I assume not that many here got their Frame yet but here it goes:

Does anybody else experience issues with foveated streaming and rendering?

Two issues:

  • I can very clearly see the blurriness in my peripheral vision, especially on shadows and sharp corners
  • The response time is way too slow, when blinking or moving fast from left to right I can clearly see it needs a few milliseconds to catch up

Both of these surprise me considering most reviewers said that it is unnoticeable. Makes me wonder if something is wrong with my unit/setup or if my eyes are built different.

If I disable eye tracking in the settings, everything looks good. Of course, that should probably not be the correct solution?

This happens both with native titles (e.g. Half-Life Alyx on device) and streamed titles (e.g. Half-Life Alyx on Linux and Lone Echo).

I already tried playing around with the Steam Link settings (increasing resolution, bandwidth and foveated area) but it still looks just as bad. For streaming it happens both over wifi and the dongle as well.

  • NeryK@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    6 days ago

    It might be that you have very keen peripheral vision awareness. I did not notice it and was not even sure eye tracking worked until I tested it in some games supporting foveated rendering where the foveated area is configurable (MSFS 2024 PC, Dungeons of Eternity native).

    Afterwards I found out there is an handy option to visualize eye tracking. I suggest you toggle it on to see if your eye tracking is lagging behind in some way.

    1. Connect to your PC over Steam Link without a game
    2. Go to the PC Steam VR settings Steam Link Tab
    3. Enable Advanced Settings
    4. All the way to the bottom toggle “Debug Region Coloring” on

    This will show exactly where the headset thinks you’re looking, which I suppose is the relevant info for foveated streaming & rendering. On my setup, I do not perceive any latency there.

    • Domi@lemmy.secnd.meOP
      0·
      6 days ago

      Now that seems to be a useful option to look into.

      From the first quick test, the debug region does follow my vision pretty well, but it’s not what I would call “instantaneously”. For small eye movements it works but for flicking left/right it takes a tiny moment to get there.

      Is there a way to get this overlay without streaming? Would be useful to test without any network delay, just to rule one component out. I might have to pick up some standalone games with foveated rendering to do some more testing.

      For the blinking issue, it might be the VROptician comfort lenses. With the lenses installed, the debug region flicks to the bottom right for a moment after opening my eyes again. I sent them a mail asking about it.

      • Björn@swg-empire.deEnglish
        1·
        6 days ago

        One lens maker already admitted to not even testing the eye tracking and their lenses filtering out too much IR light or so. This could very well be the culprit.

        I think Blunty on YouTube reported on that. He’s on his second pair of lenses now and those seem to be much better.

        • NeryK@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          0·
          6 days ago

          Looked it up and his video title is fairly self-explanatory : Steam Frame Lenses: AMVR Failed, But VR ROCK DELIVERS!.

          I stuck with VR Optician because I was quite satisfied with the Valve Index inserts I bought from them a few years ago. Also they are based in Germany so basically a short hop away from me. And like last time, they bundled a small bag of gummy bears goldbären for whatever reason.

          They are fairly transparent on their product and gave us a choice mid-production to switch to an alternate design. Their lenses are a bit more expensive than the others though.