Pimax 5k/8k best PiTool settings for spotting and general visual quality

[PikAs62]

I fly exclusively with the Pimax 5k Plus and I´m about to find out the best settings in PiTool, in order to have good online spotting while good visual quality. I would like to know what settings other owners of a Pimax 5k / 8k use to achive this.

 

My settings:

PiTool v.121_R211_beta
Hidden, Area Mask off
Brightness  1
Render Quality  1
Contrast l / r  1
Brightness l / r  -3
Smart Smoothing  off
FFR  off
PP  on
FoV  normal
RR  90 Hz

SteamVR  150%
Nvidia  425.31

My Rig: Intel 7700 @ 4.2 GHz
32 GB RAM
RTX 2080 Ti OC
Win10 Pro

Edited April 11, 2019 by Pikas_62

[C6_lefuneste]

Use last version of NVidia drivers.

Try Pittol render quality to 2 and SteamVR as low as possible (20%).

Then remove the automatic launch of steamVR, the last beta version of Pitool allow you to run IL2BOS and DCS in VR without steamVR.

I set FOV to low, because there is few differences with medium and I do not like the distorsions at the edge of the FoV, especially when they are on canopy frames.

You should try to overclock your CPU.

I'm looking to avoid PP with my mod, but for the moment there are glitches...

 

[PikAs62]

@lefuneste:

 

Thats very interresting indeed, but I´ve a view questions. I didn´t know that IL2BOS is running without SteamVR. How can I remove the automatic launch of SteamVR? I use the latest WHQL drivers 425.31. Should I use the latest beta driver?

 

I´m looking forward to your mod - I´m usering already your wonderful zoom mod :-). Will try your settings and report back.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Pikas_62

[C6_lefuneste]

in steamVR select settings / developer and untick "start steamVR when a VR application start"

[PikAs62]

Thx a lot!

[chiliwili69]

3 hours ago, lefuneste said:

Try Pittol render quality to 2 and SteamVR as low as possible (20%).

 

Hey!  putting RQ=2 is way toooo much. Even with RQ=1.5 and SS=30% you can barely run at 65fps with a 1080Ti.

The visual quality touching RQ and SS is totally equivalent. Look this post:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/42316-pimax-5k-rendering-quality-and-ss-for-spot-and-id-sample-pictures/

 

I currently run RQ=1 and SS=66%.

 

BTW, thanks!, I have to try running without SteamvR.

4 hours ago, Pikas_62 said:

FFR  off

 

having a 2080Ti you can try FFR.

This will reduce GPU load and then you can increase SS.

[PikAs62]

Wow. Lefuneste I have applied your settings. That's a day and night difference . The clarity of the picture is so far unsurpassed with good frame rates (quick mission / single player). Unfortunately, the zoom with your mod is now somehow out of sync. Do you have good settings for the 5k? Would be very nice!

 

Thx a lot for your hints! Besides my CPU & GPU are now overclocked. ?

Edited April 11, 2019 by Pikas_62

[C6_lefuneste]

8 hours ago, Pikas_62 said:

Wow. Lefuneste I have applied your settings. That's a day and night difference . The clarity of the picture is so far unsurpassed with good frame rates (quick mission / single player). Unfortunately, the zoom with your mod is now somehow out of sync. Do you have good settings for the 5k? Would be very nice!

 

Thx a lot for your hints! Besides my CPU & GPU are now overclocked. ?

That's not my settings but these of "LOLOF1", on  french checksix-fr.com forums.

I made zoom files for Pimax 5K with low and med. FoV in the last version of the mod that I am testing. I will post them this evening, at the end of the 3Dmigoto mod thread

 

11 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

Hey!  putting RQ=2 is way toooo much. Even with RQ=1.5 and SS=30% you can barely run at 65fps with a 1080Ti.

The visual quality touching RQ and SS is totally equivalent.

 

 

You must play with RQ and SS to keep the same output res. Before I was at RQ 1.0 and SS 80%, I moved to RQ 2.0 and SS 20%. It keep the same output res., the same fps (maybe a little bit lower) but the image is far better. Same for DCS.

[chiliwili69]

12 hours ago, lefuneste said:

Before I was at RQ 1.0 and SS 80%, I moved to RQ 2.0 and SS 20%. It keep the same output res., the same fps (maybe a little bit lower) but the image is far better.

 

Hey!, RQ=1 with SS=80% is 20.3 million pixels, and RQ=2 with SS=20% is 31.7 million 20.3 pixels. Which is 56% more pixels exactly the same. Indeed you have better visuals but high impact in performance.

