I have forgotten… what was the problem when using Dx12 in VR before?
Im geting better performance, but it uses way more Vram (18gb in some scenarios for me).
And the occasional flashings when ”Bloom” is ON.
Hey man!
Thanks a lot! I couldn´t get smart smoothing to work. But, just to make sure, you have “Smart smoothing” box ticked i Pimax Play as well?
Smart smoothing works ok now in 90hz for me, but I get pretty frequent stutters in 72hz with smart smoothing. In between those stutters it seems smooth, but the stuttering is just too frequent to use 72hz with smart smoothing.
In DCS i play in 72hz but without smart smoothing, and that works perfectly. Very smooth 
So, how do you get smart smoothing in 72hz to be… smooth? :).
I have I9 13900K and RTX 4090. MSFS in DX12 now, but same stuttering in DX11 with 72hz smart smoothing. Hags Off. Rest of the settings is also as yours.
Yeah smart smoothing needs to be checked in pimax play.
In DCS you definitely want HAGS on. In MSFS HAGS off.
Also in DCS you don’t want prefer frame rate over latency checked on
Smart smoothing in MSFS in 72hz isn’t as smooth as it is in 90hz. It still has some tiny stutters but it’s usable just no weird flashing artifacts anymore in my experience.
In DCS smart smoothing is great in 90hz but in 72hz it’s unusable. Very stuttery unfortunately. Hope pimax can improve it. Just like you I only use 72hz in DCS without smart smoothing.
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Yes, I have DCS setup like that. And it works like a charm. Incredible sharpness and totally smooth. Amazing. But, I have hags off for DCS as well. Turned it off a while back, and didn´t notice any problems with that. I am locked to 72fps can keep that with my settings I have now anyway. Maybe if I turned on Hags that I could up the graphics a bit and still maintain 72… don´t know. But, works good now.
Thankfully I don´t need smart smoothing in DCS
Once again, thanks for your input, I couldnt get MSFS2020 to run smooth no matter what I did, but now it´s very smooth and nice!
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You can now test out the Almalence plugin in for MSFS with the Pimax Crystal.
“The plugin demonstrates Almalence Digital Lens technology (DLVR), a solution enhancing visible image quality in head-mounted displays by computationally compensating optical aberrations.”
It works with either SteamVR or PimaxXR, but you will need to disable the Toolkit for this demo to work (edit: make sure not to check eye tracking in PimaxXR, select it instead in Pimax Play).
I have just tried it out flying low over Rome and the difference in fine detail is incredible (using eye tracking and at full native resolution…you can turn it off using the delete key to see the change in details). Photogrammetry buildings show detail I did not think was there and the trees also look way better. Give it and go and see what you think, to be honest it blew me away. Follow the directions in the pdf file to set it up; you will get a download key in your email at their website. The free demo will work to the end of January 2024.
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Followed the instructions, but MSFS crashed to desktop everytime upon loading. Tried several times, rebooted my machine. Same thing. Uninstalled Alamalence thingie from my system and problem solved. Strange.
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Almalence test version will stop working end of January. AFAIK the company is not selling it’s products to end users but only to manufacturers. I wonder if they will change their approach with this plugin. And I wonder if it’s worth to invest time in testing it, only to discover in February that it cannot by bought.
It’s DEFINITELY worth testing out, as the increase in fine detail resolution has to be seen to be believed. Plus the more people who try it and spread the word, the more likely it is that Pimax will implement it in their client software as a paid add on, if that is the only way forward. I hope however that Almalence will offer it to end users, and have contacted them regarding this point. We shall see.
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I noticed this thread recently, and thought my settings might be helpful.
Since the beginning with VR (back to the 1080 Ti days), I’ve always focused on maintaining native resolution above any other visual quality settings, and then dropping most of the rest to improve performance. I’m running a 4090 with a 7950X3D, and with that hardware, I can run the crystal at full native resolution with appropriate distortion correction (maximum in the Pimax settings, 100% in MSFS and no resolution override) and TAA. That gives 4312x5102. FPS numbers typically run in the mid 40s to the high 50s, with most lower numbers from CPU bottlenecks (I like to fly the PMDG 737 which is a heavy CPU user). I keep TLOD low to avoid the frame rate totally tanking in busy environments.
While not the highest FPS, I find those to be adequate to enjoy full native resolution, which really is astounding (and why most of us bought this).
I run HAGS off, but that’s about the only slightly weird thing I do outside of the sim. DX11 of course. My MSFS settings are:
TAA
Render Scaling 100
AMD FidelityFX sharpening off
World scale 100
NVidia reflect low latency off
TLOD 100
Off screen terrain pre-caching Ultra
Terrain Vector data Ultra
Buildings High
Trees Medium
Grass and bushes off
OLOD 150
Volumetric clouds low
Texture resolution ultra
Anisotropic filtering 16x
Texture supersampling 4x4
texture sythesis high
Water waves low
Shadow maps 1536
Terrain shadows 512
Contact shadows off
Windshield effects high
Ambient occlusion off
Cubemap reflections 96
Raymarched reflections off
Light shafts off
Bloom off
Glass cockpit refresh rate high
Some of the real heavy hitters are clouds and ambient occlusions. The things that I have turned up are largely controlled by other factors like VRAM (which the 4090 has in abundance). While those things look nice, I’d ultimately rather have more resolution.
