Track IR settings/profile help!!

[Nose Nuggets]

Hi guys,

 

I am still very much a TrackIR and Black Shark amateur. I have been fiddling with TrackIR software settings for a few hours now and cant seem to get the results i want.

 

I am using the latest version of Black Shark from steam and a TrackIR 5 with the reflectors (not the LED's) and the latest software from the site.

 

My primary issue is zooming in. Its very likely that im just not moving my head towards the screen evenly but its really shaky. If i make very slow and controlled movements it works okay, but while actually flying and trying to maintain situational awareness it seems;

1) slightly delayed, likely due to the "smoothing" effect and the deadzone

2) inconsistent - its feels like the sensitivity changes without any real consistency

 

moving in diaginals seems even less precise. especially the downward angles to view the lower right panel etc.

 

known issue:

My primary display for my computer is a 40" high def tv. but its on a desk. so its about 2.5' away. its also tall, so the trackir receiver is about 1.5' higher then the reflectors on my head. i dont know how to resolve this. i tried putting in on top of my center speeker, which is about 2' lower then the reflectors on my head, but the obvious issue is the upwards tracking, it sucks.

 

i know the deadzone probably creates a lot of artificial hang that adds to the inconsistencies that i see.

 

 

what i would like to hear are the specific settings people use and are happy with. what i would REALLY like is the exact settings used in the developer reels on YouTube.

 

this is just beautiful;

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=k_1rXqKJ6fg&vq=hd720

 

my experience is nothing like that. the smoothness at which it zooms, and how he rotates around the HUD control console is amazingly smooth.

 

 

 

thanks a lot for your help!

[Sarge55]

Hey Nose,

 

I get the same result as Wags in the video using the standard "smooth" setting, no additional tweaks. I think you are right thinking the receiver is too high. I use a 24" monitor and the receiver is only about 3-4" above the proclip on my headset.

This may sound and will probably look goofy but try putting the reflectors on top of the cap or whatever you are using, just a thought.

[Bushmanni]

I don't know if my profile is what you are after as it's optimized for aiming with the helmet sight of KA-50 as opposed to watching around outside and inside the cockpit. I have made the center portion which covers the front window almost linear and quite slow so its accurate and predictable and therefore easy to aim with. The rest of the curve is adjusted so that the virtual head has yawed 180 deg when I see only a portion of the monitor well and then ramped up smoothly between center portion and extreme rotation. Pitch is almost the same as yaw but rotates less in the extreme region. Roll is 1:1 as there's really no need to roll my head more in the sim than it does IRL. I have focused on the center portion as it's the only direction where I can shoot my weapons and where Shkval is able to see.

 

This is probably a little shaky profile as its hard to keep the view stable when just flying but then again I'm able to aim the gun effectively enough to hit something at close range and point the Shkval close enough at targets at range that they can be seen in the display and then easily aimed at with ministick. For different monitor and head position relative to tracker and monitor this profile probably needs some modification. I had to change the extension to txt from xml so I could upload the profile and it obviously needs to be changed back.

Oma_smooth.txt

[ZQuickSilverZ]

You know if you have the TrackIR 4 software you can rotate the camera and mount it on the side of your monitor. Unlike the 5 software 4 lets you control your camera orientation.

[Nose Nuggets]

WOW! Thanks so much for the tips guys. I'm going to try all of these suggestions over the weekend. Do you think the trackclip pro would make the overall tracking smoother?

[Sarge55]

I've not tried the reflectors which also came with the kit when I bought it so can't say for certain but it goes to reason that the LED's would provide a more reliable source for tracking.

[jbeam]

+1 on the "smooth" setting -- it works much better for me than the default profile.

 

The top of my monitor is also higher than the top of my head, and I've found that tilting the TrackIR slightly downward seems to help, particularly for keeping the reflectors in the camera's field of view when looking down at the shkval/ABRIS.

[Frederf]

I double-sided taped my TIR to the left frame of my monitor about eyeball height. I use a TrackClip Pro which hangs off the left side of my headset so leaning forward physically pretty much moves the clip directly at the sensor.

