23 hours ago, AJZip said:

It definitely helps

Yep agree, no pressure to speak of on my cheeks now... so long as i make sure i have pulled it down at the back...

23 hours ago, AJZip said:

fancy headband

I have one form Studioform and indeed works great..very comfortable

Well, another hour spent checking my initial settings and trying one or two different ones and this is coming together very nicely indeed.

- ref the comfort, the temporary weight I have on the back (200g) and the tightening of the top strap between the top of the front unit and then clamped by the Comfort Topstrap has allowed me to have a fixed angle of the front unit and clear of my cheekbones.  I finished fiddling with that last thing last night and was surprised, putting it on again this afternoon, just how much more comfortable the complete thing feels now, right from the get-go and after wearing for some time.

- I revisited the VR Flight Sim Guy video that @Dillon linked to above and realised that I had got two settings on the PimaxXR app the wrong way round. I had the 'half frame rate' ticked and the 'prefer framerate over latency' unticked.  As VR Flight Sim Guy explains, he sets the half-frame rate in the PimaxPlay app and not duplicated in the PimaxXR app. Which made the difference, I don't know, but with this correction most of the visual juddering on tight turns is gone 🙂   And now I have pretty much the same smoothness as I was getting with the Reverb but with much enhanced clarity and colour.  As this purchase was initiated by the commercially arrogant  sound technically-led  decision by MS to disable WMR in Windows 11 (I was, and would have continued to be perfectly happy with the Reverb) I am pleased and relieved this is a sound and positive replacement. 

- Now my visuals and motion issues are sorted, I have been able to revisit the 'looking through old glass' distortion that was my immediate impression when I first tried the headset earlier in the week.  The above tweaks have much improved this.  And the lag between movement and visuals is also much improved.  However, I definitely have one slightly dodgey lens.  If I look at a static view (such as the 2D MSFS opening screen) and look side to side and up and down, the view through the right lens is completely correct in all orientations.  However, for the left lens, there is a visual wobble at the right hand side and another one at the lower half of the lens.  It's not unusable but it is noticeable and does reduce immersion.  As such, I will be raising a ticket to get a replacement for that one lens.

So yes - some issues that need fixing (the lens and the missing DMAS Earphones) but overall already very pleased with the purchase. 

 

 

Edited October 2, 20241 yr by AJZip

==> I expect now to get better FPS than those I bored you all with above.

Upscale Mode! has not been available in Pimax Play for some gpus. Now it is. I never had it before.

==> Check for Updates in PP, will say you are up to date. But that is not true unless you see the Upscale Mode option.

The only way to get the new release version of PP is here on pimax website (it will also update the firmware inside the headset when you install it, so have the headset plugged in).

https://pimax.com/pages/downloads-manuals

--

Old version PP

--------------

New version of PP (90 Hz Upscale)

---

Upscale mode explained by Pimax:

https://pimax.com/blogs/crystal-light-tutorials/set-up-upscale-mode-vr?srsltid=AfmBOopuPbBVsRiP_hkWEULMWcemTYdzRPejJgJICVPsUtLky6K6CSK8

Youtube video from a month ago praising upscale mode. The PP version for this was not available for my GPU back then with Crystal Light. Now it is, finally!

 

 

I'm pretty sure my Pimax Play has that @Fielder. I'll give it a try tomorrow 🙂

On the Pimax official Discord a lot of messages say they don't like upscaling because it reduces image clarity. It does for me too. Today was the first time I tried it. But it also adds fps. Where I was getting 37 in message above, I can get about 45 or so. I'm not sure if the trade off is worth it.

A little different request this one... has anyone tried the in built mic on the CL? I cant seem to get mine working...even though selected in the settings in windows...hmmm?

I had to revert back to earlier version of Pimax Play. Back to 1.25.01. I had been trying 1.33.01.01 which adds Upscale option. But after 10 or 15 minutes flight got CTDs always. After reverting back, no more CTD's, at all after lots of fly time.

DX 12 works better with this VR headset and also with my previous G2. In normal 2D monitor, then DX 11 is better.

Moral is : When you download a new Pimas Play version from the website, save your old version too somewhere. You may need it !

2 hours ago, vonduck said:

A little different request this one... has anyone tried the in built mic on the CL? I cant seem to get mine working...even though selected in the settings in windows...hmmm?

Yes - I tried it out last night with Pilot2ATC.  The default volume is set quite low and I had to go into the windows 11 sound settings to increase it for Pilot2ATC to pick it up, but it then worked fine - and Pilot2ATC is a very fussy program when it comes to this.

When active, the Pimax Crystal Light is clearly identified on the Windows sound settings page, as are any other mics that are available.

5 hours ago, Fielder said:

I had to revert back to earlier version of Pimax Play. Back to 1.25.01. I had been trying 1.33.01.01 which adds Upscale option. But after 10 or 15 minutes flight got CTDs always. After reverting back, no more CTD's, at all after lots of fly time.