 

To compare that use RQ=1 with SS=124% which is 31.4 million pixels. It will produce same very good visual but very low performance (in fps) even in a 2080Ti. (without using FFR). I really don´t know how much help the FFR in terms of fps performance.

 

The calcs below are in a tab of the performance online sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gJmnz_nVxI6_dG_UYNCCpZVK2-f8NBy-y1gia77Hu_k

 

 

EDIT here the right calculations:

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by chiliwili69

[PikAs62]

2 hours ago, lefuneste said:

That's not my settings but these of "LOLOF1", on  french checksix-fr.com forums.

 

Ok, but you have informed us here, for which I am very grateful.

 

2 hours ago, lefuneste said:

I made zoom files for Pimax 5K with low and med. FoV in the last version of the mod that I am testing. I will post them this evening, at the end of the 3Dmigoto mod thread 

 

I am looking forward to it and thank you for the continuous adjustments and improvements of your mod.

 

1 hour ago, chiliwili69 said:

Hey!, RQ=1 with SS=80% is 20.3 million pixels, and RQ=2 with SS=20% is 31.7 million pixels. Which is 56% more pixels. Indeed you have better visuals but high impact in performance.

 

As I oc my CPU and GPU a bit and switched from normal FOV to small FOV (lefuneste - you were right, really is not a big difference at least not in BoX) I´ve about the same if not better performance.  Perhaps performance is also gained by stopping the execution of SteamVR.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Pikas_62

[C6_lefuneste]

2 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

 

Hey!, RQ=1 with SS=80% is 20.3 million pixels, and RQ=2 with SS=20% is 31.7 million pixels. Which is 56% more pixels. Indeed you have better visuals but high impact in performance.

 

To compare that use RQ=1 with SS=124% which is 31.4 million pixels. It will produce same very good visual but very low performance (in fps) even in a 2080Ti. (without using FFR). I really don´t know how much help the FFR in terms of fps performance.

 

The calcs below are in a tab of the performance online sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gJmnz_nVxI6_dG_UYNCCpZVK2-f8NBy-y1gia77Hu_k

 

I did not use this kind of table but real facts:  resolution shown in the dev. tab of steamVR  and the fps diplayed in Il2 BoS.

I'm happy with it (1080Ti) and it worked for Pikas_62 and other people in french C6 forums.

But if you want to prove that it will not work for you, this is your problem

[blitze]

How cxan you stop the execution of SteamVR on Pimax headsets and Il2?  Only with Oculus can you use the substitute.

 

Keeping SteamVR Video (on auto overide) with manual setting of 100%, App setting of 100% and PiTool settings brightnes -1, Contrast +1, FOV Normal, Render 0.75, with no smoothing or foreated rendering and Hz at 64.

 

Il2 Graphics High, brightness 0.9, clouds medium, shadows high, HDR on, SOAA on, Terrain Detail 3, Render Distance 100km, no filtering or sharpening.

 

Get a reasonable frame rate on the 8K and lovely graphics.  I have also adjusted world scale a little larger as per the adjust world scale thread as my IPD is 66.4

 

It's a blast, I get great view and can also see ground targets without help.  Loving Il2 VR.

p.s. Would love to use PiTool render of 1 with Ultra settings but - hardware just can't deliver the goods for me.  There is no point messing around with SteamVR Render Sliders.  Best visual results are with PiTool - leave SteamVR at 100% and use PiTool for Render Quality.

[C6_lefuneste]

26 minutes ago, blitze said:

How can you stop the execution of SteamVR on Pimax headsets and Il2?  Only with Oculus can you use the substitute.

 

Keeping SteamVR Video (on auto overide) with manual setting of 100%, App setting of 100% and PiTool settings brightnes -1, Contrast +1, FOV Normal, Render 0.75, with no smoothing or foreated rendering and Hz at 64.

 

In steamVR select settings / developer and untick "start steamVR when a VR application start"

Use last beta version of Pitool.

Close steamVR, launch Pitool, launch IL2BoS => no steamVR running

 

Before doing that, note in steamVR the resolution given by your current config (Pitool Render, steamVR SS).

Then play with Pitool Render and steamVR SS to have the Pitool render at maximum and the steamVR SS at the lowest value and still have roughly the same output resolution in steamVR. You must close steamVR before each Pitool render change.

You will keep the same fps but improve your image quality (at least this is the case for the 5K+)

Edited April 12, 2019 by lefuneste

[blitze]

Have you checked Task Manager to verify that upon launching Il2 without prior launching of SteamVR that SteamVR doesn't launch in the background?

 

Also, done the whole Set Pitool to x and SteamVR Video to minimum etc and I find best to just leave SteamVR at 100% and use PiTool Render and set it at what you can get away with fps wise in Il2 for relative smooth flying.

