Bought a Track Hat

[paiken]

As the title says, after many years (at least 10) of deliberating with myself on whether I should get some head tracking or save the money and upgrade my computer instead, I decided to take the plunge. I ordered the full kit (hat with LED's and the PS3 eye camera) on the 14th. The package arrived today (which I intercepted at the Post Office...a perk of being a mailman who works at the same station that delivers to my house. My regular mailman is out for a few weeks after some facial reconstruction surgery...anyway, I digress). Took the kit home at lunch and downloaded the relevant software and got things ready for flying. This evening I spent a while calibrating the camera, etc. and took it for a spin in P3Dv4.

It's going to take a little getting used to, but I like it so far. I'll need to spend some more time fine-tuning the various settings until it becomes second nature. I found myself trying to use the hat switch quite often... 20+ years of using hat switches on joysticks and flight yokes is going to be a hard habit to break!

[jmig]

I have used the TrackIR for years. I can't think of flying without it.

[Daveroo]

i had trackir for a long time,but it got broken in the move,now i hve track hat,but cant make it work in p3dv4...frustrating.

[awstub]

I've been using TrackIR for about 8 years now and I cant hardly function without it.

What's funny is that when I watch videos on the computer, sometimes, when the camera view pans..... I catch myself subconsciously moving my head to try and move it back to where I want to see.

[Naismith]

Today the doorbell rang, I tramped up the stairs to answer it only to be confronted by two sweet elderly ladies of the Jehovah's Witnesses persuasion. I wondered why the looked at me oddly and scuttled off quickly as I had not done my usual scowling at them for the disturbance - they must have been in their 80's - it was only after they had gone I realised I was still wearing my BBall cap with my TrackIR clip affixed with a crocodile clip and headphone & mike. So that is the secret - answer the door looking like a loon and they go away without question.

[patful]

I've never understood how they can be functional. If I want to look at something at 8 o'clock, my head's turned too far to see the screen. Can anyone explain how this works?

[jmig]

I've never understood how they can be functional. If I want to look at something at 8 o'clock, my head's turned too far to see the screen. Can anyone explain how this works?

The brain is an amazing thing. It and a flight sim getup can make a soon to be 70 year old believe he is 24 years old. It can also QUICKLY adapt to having your head turn only a few degrees to look out over the wing.

[patful]

Thanks, John. Sounds like a little vertigo to start with, but might be worth it in the long run.

Pat

[modelr]

Thanks, John. Sounds like a little vertigo to start with, but might be worth it in the long run.

Pat

Iwish it was "just a little vertigo!" I love my TrackIR 5, but have to take it off after about a half hour because of the vertigo.

Sent from my SM-G935R4 using Tapatalk

[paiken]

Day 2. Durned thing won't work today in P3Dv4. Blew the dust and cobwebs off of the old FSX:SE and it works just fine...still a lot of tweaking to get the movement the way I want it. The vertigo issue definitely cropped up for me, too. Hopefully something I can get accustomed to. Hate to think I "threw away" the $ I spent if it's unusable in P3Dv4. For now, I think I'll have to try re-installing v3 and hope for some joy. My Air Hauler 2 companies need some attention, so I can't spend all day fiddling about with settings.

[Dangerous Beans]

I'v had a TrackIR 3 for years and always swore that if it and my joystick broke at the same time I'd get a new TIR first and fly with my joypad.

When I first got it the biggest problem was getting a stiff neck from trying to keep my head still but you get used to it after a while so if it feels weird now dont give up, stick with it and after a while you wont be able to fly without it.

My TIR is probably feeling a bit left out now though since I go an Oculus Rift. Thats a whole new ball game again.

[thefrog]

For the first week or so, I had to switch it off so I could land the plane because I was so disorientated, but it's amazing how quickly you adapt to it. The thing that most non-users don't seem to reallise (and I didn't either) is that it's not just an alternative to the hat swich i.e. another way of looking around- it actually greatly enhances your immersion generally because of the 6 degrees of freedom that your head has in the vc. By the way I made my own using a baseball cap and LEDs and using Facetracknoir. It was easy to make and cost virtually nothing!

[patful]

Iwish it was "just a little vertigo!" I love my TrackIR 5, but have to take it off after about a half hour because of the vertigo.

Sent from my SM-G935R4 using Tapatalk

Ouch! I'm already prone to vertigo, so that could be a problem.

[blanston12]

I have a trackir but have only used it a few times. I find it a bit annoying to use as it continually seems to loose its center and I have to keep switching back to the management app and having to recalibrate it. I never got to the point I forgot it was there.

[falcon409]

I have a trackir but have only used it a few times. I find it a bit annoying to use as it continually seems to loose its center and I have to keep switching back to the management app and having to recalibrate it. I never got to the point I forgot it was there.

All that's needed is to hit F12 and it automatically recenters the view.

[jetstreamsky]

F12 is your friend (re-centre view), F9 too to freeze the view.

