City Sample in VR has very poor visual quality compared to PC mode

Development Rendering
, , ,
1

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a project using the City Sample content in Unreal Engine 5.5, and I’m running into serious visual quality issues in VR mode (Oculus Pro).

When I run the game in standard PC mode, the visuals look excellent — sharp, detailed, and very close to what’s expected from the City Sample demo. However, when switching to VR mode, the quality drops dramatically:

  • Heavy aliasing (jagged edges everywhere)

  • Distant buildings and geometry flicker or shimmer constantly

  • Overall image looks blurry or unstable, even with a stationary camera

Here’s what I’ve already tried:

  • Set Pixel Density to high values (e.g. vr.PixelDensity 1.5 and higher)

  • Increased VR headset resolution (I’m using a device well above the recommended specs)

  • Set Scalability settings and material quality to Epic

  • Enabled Ray Tracing, Lumen, and Virtual Shadow Maps

  • Enabled Global Post Processing, with sharpening

  • Disabled Motion Blur, Depth of Field, and Auto Exposure

  • Tried both Forward and Deferred rendering (Forward broke most City Sample assets)

  • Verified instanced stereo rendering is on

  • Tested on a high-end PC (above City Sample hardware recommendations)

Despite all of this, the visual quality in VR remains significantly worse than in regular PC mode, and none of the common tips have resolved the issue.

Has anyone successfully run City Sample with high-quality visuals in VR?
Are there any specific engine tweaks, LOD adjustments, material overrides, or post-processing settings that work better for this scenario?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!