Prepar3D VR and Pimax 5K+ or Pimax 8K (White texture flickering)

[glider1 90]

22 hours ago, Thac said:

Alright, could you just test if the near clouds and the water details (when set above off, and all reflections to off) renders correct in both eyes in VR?

I have v4.3, and I don't want to upgrade to v4.4 if these two tings are not fixed.  

Thac, typing this on the oculus virtual desktop now in VR in the F-22 default setting while flying at 700mph altitude 1000ft in rift cv1. Holding 45fps pretty well trying to keep the stick steady.

Settings for P3D 4.4 w10 i7700k5.1GHz 2080RTX:

super sampling 1.6, AA: 4MSAA, ant 16x, lod ultra, tess factor high, mesh 10m, text res 7cm, scenery complex extreme, draw distance high, veg dense normal, building dense normal, water detail medium, water reflections off, special effects med, hdr on, dynamic reflections off, dynamic lighting off, shadow quality high, draw distance ultra, shadow cast all on except veg/part/terr/NSFC, shadow receive all on, weather detailed 110mi max, vol fog off, traffic all 15% except road traffic off.

stereo mode: near clouds broken, performance stuttery, rendition generally seems off

single pass: near clouds normal, performance good, rendition good.

Slight white texturing at limit of right eye peripheral view when head panning.

Water reflections not working for any mode but water texture and shadows normal.

G-effects black out and red out effects do not fill the view at the periphery of vision.

Unsure about boat wake, particle effect performance not good.

Let me know if I can help you in any other way considering you are pioneering that amazing Pimax FOV headset for the rest of us.

Edited March 9, 2019 by glider1

[Thac 29]

On 3/9/2019 at 7:33 AM, glider1 said:

Thac, typing this on the oculus virtual desktop now in VR in the F-22 default setting while flying at 700mph altitude 1000ft in rift cv1. Holding 45fps pretty well trying to keep the stick steady.

Settings for P3D 4.4 w10 i7700k5.1GHz 2080RTX:

super sampling 1.6, AA: 4MSAA, ant 16x, lod ultra, tess factor high, mesh 10m, text res 7cm, scenery complex extreme, draw distance high, veg dense normal, building dense normal, water detail medium, water reflections off, special effects med, hdr on, dynamic reflections off, dynamic lighting off, shadow quality high, draw distance ultra, shadow cast all on except veg/part/terr/NSFC, shadow receive all on, weather detailed 110mi max, vol fog off, traffic all 15% except road traffic off.

stereo mode: near clouds broken, performance stuttery, rendition generally seems off

single pass: near clouds normal, performance good, rendition good.

Slight white texturing at limit of right eye peripheral view when head panning.

Water reflections not working for any mode but water texture and shadows normal.

G-effects black out and red out effects do not fill the view at the periphery of vision.

Unsure about boat wake, particle effect performance not good.

Let me know if I can help you in any other way considering you are pioneering that amazing Pimax FOV headset for the rest of us.

Thanks for testing this @glider1 and for the detailed setup info. Using Large FOV and no PP in PiTool, SS to 1.0 in PiTool and 80% SS in Steam VR, and Single pass in P3D I can play P3D. There are issues with the flickering textures in my right periperal vision, and the 3D image in the Pimax 5k+ is a little "cross eyed" for very near objects (ie. close cockpit instruments).

This slightly "cross eyed" effect in the Pimax 5k+ can be eliminated by using normal or small FOV in the PiTool and by checking the PP (Parallel Projection) in PiTool. But this is a tradeoff from running the game in large (170 deg) FOV and no PP. So.... I actually prefer large FOV and slightly "cross eyed" for very close objects (center ICP panel in the F-16) than normal/small FOV. Stereo rendering in P3D gives the best image, no "cross eyed", and no white (right) flickering - but then again...no clouds or water textures.

I have testet every possible setup, and I prefer to use Large FOV, no PP, and Single pass rendering. I fly the F-16 and VFR. The F-22 and Normal FOV and PP on is also a option. When playing with the FOV (Large, Normal, Small) and PP on/off the cockpit scale changes (gigger, smaller). So it depends on the plane u fly if large/normal/small PP on/off gives the best cockpit scale/size.

The Pimax 5k+ (or 8k) is "still in development", and the drivers and firmware needs to mature more. It is not as easy as the Rift/Vive...you need to tinker with the settings for each game to get it optimal. But, despite it's many small flaws, the clarity, low SDE. and massive FOV makes it all worth it. It is a really nice HMD, but way to expencive really. If you are a VR and flightsim junkie (like me) it is worth it. Let's just say that I am not using my Vive any more, and I don't fly outside of VR.

As the Pimax 5K+ is right now I will give it 3/5 stars. If the software and firmware gets better I will give in 4/5 stars. The large FOV of (170 deg) makes you forgive all the other issues with the HMD. The image is a little distorted at the edges and slightly (just when setting PP off) at the center. The image gives a little "fish bowl" effect, probably because of the large FOV.

Everything I have written above is from my experience with P3D (v4.3) and mainly the F-16

Edit: Tried a little DCS yesterday, at that looked (and performed) much better than P3D - but they don't have the F-16 (yet)...

My HW is a i9 9900k and RTX 2080 Ti

Edited March 11, 2019 by Thac

[glider1 90]

Thanks for what could be one of the first reviews of the Pimax5K in P3D and definitely one of the first to see it running at 170deg FOV with clarity and and low screen door!

What frames are you getting on the default scenario in P3D with 170 FOV (with the settings below) cruising over the suburbs at IAS=MACH0.9 and ALT=1500ft? I sit fairly smoothly at 45FPS in the Rift CV1. If you can't hit 45FPS what about a lower FOV?

Thanks again Thac. Just in case you want to upgrade to 4.4, I was using 4.3 with VR with success and then just updated the client - nothing else. The performance is at least as good as 4.3 (could be a touch smoother) and at least the VR panels can be re-positioned.

My reference settings for Rift CV1 on P3D4.4 w10 i7700k5.1GHz 2080RTX: Super sampling 1.6, AA: 4MSAA, ant 16x, lod ultra, tess factor high, mesh 10m, text res 7cm, scenery complex extreme, draw distance high, veg dense normal, building dense normal, water detail medium, water reflections off, special effects med, hdr on, dynamic reflections off, dynamic lighting off, shadow quality high, draw distance ultra, shadow cast all on except veg/part/terr/NSFC, shadow receive all on, weather detailed 110mi max, vol fog off, traffic all 15% except road traffic off.

Edited March 11, 2019 by glider1