I’m guessing they won’t support 2 either, although the functionality in Pimax Client does seem to literally just be PiTool so it might be extremely trivial if they built it with that in mind.
That said, the older pitool software isn’t going away so for vision series headsets it will be an option going forward. If they advertise the reality line as requiring an account then that’s fair enough and it’s a decision the consumer needs to make themselves. Adding an account requirement after the fact isn’t okay, but I don’t see that as happening with the currently available headsets.
Out of interest, you mean if you went offline that you couldn’t launch a game with your pimax headset? Or is it that you couldn’t launch games within the library of the pimax client? Just wondering to what extent the online requirement went.
Afaik, Oculus doesn’t require you to be online. I’m almost certain I have launched oculus titles when not connected to the internet (on PC I mean, I know for Quest/standalone you definitely can launch games offline no problem).
I just want to know if pimax client actually requires you to literally be online to use the software (not okay), or is it just for logging in once on the system with the login persisting between reboots like steam or such (definitely okay imo).
I booted from my cloned OS drive backup in order to test this, and the new PiTool .281 beta without peril. Here is what I’ve found so far:
.281 and the PC Client Beta do not respect Windows scaling properly. This has never been a problem (for me) with prior releases. This renders the UI impossible to see if you use high scaling. For example, because I dislike my screen jumping around between resolutions all the time, I run my 1080p main display at 4K, 225% scaling. This allows me to run games at 4K without things like desktop icons getting moved around. I was able to fix the scaling option by using the advanced overrides built into Windows 10, but obviously something has gone wrong with the code in these releases since prior releases were fine. Note that in the PC Client Beta it is only when I hit the little ‘settings’ gear and get the additional PiTool-like second app running that I have the scaling issue in this case. I was not able to fix it using the advanced Windows 10 scaling functions however.
The 1/3 smoothing rate is still there, and still hyperactive. Placing the HMD in 90hz and running a game that runs perfectly at 60hz/fps will result in a game that ‘throbs’ continually between 45fps and 30fps, and usually stays at 30fps. Unacceptable. I can’t begin to imagine how this happened in the first place. Does anyone test this software at all?
Right back to my prior OS and config. Still hoping Pimax will unbreak their software sometime soon. Unlike many, I actually had pretty good luck with Pimax until recently.
Just disconnected from the internet and tested out. Headset is COMPLETELY unusable when you are not connected. You can not login into Pitool, in fact you get no error or anything saying you are not connected, the login button just doesn’t do…anything.
Next I tried to start SteamVR from steam and play that way, no go, the headset is completely black. If you are without internet the headset is effectively bricked.
Reconnected to the internet and logged in and my headset finally started up like normal.
This is a huge oversight which I hope will be rectified. It effectively turns Pimax headsets into “Online Only” devices. Also to note, I too suffer from the scaling issues mentioned above, the settings menu is almost impossible to read because of how tiny it is.
I know with steam if I login then it stays logged in after I restart. Pimax Client kept me logged when I restarted my pc. Does it log you out if you’re offline? If so then that definitely needs to be addressed as that’s a complete deal breaker.
I’m guessing if you restart you pc offline then it tries to login again and fails?
Yeah I closed out of Pitool and tried to log in again and just got a log in screen, no notifications or nothing, which is an issue in and of itself. There needs to be a pop up or something saying you are offline instead the log in button just doesn’t do anything.
The headset is completely black until you log into Pitool. You cannot use the headset without it. I can access all my games through Steam as it has an offline mode but if I try to launch Steam VR all I got is the “headset disconnected” error.
Ran without internet for 4 days and had no problem launching Steam or playing games on the platform, so a login isn’t needed in off line mode.
Pitool isn’t even required unless you need to change base settings for SVR to change to, but that’s not an issue as Pitool works without internet, as well.
When I started the first alpha version (they call it beta), I had do login online first prior to use my headset at all. THAT was a real no go. Whereas the offline installer of PiTool allows to be used completely offline. Because of zero feedback (I may have unintendent insulted them mentioning the obvious) I stopped testing and decided to wait for another year or so, maybe two.
So, just try it yourselves, would you? Would you mind to share your experience then, too?
Once you have a Steam account and that pc is Authorized. You don’t need to be online to logon the steam client in offline mode.
My brother has no internet. I have my steam installed on his laptop so he can play games. On the plus for him. No updates to get in the way of just load and play…
You only need to be online for account creation and downloading games & updates.
Agreed though with earlier client you could still load pitool though much of the text is in Chinese. Haven’t had a chance to test latest.
Last version had an issue with a loop to force firmware update. They had messed with my work around to not upgrade as the 8kX(2075) compatibility is broken with FW 299 on 1080ti.
Had a good conversation with one if the software team whom thought forced updates is best to improve user experience. That is why the latest client has removed forced firmware updates. Which is good since the community has been requesting not to have Firmware updates forced; just notify.
Thanks for sharing. The first two versions did not allow to use the Headset without login in first. We had that specific account for. Just unacceptable.
For the forced firmware update, it is all the time the same nowadays, parenting adult customers is just an insult.
Out of interest, are you okay with Valve doing it with the Index? Would an offline mode like Valve/Steam has (you login once, then can go offline and it persists between restarts of your computer) be acceptable?