Slugmouse - a mouse button emulator for hand-tracked cockpit clicking.

[slughead]

Hey Hadeda!

22 minutes ago, Hadeda said:

1) when going to an external view my mouse is still 'tied' to the slugmice, so the view moves around wildly even with the slightest movement of my hands. Quite nauseating! Not sure what can be done apart from re-assigning external view movement to my HOTAS but don't really have the buttons to spare

You can do a couple of things to help with this. The first option is to use HTCC's hibernate mode to temporarily deactivate OpenXR hand tracking.

To reactivate OpenXR hand tracking, hold one hand near the top of your field of view until you hear the beeps again. It takes a bit of practice.

The other option I prefer is to reduce HTCC's wake and action field of view. By doing this, you can look straight ahead or away from your hand, reach for the mouse, and the normal mouse will take precedence. When you let go of the mouse and bring your hand back into HTCC's field of view the hands will take precedence.

I have attached my htcc registry settings if you would like to try them. However, they are set for preferences and airframe which is usually fixed wing fighters with no overhead switches. For helos you may beed to change the settings to suit your needs. You may wish to backup your HTCC registry settings before installing mine.

htcc.reg

More details about the HTCC registry settings can be found here: Registry Settings | HTCC

 

55 minutes ago, Hadeda said:

2) not sure if this is an issue with HTCC or Slugmouse or something entirely different, as I didn't have this issue until recently, but whenever I'm on a menu screen the mouse seems to suddenly link to my VR headset (Q Pro), meaning I have to move my head to the button to activate it.

It's best to use the above methods to deactivate hand tracking and use the normal mouse for menus. For the comms menu, I map comms functions to the comms button on my Thrustmaster Viper HOTAS which gives me coms open, up down, exit, back etc.

1 hour ago, Hadeda said:

Far from ideal as it can be difficult to physically move my head to get the mouse pointer over the button! What's worse is that movement is in mirror, so left is right and right is left

This is partly a limitation of the mouse implementation of DCS when using"Emulated touch screen or tablet" mode in HTCC. You could try the "Emulated Oculus Touch Controller" mode although Fred doesn't recommed that.

[nzteddy]

I see questions about Point Ctrl vs Slugmouse. I own Point Ctrl. I don't have a Slugmouse, but am considering it for MSFS. It seems to me they are somewhat different in how they operate. With PointCtrl you do not have to keep your head still once a control is high-lighted, you can move your head and still interact with the control. Also there is no issue when going to external view in DCS or using menus. Although I already own PointCTrl, I have another on order because if the one I have stops working I would stop playing DCS, it's that important for immersion. Slugmouse is available right now (unlike PointCtrl), as others have suggested I would buy a Slugmouse as well as put my name down for PointCtrl.

[Aussie Pilot]

Does Slugmouse require your hands to be lit up well so your headset can see and interact with them?

[slughead]

3 minutes ago, Aussie Pilot said:

Does Slugmouse require your hands to be lit up well so your headset can see and interact with them?

Remember that Slugmouse doesn’t perform any hand tracking; it just emulates mouse or joystick button clicks. Your headset or Leap Motion Controller performs the hand tracking. So it’s really a function of your headset whether it can track hands in low light levels.

[TFS]

On 12/8/2024 at 6:46 AM, Hadeda said:

1) when going to an external view my mouse is still 'tied' to the slugmice, so the view moves around wildly even with the slightest movement of my hands. Quite nauseating! Not sure what can be done apart from re-assigning external view movement to my HOTAS but don't really have the buttons to spare

To combat this, I moved my mouse out of the Quests camera FOV, so my hand isn't captured by the tracking, this is purely an HTCC feature, Slugmouse is merely mouse clicks. 

[slughead]

Important note about measuring your fingers.

Hey fellow pilots! If you use an adjustable plastic ring gauge to measure your fingers, please do not measure the gauge with a ruler, as it will provide the wrong measurement. Please provide the number or letters on the indicator, e.g., US 12 (left index finger), US 13 (right index finger), Z (left index finger), or Z1 (right index finger) etc.

Ideally, use metal ring gauges or visit a jeweller. It's rare for both left and right fingers to be the same ring size, so be sure to measure both.

[slughead]

I am aware that some fellow pilots are struggling to log onto the ED Forum to message me their orders. To remedy this, you can also email me at team.slughead @ outlook.com (remove the spaces around the @ symbol).

