Pimax Crystal Settings Thread

User Support Hub Virtual Reality (VR)
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Rather than clog up existing Crystal related threads that do not specifically relate to settings for MSFS, I thought a dedicated thread would help new and existing Crystal owners to share their experiences with getting the most out of their headset, plus hopefully resolving any settings related issues.

So with that in mind, here are a few things I have experienced with my rig (5800x3D, 4090, X570 mobo, Win 10, DX11) plus where I am at now.

For starters, I had some weird and disturbing performance issues when I first tried the Crystal in MSFS. With HAGS on and resolution set to a modest 3500 by whatever in the Toolkit and using PimaxXR instead of SteamVR, I had the most awful tracking stutters. It was unplayable and acted like I had the resolution set so high that my system could not cope, yet the FPS counter was actually showing good framerates. Turning HAGS off fixed that.

Now, after about a month of fooling around, I have been recently having good results cranking up the resolution in the Toolkit bit by bit, until yesterday I tried it out at the full resolution given with the Client set to Max (or 1.0 in custom) which from memory is 4315 x 5101. I wasn’t expecting much, but with DLSS Quality I was getting mid to high 50’s and exceptional sharpness. This with TLOD at 125, OLOD at 150 and a mixture of ultra, high and some settings off. Full details if requested. In a glider flying near the Matterhorn in the Alps, the scenery was just stunning and even with TAA I could get around 40 fps although a bit too stuttery. I had CAA sharpness in MSFS settings at 100, none in the Toolkit. Turbo mode on.

Today I tried the same settings, but changed the refresh rate to 120, the first time I have tried this. Low over Rome, again in a glider (of all places, given the dense photogrammetry) I was getting mid 50’s and most surprisingly had greatly improved smoothness, without any locking of framerates. Early days yet, but 120Hz really did work well. Switching back to 90HZ crashed the sim however and the headset then didn’t want to switch off. So probably still some bugs there. Still, with a 4090 at least, 120Hz and max resolution can be done and my results were pretty impressive at this stage.

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In Win11 DX11 I have HAGS on, so the issue with HAGS depends on a given system. I have 7800x3D and 4090.
I must try 120 Hz and native res with DLSS quality. However TAA 100 and res. limited to 3700 x xxxx gives also very good image quality, FPS at the level of 40, smooth enough for me.

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I’m on 7800x3D, 4090, Crystal.

I tested 90Hz vs. 120Hz. I don’t notice a difference. I will try to fly more with 120Hz and then switch back to 90Hz. Going from better to worse is in my opionion the best way to discover if there is any perceivable difference (I verified this when testing my audio system).
I wonder if 120 Hz will have any impact on headset temperature and battery life.

Comparing:

  • full Pimax res. + DLSS quality - looking good indeed, but I can see weird effect on the clouds resulting from FFR (will be probably not visible when DFR will be available) - ca. 45 FPS in my testing scenario, if I turn off FFR I drop to 40 FPS,

  • res. limited to 3700 x xxxx, TAA 100 - ca. 38 FPS with FFR (still smooth enough for me), but the cokcpkit image quality, especially glass gauges is noticeably better (razor sharp), scenery outside looks the same for me - probably beacuse I should wear glasses (0.5 diopter) but I still refuse.

In both scenarios the clarity is superb, way way better vs. Reverb G2, due to resolution and big sweet spot + better FoV (especially veritcal).

So I will rather stick with TAA 100, even with 10-15% less FPS than DLSS quality.

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Nice results, also agree that DLSS quality is not so great. Can I ask what FFR settings you’ve got dialled in? I’m assuming you’re setting this in the OXR toolkit?

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Yes in the toolkit. Something like wide/quality. Better to wait for DFR availability mid September and to optimize the settings then.

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Thanks for replying. That’s how I’ve been setting it too, I heard a whisper that we will get DFR on Sept 15th.

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Busy day today, so no time to fly until evening and to reply. Repeating my tests from yesterday, I think you are right about 120Hz not making an appreciable difference to smoothness. As I had switched from the Alps in a glider to Rome without bothering to change planes, I was flying slower than I would in say a C172, which I did today. So it was no smoother at low heights over a photogrammetry city this evening flying a Spam Can. Probably also some placebo effect when I first tried 120Hz.

I’m very picky and cognisant of slight changes in sharpness with scenery, plus even with corrective spectacles for the Pimax, my sample has a definite resolution sweet spot at the centre and the sharpness declines away from there, more so above the centre line than below, before it really declines at the extreme edges. Enough to blur really fine details, but by doing so it also removes any hint of screen door effect… so swings and roundabouts. So despite what some people rave about, it’s not optically super sharp for me all over. Possibly my lenses, or other factors like screen alignment variations, I don’t know.

Like you, I find a res of 4700-4800 by whatever, plus TAA gives great sharpness for both instruments and the scenery. But full res kicks that up a notch, especially with distant scenery, even with DLSS Quality. It’s just enough of a difference to make adjustments worthwhile, depending on where you are flying and in what sort of aircraft.

Again tonight I went back to the Alps in a fast competition 18 metre glider. With full resolution and relaxed flying with TAA, everything was pretty close to videos of flying the same magic scenery in the real thing…I even switched clouds to Ultra, just for that extra realism hit. I could clearly see the small airstrip miles away and had a big grin when I nailed the timing of dumping ballast and approach to grease on the strip exactly where I wanted to. Man this sim is amazing in VR.

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Great initiative!
Have been trying a couple of different settings for the last hours, thanks to you (13900K, 4090).

