VR Discussions, Questions & Feedback

I currently have a AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, 16Gb RAM & Nvidia GTX 1080. I use 4k TV as monitor. AMS2 is quite playable ultra/high settings, but assuming this setup wont run Quest 3 (basically 2 x 4k monitors).

 

That is interesting, as similar to my setup (other than AMD 2700X CPU, I have same RTX 1080 GPU). What sort of setting are you able to run to give an acceptable frame rate. Maybe I should just try Quest 3 without upgrading first?

 

I'm not around my PC but there's a slider in Oculus settings for the resolution and refresh rate, so running that at 1:1 and medium-ish settings in AMS2. The whole experience is pretty good, the lower frame rate is noticeable only when looking sideways, bit generally you tend to look ahead, so probably that explains the percepted performance. Also I somehow don't think about frame rate when my brain is occupied with hitting apexes

I've switched from Oculus CV1 and I have a feeling that somehow Q3 runs better, even with so many more pixels (I've no idea how that works!).

I also went for a cheap USB 3.2 to USB C cable with additional charging connector after trialling this using my phone charging cable of questionable quality and again, it just works fine. I have a feeling jt may be problematic later on once I bump the resolution up, but so far so good. Definitely consider this way before splashing on official link cable.

Finally, I'll strongly recommend the Elite strap as it increases the comfort massively.

I'm due to upgrade my PC hopefully this year, so went to purchase the headset earlier as CV1 went for parts

And yes, given your original question - I'd say it's worth the gamble

 

aaahh, yes, that's what it was. It's not in the AMS2 install folder. It's in the documents folder. pff

 

Indeed.

 

Nay for me either. Varjo Aero, and without antialiasing it is shimmering jaggy mess. Even MSAA x4 is not enough for me.

 

My VR resolution is 3474 x 41something... (and I can race in dawn and dusk without stuttering at 90Hz) I have no shimmering ... Yes at some angles the aliasing is a bit obvious but then just tilt your head ever so slightly and it goes away... We all have to wait for the 5090 anyway . Most important is to set your shadows to the highest possible (that does wonders for the shimmering)

 

That resolution is much lower than what I run on the Crystal with 4xMSAA, but I only do daytime/evening/morning racing(no night/rain otherwise I cannot run 90fps locked).

"Yes at some angles the aliasing is a bit obvious" So yes, you also have shimmering Anyway, enjoy, Automobilista 2 with the Pimax Crystal is still an amazing(even unmatched at this moment I would say) sim racing experience with shimmering/aliasing or not.

 

I've just taken delivery of a Pico Neo3 Link (£170 on Amazon) to replace my sturdy Reverb G2 that Micro$oft are killing off in a few months, I couldn't be bothered to deal with delaying Windows 11 updates or reverting back to Windows 10 so just got a different HMD product altogether!

Anyway once I get it up and running I'll give AMS2 a drive and compare, I did a quick & dirty benchmark in the rain last night with the G2 so it'll be interesting to see if I get a little FPS boost from the Pico with similar resolution (lowered on the G2 with OpenXR Toolkit). I'm not expecting huge differences though, looking forward to a clearer image all round as the G2s sweet spot is a tad annoying.

 

oh, good to know that Win11 and G2 is not match atm. Still on Win10 and thought about to upgrade...

 

Got one last year 2nd hand for like 170usd
You are going to love the experience in my views its a great underestimated VR headset

I advise to join the pico discord and get the hacked drivers from an enthusiast there
It did improve the experienceeven further for me

 

Yep already joined and downloaded the drivers, watched the videos and all that so I'm ready to go straight after work. Will mess around on default to get used too it then start tweaking afterwards, got the faceplate linked ready to buy if required as I heard the original one is a bit naff.

 

Keen to hear how this goes Marc. I need to pension off my Rift S and i've been looking at the Pico 3. Wish i'd known it was that cheap! Seems to be back to £240 now

 

It'll no doubt come down again, it was £170 in early July and the day before I bought it it was £330! Crazy fluctuations, keep an eye on it.

