Extended Mode Not Working

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1

Hi Guys,

It seems I cannot get extended mode to work on my gaming PC. I see people on these forums referring to “direct” mode, I’m assuming that’s “Pimax” mode???

Basically when I switch to extended mode the software is able to make the switch but the headset doesn’t show anything on its screen. I check windows display setting, and my PC is only recognizing one monitor and won’t pickup the headset as the secondary. I’ve tried disconnecting it and reconnecting it, and unfortunately I only have one HDMI port on my graphics card. I’ve also checked the Nvidia software display settings and it’s the same, it only recognizes my main monitor. I’ve tried re-installing the Pimax software as well.

For reference, I’m using the MSI 1070 Gaming X. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

Extended mode should at least show the Pimax as an additional display. Open Device Manager/View/ & click “Show hidden devices”.

See if the Monitor section shows additional displays.

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Hi Nick, your assumption is right. Recent derivers of NVIDIA card don’t support direct mode. If your GPU version is between 358-362, you would find there has 3 modes(Extended-mode, Direct-mode and Pimax-mode), or else, it would has 2 modes(Extended-mode and Pimax-mode). As you may know, now Steam don’t support the old direct-mode anymore, so we built a new direct-mode, i.e. Pimax-mode, which is fully compatible with Steam. Please be advised.

What’s the color of led in Pimax when you switched to extended-mode?
Extended-mode would be disabled if you run Oculus drivers in your windows system, specially in win10, it would still be a issue, even though you fully reinstalled your system.

I’m glad to provide assistance for you by our skype: support@pimaxvr.com

4

Thanks for the thorough reply. When I switch to extended mode the headset disconnects, then reconnects. The light on the headset is green, but there’s no picture when I put it on - it’s just black. At one point I had installed Oculus rift software thinking I could play Oculus exclusive games, but once I installed the software the Pimax stopped working completely. It seems on my Windows 10 machine the headset will not work at all if I have Oculus software installed.

As the person before you posted, I went into device manager and checked to see if Windows is recognizing the headset as a monitor and it is. It’s listed as “generic pnp monitor”. Do you think extended mode can be fixed in the future for those of us running the new NVIDIA drivers? I would love to use the headset as my monitor someday.

The headset works well with my normal steam VR games, and I’ve been pretty happy with the purchase. Now I just need some motion controllers to make the experience complete. Thanks for the help.

5

Hi Nick,
I had the same problem after installing Oculus software.
Basically what the Oculus software did is it messed up my DirectX installation.

I don’t know what you tried already, but I suggest you totally uninstall all Oculus software from your pc.
Run a search for anything Oculus on your pc and delete it.
Then restart you pc and download latest DirectX software for your Windows version from Microsoft and install it.

Lots of information on this also from a Google search. Search “DirectX repair”.

If it’s a similar issue that I had then it may fix it. Hopefully.

By the way, I have a GTX1080 graphics with the latest Nvidia drivers (I always keep them up to date) and I don’t have any issues.

There is a DirectX button in the Piplay settings under the Debug Tool button, but I don’t know what this does. May be worth trying it to see if it reports anything.

Good luck with it. Let us know how you go.

Cheers,
Luke

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The Oculus Software interferes with the Pimax’s Extended Mode.

On 2 of my setups running Win 10 Enterprise x64 right after installing Oculus Software, the Extended mode was rendered inoperable.

Check here: http://community.openmr.ai/t/pimax-4k-working-in-pimax-extend-mode-with-oculus-software/784

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Hi Luke, Thanks for the tips. To clarify, right after I installed the Oculus software and my headset wouldn’t work, I uninstalled the Oculus software as well as my Pimax software. After reinstalling the Pimax software everything worked fine again. I didn’t have to mess with DirectX at all. You’re saying you can enter extended mode just fine with the most recent Nvidia drivers? I tried it one more time as I write this post, the headset successfully switches to extended mode, Windows 10 is recognizing it as a “generic pnp monitor”, the light on the headset is lit up green, but when I put the headset on it is dark, as if it is not being recognized. This is the main problem, but as customer support has stated its a recent driver issue.

Here’s some more detailed info:

From device manager in Windows my 1070 is version 21.21.13.7633
From my Nvidia control panel version is 8.1.990.0
My GeForce game ready driver is 376.33 - This is the issue CMM is saying won’t allow extended mode

Thanks for all the help guys, I still love my headset and I appreciate the troubleshooting

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Hi Nick,
Yes, I can switch to Extended and Pimax as I like. No problems at all.

However at the time, I must have damaged my system more than you because for me uninstalling all Oculus software did not fix my system.
Piplay couldn’t connect to HMD in either mode.
When I repaired DirectX (with the help of Pimax support) everything worked again.

Several helpful people said that it was the GTX1080 and Nvidia drivers, but I knew that this was not right because when I first got my Pimax and plugged it in, it worked perfectly.
It was only when I foolishly installed the Oculus software that thinks went wrong.

