Grass Monkey Simulations Puck II setup

[Flogger23m]

Recently got the 60Hz Joseph II Puck from Grass Monkey Simulations, but can't seem to get it set up right even after watching the tutorials. Sometimes I can get it semi tracking, although it has lots of issues with the view spinning and stuttering all over the place which requires a restart of the software.

When it does work, it seems like the dead zone/view resets in odd ways. For example if I want to look below the stick in the F-18, it snaps to looking back over my shoulder. Or if I want to lean forward, if I lean too far forward it will again snap the view to the rear.

Tried the calibration feature a few times... but can't get anything useful.

For mounting, I am not quite sure what we're supposed to do. If I put it on top of my monitor it will be a bit too high and it has problems. Even then I am not quite sure how to mount it, as it is loose and does not seem to have a pressure screw to tighten into place? So it has some slop and isn't quite fixed in place.

 

For light, seems like any light in the room will cause issues. I am not quite sure if that is what is going on but I can't make my room pitch black and don't really want to. Do you more or less have to use this in the dark? The preview of the camera shows some light bounce off of a wood door and seems like it may be trying to track that.

 

And yes the puck is turned on with a battery in it. When I switch it to on I see the 3 IR lights showing in the camera preview, so it does detect it. The tracking is just all over the place and illogical. Is this more or less what I can expect or is there some fix for it? Was hoping for something simpler than VR but this seems to be far more complex and even more finicky which I didn't think would be possible.

 

Edit: Looks like your room needs to be completely dark to use. So night use only, or in rooms without any windows. Even light bounce on walls will ruin the tracking. Even then the tracking has maybe a 3rd of a second delay and head movement/dead zones are awkward.

Edited September 11, 2024 by Flogger23m

[manashttu]

With the tracking started, open this tab in Opentrack and tweak the Threshold under Point Extraction until all three lights consistently have a tracking circle around them.  It's a bit trial and error, but it ensures the Puck lights are tracked and any stray flashes of light are not.

 

[MAXsenna]

@Flogger23m Check what the camera sees like @manashttu explains. If it sees lights, reflected sunlight etc. it will go bonkers. The camera will show this. It should be completely dark with only the IR lights on the Puck shown.

Cheers! 

[Flogger23m]

Using it at night for now. Seems like even minimal (regular ambient sun light, not direct sun rays) bouncing off a wood door are enough to spoof it. More sensitive than I thought.

My biggest issue right now is how much I need to turn my head for it to move in game. I would like to do is make it more sensitive to head movement. Lets say I want to look at my 8-0 clock position in game. With my head I am looking at around 10-0 Clock. The problem is half my screen is in my peripheral vision now. This makes off angle AIM-9X shots tricky, as well as flying in general. What settings would I need to use?

 

I am looking under Mapping Properties, what is a good setting for all of the axis?

 

Current example of Yaw, believe this was in the tutorial but need something with less head movement so I can keep my PC screen centered.

 

 

Other issue is resetting center. Do I need to set a new center each time I start up the program? I assume even minor shifts in the camera will throw it off. Sometimes I also get a USB error when trying to start tracking. A reboot of my PC fixes it, but is there any reason why this happens?

[Flogger23m]

 

This is the USB error I get. A PC restart fixes it, but it is annoying to need to restart my PC half the time I want to use a peripheral.

 

 

My other issue is short cuts. For some reason when I click a button, in this case Numberpad 0, it always adds control + alt. I don't want a complicated key combo, why can't I just add a single short cut? And why does the short cut constantly reset? Sometimes it works, other times it resets and you have to play around with attempting to lock the short cut to a single button press.

 

The software for this is infuriating.

Edited September 15, 2024 by Flogger23m

[Bigity]

I recall having that same error and it turned out to be a dud camera and it would hit randomly.  Contact grass monkey about it.  He replaced mine promptly after some troubleshooting was done.

As for going bonkers, yes any IR light source will cause issues.  Adjust as other  folks have suggested above.

 

I found that my ring camera with the IR mode would cause problems even behind a TV and pointed in the opposite direction!

Edited November 11, 2024 by Bigity