Hi. See my post comparing Pico 4 with Quest 2. I am very impressed with FSVR quality and performance with Pico 4. I still run Open XR Toolkit in FS, but not Oculus Tray Tool. FSVR settings DLSS and Ultra Performance and mainly all High settings. Forget Pico streamer, and only use Virtual Desktop streamer with Steam VR. I get smooth performance, clear sharp image quality, and vibrant colours. Very very few stutters. No difference in wired USB or Wi-Fi mode. Average FPS over dense cities is 30 to 35 (Open XR Toolkit overlay) but Virtual Desktop overlay shows double that about 60 FPS.
OK, after a lot of faffing about, I finally got the Pico 4 to perform well with my dedicated WIFI 6 router (although a USB to Ethernet tethered option should lower latency somewhat and also provide power with an appropriate USB/Ethernet adaptor).
After advice from mbucchia, I disabled the SteamVR setting in advanced options that allows me to override resolution limits in the Toolkit. I then just left Steam settings on default for the Pico and used the Toolkit to crank up the resolution as far as I could, while still getting decent FPS. With the 4090 in Godlike mode I now have cockpit sharpness on a par with the G2 (minus some minor compression artifacts) and the scenery is much better, though not as crisp as the G2’s tiny sweet spot. With DLSS Quality I can run MR at 45fps (showing 90FPS in the VR overlay) even over Melbourne’s dense photogrammetry areas.
Tests flying low and slow in the Tiger Moth showed that even cranked up to the Max, the fine detail in terrain and especially photogrammetry buildings was still noticeably better in the G2, approaching Varjo Aero like sharpness that knocks your socks off, provided you have your head on a swivel. At higher altitudes though the Pico’s pancake lenses give a better sense of overall clarity with, for the most part, surprisingly less noticeable screen door effect, despite the wider field of view and resultant lower pixels per degree. Adjustments using the Toolkit meant that both headsets produce great colours.
I’d say that for flying at normal altitudes, with the cockpit and instruments now pleasantly sharp, the Pico is more relaxing to fly, while for pixel peeping the scenery the G2 wins, but the Pico spoils you, so you really notice the G2’s crummy sweet spot and the awful blurriness of everything that is not at the centre of your view.
Must add as an aside, although not a fan of using controllers in MSFS, I found the Pico 4 ones so good that I keep them on. I had a good laugh flying the Cessna C172 using the thumb sticks, as by default they are the same as Mode 3 (I think) in the r/c model aircraft transmitters I use to fly my FPV planes and drones. I’m so used to flying with my thumbs that it was a doddle.
Thats great! Glad to hear that you got there. I actually let my G2 go to my brother as quickly as I could as I couldnt bring myself to keep making comparisons. I agree, that there is something in the G2 that was just a little better, but overall I preferred the PICO so I needed to just commit to it. Interesting what you say about not using steam VR and just Open XR.
Would you mind sharing what resolution you crank it up to in Open XR and also any other settings? Particularly the colour ones you mentioned
Sure. I currently have resolution in the toolkit set to 4,651 x 4,651. In SteamVR, the general resolution setting is 3,820*3,820 or 150% and in Video/Application Setting for MSFS it is 100% or again 3,820x3,820. I’m using DLSS Quality for GA aircraft, switching to Balanced in some scenarios, I’m still experimenting with that. I also had DOF lowered in the Toolkit to 93% for the G2, as that uses area of the panels that is normally outside what you see, I haven’t changed that yet for the Pico, but I did notice some cut-off at the top so will have to fine tune that.
As for colour adjustments, going from the G2 to the Pico I had to lower saturation from 61 to 48 and vibrancy to 43 (still fiddling around with that as well). I haven’t changed any other settings yet from what I was using on the G2.
Full settings therefore are:
Red 38, Green 45, Blue 52.
Contrast 60
Brightness 48
Exposure 60
Saturation 48
Vibrancy 43
Highlights 90
Shadows 10
Great thanks. I have the steam set to 170% but not as much in open xr. Everything on ultra and tlod 120. I use dlss quality with dx11.
Also, I turned off hyper threading and e core usage in bios. That bumped things up a bit as well.
Performance is best it’s been by far.
I have the same feelings HugeMercury has now. Pico 4 is my first VR, so I can’t compare, but, for instance, flying on Cessna 172 I can’t read the autopilot buttons. I have a 3080 and a 5800x3d, and even setting TAA with 120% (15 fps) I can’t read the buttons. All settings as suggested here for virtual desktop and steam vr.
I am having the same issue. I have a 4090 gpu, with 13900K, 128 GB ram DDR5 6000mhz and I have the pico 4 connected via Ethernet wired. Using VD, can’t get a clear image to be able to read runway signs etc. Not sure what I need to do, if someone helps would be great.
After a lot of mucking about, I finally got a decent image in the Pico 4 with these settings with my 5800x3D and a 4090 using wireless connection with a WiFi 6 router:
Set resolution in steam VR to 192%, 4320 x 4320, sharpening in Virtual Desktop to 67% and motion reprojection set to always. Didable automatic bit rate in the VD streamer app. Set CAS sharpening in MSFS VR settings to 0% and enable DLSS Quality, then using the Toolkit have NIS sharpening at 100% and set the Toolkit resolution override to 4,400 by whatever. Try those settings and see how you go.
With those settings the cockpit is nice and sharp, with some minor compression artifacts, same with the scenery. Not as sharp as the G2’s sweet spot, but away from the centre a much wider clear area than the G2.
Good luck.
Thank you. I’ll will try these and see what happens.
Hi interested topic, I have a videocard rtx 4080 and I7 12700k with 64 Ram do you think to get out a good quality with pico 4?
I get good performance and a fairly sharp image using a 4080 and a 5800x3d using similar settings mentioned earlier.
I went from the Oculus 2 to the Pico 4 and definitely an Upgrade for the price. Bit of a FPS hog though. but better field of view and quality. I am happy with it.
For those of you who haven’t experimented with the latest release of Virtual Desktop, switching the encoder to H264+ and upping the bitrate gives a noticeable improvement in clarity for me. Well with checking out. Also, the HEVC 10Bit option gets rid of the banding in low light in cloudy skies that occasionally shows up. It’s a great update!
Yeah, I’ve been fooling around with what was the beta version of VD over the last few days, which now has been released as a stable update. I’ve noticed much better clarity using HEVC 10 bit, flying low and slow around places like Rome in choppers, even without the Toolkit. So far however, what little I have tried with H264+ together with higher bitrates, has been rather stuttery using motion reprojection even with a 4090. More testing needed on my part however.
Overall though I have seen much improved clarity, both in low altitude photogrammetry areas and also distant towns seem much less blurry than before with overall noticeably less compression artifacts. Clouds look better too.
Well worth exploring for all Pico 4 owners. I’m not prepared to say yet if it is sharp enough to replace the G2 for low flying pixel peepers, but the wider sweet spot of the P4 is always a plus.
Does this setting affects the in game FPS?
I Wonder if your feedback experience got better after this post? I am planning to change from wireless to Ethernet cable as well
Hi there! I am currently setting up my pico 4 with the OpenXR toolkit and I still don’t understand this setting quite well. I assume the higher the better? But will the in game FPS suffer?
Back then I was trying to get as sharp a picture as possible, while battling against the compression needed for a standalone headset’s WIFI connection. If you set the resolution that high it will definitely lower your FPS. I think I eventually settled on somewhat lower resolution as the best compromise for my 4090 GPU.