MichaelJWP15

Any deadzone is a dealbreaker for me, I hate them. Also after thinking about this quite a lot, I think FF is far more important for racing sims than flight sims. I've driven real track cars and done a lot of race simming and the tech has come leaps and bounds in the 25 years I've been doing sims. In real aircraft, I think now pilots are used to it, they don't really miss the feedback through the stick that much in anything 1960s+, though like others who've commented, there is a wealth of information coming to you via your seat on g-forces, rotation, slide slip, buffet, structural limits, as well as the sounds from slipstream, engine and stresses and so on. (At least we can have good audio in sims)

Back in the day, I used a Microsoft FF Sidewinder stick, and we supported it in our games. I never really got on with though as the force application was too crude. Seeing how good some of the wheels are now it would be great if we could get something similar for flight sims. The software would have to be up to it though, with low latency. Devs would also have to decide whether to replicate early attempts at artificial feel when hydraulic controls were first introduced, or something more like what feedback you woud get if controls were still connected by pushrods etc. Of course FBW like the F-16 is a special case, I think it has no feedback, right?

Definitely painful but it's a useful service, knowing how easy it is to scratch the front. Also was surprised that inside is so amazingly tightly packed and you have to virtually destroy the case and outer fittings to get to the electronics! Even worse repairability than a MacBook or iPhone...

I think you have to set your expectations. I have the Crystal and a 4070, can't justify the prices for a 4090, though many can on this forum Quite happy though, I get around 50-60fps and the cockpit is so clear, the two biggest improvements were the multi-threading and the dynamic foveated rendering. My worst case is when flying low and I look at 90 degrees to my flight path, that IMO is when you could do with 120hz true fps. As Gyster says, in VR, nothing will be perfect even with the deepest pockets!

This is really great stuff - love getting original documents for any of the modules but this is 'above and beyond' !! Much thanks @Kirk66 now can you share some Phantom anecdotes?

Yes, indeed - and thanks, glad you liked it, IW2 was one of our last ones before I sold the studio. The team was large for us at about 15 people, and as AAA games were getting bigger and bigger, we found it harder to raise the necessary budgets, we had an MMO persistent universe IW3 in the design/prototype stages which would have been very like what EVE:online became, but couldn't get the green light unfortunately.

I remember those pre-internet days (this is a bit after cereal tops) where you bought your games in a games shop and things like EA's Jane's series came with big thick manuals and keyboard overlays. You used to walk past and get excited because the boxes where stacked up in a display, only to find out they were empty and the game wasn't actually released! I'm looking forward to the F4 too and its pre-ordered, though not sure if it's just nostalgia.. after all, it's going to be a pain without all the assistance jets like the F16, F18 and A-10 give you with their datalinks, targeting pods and laser guided bombs...

Thanks, all my graphics code was in 80x86 machine code back then! I actually still get people asking me to do a remake of Subwar with modern tech. One day maybe, and this time I would certainly include VR support

Quite a long time ago now, but sci-fi sim games; Powerdrome, Subwar 2050, I-War/Independence War.. games sold in boxes with physical manuals, keyboard guides and maps we coded our own 3d engines back then, always wanted to do VR support but it wasn't commercially viable back then.

Agree there, with my background being in 3D videogames and engineering, I was considering an AR/VR startup a few years ago. Something stopped me pulling the trigger though, the tech wasn't quite there, then as you say, the pandemic changed everything. Looking forward to trying the Vision Pro, but no way will I buy one, and everything in our house apart from our gaming PCs is Apple ecosystem.

I just have to agree with you @SharpeXB even at the launch Apple made me laugh looking at their videos of people being happy to wear that thing with the weird projected eyes effect on the faceplate. Watching family memories shot in 3D VR lol! VR to me will continue to be all about gaming especially simulation, and AR will have uses in industry (if they can ever get the tech working). Despite being able to do it since the days of the Oculus DK1, I have never watched a movie in VR and never wanted to..

