The Pimax Super Experience.

[Panzerlang]

Pimax Super malarkey.

Edited August 3 by Panzerlang

[=LD=Bulldog*]

I will stick with Track IR for now...

[Panzerlang]

14 hours ago, =LD=Bulldog* said:

I will stick with Track IR for now...

Aye. Apart from all the other agg, the gate-keeper to VR is a money-hungry monster.

[robbiec]

Do you actually believe that it is in a warehouse in Japan? I'd be more willing to believe incompetence than malice and that they are struggling to get the kit to Japan. Hope it gets resolved soon. 

 

S! 

[Dagwoodyt]

There is a ridiculous number of recent YT videos hawking Pimax  HMD's that are clearly incentivized and likely financed by money from customers who cannot get their orders fulfilled by Pimax. The situation screams scam, yet seems like there are always more dreamers ready to take the Pimax fantasy ride😉

[[CPT]Crunch]

From my vantage point it's a company steeped in employee's not allowed to make decisions, seems to be their company culture.  Just experienced a full month of it getting a warranty replacement Crystal Light.   

 

Its pretty much like a teeth pulling experience in having to push for movement, seems they won't or can't move on their own.  Their own staff actually encourages you to do it.  Every time period in days they themselves state gets exceeded.  Once past the promised days when you react they than move on to the next stage.  Bizarre they can't simply do what they themselves state they will without any feedback from your end within their own stated time frame.   It's like they want a negative feedback loop, that leads me to believe its part of the company culture.

 

Despite dragging it out unnecessarily, they did get it done in the end, my units in a parked UPS truck somewhere between here and Vegas.  Whole process to get a replacement took a bit over 30 days, should have had it a week ago by any normal metrics.   

 

For USA guys once they give you a UPS label and the customs docs, take it immediately on your own initiative to a UPS shipping point, don't wait on their appointed pick up date, it'll never happen.  Your already behind the power curve waiting for a driver to stop.  Also they don't tell you, you need three copies of the customs print outs and a plastic sleeve on the box so they can be accessed.  A ziplock gallon bag securely taped works great.  UPS drivers no longer carry those sorts of supplies.  They won't take it if not ready in that manner.  You'll save yourself a weeks worth of time.  Faster your set gets to China the quicker the time clock starts, you'll get zero movement until your set actually gets there.

 

Your replacement comes out of US stocks, so once they finally give the go it ships in 24 hours.  It's just getting to that go that kind of drags on a bit, they seem to forget you if you don't remind them.

[firdimigdi]

I'd go with this variation of Hanlon's razor:

Quote

Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following incentives in a complex system.

[Panzerlang]

12 hours ago, robbiec said:

Do you actually believe that it is in a warehouse in Japan? I'd be more willing to believe incompetence than malice and that they are struggling to get the kit to Japan. Hope it gets resolved soon. 

 

S! 

It's due to be delivered tomorrow, by Yamato (Black Cat) on behalf of Amazon.jp. This, after being told by Pimax support that the expedited Amazon was delayed until August (the date on the Amazon screenie they gave me seemed to show a delivery date of 6th¬8th Aug).

I believe Pimax want to give the impression they have bricks & mortar in Japan when, in fact, they are doing nothing more than shipping their product from china to Amazon.jp and it's Amazon who are dropping the ball. But that's me being charitable. They did nothing in their emails to give any other impression than they have a warehouse in Japan.

[Panzerlang]

After yet more malarkey (Pimax sending me an email to say delivery had failed...it hadn't) it's just been delivered subsequent to my wife ringing Yamato. I've not opened it, I've run out of energy.

[Panzerlang]

I've given it a go in IL2. Apart from the auto IPD being a bit sketchy (I intend to set it manually next go, not sure how that's done yet though) it's quite impressive. Flawless performance at native res and 90fps (5090 and 9800X3D). The higher rez over the OG is noticeable and the colours are betterer. The sun though, jeezuz!
It's a lot more comfortable too.

[chiliwili69]

7 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

at native res

Whaaatttt??? 😲

what is native res? 6240x6280 per eye?

[Panzerlang]

2 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Whaaatttt??? 😲

what is native res? 6240x6280 per eye?

No, it's 3840 per eye. 

8 vs 8 QM, smooth as silk.

