Track IR in BOB2 - tutorial (UPDATED)

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SeaVee
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Track IR in BOB2 - tutorial (UPDATED)

Post by SeaVee »

EDIT Feb 06 2010: MY TIR 4 PROFILE which I think is much better than my first version can be downloaded here:

http://www.shockwaveproductions.com/bob ... rofile.rar

This will work with TIR5 too.

I am working on an updated TIR5 profile (see my post on p 4 of this thread) as I just got TIR5 and will upload a new profile here in a few days.

end edit.

spitfireace wrote:This is my first dogfight with tir4 enabled, instead of using the top hat switch in joystick, its pretty good to keep track of enemy aircraft, but confuses me a little bit on external views, but im getting used to it. The only thing is to keep the gunsight where its got to be, sometimes it gets "out of the way" sort of thing, i guess thats when you have to press center?
I thought I'd answer Spitfireace in this separate thread on these points as it may be of use to others who have or are thinking of getting TRACK IR 4 Pro which IMHO is superbly done in BoB2. There are several TrackIR products - I have TIR4 Pro but most, if not all of the concepts here I believe apply to older TIR versions as well.

For those that don't know what Track IR (a/k/a TIR) is: http://naturalpoint.com/trackir/02-prod ... works.html

PS: Look at the animation at the top of the above link - you can replay the way each axis of movement (pitch, roll, yaw, x, y, z) works.

Some may have already seen my demo videos of TIR in use in BoB2. They may be useful to understand what TIR can do for you in this game:

Track IR Demo in a Spitfire BoB2 (SeaVee)
http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/v ... php?t=6499

Barrage Balloons and additional Track IR Demo (SeaVee)
http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/v ... php?t=6517




Now, on to the tutorial......

With TrackIR in BoB2 I set the following command line in BDG.txt file which is in the main Battle of Britain II folder (find and open the BDX.txt file using Notepad, make changes, save and close):

NO_OUTSIDE_TRACKIR=ON
This way when in external view the TIR is disabled; go back to cockpit view and it is back on. In extrenal view I use the hatswitch or mouse to pan around - too nauseating using TIR on external.

You may also want to set the following to 2 or 1 (default is 3) I have mine to 1:
PAN_SPEED_FACTOR = 1.00000
This slows down the speed of external view panning. I find it is reeaaaalllly slow with the hat switch but about perfect speed with a mouse. It only affects speed of viewpoint movement using mouse or hatswitch, not the TIR. I also find it slows the spinning death view spinning alot as the default speed at 3 is way too fast IMHO.

Oh, also make sure you have set:

TRACKIR_Z_AXIS_MODE = 0



Using the "re-center" hotkey with TIR; keeping gunsight steady on target:

Keeping the gunsight steady is a little hard to get used to if you have been using the hatswitch to pan your views all along. I find hatswitch too "stable" and not as "realistic" as it should be. For me it was easy because I learned this game from the beginning using Track IR and never had to break old habits.

OK, here's what I do:

Centering:
First, I hit the TIR center hotkey key as needed. I center the moment I enter cockpit view and ocassionally as needed during the flight. You will find that at first you are centering constantly but as you get more practice you keep your head steadier and naturally move your head back to the position it was in when you previously hit "center". At first this is a conscious effort but after a few games you do this naturally with no deliberate thought - like learning to drive a stick shift (manual) car. Over time (3-4 hours of cumulative game play at least) you will need to hit center less and less - trust me you will see this is the case.

Finally, my TIR profile has deliberately been set very flat with large "deadzones" near the various axes' center points so that if I move my head very slightly (not deliberately trying to make TIR move the viewpoint) it will not react. This makes keeping centered much easier too. I am talking about the shallowness of the profile at the middle-point of the "gauges" view of the various axis' in the TIR view function.

Download my BoB2 TIR profile here:
http://www.shockwaveproductions.com/bob ... rofile.rar

Once you download it just right-click the zip file and unzip the profile into (assumes you installed the TIR software to the default install location):
C:\Program Files\NaturalPoint\TrackIR4\Profiles




A Note on Light Filtering: Depending on the level of ambient light in the room your PC is in - especially light sources behind your head - you may need to adjust the level of light filtering within the TIR profile. To do this, open Track IR, at the top row of commands select View>>>Tracking then click the Settings button in the lower right corner. In the Light Filtering section is a slider. Look at the 3 green 'lights' on the tracking window and play around with the slider - this will make the green lights get larger or smaller as you move the slider. I mostly have mine in the 50-55 range but that will change for each user due to the differences in lighting and/or reflective surfaces in the background behind each user's head.

