Major sharpness/clarity difference in SteamVR Dashboard between two PCs, using 5K+

Pimax 8K Series
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Ok, guys lets bring another topic that has driven me crazy the last weeks :slight_smile:

Here is the thing. When running my 5K+ on my desktop PC, with non-beta SteamVR (latest version), using PiTool 1.0, SteamVR SS 1.0 and having the SteamVR compositor value set to 2.0 (max), the SteamVR dashboard text and everything looks super-sharp and crisp. Clarity is perfect and easily surpasses the Odyssey/Vive Pro, no doubt. No matter if I use Small/Normal/Large FOV, it looks more or less identically sharp in SteamVR Dashboard. Changing between Parallel Projection ON and OFF does NOT affect the sharpness in SteamVR at all.

But…

When using the same 5K+, with same PiTool 91, same firmware and same settings as mentioned above, the SteamVR Dashboard looks like…crap :slight_smile: Or maybe not that dramatic, but the sharpness is just not there and everything looks way more blurry. I see basically no difference switching between PiTool 1.0 1.5 or 2.0. I see no difference between having SteamVR Compositor set to 1.0 or 2.0 in the steamvr config file. SteamVR SS is on 100% of course, but changing to 200% makes no difference either.

Switching Parallel Projection to ON makes things look even worse. Now everything in SteamVR Dashboard is even more blurry. Switching to Large FOV also makes things even more blurry than Small/Normal FOV.

Note that Im ONLY talking about the Dashboard and environment around the Dashboard. Im not talking about the SteamVR Home Beta environment, which looks sharp as it should. VR games are very sharp using laptop though, just as expected and just as they are on the desktop PC. Its only the SteamVR Dashboard that is broken.

I have tried :

  • uninstalling and reinstallning latest OpenVR Advanced settings, and also running without it
  • deleting the steamVR config file, re-installing SteamVR (also removing the whole folder).
  • uninstalling Steam completely and do a clean install.
  • changing the SteamVR compositor manually in the config.
  • I tried 3 different firmwares on the headset, and also 3 different PiTool versions (latest 3).

No matter what I do, SteamVR Dashboard just looks really bad on the laptop.

Thing is, many people would probably not even notice this. But once you have seen how sharp and crisp the SteamVR actually looks when working properly (when running on my desktop PC for example), then its really distracting to see how bad it looks on the laptop.

My questions are:

  • Have you seen this issue?
  • How is your SteamVR Dashboard looking?
  • Does it look more sharp than on Odyssey/Vive Pro? (because when its working correctly, the difference is huge for me)
  • Maybe you have a solution to this?

Let me know what you think! :slight_smile:
Thanks

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As You mentioned elsewhere You’re at work, I’m guessing You’re missing the part about it being different when using it on Your laptop, right?

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While being at work, Im using my laptop of course :slight_smile: While Im home, I mostly use the desktop PC.
But I tested this at home, switching between the laptop and desktop PC and the difference was very noticeable.

But again, the strange part is that its only an issue in the SteamVR Dashboard, Which I use a lot starting/quitting games while in VR. Personally I dont like the Home Beta environment so I never use it… :stuck_out_tongue:

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The only thing I can think of is that one setup is using direct mode and the other one isn’t? :slight_smile:

If not, it’s really, really weird…! :smiley:

Are You sure it’s not because the config is kept somewhere else? Or maybe something’s saved in the registry for SteamVR?

EDIT: What about a difference in setting in Nvidia Control Panel? Might that be it?

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I did notice that since steam update 1.1.3, that steam changed the maximum limit of quality on the steam VR overlay, because I updated my steam and suddenly I couldn’t read my desktop as much as I used to. I was told this when I was asking about any changes in steam, so maybe one version is running with an earlier version of steamVR?

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How about gpu drivers/settings? Same?
@DrWilken oh you beat me

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Yeah thats what I wonder about… are there any other config files for SteamVR besides the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\config\steamvr.vrsettings ?

Nvidia control panel is on default on both PCs, except for power management “prefer maximum performance” and “2 pre-rendered frames in VR”. But I’m gonna double check :slight_smile:

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@TrevorVR - It was an edit… Maybe it was synchronous? :open_mouth: :smiley:

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This could be the answer! But still, its strange as Im running 1.1.4 on both PCs.
Maybe its handled differently depending on what GPU is used?
Desktop is 2080Ti and laptop GTX 1070.

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Maybe You did some application-specific hacks/tweaks on one of them. I know You like to tweak stuff (and I know that sometimes, one can get a little “lost” in the process)… :smiley:

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Using latest drivers on both (although its 2080Ti vs 1070). Maybe there are some parameters in SteamVR that automatically lowers the quality on “lower spec” gpus like 1070?

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Yep, Im still investigating… all Application-controlled settings in SteamVR are on default SS 100% though…

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Did Valve incorporate RTX only features (DLSS) silenty? :slight_smile:

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Haha naah… Thing is, the Dashboard has always been looking supersharp on my desktop PC, also with 1080Ti, at least with the 5K+ :slight_smile:

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How about main display resolution, could it mess it (steamvr) up somehow, I’m assuming your laptop display has lower resolution than your desktop monitor.
That’d be a bug.

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Yeah laptop is running 1080p only while desktop monitor is 4K. I will look into this, thanks!

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Actually, there was a bug in early (first?) version of Fallout4VR that caused low desktop resolutions to impact resolution/quality on headset.

Pimax might have run into the same thing as they’re doing some weird interception stuff with PiTool.

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Considering quality drops with increasing fov it seems more likely that steamVR is “sacrificing” itself for the performance.

I do see quality drop from perfectly clear to a bit blurry when turning on paralell projections as noted before.

Perhaps see if you can trye with a 1070 desktop.

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True. But the issue only exists in SteamVR Dashboard, and not games or any other environment… :thinking:

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Isnt there a font setting in steam… Wait.
Edit. Yes, some font settings like DirecWrite in settings/interface
Could this be it? No idea.

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