8kx with X-Plane 11.50b1 - For you, Sweviver

Pimax Hardware P2: 8kX
21

Hi,

I am afraid that you missed my point completely.

My point was to get some kind of response from any of the Pimax officials.

I have tried to invite them several times to join this discussion, but to no avail.

Just a little comment would have been nice. We could have then discussed the details further.

BTW most other headsets do have a performance gain with Vulkan, just like my Index does.

22

Look, here is the Answer…

The current CPUs / GPUs are not able to process enough data even with Vulkan.
The whole objects in XP are just too much for the largeFOV picture area. Vulkan don’t make any less. They are only processed differently.

The only solutions are reduce your objects, faster CPUs and GPUs, or a completely different XP in a modern software environment.

1 Like
23

Hi again,

This is not the issue.

Presently X-Plane 11 is being changed from the old OpenGL API to the new Vulkan API for Windows and Metal API for Mac.

Pimax can handle X-Plane 11 just fine in OpenGL and I enjoy it very much when using my 5k+!

The issue is that Pimax headsets cannot utilize the gains that the new Vulkan API provides in X-Plane 11, at least for now. Other headsets like my Valve Index have had massive fps gains with Vulkan, where I see none in the Pimax 5k+. My hope is that the Pimax engineers will come up with a solution, so that I won’t have to sell my pre-ordered 8k x, once it arrives.

I know that @SweViver is also an avid X-Plane simmer and I am surprised that he has been so quiet on this subject… I sorta have my own thoughts about the why.

Bottom line is that I tried to engage any of the Pimax officials to join this conversation. Maybe they could have come up with some kind of explanation concerning Vulkan in XP11.

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24

The X-Plane beta is now at 11.50 beta 14, soon to be beta 15. A lot of performance gains have been observed as the beta versions increase.

Is it that Pimax doesn’t work well with the Vulcan API?

1 Like
25

Lower Framerates for me… 2100pix Vertical, Normal FOV
orbx edinburgh Heli start - 100ft. (Intense scene)
Vulkan 14-19FPS - no Plugins
opGl 19- 28 FPS - + Ultraweather, XViision and some other stuff

26

Hi,

After updating X-Plane 11.50 to beta version 16 and updating Pitool to v 262 there is still no gain in Vulkan with XP11 for me.

Is Pimax going to make their headsets Vulkan compatible?

@SweViver: Have you tried Vulkan in XP11?

27

If laminar research ensures that parallel projection is no longer necessary, then yes.

do you understand it now?

28

“If laminar research ensures that parallel projection is no longer necessary, then yes.

do you understand it now?”

Hi,

This sounds a bit strange. My Valve Index has no problem with the parallel reprojection of X-Plane, and has a lot more fps in Vulkan than in OpenGL. So it is Pimax’s job to make their hmd’s compatible.
Many other headsets enjoy major gains with Vulkan in XP11, but not Pimax.
From what I understand it may have something to do with the canted panels, which should be solved by Pimax, since they use them to get the wide FOV.
I may be wrong, but I believe that the Index’s panels are also canted, but not as much as the Pimax panels. Please correct me if I am wrong.

29

There is nothing that Pimax can do. Only the game developer can change the game to account for the canted panels. The index does have slightly canted panels with parallel projection always on. The cant is so slight though that the performance cost is minimal.

3 Likes
30

Ben Supnik comments on the required parallel projection for Pimax headsets:

Non-parallel projection must exist in TWO places:

  1. At the VR API level so the VR API can tell the app “this is the position of the screens, please cant your render” and then in the app which reads that info and does the render.

When I last looked, SteamVR didn’t have API support for canting, and we talk to the PiMax through SteamVR.

So if there is a SteamVR update that addresses this, I can look at that and I do not need any help from the PiMax guys.

If there is no SteamVR support for this but PiMax has their own SDK, that is not useful right now - we’re really tight on graphics dev resources and we don’t have time to pursue a 3rd, 4th, 5th native VR API.

Source: https://developer.x-plane.com/2020/04/x-plane-11-50-public-beta-1-vulkan-and-metal-are-here/#comment-35876

3 Likes
31

Hi again,

Thank you for the detailed response! Now I understand.

I was under the impression that Pimax would have to make the necessary changes in Pitool.

2 Likes
32

This is why Pimax needs to release a communications package for game studios and developers how to get rid of the parallel projections requirement.

I know several games achieved this over the last year (DCS, rFactor2, IL-2 BoX), so there should be sufficient know how out there. I recall some indie devs sharing how they did it here on the forums too.

@SweViver, @PimaxUSA - is this something that someone could coordinate from Pimax? Should be in your best interest as this is one of the main gripes of some people that Pimax needs a lot of tweaking to make it work and not out of the box (not to mention the free performance gains).

2 Likes
33

steam has implemented a solution, …which only affects the index.

A jester who thinks evil.

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@Super27
Today I tested Vulkan with the Odyssey Plus. The performance is about 15% worse than with OpenGl…
The same result as with the Pimax

35

Hi,

Guess I can consider myself lucky to have a Valve Index in this respect.

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