Initial very early first impressions are good but it's a bit of a faff in certain areas, I'll expand on that more when I've had more time with it. Visuals look good and no more G2 style sweet spot is lovely, OpenXR Toolkit worked straight off the bat without the need of different files so that was handy, but I may disable that and see how SteamVR handles it as I've not used that for years.

 

OpenXR Toolkit is not actively developed anymore according to its developer.
Reddit - Dive into anything

And it appears Oculus will stop allowing OpenXR Toolkit to work.

Reddit - Dive into anything

 

Pico 3 Link First Impressions;

I've done a bulk of this weekend in MSFS but have had the odd race and tweak session with AMS2, my early conclusions are that for £170 this is an absolute STEAL of a VR headset. Whilst it may be a bit fiddly getting into DP mode at times (for some reason it likes to default to loading the Standalone stuff) it is very easy to use, the face cushion was OK in an hours long flight and 20min/25min races have been just fine so far, about an hours usage used 15% battery.

I have had to mod the cushion on the sides as it's been designed with glasses in mind, but this means a lot of light bleed for those without glasses. So I've had to bung some thick sticky tape in those areas which actually works just fine and now there's minimal/no light bleed. The included nose pad is of no use to me, as the headset presses down on my nose so with that removed it's much more comfortable whilst letting in a minor bit of light bleed in this area but nothing that distracts enough when gaming.

As for actual usage the edge to edge clarity is a big bonus over my Reverb G2s "sweet spot", no longer am I having to turn my whole head to look at mirrors or HUD items, I just glance and that's great. I've binned off OpenXR Toolkit for AMS2 (still use it for MSFS) as I really only used it for FFR & the FPS display, going direct through SteamVR is just fine and after playing with some settings I've got a decent rock solid 90FPS in day time sunny conditions with visuals comparable to the G2. As with all things AMS2 heavy cloud/rain/storm does take a whack on performance, but I have previous graphics files with lower in game settings to use for those scenarios when needed. I'm still using MSAA in game, I may look at the other similar options one day and see if anything helps performance.

Overall though, so far so very good, performance is just fine, comfort is just fine. Takes some getting used too like having to charge it up every now and then (you can get an AC Adapter to keep it plugged in and constantly charged but not sure I'll need it), the standalone stuff is pretty neat and overall the OS of the headset is decent if lacking in a few DP features - like to check battery usage you have to leave DP mode and go to Standalone and Passthrough doesn't work in DP unfortunately. I'll play with some tweaks to the game settings & SteamVR this coming week to see if I can eek out a bit more performance, but for now as mentioned for £170 it's an absolute bargain and no WMR deprecation nonsense to worry about, happy days.

 

This headset has to be the most underrated VR device ever
Its brilliant for simracing and i am just starting to get ito sim flight so i cant wait to use it there
I recommend you to look at the amsvr options if you want to improve comfort further

The pico4 designed ones work with a bit of a tweaking

Enjoy

 

What are you running as resolution? If I set MSAA (high I presume ?) the performance tanks...
Using SteamVR or OpenXR Toolkit ?
Can share your settings?

 

Just thought I might as well ask here no harm, could someone help me with AMS2 settings in VR, if you have a similar rig to mine even better, I have a quest 3 using link cable, I have changed the debug settings such as mbsp and asw, I have opencomposite / openxr although idk the optimal settings, and in terms of PC rtx 3060ti, ryzen 5 3700x 16gb ram

 

Sure, 3988px x xxxx px set in OpenXR toolkit(this resolution will work with zero artifacts on the 16th resolution ring, I had to try 20 different resolutions to get rid of the "stripes" all other foveated rendering ring's(2/4/8th) won't work). MSAA+MFAA on medium(=4xMSAA). Foveated rendering ring 1/1 at 48% other 2 rings both 16th resolution. Advanced OXRTK settings enabled for a fully streched oval in OpenXR toolkit: horizontally strechted to 180%(by doing this the "only 48%" ring is as good as not visible). Env map/reflections on low, the rest on ~high setting in the performance tab. Most visual fx settings off except post processing and minimal sunflare.