REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - Machine Specs - Diagnose Pimax Double Vision Stutters

[m335]

TLDR

 

 

Current reported issues for DCS World 2.5 Beta.

 

 

* DO NOT INSTALL, PiTool Beta, SteamVR Beta. DOWNGRADE, or DO NOT USE, PiTool Beta Firmware.

 

 

-

 

If you are using a Pimax 5k+, 8k, or similar, with DCS World 2.5 Beta, please unambiguously state the hardware and software versions used.

 

 

Some users, including myself, are observing four separate issues with DCS World Beta 2.5 in the Pimax 5k+ or similar headset.

 

1. At minimal graphics resolution/quality. Frametimes generally below 72Hz (excellent). All nearby objects or overlay, including jet aircraft cockpit, SteamVR dashboard. Two frames rendered as a single frame.

 

2. At high graphics resolution/quality. Frametimes generally above 72Hz/2 (bad). All objects in frame. Two frames rendered as a single frame.

3. At marginal graphics resolution/quality. Most frametimes below 72Hz/2 (marginal). Only objects outside aircraft (ie. trees but not cockpit). Two frames rendered as a single frame (two trees seen ghosted side by side during sharp aileron roll).

 

Visually, all of these issues would make a single tree, appear to be two trees, when looking out the canopy, at the 2'oclock or 10'oclock position, while sharply aileron rolling a jet aircraft.

 

Issue 1 is a bug and should never occur. Please report if you do or do not have this issue.

 

Issues 2 and 3 are understandable. When any frame takes more than two frames at 72Hz, motion smoothing apparently does not keep up, and synchronization is lost. Sometimes this can be reset by temporarily reducing CPU load - such as pausing DCS in single player by pressing "Esc".

 

 

For Oculus Rift, this kind of desynchronization was rare, usually reset by toggling ASW. For SteamVR/Vive, this did not happen with NVIDIA hardware or a solid 90FPS framerate (AMD GPU poorly supports motion smoothing).

 

Pimax has proven more tricky. Specific versions of PiTool and SteamVR are apparently known to have regressions from time to time.

 

Listing hardware and software versions either working or displaying severe regressions with DCS World Beta 2.5 may help establish some patterns to assist in future diagnosis.

 

Performance - PASS/FAIL, issues.
Frame Latency


CPU, Overclock
GPU, Overclock
RAM, Effective Frequency
Motherboard

SteamVR Version
Pitool Version
NVIDIA Driver Version


(PiTool Settings)
"Hidden Area Mask"
"Render Quality"
"Turn on Smart Smoothing"
"Turn on "Fixed Foveated Rendering"
"Compatible with parallel projections"
"Field Of View"
"Refresh Rate"

(SteamVR Settings)
General > "Use SteamVR Home"
Applications > DCS.exe > Custom Resolution (only visible while running DCS)
Video > Custom Resolution

(NVIDIA Settings)
"Ambient Occlusion"
"Anistropic filtering"
"Antialiasing - FXAA"
"Antialiasing - Gamma correction"
"Antialiasing - Mode"
"Antialiasing - Setting"
"Antialiasing - Transparency"
"CUDA - GPUs"
"DSR - Factors"
"DSR - Smoothness"
"Maximum pre-rendered frames"
"Multi-Frame Sampled AA (MFAA)"
"OpenGL rendering GPU"
"Power management mode"
"Shader Cache"
"Texture filtering - Anistropic sample optimization"
"Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias"
"Texture filtering - Quality"
"Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization"
"Threaded optimization"
"Triple buffering"
"Vertical sync"
"Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames"

Example.

Performance - FAIL. Severe double vision stutters .
Frame Latency - 16ms/13.9 In Flight


CPU, Overclock - Ryzen 2700X, tested both Stock, 40Mult 103BCLK
GPU, Overclock - NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti, 1750 MHz - 
RAM, Effective Frequency - DDR4-3100
Motherboard - ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero

SteamVR Version - 1.3.23
Pitool Version - Have tried PiToolSetup_1.0.1.109_R193, PiToolSetup_121_R211_beta. Cannot use PiToolSetup_1.0.1.91 - apparently due to firmware upgrade.
NVIDIA Driver Version - Tested 419.17, 418.91, 430.39, and others.


(PiTool Settings)
"Hidden Area Mask" - Better off.
"Render Quality" - Tested 1.0 and 1.25 .
"Turn on Smart Smoothing" - No difference observed.
"Turn on "Fixed Foveated Rendering" - No difference observed.
"Compatible with parallel projections" - May have affected some tests.
"Field Of View" - Tested Normal, Large.
"Refresh Rate" - Tested 72Hz, 90Hz.

