DiRT Rally 2.0 DiRT 2.0: VR Update Now Live

[Paul Jeffrey]

Codemasters have released their free VR support update for DiRT Rally 2.0.

Available to download from either the DiRT Rally 2.0 Steam page or buy via the Oculus Store, a new update for DiRT Rally 2.0 is here - adding long awaited support for the inclusion of virtual reality to the game for the very first time.

When DR2.0 launched back in February, plenty of the community were up in arms about the lack of VR support for the title, which was particularly galling considering the very solid implementation Codemasters produced for the first DiRT Rally release - and now that situation has been fixed thanks to a major new, free, update for the title.

Having promised players that a post launch VR update would be brought to the DiRT 2.0 in the months after the game released, Codemasters have now come good on that promise - yesterday dropping the surprise update for players to download and use with immediate effect.

Initially expected to be exclusive to Oculus Rift, the new VR patch has a wider scope than first anticipated, adding OpenVR support to the title to allow different types of VR headset to be used within the game.

Also available in the new V1.7 update comes new liveries and the DirtFish location as a Test Drive location. To access the location select [Garage] from the My Team main menu, and then [Vehicle Options] and [Test Drive].

DirtFish is expected to be added to Freeplay in a future update. There are currently no plans to add it to Multiplayer and VR support for PS4 is not something under consideration by the studio.

DiRT 2.0 is available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC now.

Check the DiRT 2.0 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for news, mods and community discussion about this excellent rally game.

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[RCHeliguy]

This makes me wonder if running the Oculus version with ReVive would actually work better than the SteamVR version.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Huh..
So even for Vive and Valve Index it makes sense to run in oculus mode. According to this video it will make a big difference for SteamVR users.

-vrmode Oculus

Comments below suggest there is still some jerkiness, but that this is a big improvement. I guess this means that hopefully in a few weeks we will see patches to help things out.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

That just mean that param is ignored. SteamVR only HMD cannot possibly run in Oculus mode.
Have you recorded any difference?

 

[Chrhun]

There is no Oculus api in the Steam version, so it can't run in native Oculus mode with just some parameters added.

I actually purchased this game in Stream sale to wait for the VR, but at the same time there were rumors that this kind of hassle might take place and I returned the game for refund (my rig is VR only). Now that the game is out I bought the Oculus store version and it is running fine with my Rift S.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Codemasters at least acknowledges VR problems in yesterdays blog, and claims they try to fix it:

http://blog.codemasters.com/community/08/the-dirt-roadbook-august-9-2019/

"Finally, while I’m here let’s have a quick word about how you’re all experiencing VR right now. Many players are having a good time with this new way to play, which is fantastic to see. A number of users however are having a less than stellar experience (particularly on Steam), and we’re fully aware of that.

Ever since yesterday’s update we’ve been looking at the reported issues and talking internally about how to handle them. Some are simply user errors, for which we’re planning an FAQ with suggestions and workarounds, but others are things that may require bugfixing and updates. Just like the rest of the game we’re not dropping this in the wild and forgetting about it, your experience will improve as the team continues its support."

Also: https://forums.codemasters.com/topi...-dirt-rally-20/?do=findComment&comment=453379

Still, I'll believe when I see a fix. Quite many upset people in Reddit and on CM forums. So far VR is unplayable, I won't buy again just to get it working. The "-vrmode Oculus" parameter doesn't do anything for me (Rift S).

 

[RCHeliguy]

That just mean that param is ignored. SteamVR only HMD cannot possibly run in Oculus mode.
Have you recorded any difference?

I can see a HELL of a big difference!

Using the startup argument -vrmode oculus made all the difference in the world! Yes, I'm running it inside of SteamVR. I can't tell you why, but it actually works!

I'm now with Graphics set to stock High values, MSAAx8 and 4 x asotropic (sp?) filtering.
It's pretty smooth now and definitely playable and I can actually say it now looks better than DR 1.0.
This is on my Valve Index at 90 fps and 100% resolution, no super sampling.

My system won't quite push Ultra smoothly, but High settings look very good.

It's also driving my NLRv3 and SimHub very well. So motion and tactile are also working well.

Other than not being able to map the center HMD button to my button box and having to press the space bar on my keyboard at the beginning of each race, I'm actually OK with how it is performing now.

Any of you Vive, Index users give -vrmode oculus a try! Maybe it works for WMR too, I don't know.

I've actually finished a few stages now

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Hmm, it is not as bad as I thought. Need to play more with settings, SS and AA.
Using -vrmode Oculus, High preset, Crowd on low, SS 200%, CMAA, AFx16, almost stable 90fps on Odyssey+ on rainy stage.
Need to play more with settings as CMAA might not be ideal, low taxing though.

Wish mouse worked in menus.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been playing more with the settings, got filtering at 8x and 16x, High Graphics, but with shader at ultra and it's feeling pretty good I finished a historical series and started another in the Lancia Stratos. It feels a bit easier to swap ends compared to the same car in Dirt Rally 1.0. After seeing Andrew's results I bumped my SS up to 150% and it held well too.

OK this officially looks much better than I could get out of Dirt Rally 1.0 with revive.

Also for some reason my hand brake is now recognized at the start.

Overall I'm starting to get big grins!

I think it's time I dial in the motion and tactile settings a bit. They aren't bad but I think I dialed back the motion a bit too much as a starting point.

