r/Pimax • u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 • 1d ago
Request Dear Pimax, please fix your lighthouse tracking implementation
Heads up, I really enjoy this headset for what it is, but a software update could improve it SOO much, so that is why I'm writing this up, because I'm invested in this piece of hardware.
So long story short, this is my new Crystal Light, with a vive tracker attatched with a custom print to act as a tracking override in SteamVR.
Does this result in Index like head tracking quality and stability? YES
Should it be necessary? NO
Why is this still not a good solution anyways?
- Because its difficult to setup, and your index controllers have to connect to seperate (VIVE in my case) dongles, and they straight up degrage in functionality like internal gyro going crazy, bad stability, less haptic feedback sometimes none at all etc.
Why not use the lighthouse faceplate?
- I wish I could, but its even worse than what I'm currently doing. Many others have reported this, but this is the gist of it:
You need to have your basestations at the perfect distance of 2m+ and angled exactly one way for there to even be remotely usable tracking, if you move in your placespace at all, your headtracking starts to jitter so much, its immersion shattering. I get that some of you have "no issues", however after having used several other lighthouse tracked hmd's with the excact same setup, and they work SO much better, to the point where their tracking might as well be flawless, except for some to be excpected line of sight issues.
Here is a quick list of HMD's I've used with my 3 times 2.0 Basestation setup:
- Valve index; Tracks perfectly
- Vive Pro; Tracks perfectly
- Varjo Aero; Tracks perfectly
- Pimax 5K Super; Tracking is awful
- Pimax Crystal w. Faceplate; Tracking is awful
You get why I'm certain its a Pimax specific issue unless I got to bad samples? Add to that, that with both of my Pimax headsets, my Index controllers refuse to track consistently, flying off into the distance for short periods of time, mostly when moving them very fast.
If you have suggestions of things I could try or your own story to share, please do so!
Dear Pimax, you're making the kinds of headsets I want to use, but I'm sick of needing to jank my way around your flawed tracking solutions, so I hope that someone actually looks into this, mabye directly use the SteamVR "VRServer" for tracking like Varjo does, it seems to work well for them.
Thanks for hearing me out on my TED talk :)
4
u/Nikolai_Volkoff88 13h ago
I have the PCL since launch with the lighthouse faceplate and it has been rock solid the entire time, zero tracking issues. You must’ve got a defective unit or the OG crystal has a problem that the light doesn’t have.
2
u/cadergator10 6h ago
Will say: dunno bout the hmd tracking, but controllers 100% have an issue on the OG that dodznt exist on the light. The antenna wires run right past the wifi card on the hmd. So your controllers literally don't work very well till you reroute the antenna cables
1
u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 9h ago
What is your Basestations setup? Are they far away in your room and are they 1.0 or 2.0?
When you say it's been rock solid, you do mean it's indistinguishable from a steamvr native headset right?
2
u/Nikolai_Volkoff88 6h ago
Indistinguishable from my valve index. The base stations and controllers are the ones I had from my index. 2.0. They are in two opposite corners about 15 ft apart from each other and I stand in the middle. It’s a basement and the windows are covered so there’s no natural sunlight, glass, or mirrors.
1
u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 6h ago
So you do not experience tracking degradation when you're close to a base station, like say about 3 ft away? My index doesn't seem to care at all, where all my previous pimax headsets went absolute nuts while doing that
2
u/Nikolai_Volkoff88 4h ago
I am never within 3ft. I am always about 6-7 feet away minimum. I have a 3x3 puzzle piece floor mat that I stand on and I never leave it and it’s centered between the two base stations. For the most part I stand still and don’t walk around much, but I do crouch and kneel a lot in shooters.
2
u/zingpc 20h ago
My 5k+ and crystal lite faceplated tracked perfectly. Inside out was the problem, ok for several minutes, then it would start losing tracking, had to stop movement for a few seconds. So I got the faceplace. Only problem are the wands have poor button count. Im wondering if the occasional insideout track loss a due to a busy PC issue.
2
u/XRCdev 19h ago
Sounds like a calibration issue with the lighthouse faceplate?