[chiliwili69]

17 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

No, it's 3840 per eye. 

But one thing is the physical panel pilxes (which are 3840x3840 per eye) and another thing is the rendered pixels at default resolution (ie High, factor 1.0 in Pimax Software and 100% SS in SteamVR)

 

 

Calcs here in "SS per device": https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gJmnz_nVxI6_dG_UYNCCpZVK2-f8NBy-y1gia77Hu_k/

[Panzerlang]

I'm on 1.0 on the Pimax Play render slider, using the Pimax quad views. 90hzt. I've not used the FPS counter in IL2 yet but as everything is (so far) graphically perfect...

Who knows which new component is making the biggest difference in running the Super so well...the 9800X3D or the 5090? I don't. Next to test, DCS.

[firdimigdi]

13 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

I'm on 1.0 on the Pimax Play render slider, using the Pimax quad views. 90hzt. I've not used the FPS counter in IL2 yet but as everything is (so far) graphically perfect...

Who knows which new component is making the biggest difference in running the Super so well...the 9800X3D or the 5090? I don't. Next to test, DCS.

If you want to check, in the <gamedir>/data/startup.cfg the or_width and or_height give you the per-eye resolution the game is rendering at.

[Varibraun]

14 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

using the Pimax quad views

 

I didn't realize Pimax Play quad views would work in IL2 GB, I will have to check that out!  (I have been successfully running Pimax DFR for the past few days).

 

 

14 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

Next to test, DCS.

 

If you haven't seen this Tally Mouse guide, I found it to be very helpful. Corsair over the Marianas is stunning in the Super - If only I had a career to play there 😥 

 

 

[Dagwoodyt]

Thinking my next purchase will likely be a 5090. Varjo Aero base still runs without headaches ATM, resolution is acceptable to me in GB and DCS and lighthouse tracking has always been flawless regardless of room lighting. Beyond the Pimax QC grab bag I dread Pimax software and what unknowns it might choose to do in the background that could someday come back to bite its' users.

[[CPT]Crunch]

IL-2 doesn't support quadviews and your risking game lock ups.  The Crystal light will allow you through the menus and into a mission for long enough to fool you into thinking it works, than it will crash.  Bad advice for most set pimax owners, but for all we know it may be stable enough to run a Super, but your not actually getting any quadviews without the games native support.  IL-2 doesn't even support OpenXR without the file hack.

[Panzerlang]

On 7/31/2025 at 6:29 AM, [CPT]Crunch said:

IL-2 doesn't support quadviews and your risking game lock ups.  The Crystal light will allow you through the menus and into a mission for long enough to fool you into thinking it works, than it will crash.  Bad advice for most set pimax owners, but for all we know it may be stable enough to run a Super, but your not actually getting any quadviews without the games native support.  IL-2 doesn't even support OpenXR without the file hack.

Oh. Did I already know this? Lol. I'm finding my brain loses info within weeks if not regularly refreshed. I can't even remember how to bring up the fps counter in DCS.

DCS runs extremely well when it doesn't lock up, but all I've flown so far is 2 vs 1 QMs.

Next test, IL2 without Pimax quadview.

[[CPT]Crunch]

Good news is setting up profiles in PimaxPlay for each of the two sims that's one of the settings you get to tailor per game, so IL-2 off and DCS on, easy peasy.

 

Interesting the latest PimaxPlay software pack you can fire up IL-2 and put the headset on without even opening PimaxPlay, but the settings in game are running the default profile.  Make it really handy if a guy only ran one sim.

[Varibraun]

14 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

Next test, IL2 without Pimax quadview.

 

This comment below from the most recent Pimax YT video explaining PimaxPlay reflects my most recent experience that Pimax "CPR" (vs. Quadviews) seems to be working for me without crashes in IL2 GB over the past week with the Super:

 

 

14 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

I can't even remember how to bring up the fps counter in DCS.

 

Me either, but VoiceAttack is my friend so I only have to say "display FPS" after getting it set up once.

[Panzerlang]

Quadviews never seemed to be an issue in IL2 for me either, with the OG. However, I turned everything off yesterday and IL2 was noticeably no longer as smooth. I also ran the FPS counter and lows were high 70s, average was high 80s. I'm going to test next with the CPR turned on, I suspect that might be the difference.

