OpenXR runtime missing in SteamVR for Pimax-4K

A key component of SteamVR is missing: OpenXR runtime

SteamVR app/Settings/Advanced Settings-Show/Developer/Current OpenXR runtime:
only SteamVR option is available and the option OpenXR runtime is missing.

is that normal?

This is really badly explained.

What headset do you use?

If it uses Windows Mixed Reality, you have to set it up in the WMR software.
If it uses Oculus, you have to set it up in the Oculus software.
If it uses SteamVR, this is what you have on your screenshot.

Basically each software has an option to set its own runtime as the default one for OpenXR.
But you cannot change to WMR or Oculus from SteamVR for example.

  • If you open the Oculus software and set Oculus as OpenXR runtime, when you’ll open SteamVR settings, you’ll see that SteamVR is not the default OpenXR runtime anymore and you will be able to set it up back to SteamVR.

Hope that clears things up.

I use Pimax4k.
When it is activated with Pittool & SteamVR, MSFS freezes at 80% from Start.
Otherwise, MSFS works fine with TrackIR.
So you say it is ok that only SteamVR option is available?
I have sent the msinfo32 report to MSFS support over a week ago and it seems they still did not find out what causes the start-crash.

Pittol Version: V1.0.1.271
SteamVR Version: 1.21.4 (1639433079)
WIN 10-64 Pro. MoBo: ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING. SSD: SAMSUNG 970 EVO+ M.2. CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K. GPU: MANLI RTX 2080 Ti. RAM: HyperX 3200 MHz 32 GB. Monitor: ASUS VG278H 3D /VR: Pimax 4K/TrackIR-5/SAITEK X55-Yoke-Rudder-Trim Wheel.

In my opinion yes, this is normal.
But I don’t know anything about Pimax ecosystem so maybe changing your first post’s title and including Pimax in it will bring people who owns one and they’ll be able to help.

Hi,

I have the same issue as you using the Pimax 8k. Did you find a solution yet.

It’s been almost three weeks now that I’ve sent MSFS Support the required msinfo32 file, and still no reply. Once it’s resolved, I’ll forward the result to this thread.

Thanks… from what I’m understanding Pimax doesn’t use openXR therefore steam runtime should be showing steamVR.

However my issue is if I start steamVR before MSFS the SIM will get stuck on 80%. But if I start the SIM first and start a flight then switch to VR I get the message VR failed, openXR is not installed.

i must install the steamvr beta, to activate openxr in steam for the first time,

but, it was 12 months before, dont know if was a other solution in the meantime.

This is exactly the same problem I’m facing!

So if Pimax by default does not use OpenXR, then SteamVR starts without the “Current OpenXR Runtime”. But it seems when MSFS starts, it looks for the OpenXR while booting and it gets stuck on 80% because OpenXR is missing.

That explains why a lot of Pimax users are facing the same problem now!
MSFS needs to re-add this SteamVR Patch to its VR-Parameters as a surrogate for OpenXR to solve this problem once for all. And I say re-add because Pimax-VR was functioning fine in MSFS at the beginning…

I have a weird feeling that since that MSFS-Update 12 months ago, they deliberately excluded the Pimax-Algorithm to cause this issue. Is this maybe the plausible explanation as to why MSFS Support is NOT responding to this issue?? We know how Chinese Brands are being fought in the Western Market because of their technical superiority and low prices and the kind of Media oppression it has been facing. (Soon Pimax is bringing their world-first 12K VR-HMD on the Market)

I don’t buy MSFS’s lame excuses that for 12 months now they couldn’t solve this problem, and honestly, I have no interest in flying in MSFS without VR. In fact, I haven’t been using it since this problem occurred.

You’re probably right, as I was having no problems prior to the SIM up date.

I have had some success today though. I found a thread today that helps.

Sorry can’t post the link: won’t let me.

All I need to do is start PITOOLs then start MSFS, load a flight then switch to VR in SIM. I get the VR Fail message and also the Steam VR fail message which blocks the pimax headset. I unblock the headset and close Steam VR. (Not using the restart option) I then simply restart Steam VR via Pitools then switch to VR again in SIM.

This works for me now.