I get a mild bump using foveated rendering with the OpenXR toolkit. I run at 50% at 1/4 and 65% at 1/8. That gives perhaps a 10% bump. To really go further, we need quad views dynamic foveated rendering. Here’s the wishlist item to add it (it’s apparently pretty easy for Asobo to do it):
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You may try 4600 x xxxx supersampling with DLSS Quality. Just give it a try… You may find you like it. For me this produces even higher clarity. I also run TLOD 305 and clouds High with 7800x3D and 4090, but I fly GA planes and accept FPS in the 30-40 range, still smooth enough for me, as the resolution/clarity matters most for me.
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More on the availability of this excellent plugin.
I have just received a reply from Almalence regarding the possibility of it continuing past the trial period at the end of January.
They informed me that it has to do with the eye tracking vendor’s API access licence (and therefore not their desire to sell the plugin to Pimax, presumably).
Almalence are attempting to convince the eye tracking vendor to extend the license period, in which case the plugin will continue to work past the end of January. They also point out that positive feedback on the plugin could help them to achieve this.
With that in mind I strongly urge all Pimax owners to give this plug in a go and report back, as the difference it makes to fine detail in the sim is huge. Better in fact than supersampling above the Crystal’s “native” resolution and this while using native resolution and DLSS Quality, not TAA. I have continued to try it out in many scenarios and can attest that this gives me by far the best visual clarity compared to any fooling around with settings in the sim or the Toolkit…it’s almost like replacing the LCD panels with higher resolution ones.
I will also lobby the eye tracking company to allow a licence extension, or if possible, an annual end user fee for allowing the plugin to continue to work.
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Does Almalence require disabling OXRT? So no longer FFR, sunglasses, FPS counter, ability to override the resoulution?
Does it work with PimaxXR prefer frame rate over latency and compulsive smoothing 1/2 headset frequency lock?
Currently it requires disabling the Toolkit. Resolution is set in Pimax Play, or possibly the config file (not sure about the latter). It does work with PimaxXR prefer framerate over latency and compulsive smoothing at 1/2 framerate. As yet I haven’t fooled around with the eye tracking settings in Pimax Play as I wasn’t using either FFR or DFR to start with.
PimaxPlay Foveated Rendering setting affects only SteamVR. With PimaxXR OXRT is required for FFR (I use it, gives me about 10% FPS increase) or DFR (I don’t use it, produces visual artifacts at the edges of resolution circles).
Possibly with Alamalence I can (must?) lower the resolution from 4600 x xxxx to native and this will give me similar FPS gain as FFR, with DLSS Quality, and better clarity.
I have followed the dlvr directions and disabled the oxr toolkit. I also configured pimax xr according to diections and verified correct settings in pimax play. However, I don’t think it is working as I get no notification when starting vr. The delete key doesn’t seem to change anything. Is there a exe. that needs to be run prior to use?
Did you download and run the .exe file “Almalence_DLVR_OpenXR_Layer_installer_V1.3.3” ?
If not, you can go to this web page, select Pimax Crystal along with your email address and they will send you an activation code and a link to download the zip file.
Digital Lens Evaluation OpenXR Plugin
Edit. Also just check that your eye-tracking is actually on. I had one session where it was not working, even though it was selected, possibly due to a bug in the demo plugin. I just turned it off and then on again in Pimax Play, then confirmed it was on using my phone camera to spot the IR LEDs around the Crystal lenses.
Yeah, I just had my res set at maximum in Pimax Play (and eye-tracking on) so I was at native res. See how you go and if you think the fine detail is better with the plugin (at higher FPS) or using supersampling with an FPS drop.
Oh and I asked a Pimax rep on Discord if they were interacting with Almalence and they got back to me saying they were just now setting up a meeting with them.
I gave this a try tonight. The quality was decent, but I was surprised by the frame rates. In a situation where I was getting high 50s FPS, I was getting well into the 70s. That inspired me to push the resolution even higher. I settled on 5100x6035 for now. With DLSS quality, that is something really special, and still a little better performance than TAA at native resolution. For anyone who hasn’t tried the technique, it’s absolutely worth looking at. The really high super samples make DLSS a lot more viable.
If you’re only getting 30-40 FPS with your settings, you might trying lowering those peripheral settings and cranking up the resolution even higher.
Thanks for the idea!
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I downloaded and installed the crystal version of the installer. Eye tracking has been working with oxr toolkit and calibration works in pimax play. Not sure what the issue is. Do you see any notification in the headset that dlvr is active. The instructions referenced a popup that shows the keybinds for delete and insert keys. I might email support and see if they know what’s going on. Thanks for your help.
Maybe something in your community folder? You should see a popup window when you engage and disengage the plugin.