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Panzermk2
New Participant
November 12, 2020
Solved

White horizontal stripe across screen while using link

Headset seems to work fine stand-alone.  I use the headset with IRacing, and often (not always) get a translucent horizontal stripe across the screen after about 15 minutes or so.  It doesn't feel like the headset is overheating.  This doesn't show up on the screen mirror on PC, or if I "mirror" with the debug tool.  Is this likely a failing display or is there somewhere else I should look?

    PokebertAnswer
    Participant
    March 20, 2023

    UPDATE: POSSIBLE WORKAROUND/FIX USING REGISTRY EDITOR

    As I theorized above, this issue does NOT occur for those who use Air Link. Air Link uses HEVC and uses 1 slice for its encoding, whereas wired Link uses H.264 and 5 slices for encoding. Whenever the white bar issue occurs, it is very likely the final 5th slice experiencing an error in the encoding. If you pay close attention when this occurs, you will likely notice it only occurs in the bottom slice of the screen.

    To use this workaround, open Command Prompt and use the following:

    • reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Oculus\RemoteHeadset" /v "numSlices" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

    I will be experimenting with this for the next few weeks to make sure  I do not get the white bar issue!

    Original Post on REVISITED thread:

    I have noticed that this is related to the horizontal encoding slices that are visible only through the Link Cable. A very easy stopgap solution would be to offer a toggle in the OculusDebugTool that allows us to turn OFF these encoding slices. Additionally, the encoding slices do not appear with Air Link and thus the issue has almost never occurred wirelessly according to both personal experience and these threads.

    View in thread

    1125 replies

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    Xarxa
    New Participant
    February 17, 2022

            I'm aware we've got a bible of a thread already dedicated to those experiencing horizontal white bars taking up a major part of their display during wired link play sessions, but it seems like oculus support has all but abandoned the issue.  Since v22-24, some customers (myself included) have been frustrated by these funky aberrations and the issue does not seem to be improving over time, leaving many of us wondering if this was even going to be addressed or if it's below patching. 

            Let me be clear; this has been an open issue since November 2020 and everybody in the thread (linked below) has been pitching support tickets. I'm not seeing any substantial response from Oculus/Meta outside of messages asking us to replace our link cables. I have, however, seen several alleged reports of users having their tickets closed prematurely and without fix. Through 2 years of posting across many users experiencing this issue and MANY link cables both official and third party undergoing the same artifacting, this solution has proven itself by our community to be inconclusive. 

            I'm going to include sources detailing how the issue presents itself and provide a link to the original source thread.
    Video:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJZ9bpTfbJ4&ab_channel=%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D1%8E%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B5 (not sure why the link is so long but it's an unlisted video from a user experiencing the issue)

     

    Posts and Threads:
     https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Oculus-Quest-2-and-Quest/White-horizontal-stripe-across-screen-while-using-link/td-p/848398  (Original thread detailing this issue, 64 pages long with no fix as of writing)


    https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Oculus-Quest-2-and-Quest/White-horizontal-stripe-across-screen-while-using-link/m-p/941366/highlight/true#M49688  (A more recent experience a user has had in customer support over the issue)

     

    https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Oculus-Quest-2-and-Quest/White-horizontal-stripe-across-screen-while-using-link/m-p/848401/highlight/true#M30937 (post and image from a user having issues along the same description closer to post date)

    Outside Sources:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/mpnb2s/weird_white_bar_using_link_cable_with_quest_2_any/
    (reddit thread posted April 2021 with replies as much later as feb 14 2022 stating the issue persists)

    Hoping we can reach for solid communication between Meta Support and their users over this issue and I'm shocked there hasn't been more coverage on their end, as it seems to be sitting unattended in its height for the past year or more.   Please bump or reply if this affects you, both here and on the original thread if you can.  

     

     

      MrKillJoy2277
      Participant
      April 13, 2022

      Same issue for me too! Has anyone resolved this or found a fix ?

      Thank you

      NyaaVikki
      New Participant
      April 14, 2022

      This post made on the forum fixed the issue for me. Its a bit of pain to go through and downgrade to v24 but it works. 

      RE:White horizontal stripe across screen while using link 

       

      People have also mentioned that it could be caused by modifying the "Encoding Resolution Width" in the oculus debug tool. Setting it back to the default value of "0" fixes the issue for some, I haven't got around to testing it though.

      On v24 setting it to "0" causes a noticeable drop in resolution from having it set to the maximum of "4080"

      will test on latest update later.

      JustDave1984
      New Participant
      February 17, 2022

      Had this issue this week for the first time, 

      on the same day i updated the nvidia driver to the latest,

      Rolled back one driver and it fixed it.

       

      Truhls
      New Participant
      February 17, 2022

      I recently started having a problem like this about a week or so ago. Everything is a touch blurry-er it seems like and now in certain areas in vrchat i get a 2 or 3 low res bars across the screen. Ive tried reinstalling steamvr, oculus, beta branch or non beta on both. Older gpu drivers using ddu to uninstall. Even bought virtual desktop to give that a try and outside of VD being way different in colors it doesnt help either. Not sure what else i can try.