[Panzerlang]

CPR is the game changer. Smooth as silk again and never went below 87fps (most of the time 89-90fps).

[chiliwili69]

9 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

I turned everything off yesterday and IL2 was noticeably no longer as smooth. I also ran the FPS counter and lows were high 70s, average was high 80s.

Wow! this is still impressive for those 78 million (with Pimax play at 1.0) pixels to be rendered, that 5090 is really a beast. Good to hear that CPR works for IL-2.

[[CPT]Crunch]

CPR on in a Crystal Light crashes my game every time upon entering the cockpit.  Tried every possible combination, the quadviews I can get it flying but it's not actually working.  Have yet to check them in DCS, they should work there since that game support quadviews.

[Panzerlang]

14 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Wow! this is still impressive for those 78 million (with Pimax play at 1.0) pixels to be rendered, that 5090 is really a beast. Good to hear that CPR works for IL-2.

CPR might not be. Yesterday I fired up IL2 and went to fly a canned mission, the game crashed to desktop before I'd even got the engine started. Tried again, got the engine started and had barely begun taxying when it crashed again. So I figured maybe the mission had something bad in it and tried a QM instead. That lasted about five minutes, crashed again. Another go, this time no crash. Went back to the mission, about 30 minutes until it crashed.
So I'll be testing with no CPR in a while. If the game runs as it did previously without CPR (no crashes) I'll report it to Calvin.

Edited August 2 by Panzerlang

[Panzerlang]

Yeah, no crashes with CPR turned off. I've asked Calvin if the devs could have a look but no great hope it'll be fixed.

[[CPT]Crunch]

Yeah, it's really up to the IL-2 developers to fix that, and with the focus on Korea no need to hold our breath, never happening in this version.

[Panzerlang]

50 minutes ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

Yeah, it's really up to the IL-2 developers to fix that, and with the focus on Korea no need to hold our breath, never happening in this version.

I don't think it's on the IL2 devs, it's a Pimax feature that needs to be made to work properly by the Pimax devs.

[DBCOOPER011]

CPS (VRS) is hit or miss on when it will crash the game. It can work without issues for a couple weeks or crash the game immediatelly, Its been like that for years in IL2 with pimax play. Quadviews has never worked in IL2. 

[Panzerlang]

I tried at 0.75 render, it looked a bit crap but the GPU was getting an easy time (around 70% use). Bumped it up to 0.85 and it looks glorious and runs smooth as silk (GPU hitting 100% though). In both cases the FPS was a solid 90, occasional dips to high 80s.

It's all going to be on Korea though, I've played the ass out of IL2 and DCS is yawntastic. One can only hope the devs put all the bells and whistles into Korea (mainly eye tracking and quadviews).

Edited August 3 by Panzerlang

[Panzerlang]

"Never change more than one parameter at a time". Lol. I'd put the shadows up to high. Put them back to medium, GPU now hovers around 85% usage.

[Varibraun]

On 8/2/2025 at 10:25 PM, DBCOOPER011 said:

CPS (VRS) is hit or miss on when it will crash the game. It can work without issues for a couple weeks or crash the game immediatelly, Its been like that for years in IL2 with pimax play. Quadviews has never worked in IL2. 

 

On 8/2/2025 at 6:01 PM, [CPT]Crunch said:

CPR on in a Crystal Light crashes my game every time upon entering the cockpit. 

 

On 8/2/2025 at 8:34 PM, Panzerlang said:

Yeah, no crashes with CPR turned off. I've asked Calvin if the devs could have a look but no great hope it'll be fixed.

 

I appreciate everyone's posts regarding this, I only started using this with IL2 a couple of weeks ago with my Super (never used it with the OG Crystal).  Had very good experiences for several flights (career missions & quick starts), but then had 2 crashes requiring full reboot over the weekend.  Would love to see it working consistently.

[Panzerlang]

32 minutes ago, Varibraun said:

 

 

 

I appreciate everyone's posts regarding this, I only started using this with IL2 a couple of weeks ago with my Super (never used it with the OG Crystal).  Had very good experiences for several flights (career missions & quick starts), but then had 2 crashes requiring full reboot over the weekend.  Would love to see it working consistently.