 

Understand the panels are 4K per eye but with combination of FOV options and that there is some wiggle room for IPD adjustment (which moves lenses in headset and image on screens to match), decided that Pimax know the best render targets to use.  So, I just use their render slider.

 

Do notice that Pimax Il2 world scale is small so the the alteration as laid out in the other thread gives better results.  Doesn't look like 4/5ths to 3/4  scale.

 

I can retest your results but I am happy with current settings aside from mid level CPU.

[blitze]

Ok, just checked it out.

 

SteamVR still loads in the background.  This makes you to need to use the taskbar hidden icon menu to access it and settings. 

 

Normal VOF

At PiTool 2, SteamVR Video 20% and App 100% render res is around 3964 x 3492

 

My setting PiTool 0.75, SteamVR Vid 100% and App 100% it is 3324 x 2928

 

PiTool 1, SteamVR Vid and App both 100% it is 4432 x 3904

 

As for PiTool 2 and both SteamVR Vid and App 20%, not going there - yuck

 

I wish for PiTool 1 but happy with PiTool 0.75 for now.  Done much experimentation and I found that the best with Headset Hz at 64.

[C6_lefuneste]

1 hour ago, blitze said:

SteamVR still loads in the background.  This makes you to need to use the taskbar hidden icon menu to access it and settings. 

It dépends.

I'm sure that I had some cases with no SteamVR process running with IL2. But in some unclear context, I found  them running...

[PikAs62]

8 hours ago, lefuneste said:

I made zoom files for Pimax 5K with low and med. FoV in the last version of the mod that I am testing. I will post them this evening, at the end of the 3Dmigoto mod thread 

 

It seems that this thread is closed.

[blitze]

3 hours ago, lefuneste said:

It dépends.

I'm sure that I had some cases with no SteamVR process running with IL2. But in some unclear context, I found  them running...

Easy to test, run Il2 as you would without SteamVR.  Exit Il2 then try to launch SteamVR, if it fails then it is running in the background.  Il2 can not run without SteamVR unless you are an Oculus user and have substituted SteamVR for OpenComposite

 

Maybe using OpenComposite with Pimax utilising Oculus compatibility Pimax has would work.  Not sure.

https://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/opencomposite-play-steamvr-games-without-steamvr/9262

[C6_lefuneste]

I make a test and no steamVR process when IL2 Bos is running. I have the error message when launching SteamVR, that's normal because Pitool is "spoofing" game to act like steamVR...

 

 

 

19 hours ago, Pikas_62 said:

 Do you have good settings for the 5k? Would be very nice!

 

Have a look here for the last version with Pimax 5K+ settings files. Thanks in advance for feedback (in the 3Dmigoto mod thread).

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by lefuneste

[chiliwili69]

9 hours ago, lefuneste said:

I did not use this kind of table but real facts:  resolution shown in the dev. tab of steamVR  and the fps diplayed in Il2 BoS.

I'm happy with it (1080Ti) and it worked for Pikas_62 and other people in french C6 forums.

But if you want to prove that it will not work for you, this is your problem

Sorry Lefuneste, you absolutely right.

 

I made a mistake in my spreadsheet for the RQ=2, which is corrected above. So you were totally right. RQ=1 & SS=80% is equivalent to RQ=2 & SS=80%.

So it terms of performance it should deliver the same load to GPU, so same performance.

 

What I still need to check is if that improve the visuals. In the link above I put a post where I make through the lense picture for different equivalent values of RQ&SS, but I dind´t reach RQ=2.

So, I will check that.

 

 

 

[PikAs62]

15 hours ago, lefuneste said:

Have a look here for the last version with Pimax 5K+ settings files. Thanks in advance for feedback (in the 3Dmigoto mod thread).

 

Downloaded and installed. Feedback in the 3Dmigoto mod thread. Thanks to your hints and your mod my experience and competitiveness in IL2 are now much better. THX a lot lefuneste!

[blitze]

18 hours ago, lefuneste said:

I make a test and no steamVR process when IL2 Bos is running. I have the error message when launching SteamVR, that's normal because Pitool is "spoofing" game to act like steamVR...

 

You're right.  I just retested it launching Il2 from PiTool launcher without launching SteamVR first.  Aside from Steam Client which is necessary as I have my initial BoS purchase through there and then everything else linked to it from direct purchasing from 1C/777

 

I didn't see any sign of SteamVR there in Task Manager.  Also with the new Nvidia drivers 425.31, another day, another Nvidia Driver but maybe these will help with foreated rendering and Il2......  Will test later.