Also if you use Chaseplane, you can arrange each view whether to use TrackIr or not, so its quick and easy to change a cockpit view with full freedom of movement to one with a fixed view of the instruments or whatever.

The other aspect is the response curves, flatten them out towards the normal look forward view which steadies your viewpoint and then accentuate them at the extremes so it's easy to look 'over our shoulder', a must have for any high manoeuvres such as aeros or combat style flying or just looking for that small airfield on downwind.

[Penzoil3]

For P3D 4 - http://trackhat-forum.1125090.n5.nab...v4-td1086.html

[AussieMan]

Ordered my TrackHat last week and now just waiting for it to arrive. Been using Track Ir for as long as I can remember but finding it more difficult to get working properly and they say I need to update but on a very limited income the expenditure of something like $A240 is not on the horizon.

[Mbudge]

Ordered my TrackHat last week and now just waiting for it to arrive. Been using Track Ir for as long as I can remember but finding it more difficult to get working properly and they say I need to update but on a very limited income the expenditure of something like $A240 is not on the horizon.

Hi there, let us know how you get on. My TrackIR hasn't enjoyed the move to P3DV4 as much as I have. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and it is now the only thing that causes me to restart P3D. Frustrating given that the sim itself is now finally stable!

[awstub]

I originally installed my TrackIR4 w/ TrackClip Pro to be used with FSXA and it worked OK, but would occasionally lock up and need to be restarted in mid-flight.
When I installed P3d4, the TrackIR just automagically worked with it.
I didn't have to enable or configure anything for it.......and even better, it's performance is rock solid now.

The TrackIR software version I'm using is 5.4.2.27545

[Penzoil3]

Using Track Hat clip with Track IR camera and the 5.4.2.27545 software on this machine for P3Ds and FSX. I got tired of Track Clips breaking. They are just flimsy. The Track Hat Clip is so solid I don't expect to ever have to replace it.
I agree, some sort of tracking device is essential. I have Face Track Noir,and a TrackHat camera and clip on my Windows 10 computer in the living room. I have X-Plane 11 and Flight Sim World on it. That's my experimental machine, it dual boots to Win 10, or Linux.
Sue

[jmig]

For those who are having problems getting TrackIR to work properly, a few tips from a battered and bruised TIR warrior.

1. Make sure there are no extraneous lights in the background that can interfere with the sensor reading the clips reflection or LEDs. Sunlight or bright lights in the background will often cause the sensor to get confused. When this happens it "tilts" (to use an old pinball expression). By that, I mean, the virtual head literally flips upside down and the screen goes kaflooey, to use another old expression, this time engineering.

If you look at the setup screen with the cross hairs that moves with your head, on the top left is a drop down box arrow. Click on that. You will see several views. One of these views shows the reflections the sensor sees as green dots. Any red is extraneous light that can cause interference. Try and remove as much as possible.

2. Calibrate, calibrate, calibrate. Don't just do a move your head and see if it works, calibration. Calibrate each axes individually. The default curves might work if you fly heavy iron and only stare straight out of the front. However, if you do a lot of pitch movements, looking up. Or behind you, 180 degrees, the default curves will not work well. You will need to move the pitch and yaw curves to a heavy vertical setting. The curves will look like a V. My pitch curve looks more like a checkmark. I want to see 90 degrees up but not down. So, I have my pitch curve fairly flat on the downward side.

The goal is to get your curves set so that your head movements will allow you to see wherever you need to see without moving the head so that the sensor cannot see one or more of the hat clip reflectors or LEDs. If this happens...kaflooey. There is another view on the setup screen that can help. It is the back of the head. This view shows you actual head movements AND the virtual head movements. So, you can see how much the virtual head moves when you move you head, say 15 degrees. To keep the sensors in sight of the receiver, you should limit your head movements to 20 degrees.

3. Those of you who suffer from vertigo. Use the smooth and speed sliders to get an even, not too fast movement of the virtual head. It can help with vertigo. Also, try the smooth profile and then modify it.

4. Set a button on your throttle or joystick to F12. I have the castle switch set where F12 is up and F9 (Pause) is down. Left and right are S and Shift S. to allow me to see outside, when necessary. If the screen goes kaflooey at a critical point, like just before rolling out 300 feet above the ground on a landing. F12! There, you just saved your life.

You can find YouTube videos posted by gamer kids showing how they set up their TrackIR. I know they helped me and gave me tips.

I consider TrackIR along with FSUIPC as an almost indispensable addon for flying in the sim.

[paiken]

Problem solved. Naturally, it turned out to be something simple...Administrator rights. Overall I like Windows 10, but then you run into stupid things like "Administrator" rights, and you just want to scream.

[AussieMan]

Well my Track Hat arrived this morning. All I need now is time to get things set up and pay a visit to the Track Hat forums to see what else I need to know as to getting it set up in P3D V4. Then my flying can be more enjoyable again.