Hi all

Who here is using TrackIR, and how are you liking it?

I find that for Vehicles and Choppers, it's a no-brainer really. But for Infantry I've yet to get the hang of it.

What gets me is target accquisition for targets that appear slightly off your 12 o clock, lets say at 10 or 2.
When I'm patrolling (at walking speed) and see a target left or right, the natural real life reaction would be to keep the eyes on target, turn the body towards the threat and pull the gun into the line between my eyes and target, line up the dot and fire. Which is the most simplest thing really.

Now with TrackIR in the virtual world, as I'm turning my body (with the mouse) towards the threat, at the same time I have to turn my head in the opposite direction back to center, and that can be very hard to get right. Basically I find it impossible to keep my eyes (head) on the target while moving my body the correct amount and speed onto ot.

In fact one could argue that a "line up body with head" key is need, the opposite of normal centering of the head to the body (which we already have).

Anyone has a handle on this? I'm sure TIR has a bright future in infantry combat, but right now it's not doing me any favors.

Simply map a key or mouse button to turn on and off trackir on the fly, that's what I do. I dont know but after several sessions it seems all very natural.

Well if you are looking slightly to your left or right wouldn't you naturally be wanting to line your head up straight with the screen again as you bring your weapon to bear?

I have argued for this in a thread previously.

Here are my comments and experiences on TrackIR 5 with ArmA:
http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_112a.html

I'm not sure I could offer any advice because I've never had any problems regarding TrackIR + ArmA (II). It's as natural for me as it is in the cockpit. I guess it's just a matter of practice...

I think the best use I have for it in infantry mode is scanning left/right when at the weapon sights. That way I don't get target fixation and don't see that tank coming from the left/right.

I am kinda on the same thinking as Brennus, it just feels right to me how it is.

If you had a 'line up body with head key', wouldn't this screw up your view? Your head would be looking left/right, and then the crosshairs would be centered, but you would still be looking left/right (in RL), how would you adjust back from that?

I use a profile for Arma 2 with a large dead zone. That way I don't need to turn off trackir on the fly and its easier to recenter. Someone else on here recommended it.

I can post a screenshot of the TrackIR profile when I get home if you'd like an example.

I also turned off the Arma 2 keymapping of TrackIR zooming and leaning, still use the mouse and keys for those. They were just too awkward.

Post that Walsh. I will try your profile and see if it is better.

Thanks for all the replies.

I actually created a large deadzone with plenty of acceleration by default, thinking it would make reentering easier and give me full 90� left/right without much real head movement. But then I found that for small left/right looks I would constantly be "breaking out" of the deadzone and then the acceleration caught me at large. So I'm now on a more sensitive profile with less dead center, and I can live with that.

The real problem for me really is the "aquire target when head is turned, then line up body with head" thing. The sensible way would be to recenter head first, then move body to face target, bring up weapon and fire. But that way you temporary lose the target. And if I try to exactly counter-move my head with my body so both are straight at the same moment when fully facing the target, either I overdo the body or head movement.

I think this simple shows me that while I previously used a lot of ALT+Mouse when running straight, mainly I did turn full body to look left right (while adapting movement sideways to keep on a straight path), so without TIR when I had a target in view I usually had the body and weapon already facing correctly and head centered.

Mojo is actually right that simple "auto-centering" the body to the view wouldn't work either since the real head is still titled left/right.

What do you guys do in precisely that situation, when you find an enemy off your 12 and try to align body/weapon with your view? Is it just a matter of practice?

Maybe enabling the floating rectangle (which I generally hate...) will help to reduce confusion, as Adlab's article points out. With an aircraft cockpit, when you pull the gunsight onto the enemy at least you have a canopy as reference frame...

It all comes down to practice. I've always calibrated the sensitivity on my mouse (G5) so that a full flick of the mouse in either direction will consistently equal a 180 turn. This allows me to judge just how much movement is needed under any situation by (subconsciously) measuring the distance of travel.

If you disable the floating reticle, then consider using the 3D model of the gun as a reference point.

But for me yea, it was some practice before it started feeling 'right'. Once I 'had it' that was that. I was able to get to the point of moving head and mouse together on a target at the same time.

Sorry for the delay. I copied my Arma 2 TrackIR 5 profile XML to my website if you want to take a look.

http://www.theswalsh.net/arma2.xml (right click save as)

Basically I start at +/- 6 for the deadzone.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I'll try it too. Thanks.