A New Level

[GreyBadger]

Hi all. Second post today! I'll be wearing out my keyboard.

 

Some of you will already know that I'm not the sharpest tack in the box when it comes to tech and the reason I'm mentioning this here is that....... well my birthday's coming up in May and Mrs Badger has offered to buy me something I've wanted for I don't know how long, but never wanted to ask about as frankly we're not rolling in dough. A "TrackIR" ("TrackIR 5" I suppose?)

 

Not only that, but a "Saitek X52 Pro" to go with it. (Though I'd hate to be the one to tell Logitech Doris that she's being replaced!)

 

Thing is, as exiting as that sounds I'm more than a little worried about things like Win 7 compatibility, setting the system up etc.

 

I read a thread somewhere here, which I seem to have misplaced, which asked how easy it was to set "TrackIR" up and the first few posts seemed to suggest it was a piece of cake. But then someone started talking about "TrackIR" being a 32 bit thing, where Win 7 is 64bit. (or at least I think you can choose and mine is 64bit) But that it worked anyway...?

 

See that's just the kind of thing that brings my inner Luddite screaming to the fore. he sits squarely on my left shoulder and whispers in my ear.."See? You shouldn't try that because when God was giving out brains, you thought he said Trains and asked for a big slow one!"

 

Anyway, I guess what I'm asking is whether there are forumites here who aren't especially technical. But who on setting up a "TrackIR" thought.. "Hey..that was so easy! Pass me a white coat because clearly now I am a scientist!"

 

Badger

[benargee]

well i will say right away i own neither product, but i can say that's complete BS, saying trackir 5 is 32 bit only, and even if it was alot of 32 bit programs run on a 64 bit operating system like windows 7. its possible he said trackir is a 32 bit program but most programs are still 32 bit.

 

simplified:

 

windows 7 64 bit can run : 32 bit (%90 of the time) and 64 bit programs.

windows 7 32 bit can run : only 32 bit programs.

 

TrackIR5 is the most recent trackir so they would make it in their best interest to keep up with current operating systems.

 

a poll was made recently on ED forums about what operating system users have, 64 bit or 32. 64 was the majority so i believe the majority of track ir users fit into that majority, the 64 bit user. hope that helps until a 100% from a 64 bit trackir user shows up.

[Mac10]

I use Track IR 5 with win7 64 bit no probs

There are a shed load of profiles out there to download if you have trouble setting up your own.

 

there is a Saitek X52 Pro A-10C Profile With Track IR although not sure how good it is dont use a Saitek X52 Pro myself, must be worth a look though :-) http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/267093/

[Hamblue]

Congrats on getting your new toys :thumbup:

Wonder what she wants in return or already bought :lol:

You will be more than happy with both products and they are compatible with windows 7 64 bit. Make sure you pick up the trackclip pro for the trackir.

[shagrat]

TrackIR runs fine with Win 7 64-bit... there was an issue with the drivers looong fixed.

The Software, where you do the settings/profiling runs in 32-bit, but that is not an issue.

 

Download the latest Version 5 from TrackIR homepage.

 

Only thing to be careful is: When installing the software, you shall not install "as administrator" by using the right click menu! (I'll explain in a second).

 

Instead simply run the installation, and when it asks to allow changes to the system / admin rights say OK.

 

The problem is when you setup TrackIR to automatically run at windows start, what you usually will do, it will run under the account it was installed with (administrator, which is not your account) and settings done while TrackIR runs as admin account won't save to your profile and vice versa... no need to worry, simply don't be "too smart" by installing right away as admin! And now guess how I found out...:megalol:

 

A little thought about the X-52 pro, though. I know the Warthog rips a big chunk of money outta your wallet, but to my experience it is worth it.

The things you should consider is, if you want to fly this sim seriously and on a regular basis, the X-52 budget might be saved and invested later into the TM Warthog HOTAS.

 

If you managed to fly with a Logitech by now, it might be sufficient for another couple of months, so you won't invest twice? Just a thought.

Don't get me wrong, the X-52pro is a fine HOTAS and it works quite good for the A-10C and other planes alike, but in the end many people including me, ended up buying a Warthog anyway.

I gave my X-52 to a buddy of mine,he gave it to another buddy after buying a Warthog and we wait for him to say he bought a Warthog as well.

