Another great video! Thank you for your efforts. I had the crystal for awhile and returned it. Main reasons... too many glitches, too often. I wasted alot of time trouble shooting glitches. It is impressive when everything is working. However, the communication I had with Pimax to resolve issues was not good. I cannot imagine the "average" person dealing with their customer service. They do not pick up the phone or return phone calls. I tried at least 5 times. All communication was through emails and it would takes days if not weeks to get responses. That left me thinking if this thing fails down the road... good luck getting it fixed and/or covered by any warranty they may offer. I didn't want to be left with a $1,600 brick. The cable connection to the headset was very glitchy for me too as you mentioned. I will wait till VR gets further developed. The software worked for me ok, so no issues there. For ref I have amd 7800x3d & rtx 4900.
Hello Bud. Thanks for another top notch video👍 NOW: EITHER I am extremely lucky, OR the ones that have commented here are the ones that have had problems with their headset or the software. So this has to be said, just for counter balance : I have never had ANY problems with my headset in any way, shape or form. Ofc, the new 72hz mode did absolutely no good for anyone I guess, and the reasoning behind their choice is a bit weird to say the least, but other than that my experience has been utter smooth sailing. And hence I am extremely happy with it, I guess that goes without saying 🙂 As for the 90 vs 120hz mode, I haven't noticed any change in FPS either. But don't ask me WHY that happens. Hehe Take care! Love from Norway ♥♥♥♥♥
Thank you very much for your experience. That's the way it should be in that it just works 💪. Other than the 2 things i talked about its been pretty good I love the clarity and the colors in it. Also the vertical fov is so much better than varjo.
Great tip on using the weather gasket material. Thank you ! Getting ready to order corrective lens inserts and they recommend a 15mm gasket that is out of stock in Pimax store.
Hey thanks for the comment .. you can also check out studioform I went over to their kit and is very comfortable and you can use shims to space out the gasket which works so well. I will be showing that in an upcoming video that I'll be doing on the Crystal Light versus the crystal original
love it thx !! I was going to send CRYSTAL back because soo many problems and settings ... no idea what is what... what to enable, disable adjust.. Nasa VR :D but now you explained it all, blooming fixxed, my double FOV rendering fixxed. You are Legend!! you saved me so much time & Tshooting pain !! Thank you for doing the hard work for us. This should be pre-set inside PIMAX tool !! totally different experience now with Crystal
I got the little tv box artifacts playing half-life Alyx with my crystal the other day. Reset everything and they went away. I hope it doesn't become an issue! Thats the only issue I have had. Even the software has performed better than quest and vive for me. I think it's a game changer and I am excited to trade it in. A manager from Pimax told me the 12k should be available in about a year.
I haven't had the TV box issues any longer idk what happened lol. Everything else has been good. We need the 50 series cards to get released just to be able to use the 12k I assume lol so it's good they are waiting. I can't wait for the 50 series cards I could run my crystal at full resolution and that will be a game changer for me ... for sure.
Yes im excited for the 5090! my 4090 is definitely pushed with VR. I can't complain it mostly maxes everything out with a 7950x3d cpu. 5090 and a 12k is something to definitely forward to. @@2020fsers
Amazing and complete review. It looks like we're in front of a Beta stage product. I think that the VR industry is still green. Big screen beyond looks and feels better to me. I'm sure that we will watch the PIMAX CRYSTAL videos and laugh loud in the future. Looks and feels ridiculous. But.. BUT, still a great headset (when it works and you forget the design/weight). I'm waiting for a Meta/oculus approach headset (it works and it works) but with the resolution and lens of the Pimax headset. Maybe next year.
Hey thanks for your comment. Yes I agree the vr space is still green . I feel there was a pause on vr for a while . Im glad to see new people in the space it makes for a competitive atmosphere and pushes all vendors to do more and be better so i think the more people come in the better they will get and faster.
Great settings tips. I followed your tip on the weather stripping DIY and really helped a lot. The lenses were always too close to my eyes and that mod helped a lot. I don't have the 72Hz setting made available to me yet but I tried 120Mz and did not notice any difference in clarity or performance. I'm running a 3080 so was hoping 72Mhz would give me some headroom as I run my in-game LODs at 50% to get descent performance. Love the SIM but seem to spend too much time optimizing my settings. Hopefully MSFS 2024 will be more optimized.
@IvanFamanni thanks for all the great content we all need you to make a video for cristal on the ACC graphics settings of the primax of the various app toolkit and in game it would be great because the creators only always make content for flight simulators and no one good does simracing PLEASE
thanks for these tips and settings. I have also had the "tv screens" as you call them, and found the only way to get rid of them was to reset the headset. I found they occur more in 120hz than 90hz. I will now try reseating the video cable in the headset. One other issue I am having is that I cannot for the life of me get the Lenses to be recognized by the unit, I keep getting "unrecognized lenses" error. Again I have tried everything including all troubleshooting tips on Pimax website, youtube, and reddit... Which is unfortunate, because the headset is amazing. But because the lenses are "unrecognized" I cannot get the eye tracking to work.
@@2020fsers Ive reached out to Pimax, and I am still getting some bad bright flickers since the latest firmware update…. Plus my faceplate doesn’t light up
I have the same flashing issue but only in 120 hz My main problem is my eye tracking doesn’t work at all. Lenses don’t light up. Been dealing with the horrible customer service at Pimax for a month and getting nowhere. Love the visuals of the crystal, but unfortunately the Pimax quality control is still really bad.
