Night Flying in the Pimax Crystal Super

[Dawgboy]

3 hours ago, Peedee said:

I think there's an issue with DCS and Quadviews. The change in light/brightness and contrast can be seen also in day time with quad views and the big square outline in the foveated area - which is discussed elsewhere. Not so obvious, but it is there.

Overall, in DCS, with or without Quadviews, I have to lower DCS gamma setting to 1.9 or else things look too blown out during daytime. I have not played much night time yet with my Super.   

I have been playing other games, like Le Man's Ultimate racing, and it looks good when driving at night. Also Skyrim VR with a Light mod that makes the nights and caves truly dark unless there are light sources nearby, also look good. They don't use Quad views. So I don't think it is hardware related. I will check out iRacing, which use Quadviews, and see what happens there during night driving-

I was using quadviews with DCS, but it worsened my VR experience; now I don't use it/them.

I have my gamma tweaked downward, as you do. 

I've not tried any night flying...just received my super 50PPD u/w two days ago; that said, I think I have the basic setup complete.  

Edited 16 hours ago by Dawgboy
clarification

[Peedee]

19 minutes ago, Dawgboy said:

I was using quadviews with DCS, but it worsened my VR experience.  

I have my gamma tweaked downward, as you do. 

I've not tried any night flying...just received my super 50PPD u/w two days ago; that said, I think I have the basic setup complete.  

I have incredible performance and visual quality with Quadviews. And I see you have the same CPU and GPU as me, and even more system RAM. I wonder how our experiences with Quad views are so different? I can not live without it   It might cause issues at night time, but I have yet to do any real testing with that. Hope you enjoy your Super. Try other things than just DCS too, it's an amazing headset   

[Dawgboy]

Just now, Peedee said:

I have incredible performance and visual quality with Quadviews. And I see you have the same CPU and GPU as me, and even more system RAM. I wonder how our experiences with Quad views are so different? I can not live without it   It might cause issues at night time, but I have yet to do any real testing with that. Hope you enjoy your Super. Try other things than just DCS too, it's an amazing headset   

Yes...the Super is a great headset, so far.  TBH, I fly Falcon BMS, due to the dynamic campaign and new terrain, as my main combat sim.  So, I'll continue to tweak DCS as I have time...priorities!  I've also had some good luck with MSFS2020 so far.  The Super's immersion, given the FOV, is wonderful.  I am using NeckSafer, too.  Slowly getting all of it tweaked.

[Cytarabine]

On 9/10/2025 at 6:03 AM, MadMonty said:

Hey guys - quick update...

I have now extensively tested the issues and adjustment options in a night mission (Syria, June, 4 a.m.) and a dawn mission (Syria, June, 04:15–04:30 a.m.):

Problems:

1. HALO around bright objects, especially the aircraft in external view

2. Indefinable dark mass from the horizon downward; the transition from the stars over the horizon to the ground is not a clear line, but a constantly shifting “something”

3. Partial “blackout”: when rotating the external view of the jet, brightness suddenly dims completely (across everything); when I then switch into the cockpit, everything is pitch black and the headset gradually brightens again

4. Chromatic Aberration at sunrise / clouds, as described at the beginning of the thread

 

Adjustment options:

1. Contrast & Brightness in PP

2. Local Dimming in PP

3. Gamma in DCS

4. Modifying the profile.json file as described by missioncmdr

 

Upfront, everything that doesn’t work or has no effect:

Problems:

1. HALO does not go away, no matter what I do

2. Horizon-to-ground transition remains undefinable

3. Blackouts are still present

Adjustment options:

      2. Local Dimming in PP makes no difference

      4. Modifying the profile.json (simply adding the line with the value, as it is not there initially) causes changes, but in my view nothing that Brightness couldn’t also achieve

 

The only progress so far:

Problem:
4. The Chromatic Aberration at sunrise or sunset on the horizon and in the clouds can be removed.

Workaround:

Set Brightness in PP to -2 and Gamma (previously 1.8 for me) to 2.8 (!). This results in beautifully smooth transitions without artifacts. I tried calibrating the correct brightness against the stars: everything I can see at B=0 and G=1.8, I can also see again at B=-2 and G=2.8.

The problem then is with daytime missions: here, with B=-2, Gamma needs to be set to about 2.2–2.4, otherwise it looks too bright. You can fine-tune this a bit by setting Contrast to -2. Then Gamma can stay at 2.8 without affecting nighttime visuals, and during the day you get roughly the same brightness, although the colors appear a little more muted. On the other hand, Gamma can be changed during flight (for day/night missions).

So – currently I’m using:
In PP:

• Brightness -2

• Contrast -2

In DCS:

• Gamma 2.8

Fun fact:
If Pimax Play is completely closed and restarted, you still get the Chromatic Aberration despite Brightness -2 and Gamma 2.8. I need to briefly move the Brightness slider in PP, set it back to -2, hit Apply, and then the setting works again. This seems to be another bug.

@Calvin.Pimax – please have your team take a look at this. It should all be solvable!

Thank you for this. I tried it with my Super and while there is still some significant work needed it now is much better. Makes night missions not only possible but enjoyable. 
 

I am not sure if it is entirely a Pimax specific issue some of it though, as I see similar issues with local dimming in my Quest Pro and night missions.