I NEVER thought I would give DLSS a chance! But DLSS Quality with resolution 4700 x XXXX, looks so much better than TAA 3500 x XXXX. I like to crank up sharpness and I always got this kind of heat blur-effect on trees and object in the distance with TAA. This looks much better with DLSS and higher resolution (and of course also the cockpit) Still using CAS 100% i OpenXR.
Im down like 5-7fps, but it’s worth it for that extra crisp, smooth sharpness I’ve been tweaking for.

Also tried 120Hz and it’s a bit smoother looking out the side window. Won’t go back to 90hz if I don’t see any issues.

Overall a much better experience.

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Thanks and all good to hear. I’ll have a go at cranking up the resolution past 100% using DLSS and see how it goes on my rig.

Regarding DLSS, I downloaded the latest version and installed it following the thread below (after making a backup of the original in the MSFS folder). It works fine for me, though I can’t honestly say if it’s made any improvements.

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Yes, I always using the latest DLSS/DLSS 3 files from Techpowerup:

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Well, I gave 4700 x XXXX a go and immediately noticed the difference. Again I was flying the superb free AS-33-ME 18 metre competition glider over the Alps near the Matterhorn (not for beginners, as there’s a lot to manage and with full ballast it has a vicious stall. But it’s wicked fast and has an amazing glide ratio… plus a deployable electric powered prop. A far cry from what I flew IRL).

With DLSS Quality I was getting around 48-50 fps and this with scattered clouds on Ultra! Both the scenery and cockpit were very, very sharp. What I especially noticed was how amazing the side view of the glider was in the external camera, basically as good as 2D. In the cockpit, looking sideways along those long flexible wings (with the lovely red livery) it was just pin sharp and so lifelike.

I tried various CAS sharpening amounts in MSFS, with it set to zero in the Toolkit, and found 200 was a bit too obvious on the edges of the mountain peaks and ridges; to me about 150 seemed a nice balance between sharpness and noticeable unrealistic sort of pencil drawn edges. Maybe not using the CAS sharpening in the sim and instead using it in the Toolkit will give different results…have yet to try that.

Thanks for the suggestion to go even higher in resolution settings. :slightly_smiling_face:

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It never came to my mind attempting supersampling on Crystal :wink:

So I tested on 7800x3D, 4090, Crystal:

Resolution in OpenXR Toolkit 4700 x xxxx, DLSS Quality

  • outside scenery - definitely crisper, less anitialiasing shimmering
  • glass gauges - worse, especially text rendering - especially visible for black text on white background
  • cockpit and steam gauges - probably slightly better
  • probably better for steam gauges planes and admiring the scenery (VFR), this is my use case (A2A Comanche, no GPS, I use SkyDemon as my navigation app, running on the remote PC controlled via VNC inside All In One Tablet by Flightsimulator.me - the exact navigation software I use IRL), so I’m probably going to stick with this setting

Resolution in OpenXR Toolkit 3700 x xxxx, TAA 100

  • outside scenery - not as crisp, antialiasing shimmer more pronounced
  • glass gauges - definitely better, looks like DLSS is not soo good with text
  • cockpit and steam gauges - probably slightly worse
  • probably better for glass cockpit planes and working in the cockpit (IFR)

FPS - both cases more or less the same, in my case over Copenhagen (photogrammetry), FlyTampa airport, scattered clouds, FSLTL traffic: 36-40 FPS, smooth enough for me

I also compared original DLSS (nvngx_dlss.dll) v.2.4.12.0 with the newest one v.3.1.30.0. It may be placebo effect but I noticed very, very small text rendering improvement on the glass gauges, but I was also having the slight impression that the frame pacing wasn’t as smooth as with the original DLSS (despite ca. 40 FPS in both cases). So I reverted to the original DLSS provided with the sim, just to avoid any potential source of issues.

When I paid this stupid amount of money for 4090 and Crystal, I promised to myself: no more tinkering, just flying. And we are still tinkering. But I consider it a different kind of tinkering.
On i7-7700K, 4070Ti and G2 - it was like forcing MP3 player to not hurt your ears. You could make it acceptable, but newer truly good. Never like being in a concert hall.
On 7800x3D, 4090 and Crystal - this is more like tuning high end audio system. The differences are subtle, but the overal result is giving a lot of satisfaction. Maybe not like a real world concert venue, but with all the comforts of your own room.

@HugeMercury163 I can also observe the Crystal sharpness declining gradually when looking down. This is especially visible when I glance at my virtual kneeboard. So probably nothing wrong with your lenses.

@TjejKalas Thank you for your hint to explore supersampling.

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It’s not a big deal to switch between TAA 3500xXXXX and DLSS Quality 4700xXXXX. Takes just about seven seconds and a couple of clicks. TAA for Airliners and glass cockpit and DLSS for low and slow with steam gauges.
So you can have the cake and eat it too :wink:

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Hi Guys :
Is there any way to change Crystal’s resolution?
Currently, if I set the render quality to 1.0, it will give me a resolution of 4306X 5105,
If I set 0.75, it gives me 3228x3226.

4306x 5102 seems to be a bit too much for my system ( 5800 X3D, 4080) whereas 3228x3226 is a bit too low. Is there any way between them?

I know I can use the toolkit to override the resolution but it produced more shimmering.

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OpenXR Toolkit Override does exactly the same thing as Pitool Render Quality does, so i highly doubt that “it produced more shimmering”.

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So the almighty OpenXR Toolkit saved another day.

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I’ve suggested Pimax to increase the granularity of their slider, I know other users asked too. I hope they make that improvement.

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That is great. but the toolkit does help people a lot.

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What “World Scale” are you guys using? Im using 95%-105%, but either controls look huge or the seats look too small. (I was under the impression that Pimax is on the smaller side).
Are you changing between aircraft or have you found a perfect setting?

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Depends on the particular aircraft and your IPD, this is highly personal, just set it in a way it feels right to you.