Thanks for this guide, very helpfull in setting up my crystal. One question though in your Openxr settings I noticed you have eye tracking set to "off". I am a bit confused as my thinking says this should be set to "on" for dynamic foveated rendering to get that framerate boost?
thanks for the comment ... Yes this is a very misunderstood setting . The frame boost comes from foveated rendering not how its foveating the rendering fixed or dynamic. one way follows your eyes and the other doesn't either way you are still using foveated rendering and the frame boost is the same. The reason why don't i use the DFR over FFR that is due to the lenses and artifacting . Let me explain near the center of the lens is the sharpest and because of that you will notice any imperfection. so when you use fixed foveated rendering you are reducing the quality of the image as you move out from the center which is good with the lenses because the lenses get less sharp as you move to the outer edges. so this seems to flow with FFR. Now try DFR and when you look to your far right and left extremes, this now puts an image that is not rendered at full quality in the center of the lenses because it is now following your eyes and moving the sweet spot of the rendering circles to the edge, this now creates artifacts that you can see in the middle of the screen because the lenses are at their sharpest in the center and the image in that area now is at 50% or 1/8 quality because you are looking left or right this also goes for up and down. hope that makes sense .
Thank you for the review. After seeing it, I am not going to buy the Pimax. It needs to be more mature. Keeping the Reverb G2 for now that does not give me headaches :)
I got the crystal a week ago, the setup went great, all up and running in 15 minutes. But then the connection to the PC got lost. Tried everything in de book to get it restored, but it seems to be gone forever. Need to solve this within two weeks..
Try and disconnect the side display port dongle and connect the cable directly into the headset . That may help some users stated that those dongle s go bad.
I had problem last month whereas would constantly connect and disconnect. I by-passed the DP extension cable just as you did and that eliminated the connect/disconnect issue... for awhile. Now, I cannot get the Crystal to connect at all. I put in a ticket with Pimax, and after 3 days I finally heard from them yesterday. They didn't fix anything... they just wanted to know if I ever got it to work???
That's crazy .. so they haven't tried to help you fix the issue at all? Are you using the hub maybe remove that and test? Or try a different display port.
No, it's a long story, but I was a member of the Firmware Evaluation Team that Pimax put together in August. That's when I ran into the connect/disconnect issue. That was one of the first things that Pimax had me do was to ditch the Hub, mainly because they felt that my Hub wasn't producing enough power for the headset, so they suggested that I plug the Crystal USB 3.0 into another one of my powered hubs. (They know full well that the Pimax Hub is a hunk of junk). Anyway, that didn't fix my problem, so that's when I decided to bypass the short DP extension cable. Pimax did send me a replacement, but I have no plans to put the new one in. I have no idea why they even used the extension, anyway. So, when my setup quit connecting last week, changing the USB port where the 3.0 USB plugs in was the first thing I tried. I even moved it to a different powered hub. I reseated the DP connection on the headset about a million times, and moved the DP port on my GPU, but nothing could make the Crystal connect. That's where I stand now. I suppose I'll hear from Pimax eventually, I'll probably have the replacement headset cable by then. I wish I had known about the discount you mentioned. I just paid them $150 two days ago for a replacement cable.
Wow that is a story . I really hope their customer service will make good with you on this issue. Now I thought that these were sent with the optic cable ? And they are offering an optic cable as an upgrade? I'm really confused.. this discount just popped up in my email so I had to get it in this video before it published.
Been watching your instructional videos, I am a 75 year old male with very little computer experience, Just got my Pimax Crystal about a week ago and trying to figure out settings. Is there a way to do the Open XR settings on my gaming laptop without putting the headset on ?? When I have the headset on and try to do the settings, I’m having a difficult time
Thanks for the comment . Well I may have a solution you can try I'm not 100% it will work but I think so. 1st in the pimaxxr toolkit open it . Check the box that days pimax mirror or something like that mirror mode. Then start msfs . put battery in Pimax and turn on . Start the pimax software from pimax the pitool. Make sure it's connected . Go into the advanced menu I think and turn your screen timeout to 5 mins or more after you finish you can turn it back. Then apply. Make sure your headset is alive and showing the pimax logo inside . Put the headset down now. Enter vr . Once you do a mirror window should appear check any minimized windows too. And now ctrl f2 and see if you can see the menu on the mirror window . If so success.
Me again, just to say what is needed, great video and such a dedication you rarely see. I enjoy to learn with such an explanation. I do, however, have a technical question (I know this is not the forum, but count on good people from internet :-)). After installing Pimax Crystal and PimaxXR, I can not anymore activate OpenXR Toolkit with CTRL F2, not with anything else. Are there any videos about it or do you have any explanation hot to fix it. Sorry for beginner question. Thank you
Make sure in the openxr companion app it is active and also check that you didn't change any hot keys. The toolkit menu can only be opened 8n vr in msfs so make sure you are doing that also. In the pimaxxr toolkit make sure that pimaxxr is set for the runtime and not steam .
@2020fsers, I have a question concerning OpenXR Toolkit, since development has stopped is it still a useful piece of software to use? My concern is that it may eventually introduce problems as its not keeping up with the simulator development.
I don't think development has stopped at all i just had an update to the pimaxxr about a couple weeks ago. But yes any 3rd party developers could stop development .. so product software is very important that it works well and doesn't need 3rd party software to get the most out of it. Yes it is still very much a viable software for any vr set.