Did you update Pimax Play between those experiences?

[Varibraun]

19 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

Did you update Pimax Play between those experiences?

 

No, all good and bad experiences were in PP 1.40.4 (I haven't updated yet).

[Oboe]

Thank you for this thread guys.  Following with interest.  

 

I currently use Quest 3 with a 4080 Super and a 12900K.   Really hesitating to pull the trigger on a Super due to Pimax's reputation with quality issues and customer service challenges.  The Crystal Light is tempting and I think would be a better match for my system specs, but it's just so physically large.  

 

Wondering too, if I upgrade PC to 9800X3D, will a 4080 Super is powerful enough to run the Crystal Super adequately.   DCS currently reports my system as CPU-limited.   My guess is I'm just a bit on the wrong side of the performance curve with the 12900K.  I have 64Gb RAM but its older DDR4.

 

 

[Varibraun]

4 hours ago, Oboe said:

I currently use Quest 3 with a 4080 Super and a 12900K.   Really hesitating to pull the trigger on a Super due to Pimax's reputation with quality issues and customer service challenges.  The Crystal Light is tempting and I think would be a better match for my system specs, but it's just so physically large.  

 

Wondering too, if I upgrade PC to 9800X3D, will a 4080 Super is powerful enough to run the Crystal Super adequately.   DCS currently reports my system as CPU-limited.   My guess is I'm just a bit on the wrong side of the performance curve with the 12900K.  I have 64Gb RAM but its older DDR4.

 

Hi Oboe - If it helps, while your 4080 Super certainly meets the specs, I am currently running at 4090, 13900K, 64Gb DDR5 6400 and am still planning on eventually moving to a 9800X3D with a 5090 system mostly driven by trying to the get the most I can out of the Super.  I received the OG crystal $399 discount on the Super which made it an easier decision for me to preorder the Super.  Based on what I am seeing on my numbers, I think the GPU is probably the limiting factor for it, not the CPU.  (FWIW I get that same CPU-limited message in DCS with my system).

 

So, while I am not trying to talk you out of the Super, I think your instinct to go with the CL is probably the right one from a cost/benefit view because the price difference is pretty substantial and you will probably get similar visuals (other than FOV) since you will have to turn down the Super and can probably run the CL at 1.0.  While it will be an adjustment from the Q3 (I have one for non-sim games), if you go with the StudioForm kit, I think the size/weight of the Pimax will become a non-issue for you after a few hours of flight sim time. 

 

Finally, regarding Pimax and customer service, I have found through my OG and now my Super, if you are patient, polite and persistent, they will come through for you.  It took me 3 tries to get a "correct" Super, but the 1st 2 were very early batches and came through without a QA checklist, and when the 3rd showed up with the signed checklist, it was superb (so hopefully, they have figured that part out).  Customer support always responded within 2 business days and never pushed back on the RMA request when I was able to describe the problem I was seeing.  Plus, you have the 14 day return window to try it out (whichever one you decide), so I never felt "trapped" when I saw a problem because, if they hadn't given me a satisfactory response, I would have just refunded it.  Finally, to me at least, Pimax is the one company really continuing to develop the software side of PCVR with Pimax Play adding new features fairly often.

[DBCOOPER011]

On 8/5/2025 at 2:32 PM, Varibraun said:

 

No, all good and bad experiences were in PP 1.40.4 (I haven't updated yet).

 

Pimax Play 1.41.1 is out and it has a really good built in upscaling/sharpening feature. It looks much better then the openxr toolkit IMO.

[Calvin_Pimax]

Thanks @Varibraun for the support! 

[Varibraun]

15 hours ago, DBCOOPER011 said:

Pimax Play 1.41.1 is out and it has a really good built in upscaling/sharpening feature. It looks much better then the openxr toolkit IMO.

 

Thank you - I was holding off, but will now make that download soon.  Really happy to hear that about it looking BETTER than XRToolkit which I have been using well past when @mbucchia told us to stop, because it was still the best thing for my visuals and performance in IL2.

 

12 hours ago, Calvin_Pimax said:

Thanks @Varibraun for the support! 

 

Hi Calvin, great to see you here in this thread! (Especially with the discussion of the IL2 crashes with CPR enabled).  Thank YOU for all you do for the VR community