 

As for profile. Start with 0 smoothing. Use the "3D view" setup and try to keep your head perfectly still. You'll see the cursor jiggle due to 0 smoothing. Increase it one step at a time until you're satisfied the jiggle is minimal. Smoothing is a necessary evil, keep it as low as you can.

 

Starting with a 1:1 setup, adjust the yaw curve level until you can achieve a reasonable level of yaw ability and no more, maybe 140 degrees each way. Then go in and put in a soft "dip" near the center to taste. The "snap gulley" defaults are awful. Do the same for the other axes. I found pitch was best with a lesser curve above 0 and a more aggressive curve below 0. Looking out the window with the HMS you need precision but you need less precision and more range when looking down into the cockpit.

 

Setting tZ to FOV is nice but becomes a headache without tweaking the curves. I like a gentle FOV curve near the center of my head's positionings and when I want to look closely at something it takes a dedicated forward lean up to the glass to get out of the gentle zone. Similarly I like a medium aggressive curve for leaning back and getting a nice wide view for hovering and landing.

[Bushmanni]

I don't think Trackclip pro helps to make tracking smoother but definitely more reliable. I don't have any personal experience with the LED version, but the reflector version I have seems to track just as smoothly as it's possible. I have never had any problems of not having smooth tracking. It's always been either my head going out of the cameras FOV or me turning my head too much and reflector not reflecting anymore, which leads tracker going crazy instantly. The reflector blips in camera view don't shake or do anything other strange that would affect smoothness. Reflector version doesn't track pitch too well as the reflectors are curved only horizontally. I had to bend mine a little bit upwards towards the camera so that I won't lose tracking when looking downwards as my camera is a little bit too high.

[Frederf]

Yeah, in some ways the reflector clip is superior. It has head-on (pun) geometry so there's left/right symmetry as well as being cordless. The powered Pro clip has the benefit of turning off the IR flood lights, setting the IR threshold to maximum, and never having interference from a light bulb or similar.

 

I think I'm going to add little half-dome diffusers on top of the 3 parts of my Pro clip, if I could find tiny ping pong balls. Because the lights are recessed points turning too much or having one overlap the other causes a sudden loss of tracking.

[wheelhaus]

I never could get used to the progressive sensitivity of the default settings, it felt too numb/locked near center of the X or Y axis for flight sims. The 1:1 felt better in some ways, but it still felt too artificial/forced. On all accounts, (IIRC) I keep the global settings speed at 1, and smoothing around 8. This results in quick, nearly instant response that doesn't judder.

 

For all my flight sims, (DCS:BS, LOMAC:FC & FC2, and FSX) I set the Pitch/Yaw/Roll sensitivity to a flat line, the last 25-30% tapering to 0 near 45°. The X/Y/X are also linear, but much less sensitive to avoid popping my POV outside the aircraft or clipping through polygons. I set them until I could move around a comfortable "bubble" and beyond that the view wouldn't move. It kinda feels like the helmet is pressed against the glass and I just can't move anymore.

 

The Pitch sensitivity I had to adjust asymmetrically to taper to 0 sooner when looking down. The TIR engine/sensor doesn't like looking down too much, the view flips out and has a seizure... The Z sensitivity is also asymmetrical to prevent zooming out/backwards too far.

 

Having a cockpit view that reacts to my head position consistently makes everything feel much more natural, like you're actually inside the helo. Once I made a good profile as a baseline, I copied the same settings to another profile, renamed it, and tweaked the sensitivity specifically for the next title until I had a profile for each sim that feels perfect.

 

Driving sims are another story, it helps to keep your view locked to center unless you intentionally look away, X/Y/Z movement doesn't work as well because you're typically strapped into a 5pt harness and can't move. I disable everything except a small amount of Pitch, a small amount of Roll, and use mostly Yaw for checking the flanks/mirrors. In this case, I have the center ranges at 0 sensitivity, and about 10° i ramp up the sensitivity a little bit to get some movement.

