DCS best settings for Pimax headsets per GPU

[jaapgrolleman]

Going back and forth to find the perfect settings in DCS can be a bit frustrating and time-consuming! Here we got some recommendations, feel free to add yours!

Of course there are more factors in this such as CPU and RAM etc, this can serve as a baseline.

Scroll down for:

• Crystal, 4090 GPU, OpenXR
• Crystal, 4070ti GPU, SteamVR
• 8KX, 4090, OpenXR
• 8KX, OpenXR, 4060ti
• 8K, 3080ti, SteamVR
• AMD 6900XT, SteamVR

 

Settings for Crystal, 4090 & OpenXR

System Setup 4090  i9-11900kF 64GB RAM DDR4	DCS Settings Textures: High; Terrain: High; Traffic: Low; Water: High;  Visib Range: Extreme; Heat Blur: Low;  Shadows: High; Flat Shadows Blur: On  Secondary Shadows: On;  Resolution: 1920*1080;  Res of cockpit displays: 1024 Monitors: 1 Screen; MSAA: 2x;  Depth of field: Off; Clouds: Ultra;  SSAA: Off; SSLR: On;  SSAO: On; Clutter/Grass: 1170;  Forest Visibility: 85%;  Preload Radius: 150000; Gamma: 2;  External field of view: 125%; Anisotropic Filtering: 16x;  Terrain Objects Shadows: Flat; Cockpit Global Illumination: On; Messages font scale: 1 Scale GUI: 1;  Rain Droplets: On; Vsync: On;  Full screen: Off
Graphic Card Setting Nvidia: Global Settings: Power Management Mode: Prefer  Maximum Power
Runtime: Open XR:  Native Resolution  CAS Sharpness: 70%  FFR: On
Pimax Play Settings Everything Default  Refresh Rate: 90Hz

Contributed by TallyMouse from r/Pimax

---

Settings for Crystal, 4070ti & SteamVR

System Setup 4070Ti i7-13700F  16GB RAM	DCS Settings Textures: High;  Terrain: High;  Traffic: Off;  Water: High;  Visib Range: Medium;  Heat Blur: High;  Shadows: High;  Flat Shadows Blur: Off  Secondary Shadows: On;  Resolution: 2560*1440;  MSAA: Off;  Depth of field: Off;  Clouds: Standard;  SSAA: Off  SSLR: On;  SSAO: Off;  Clutter/Grass: 0;  Forest Visibility: 65%;  Preload Radius: 70200;  Gamma: 2;  External field of view: 78%
Graphic Card Setting
Runtime: Steam VR Refresh Rate: 90Hz  Motion Smoothing: Off  Render Resolution: 44% 2690*2972  Advanced Supersample: Off  Overlay Render Quality: Medium
Pimax Play Settings Refresh Rate: 90Hz  Eye Tracking: On  Render Quality: 1  FFR: On  Smart Smoothing: Off

---

Settings 8KX, 4090, OpenXR

System Setup 4090 i9-11900kF 64GB RAM DDR4 3600MHz	DCS Settings Textures: High; Terrain: High;  Traffic: Low; Water: High;  Visib Range: High; Heat Blur: Low;  Shadows: High; Flat Shadows Blur: On  Secondary Shadows: On;  Resolution: 1920*1080;  Res of cockpit displays: 1024  Monitors: 1 Screen; MSAA: off; Depth of field: Off; Clouds: High; SSAA: Off; SSLR: On; SSAO: On; Clutter/Grass: 1170;  Forest Visibility: 85%;  Preload Radius: 150000; Gamma: 2;  External field of view: 125%; Anisotropic Filtering: 16x;  Terrain Objects Shadows: Flat; Cockpit Global Illumination: On;  Messages font scale: 1 Scale GUI: 1;  Rain Droplets: On; Vsync: Off;  Full screen: Off; Rain Droplets: On
Nvidia Settings Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Power
Runtime: Open XR Native Resolution  CAS Sharpness 100%  FFR: on  40deg – 1  60deg – 1/4  80deg – 1/16th
PimaxPlay Settings FOV: Wide  Refresh: 90Hz

