑player experience, give the developers some time. I don’t get what those few complainers keep obsessing over, posting gripes in every thread. Playing games in VR has always required you to use your experience and brains to tweak settings, make trade‑offs, and finally find what works for you. Is Korea a game that simply cannot be played in VR no matter what? Obviously not. Shut up, sit down and tweak your game, enjoy it, and stop misleading new players over and over here.

[Charger]

Ok I'm up and away. I've been using settings recommended here.

 

You can clearly see the glorious potential of this new flight Sim. Pimax play resolution at .85 in a super ultrawide has this game looking sharp. 

 

I've got to squeeze another 15fps to get a stable 72hz, and I've got stuttering in places though it's not terrible.

[Redeye]

It is also about expectations. Personally I do not play MP and am quit content with 40 to 45 fps. I have no stuttering and no issues above cities or airports. FPS will drop of course (to about 35 FPS) but gameplay remains smooth. My PC is getting dated CPU wise (I7 9900K) but my 4070 Ti super works great. With the ridiculous RAM prices there is no update for the foreseeable future. Maybe after the AI bubble bursts. I fly strictly VR but use a Quest3 because a Pimax would be like putting a 2CV engine in a Ferrari. Looks good doesn’t work!

The only issue I have is that there is something off with the stereo image. It is not as sharpe as in GB with the exact same settings for the Quest3. There is something blurred about it without it being blurred. Yeah not making much sense I know. But it is the best way I know how to describe it. 
 

Oh forgot to mention that I have almost everything on high with the exception of shadows (medium), SSAO off, that lighting thing off and not using DLSS but only DLAA. The image with DLSS is simply unacceptable blurry for me. Can’t read the lettering in the cockpit. Which surprised me because in DCS I do use DLSS and the cockpit there is crisp.
 

Short version, I am having a blast with Korea!

Edited August 8 by Redeye

[YoYo]

6 minutes ago, Redeye said:

Oh forgot to mention that I have almost everything on high with the exception of shadows (medium), SSAO off, that lighting thing off and not using DLSS but only DLAA. The image with DLSS is simply unacceptable blurry for me. Can’t read the lettering in the cockpit. Which surprised me because in DCS I do use DLSS and the cockpit there is crisp.

Try MSAA then x2. DLAA without DLSS puts even more load on the system than MSAA, and you can still get a pretty good image. 

[Redeye]

When I select DLSS the options for selecting antialiasing is greyed out. Or is this not what you mean?

[YoYo]

47 minutes ago, Redeye said:

When I select DLSS the options for selecting antialiasing is greyed out. Or is this not what you mean?

This is normal; DLAA is automatically enabled if you select DLSS, which is why the box is grayed out because you won't be able to change it. Otherwise the image would be very bad, because DLSS displays the image in a completely different resolution (depending on the preset) and then scales it higher. The solution then is DLAA. DLAA alone without DLSS puts a lot of strain on the system, although the image is really good in terms of AA.

However, I agree, DLSS is also a poor solution for me due to certain artifacts and image sharpness. This is just a workaround. Some people like it and it doesn't bother them.

Edited August 8 by YoYo

[Redeye]

Well that is the joy of VR! Always trying to find the (for you) optimum. On your advice I checked out 2x MSAA in combination with VectorXR depth settings and possibly I found my golden settings. More experiments are in order off course. Probably every time there is an update. 😀

[Joch]

12 hours ago, YoYo said:

Nobody here is using Ultra/High settings and MSAAx4 and I don't think anyone here fell on their head. It's clear you either haven't tested Korea in its entirety or you don't fully understand how to verify it. 

My, what a high opinion you have of yourself. 😂 

I have been using VR and computer gaming long enough to know how to tweak my system for best performance. The formula is simple “More Pixels = Less FPS”. Conversely, if you want to increase FPS, you have to lower the amount of pixels produced by the game and all the tricks that are used: lowering resolution, DLSS, etc. are aimed at that. The trick is to find the balance you are comfortable with.

When I first read the initial comments about poor VR performance, I was worried, but as usual it turns all the doom predictions were overblown. It is actually quite easy to tweak your settings to get perfectly acceptable FPS in Korea.
 