Thx very much for the video, 2 quick questions : how can i get to the open xr settings in the toolkit? and how can i get programs in the open xr toolkit application box on the bottom? thx for your time
Thanks for the comment ... to open the openxr toolkit you must be in vr in msfs or any openxr game (ctrl f2). The programs for me just show up on the bottom of the companion app I didn't need to do anything for those to show.
Wow thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate that, I'll have to do more investigating a why it didn't come up on the companion app, But with your experience do you think me having a 4070 gpu , I could get iracing or DCS to run good,,,, with an i9 9900k and 32 gigs of ram ? Thx again
hi there. I have a question about a small problem with the pimaxXr tool inhead menu. I see the menu very small in the left side of my eye. It has always been good, but recently this problem has arisen, does anyone know how I can solve this?
Do you have to calibrate the Pimax EVERYTIME for the height and floor calibration? I only fly DCS and everytime it puts me outside of the cockpit outside of the scope to use keypad to recenter.
No you shouldnt need to calibrate every time . But you can use the pimaxxr app and tick re center when you put it on or something like that and you can set the floor height in the pimaxxr also this may help you .
Just got my crystal yesterday... I really don't like how my car will literally reposition me in it mid turn... shit feels sooo wierd... also the occasional flash bangs (white flashes)
I haven't had that issue you may have an issue with yours. The white flashes is it on your entire screen or little squares? How many monitors do you have connected and are you using any kind of hdmi switch or anything of the sort.
i have a quest 3 , and plan to buy a pimax crystal lite, but looks like it is really hard to set up right... requires like 3 3rd party software.... how hard is this to set up
Not hard at all to set up and you don t need 3rd party software but the 3rs party software can bypass steam which gives more performance . The only 3rd party software I use is the pimaxxr to bypass steam and openxrtoolkit to adjust picture settings and for ffr.
In part 2 of the series I show you the software I use for msfs. If you fly dcs then quad views is another 3rd party software but it's not applicable to msfs
For the 1st time I have to disagree with you. I used the 60hz with my G2 for over a year and had no strobing whatsoever. Not only that but I had a noticable performance increase. So you should recommend it to try and see as some folks have no strobing while others do. As far as performance goes, 72hz means you only have to produce 72 fps to get smooth performance while 90 hz has to see 90 fps (which I cannot do with my 4090 without dropping my settings). I am currently setting my resolution at 2380 to get 90 fps. I can't wait for the 72hz to come out because I can get 75 fps at 2880.
Thanks for the comment . This video is a more opinionated video as I stated in the beginning. I also had a pop up that states you may have different results as this may be a hardware specific thing i think i said it also. I also stated that not everyone had the strobing in the reverb but I did . So I am simply explaining my results. Also when I switch between 120 90 and 72 I saw no performance change which I think I should have I said that as well in the video. So in saying that sticking to 90 or 120 is a no-brainer for me.So do I recommend 72 ,no not with the video image like it is but doesn't mean don't try it. you may have different results everyone's system is different and as such may yield different performance and graphic results. Always go with what works for you.
If you have a 4090 you can easily get 75 fps and would notice a smoother experiance especially close to ground or in an airport. You may have your settings to high to notice. As I stated I"m currently running a resolution of 2380 with my 4090 WC and OC am can get 90 fps in most places with a very smooth performace but when I change to 120 that all goes away. With 72 hz I will be able to run native resolution. @@2020fsers
DCS; I noticed no difference and use 120MHz strictly now. Make sure if your using windows 11 to turn off power saving mode to your USB as this will randomly look like your headset has to be restarted to make it work and may also affect your battery charging. No clue why you are not using PimaxXR instead of OpenXR. I don't use SteamVR and highly recommend you remove it, PimaxXR takes its place. I don't bother with Quad views and left it at default. I use an AMD 6900 XT and see no reason to jump into a $2000.00 GPU.
Hi! I have an i9 12900, 64 gb Ram, a rtx 4090 and I recently bought the Pimax Crystal. I have been watching videos for several days on which is the best setting. The truth is that with almost everything in ultra I can't get above 35 fps with the fenix a320, and with GA I do get about 45 fps. I have tried with dlss 3.7 in DLAA, with TAA, in OpenXR I have set the resolution to 2800. I don't know if I have to go down to High or medium in MSFS, but with the computer I have I think I should have no problem to get 45 fps stable without lowering much the visual quality. Any idea what I can be doing wrong? Thank you very much
I would first turn everything down to high or medium. The next thing that's important to know is on the f ps tool That is in Microsoft Flight Simulator what is limiting you from getting higher FPS. That will kind of tell you the direction of what you have to tweak.
Personally, I set my resolution to 3900 in the openxr tool. I have it set at 100% in pimax tool. I use dlss quality and set most settings on high to medium except for a couple I have at ultra like off screen pre caching . And I get 30 to 40 fps with traffic .
Local dimming is on extreme in pimax client, but i dont have pitool, i have tried it on 2 different PC’s and it doesnt work, just makes the pimax itsself not recognized. I will mention i have an AMD 6950XT card
@@2020fsers i have the file, but local dimming isnt listed and the other lines of text are a bit different too. If you think of another way to sort out this horrendous lighting in dark environments let me know 😄
Hi. Why in a video you have, with the same pimax crystal, the resolution with the largest digit on the left (for example 3800x3200) and in others video you have the largest digit on the right (3200x3800)? I have 4312x5100 but I'm sure I've seen 5100x4312 in the past... Why does this happen?
