New to VR (First steps + recommendations)

Pimax 8K Series
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Tested “VR”, an Oculus Go, on a 360 video for the first time last week. Was not very impressed by the SDE, resolution and such.

Picked up the Pimax 5k+ today. Set it up like this with the latest beta pitool: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/comments/awvrmy/5k_arrives_tomorrow_what_is_the_latest_secret/

Easy and no problems.

Then I set my IPD using this:

(but had to uncheck some box in the pitool to actually see the image, instead of a gray image).

Don’t see much difference there actually (pitool 1 if it has any significance). For me it’s generally clearer at the low end of the IPD wheel, but I don’t know when to stop. So I used this to determine IPD:
https://community.openmr.ai/t/precise-ipd-measuring-method/6108
about 60.5mm. The EyeMeasure app returned a span of min near: 59.1 to max far: 63.2 . So the precision was not that good.

Installed SteamVR, ran Google Earth, which was nice, but the SteamVR room was more of an inner gasp moment :stuck_out_tongue:

Now I would like to know what the next few steps are. What VR programs are a must? Desktop, video, etc? Any good sample programs/demos? Do I install Oculus Home for their titles? Or do you run everything through SteamVR?

I only got a xbox360 controller atm, until pimax finalizes their controllers and trackers.
980 Ti, 4790k :stuck_out_tongue: (possibly until next gen nvidia or amd are out). Any special settings to consider for performance in e.g. War Thunder? Any way to test max resolution on a static image/video or such? Do I have to restart applications for changes to take effect?

Impressions so far:
Solid impression of headset condition, weight and packaging.
Didn’t notice any apparent black dot patterns. Not bothered by black levels or colors.
SDE is there, but much better than the Go. Hard to compare to anything, but closest I can think of is the pixelation of the A500+ on a CRT at ~50cm, but over a wider area. Not as clear as normal desktop view.
A bit of smearing on the edges. Google Earth in space was ok, but some of the stars outside the intended macula zone were somewhat unsharp (smeared/chromatic aberration). Foveated rendering could solve that though.
Bit bulky on the nose. I probably need some extra DIY padding.

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Pre order or backer?

  • WarRobotsVR is free short demo game in steam looks good.

Other games (Seated)

  • SkyrimVR (runs well)
  • Distance
  • BigScreenBeta (free)
  • SublevelZero (Descent like)
  • GunJack

And more of course. Oculus games will neef OC Home installed.

Banner Topic has 5k 8k directory link. Getting Started Faq can be found there.

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Ok, thanks for the tips, will check that topic. I’m a backer.

Got OC Home installed, but it seems like you have to do something special to make it work?

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@anon74848233 please add to earlybackers

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Figured out how to get OC Home running. I was using a third party program for it, but looks like you can just start programs it right off pitool. Wonderful. Tested the voskhod 2 3D clip from Within. I still think clarity could be better, but only got my desktop screen to compare with.

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Subnautica works but takes a little tweaking. I will say it made me nauseous from trying to control with both headlook and strafing. It was one of the first games I tried so I might have better VR legs now.

Depending on how much you want to invest, I’ve greatly enjoyed my time in Elite: Dangerous with the ~$60 Thrustmaster Hotas X controller. I’m currently flying around and scanning systems and taking in the sights. The stick would also work well with other flight sims if that’s something you’d want to pursue.

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Sounds like heaven to me.
The first game I’m going to try (waiting for 8K) is Elite:Dangerous

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Yes, I’ve stocked up on VR titles and such over the past year. Mainly seated games/flight sims + gear. Basic stuff for car sims, but also throttle, joystick and pedals.

Does it make sense to strengthen the edges with black tape to preempt damage? Or did they change plastic?

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Use the manual method with the ruler and the mirror, it is the safest. I would not put much trust into any app. Or pay a visit to an optician.

Considering your computer, I would start with some less demanding apps (but at the moment, I cannot figure out any which can be played with the gamepad). For the Desktop, have a look at Bigscreen Beta and for the player Skybox player.

Xbox360 controller is not bad at all (for supported games), it gives you all the control at your fingertips. I played Elite on the Xbox controller since the day one (the pancake version) and transitioning to VR was painless.

There is no use of trying to figure out the resolution without considering the performance of the system and the FPS it can push. You will have to run your games and then tweak them to look and play as you would want them. With your hardware, start with PiTool at 1.0 and take SteamVR recommendation, if it looks bad, increase SteamVR supersampling manually.

Most likely, you will have to do it for each game you will play as your hardware does not give you much of a headroom.

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Strangely I could never get that precise ipd image thing to appear on my screen. I unchecked the Pimax Home box and everything.

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Would have been great if PiTool had included some showcase scenes (apart from the moon scene). My setup won’t max games but a full res videosnippet or image would be less demanding and could showcase the device at peak clarity even with older cards. Basically just want to know what to expect in terms of improvement.

@shinytomb I had to uncheck the room tracking one in addition to that.

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Turn off Start PiHome. You will get a static pic.

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It is off. I replaced the image in the folder with the ipd one but it’s just grey.

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For the 360° video, you can use Skybox player, but the problem is to find a good quality video with enough resolution to look good on Pimax. You may be more lucky with 180° videos.

If you would want to “taste” the game res, look for “Anselm shots” people do and post. These are 360° snapshots (i.e. static pictures) taken from the game using Nvidia tech and rendered at much higher resolution than the game would normally run (i.e. 8K, or 16K, etc). You can then use some 360° shot viewer to review them in Pimax. I believe “Steam 360 video player” can do that.

The best “static” showcase are Google Lightfields.

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