(SteamVR Settings)
General > "Use SteamVR Home" - Tested both.
Applications > DCS.exe > Custom Resolution (only visible while running DCS) - 100%
Video > Custom Resolution - Tested from 60% to 100% .

(NVIDIA Settings)
"Ambient Occlusion" - Off
"Anistropic filtering" - Off
"Antialiasing - FXAA" - Off
"Antialiasing - Gamma correction" - Tested on and off.
"Antialiasing - Mode" - Off
"Antialiasing - Setting" - None (Greyed Out)
"Antialiasing - Transparency" - Off (Greyed Out)
"CUDA - GPUs" - All
"DSR - Factors" - Off
"DSR - Smoothness" - Off
"Maximum pre-rendered frames" - Tested 1 and 3 .
"Multi-Frame Sampled AA (MFAA)" - Off
"OpenGL rendering GPU" - Auto-select
"Power management mode" - Perfer maximum performance
"Shader Cache" - On
"Texture filtering - Anistropic sample optimization" On
"Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias" - Allow
"Texture filtering - Quality" - High Performance
"Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization" - On
"Threaded optimization"- Auto
"Triple buffering"- On
"Vertical sync" - Use the 3D application setting
"Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames" - 3
 

Edited April 27, 2019 by m335
summary of issues

[m335]

Please post details of your setup if you have managed to get this working. Just having a hardware whitelist will narrow down possible causes when deploying the Pimax 5k+ with new hardware/software versions. Particularly if chipset/motherboard/USB issues are in question.

 

Preponderance of evidence continues to point to a regression. Downgrading software and firmware to non-beta versions, possibly downgrading firmware to .91 PiTool version, seems to resolve the problem.

 

https://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/dcs-pimax-5k-judder-fest/18921/20

https://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/double-vision-stutters-only-with-pimax-headset-oculus-vive-ok-dcs-world-beta-2-5/19283/2

Edited April 27, 2019 by m335

[m335]

PASS

 

Working configuration found (not subject to bug #1).

 

 

Performance - PASS. Double vision stutters only at DCS graphical quality settings sufficient to miss at least two frames.
Frame Latency - Summary shows 16ms/13.9 In Flight. Detailed view shows some frame latencies >20ms.

CPU, Overclock - Ryzen 2700X, Auto Multiplier, 100.6BCLK
GPU, Overclock - NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti, 1750 MHz
RAM, Effective Frequency - DDR4-3100
Motherboard - ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero

SteamVR Version - 1.3.23
Pitool Version - PiToolSetup_1.0.1.109_R193
NVIDIA Driver Version - 430.39


(PiTool Settings)
"Hidden Area Mask" - OFF
"Render Quality" - 1.25
"Turn on Smart Smoothing" - ON
"Turn on "Fixed Foveated Rendering" - NOT AVAILABLE
"Compatible with parallel projections" - ON
"Field Of View" - Normal
"Refresh Rate" - 72Hz

(SteamVR Settings)
General > "Use SteamVR Home" - OFF
Applications > DCS.exe > Custom Resolution (only visible while running DCS) - 100%
Video > Custom Resolution - 80%

(NVIDIA Settings)
"Ambient Occlusion" - Off
"Anistropic filtering" - Off
"Antialiasing - FXAA" - Off
"Antialiasing - Gamma correction" - Off
"Antialiasing - Mode" - Off
"Antialiasing - Setting" - None (Greyed Out)
"Antialiasing - Transparency" - Off (Greyed Out)
"CUDA - GPUs" - All
"DSR - Factors" - Off
"DSR - Smoothness" - Off
"Maximum pre-rendered frames" - 2 (No improvement seen at 3+)
"Multi-Frame Sampled AA (MFAA)" - Off
"OpenGL rendering GPU" - Auto-select
"Power management mode" - Perfer maximum performance
"Shader Cache" - On
"Texture filtering - Anistropic sample optimization" On
"Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias" - Allow
"Texture filtering - Quality" - High Performance
"Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization" - On
"Threaded optimization"- Auto
"Triple buffering"- On
"Vertical sync" - Use the 3D application setting
"Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames" - 2 (No improvement seen at 3+)

[Naruto]

Have same issue and brought it up here

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=239146

[m335]

Responded there. Retested again PiTool beta does NOT work. Also, SteamVR overlays can interfere, and need to be run at low resolution.