 

[Papa]

3 hours ago, Redeye said:

It is also about expectations. Personally I do not play MP and am quit content with 40 to 45 fps. I have no stuttering and no issues above cities or airports. FPS will drop of course (to about 35 FPS) but gameplay remains smooth. My PC is getting dated CPU wise (I7 9900K) but my 4070 Ti super works great. With the ridiculous RAM prices there is no update for the foreseeable future. Maybe after the AI bubble bursts. I fly strictly VR but use a Quest3 because a Pimax would be like putting a 2CV engine in a Ferrari. Looks good doesn’t work!

The only issue I have is that there is something off with the stereo image. It is not as sharpe as in GB with the exact same settings for the Quest3. There is something blurred about it without it being blurred. Yeah not making much sense I know. But it is the best way I know how to describe it. 
 

Oh forgot to mention that I have almost everything on high with the exception of shadows (medium), SSAO off, that lighting thing off and not using DLSS but only DLAA. The image with DLSS is simply unacceptable blurry for me. Can’t read the lettering in the cockpit. Which surprised me because in DCS I do use DLSS and the cockpit there is crisp.
 

Short version, I am having a blast with Korea!

weird, for me DLSS work better in Korea than in DCS when it comes to distant objects, but cockpit is perfect in both. 

[von_Tom]

On 8/7/2026 at 1:13 AM, Varibraun said:

How is the DA treating you in Korea? 

I like it.  I have a good system (9950X3D/64gb 6400 RAM/5090 - EVO with SBoys3 driver) etc but I'm still running balanced preset with some compromises with PP at 0.75 and .6 sharpening.  Complex mirrors has helped me avoid a few Migs so far so I'm keeping that on...  I'm using basic aa but I may tweak that.

Multiplayer - with heavy cloud I'm around 55fps on the runway climbing to 90 higher up.  The best thing is likely that the frame timining is fast so even at 55 it seems smoother than 55 did in my Index.

I like it a lot.  I do wish the FOV was bigger but that's more of an age thing and mobility not being what it used to be.  That and knowing that you're competing with owl necks.

von Tom

Edited August 8 by von_Tom

[TCW_Brzi_Joe]

1 hour ago, Joch said:

When I first read the initial comments about poor VR performance, I was worried, but as usual it turns all the doom predictions were overblown. It is actually quite easy to tweak your settings to get perfectly acceptable FPS in Korea.
 

I like this game, really like. I know it looks georgious with enough real pixels rendered in vr, but this game is still not in state to give enough real pixels. It is not optimised enought for combat sim. Unfortunately VR performance is poor, and this is bitter truth.

However, I am optimist, and I believe developer will do much more for vr, same as with GB in past.

[timothy55]

Just finished my first flights in VR IL2 Korea , La11 , yak 9P , mig15 bis , yes bit of a jump forward , particularly liked firstly the hanger , although not VR own flight organisation in the air- something I have really missed since IL2 COD , the pilot getting out of the aircraft- prop and jet is very well done , liked the red ladders , actually got a Mustang while flying a Yak , first fighter kill in this sim , experience was pleasurable but should come more into its own when the content of the sim fills out a bit. Otherwise happy with the product up until now.

[lefuneste]

After multiple tests, my best compromise is the "high 33 PPD" setting in Varjo Base. This results in a relatively low resolution of or_width = 2736 / or_height = 2344, but it's the least bad solution for getting mostly 90 FPS and, at worst, 80 FPS on Mission 3 of the "Home by Christmas" campaign. In the parking area, the lowest FPS occurs when looking to the left.
These settings are well below what I use in DCS and IL-2 GB.
Using upscaling at this resolution only results in image degradation without any FPS gains, since I'm already at 90 FPS. As soon as I try to use upscaling at a higher resolution, I drop below 90 FPS, while the image quality is degraded even further.
Any form of AA impacts FPS, so I run without it. I have only enabled "blurring" for the landscape to reduce shimmering.
It's still playable and the image quality is decent, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future optimizations will make it possible to achieve the same performance as IL-2 GB or even DCS, allowing me to use AA and/or increase the resolution.
Of course, there are also slowdowns in cities or when there are too many AI objects, but I think those are somewhat different issues.
My settings :

[Charger]

I've got the shits with the game not saving in Open XR mode and also keeping the upscaling option greyed out.