 

The usual "perfect" Setup consists of:

 

- TM Warthog HOTAS

- Rudder Pedals (Saitek mostly, but others are fine as well)

- TrackIR

- TM Cougar MFDs

- then you start building a pit anyway...

[mjeh]

Just to chime in, I run win7 64 bit and trackir 5 works with no problems at all. You don't even need to fiddle with it after installing the drivers, but you will get better results if you tune the sensitivity a bit (which is easy to do with the accompanying software, trust me).

 

EDIT: As for hotas, if money is an object then I would say go for x52 pro. My bud that I usually fly with has one, and he's very happy with it.

 

EDIT2: Happy birthday in advance :holiday:

Edited April 12, 2013 by mjeh

[WildBillKelsoe]

Congrats. You're in for a treat.

[Cookie]

Don´t have anything to add (except another voice saying "setting up TrackIR is easy, don´t worry about it"), but just wanted to say that I love your humor, Badger. I´m gonna go out on a limp here and assume you are from the UK, right? ;)

[Yellonet]

Don´t have anything to add (except another voice saying "setting up TrackIR is easy, don´t worry about it"), but just wanted to say that I love your humor, Badger. I´m gonna go out on a limp here and assume you are from the UK, right? ;)

I think that's "go out on a limb" :D

 

Edit: and I'm guessing he's an American.

[71st_Mastiff]

I think that's "go out on a limb" :D

 

Edit: and I'm guessing he's an American.

 

avatar states hannover, germany.

[dburne]

Badger, congrats on getting the new toys!

 

Re: Track IR - as others have said, it works just fine running in Windows 7 64 bit. Myself, I installed the software outside of the system partition, sometimes Windows 7 with it's security, does not like writing to the system partition and can cause some grief, I installed the software to a separate partition ( E in my case), and have never run into any issues creating , modifying, saving any changes to profiles.

 

Also, here is a pretty good video for setting up Track IR5, focused on setting it up for DCS-A10C:

 

Have fun with the new equipment!

[Yellonet]

avatar states hannover, germany.

It's GreyBadger we're talking about :smilewink:

[Cookie]

I think that's "go out on a limb" :D

 

Edit: and I'm guessing he's an American.

Whoopsie... :music_whistling: In my defense, english is not my first language (not even my second one for that matter), so I need to make stupid mistakes like that every now and then to keep myself in check. ;)

 

As for Mr. Badger, he can´t be from the US of A. If he were his handle would most probably be "GrayBadger". :smartass:

Edited April 13, 2013 by Cookie

[jay43]

Mr Badger i got my trackir5 pro bundle the other week and no problems in win7 64 seems fine to me.

As for the X52pro its good but is limited unless you work out how to program it with keyboard functions if you are having any problems with that then pm me i am quite well versed in how to program that stick now.

However as many others i have moved onto the uber good TMHWH stick now which is a vast leap in functionality with this game and opens up a whole new experience.

As it happens if you are in the UK i still have my X52pro and was about to put it on ebay, still got the reciept for it as its only a couple of months old pm me if you're interested could save you some money there towards the TMHWH stick for later on as you will want to make the jump later.

[Yellonet]

Whoopsie... :music_whistling: In my defense, english is not my first language (not even my second one for that matter), so I need to make stupid mistakes like that every now and then to keep myself in check. ;)

 

As for Mr. Badger, he can´t be from the US of A. If he were his handle would most probably be "GrayBadger". :smartass:

I guess I showed that English isn't my first language either :doh:

[GreyBadger]

Many thanks for all your helpful replies and whether I'm quoting you or not below, this was all the exact kind of advice I was looking for. I expect I'll be bending your ears on this matter again come the start of May, when I actually have buttons to press. :)

 

As for the X52pro its good but is limited unless you work out how to program it with keyboard functions if you are having any problems with that then pm me i am quite well versed in how to program that stick now.

 

As it happens if you are in the UK i still have my X52pro and was about to put it on ebay, still got the reciept for it as its only a couple of months old pm me if you're interested could save you some money there towards the TMHWH stick for later on as you will want to make the jump later.