I had a 3080ti when doing these vids and I test multiple resolutions so that's why in my vids they are different. Now I have a 4080super and I run native resolution at 4312 and I no longer downscale the image .
@@2020fsers no you don't understand my question. Why on steamVR (or OpenXR toolkit) do i see people, with the SAME vr, who have the resolution with the largest digit on the left, and others with the largest digit on the right? I have 4312x5100 but I'm sure I've seen 5100x in the past... Why does this happen?
Reducing Crystal resolution to 3500 x xxxx in OXRT means you are not using the full Crystal clarity you paid for. With 4090 I actually oversample Crystal, running it at 4600 x xxxx. It gives me 35-48 FPS in MSFS with DLSS Quality, the resulting image crispness is just fantastic. For me the frame pacing is fluid and I'm not chasing higher FPS, I prefer the super sharp image.
Thanks for the comment .. I don't have a 4090 so I can only go on what the community recommends for it . I always stand by what I say in do what works for you I can only give a starting point as everyone's system is different.
You run very low resolution of Crystal, probably because you want to have TAA in the MSFS. I would strongly recommend experimenting with DLSS Quality and higher resolution. 3100 x xxx is really, really low for Crystal. You run it way below it's H/W capability. With Eye Tracking set to off in OXRT you are not using DFR but rather FFR - to be honest I also run FFR, as DFR results in MSFS with the artifacts at the edges of the circles with different resolutions. You may also consider stressing that OpenComposite is not needed at all for the users who will run only OpenXR apps, like MSFS.
I have tried dlss and all of them give me blurry images on the glass screens so I have to run taa. I also see artifacts using dfr and ffr sees to be fine and there is no performance difference on my system. I did say in the beginning that the apps I go over are not needed for msfs.
thanks for your videos can you help me please I can't open the tool kit in ACC I only open it in Iracing I think because it's not from steam instead if I launch acc it opens it for me with steam and steam VR and it doesn't let me use the toolkit like I have to do please help ACC is unplayable without toolkit settings
Did you download open composite ? And is acc a listed game for the openxr toolkit and open composite? They have a list of compatible games I'm not sure myself if they are or are not on there.
THANKS FIRST OF ALL, now open composite is no longer needed if you have the runtime but I have seen many ACC videos that use it, iracing works but you know that iracing launches it from its executable, where do you launch the games and other things from, I don't see it in my open toolkit I only have iracing and I don't understand why?@@2020fsers
I launch my games from there own Exe file i don't use steam . As far as openxr companion and pimaxxr they do not need to be running at all for you to use the toolkit in vr.
No not at all im not paid for these videos. I go over lots of good info on programs and settings for the pimax as well as a fix for the bloom issue . A couple solutions for comfort . So I guess I am advertising the information i have gathered to make this an easier process for you, yes.
lol "Part 3" another 30 minute setup video. What happened to "plug and play"? For the amount of money they cost you'd think you wouldn't need a CS degree to set it up. (Worse: if you have a CS degree you're probably using Linux and GOOD LUCK getting any of this working there!)
Well, I'd say VR iis not a mature tech. Were you there 25 years ago, fighting with the first graphic cards and flight Sims controllers? Maybe in ten years, on windows 19, VR headsets will be plug and play. 😊
I had the flickering issue with my 8KX which a new cable resolved. HTH. Now have Crystal so very grateful for your video.
Your welcome thanks for the comment
Another great video! Thank you for your efforts. I had the crystal for awhile and returned it. Main reasons... too many glitches, too often. I wasted alot of time trouble shooting glitches. It is impressive when everything is working. However, the communication I had with Pimax to resolve issues was not good. I cannot imagine the "average" person dealing with their customer service. They do not pick up the phone or return phone calls. I tried at least 5 times. All communication was through emails and it would takes days if not weeks to get responses. That left me thinking if this thing fails down the road... good luck getting it fixed and/or covered by any warranty they may offer. I didn't want to be left with a $1,600 brick. The cable connection to the headset was very glitchy for me too as you mentioned. I will wait till VR gets further developed. The software worked for me ok, so no issues there. For ref I have amd 7800x3d & rtx 4900.
Thanks so much for the comment and giving your experience. I hope pimax will see these comments and take them into consideration.
How hard is it to do a return, sounds like they only give you like 15 days return window?
@markm75 I think it's 7 days for return I may be wrong . I have not had to return anything so I'm not the right person to give this answer.
Hello Bud. Thanks for another top notch video👍 NOW: EITHER I am extremely lucky, OR the ones that have commented here are the ones that have had problems with their headset or the software. So this has to be said, just for counter balance : I have never had ANY problems with my headset in any way, shape or form. Ofc, the new 72hz mode did absolutely no good for anyone I guess, and the reasoning behind their choice is a bit weird to say the least, but other than that my experience has been utter smooth sailing. And hence I am extremely happy with it, I guess that goes without saying 🙂 As for the 90 vs 120hz mode, I haven't noticed any change in FPS either. But don't ask me WHY that happens. Hehe
Take care! Love from Norway ♥♥♥♥♥
Thank you very much for your experience. That's the way it should be in that it just works 💪. Other than the 2 things i talked about its been pretty good I love the clarity and the colors in it. Also the vertical fov is so much better than varjo.
Indeed 🙂 @@2020fsers
Great tip on using the weather gasket material. Thank you !