 

[Lt.Face]

Will they work also when you dont have eye-tracking.....so that the mouse courser ist just fixed in middle of the screen and you have to move your head to place hte mouse courser over a button and then click?

[slughead]

2 minutes ago, Lt.Face said:

Will they work also when you dont have eye-tracking.....so that the mouse courser ist just fixed in middle of the screen and you have to move your head to place hte mouse courser over a button and then click?

Yes, you can also use Slugmouse in that way.

[slughead]

Phew! What a month! I just managed to squeeze five orders out before Christmas. I will continue manufacturing units over Christmas and ship units between Christmas and New Year's.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

[slughead]

More units are shipping out in the morning!

[Tom28]

My Slugmice arrived yesterday.

Perfect fit, easy pairing and great functionality.

 

The only issue I have is with the Ultraleap and/or it's integration in DCS. Or I might be too stupid to follow instructions.

While moving my hands around the cockpit, I get a lot of accidental clicks from the Ultraleap.

 

Settings in DCS are as follows:

Special tab:

Ultraleap: not enabled

VR tab:

Use Hand Controllers: Ultraleap
Use Pointer and Touch: use on both hands
everything else in that section is disabled
- If I choose "Use no pointers or touch" for Use Pointer and Touch, I still see hands, but without any interaction - including disabling the Slugmice

- Disabling Use Hand Controllers switches it all off (who would have thought...)

 

Ultraleap control panel and HTCC are configured the way I understand they should be.

Interestingly - and maybe part of the problem - all works the same with HTCC disabled or even uninstalled.

 

Any Ideas?

Edited December 29, 2024 by Tom28

[slughead]

Hey Tom!

You’ll need to turn off Ultraleap in DCS. There are other settings too as per the instructions on the HTCC website that you must set.

https://htcc.fredemmott.com/
 

Be sure to complete all the steps in the links at the bottom of the page for Ultraleap and then DCS World setup.

Essentially, Ultraleap in DCS has taken priority and DCS is using your fingers to strike controls. So follow the instructions on the HTCC page, disable gloves and you should be good to go.

[slughead]

Also, check the Ultraleap troubleshooting section.

Ultraleap | HTCC

[Tom28]

Finally found it 

 

Somehow only worked through half the HTCC instructions .

It's the troubleshooting via OpenXR-API-Layers-Win64-HKLM.exe that I was missing. Clicked on Fix it, and now it works a treat.

 

Only minor issue is the scaling, i.e. big hand movements for little cursor movement. Will have a look through the Ultraleap Configuration document.

[slughead]

By popular demand, we are extending the Christmas sale until the end of January! Prices will return to normal in February!

[Rocho]

On 12/29/2024 at 11:05 AM, Tom28 said:

My Slugmice arrived yesterday.

Perfect fit, easy pairing and great functionality.

 

The only issue I have is with the Ultraleap and/or it's integration in DCS. Or I might be too stupid to follow instructions.

While moving my hands around the cockpit, I get a lot of accidental clicks from the Ultraleap.

 

Settings in DCS are as follows:

Special tab:

Ultraleap: not enabled

VR tab:

Use Hand Controllers: Ultraleap
Use Pointer and Touch: use on both hands
everything else in that section is disabled
- If I choose "Use no pointers or touch" for Use Pointer and Touch, I still see hands, but without any interaction - including disabling the Slugmice

- Disabling Use Hand Controllers switches it all off (who would have thought...)

 

Ultraleap control panel and HTCC are configured the way I understand they should be.

Interestingly - and maybe part of the problem - all works the same with HTCC disabled or even uninstalled.

 

Any Ideas?

Where did you download that version of HTCC software. Mine is Build: v1.2.0.344-GHA-344-RelWithDebInfo-Win64. I got it from HTCC download link.

[slughead]

7 minutes ago, Rocho said:

Where did you download that version of HTCC software. Mine is Build: v1.2.0.344-GHA-344-RelWithDebInfo-Win64. I got it from HTCC download link.

Releases · fredemmott/HTCC · GitHub

[Rocho]

4 hours ago, slughead said:

Releases · fredemmott/HTCC · GitHub

Thanks!

[Rocho]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:46 PM, Hadeda said:

I've been using Slugmouse for a couple of months now and love it. So much more immersive. However, I have a couple of issues.