 

When flying, however, it feels far more natural to have the camera react to my view consistently across the entire range of view as it gives the sensation that I can move freely about the cockpit..

[Nose Nuggets]

I never could get used to the progressive sensitivity of the default settings, it felt too numb/locked near center of the X or Y axis for flight sims. The 1:1 felt better in some ways, but it still felt too artificial/forced. On all accounts, (IIRC) I keep the global settings speed at 1, and smoothing around 8. This results in quick, nearly instant response that doesn't judder.

 

For all my flight sims, (DCS:BS, LOMAC:FC & FC2, and FSX) I set the Pitch/Yaw/Roll sensitivity to a flat line, the last 25-30% tapering to 0 near 45°. The X/Y/X are also linear, but much less sensitive to avoid popping my POV outside the aircraft or clipping through polygons. I set them until I could move around a comfortable "bubble" and beyond that the view wouldn't move. It kinda feels like the helmet is pressed against the glass and I just can't move anymore.

 

The Pitch sensitivity I had to adjust asymmetrically to taper to 0 sooner when looking down. The TIR engine/sensor doesn't like looking down too much, the view flips out and has a seizure... The Z sensitivity is also asymmetrical to prevent zooming out/backwards too far.

 

Having a cockpit view that reacts to my head position consistently makes everything feel much more natural, like you're actually inside the helo. Once I made a good profile as a baseline, I copied the same settings to another profile, renamed it, and tweaked the sensitivity specifically for the next title until I had a profile for each sim that feels perfect.

 

Driving sims are another story, it helps to keep your view locked to center unless you intentionally look away, X/Y/Z movement doesn't work as well because you're typically strapped into a 5pt harness and can't move. I disable everything except a small amount of Pitch, a small amount of Roll, and use mostly Yaw for checking the flanks/mirrors. In this case, I have the center ranges at 0 sensitivity, and about 10° i ramp up the sensitivity a little bit to get some movement.

 

When flying, however, it feels far more natural to have the camera react to my view consistently across the entire range of view as it gives the sensation that I can move freely about the cockpit..

 

Your flight setup sounds ideal for my preferences as well. i couldn't impose as ask you to upload the profile for me would you? just change the .xml extension to .txt and ill change it back. it sounds perfect.

[wheelhaus]

Not a problem, I can do that when I get home later tonight so long as I don't forget... :thumbup:

[wheelhaus]

here ya go. You may need to tweak it, I am constantly, just a bit here and there. Don't know if I'll ever be 100% satisfied... But that's just me.

 

I realized after looking at the profile that not everything is as linear as I thought it was. Roll and X both have desensitized center, and Z has some nutty curves, but they feel right to me and how I play. I remember now I've changed these because of how I tend shift around in my chair, I gave myself a little bit of a deadzone or modified the output to the axes I am more sensitive to and/or sloppy with.

 

Pitch and Yaw are the two most obvious axes for immersion, so they are linear. Y is next most obvious to peek over the nose for targeting, etc, so I left it linear as well. X is nice for leaning over to look down out the windows, but if I was off center just a bit the HUD reflection would be unusable...

 

Anyways, give it a shot and see what ya think.

Rename "txt" to "xml" and drop it into your profiles folder.

 

If you want to rename it, you will need to either edit the XML file "name" line, or copy each axis as a template and load them into a new profile.

DCS Black Shark.txt

[Nose Nuggets]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help with this. I finally got some time to really play around with the sugestions and found that Wheelhaus' profile was a fantastic fit for my preferences.

 

thanks again guys.

[SuDepp]

...or try this one...

 

Greets

S@uDepp

BLACKSHARK.zip

[Nose Nuggets]

oh noes.... more options....

 

ill give it a shot tonight.

[SuDepp]

..... I use it with speed @ 1.4 and smooth @ 45......

Over that I use to sit relaxed and calm ....

 

Its great to have a look at the mirrors without being forced to lift up too much.....

 

Have fun

S@uDepp