Keeping gunsight on target with TIR:

Do all the BDG.txt settings described in this post before practicing with the following.

One of the things BoB2 does beautifully is the "G effect" of the virtual pilot's head moving slightly in response to g-forces when maneuvering. The viewpoint "bobs" around like if your pilot's body/head is actually being thrown around in the cockpit. This IMHO grealty adds to the sensation of actual flight in this game. The negative is that it also makes keeping the gunsight on target with TIR a little difficult (like it must have been in "real life" when maneuvering under hard G).

If you find the head bobbing makes it too hard to keep the target in the gunsight, turn OFF head bobbing in the Advanced>>>Game menu OR in the bdg.txt file look for the line

HEAD_BOBBING=OFF

Some people also like to use the "Gunsight" key command SHIFT+ Numpad Enter. This command toggles on/off Vector Expansion and in effect makes it ALOT easier to keep the reticle centered in the gunsight. This is an invaluable command as it allows you to turn on or off Vector Expansion at will. I don't use it much but if you do frequently you may want to program a joystick button to this command.

I also have a couple of joystick buttons programmed to zoom in or out the FOV (CTRL+numpad Plus or Minus) and do this as needed.

NOTE about the Gunsight command: There is a known issue where with this command (SHIFT+Numpad Enter) whereby the Spitfire reticle (and ONLY the Spitfire) is not quite aligned properly, it is slightly off-center to the left. This will hopefully be fixed in the next patch.

If you do not use the "Gunsight" command described above, then you have to practice leaning in to the gunsight (or using the zoom in keys - see below) and and adjusting your head (not using the center key since you should have been centered before leaning in) and then centering the reticle at the "sighted in point". You need to position your head so that the reticle is situated within the sight about the way it is in Stickman's pic below (the pic is ALOT more zoomed in than the way I shoot but it depicts the desired reticle position relative to the rest of the sight perfectly):

Image

You need to practice leaning in to the gunsight and positioning the reticle correctly. Again, it will become natural with time. I have shot many real guns (M4 .223 carbine, MP5 submunition semi-auto, shotguns, various pistols and revolvers) at the local range (and in traffic road rage incidents here in Miami :P) and lining up the front and rear sights to form a proper "sight picture" is a required skill to master to be an accurate shooter.

The last very important thing that I have done to help in this regard is to assign two of my joystick buttons to "zoom in" or "zoom out" the FOV.

The default key commands to adjust FOV are:
CTRL + numpad+
CTRL + numpad -

Just map two joystick buttons to these, works a treat.


The following section is an update to this tutorial as of June 10, 2007. I've added it as it is important to know what one gains or "loses" with this setting.

******************
Important Info about the use of the PADLOCK_OVERRIDES_TRACK IR=OFF or ON and its effect on the padlock View Commands:


Many people use Track IR instead of padlocking. There are times however, where the padlock function is quite useful. For example ALT+F6 is the reverse padlock view which gives you an external view of your padlocked target plane looking towards you. The other View keys (F1, F2, F3, etc and in combinations with CTRL, ALT and SHIFT) all have cool functions.

Many people using TrackIR however do not like that while a plane/target is padlocked it overrides their control of the viewpoint that TIR provides.

You can stop the various padlock views from overriding TIR in the BDG.txt file with the command line: PADLOCK_OVERRIDES_TRACKIR=OFF[/color].

There is a negative to this however, and its that you "lose" the other features that the padlock view functions give you. For example the reverse padlock command (ALT+F6) which gives you a view of the enemy padlocked plane looking towards you no longer works.

This is a trade off and preference thing. If you use/need the padlock alot to keep the plane in sight, then I'd say leave the BDG switch above set to OFF.

If you want to leave this setting ON remember you can toggle on/off the padlock if/when needed simply by using the ENTER key.
**************** End edit June 10, 2007.

Finally, Charvel has an incredibly detailed tutorial with great screenshots on setting up a TIR profile over at Airwarfare.com. I think it is more geared to using it in IL2 but the TIR profile creation and editing process is universal. (That is a looooong tutorial - it may be simpler just to use my profile as a quick start default profile and get into the meat of adjusting the profile to suit your taste later). Here is the link to Charvel's tutorial: http://www.airwarfare.com/guides/tir_setup.htm

I hope this helps somebody.