Getting ready to order corrective lens inserts and they recommend a 15mm gasket that is out of stock in Pimax store.
Hey thanks for the comment .. you can also check out studioform I went over to their kit and is very comfortable and you can use shims to space out the gasket which works so well. I will be showing that in an upcoming video that I'll be doing on the Crystal Light versus the crystal original
love it thx !! I was going to send CRYSTAL back because soo many problems and settings ... no idea what is what... what to enable, disable adjust.. Nasa VR :D but now you explained it all, blooming fixxed, my double FOV rendering fixxed. You are Legend!! you saved me so much time & Tshooting pain !! Thank you for doing the hard work for us. This should be pre-set inside PIMAX tool !! totally different experience now with Crystal
Awesome I'm so happy this helped 😀 thanks for the comment..
I got the little tv box artifacts playing half-life Alyx with my crystal the other day. Reset everything and they went away. I hope it doesn't become an issue! Thats the only issue I have had. Even the software has performed better than quest and vive for me. I think it's a game changer and I am excited to trade it in. A manager from Pimax told me the 12k should be available in about a year.
I haven't had the TV box issues any longer idk what happened lol. Everything else has been good. We need the 50 series cards to get released just to be able to use the 12k I assume lol so it's good they are waiting. I can't wait for the 50 series cards I could run my crystal at full resolution and that will be a game changer for me ... for sure.
Yes im excited for the 5090! my 4090 is definitely pushed with VR. I can't complain it mostly maxes everything out with a 7950x3d cpu. 5090 and a 12k is something to definitely forward to. @@2020fsers
Amazing and complete review. It looks like we're in front of a Beta stage product. I think that the VR industry is still green. Big screen beyond looks and feels better to me. I'm sure that we will watch the PIMAX CRYSTAL videos and laugh loud in the future. Looks and feels ridiculous. But.. BUT, still a great headset (when it works and you forget the design/weight). I'm waiting for a Meta/oculus approach headset (it works and it works) but with the resolution and lens of the Pimax headset. Maybe next year.
Hey thanks for your comment. Yes I agree the vr space is still green . I feel there was a pause on vr for a while . Im glad to see new people in the space it makes for a competitive atmosphere and pushes all vendors to do more and be better so i think the more people come in the better they will get and faster.
I have adopted your color scheme in the toolkit, which is clearly better than mine. thanks
Happy you like it . Thanks for the comment
As always clear and understandable. Thanks!
your welcome thanks for the comment
Great settings tips. I followed your tip on the weather stripping DIY and really helped a lot. The lenses were always too close to my eyes and that mod helped a lot.
I don't have the 72Hz setting made available to me yet but I tried 120Mz and did not notice any difference in clarity or performance. I'm running a 3080 so was hoping 72Mhz would give me some headroom as I run my in-game LODs at 50% to get descent performance.
Love the SIM but seem to spend too much time optimizing my settings. Hopefully MSFS 2024 will be more optimized.
Thanks for your comment . I'm happy my diy mod helped . I'm also curious about 2024 I'm also concerned 2020 will get left behind .
@IvanFamanni
thanks for all the great content we all need you to make a video for cristal on the ACC graphics settings of the primax of the various app toolkit and in game it would be great because the creators only always make content for flight simulators and no one good does simracing PLEASE
i have double images in th headset and horrible tracking with the lighthouses. index is rock solid as always
i havent tried the lighthouse tracking . but i dont have the double image i would contact pimax
I had a connection problem due to a weak adapterplug onthe google..connecting it directly to the google like you did solved this problem too
Yeah I think the new crystal lite they removed that thing . It would be nice to remove it completely on ours but it's made Into the strap I think .
thanks for these tips and settings. I have also had the "tv screens" as you call them, and found the only way to get rid of them was to reset the headset. I found they occur more in 120hz than 90hz. I will now try reseating the video cable in the headset. One other issue I am having is that I cannot for the life of me get the Lenses to be recognized by the unit, I keep getting "unrecognized lenses" error. Again I have tried everything including all troubleshooting tips on Pimax website, youtube, and reddit... Which is unfortunate, because the headset is amazing. But because the lenses are "unrecognized" I cannot get the eye tracking to work.
Your welcome.. the only thing I can think of is maybe a bad cable . Did you reach out to pimax support ?
@@2020fsers Ive reached out to Pimax, and I am still getting some bad bright flickers since the latest firmware update…. Plus my faceplate doesn’t light up
Did they help you with the issue ? Here is an email I am cleared to give to you for your issue dragon.wang@pimax.com
I have the same flashing issue but only in 120 hz My main problem is my eye tracking doesn’t work at all. Lenses don’t light up. Been dealing with the horrible customer service at Pimax for a month and getting nowhere. Love the visuals of the crystal, but unfortunately the Pimax quality control is still really bad.
Thanks for your comment and posting your experience. I'm hoping pimax will see these and make some changes.
Yes I do. But problem solved! Somehow the local dimming was back in the json file
Ok great to hear
@@2020fsers thanks for the quick response, it is much appreciated!
