Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: BirdDog on September 16, 2009, 09:44:31 PM
-
Will Free Track work correctly with AH?
Thanks
-
Yup, a good few of us including myself use it. May not work as well as Track IR, but its certainly a poor man's version. If you're fairly descent with a soldering iron and some electronics know how, its cake and its really fun to do.
-
does your vid card need alot of horse power? Mine is a plain card but a newer card. ( i have 2g ram in comp.)
also what camera would work. I was thinking of a plane jane video conf camera.
-
does your vid card need alot of horse power? Mine is a plain card but a newer card. ( i have 2g ram in comp.)
also what camera would work. I was thinking of a plane jane video conf camera.
Freetrack shouldn't have much effect on your video card's load, BirdDog. The software does a lot of calculations that would be handled by your CPU. However, you may have a slight frame rate hit as a result of that ongoing calculation, but FreeTrack doesn't do any graphics work, so you should be okay. That said though, you can't go wrong with a good video card.
I use FreeTrack and like it a lot. I think it could stand a few improvements to make it even better, but it's still a great piece of open source freeware. If you don't want to make your own reflector or LED clip for it, I recommend you spend the $35 dollars and buy a NaturalPoint LED Clip (the one used in TrackIR). It's not that expensive, and is USB powered, saving you some $ in batteries. I got mine at Gogamer.com and I received it in two days. In my case I just didn't want to mess with building it myself, but others might enjoy doing that part of it. It'll work either way.
Give it a try Birddog; it wont' cost you anything to check out the software.
FWIW
-
CLICK HERE (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,223422.0.html) for the write up I did when I built mine.
-
It's not that expensive, and is USB powered, saving you some $ in batteries.
I don't fly that often but on my rig the batteries generally last a while. Just remember to build an on/off switch with your rig or disconnect the battery. I use a 3 point system with a 9v to power it. At first I used a Lithium 9v (run about $6-7 retail) which last quite a while, though I can't remember how long and I killed it by leaving it on for two weeks straight. Then I just used Alkalines 9V ($2.50 to $3.00 each for Rayovacs) which lasted probably 30+ hours or so IIRC. Currently I'm just using a Rechargeable 9V (really 8.4V, ~$11-12) which last a couple of weeks or flying or so before I recharge it.
-
Watch out, Natural Point are getting crafty, their new interface system uses encrypted drivers.
-
Watch out, Natural Point are getting crafty, their new interface system uses encrypted drivers.
That may be true of the TIR camera, but the Pro Clip is a simple holder for the LEDs with a standard USB plug connector. No drivers are required to run it with Freetrack. Btw, another advantage I find with the Pro Clip is that it has a female USB socket attached to the connector, so you can pass-through another USB device (like your camera, or a headset) on the USB plug.
Bottom line: Freetrack is pretty versatile, it will run a DIY system or the proclip, with batteries or USB powered. It will work with reflector strips or LEDs, and there is an active user community for it. Though it's not perfect, it's a worthy alternative to Natural Point's system, IMO.
FWIW
-
Ahhh you don't understand, TIR are encrypting the hooks into their system so new games coming out will NOT support systems such as freetrack. Don't believe me? Get arma2, it won't work with anything but a real TIR system (there is however some unofficial patches).
-
Ahhh you don't understand, TIR are encrypting the hooks into their system so new games coming out will NOT support systems such as freetrack. Don't believe me? Get arma2, it won't work with anything but a real TIR system (there is however some unofficial patches).
Vulcan, that may well be true, I'm aware of Natural Point's seemingly anti-competitive moves, and that certain games don't support FT any longer (ArmA2, Black Shark, etc.). For folk who play a variety of games, including those above, that's a valid consideration. I'd suggest visiting the Freetrack forums to see the latest on that issue and the fixes for it.
Currently, however, I'm only have time to play Aces High and it's been the focus of my comments all along. What you describe seems predicated on a given game development company agreeing to only support TIR as a company decision. Thus, in the case of Aces High, it would seem to me that HTC would have to agree to only support TIR to the exclusion of other systems. Unless there is some contractual agreement between NP and HTC which specifically enjoins HTC from supporting other view-tracking system, I don't see why HTC would agree to it. Not saying it's not possible that it won't happen, but what would they gain?
Currently, there may be several, perhaps many, players using FT in AH who would be put out by such a move; HTC wouldn't benefit by only supporting TIR (again, contracts between the two notwithstanding). Thus, this isn't an issue for FT users in Aces High (which again is the only game I happen to care about at the moment), at least in the near term.
FWIW
-
You're preaching to the converted, I use TIR emulation for my headset.
I suppose it depends on future TIR enhancements, and if it will be necessary to use the new code exclusively.