TrackIR questions & Re-introduction.

[Vympel]

Transmission incoming

Greetings Commanders!

I am pleased to announced that I am coming back to Elite: Dangerous after 2 months being away (been playing a lot of CS:GO & TESO). I am now reborn as Devinae, the same name that I use in Steam, but this time, as an independant bounty hunter. As independant, I will be hanging around Alioth and Alliance space as soon as I get my viper (tommorow probably). If I (all of us of course, and I hope one day) get the opportunity to create a group in-game, kind of a small faction (I know that we will be able to build our own starports; stations), I will be creating a mercenary bounty hunters group (I am a huge RPer you know, so I loooove that kind of stuff).

That said, I need you help friends. I play with the mouse and keyboard because I feel more comfortable with them. But while I was playing earlier, clicking on the middle button of my mouse to get the headlook really annoyed me. I wanted to know how can I get TrackIR? The informations I got online isin't enough to me. I need advices and help from the MOBIUS group. I don't really understand how it works. Must I get that little thing (I unfortunately don't know it's name) that I put on my head or I can get a webcam?

If I can get a webcam, which one would you guys suggest me? I am Canadian. and I usually buy all my PC equipment and parts on newegg.
That's it guys. Hope I'll be seeing you in the universe, and fly safe!

Commander Devinae

http://www.newegg.ca/

End of transmission

[Nanosmo]

Hello!

The best I've seen, for the cheap is EDTracker. ( http://edtracker.org.uk/ ) You can buy a pre-built one or build one yourself for about $10 or so.

Other then that I've not used TrackIR because of the cost.

[Vympel]

Oh it's that expensive? Well I'll take a look at your link. I appreciate it!

[Nanosmo]

Oh it's that expensive? Well I'll take a look at your link. I appreciate it!

I believe it starts at $120 for TrackIR.

[Flip]

TrackIR is a bit expensive, but it's very powerful and easy to use. I've got mine 7 or 8 years ago and never got a problem with it.

It works this way: there's a little box you put at the top of your screen that emits and receives infra red light. You also need a clip that attaches to your headset or to a hat. There are two of them. One is passive (just three reflectors) and one is active (three IR LED's). The active one has to be plugged to a USB port. I got both, but I should have spared the active one because I never use it, as the passive one works just fine.

The advantage of the TrackIR compared to the cheap alternatives is the number of degrees of freedom. The TrackIR has 6 of them. The alternatives (or most of them) have 4 of them. Also the alternative systems often work by sending the game key strokes whereas the TrackIR (in supported games) sends axis. This is smoother and more precise.

And finally, the software that comes with the TrackIR is very well made. It's very configurable and you can create profiles for different games and define dead zones, hot keys, speed, amplitude, smoothness, etc...

So if you can afford it, I'd recommend the TrackIR.

[Philip Coutts]

I'm quite interested in the TrackIR but I do have a couple of concerns. One is I'm not that technical so my question would be is it easy to set up i.e. is it plug and play or more complicated than that. The second concern is the cost, I'm kind of torn between getting this or waiting and getting the Occulus Rift (if it ever gets to a commercial release!).

[de Carabas]

The advantage of the TrackIR compared to the cheap alternatives is the number of degrees of freedom. The TrackIR has 6 of them. The alternatives (or most of them) have 4 of them. Also the alternative systems often work by sending the game key strokes whereas the TrackIR (in supported games) sends axis. This is smoother and more precise.

One clarification/addition on this for the EDTracker is that it too is detected by Windows as a joystick device and offers 3-axis movement.

The slightly more expensive version (with Magneto) is rock-solid for me - no drift and works great.

In terms of how technical - you can buy the bits and solder the EDTracker together yourself, load the software, calibrate etc. It's a geek thing. OR You can get the devs to build and configure one for you. This option costs a little more (you pay for some of their time) and requires significantly less effort to get working - install some software and away you go.

It's not as advanced as TrackIR but it is much cheaper and might be a good thing to try if this is something you want to look at. The EDTracker also need to be attached by USB so I have mine on top of my headset with a cable running down the headset cable to the PC.

[Flip]

Thanks for the corrections, De Carabas!

@Philip Coutts: it's plug and play and as far as I remember, very easy to install and set up. There's a program to set up and control it that has to run in the background, but I don't remember having to install any drivers. No calibration or things like that are required.

[Vympel]

Tanks for these replies guys! But as I've seen I must have a baseball cap to play with the TrackIR? I won't feel comfortable at all with that. Is there any other way or attachements that comes with it?

And I looked at EDtracker's website and I don't really understand how it works, it looks like squares like CPUs? How does that work?

[Philip Coutts]

Cheers Flip, I might have a closer look in the next few days.

Vympel I know you can also clip the attachments onto headphones as well as onto a hat.