@guesswhoiscomingtodinner you're welcome
Ty
Your welcome
Thanks for this guide, very helpfull in setting up my crystal. One question though in your Openxr
settings I noticed you have eye tracking set to "off". I am a bit confused as my thinking says this
should be set to "on" for dynamic foveated rendering to get that framerate boost?
thanks for the comment ... Yes this is a very misunderstood setting . The frame boost comes from foveated rendering not how its foveating the rendering fixed or dynamic. one way follows your eyes and the other doesn't either way you are still using foveated rendering and the frame boost is the same. The reason why don't i use the DFR over FFR that is due to the lenses and artifacting . Let me explain near the center of the lens is the sharpest and because of that you will notice any imperfection. so when you use fixed foveated rendering you are reducing the quality of the image as you move out from the center which is good with the lenses because the lenses get less sharp as you move to the outer edges. so this seems to flow with FFR. Now try DFR and when you look to your far right and left extremes, this now puts an image that is not rendered at full quality in the center of the lenses because it is now following your eyes and moving the sweet spot of the rendering circles to the edge, this now creates artifacts that you can see in the middle of the screen because the lenses are at their sharpest in the center and the image in that area now is at 50% or 1/8 quality because you are looking left or right this also goes for up and down. hope that makes sense .
Hehe. It does 👍@@2020fsers
Thank you for the review. After seeing it, I am not going to buy the Pimax. It needs to be more mature. Keeping the Reverb G2 for now that does not give me headaches :)
your welcome thanks for the comment !
Wait it out a little and I think we will see some good headsets coming with competitive prices .
@@2020fsers Yes! I hope you will guide us to spend money on the right one!
@ahobarbosa1 I will sure try my best
I got the crystal a week ago, the setup went great, all up and running in 15 minutes. But then the connection to the PC got lost.
Tried everything in de book to get it restored, but it seems to be gone forever. Need to solve this within two weeks..
Try and disconnect the side display port dongle and connect the cable directly into the headset . That may help some users stated that those dongle s go bad.
Thanks but already done that, even tried to force a firmware update on the HMD.
But i can't get a USB connection, not even a USB-C
@albertramstein8408 I would definitely reach out to them about this and I'm sure they will see these comments and maybe reach out.
Great tips, thanks! Question: just noticed a drop in about 10fps in vr since yesterday, same settings. Have you heard of anything like it?
I was on this morning and was ok on my end . MSFS does some crazy stuff unlike any other game or sim
I had problem last month whereas would constantly connect and disconnect. I by-passed the DP extension cable just as you did and that eliminated the connect/disconnect issue... for awhile. Now, I cannot get the Crystal to connect at all. I put in a ticket with Pimax, and after 3 days I finally heard from them yesterday. They didn't fix anything... they just wanted to know if I ever got it to work???
That's crazy .. so they haven't tried to help you fix the issue at all? Are you using the hub maybe remove that and test? Or try a different display port.
No, it's a long story, but I was a member of the Firmware Evaluation Team that Pimax put together in August. That's when I ran into the connect/disconnect issue. That was one of the first things that Pimax had me do was to ditch the Hub, mainly because they felt that my Hub wasn't producing enough power for the headset, so they suggested that I plug the Crystal USB 3.0 into another one of my powered hubs. (They know full well that the Pimax Hub is a hunk of junk). Anyway, that didn't fix my problem, so that's when I decided to bypass the short DP extension cable. Pimax did send me a replacement, but I have no plans to put the new one in. I have no idea why they even used the extension, anyway.
So, when my setup quit connecting last week, changing the USB port where the 3.0 USB plugs in was the first thing I tried. I even moved it to a different powered hub. I reseated the DP connection on the headset about a million times, and moved the DP port on my GPU, but nothing could make the Crystal connect. That's where I stand now. I suppose I'll hear from Pimax eventually, I'll probably have the replacement headset cable by then. I wish I had known about the discount you mentioned. I just paid them $150 two days ago for a replacement cable.
Wow that is a story . I really hope their customer service will make good with you on this issue. Now I thought that these were sent with the optic cable ? And they are offering an optic cable as an upgrade? I'm really confused.. this discount just popped up in my email so I had to get it in this video before it published.
@@jimtheflea i'm in the same boat, would like to know if the new cable solves the connection issue.
I'll be sure to post it here
@@albertramstein8408
Been watching your instructional videos, I am a 75 year old male with very little computer experience, Just got my Pimax Crystal about a week ago and trying to figure out settings. Is there a way to do the Open XR settings on my gaming laptop without putting the headset on ?? When I have the headset on and try to do the settings, I’m having a difficult time
Thanks for the comment
. Well I may have a solution you can try I'm not 100% it will work but I think so. 1st in the pimaxxr toolkit open it . Check the box that days pimax mirror or something like that mirror mode. Then start msfs . put battery in Pimax and turn on . Start the pimax software from pimax the pitool. Make sure it's connected . Go into the advanced menu I think and turn your screen timeout to 5 mins or more after you finish you can turn it back. Then apply. Make sure your headset is alive and showing the pimax logo inside . Put the headset down now. Enter vr . Once you do a mirror window should appear check any minimized windows too. And now ctrl f2 and see if you can see the menu on the mirror window . If so success.
Me again, just to say what is needed, great video and such a dedication you rarely see. I enjoy to learn with such an explanation. I do, however, have a technical question (I know this is not the forum, but count on good people from internet :-)). After installing Pimax Crystal and PimaxXR, I can not anymore activate OpenXR Toolkit with CTRL F2, not with anything else. Are there any videos about it or do you have any explanation hot to fix it. Sorry for beginner question. Thank you
Make sure in the openxr companion app it is active and also check that you didn't change any hot keys. The toolkit menu can only be opened 8n vr in msfs so make sure you are doing that also. In the pimaxxr toolkit make sure that pimaxxr is set for the runtime and not steam .