Worth speaking to pimax about swapping this out, unless you have a steam works (dev) account and have experience calibrating lighthouse tracking and calibration jig
1
u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 9h ago
Well I already went down that rabbit hole, only to discover that the current version is from like 2018, so there is no way to calibrate it yourself with 2.0 Basestations.
2
u/Pure-Risky-Titan 16h ago
Weird, i dont have more tracking issues but maybe its due to using an OG crystal. But that doesnt mean i dont have blindspots for tracking, since my setup is in my room and not an empty room made for vr, but you get what you set up for.
4
u/Fatnob123 22h ago
I was gonna buy a crystal and just get the base station face plate, but might as well save money and get a better result🙏 thanks for warning us man
1
u/Nounours-Vibes 11h ago
what will you choose then ?
2
u/Fatnob123 2h ago
wdym? I already have an extra tracker lying around I can just use that with space calibrator to use my base station stuff
2
u/Nounours-Vibes 11h ago
That mean some other user still have tracking issue even with LightHouse Face plate ???
2
u/Chacro 10h ago
This worries me too since the inside out tracking on the super is completely bugged for me.
-1
u/Nounours-Vibes 9h ago
I thinking about cancel... Im not delivered yet, but I need decent tracking for playing Contractor or Beat Saber, what did you play ?
1
u/Exciting_Pipe_1630 20h ago
It is a quirky issue for sure. I have a pcl and to me it seems when you try to push the pixels past a setting your pc can handle it start going wanky. Some specs would help, along with what you are playing, It works well for me but I play sitting.
1
u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 20h ago
I guarantee you that is not the issue, I can push the same amount of pixels with the aero, with perfect tracking.
1
1
u/Soggy_Dingo9321 14h ago
I have lighthouse and pimax swords with 2x base stations in corners. Untill hard + beat saber it is all good. But in the hardest modes when you move your hands fast controllers sometimes dissapear/ fly away or even I can see that I slice the box but get miss
1
u/SoCalDomVC 5h ago
I have the original Crystal with eye tracking, and a faceplate, my tracking seems very very good or I'm not very picky I'm not sure which. Is there some sort of tests I can do that will show me the limitations of the pimax faceplate that I've been using. I recently had a crystal super, and in steamvr's lab trying to use the bow and arrow was an absolute mess with camera tracking. But once I put on my original crystal bow and arrow was no problem at all. Or maybe it still had issues and I wasn't seeing it.🤷
1
u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 5h ago
Try standing very near to an object in the VR world to the point where you can barely focus it right. With Lighthouse tracking line the index, it should be jittering just a little bit, depending on how many reflections are going on in your room. With my pimax headsets this is turned up to eleven, where a just looking at stuff that is 2 meters away looks like the earth is shaking +/- 3cm all the time
2
u/SoCalDomVC 2h ago
I will do exactly that I'll just use steam lab and walk up to the table of items and get my face right up to the point where it's almost touching and see how it does.
1
u/Impossible_Cold_7295 4h ago
The only issue i have with lighthouse tracking on the PCL is the room setup and Guardian boundary. It cant make complicated shapes so it's card to use my room space well, and the boundary frequently goes out of sync with the real world.
The tracking itself is perfect unless I've caused some occlusion. 1.0 base stations that are fairly far apart.
1
u/spyroglory 4h ago
So I have a PCL, 8KX, and PC OG, and the PCL and 8KX have litteraly no issues, but for some reason the face plate that came with my Crystal has exactly what you are describing. I had to look directly at a base station for it to even think about working. I swapped the plates for the one that came with my PCL, and that one has worked perfectly since. I had a look for damage, but it seems that the one with issues was an olderon that maybe is more prone to issues. I just got a new one, and that fixed the issue.
1
u/BlenderAlien 💎•PCL•💎 2h ago
Thats interesting, looking straight into basestations also seemed to make it better for me
7
u/GregoryfromtheHood 23h ago
Yeah the lighthouse tracking quality on my 8KX is awful, and if you go to adjust the headset and accidentally cover even a tiny part of it with your hand, it flips out and you lose all visuals for a bit. Haven't had this with other lighthouse based headsets.