The next update to DCS World should bring a “50% increase in VR performance”. That’s according to Eagle Dynamics Senior Producer Matt Wagner on the company’s forums.
DCS (Digital Combat Simulator) World is a combat flight simulation game. You pilot a range of military aircraft in training and combat simulations. The base game is free-to-play and includes two aircraft — a modern ground attack jet and a World War 2 era trainer. Other aircraft are purchased as DLC. DCS is highly realistic, aiming to accurately simulate every detail of the cockpit of the aircraft it offers.
DCS first added VR support back in 2015, supporting the Oculus Developer Kit 2. When the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive launched in 2016 it had support for both. But due to the scale and detail of the simulation, it heavily taxes both CPU and GPU — especially in VR.
The full statement made by Wagner reads:
Earlier we mentioned that we have been working on DCS VR optimization. I have good news today! After much investigation and work, we traced the issue back to the terrain engine. We have since adjusted the terrain engine, and this has resulted in a 50% increase in VR performance! We will continue to test and optimize this further, but we hope to have this great improvement to you soon.
It’s not certain whether this performance improvement will also benefit non-VR players. The improvements should be a big help to some folks who tried the game in VR but didn’t see good enough performance to make it playable.