I got it working and noticed minor clarity improvements on the F16 cockpit. I only tried for 5 mins though last night, when I get the chance I am going to test more, also see how it affects fps.

Sounds good @Swoop, one problem of course with VR is we can totally obsessed with performance, settings, framerate, stutters etc. etc. to the detriment of enjoying ourselves. I liked your comment about learning the Mossie, after all, we are here to get the experience of flying planes we could never get in real life. Quit the technical forums for a while, turn off the framerate counter and get immersed. (for a while anyway!)

Strange with the performance as I am getting 45 - 50fps in that situation, and I only have a 4070. Suggests something can be improved. Your second point, I can understand, I am more of a ground attack pilot, but still swivel round looking for SAMs etc. It can get heavy on the neck but no worse than the motorcycle helmet I wear for biking. Have you considered the Big Screen Beyond? That looks just amazing for that type of dogfighting, so lightweight. Haven't tried it yet but would like to.

I went for Pimax from my G2, all I play is sims though. No regrets, maybe I've been lucky but my only complaint is the length of time to get the eyetracking working with DCS. Very happy now though and shortly about to sell my G2. Aero vs. Pimax is a close comparison though, both are good choices IMO.

Glad your Crystal is working well, I'm very pleased with mine now the DFR is working. Can I ask you what you bought as a USB hub? I need to do the same, the cable is too loose and causes issues - thanks

Yes, there certainly was some very high alpha going on there.. also the airframe was as clean as possible, with not even bare pylons.. Nice to see it done in the F15 though, instead of the usual suspects..

Here's the link: F15 Dubai Air Show Going to try that in DCS now, who needs vectored thrust!

I've tried various settings with my Pimax Crystal and I am getting good framerates around 72Hz. I'm using 4070 so not expecting more and satisfied with that. I have not found DLSS useful at all despite lots of experimentation, though I am using DLAA. Tbh though there are so many layers and moving parts I do not have a mental grasp of the whole renderchain any more, despite the fact I used to be a 3D game engine programmer 10 years ago (ML/AI now).. I don't know how less techie users manage apart from randomly tweaking stuff and hoping for the best.

I concur, after getting the DFR working (thanks mbucchia) and now the 72Hz mode I am finally beginning to really enjoy my Crystal! (and DCS of course) Just want to try the wide FOV lenses now, wonder when they will become available. Thanks @jaapgrolleman I've been trying Intel PresentMon, seems useful but the overlay appears on my desktop, not in my VR headset.. does anyone know how to get this working?

I noticed this morning my Pimax Play and Crystal firmware both have updates available. Assume it's the 72Hz being enabled but can't try it yet as am working...

Just to add to this, I have never had any USB connection issues, or indeed battery life issues with my Pimax Crystal headset. My main downside issues for it would be the heavy weight and size of the device. Those are well known though. Obviously the OP has experienced these annoying USB connection issues, but it's hard to debug these things, even in person, never mind an online forum.

I'm using an i7 13700K with an Asus RTX 4070. I consider this system midrange compared to a lot of the rigs on this forum Using 0.75 Render Quality in Pimax client software, 90Hz, resolution reported in PimaxXR Control Center is 3234 x 3826, but I still find the whole pipeline confusing. I generally seem to end up with an in-game framerate of 50 - 90 depending on graphical and simulation load.

This guy actually gets on my nerves somewhat, he is way too excitable and virtually every headsest he tests is the "best headset ever", until the next one is sent to him free-of-charge (with affiliate code).

I had this exact problem also. The weird thing is, I never did find a way of fixing it, and anyway, I shelved my Crystal for a few weeks until they released the eye-tracking update the other day. Having installed the software stack for that (thanks @mbucchia ! ) not only did I get a big framerate hike from 35 - 40fps to 60-80fps, but the effect of the black edges has now disappeared. Not sure if anything else fixed it, as I also updated nvidia drivers, PimaxXR and of course the quad-views-foveated addon...