July 4, 200520 yr Hi!I was wondering what's the impact of using TrackIR (TrackIR 2 to be exact) on frames per second in FS2004. My rig is:Barton 3200+2x512 MB DDR433 @ 2-2-2-5Radeon 9800 ProThank you.Marco "Society has become so fake that the truth actually bothers people".
July 4, 200520 yr I just finished trying Tracker 3 but I didn,t like it because it became too uncompfortable for me to hold my neck that still all of the time. I didn't find that it had an effect of frame rates but then I have the fastest computer ( for home ) that you can buy... a top of the line ABS gaming system. I hardly ever fly in the cotpit mode, much less the virtual cotpit mode, so it just wasn't for me. The few times that I do fly in the cotpit mode the "hat switch" works just fine for me. I can see in a military battle flight sim, where you need to be looking around all of the time, the tracker would be an atvantage, but since I fly the heavys most of the time at high altitudes, I just didn't need the tracker. It worked very smooth and for a low, slow flying VFR flight it was a neat effect, but just not for me. Jerrycwo4
July 4, 200520 yr TrackIR is intriguing technology and is very immersive however the price today is comparable to a second LCD monitor which IMHO is more worthwhile.
July 4, 200520 yr Hi,I had the same specs as yours and I did not notice any hit on fps.The only thing you will notice is when you move your head quickly from left to right, the system needs to load the scenery. This moving with the head goes quicker than panning, so you can sometimes notice a small stutter doing this.Indeed in some situation you need to hold your head still, especially when you need to point a mouse on a small button. But I like it very much. My primary view is the 2d Panel though. I use the TrackIR3 with Expansion when taxiing, occassionaly when cruising to look around a bit, and sometimes when landing.Regards, Ferry
July 4, 200520 yr - I have a system at the low end of medium. Haven't noticed any degradation of FPS in six months.- Probably the best hardware purchase I've made for the sim.- You have 30 days to try it. If it turns out not to suit you, send it back.- I don't work for NaturalPoint. This is just one product that works really, really well right out of the box.
July 4, 200520 yr I have the Track IR 3 with Vector. I can't fly without it. I do not notice any frame rate hit.Tony
July 7, 200520 yr Author TrackIR with 6D expansion is an outstanding product. Works great out of the box, I couldn't fly without it now!It does take some getting used to, a week or two.* Orest-~~~~~~~~~Orest Skrypuchwww.united-virtual.comUAL1445 Staff ORDFO Orest Skrypuch President & CEO, UVA www.united-virtual.com
July 7, 200520 yr Tracker 3 without the vector expansion can be a little hard to get used to because side to side motion is translated as a head turn in the VC. That does make it somewhat necessary to keep your head steady. Still, I flew very happily that way from the very first introduction of TrackIR. The vector expansion is a whole new level! Now you head movements are translated exactly in the sim. I love that you can lean forward a tad to look at switches otherwise hidden by the yoke or to get a better look at the GPS. I have a home cockpit with 4 LCD screens in addition to the large monitor for the 3D view. I rarely look at the 2D monitors these days as VC quality has improved and vector expansion came on the scene. Plain and simple - I no longer use any sim that does not support TrackIR! I can't wait to try the new Falcon 4 Allied Force with TrackIR. I used TrackIR on a 2.0GHZ PC since its introduction and it had no impact on FPS. I now have a faster computer which allows me to have all the sliders maxed. You can't beat TrackIR for total immersion. When I started my Private Pilot's training it became clear that my extensive use of FS had created some bad habits - particularly my fixation on instruments as a result of flying with 2D panels. A few hours into my training TrackIR came out and suddenly I was able to develop my scanning technique and improve my situational awareness. Both aspects greatly improved my simming and real world flight in the pattern. Unless you have another way to approach a 360 degree field of vision in FS (and here's another one I'll be looking at: emagin.com), you owe it to yourself to try TrackIR.David
July 8, 200520 yr How do you have your TrackIR set up? Did you stay with the defaults? If you did change it, how did you go about changing the settings? It feels like changing those little graphs could be tedious and not so easy to get what you want.I have only used it a little bit (I don't get much time for flight time these days), but I feel like I could use a little more dead zone and maybe slow down the reaction a little bit.Thanks,Thomas
July 8, 200520 yr Thomas,It's pretty easy to work with the little graphs and you can always restore the defaults. I think my setup is mostly default but because of the way my cockpit is setup the sensor sits quite a ways away from me and higher than recommended. Still it works fine. I lowered the sensitivity on the y axis just a tad. If I use it at the default FS zoom (1.00x), then it's way too sensitive but a more realistic zoom seems to be around 0.67x) and at that setting the movement is very realistic and easy to adjust to. David
July 8, 200520 yr Hi,I would just like to concur with what has already been said. If you have the patience, try to stay with it. It actually took me about a month to get used to it. I really did not think I would ever use my TIR on a regular basis. Now, I absolutely cannot imagine flying without it. I am an extremely low time student pilot, 4.5 hrs. TIR has helped me very much with real flying. Each time I fly, I recreate the lesson in FS. With TIR, I am able to practice my instrument scan/traffic scan, when practicing pattern work I can actually see my position in relation to the runway at a glance (not using the view hat). Also, with FS you tend to get fixated on instruments even when flying VFR. I force myself to look up and out the windows like you are supposed to. I actually even see traffic once in a while. I have not told my instructor that I practice lessons before and after with FS. All I know is after each lesson he says "you get it", "you will solo before 10 hours". I am not really sure that I will solo that soon, but he is the expert.Anyway, I digress. My point is (was)LOL, give the TIR a chance. Once you master it, you probably will not want to fly without it.Just my humble opinion...Nick
July 8, 200520 yr >I have only used it a little bit (I don't get much time for>flight time these days), but I feel like I could use a little>more dead zone and maybe slow down the reaction a little bit.Sure, you can do that. Then, when you're more comfortable, speed up the reaction. Or just stick with what you have for a few more hours. Another thing that can help: have you tried using the profile that's specifically recommended for Flight Simulator? Try it. Make a copy. Tweak the copy.
July 8, 200520 yr Author >Hi!>>I was wondering what's the impact of using TrackIR (TrackIR 2>to be exact) on frames per second in FS2004. >Seems to be nil.* Orest-~~~~~~~~~Orest Skrypuchwww.united-virtual.comUAL1445 Staff ORDFO Orest Skrypuch President & CEO, UVA www.united-virtual.com
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