@2020fsers, I have a question concerning OpenXR Toolkit, since development has stopped is it still a useful piece of software to use? My concern is that it may eventually introduce problems as its not keeping up with the simulator development.
I don't think development has stopped at all i just had an update to the pimaxxr about a couple weeks ago. But yes any 3rd party developers could stop development .. so product software is very important that it works well and doesn't need 3rd party software to get the most out of it. Yes it is still very much a viable software for any vr set.
Thx very much for the video, 2 quick questions : how can i get to the open xr settings in the toolkit? and how can i get programs in the open xr toolkit application box on the bottom? thx for your time
Thanks for the comment ... to open the openxr toolkit you must be in vr in msfs or any openxr game (ctrl f2). The programs for me just show up on the bottom of the companion app I didn't need to do anything for those to show.
Wow thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate that, I'll have to do more investigating a why it didn't come up on the companion app, But with your experience do you think me having a 4070 gpu , I could get iracing or DCS to run good,,,, with an i9 9900k and 32 gigs of ram ? Thx again
@mikesmith7722 dcs and racing should be great 👍
hi there.
I have a question about a small problem with the pimaxXr tool inhead menu.
I see the menu very small in the left side of my eye. It has always been good, but recently this problem has arisen, does anyone know how I can solve this?
I the settings of the openxr companion app or in the menu in the headset there is a setting for 1 or 2 eyes for the menu
I only have this problem with assetto Corsa
Do you have to calibrate the Pimax EVERYTIME for the height and floor calibration? I only fly DCS and everytime it puts me outside of the cockpit outside of the scope to use keypad to recenter.
No you shouldnt need to calibrate every time . But you can use the pimaxxr app and tick re center when you put it on or something like that and you can set the floor height in the pimaxxr also this may help you .
I see thanks!
Your welcome
Just got my crystal yesterday... I really don't like how my car will literally reposition me in it mid turn... shit feels sooo wierd... also the occasional flash bangs (white flashes)
I haven't had that issue you may have an issue with yours. The white flashes is it on your entire screen or little squares? How many monitors do you have connected and are you using any kind of hdmi switch or anything of the sort.
Turning off Smart Smoothing will get rid of the white flashes
i have a quest 3 , and plan to buy a pimax crystal lite, but looks like it is really hard to set up right... requires like 3 3rd party software.... how hard is this to set up
Not hard at all to set up and you don t need 3rd party software but the 3rs party software can bypass steam which gives more performance . The only 3rd party software I use is the pimaxxr to bypass steam and openxrtoolkit to adjust picture settings and for ffr.
In part 2 of the series I show you the software I use for msfs. If you fly dcs then quad views is another 3rd party software but it's not applicable to msfs
For the 1st time I have to disagree with you. I used the 60hz with my G2 for over a year and had no strobing whatsoever. Not only that but I had a noticable performance increase. So you should recommend it to try and see as some folks have no strobing while others do. As far as performance goes, 72hz means you only have to produce 72 fps to get smooth performance while 90 hz has to see 90 fps (which I cannot do with my 4090 without dropping my settings). I am currently setting my resolution at 2380 to get 90 fps. I can't wait for the 72hz to come out because I can get 75 fps at 2880.
Thanks for the comment . This video is a more opinionated video as I stated in the beginning. I also had a pop up that states you may have different results as this may be a hardware specific thing i think i said it also. I also stated that not everyone had the strobing in the reverb but I did . So I am simply explaining my results. Also when I switch between 120 90 and 72 I saw no performance change which I think I should have I said that as well in the video. So in saying that sticking to 90 or 120 is a no-brainer for me.So do I recommend 72 ,no not with the video image like it is but doesn't mean don't try it. you may have different results everyone's system is different and as such may yield different performance and graphic results. Always go with what works for you.
If you have a 4090 you can easily get 75 fps and would notice a smoother experiance especially close to ground or in an airport. You may have your settings to high to notice. As I stated I"m currently running a resolution of 2380 with my 4090 WC and OC am can get 90 fps in most places with a very smooth performace but when I change to 120 that all goes away. With 72 hz I will be able to run native resolution.
@@2020fsers
BTW thanks for the tip of using Quad view. I wasn't aware of that one.@@2020fsers
I don't have that folder to change ?
DCS; I noticed no difference and use 120MHz strictly now. Make sure if your using windows 11 to turn off power saving mode to your USB as this will randomly look like your headset has to be restarted to make it work and may also affect your battery charging. No clue why you are not using PimaxXR instead of OpenXR. I don't use SteamVR and highly recommend you remove it, PimaxXR takes its place. I don't bother with Quad views and left it at default. I use an AMD 6900 XT and see no reason to jump into a $2000.00 GPU.
Thanks for the comment.. I see no difference with 120hz either. I do use pimaxxr along with openxr toolkit I do not use steam .
I have been having white flickering but only in dcs, can't figure it out
Try and disconnect the h d m I dongle on the side of the headset and plug the cable directly into The headset.
@@2020fsers I cleared my nvidia cache and cleared it up
Good to hear
Hi! I have an i9 12900, 64 gb Ram, a rtx 4090 and I recently bought the Pimax Crystal. I have been watching videos for several days on which is the best setting. The truth is that with almost everything in ultra I can't get above 35 fps with the fenix a320, and with GA I do get about 45 fps. I have tried with dlss 3.7 in DLAA, with TAA, in OpenXR I have set the resolution to 2800.