1) when going to an external view my mouse is still 'tied' to the slugmice, so the view moves around wildly even with the slightest movement of my hands. Quite nauseating! Not sure what can be done apart from re-assigning external view movement to my HOTAS but don't really have the buttons to spare

2) not sure if this is an issue with HTCC or Slugmouse or something entirely different, as I didn't have this issue until recently, but whenever I'm on a menu screen the mouse seems to suddenly link to my VR headset (Q Pro), meaning I have to move my head to the button to activate it. Far from ideal as it can be difficult to physically move my head to get the mouse pointer over the button! What's worse is that movement is in mirror, so left is right and right is left. If I glance at the button from my periphery, I can start using my normal mouse again and get to the button. It's quite a strange and convoluted process! Has anyone else experienced this?

Would welcome any thoughts on how to fix these issues.

This is exactly the same for me. Also, unfortunately, I can't get my slugmouse to work in DCS, none of the hat clicks work, neither left click, right click nor scroll, so I can't activate any cockpit instrument.

MSFS doesn't even detect my hand movement, let alone mouse clicks.

[slughead]

5 minutes ago, Rocho said:

This is exactly the same for me. Also, unfortunately, I can't get my slugmouse to work in DCS, none of the hat clicks work, neither left click, right click nor scroll, so I can't activate any cockpit instrument

Are you using bluetooth built into the motherboard or a bluetooth dongle? If you are using motherboard bluetooth, have you connected the external antenna to your motherboard?

Have you tried to use the Slugmouse with a regular windows application such as Edge or Chrome to see if right click, scroll etc works?

 

7 minutes ago, Rocho said:

MSFS doesn't even detect my hand movement, let alone mouse clicks.

Movement of the mouse is managed by HTCC. You must visit the HTCC discord for HTCC support.

[Rocho]

On 1/6/2025 at 4:11 PM, slughead said:

Are you using bluetooth built into the motherboard or a bluetooth dongle? If you are using motherboard bluetooth, have you connected the external antenna to your motherboard?

Have you tried to use the Slugmouse with a regular windows application such as Edge or Chrome to see if right click, scroll etc works?

 

Movement of the mouse is managed by HTCC. You must visit the HTCC discord for HTCC support.

Yes, I have tried both with built in bluetooth and with external dongle. I am going to uninstall the program to start the configuration again. I am trying to remove both slugmouses but it is impossible to remove the right one. it always appear paired or connected in Bluetooth and other devices.

Edited January 7 by Rocho

[jnr4817]

Just so I understand, how would this work with the pimax crystal light without any other hardware of software? Or do I need a leap controller or something else, in addition to htcc?

 

[Melv428]

Hello,

thanks my slugmouse arrived. I installed HTTC and configurate everything shown in the HTTC website Ultraleap | HTCC

did i missed something? i cant click in the cockpit. The Handtracking works with the Crystal so i see the cursor moving but i cant click something. 

thanks!

-EDIT-

ok  problem solved! it was indeed the missing bluetooth/wlan antenna of the motherboard. It works fine now!

Edited January 11 by Melv428

[slughead]

On 1/7/2025 at 9:50 PM, jnr4817 said:

Just so I understand, how would this work with the pimax crystal light without any other hardware of software? Or do I need a leap controller or something else, in addition to htcc?

 

You will need either the Pimax hand tracker add-on or a leap motion controller.

On 1/7/2025 at 8:18 PM, Rocho said:

Yes, I have tried both with built in bluetooth and with external dongle. I am going to uninstall the program to start the configuration again. I am trying to remove both slugmouses but it is impossible to remove the right one. it always appear paired or connected in Bluetooth and other devices.

If you use the "remove device" option in your Bluetooth and Devices window, the device should remain removed until you ask Windows to pair it again. Also, be sure to disable or unplug either the onboard Bluetooth or the Bluetooth dongle. Having both enabled at the same time may well cause you further problems, such as the device reconnecting when you think you have removed it.

I also want to reiterate the guidance in the first post about fitting the external antenna to your motherboard. Without an antenna, you will suffer connection problems and missed button clicks as the range is limited to centimetres. With an antenna fitted, the range increase will possibly be up to 10 metres.

Please get in touch with me via PM or email if you need further support.

Edited January 11 by slughead