Contributed by TallyMouse from r/Pimax

---

8KX, OpenXR, 4060ti

System Setup 4060Ti i9-11900kF 64Gb RAM DDR4 3600MHz	DCS Settings Textures: High; Terrain: Low;  Traffic: Off; Water: Medium;  Visib Range: Medium; Heat Blur: Low;  Shadows: Low; Flat Shadows Blur: On  Secondary Shadows: Off;  Resolution: 1920*1080;  Res of cockpit displays: 1024  Monitors: 1 Screen; MSAA: off; Depth of field: Off; Clouds: High; SSAA: Off; SSLR: Off;  SSAO: Off; Clutter/Grass: 500;  Forest Visibility: 75%;  Preload Radius: 150000; Gamma: 2;  External field of view: 125%;  Anisotropic Filtering: 16x;  Terrain Objects Shadows: Flat; Cockpit Global Illumination: On;  Messages font scale: 1 Scale GUI: 1;  Rain Droplets: On; Vsync: Off;  Full screen: Off; Rain Droplets: On
Nvidia Settings Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Power
Runtime: Open XR Native Resolution  CAS Sharpness: 100%  FFR” on  35deg – 1,  55deg -1/4,  70deg -1/16th
PimaxPlay Settings FOV: Medium  Refresh: 90Hz

Contributed by TallyMouse from r/Pimax

---

3080ti settings for Pimax 8K

System Setup 3080ti	DCS Settings Textures: High;  Terrain Textures: High;  Water: High;  Visib Range: High  Shadows: High;  Resolution: 3840*2160  Aspect Ratio: 1.7777777778;  Res.of Cockpit Display: 1024;  MSAA: 2x;  Cloud: High  Trees Visiblity: 40%;  Anisotropic Filtering: Off  Terrain Object Shadows: Off  Cockpit Global illumination: On  Gamma: 2.2
Nvidia Settings Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Power
Runtime: Steam VR:  Global Resolution: 80%
Pimax Play Settings n/a

---

Settings for AMD 6900XT, SteamVR

System Setup AMD 6900XT	DCS Settings Texture: High;  MSAA: Off； AF: x 16;  Shadows: Flat;  Forest Visibility: 50%;  Visual Range: High;  Clouds: Standard
Graphic Card Setting Maximum FPS: 45  Anti-lag Disable everything else
Runtime: Steam VR Global Resolution: 100%  Video Setting Per App: 100%  Motion Smoothing: Off  Advanced Super Sampling: Off
Pimax Play Settings: n/a

---

Basic VR requirements

Minimum	Recommended
CPU: Intel or AMD 3.0Ghz+ with 2 cores  Memory: 16GB  Storage: 140GB  GPU: 2080	CPU: Intel or AMD 4.5Ghz+ with 6 cores  Memory: 32GB  Storage: 300GB GPU: 3080 or better

Extras: 

• Drivers: up to date; Minimize background programs and processes; 
• Set DCS at highest priorities through Task Manager; 
• Minimize WMR and SVR Windows while playing the DCS;
• Powerful cooling system. 
• Use Quadviews for the Pimax Crystal!

Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling: Disabled

General VR graphic optimization tips

Thanks to Rex from the Pimax Discord server.

1 – Testing settings one by one is recommended since every machine is different. Find a worst-case scenario for the GPU or CPU to test.

-> For GPU testing I recommend looking at Beyrouth on the Syria map to get a worse-case scenario. GPU wise (with lots of clouds/rain to test cloud settings, at sunset or sunrise to test shadows).

-> For CPU testing, a heavy MP server (Blueflag, Enigma Cold War, etc.) or a heavy single-player mission (dozens of AI moving offroad, SAMs searching/firing, etc.)

PS: Intel PresentMon (recently released in beta) is a great tool for all GPUs and CPUs to find out what is limiting you (the DCS performance overlay is often wrong in that regard)

2-I’ll only cover some settings which I have found be good performance levers with little visual fidelity lost, first video linked below covers the rest in detail.

3 – The NVCP has only one setting that affects DCS in VR, that is V-sync set to “fast” which can improve performance in some specific scenarios. The rest is not working (see 2nd video).

4 – Most if not all settings are GPU performance hits only. So if you are CPU limited (use PresentMon), turning up settings will not change your FPS.

5 – Most of these settings have performance hits in different contexts, which is why again, a “reasonable” worst-case scenario should be made up and used for testing

 

Original source

[Davee]

Don't think they are the best for a 4090.