I fell for the trap because the procedure shown on how to use Oculus with PiMax on this forum has a link to the Oculus web site that points to the latest Oculus software and not knowing any better at the time I just went ahead and installed it. The linkmshould be either removed or changed to point to one of the earlier Oculus driver (<= 0.8).

I think you still have a problem, because in Extended mode, the LED on the HMD should be Blue and you should have the PiMax logo displayed in the HMD.
I suspect that you still have a DirectX problem. Note the Nvidia driver.

Here is the details of my system as got from the Piplay settings Debug Tool.

System Info.
Graphics information

Graphics vendors：NVIDIA
Graphics model：NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Graphics driver version：21.21.13.7633
##############################################################
Computer information

Computer version：Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Computer system structure：64-bit
Computer system version：10.0.14393
Computer system directory：C:\WINDOWS
##############################################################
Mainboard information

Main board model：MAXIMUS VIII HERO ALPHA
Motherboard version：Rev 1.xx
##############################################################
Processor information

Processor model：Intel® Core™ i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
##############################################################
Connection information

Connection status：Device_Connected
Current mode：PVR_DIRECT
Current system support mode：OC_EXTEND_WIN10 PVR_DIRECT
Device serial number：100311630036450OS
Firmware Version：1.0.0.236
Firmware status：0
Tone information：Warm
Gyro state：Open
Brightness information：LEVEL_HIGH_1
Blue light information：Open
Back light information：forced
##############################################################

Now I Have changed to Extended Mode and here is the Connection info.

Connection information

Connection status：Device_Connected
Current mode：OC_EXTEND_WIN10
Current system support mode：OC_EXTEND_WIN10 PVR_DIRECT
Device serial number：100311630036450OS
Firmware Version：1.0.0.236
Firmware status：0
Tone information：Warm
Gyro state：Open
Brightness information：LEVEL_HIGH_1
Blue light information：Open
Back light information：forced
##############################################################

In Extended Mode, the Nvidia Control Panel reports the second monitir as being
Oculus VR Inc. PIMAX P1

Nvidia driver version is 21.21.13.7633
GForce Game Ready Driver version 376.33 which I believe is the latest for my card.

That’s about it. Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Luke

9

If you install the latest version of Oculus home, you can not switch to Extended mode.
There are two reasons.

  1. This is due to the monitor in Device Manager. CMM explained this well.
  2. This is due to the two OVR processors running after Oculus home installation.
    It will be resolved by opening Task Manager and ending the task.

Thanks to CMM’s How-To, I’ve created a video that covers everything from Piplay installation to the use of Oculus home. See from 8:16.

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So from CMM’s post, it seems that maybe just uninstalling the “generic pnp monitor” from device manager may allow me to switch to extended mode? I’ve had similar issues with other peripherals, where windows will install a generic driver that takes priority over drivers that the manufacturer provided. It’s worth a shot I suppose considering extended mode isn’t working at all for me.I was trying to use extended mode for watching movies, I suppose I could just use Simple VR Movie Player if I’m unable to get extended mode working?

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Since simpleVR runs via SteamVR, it consumes more resources than watching movies in Extended mode. Remember this difference and you will see a good quality screen no matter which one you choose.
Ps: I prefer watching movies in Extended mode.

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Which player do you use?

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I’m using the potplayer(64bit).
https://potplayer.daum.net/

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Thanks. Does this player have head tracking mode?

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How exactly did you fix DirectX? It appears that Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, does not provide a separate download for the DirectX 12 that comes with Win 10.

16

A 23 minutes video, with no sound and in Chinese Windows 10? This is not very useful. Could you please summarize it in a few lines of English text, we can find where to click ourselves.

1 Like
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Ok. I had to get help from Pimax support and using teamviewer they used a DirectX Repair Tool.
It is a Chinese version tool and if you Google DirectX Repair V3.5 (enhanced Version) you should find it.

I do believe that the latest version of Piplay has the tool built in.

Look under Settings/Debug Tool. There is a DirectX button there.
I haven’t tried it but it’s worth a try first.

Another way may be to get Pimax support to help.

Install Skype and TeamViewer and contact support via Skype.
Tell them that you susspect that them you suspect that your DirectX is damaged.
I’m sure they’ll help.

Good luck, Luke

18

Hi
I have the same problem here.
When i change to Extended Mode… The piplay show me Searching device… but not found nothing. The Systema turn more slow in general also.

I desinstalled Oculus and also happening.
I have Win10 and GTX 1080.

Help me please,
Thanks!

19

When “Oculus Home” is installed
First, look at the CMM’s post and fix your monitor.
Check here: http://community.openmr.ai/t/pimax-4k-working-in-pimax-extend-mode-with-oculus-software/784

Using Extended mode

  1. Run Task Manager
  2. OVR … Find & End Task
  3. Run Extended mode

Using Oculus Home

  1. Changing direct mode
  2. Select “Windows key + R”
  3. services.msc
  4. Find & Start “Oculus VR Runtime Service”
  5. Run “Oculus Home”

This is a simple matter for engineers.
Simply turn off or turn on Oculus VR service when changing Extende mode or Direct mode.
We hope that the next version of PiPlay will fix it.