DX 12 works better with this VR headset and also with my previous G2. In normal 2D monitor, then DX 11 is better.

Moral is : When you download a new Pimas Play version from the website, save your old version too somewhere. You may need it !

The problem is, the firmware update...😶

Edited October 3, 20241 yr by Dillon

16 hours ago, AJZip said:

I'm pretty sure my Pimax Play has that @Fielder. I'll give it a try tomorrow 🙂

No - I was wrong.  I'm still on the earlier version which, ref @Fielder's post, is probably the best at the moment.

More playing today:

- now I have the straps and back-weight balance sorted - and the headset is, while tight fitting, now pretty comfortable - I thought I'd try the thinner stock face foam pad rather than the 15mm thick one to see if it makes a tangible difference to the FOV.  The answer is yes - it does increase the FOV, albeit a relatively modest amount.  That said, with the other adjustments, this thinner pad is almost as comfortable as the thicker one so I'll stick with it for the time being.

- I had a play tweaking up the terrain and object LOD values from those suggested by VR Sim Guy and, particularly the Objects one.  Higher values do seem to make a difference to the external visuals although there is a tangible hit on performance in terms of judder, etc.

- So I left the LOD values at the higher levels (150 for terrain and 165 for objects) and tried the 'fixed foveated rendering' options in the Pimax Play app as well as dropping from the 90Hz to 75 (both with the lock at half value active).  More playing about to do, but I seem to be getting close to a decent detail/clarity and acceptable performance.  It is, that said, still not yet as smooth as my Reverb was round tight turns, etc..

- I tried DX12 - didn't suit my system and set up so went back to DX11

 

One question - I do have the controllers but don't want to use them if I don't have to: but the green boundary grid warning often returns when I've take the headset off to make an adjustment and put it back on...and sometimes when I press the Vol button on the headset it takes me to the 'reset boundary position'...and sometimes it changes the volume!!  Any tips, if I don't have the controllers on, how I call up the boundaries menu?

Oh...and that smaller button in front of the Vol button...what does that one do (other than give me a black screen)? 

The button in front of the volume button is to turn the screen on and off.

When I first got the PCL I was very happy with the image. Then I remembered to remove the film on the lenses and things got better. The film wasn't blue and I hadn't noticed it 🙂

Face foam pad. Try pulling the headset forwards and backwards and see where the image gets sharpest and best. That's the best focal distance for your eyes. There is a company selling gaskets to pull the headset back from your eyes.

These just say "Pimax" but they do fit the Crystal Light too.

https://www.studioformcreative.com/product-page/pimax-crystal-face-foam-spacer-kit

 

1 hour ago, Fielder said:

The button in front of the volume button is to turn the screen on and off.

Ahah!  OK - and it does indeed!!  Thought I'd broken it the first time I pressed it...  😀

And interesting stuff about the face foams. 

Incidentally, I'm still trying to get the definitive re the focus and yes, distance from eyes to the VR lenses is another factor.  I have some 1 metre mid-distance specs on order to see if there is any difference between those and my standard PC-display 600mm ones I am currently using.  Depending on the results, I will be ordering some prescription lenses for the Pimax. 

With my headset being close to optimised for my system now, the basic fact remains that the Crystal Light is completely unusable for me if I wear my distance prescription glasses...and yet that is still the advice that seems to be prevailing.  Good job I twigged the issue or I would have been, in the coming days (thanks Microsoft), both Reverb-less and alternative-less!

 

Edited October 3, 20241 yr by AJZip

On 10/3/2024 at 5:07 AM, vonduck said:

has anyone tried the in built mic on the CL?

A further update @vonduck   Last night I was on multiplayer, flying with my brother-in-law who lives the other side of the country.  We use Discord through our respective headsets for talking to each other.  The Crystal Light (and I'm still on the standard earphones) was clear as a bell for me listening to him and him listening to me - as good or better than the Reverb.  But remember to check and potentially increase the volumes of both mic and earphones - I increased both of mine from their defaults to around 80%.

Late afternoon, after all sorts of tests with various settings, I tried the Fixed Foveated Rendering from the Games tab in the Pimax Play app. 

I tried all three of Performance, Balanced and Quality and settled with Balanced.  And for my system, this was the final game-changer.  If anything, the visuals were sharper in my usual way of flying in a VR sim and the flights were noticeably smoother.  I finished the evening trying the superb but resource hungry JF Hawk T1; the very detailed Black Square Duke; the PMDG Boeing 737-600.  All were excellent.  Then the final icing on the cake was multi-playing with Typhoon fighter jets in familiar territory with the sun setting.  Superb.  Best VR experience yet...

So, as @Dillon says at the beginning, well worth putting in the effort to get the physical fit right and then to spend time to systematically find out what settings are right for your own particular system.  🙂

 

AJ and Dillon -you have both been legends in your feedback with the Pimax and settings etc.. it has really helped me for sure to get the best from this headset! I am sure others who dont post will feel the same! So appreciate your time and efforts here chaps! 🤩