Many settings are good for 2d but not for the Pimax Crystal. No need for example - vsync on or AF 16x.  Just run it in Anti-Aliasing DLSS - Quality. Terrain objects can stay default.

Clear, fast, no FR needed either.

 

Edited February 23 by Davee

[WipeUout]

8KX, 4090, i9-13900K, 64GB RAM

DCS MT

Textures High/Terrain texture High for Caucasus, Nevada and Middle-east

Textures High/Terrain Low for other maps

DLAA + DLSS Performance

Shadow low or med for Caucasus, Nevada and Middle-east, else flat

Water Med

Clouds Ultra for Caucasus, Nevada and Middle-east, else standard.

Keep off: Traffic, Heat blur, Lens flare, Secondary blur/shadows, SSAA, SSLR, SSAO, Aniso Filt., Cockpit Global Illumi., V-synch

Forest visibility 100%, detail factor at 1.0 in Caucasus, Nevada and Middle-east, else 0.1

Scenery detail at 1 in Caucasus, Nevada and Middle-east, else 0.5

Preload at max

LOD keep at 1

Gamma 1.3 (To reduce haze, must be used in conjunction with max backlit in pimax client) but for night mission, crank up.

PD =1.0

Pimax Client

Refresh 90hz

Backlit 100%

FOV Normal

Render Quality 1.0

FFR off

OpenXR

Sharpen at 100%

Everything else at off/default

PimaxXR

Enable quadviews

Quadview

I use the following config file:

# These settings are for all headsets and applications
smoothen_focus_view_edges=0.3
sharpen_focus_view=0.8

[app:DCS World]
# The settings are specific to the app "DCS World".
turbo_mode=1
peripheral_multiplier=0.4
focus_multiplier=1.6
horizontal_focus_section=0.30
vertical_focus_section=0.45

Process Lasso

For DCS, only use P-Cores + High priority class

Pi_server, High priority class

Additional tips and notes:

Setup two saved settings in DCS: "Setting 1" for low demand maps, "Setting 2" for high demand maps.

Acceptable AA option varies quite a lot from person to person.  For me, using DLAA/DLSS combination is great and I do not mind the small smearing.

Shadows can be improved a lot with mod "https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3329503/".

Quadviews high res box (30% x 45%) may seems small but with the wide FOV of the 8KX, this will give you a resonable size with tremendous uplift in performance.

In VR, clouds are a significant performance hit and horrible at any setting except tolerable at ultra setting.  If you play a mission that has lots of clouds, you must keep ultra setting compromise elsewhere such as the "focus_multiplier" down to 1.4. in quadviews or lower HMD refresh rate.

You always have to option to lower the HMD refresh rate to 75hz or 60hz and keep same settings on any scenario but for me, 75hz and 60hz cause some flickering sometimes.

With these settings, you should get a super smooth experience with excellent clarity.  If not, then your windows/BIOS/NVCP maybe the issue.  A windows fresh install, though requiring lots of work, can cure a lot of performance problems.  If you use 4 x memory sticks on an MSI mobo, make sure your BIOS is up to date as it can cause crashes because of the stress imposed by DCS on the memory controller.  Keep overclocking low, the i9 13th gen will not be the bottleneck in your system.

 

 

Edited March 14 by WipeUout
update

[TED]

8kx 7900xtx, 5800x3d, 64gb ddr4 3600mhz ram.

almost same settings as wipeout above. 
msaa x4, shadows off, dcs sharpening 75%

openXR toolkit disabled.

pimax client - custom resolution render quality 1.5

90hz

large fov

quadviews 

 

[TED]

I really noticed recently, if your system can handle it, and the 7900xtx can, increasing the render quality really makes the visuals shine with the 8kx. Looks absolutely amazing. 

[WipeUout]

On 3/25/2024 at 12:32 PM, TED said:

I really noticed recently, if your system can handle it, and the 7900xtx can, increasing the render quality really makes the visuals shine with the 8kx. Looks absolutely amazing. 

I'm with you.  The 8kX's potential is amazing and I think that even with a 4090, this HMD is not at the limit of quality it can output.  I tried many HMD including the Aero and I would never trade my 8kX for it.