Not sure if I needed to but I have also uninstalled mixed reality portal from windows. In the thread they say MR portal can confuse MSFS. Just google how to uninstall MR portal if it doesn’t show up under settings, it requires a slight reg edit to make it show up in order to uninstall it.

It’s a good work around for now… I hope you have success, let me know how you get on.

Looks like a good trick out of the magic box…

Every step worked fine up to switching to VR again in SIM, where MSFS froze.
Repeated this procedure a few times with the same result.
There must be a reason why it is working on your pc but not mine.

MSFS works fine in my Pimax 8KX. Yes Pimax doesn’t have OpenXR support but that just means I need PP on. Costs frames but still works.

Seems like MSFS 20 is excluding Pimax from Support!

After the problem remained unresolved, I got this last close up reply without any further suggestions from MSFS support:

Pimax headsets do not support OpenXR. Microsoft Flight Simulator is compatible with (i.e. made for) headsets that support OpenXR such as Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Oculus headsets, SteamVR headsets.
The sim has been optimized for the following headsets:
HP Reverb G2HP Reverb G1Samsung Odyssey+

That is such BS! Pimax works perfectly for every other Steam VR game.

I’m having an issue where, if I start MSFS in VR mode it works fine, but then when I try to start a flight, MSFS just crashes plain and simple. Works fine with VR off. Has anyone else seen something like this?

Thanks.

… Nevermind. It looks like I messed up by trying to use the DirectX12 beta mode. That seems to be throwing it for a loop with VR.

It works normally now on my RTX 3070 with a Pimax Artisan.

You start your first post with a big BS?
You are new here and you know already that Pimax is working PERFECTLY with EVERY game?
Did you check first other Pimax user’s problems on this Forum before making such a BS comment?

I did not exclude that Pimax is working fine for some, but it surely is not working at all with others… In my last comment, I have literally copied MSFS 20 message word by word, where they explicitly exclude Pimax support because it is not using OpenXR, whereas the optimization is narrowed for HP Reverb, G2HP, Reverb G1Samsung, Odyssey+.

So a bit of good advice for Mr. Know-it-alls trying to play the Wiseguy:
Next time leave your disrespectful BS out of this Forum, especially if your comment is based on a huge lack of internal Info!

You start your first post with a big BS? You are new here and you know already that Pimax is working PERFECTLY with EVERY game?

Every game I own on SteamVR, yes.

Did you check first other Pimax user’s problems on this Forum before making such a BS comment?

Yes, I did. And the problem I was having - meaning menus etc. worked fine, until I started a flight when MSFS just flat out quit. I kept looking on here, and OpenMR forums. Nothing.

The “That is such BS!” was my reply to Microsoft’s bungling of the VR situation and their lack of support for more common serious headsets, not to the content of the thread. I’m sorry if you misunderstood that.

I’m a software engineer by trade and the “supported headset list” just doesn’t make sense from a tech perspective, and that was my reaction to that.

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…uuuups! Also sorry on my part for the big misunderstanding.
Thought you were referring to me :man_facepalming:

If MSFS will be excluding Pimax from further support, then it is more than just a BS!
I have forwarded this thread to Pimax and I assume that they will first check the legal situation for this exclusion and then we will see how it goes…

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I always laugh out loud when I read these sentences.
Pimax is what… oops 100% SteamVR :joy: :rofl: :joy:

The need for PP has nothing to do with OpenXR. It’s because in-game rendered data has been massively clipped to gain performance (Frustrum culling).

But as long as it takes 2 years to integrate code for 5 minutes, it’s better to tell the user something about flying horses.

Pimax is what… oops 100% SteamVR

Exactly my point. From a tech perspective there’s zero reason it can’t be supported properly if they claim compatibility with SteamVR.

Thought you were referring to me :man_facepalming:

No, I would never insult someone who’s trying to figure out a tech issue. I’ve been through both ends of
the support system often enough to empathize with the user who just wants the stuff to f-ing work. :wink:

Like I said above, one setting that can also cause issues and that I didn’t really see reported anywhere else is that DX12 beta does not work for VR flying. It does in menus, because I assume it’s mostly 2D based windowing in a 3D view managed by SteamVR. As soon as 3D rendering begins, it just poops out completely.

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