I received my Pimax Crystal Light today, but cannot get it working in MSFS. I‘m totally confused with which software I need to install to get it going in MSFS. Do I still need to install OpenXR toolkit and PimaxXR runtime with the newest version of Pimax Play? What about Pimax Switcher? Sorry if these are stupid questions, but it is really confusing for me. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

1 hour ago, carlito777 said:

I received my Pimax Crystal Light today, but cannot get it working in MSFS. I‘m totally confused with which software I need to install to get it going in MSFS. Do I still need to install OpenXR toolkit and PimaxXR runtime with the newest version of Pimax Play? What about Pimax Switcher? Sorry if these are stupid questions, but it is really confusing for me. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi

I'm sure that if I've forgotten something important, the clever folks round here will chip in, but I think that the two essentials are the PimaxXR Runtime app (created by the same guy as the OpenXR Toolkit) and the Pimax Play App. 

You then open the PimaxXR Runtime and choose PimaxXR as your runtime (rather than SteamVR) and then also choose PimaxXR runtime in the Pimax Play app. 

For getting a decent start off point for the actual settings, this video, as recommended by @Dillon, is pretty good to help get the right initial settings in the two programs.  A key hint is, as described in the video, to let the Crystal Light do the resolution bit and not other programs and settings - so either disable the OpenXR Toolkit if you have any resolution adjustments in there or set them back to 100% / base levels.  I presently have the OpenXR Toolkit disabled.  Here's the video that Dillon recommended and I would too:

  

Thanks! That is really helpful. I'm currently struggling a bit with sharpness. The pictures appears blurry except for right in the middle. A bit underwhelming, I have to admit. But I will give it some time over the weekend to try to figure out how to improve things.

2 hours ago, carlito777 said:

Thanks! That is really helpful. I'm currently struggling a bit with sharpness. The pictures appears blurry except for right in the middle. A bit underwhelming, I have to admit. But I will give it some time over the weekend to try to figure out how to improve things.

Go through this thread.  I offered allot of tips in getting my headset dialed in:

 

Hello @carlito777

If you encounter any issues during setup or gameplay, feel free to mention me.  

I’m also monitoring a few flight forums and will do my best to provide further assistance.

20 hours ago, carlito777 said:

Thanks! That is really helpful. I'm currently struggling a bit with sharpness. The pictures appears blurry except for right in the middle. A bit underwhelming, I have to admit. But I will give it some time over the weekend to try to figure out how to improve things.

Yes - @Dillon 's detailed run-through is well worth reading.  

The view should be, and is capable of being, 'crystal' clear.  It's certainly the best I've experienced to date (previous headsets: HP Reverb G2; 'modified' Pico 4).  The clarity I get in the cockpit with the Crystal Light is as sharp as the HP Reverb's 'sweet spot' ...but pretty much everywhere.

 

There seem to be two or three common reasons I'm seeing on the forums (and found, at first, myself) that can cause poor visuals:

• The most common seems to be folks who are coming from other VR headsets and already have 'resolution enhancement/super sampling' settings still turned on or tweaked in nVidia settings/Open XR Tools/OpenXR Toolkit/ etc - which were essential for their previous headsets.  But you need to turn all such tweaks back to default and let the Crystal Light do the work, otherwise you are trying to increase the resolution of something that already has that high resolution built in.  
•  The sit of the headset on your head.  Again, @Dillon has some excellent advice on this.  The key advice of Dillon's that has transformed my own experience is, ' the top strap should be lowered so that the back pad fits where your skull meets your neck.'
• Glasses wearers.  If you wear glasses, be aware that the virtual image distance for the Crystal Light is 1 metre (3' 4") and so it is likely that you need to be using intermediate distance glasses for your prescription.  This is different to most popular VR headsets which usually need a far distance prescription.   My post here explains more: https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/650988-crystal-light-virtual-image-distance-is-1-metre-3-4/

Hope this helps.  Let us know how you get on.

Edited October 18, 20241 yr by AJZip

Great advice, guys. Thank you. Will test over the weekend and report back. First impression was kind of underwhelming, but I have to give it more time. 

Ok. I tried a couple of things and now things are getting better. I‘m running only Pimax Play and everything it going well. Performance on my low end machine is descent. Two problems left. First, I don‘t get sound over the headset anymore. Don‘t know why. Headset is selected as output device and volume is at 100%. Still no sound. And second, the lenses seem to be blurry to the edges. But I have to experiment more on that. Getting there…

Edited October 21, 20241 yr by carlito777

1 hour ago, carlito777 said:

First, I don‘t get sound over the headset anymore. Don‘t know why. Headset is selected as output device and volume is at 100%. Still no sound.

You may have already covered this, but remember that there are sound settings both in Pimax Play and in Windows (plus there are sound settings, of course, in MSFS too!). 

I had the same thing as I was starting to experiment with settings, etc..  I eventually realised that, for reasons only known to itself, Windows / Settings / Sound had switched itself back to main audio output and not Pimax.  And also realised that, while Windows had a decent volume setting, the Pimax Play setting was only around 50%

I checked all these things, but still no sound in MSFS if I only use Pimax Play. However, if I play other VR games in Steam VR, then I have sound. Strange.

@Calvin-Pimax: Do you have a suggestion what could be wrong on my end?

The sounds settings are set to Pimax?
https://imgur.com/a/C7FxjIY

 

On 10/24/2024 at 10:33 AM, Calvin-Pimax said:

The sounds settings are set to Pimax?

Yes. But still no sound. In Steam VR I do have sound. But not if I just use Pimax Play.

I finally managed to get the sound to work by reinstalling the AMD display driver. I'm starting to like the Pimax. The main challenge is really to get it to fit right. If it is not properly placed on the head, then the image is not great. But if it is, then it is a blast. Even though I have to use upscaling and fixed foveated rendering because of my mediocre system. My only problem left is, that the face foam is too small. I have too many gaps between the headset and my cheeks. I have ordered the 15mm face foam from Pimax. Let's see if that improves the fit.

1 hour ago, carlito777 said:

I finally managed to get the sound to work by reinstalling the AMD display driver. I'm starting to like the Pimax. The main challenge is really to get it to fit right. If it is not properly placed on the head, then the image is not great. But if it is, then it is a blast. Even though I have to use upscaling and fixed foveated rendering because of my mediocre system. My only problem left is, that the face foam is too small. I have too many gaps between the headset and my cheeks. I have ordered the 15mm face foam from Pimax. Let's see if that improves the fit.

I'll post again:

1. Before you put the headset on, loosen the top strap Velcro.  Don't undo it just make sure it's loose

2. Loosen the screw on the back of the headset until you can fit the headset comfortably over your head when you put it on

3. The back padding should be lowered so that the back lower pad fits where your skull meets your neck

4. Tighten the back screw

5.  Now you can adjust the top strap (you shouldn't need to touch this again unless you let someone else wear the headset)

When you take the headset on and off all you need to do is screw/unscrew the back dial to get the headset on and off your head without breaking it.

Hope this helps...🙂

 

Edited October 30, 20241 yr by Dillon

7 hours ago, Dillon said:

3. The back padding should be lowered so that the back lower pad fits where your skull meets your neck

This was the key advice I already took from one of your previous posts. Without it, I would have returned the headset already. Now I just have to get a better face foam.