       

      fatal88
      Participant
      February 21, 2022

      I've bought the Quest 2 in December, and this is still an issue. But I never have this in ACC, only in DiRT Rally 2.0 (sometimes it's after a few minutes, sometimes after an hour or so). I don't want to use Air Link for simracing.

       

      I'm on the max res with 72hz, so it's not a 120hz issue. This is a joke that Oculus doesn't care about this.

      Shabbzy
      Participant
      February 21, 2022

      Im another one thats now joining the White Stripe Club....Run 90hz which takes me out the running of the 120hz being the issue. Guess ill need to start trying rollbacks on drivers,oculus software and see if anything works... so frsutrating when its worked fine for 1 year with 0 issues.

      Shabbzy
      Participant
      February 22, 2022

      Just to follow on from this post after doing some tinkering i seem to have made it go away again (Been testing for over an hour with 0 issues where as before it happened within 5/10 minutes)

       

      Not sure which of the following is what may have worked but all i have changed is:

       - Opted out of public test channel on oculus software

      - Changed refresh rate from 90hz to 80hz and then back to 90hz again

      - Fixed the Encode Resolution Width to 3664 in the debug tool.

       

      I will update again on here if it returns to rule out any of the above.

        jakubito
        New Participant
        March 4, 2022

        I'm encountering the same issue in Dirt Rally 2.0 (usually after a few minutes when finishing a race). Re-enabling link connection fixes the issue temporarily. Using the latest Oculus software version (stable channel).

         

        I tried to change different settings - rendering resolution, refresh rate, encode resolution width, encode bitrate, but nothing helps at all. It happens even with default ("Recommended") settings too. Using the official link cable. It's incredibly frustrating to see this issue still present since November 2020..

         

        My specs:

        • OMEN 30L Desktop GT13-0xxx
        • i7-10700K @ 3.80GHz
        • RTX 3080
        MetaStoreHelp
        MetaStoreHelp
        Community Manager
        March 4, 2022

        Hey there! We understand that you are experiencing an issue with your Oculus link where you are met with a translucent stripe across your screen when you're playing Dirt Rally 2.0! We know how important it is to see clearly when you're racing. Please feel free to submit a support ticket here and we will do our best to look into this issue for you. We look forward to hearing from you.   

        If you're the author of a thread, remember to mark a reply as the Accepted Solution to help others find answers!
        Ryudar
        Inspiring
        March 5, 2022

        This is NOT a DirtRally 2.0 issue, it's occuring in other Games (VRChat for example) too. Please take this issue seriously and look at all the posts in this thread.

          Pulverdings
          New Participant
          March 6, 2022

          Finally got a wheel and tried out different racing games. Also tested Dirt Rally 2.0. And yeah I'm in the white stripe club, too. Luckily for me this only affects Dirt Rally 2.0 so far. Starts after finishing the first race, remains even after closing down the game.

           

          Windows 10

          RTX3080TI - Driver 511.65

           

          Oculus Debug Tool Settings:

          Distortion Curvate: Low

          Encode Resolution Width: 3664

          Encode Bitrate (Mpbs): 400

           

          Oculus Link settings:

          Oculus PC App: 37.0.79.109 (stable)

          Refresh Rate: 90Hz

          Resolution: 4128x2096

           

          Will try to upgrade/downgrade GPU drivers to see if it changes anything.

          jakubito
          New Participant
          March 6, 2022

          I can confirm downgrading to v24 helps. This is clear evidence the bug is within Oculus desktop software itself. It's a bummer we have to resort to using such an old version and not have features like link sharpening available, but at least it's working now. Changing brightness to the minimum doesn't help. Seeing how they've ignored this issue for a long time makes me skeptical this will ever be resolved. I'm seriously considering buying a different HMD..

          Shabbzy
          Participant
          March 7, 2022

          Its strange that that was a fix for you to downgrade. As i have recently had the issue on the latest update, but fixed it by one of - opting out of public beta/changing encode res width in debug tool/changing 90hz to 80hz and back to 90hz. And now not had the issue since (And i sim race for like 3 hours at least a night) on the latest update, which suggests there is something else thats causing the issues somewhere. it 100% needs to be addressed and not palmed off by support as this is clearly a long standing problem now and a "Log a ticket" response isnt very satisfactory after 66 pages of issues on a forum.

          AlexiTQ
          Up and Coming
          March 10, 2022

          I don't know about you but I'll keep hounding them 'til the end of time.  I suggest everyone does the same. Also make sure to file new support tickets continuously. 

          kodizmdq
          New Participant
          March 7, 2022

          I agree Jakubito,  I think they will never take hands to resolve this issue, because people "on the help desk" does not talk to "developers" so...  the only chance is that a developer read this ... and this matter cares to him.... dont think that is gona happen... 

          Anyway ... maybe we can start talking about our next HMD and keep growing this thread so maybe they start to care now.  Which are ours options to buy a really bad ass and working VR headset (wireless obviously) in almost mid 2022?  

          tanubon
          Inspiring
          March 12, 2022

          PC app v38 & firmware v38 don't solve this problem.

           

          BTW, developers know this problem. But they still don't find what the factors are.

          https://twitter.com/volgaksoy/status/1498379309559390208

          AlexiTQ
          Up and Coming
          March 12, 2022

          Aware of it but not dealing with it. That's clearly how Oculus operates.

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