I don't know if I have to go down to High or medium in MSFS, but with the computer I have I think I should have no problem to get 45 fps stable without lowering much the visual quality.
Any idea what I can be doing wrong? Thank you very much
I would first turn everything down to high or medium. The next thing that's important to know is on the f ps tool That is in Microsoft Flight Simulator what is limiting you from getting higher FPS. That will kind of tell you the direction of what you have to tweak.
Personally, I set my resolution to 3900 in the openxr tool. I have it set at 100% in pimax tool. I use dlss quality and set most settings on high to medium except for a couple I have at ultra like off screen pre caching . And I get 30 to 40 fps with traffic .
Also im.using a rtx3080ti and i9 10850 k overclocked to 5.1ghz all core.
Why do i not see the local dimming level when i open the same folder on my computer?
That's strange . Make sure to turn on the local dimming if it's not in the pitool. Other than that I'm really not sure .
Local dimming is on extreme in pimax client, but i dont have pitool, i have tried it on 2 different PC’s and it doesnt work, just makes the pimax itsself not recognized.
I will mention i have an AMD 6950XT card
Yeah the pitool is the pimax client where you adjust all of your settings.
But you should have that Jason file that's strange
@@2020fsers i have the file, but local dimming isnt listed and the other lines of text are a bit different too. If you think of another way to sort out this horrendous lighting in dark environments let me know 😄
@2010nicknak will definitely let you know
Hi.
Why in a video you have, with the same pimax crystal, the resolution with the largest digit on the left (for example 3800x3200) and in others video you have the largest digit on the right (3200x3800)? I have 4312x5100 but I'm sure I've seen 5100x4312 in the past...
Why does this happen?
I had a 3080ti when doing these vids and I test multiple resolutions so that's why in my vids they are different. Now I have a 4080super and I run native resolution at 4312 and I no longer downscale the image .
@@2020fsers no you don't understand my question.
Why on steamVR (or OpenXR toolkit) do i see people, with the SAME vr, who have the resolution with the largest digit on the left, and others with the largest digit on the right? I have 4312x5100 but I'm sure I've seen 5100x in the past...
Why does this happen?
Reducing Crystal resolution to 3500 x xxxx in OXRT means you are not using the full Crystal clarity you paid for. With 4090 I actually oversample Crystal, running it at 4600 x xxxx. It gives me 35-48 FPS in MSFS with DLSS Quality, the resulting image crispness is just fantastic. For me the frame pacing is fluid and I'm not chasing higher FPS, I prefer the super sharp image.
Thanks for the comment .. I don't have a 4090 so I can only go on what the community recommends for it . I always stand by what I say in do what works for you I can only give a starting point as everyone's system is different.
You run very low resolution of Crystal, probably because you want to have TAA in the MSFS. I would strongly recommend experimenting with DLSS Quality and higher resolution. 3100 x xxx is really, really low for Crystal. You run it way below it's H/W capability.
With Eye Tracking set to off in OXRT you are not using DFR but rather FFR - to be honest I also run FFR, as DFR results in MSFS with the artifacts at the edges of the circles with different resolutions.
You may also consider stressing that OpenComposite is not needed at all for the users who will run only OpenXR apps, like MSFS.
I have tried dlss and all of them give me blurry images on the glass screens so I have to run taa. I also see artifacts using dfr and ffr sees to be fine and there is no performance difference on my system. I did say in the beginning that the apps I go over are not needed for msfs.
all game vr steam work with pimax crystal?
Yes any steam vr game should work with crystal .
thanks for your videos can you help me please I can't open the tool kit in ACC I only open it in Iracing I think because it's not from steam instead if I launch acc it opens it for me with steam and steam VR and it doesn't let me use the toolkit like I have to do please help ACC is unplayable without toolkit settings
Did you download open composite ? And is acc a listed game for the openxr toolkit and open composite? They have a list of compatible games I'm not sure myself if they are or are not on there.
THANKS FIRST OF ALL, now open composite is no longer needed if you have the runtime but I have seen many ACC videos that use it, iracing works but you know that iracing launches it from its executable, where do you launch the games and other things from, I don't see it in my open toolkit I only have iracing and I don't understand why?@@2020fsers
do I have to open open xr runtime and open toolkit before connecting the cristal? Maybe I'm doing the sequence wrong@@2020fsers
another important thing I have to uninstall Steam VR could this be the problem?@@2020fsers
I launch my games from there own Exe file i don't use steam . As far as openxr companion and pimaxxr they do not need to be running at all for you to use the toolkit in vr.
It's an advert video
No not at all im not paid for these videos. I go over lots of good info on programs and settings for the pimax as well as a fix for the bloom issue . A couple solutions for comfort . So I guess I am advertising the information i have gathered to make this an easier process for you, yes.
It’s an excellent and very helpful video! Definitely not an advert!
Thank you so much☺️
lol "Part 3" another 30 minute setup video. What happened to "plug and play"? For the amount of money they cost you'd think you wouldn't need a CS degree to set it up. (Worse: if you have a CS degree you're probably using Linux and GOOD LUCK getting any of this working there!)
Well, I'd say VR iis not a mature tech. Were you there 25 years ago, fighting with the first graphic cards and flight Sims controllers? Maybe in ten years, on windows 19, VR headsets will be plug and play. 😊