 

[frankis]

it now only opens in vr can't play on monitor

To play it in monitor go to "C:\Users\yourname\Documents\My Games\DiRT Rally 2.0\hardwaresettings", edit the "file hardware_settings_config.xml" and in the last few lines change the option "<vr enabled="true" to "false"

 

[RCHeliguy]

One weird thing is that the only truly reliable way for me to start Dirt Rally 2.0 is from the SteamVR start room in VR. I wake up one of my index hand controllers and click on the Dirt Rally 2.0 square. It brings up another window with a Launch option. That works every single time.

If I click on it from the Steam Library with my mouse it mostly starts up and then disappears.

Anyway love and kisses Codemasters, this is awesome!

 

[Deleted member 197115]

After some playtime, my findings:
1) -vrmode oculus launch option does not make any observable performance difference on WMR headset
2) Can quite comfortably run 90 fps with modified High Preset:
- Texture details - Ultra
- Crowd - Low
3) AF disabled in game, set to AFx16 in NVCP, this results in cleaner Anisotropic filtering
4) All antialiasing options in game are pretty lame, the best result (quality and performance) was disabling it in game altogether and bumping up SS, I can run at 200%, which is 2336x2916 each eye on Odyssey+.

Spec: i9-9900k, 1080Ti, both OCed.

Still AC+CSP+SOL looks tons better.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Interesting that the launch option had no impact on WMR. I didn't notice anything updating in between my sessions. I specifically looked to see if Dirt Rally 2.0 had any updates and it didn't. I was still using the same 1.6.x version of SteamVR. The results before I used that launch option were horrible.

Good to know.

For a reality check I'll remove the launch option tomorrow and change nothing else just to make sure the launch option is the real fix and something else didn't download or change behind the scenes that I didn't notice.

I agree that Dirt Rally 1 & 2 do not look as good as some of the other sims, but currently there is nothing out there that compares with the Dirt Rally time trials.

iRacing has dirt tracks and Rally Cross competitions between real players. I've just started trying out some of the dirt tracks and they are a lot of fun to drift in. I'm looking forward to racing in them.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

4) All antialiasing options in game are pretty lame, the best result (quality and performance) was disabling it in game altogether and bumping up SS, I can run at 200%, which is 2336x2916 each eye on Odyssey+.

MSAAx4 with lower SS produces more pleasing results than higher SS alone.
CMAA is the same as SS only.
Good reference graphics guide.
Hope more improvements are coming but even in the current state it's pretty good, not sure why initial feedback was so bad, could be SteamVR driver issue.

 

[Pyrofrog]

All this just goes to show that proprietary APIs suck for both the consumer and developers!

I say this as someone who learnt Glide as a developer and as a consumer bought a Voodoo 3 because I wanted to run GPL in high res even though for every other game that ran Direct3D it was an inferior card.

Much like the Oculus SDK, Glide ran and looked better than Direct3D but in the long run having one common API that is open to all manufacturers is the only way to go.

The sooner the Oculus SDK goes away and dies the better for developers and consumers.

 

[mms]

as a consumer bought a Voodoo 3

If I remember correctly that card should still be in warranty

Jokes aside, yeah proprietary stuff are not the best thing, hopefully OpenXR will take off soon, v1.0 was released recently.

 

[M D Gourley]

Thoroughly enjoying Dirt Rally 2 in Triple Screen and still thrashing the superb looking Wales

 

[Pyrofrog]

If I remember correctly that card should still be in warranty

Jokes aside, yeah proprietary stuff are not the best thing, hopefully OpenXR will take off soon, v1.0 was released recently.

Well I did find the card last time I moved... if only there was an AGP port somewhere to test it out in?

Yes hopefully OpenXR will save us from this sort of balls up in the future!
The fact that it supposedly connects to each native platform should sort out the performance issues of using OpenVR with a rift. Help us OpenXR you're our only hope *skip* Help us OpenXR you're our only hope *skip*

 

[FernandoAFM]

I have also tried Dirt Rally 2.o in VR on Steam with and without Steam VR. .

How do you play without Steam VR?

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Phew, guess I nailed perfect settings for my system.
The trick is not to use in game AA in any form, MSAA or CMAA, CMAA doesn't do anything, MSAA just blurries everything out.
What works the best visually and performs well is combination of high res textures and high SuperSampling:
- AA - OFF
- AF - OFF (AFx16 in Nvidia driver)
- Texture details - Ultra
- Track details - Ultra
- Objects - Ultra
- Trees - Ultra

Set Crowd to Low and disable Advanced Blending.

With that I can run 200% SS at very stable 90 fps and it looks nice and sharp.

 

[Greg Latty]

Phew, guess I nailed perfect settings for my system.
The trick is not to use in game AA in any form, MSAA or CMAA, CMAA doesn't do anything, MSAA just blurries everything out.
What works the best visually and performs well is combination of high res textures and high SuperSampling:
- AA - OFF
- AF - OFF (AFx16 in Nvidia driver)
- Texture details - Ultra
- Track details - Ultra
- Objects - Ultra
- Trees - Ultra

Set Crowd to Low and disable Advanced Blending.

With that I can run 200% SS at very stable 90 fps and it looks nice and sharp.

whats your rig set up. I have a 2080ti and a 9700k and i cant get a stable 90 with those settings. Maybe its my samsung O+ causing the issue? even with settings turned down a bit i can get 90 but its very jittery. And it would be at 90 then spike down to 77 or some lower number