Mouse look

UPDATE there is a Mouse Look and Mouse Zoom function built into WOFF UE v 4.14 and above now, please see the WOFF UE FAQ.
This tool should not be necessary.
See section 53.
http://www.overflandersfields.com/index_html_files/FAQ%20WOFF%20UE.pdf




Hi!

I haven't bought WOFF (yet), but from my OFF experience there is a serious issue with CFS3 engine - the lack of mouse look or the ability to bind joystick axis to control head rotation/movement. Which means that without track IR (or similar solution) all I have is awkward keyboard panning. And the ability to look around is obviously very important for immersion.

I suppose nothing has changed for WOFF?
And I don't know of any 3rd party solutions: FreePIE and NewView doesn't seem to work.

That's why (and out of curiousity) I've made a tool which together with FaceTrackNoIR (which does support CFS3) adds mouse look feature into OFF.

Quick setup guide
First, you need to get FaceTrackNoIR: http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/information_links/download.htm
Install and set it up like shown below:

Steps 1 and 2 should be done once, but obviously you need to click "Start" every time before starting a game.
Two important notes:
First, when you click "Start" for the first time Windows Firewall may ask you to allow network connection. You must allow it. It doesn't really go into any networks, but local connection is used to transfer data between my tool and FaceTrackNoIR.
Second, you must enable "Use TIRViews" for it to work with CFS3. As onscreen instruction says: you can download and install official TrackIR software and copy this dll from there into FaceTrackNoIR installation folder.

Now, get my tool here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/MouseTrack.20131213.zip
Extract it anywhere (there is just one small exe file) and run.
You can start it before or after starting FaceTrackNoIR but they have to be running at the same time.

It will show usage instructions which are really simple
Note that right-click disables mouse cursor everywhere, not just in the game, so after playing you have to close my tool to avoid frustration.

Right now it doesn't have any settings, but that's because I just made it in one evening for myself. It may conflict with your setup if you use mouse buttons and wheel for other purposes in-game.
Of course I will add customizable settings if there will be interest in this development.

Almost forgot: mouse look only works in virtual cockpit mode.

Hope you like it

AnKor,

It seems that you have gone through quite a bit of trouble in order to look around the OFF skies. It took me a while to figure out how to bind a joystick axis to control head rotation/movement, but the solution is very simple, just make sure that you press the "Scroll Lock" button on your keyboard to turn it on. With the scroll lock on, I can look around the same as using a mouse with the hat switch on my joystick. I use both a Thrustmaster t16000m and a Saitek ST290 pro and looking around with the hat switch is no problem. If I want to snap back to forward view, I just map one of the thumb buttons on my joystick to "Eyepoint Reset". This works very well for me and I have no problem looking around or tracking enemy aircraft. This works in both OFF and WOFF.

Seamus, you must be joking.

If AnKor found a way to get cockpit-viewing around with the mouse, this is ONE GOOD FEATURE i have waited for for five years.

The one thing i hated about OFF (and maybe hate in WOFF) would be this antiquated "coolie hat panning". God ! Using the mouse to look around is so much better, you will never go back.

If this works AnKor deserves a medal!!

Thanks Seamus, I know about "scroll lock" and hat switch panning, I just don't like it
Of course if you are used to it you will be comfortable with pov buttons, but for me it is something like flying with a keyboard instead of a joystick: can do, but not fun.

Well, actually I don't have a "real" joystick and want to play OFF with Xbox 360 controller: using its left stick to control the plane and the right stick to look around. I have been able to setup and enjoy other sims this way - ROF and WarThunder have built-in support for view axis assignment, and for IL2 there is a NewView tool.
However there was nothing for CFS3 and that's why I decided to fill the gap.
So in fact I don't even need this mouse-look tool for myself. It was a proof of concept which really works and I like how it works, but I already extended it to support thumb-stick view control for my gamepad which is what I wanted to have in the first place.

I decided to publish it because I've read other people complain about CFS view system while discussing OFF/WOFF, so I hoped the tool will be useful for someone.
Though by the lack of comments it seems no one really tried it so far

I think I have misunderstood something here. By mouse view, do you mean you can look up/down and all around like one does with one's head and eyes? Is so, that is what I can do with the hat switch. It would be very difficult for me to look around with the mouse while having one hand on the joystick and the other working the throttle.

Your understanding is correct and your point about the throttle is valid.
I just provided an option, but I can't guarantee it will be suitable for everyone

So... I decided to make a video showing what is possible with mouse look as implemented with my tool.

The video is based on OFF (as I said I don't have WOFF) and is very low-res to keep good framerates during recording, but it is not about visuals it's about the control

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkGwvbzQJAs

Great job Ankor now you need to get WOFF and try it

Just bought it today, actually

Very well done, Ankor! This was a concern of mine since the inception of this series. I have been having some good success with facetracknoir, but it's great to have this option finally available. Thank you for your efforts, the video looks great!

RR

AnKor, I like the smooth Zoom in/out feature (as opposite to the default stepped one), will it work with TrackIR5?

Thanks,
Dirk.

The best is Trackir or Face Track etc...then you simply look and dont use any unatural devices like POVs or Panning via buttons or mouse.

HTH

WM

I fully agree WM, but still, the "CFS 3 legacy" method to zoom and look in Chase or any other external view is awkward.

Dirk98, well, in this I don't use zoom, the smoothness of zoom is controlled by the game, not by input device.