That's a nice idea Jay. As it's a birthday present though I'm not actually buying it myself and I'm pretty sure Mrs Badger has made her own plans. (I will mention it though.) As to the programming advice though.. I might well take you up on your kind offer there if I get stuck. ("If" :lol: Did I really say "If"? )

 

here is a pretty good video for setting up Track IR5, focused on setting it up for DCS-A10C:

Thanks for the link d,burnette. I had a quick look at this and I have to admit I found him a little hard to follow. I expect that with it actually in front of me though, a second look at the vid will make more sense.

 

I´m gonna go out on a limp here and assume you are from the UK, right? ;)

I'm guessing he's an American.[/i]

avatar states hannover, germany.

he can´t be from the US of A. If he were his handle would most probably be "GrayBadger". :smartass:

Ah, a bit of speculation eh? Well I am from........... The UK. :) Subtle bit of spotting there on the spelling front by Cookie. Of course they can't spell properly across the other side of the pond. Bless em. :lol:

 

It's GreyBadger we're talking about :smilewink:

Ok this is my fault, sorry for the confusion. You have a Badger. He's a fake..but you have a Badger. :lol:

I, the true Badger, have been "Badger" since I was a small child. When while innocently walking in the forest I was bitten by a radioactive Badger (who leapt out on me from behind a tree! Bast!) and was imbued with the proportionate powers of a Badger. Sadly they amount to little more than poor daylight vision and a great sense of smell.

 

Obviously then all my forum names must be Badger. However, the net is swimming in fake Badgers as it turned out. So I must take what I can get. Sometimes I'm a Badger, Sometimes a GreyBadger. Sometimes a FatBadger. Sometimes I'll even go for Dachs. (That's German for Badger, fact fans.) But my posts are always signed Badger. I'm just drawn that way. :)

 

EDIT2: Happy birthday in advance :holiday:

Many thanks mjeh. :) It's a biggun, though I'll not bore you with an actual number. :) Hence the huge birthday present. Well it's pretty huge here at Badger Towers anyway.

 

All the best folks and thanks again.

Badger

[Pyroflash]

TIR is the single most important piece of equipment that you will use. Aside, of course, from a simple joystick, throttle, and rudder capability.

 

Though, if you have the money, and enjoy this stupidly expensive hobby, you might consider upgrading to a TM warthog, and some decent rudder pedals. It does make a world of difference when you compare it to, frankly, mid range equipment like the -52 Pro.

[Yellonet]

The Thrustmaster Warthog is my first HOTAS, but I thought that if I was going to get one I might as well fork out a little more and go for quality.

Let's just say I haven't regretted it :)

Even if you disregard the Warthog's quality and precision it still has a big advantage in this sim as this stick and throttle is exactly what you should use it the A-10!

There's no need to set up anything, just plug it in and fly.

Furthermore, it's much easier to learn the A-10 when you have all the controls where they should be, no need to remember a certain keyboard combo for China hat forward long or TMS down for instance, you just do it.

 

While Track IR may be the best thing for flight sims in general, the TM Warthog is the best thing for DCS:A-10C.

And I bet that the WH will work very well with future DCS aircraft such as the F-15 and F/A-18 too!

[pii]

I use Track IR 5 with win7 64 bit no probs

There are a shed load of profiles out there to download if you have trouble setting up your own.

 

there is a Saitek X52 Pro A-10C Profile With Track IR although not sure how good it is dont use a Saitek X52 Pro myself, must be worth a look though :-) http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/267093/

 

It is also a piece of cake to setup and the default profiles will work fine so other than turning it on and putting it on your head , and I assume you can find your head, you will have no problem. Once you get used to it you can mess around with fine tuning it if you feel the need.

 

The x52 though will take some work to get it the way you like though..

[pii]

Badger, congrats on getting the new toys!

 

Re: Track IR - as others have said, it works just fine running in Windows 7 64 bit. Myself, I installed the software outside of the system partition, sometimes Windows 7 with it's security, does not like writing to the system partition and can cause some grief, I installed the software to a separate partition ( E in my case), and have never run into any issues creating , modifying, saving any changes to profiles.

 

Also, here is a pretty good video for setting up Track IR5, focused on setting it up for DCS-A10C:

 

Have fun with the new equipment!

 

Don't confuse the guy right after we all said it was a piece of cake! :-). Just install it anywhere it will work fine or better yet just use the default install path to keep it simple.

