ChatGPT says:
Super sampling is a technique used primarily in computer graphics to improve image quality

The idea behind SS, is to render an image in higher resolution than required, and then downscale it to the resolution of the display by averaging nearby pixels. This results in better image quality. There is less aliasing, more sharpness and clarity. For instance if an image is rendered in 4K and then downscaled and presented on a 2K display, it will look almost as good as a 4K image even on a 2K display.

For instance SSAA is using super sampling for antialiasing. However SSAA is considered not optimal, it achieves best results in terms of anti-aliasing, however it also comes with significant performance costs. In modern games other anti-aliasing techniques are used for performance reasons.

Popular today is the opposite approach of upscaling, which means rendering the image in lower resolution and then upscale it to the target resolution using more or less efficient algorithms and AI. For instance DLSS and FSR are such upscaling techniques. Rendering in lower resolution means performance gains, however upscaling also means loss of quality.

Now in MSFS in VR we want to have decent performance, but at same time we also want good image quality. Terrible stutters is as much an immersion killer as blurry mess especially in such games as MSFS, where you want to see tiny text on the instruments and also have "crisp" scenery in the distance while having acceptable performance. So we have a typical conflict here performance vs quality and we are looking here how we can find a right balance.

We can of course use DLSS for improving performance, however this comes with quality loss on top of the already quite blurry image upscaled to native resolution of the headset. So it makes the image even less sharp and even more blurry then it already is.

But, we can actually do something about it!
We can use the performance benefits of efficient high quality upscaling using AI and then vastly improve quality by applying super sampling at same time. This actually results in vastly improved image quality without sacrificing too much of the performance. With super sampling we achieve much higher quality image, and with upscaling we counter the performance costs.

This is the idea and in this guide I will explain how to do that.

Lets get started.


First of all I would recommend always using the latest DLSS library. Google for "DLSS Swapper", download and install it. Use it to exchange the DLSS library that comes with the sim against the latest version of it. NVIDIA makes frequent progress on it, and you definitely want to make sure to use a newer version than what the sim comes with by default.

Note: You may need to use the swapper and upgrade the DLSS library after major sim client updates.


You will also need a tool that allows you to override target resolution using OpenXR runtime. There may be different ways to do it for different headsets, but using OpenXR Toolkit should actually work for any headset running OpenXR (most of them do, only very old ones don't have a support for it). Google for "OpenXR Toolkit". Install it and run its configurator. Make sure it is enabled for MSFS2024. I would recommend to checking which hotkeys are bound to bring up its menu in the game and perhaps consider changing its hotkeys to what you are happy with. I am using CTRL+arrow keys for example.

You can then close the config app it is not required to have it opened. What it does, it will add a layer into the VR rendering pipeline, allowing you to adjust OpenXR specific settings (like messing with resolutions, adjusting colors, contrast and much more) right in the game.

Next we start the sim and switch to DLSS Performance preset in the sims VR graphics settings.
You read it correctly, we want to use performance preset and not quality as often suggested on youtube. Yes the performance preset makes the image blurry mess, but don't worry, we will counter this with super sampling and in the end come out with much better quality compared to simply using Quality preset without super sampling. We are using performance preset mostly for the performance reasons. What it does, it will render the image at half target resolution (native resolution of your headset by default). And then upscale it to the target resolution with AI voodoo. Using performance and not quality preset allows us to benefit from the AI voodoo to much greater degree compared to using quality preset. So we gain more performance, for not so much quality loss. If you start a flight now you will notice a vast performance boost, but also a bit more blurry image. In the next step we will fix that.

Now we will bring up OpenXR toolkit menu. Go to System tab and enable "override resolution".
By default it should be at the native resolution of your headset mutliplied by certain vendor specific factor (usually 1.3 or 1.4 for avoiding distortions at the lens edges).

Here are native resolution of some popular headsets

We want to override the target resolution way beyond 100% target resolution of the headset.
Maybe start with 150% (use a calculator to determine 150% by multiplying each of the two numbers in openXR by 1.5) and increase it gradually from there until achieving desired balance between performance and quality.
Note: you will have to restart VR session every time you change OpenXR target resolution in order the changes to become effective. To do so simply disable and then reenable VR in the sim with CTRL+TAB.

Note: Remember that we are actually rendering at half of that target resolution with DLSS Performance preset. Now if you double your target resolution, you would have exactly same performance as not using DLSS at all. If you want about same performance as with Quality DLSS preset you should use super sampling factor of about 1.5 (150%). Above that expect slightly lower performance but a lot better quality.

Finally
Enjoy. I hope this guide helps you to make your VR experience in MSFS 2024 better.