WM, I play with Xbox controller which has a thumbstick dedicated to viewing around. That's why I made this tool in the first place - to make that thumbstick work in WOFF because I don't want to bother with setting up a camera. Though Xbox controller support is NOT included in published version, because it seems I am the only one who needs it

Excellent job AnKor, installed as per your instructions and it works really well.

Thankyou!

AnKor, once you have tried TrackIR, you would never want anything else again.
You move your head naturally - and you look where you want to look.

I'm sure AnKor has tried TrackIR and there are other reasons why he uses mouse look.

Dirk.

Yeah, its there for those that want it and the ones that don't can do what they want to. The more options the better!!

I got this mouselook to work and its very good. I have trackir but i dont use it much, stiffens my neck and i wake up with a headache:) Only wish it would work on outside views too. But its almost good to see theres limits for what you can do Ankor.

Ankor

Just found out about this great tool you made. Works fine. Iook a bit of d/l to get the TIRView.dll.

Can you create some further settings? Is there a way to sort of slow down the panning movement a bit?

Thanks

I will give this a go. I always liked the mouselook with IL2 1946.

I have TrackIR v4 but do not like it as I get a stiff neck as I like to look around eveery where for some reason when playing any game. When I try to use TrackIR I find I have to force myself to just keep looking forward. I am probably the only person who sufers from this with TrackIR so this may be good for me.

Regards
MarkL

markl I think you need to dramatically increase the "speed" slider in TrackIR. or you could try someone's profile. Really you should only have to turn your own head maybe 5 degrees to turn it 90 in sim!.

There are some great profiles on their official site..I use one designed for FSX..and it works a treat!

markl, here's a link to a post with profiles by elephant and me.
Try those, before you give up.

http://combatace.com/topic/78203-trackir-profiles/#entry623283

The profiles go to:

NaturalPoint > TrackIR5 > profiles

If you found the right one, make sure to tick the box: "Exclusive";
otherwise TrackIR will give you a different one with each new start.

Yeah, getting TIRViews.dll is the most difficult part of the setup

I want to add more settings and maybe even remake the tool to be a plug-in for FaceTrackNOIR (to avoid starting it as separate app). Not sure when I'll get to make it though.

Jeez Ankor, I thought you had a copy. If I had know that and what you have done for WOFF so far, I would have donated one to you myself! You deserve it!!

That was back in December
Of course I bought it long ago, how else could I have done all this modding?

I made this mouse look thingy before I bought WOFF because I considered the inability to control cockpit view with a mouse (or more importantly for me with a joystick axis) to be the main obstacle for enjoying the game. So I took my copy of Phase 3 (which I bought earlier that year just to see what it is) and started experimenting to make sure I am ready for WOFF

Thanks for the reply Ankor..look forward to whatever you can do with the mouse look tool. It's a nice feature.

AnKor, Thanks for doing this mod. I am waiting on OFF3 (which I've just bought from 'dutch'), and had been wondering if it had mouse look. Now I know it doesn't. Hope my rather feeble brain can get mouse-look working.

very cool AnKor.....your adds are out-effing-standing!!! thx!!!

...I just tried it. It's absolutely wonderful!! Many thanks for figuring out a solution! I use a trackball to look around, with one hand, and the joystick to fly with the other. Awesome stuff!

Harry

hello sorry to resurrect this old thread but anyone have a link for MouseTrack.20131213.zip in the first post? i have WOFF 1 and i'd like to try it (i know the new woff edition has it build in but nevertheless i want to try it on my old woff installation) thank you!

Here it is https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvmtwF9vPtwVgcRLdoiPGZfZDIUX7w?e=SN4DTM
I haven't used it for ages, though

thank you i'll try it just for the experiment, but i think i have a problem with the Facetracknoir, it disables my joysticks hat switch for some reason, i assume facetracknoir connects to 127.0.0.1 localhost? anyway i'll figure it out bye

If I remember correctly Facetracknoir puts some false joysticks in device manager joy1 etc you may need to disable those.

I tried the program with Facetracknoir and it works but the movement is choppy/jerky not good (i tried many settings and filters but still), on the other side with the OpenTrack software it works perfect and it's smooth, Opentrack works great! but you get a little dizzy panning on all directions from what i see :P

Polivski i removed the vjoy's but still the hat switch when you are in cockpit doesn't work but on external cameras works (i will done some more tests to see again).

I don't remember details, but maybe the mouselook is too sensitive causing jerky movement. It was my first tool made even before the original WOFF release and personally I haven't even used it much

When the game receives TrackIR input (or its emulation) it ignores hat switch or keyboard POV controls.
Newer versions of WOFF with built-in mouse look don't suffer from this issue.

this util is usefull and for other games too if you want to emulate trackir with mouse , opentrack have settings to adjust sensitivity by curves etc... it's not automatic but i think you can do it if you spend time .
Propably will update woff but have an eye and for Wings: Over The Reich but waiting for a little more content first.

We need support for WOTR and WOFF, if everyone waits, then we will not make money to support more content. Rather than just aircraft there's already a TON of campaign content, AI content and features especially added for BoB.

True and personally i try to support independent devs who like what they do instead of large corporations to the extent that i can at the present moment ofcourse cause there are many things which get in the way , and to tell the truth WOFF was the most expensive sim i have ever bought only dcs come close cause i got 1-2 planes addons then stopped, but i don't fly much nowdays so i can't justify it without having proper hardware like trackir and nice rudder pedals along with a good hotas system.