The image freezes in the VR, tracking still works, be careful with NVidia drivers (Meta Quest)

[YoYo]

Warning: with the latest NVidia drivers - 616.56. Everything was working fine for me. Today... something went wrong. After 10-25 minutes of using the headset, even on desktop, I would experience a freeze like in the video https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/comments/1upjz5z/oculus_quest_2_freezes_on_a_single_frame_and/. The image in the game itself still had tracking as seen on the 2D screen, but it seemed to lose the image in the headset itself, the frame froze, and some artifacts appeared: https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/comments/1n42awn/vr_headset_freezes_after_around_30_mins_of/. I thought there was something wrong with my cable or something, but then I remembered that I installed these drivers today and... I found a fix; there are a lot of complaints about them:

https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/1tuf7qf/comment/osx1sut/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button,
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/support/590061/bug-concerning-pcvr-experience/,
I see there's even a topic on the DCS forum: https://forum.dcs.world/topic/391597-vr-freeze/#findComment-5807148.

This topic has been around for a while, but sometimes this bug is there, sometimes it's not (I remember having a similar problem earlier this year). Interestingly, it can occur on both WiFi and Link (as in my case). I was previously using 610.88 drivers https://www.nvidia.com/pl-pl/drivers/details/274411/ (apparently, 610.74 is best; I don't remember if I had 610.88 or 610.74 before). I restored it, and it seems to have worked perfectly. 30 minutes of flight time and no freezes.

Another solution is to change the codec to H.265 and set the bitrate to 0 (default, if you've touched it). However, after testing, I'd say I don't like H.265. It blurs solid colors too much (e.g., ground from a height), and after some time, color artifacts appear, such as a pink tint on textures. So something's not right. I'd rather stick with H.264.

[Joch]

Yes, freezing/blackouts is a known issue which will apparently be fixed in the next driver.

Whenever a new driver comes out, I always check the Nvidia Reddit thread to see if it is safe to install:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/1vyxagw/game_ready_studio_driver_61656_faqdiscussion/

Currently still on 610.88 which works fine in IL2-Korea.

Edited Friday at 12:38 PM by Joch

[YoYo]

1 hour ago, Joch said:

Currently still on 610.88 which works fine in IL2-Korea.

Yes, this version does not cause this issue for me.

[Aapje]

My advice in general would be to not rush to adopt new drivers unless there is a feature that you want (and even then it is often wise to see what people's experiences are). In most cases, you will notice zero positive differences and just run the risk of running into a bug.

[YoYo]

There are new drivers now, I wonder if this bug has been fixed. 616.64.