8K+ slightly blurry image

[s0ph0s]

Hi everyone, I understand that the softness/blurriness of the image is the result of upscaling up to dual 4k from a lower resolution but is it realistic to expect that it would be improved with firmware or is it purely a hardware thing?

thanks!

[hooligander]

Need to know your settings in pitool and steam to get a better idea.

Also have your adjusted your IPD?

[neal_white_iii]

Have you manually changed your maxRecommendedResolution setting in the SteamVR configuration? If not, SteamVR is not using a high enough resolution for a wide FOV headset.

Details: https://community.openmr.ai/t/solved-maxrecommendedresolution-issue-problem-with-pimax-8k-on-iracing/27411?u=neal_white_iii

[s0ph0s]

Thanks for replying!

Currently I am running Project Cars 2 directly from Pitool with Parallel Projection disabled. But the result is the same compared to same game running via SteamVR only with better frame rates.

But I did add maxRecommendedResolution with value of 16384 in my C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings file and I also did adjust IPD in the headset.

The blurriness I am experiencing is not extreme but it is annoying. It’s like looking at the game with my eyes slightly squinted. I am assuming this is the image softness that others are mentioning on this forum when comparing this headset with their 5k+ units.

Pitool settings

HMD Refresh rate: 72Hz (I need this low because Smart Smoothing is disabled)
Field of View: Normal
Render Quality: 1.25
GPU Catalyst: 0
FFR: Conservative
Compatible with Paralle Projections: Off
Smart Smoothing: Off
Hidden Are Mask: On
Rest of the settings are default

Project Cars 2 settings

VR SS: 1.0
Texture resolution: High
Texture filtering: Anisotropic x16
Vsync: Yes
MSAA: Off
Post AA: Off

Rest of the settings are mainly on Medium

I am able to obtain 72fps with my RTX 2080 Super with these settings with occasional dips to 68fps which I tolerate just fine.

I have tried enabling Smart Smoothing and increasing Pitool Render Quality to 1.5 as well as enabling MSAA in game. That resulted in much less aliasing and a clearer (less blurry) picture when standing still however while moving Smart Smoothing introduced too many artifacts and blur.

Running the game via SteamVR requires parallel projection to be enabled which kills frames rates. I am forced to run the game with Potato FOV setting in order to be able to get 72fps, Smart Smoothing introduces the same artifacts and blur in SteamVR as well.

[neal_white_iii]

@s0ph0s

while moving Smart Smoothing introduced too many artifacts

Yeah, I don’t like SS either.

[s0ph0s]

So I’ve been doing more testing. I don’t think this a headset issue and more of Project Cars 2 issue in terms of how it renders for this specific resolution. Objects nearby are of acceptable clarity but the further they are away the less sharp they become. As I bump up super sampling in pitool and enable anti aliasing in the game the image quality starts to improve however enabling Smart Smoothing negates the gains and introduces artifacts which in my mind is not worth it.

The only thing that sucks about running games directly from Potool is that there is no way to knowing what the cpu and gpu frame times are so it’s very hard to tune the graphics settings. Is there a tool similar to fpsvr for pitool?