PS: For the record, I do not have any affiliation whatsoever with TIR or Naturalpoint other than as a happy owner/consumer of their product.
Last edited by SeaVee on 20 Jun 2008, 06:44, edited 25 times in total.

spitfireace
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Post by spitfireace »

Great tutorial, thanks very much SeaVee. It will be of great help and thanks fot taking the time.

It would be great if you could when you get time do a video usint Tir4 of a dogfight, one on one, so we can see how do you use your Tir in them situations,

Thanks again mate.

Spitfireace.

SeaVee
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Post by SeaVee »

I thought I might add the following to this post:

Play around with your FOV settings. Mine are as follows (but I have a large widescreen monitor at 1920X1080 so they may not be right for you):

FOV_SMALL = 70.000000
FOV_MEDIUM = 95.000000
FOV_LARGE = 110.000000
FOV_TOGGLE_SMALL = 70.000000
FOV_TOGGLE_LARGE = 110.000000
FOV_INITIAL = 110.000000
FOV_MINIMAL = 25.000000
FOV_MAXIMAL = 110.000000
PC_PITCH = 9.000000
PC_HDG = 9.000000

Also, both flying in the cockpit and in external view try:

CTRL + numpad +
CTRL + numpad -
numpad +
numpad -

If you are having trouble getting to your max FOV setting, try leaning slightly forward at the moment you hit the "recenter" TIR hotkey and then lean back to your normal position. It should go out to the max FOV then for sure. For me its still a little too far away from the instruments even with the giant monitor so I usually don't fly in-cockpit in max FOV. This takes a little practice to end up with the reticle properly centered within the gunsight.
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mugwump
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Post by mugwump »

Finally got mine sussed and working to my satisfaction. I can acutally chech six in my Spit now.

Seafireliv
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Post by Seafireliv »

I use TIR 1 with no problems. To `side-look` left or right and out the cockpit, I`ve assigned 2 buttons on my stick. Works pretty well. One day i`ll get TIR4, oh yes, I will.
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spitfireace
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Post by spitfireace »

:wink:

Bader
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Post by Bader »

Bump. Too good to lose.
"Ah yes, Michael (Parkinson)," Bader replied, "But these particular Fockers were Messerschmitts..."

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Tako_Kichi
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Post by Tako_Kichi »

Maybe if it was 'stickied' we wouldn't lose it :wink: .
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reflected
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Post by reflected »

I'll order my TrackIR4 on monday. I'm really looking forward to it, I'm expecting a whole new experience. I wonder how dogfighting or just simple flying is gonna be better. Thank you for your tutorial, knowing my computer qualities, it's gonna be very very useful for me :wink:

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Tako_Kichi
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Post by Tako_Kichi »

I found TIR4 very useful and really miss it in games that don't support it. It really helps in situational awareness too.
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NawlinzVoodoo
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Post by NawlinzVoodoo »

Thanks so much SeaVee, will give it a go.
PEPPER

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Aloid
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Post by Aloid »

As mentioned above in the tutorial... I've found the deadzone setting to be one of the most important for keeping the cross hair from moving too much.

I'm using the original TIR with the latest s/w update. Work's great.

Aloid
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reflected
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Post by reflected »

Yesterday I got my TrackIR 4! I'm looking forward to try it, but my PC is at home, and I work in a different city, so I can only try it in a game this weekend. Though, I' ve tried it on my girlfriend's PC, it was very easy to install it, and also to set it up. I tried to obtain a setting so I should move my head as much as possible still seeing the monitor, to obtain maximum movements.
I don't understand something: why should I set Z axis mode to OFF? BOB2 does support 6DOF isn't it? and also I've heard somewhere, that I'll need to invert one of the axis. Wich one exactly?

Thank you!

SeaVee
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Post by SeaVee »

You need to invert the ROLL axis.

BoB2 allows you to choose Z axis mode OR FOV mode. Set it to Z axis mode - it WILL be 6DOF.

In FOV mode when you lean towards your monitor it is the same as pressing CTRL+numpad plus.

With Z axis mode it is the same as leaning towards the instrument panel of your car while driving - the instrument panel seems to be closer (an optical illusion) but what is outside your car does not seem to zoom in at a corresponding rate. Z axis mode emulates more the way your real vision works when leaning in towards something. FOV mode zooms in EVERYTHING and narrows the overall FOV which your real vision does NOT do.
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reflected
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Post by reflected »

I see! Thank you for yur reply!! I think I'll use Z axis mode, because I have 3 FOV presets assigned to joystick buttons.

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