Having an eye (or two) on the TrackIR for some time, but not really loving its hefty price tag (~180EUR), I stumbled upon the cachya software that was recently announced on the AVSIM main page. I became a FSX addict after not playing FS games since FS2 on the PC/XT (fps? more like spf...), and this promised to bring realism one step further.What is it?The Cachya software is a supplement to a webcam (any webcam, AFAIK) that, as www.cachya.com tells us, allows for head tracking. Or hat tracking, because you need to wear a hat with a special sign for the software to work. It costs 14.99 $US, a mere 10EUR, quite cheap compared to the TrackIR. Cheap enough to immediately download and register it and see what it can do.InstallationYou have to download the demo version first, which is usable with a 3D demo supplied in 6DOF (degrees of freedom) mode. Installation is quite easy, and comprises of the actual cachya software plus virtual mouse and joystick drivers. It does not, however, include any kind of comprehensive manual, which is one of the main drawbacks of the package. But for a saving of 170 EUR, I am willing to experiment quite a bit, so I did.Don't forget to download the "sign" from their website, cut and fold it and attach it to a baseball cap or something similar, this is also a necessary part of "installation".http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/175390.jpgPerformance (freeware demo version)At first start, it did not look too promising. There are numerous unexplained sliders in the software, some of the tags are badly translated, and there is no help file. You have to manually configure your video source first (chose the right "Video Input" from the dropdown list, then click on "Capture Pin" and "Capture Filter"). I tried the demo provided first (click on "3D Demo" on the right side of the window) and used "Default" settings. I then could move the view in the demo, but is was sometimes working, sometimes not, the little "+" that marks the "sign" in the video previes (shown as the left black field in the screenshot) was not at all stable. But it was impressive enough to experiment further. The most important finding: make the room dark so that only the "sign" shows with high contrast. There is a demo video provided with the download (webcam capture) that you can also chose as video input. Everything in there is pitch black except for the sign, so that gave me the hint.Here's the further settings that worked best for my setup: Set the camera to 160x120 resolution, min. 25 fps. Make the room dark, only indirect light going to your face (and the "sign"). I also had to decrease teh "Preferred Contrast" a little (slider to the left) until the "+" was stable at the center of the "sign".With these settings, the results were quite stunning. At least stunning enough to register the software to unlock its full potential.Unlocking / BuyingBuying the software is quite easy. You pay via Paypal (14.99$), get a key, start the demo software, click "Upgrade" and type in your key. I had to try the upgrade process a few times before it worked, but it was successfull. The upgrade allows to use cachya in FSX, my initial target.Using cachya in FSXAgain: not much help to set it up, some messages on the net even suggest it does not work. Nothing at all on AVSIM. But I was determined to get it work.There are (at least) three ways to get cachya work in FSX: (1) use the mouse emulation, (2) use the emulated joysticks axes and (3) use the emulated coolie hat. I got best results with variant (2), and I will only describe that one here.First, I had to set up the new "joystick" in FSX, which is not complicated. Just assign X, Y and R axis of the emulated joystick to the view controls. I also had to remove some (default?) button assignments in FSX manually, otherwise with some movements, the kneeboard would pop up or the landing gears would switch.This already gives you the possibility to look around in your virtual cockpit. Only the experience is very "shaky": wiggle your head a few millimeters, and your screen image will bounce around. Impressive only if you can keep your head reeeeally stable.What to do? Configure the joystick in FSX! You can set up the sensitivity and the "centering" directly in FSX, and after I had reduced the former and increased the latter, I finally got very impressive results: now small head movements are not noticed, but looking left, right or up/down will still work like a charm.The experienceIf you have gone through the somewhat painfull process of setting up and configuring everything, it really works extremely well. I just flew the Aleutan mission with my new toy, and it is really amazing to be able to just look up, operate a switch on the headboard, look out of the windows to admire the view, the look at the instruments... I think everything about the experience has already been said in TrackIR reviews. It's just amazing!Performance impactWhen my P4 3.4MHz / 2GB RAM does nothing else, cachya needs about 7-10% of the cpu. I was nevertheless amazed that I could fly FSX without much noticeable performance impact, maybe HyperThreading is good for something after all. I get some stutters from time to time, but hey, I come from FS2 ;-) I still get around 20fps in the Aleutan mission (I limit the fps at 20), so I am quite happy. And on a dual core, cachya should happily run on the second cpu.Pros/ConsPro: o works like advertised after some configuration worko excellent value for moneyo amazing Virtual Reality experienceCon:o configuration of cachya is a hassleo no real documentationo FSX has to be configured a lot before you can use cachyao You can save key mapping and the like in cachya, but not the video source setting that have to be repeated at every startThe verdictFor less than 10% of the cost of the TrackIR (if you already own a webcam), you can get amazing results with this software solution. If you have to buy a webcam, you are still on the economic side. You have to invest quite some time into configuring everything, but once you are set, you'll be amazed by how good it works. I think the software is well worth spending the 15 bucks.I hope this review helps some of you guys out there, since there is not much about cachya anywhere to be found. This is my first review and english is not my primary language, so please be gentle with your criticism ;-)Best regardsMarc

Nice review. Thanks.

Hey, thanks for the review! It made me convinced that it really works well (only tried the trial, and that doesn't really say much) and made me buy the software.One thing though.. did you manage to set up Z in FSX? (Looking closer at gauges, etc). If so, how and where?

I didn't try, because may webcam is positioned in such a way that when I go closer to the screen, it cannot see me any more. If I have time to kill, I will try it. I guess it will be a little tricky.Did you experience any performance issues? Normally, I do not see any, but when trying to land in a thunderstorm at night (which I guess is sort of cpu-hungry) I have seen it twice now that I cannot move my virtual head any more... stupid thing to try to land while looking at your headrest ;-) I have a P4 4.4 (or is it 4.6?) GHz, so a fairly old but still reasonably powerful system, but no dual-core, so no spare cpu for the headtracking.

I've only got a single core AMD64 3800+ (the dual core socket 939s came out here like a week or two after I bought it, d'oh), and I don't notice any really bad slowdowns. Of course, the application does use about 5-10% CPU, but FSX still runs well (20fps (locked)) in all but very busy airports, and that's because I have AI aircraft on.I guess we won't have full 6DOF in FSX with this before they upgrade the software to use SimConnect with FSX, or FSX gets updated to have a Z axis assignable to a joystick. Though I'm not completely sure if that'd make full 6DOF work, but at least almost.

Of course I have a 3.4 GHz machine, not 4.4... I shouldn't post while my daughter is not yet in bed... Can't concentrate ;-) So we have probably quite similar CPU performance I think. This should give others interested in cachya a good idea about the impact.