jireland607 Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 Still no support for FreeTrack with 64bit OS then? Anybody know what the problem with it is? Is it that FreeTrack does not have a true 64bit version? Is it that ED can not get licensed to support the FreeTrack interface? Any possibility of using SimConnect (now Microsoft no longer make Flight Simulator? Do we just need a fixer that will work on the 64bit NewInput.dll file? It would be nice to know why I can only run the 32bit version of DCS A10c and that we really have hit a dead-end as far as free head tracking is concerned. I'm sure this has been answered before and for that I apologise, but I have been unable to find a definitive answer as to why ED does not support any other Head Tracking technology. ______________________________________________________________________________________ AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.4 Ghz | 8GB DDR3 Dual Channel | Ati HD4850 XFX | 22" Samsung TFT & NEC 17" touchscreen
Le0kong Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 From the creator of the TrackIRFixer: 64bit (x64) games require a 64bit TrackIR interface which is not currently available with TrackIR compatible alternatives. http://naturalpointofview.blogspot.com/p/trackirfixer.html And from ED: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=33510 AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.8@3360 MHz | MB Asus M4A78-EM | 4GB DDR2-800 Kingston | XFX HD 5770 @850-900/1200-1300 | 500G Samsung HD502HI | Case CM 335 | CM-EPP 460W | Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit) | Saitek X65F | Freetrack(Wii Remote) | LG 23' W2353V
samtheeagle Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 (edited) As far as I can make out this is all a bit messy. I was gutted to find that A-10, and BlackShark post 1.0.2 patch wouldn't support freetrack. Since then I've been trying freetrack via PPJoy, which kinda works, but it's a bit clunky compared to the proper support. As far as I understand it there are a couple of issues with freetrack and 64bit support. The freetrack project has shown no signs of life for a loooong time now, so I'm not sure if it'll ever get updated again :( Freetrack is written in Delphi, which atm doesn't appear to support compiling to 64bit binaries. So that's terminal, even if the freetrack developers were still around. I'm currently doing some investigations about how the 32bit freetrack client dll could be used from the 64bit A-10C process. Some form of IPC will be required, as 32/64 bit stuff WILL NOT mix together at all, it's just not possible. So right now I'm looking at defining a 32bit RPC server to wrap around the freetrackclient.dll, and then creating a 64bit RPC client that implements the recently released HeadTracking API realeased by waggs. I am a developer, but not a C++ one, so all of this is a bit greek to me, but I'm going to give it a shot. Of course if someone more technically adept than me could know this up that'd be great too ;) I'm pretty confident that the approach will overcome the 32bit / 64bit problem, just so long as the RPC stuff isn't too slow for this application? It's defo going to be slow next to proper InProc calls, but as I already mentioned that is not an option here. Edited June 11, 2011 by samtheeagle
jireland607 Posted June 11, 2011 Author Posted June 11, 2011 I would hang on for a bit before putting in too much work, I think a solution may be coming soon. There is a solution in the pipeline for FTnoIR that may work for FreeTrack also. :thumbup: ______________________________________________________________________________________ AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.4 Ghz | 8GB DDR3 Dual Channel | Ati HD4850 XFX | 22" Samsung TFT & NEC 17" touchscreen
samtheeagle Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 I'll not get too carried away then :) I hope whatever solution comes can support FreeTrack. Although FTNIR is a very appealing concept, my initial tests of it have been less than pleasing. It's jittery, slow to detect my face (maybe I'm that odd looking? ;) ), and drops tracking easily too. And when that happens it chews up the CPU like a monster i.e. 50%+ usage, which ofc destroys the gameplay as it turns into a slideshow :( Fingers crossed later iterations will improve on these issues, as like I said, the concept is a fantastic one, it just needs a bit more polish.
etchasketch Posted June 14, 2011 Posted June 14, 2011 Since then I've been trying freetrack via PPJoy, which kinda works, but it's a bit clunky compared to the proper support. I currently run Windows 7, 64bit A10 and Freetrack using ppjoy with Windows in test mode. Apart from a couple of reboots and some axis setup initially, I haven't had any issues with day to day use. What is clunky about it?
samtheeagle Posted June 14, 2011 Posted June 14, 2011 (edited) What is clunky about it? See my post above :) But the key things are poor tracking i.e. jittery and high cpu usage i.e. 50% plus :( I'm talking about FTNIR here, FreeTrack with PPJoy works better, not ideal, but smoother and far less CPU intensive. Edited June 14, 2011 by samtheeagle
samtheeagle Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 Well today I've knocked up a wrapper around the FreeTrack.exe which does a few very simple things... (1) It fires up the FreeTrack application, and monitors it waiting for it to be closed, at which point the wrapper terminates too. (2) While the FreeTrack process is running the wrapper queries FreeTrack via the FreeTrackClient.dll. The sampling rate is defined via a command line parameter passed in to the wrapper E.g. 30 times per second. (3) The wrapper creates a uniquely named shared memory map and semaphore to be used for interprocess communication. This wrapper allows 64bit processes to access the data generated by the 32bit FreeTrack application, but of course the 64bit apps would need to support the interface I've defined. So the next job is to try and create a HeadTracker.dll implementation that will read data from the shared memory map with the help of the semaphore so that DCS A-10C will work with FreeTrack, without the need for PPJoy :D Here's hoping!
GGTharos Posted June 16, 2011 Posted June 16, 2011 Why not just get the FT source and recompile for 64bit? :P Then give them the patch/changes and project file :P [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Reminder: SAM = Speed Bump :D I used to play flight sims like you, but then I took a slammer to the knee - Yoda
samtheeagle Posted June 17, 2011 Posted June 17, 2011 Why not just get the FT source and recompile for 64bit? :P Then give them the patch/changes and project file :P That would be nice. A bit of an issue tho - FreeTrack is written in Delphi, and at present Delphi doesn't support compiling to 64bit. It appears to be under development, but as far as I can make out it's not released yet, maybe later this year. At that time then yes, a recompile to 64bit would be the best approach. Until such time some form of IPC needs to be used to overcome the 32/64bit issue.
Wolf Rider Posted June 17, 2011 Posted June 17, 2011 FacetrackNoIR uses the Freetrack Protocol which was translated from Delphi Pascal to C++ City Hall is easier to fight, than a boys' club - an observation :P "Resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us." - Jefferson "Give a group of potheads a bunch of weed and nothing to smoke out of, and they'll quickly turn into engineers... its simply amazing." EVGA X99 FTW, EVGA GTX980Ti FTW, i7 5930K, 16Gb Corsair Dominator 2666Hz, Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit, Intel 520 SSD x 2, Samsung PX2370 monitor and all the other toys - "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar"
samtheeagle Posted June 18, 2011 Posted June 18, 2011 So can any of the ED people offer me some help with the Head Tracker API. As far as I can tell I've implemented it to the spec defined by the header file, and I've put the appropriately named dll in the folder specified in the readme file... But so far nothing. No head movement is detected, and I see nothing in any logs files that might help guide me. Is the loading of a head tracker something that gets logged? Thanks.
samtheeagle Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I tentatively present a first cut implementation http://www.forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=75917 Well it works on my machine. I need some testers :)
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