 

 

Edited August 9 by Charger

[GiftGruen]

On 8/8/2026 at 5:33 AM, =ILS=_Abu_27 said:

Shut up, sit down and tweak your game, enjoy it, and stop misleading new players over and over here.

Well - ‚Shut up‘ is not an adequate answer to people who tweak settings, share their experiences and debate approaches to get a fluid gameplay.

This is a forum. Not a cheering and applauding community. It is completly valid to state that VR performance of Korea could use some optimization - this does not mean that the guys that critizise dont like the game.

In contrary: valid critics help the Devs to make the game better.

There are a lot of people with years of VR experience in this forum, they share their opinions and settings and for sure will not ‚shut up‘ because you dont like it.

[YoYo]

2 hours ago, lefuneste said:

After multiple tests, my best compromise is the "high 33 PPD" setting in Varjo Base....

Try my track from this example if you have the time, I'm curious how it will turn out.. The biggest problems start when there are too many objects and AI. It's not even entirely a matter of graphics settings. I have a fairly similar resolution set. It's just that stable frames are basically unattainable no matter what you do on the airfield. There is a lot of work to be done here, but there is also another problem: so far, not much has happened to make it significantly better in VR . I hope it's a matter of time and not a lack of ideas. Although, so far, the issue of the menu moving with the user's head hasn't even been resolved from the start of EA as if the issues of improving VR performance and other things were left in the background (although the issues with the iPD were fixed, not completely, but there were some changes 👍). 

 

Edited August 9 by YoYo

[C6_Zorkaiev]

To share my experience:

With my setup (5800X3D CPU + AMD 9070 XT GPU, Pimax Crystal Light VR headset) and after numerous tests and optimization attempts, I’ve achieved very decent quality results by using:

- Pimax EVO instead of Pimax Play, which allows me to use the crop function (horizontal only); this reduces the number of pixels to process while increasing the render quality from 73% to 80%.

I reduced the vertical FOV by 18%. This gives me a resolution of 3176 x 2944 (without cropping and at 73%; previously, I was at 3148 x 3724).

- FSR in "Balanced" mode: essential—it provides a gain of 10–15 FPS while maintaining perfectly acceptable quality. This seems to apply only to AMD cards; with FSR in "Quality" mode, the performance gain is much smaller, yet the difference in visual quality isn't particularly noticeable.

- Limiting other settings (no shadows, no ray tracing, no HDR, etc.).

Even with heavy cloud cover, I manage to run at over 60–65 FPS—hitting 72 FPS in most cases (which is the refresh rate I’ve set for my headset).

With *IL-2 Great Battles*, I was able to set render quality to 100% by using the OpenXR Toolkit crop functions. However, contacts seem more visible in *Korea* despite the difference in rendering. Consequently, FSR and its anti-aliasing don't seem to have a significant negative impact on visibility.

 

Edited August 9 by C6_Zorkaiev

[Voxman]

2 hours ago, lefuneste said:

After multiple tests, my best compromise is the "high 33 PPD" setting in Varjo Base. This results in a relatively low resolution of or_width = 2736 / or_height = 2344, but it's the least bad solution for getting mostly 90 FPS and, at worst, 80 FPS on Mission 3 of the "Home by Christmas" campaign. In the parking area, the lowest FPS occurs when looking to the left.
These settings are well below what I use in DCS and IL-2 GB.
Using upscaling at this resolution only results in image degradation without any FPS gains, since I'm already at 90 FPS. As soon as I try to use upscaling at a higher resolution, I drop below 90 FPS, while the image quality is degraded even further.
Any form of AA impacts FPS, so I run without it. I have only enabled "blurring" for the landscape to reduce shimmering.
It's still playable and the image quality is decent, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future optimizations will make it possible to achieve the same performance as IL-2 GB or even DCS, allowing me to use AA and/or increase the resolution.
Of course, there are also slowdowns in cities or when there are too many AI objects, but I think those are somewhat different issues.
My settings :

I'm a Varjo Aero user as well.  What are your computer specs?  I'm getting around 72FPS with my settings, and curious to try your settings.