 

Unless you try installing it in some hidden system folder win 7 isn't going to care one bit. So unless the installer was written by a baffoon the installer isn't go to put it somewhere it shouldn't go.

Edited April 13, 2013 by pii

[Yellonet]

So unless the installer was written by a baffoon...

Sadly that is often the case :disgust:

[GreyBadger]

Ok so here is another question for each of the components.

 

Firstly the "X52 Pro". this might sound like a silly question, but I'm trying to get a picture of the average setup in my head. The joystick and the throttle bit (that bit is the HOTAS? Or is the whole thing a hotas) are joined together by a serial cable. So would you have one either side of your keyboard?

 

Now the TrackIR. It's a camera based gizmo of course, so can you use the camera for anything else, like Skype for example?

 

Just as a point of interest by the way. A couple of you have advised that I be sure to get the "Track Clip Pro", but actually reading all about it I don't think it's for me. It's a shame to miss out if it is more precise, but from what I hear the standard version is fine and more to the point having to clip the pro clip to a headset won't work for me. I've never been able to wear a headset for an extended session and as much as I hate the idea of having to wear a hat (hats don't suit Badgers) it definitely seems the the lesser of the two evils.

 

Badger

[narfnarf]

Firstly the "X52 Pro". this might sound like a silly question, but I'm trying to get a picture of the average setup in my head. The joystick and the throttle bit (that bit is the HOTAS? Or is the whole thing a hotas) are joined together by a serial cable. So would you have one either side of your keyboard?

 

HOTAS stands for "Hands on throttle and stick", so both together is the HOTAS.

And you will want to have the throttle on the left side and the stick on the right side (or in front of your seat). The cable should be long enough to make this possible.

 

Now the TrackIR. It's a camera based gizmo of course, so can you use the camera for anything else, like Skype for example?

 

No, that won't work as the TrackIR camera only tracks IR light and no visible light.

 

I've never been able to wear a headset for an extended session and as much as I hate the idea of having to wear a hat (hats don't suit Badgers) it definitely seems the the lesser of the two evils.

 

Even if the Track Clip Pro might work better than the hat clip, the hat clip still works. You will be fine (once you get used to it).

[Hamblue]

Yes the HOTAS is bothe the throttle and stick (Hands On Throttle And Stick)

With the X52/pro the 2 are connected to each other with a cable. Some setups such as the warthog each have a separate USB connection. Those setups allow you to mix the stick from one brand with the throttle of another. Either way you would typically have one on each side of you so that both hands are used.

 

Trackir uses an IR camera and I have never seen it used for anything else but tracking ir lighting.

 

If you don't wear a headset then the track clip is pretty much not an option. You may want to try out a few different headsets at your local supplier. You might find one that feels good. I started using them to avoid anoying my wife years ago, thus giving me more play time.

 

The hat clip works fine. It reflects light emited from the trackir unit. The track clip pro does a better job and of course removes the need for the hat. Most simmers tend to use headsets so the later is the better choice for them.

[pii]

Yes the HOTAS is bothe the throttle and stick (Hands On Throttle And Stick)

With the X52/pro the 2 are connected to each other with a cable. Some setups such as the warthog each have a separate USB connection. Those setups allow you to mix the stick from one brand with the throttle of another. Either way you would typically have one on each side of you so that both hands are used.

 

I found that contection to be a little bit of a pain sometimes. I like the WH seperate contections much better (but I find the WH much better in general but as I'm sure you're know its much more $$$$$$$$)

 

Trackir uses an IR camera and I have never seen it used for anything else but tracking ir lighting.

 

Perhaps you could track Ghost!

 

If you don't wear a headset then the track clip is pretty much not an option. You may want to try out a few different headsets at your local supplier. You might find one that feels good.

 

You could clip it to your ear like a Pirate! I like to wear an eye patch with it for the complet pirate pilot look:thumbup:

 

I started using them to avoid anoying my wife years ago, thus giving me more play time.

 

Did it actually work? It just made mine yell louder so I would hear her bitching about flight sims and that the yard needed mowing. :cry:

 

The hat clip works fine. It reflects light emited from the trackir unit. The track clip pro does a better job and of course removes the need for the hat. Most simmers tend to use headsets so the later is the better choice for them.[

 

And head set usually have mics which are real handy for multi play.

 

 

 

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