New VR user needing Pico 4 setup help

[ShermanTank]

Hi everyone. About to jump into VR with the Pico 4. Ive read and watched so many youtube vids about using the Pico 4 that im all confused.

Most of the guides ive seen are over a year old so would love to hear from anyone that uses a Pico 4 how best to set it up with DCS.

Many thanks

Richard

[Qcumber]

1 hour ago, ShermanTank said:

Hi everyone. About to jump into VR with the Pico 4. Ive read and watched so many youtube vids about using the Pico 4 that im all confused.

Most of the guides ive seen are over a year old so would love to hear from anyone that uses a Pico 4 how best to set it up with DCS.

Many thanks

Richard

I used to cave a Pico 4. My setup was to use Virtual Desktop set at "Godlike". For VD you need a dedicated router with a direct ethernet connection to your computer.

Pico connect did not used to be very good but there are some recent reports saying the last update is much better. 

To best help it would be useful to post your pc setup. 

[ShermanTank]

my pc is

ryzen 7 7800x3d

rx 7900 xtx

32gb DDR5 6000mhz

[Qcumber]

26 minutes ago, ShermanTank said:

my pc is

ryzen 7 7800x3d

rx 7900 xtx

32gb DDR5 6000mhz

What settings have you tried so far? Are you using Pico connect? 

[TED]

3 hours ago, ShermanTank said:

my pc is

ryzen 7 7800x3d

rx 7900 xtx

32gb DDR5 6000mhz

A very nice setup for the pico 4. Similar to mine. You should manage very nice performance. 
I use virtual desktop. Godlike. Pc plugged into router via Ethernet. Modem in same room with Wi-Fi 6 and pico connected to that. Use VDXR as the runtime. Get rid of steamvr completely. I recently tried pico connect again, but VD is just better. 
Don’t need to mess around with adrenaline settings. 
I use HEVC codec with 150 mbps. 72hz streaming. 
most settings high or maxed in dcs. No msaa - not required. High textures. Extreme visibility. Disable openXR toolkit. Maybe try quadview foviated rendering. 
I get a solid 72fps except for maybe very very low over a city where maybe it drops to 60. Other than that it’s pretty much stutter free and a really good experience. I’ve used previously Pimax 8kx and reverb g2 and the pico 4 is way better than both in every way. 
All I all I’ve found the pico 4 to be very easy to setup and use. Just works every time. 

Edited October 18, 2024 by TED

[ShermanTank]

2 hours ago, TED said:

A very nice setup for the pico 4. Similar to mine. You should manage very nice performance. 
I use virtual desktop. Godlike. Pc plugged into router via Ethernet. Modem in same room with Wi-Fi 6 and pico connected to that. Use VDXR as the runtime. Get rid of steamvr completely. I recently tried pico connect again, but VD is just better. 
Don’t need to mess around with adrenaline settings. 
I use HEVC codec with 150 mbps. 72hz streaming. 
most settings high or maxed in dcs. No msaa - not required. High textures. Extreme visibility. Disable openXR toolkit. Maybe try quadview foviated rendering. 
I get a solid 72fps except for maybe very very low over a city where maybe it drops to 60. Other than that it’s pretty much stutter free and a really good experience. I’ve used previously Pimax 8kx and reverb g2 and the pico 4 is way better than both in every way. 
All I all I’ve found the pico 4 to be very easy to setup and use. Just works every time. 

 

Wow that’s a massive help thanks Ted. I’m hoping I won’t suffer too much by not connecting the same as you. Got no easy way of connecting directly to router so was going to try the usb cable. If I’m not happy with that will plugging into Ethernet hub work the same?

[mrsylvestre]

To Ted's excellent advice, I would add definitely try quadviews. Also, from personal preference I use MSAA but for that I have to drop VD settings to Ultra and go for less agressive DCS settings (my PC is one generation older than yours, though).

Regarding connection:

• For wireless, PC connected via ethernet cable to a dedicated wifi router close to the Pico 4 works well. A list of routers known to be reliable is found in the VD discord.
• For wired, VD sadly does not support USB connection. Software hacks on the Pico and the PC may make it work by tunnelling ethernet through USB but in my experience, these are cumbersome and often not that stable. A cheap powered USB -> Ethernet dongle works very well, however. No software hack needed. My setup is Pico -> 2.5 m USB-C cable -> powered dongle -> ethernet cable -> router <- PC. I use the Pico adapter to power the dongle, which keeps the Pico battery charged (this is not mandatory, without adapter the Pico powers the dongle). This provides a rock stable link.

[TED]

12 hours ago, ShermanTank said:

Wow that’s a massive help thanks Ted. I’m hoping I won’t suffer too much by not connecting the same as you. Got no easy way of connecting directly to router so was going to try the usb cable. If I’m not happy with that will plugging into Ethernet hub work the same?

This should work. You could use a Wi-Fi repeater or mesh and place one unit in the same room as the pc. Then connect your pc to that with Ethernet cable. 

[Qcumber]

I think @mrsylvestre advice is good. I used to use a powered ethernet adapter close to my pc and a long usb cable. Very good and consistent bitrate with VD.

@ShermanTank In terms of AA there are a few ways to approach this. The first is reduced resolution and use MSAA. The second is to push the res higher and use DLSS. The third is to use higher Res and no AA at all. 

Try QVFR in fixed mode but push the centre Res up to an equivalent of about 4000 pixels (Godlike x1.2) at 0.4x0.4 centre size. Periphery at Godlike x0.5 That will help reduce centre aliasing and will look better with DLSS. I alternate between no AA (altitude and fast action) and DLSS (low and slow). This is because DLSS can induce blurring and smearing with fast moving objects. 

[ShermanTank]

would i need to install openxr to use quadview foviated rendering. if so would i need to change the shortcut to use the force command.

many thanks for all your help

[sleighzy]

5 hours ago, ShermanTank said:

would i need to install openxr to use quadview foviated rendering. if so would i need to change the shortcut to use the force command.

many thanks for all your help

No, you need to install Quad-Views-Foveated (https://github.com/mbucchia/Quad-Views-Foveated) and then tick the Quad Views box in DCS.

No shortcut arguments are needed these days, everything uses OpenXR, you can remove any shortcut arguments you currently have.

I'm also assuming by "openxr" you mean the OpenXR Toolkit? This shouldn't be confused with OpenXR which is actually the API/runtime. The OpenXR Toolkit is not needed, and in general they shouldn't be used together.

Edited October 22, 2024 by sleighzy

[ShermanTank]

thanks for clearing that up.