Pimax Crystal Light - Great FPS but still micro stutters

[MarkyMarkUK]

Hi All

I upgraded from A pico4 to the pimax crystal light and yes it's very clear and I get great FPS at around 70 to 90 but I still get micro stutters all the time in DCS. If I fly low or just do a roll instead of smoothly rotating it jerks horribly. 

The pico4 didn't.

Rtx4090, i9, 64gb, ssd,win11.

I use pimaxXR, it seams resource heavy, maybe run dcs another way?

[Panzerlang]

Are you using quadviews in PimaxXR runtime?

Also pay attention to Pimax render quality setting vs DCS Pixel Density (mine is Pimax "Maximum" with PD at 1.5). If I run PD at 2.0 I get the stutters and jerking back.

[MarkyMarkUK]

Yeah, tried QV, even higher fpd but still micro stutters.

I'll try the pd stuff in the morning,  ta

[Dangerzone]

Some additional things to check or to try:

See if single thread makes a difference compared to MT

Make sure core parking is disabled in windows

Make sure DCS process is restricted to P-cores (process lasso) if on Intel 13/14 gen. 

Turn on DCS FPS dialog and see if it’s GPU or CPU bound during the stutters.  
 

[Panzerlang]

Process Lasso:

Bitsum. Real-time CPU Optimization and Automation

Edited August 20, 2024 by Panzerlang

[MarkyMarkUK]

OK, so I am on 13th gen i9 and cores were parked already BUT I installed Process Lasso and used the P-Cores option and got a 98% improvement!!!!

Yes, there is still a little bit of micro stutter when near the ground / buildings but flying high up and with DLSS and Pimax at 120Hz and High Render Quality in PimaxPlay, with PimaxXR,  it's much better

 

Thanks!

[Nedum]

12 hours ago, MarkyMarkUK said:

OK, so I am on 13th gen i9 and cores were parked already BUT I installed Process Lasso and used the P-Cores option and got a 98% improvement!!!!

Yes, there is still a little bit of micro stutter when near the ground / buildings but flying high up and with DLSS and Pimax at 120Hz and High Render Quality in PimaxPlay, with PimaxXR,  it's much better

 

Thanks!

That info you should have given at the start of your Thread, and even more.

In game settings are also an important part for a diagnostic. But bro, 120 Hz and you are asking why you get stutters near the ground?

You must set the max HZ so that you do not fall below this number. Only then will you no longer have micro-judder.

Try 90 Hz or 72 Hz, but 120 Hz, no way with good visuals and without any stutter.

 

[Keith Briscoe]

On 8/19/2024 at 4:14 PM, Panzerlang said:

Are you using quadviews in PimaxXR runtime?

Also pay attention to Pimax render quality setting vs DCS Pixel Density (mine is Pimax "Maximum" with PD at 1.5). If I run PD at 2.0 I get the stutters and jerking back.

Gosh, you run Pimax at Max AND PD at 1.5??
I have a 14900 + 4090 + 64gb
I use oxr with QV; pimax play recently changed down to 72hz
I still get stutters; and especially if I raise PD over 1

[MarkyMarkUK]

...not to spam my own post but purely as an addendum: I got reasonable results with Quadviews and Process Lasso but the visuals were naff and I resent having to load all the 3rd party stuff and nag screens so eventually, I set Pimax to Refresh 90Hz (I can see screen flicker on 72Hz), Pimax Render Quality to Medium resolution, all other check boxes off (eg. No FFR, Smoothing etc.) and dropped back to Full DCS Main Release (not the MT version) with SteamVR and VR Resolution to .8 in DCS and using the High Preset then switching down Water quality, I now have butter smooth rolling ground and buildings, consistent 70-90 FPS and no real visual degradation, I can see and read dials etc.

Perhaps the forthcoming BETA 60Hz Upscaling feature will be interesting but for now I can play DCS. It was only DCS that was problematic, War Thunder and IL-2 were all great anyway.

I did try Pimax Smoothing, FFR etc. but all with mixed results.

FYI, as a new Pimax Crystal Light user (previously was a PICO 4) I've found leaving the Pimax refresh at 90Hz and Render Quality at Medium, all my games look fantastic. I don't know how anyone could run at High quality but I tried it and although obviously lower FPS in games, the visuals weren't really any better than at Medium quality.

[Keith Briscoe]

What's your CPU and GPU?

[MarkyMarkUK]

39 minutes ago, Keith Briscoe said:

What's your CPU and GPU?

Hi @Keith Briscoe, as above, 'Rtx4090, i9, 64gb, ssd,win11.', specifically:

Processor    13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900K   3.00 GHz
Installed RAM    64.0 GB 
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

GPU processor:        NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Driver version:        560.94
 

[paul2437]

 

On 8/30/2024 at 7:35 PM, Keith Briscoe said:

Gosh, you run Pimax at Max AND PD at 1.5??
I have a 14900 + 4090 + 64gb
I use oxr with QV; pimax play recently changed down to 72hz
I still get stutters; and especially if I raise PD over 1

My rig more or less the same as yours except 13900KF mine stutters across the board 72-90-120hz with render at .90 and PD at 1.0 tried different Nvidia drivers to no avail. Hoping DCS next update may improve MT which I believe is the culprit. Using Pimax Crystal Sim version.

Update.Been in contact with my PC supplier who recommended I upgrade my BIOS as there is an issue with 13/14 generation CPUs. Uninstalled Pimax Play removed all traces from registry etc. Disconnected headset completely and removed battery and reinstalled Pimax Play Reboot connect headset direct to pc after a short test in DCS no flickering [yet] will test more tomorrow.

Edited September 17, 2024 by paul2437

[Fish]

I have the same issues here with the crystal light. Was able to get smooth performance with Pico 4 using Virtuald desktop, and wired connection, at render 3120x3120, @72hz. 

Comparing same scenes with same DCS settings, ive adjusted the PCL render resolution down as far as 2584x3060 for comparison. I'm using steamVR as openxr gives worse performqance in both headsets in regard stuttering. With the same settings, game FPS set to 75, i get good timings with little deviations, and a solid 75, however when i move and fix my gaze to the side, objects stutter past (probably 15fps). FPCounter says i'm CPU bound, and looking at cores on Task manager, none are reaching 100%, though a few are close. 

System is 13600k with eCores disabled, and a 4090 (hitting 2850 clock), with 64gb of ddr4, @3600, and fast NVMe with game and c drive. I have the latest intel bios, and hav the ecores disabled. Have tried a couple of different GPU drivers, but no noticable difference. 

Would have thought the display port would win over the usb with the snapdragon. I don't understand what's happening. 

[Calvin.Pimax]

Could you please check whether the "Active Chaperone" is turned off?
What is the render quality set to in Pimax Play?
Personally, I find that DCS performs better with OpenXR (using either Pimax OpenXR or PimaxXR). 

[MarkyMarkUK]

Active Chaperone is OFF

 

So, I sort of fixed it. I detailed what I did in another post in another thread here: 

Basically, reset everything everywhere to default BUT have the Pimax Play quality set to LOW. Sure it's just a little grainy but I now have ALL the graphics DCS settings to max or on and still have 90FPS but more importantly, the frame time is stable, and that is what was causing my stutters...not FPS but frame time spikes.