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#1: TrackIR Author: Chuck_71st,

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:03 am
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Just wondering if any of you use this device and how you like it? I'm seriously considering getting one, pardon the video....I think its the IL2 hacked version of 6dof.

let me know thx.. Wink

ca.youtube.com/watch?v...re=related

#2: Re: TrackIR Author: Shades, Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 8:15 am
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Haven't used it myself Chuck but know lots of IL2 users who swear by it.
Results seem to speak for themselves although it can take a bit of getting used to.
Trick seems to be to reduce the sensitivity until it's manageable.

#3: Re: TrackIR Author: Uhu_Fledermaus, Location: Blaricum, The Netherlands ~GMT+1

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:14 am
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I have TrackIR and also have the Pro clip so you don't need to sit with a cap on your head anymore and it works a treat, it really gives a extra dimension to "flying" it works in the 3D cockpitmode only and I think it's one of the best investments I've ever made for a added feature/gadget

#4: Re: TrackIR Author: JG300-Stoopy, Location: Group W bench

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:42 pm
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Also have TrackIR - not the Pro clip that Fled has, but the hat version, and I use an o-fishul TrackIR Visor just to look extra-geeky. When I forget to take it off before answering the doorbell for the Pizza guy or whatever, the reflectors and clip on it usually draw some strange looks.

I've had it for about a year and for quickie flights and test/tweak sessions, I don't fire it up. And if an FS9/FSX plane lacks a VC, or doesn't have a good one, I dont use it. But for longer flights and with aircraft that have great VC's, then I put it on and am in hog heaven.

And then with IL2, with it's slightly unusual view system, oh yes I find it becoming an absolute MUST!

I agree with Fled that it's one of the best and coolest investments for enjoying the sims.

One odd side-effect for me....it's not difficult to get used to (because the whole time you're realizing how COOL it is and how immersive our simulators become) but on longer flights in FSX for instance where things on my system look really good and highly realistic, I'm slightly fatigued after a long flight with lots of panning around and multiple touch-n-go's. It's the exact same feeling of slight fatigue I used to get after a flight lesson in a real plane. I found it very interesting that it helps to replicate a realistic flight environment to the level where my brain really did seem working the same amount of 'overtime' as in a real cockpit. At least that's what I think that's what my brain was doing.....can't really tell, most of the time.....

#5: Re: TrackIR Author: Chuck_71st,

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:21 pm
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I tend to get bor'ed easy so long flights aren't a habit for me. I'm still finding that IL2 (for a game enjine that is already 8 years old) is still the best combat flight sim to be had.

Hence why I'm considering spending more money on hardware for that sim. I made a decision the other day.
I am not gonna be spending any more time and money keeping up with the latest graphics cards and cpu's.

I originaly built the current PC I am using now in an effort to prepare for the new Maddox 1C game" Battle of Btritain Storm of War", that was 2 years ago now and it still has not come out. Obviously...by now, the game will be geard towards DX10 and vista users which is a club I can not be a part of yet for financial and practical reasons.

"The Rant"

I really think that the PC gaming industry is turning into a big fat scam.

The fact that I can no longer upgrade my current pc (Socket 939) really peppers my peas. They basically phase out PC's after 2 years so people have to do complete upgrades for minimal performance increases. I guess the competition is so intense that the big 2 have no choice.
I still cannot believe that a company would spend the time and effort to release so many Graphics cards with so little differences just to make sure they're entire market is covered!?! The bottom has got to be falling out somewhere.

I think that PC gaming is becoming a rich mans sport....which I am not. Does anyone know anyone who can run games like Crysis properly?
I'm worn out, I am now going to be spending my money on my other love which is model building (armor mostly). I bought myself a new airbrush pump and am already considering my next project....maybe a good OLe Stug...or Panther maybe.......

So there it is. I love to fly so I want to enhance what I already have. I'm also thinking of getting a throttle quadrant and some rudder pedals(that'd be so cool) Razz

Stoopy.......I know its in another thread but how is that new hardware workin for you? Was it expensive?

#6: Re: TrackIR Author: Shades, Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:21 pm
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- Chuck_71st

Obviously...by now, the game will be geard towards DX10 and vista users which is a club I can not be a part of yet for financial and practical reasons.

This is being fixed so XP users can use DX10.
However, so far DX10 has not been rated very highly.

#7: Re: TrackIR Author: JG300-Stoopy, Location: Group W bench

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:50 pm
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Well since you asked..... Wink

I sure hear you on "The Rant". I'm not usually one to play that game either and it's only lately this last year that I've been fortunate enough to acquire what I have. The way I try to play the hardware game is to get decent no-longer-absolute-cutting edge stuff after it comes down in price, never doing the 'early adopter' thing. My stuff has always until recently been at least a year or more behind the curve just because it's a price/performance thing.

I spent about 1100 or $1200 on my new PC components last year, and it was everything except the monitor, power supply, keyboard and mouse, and joystick. The CPU was the center of it all and fortunately the 2.66 Core2Due E6750's had just dropped way down in price. Like it or not, a new generation CPU needs a new motherboard with the latest chipset or it's bottlenecked.....and then there's the RAM that goes on the mobo which is the same story.

I did make an exception with the ATI 3870 card since it was (at least until now) the very top-end of the line from ATI (currently the 2X3870 with dual processors has now replaced it...with a corresponding price differential tho). But the price on the top-end ATI was like about HALF of a comparable NVidia card and I agree the number of cards that NVidia offers is kinda confusing. That, and the stuff I've read about NVidia driver problems with FSX, made me stay on the ATI path. From what I've seen, image quality and stability is just phenomenal, no regrets no sirree!

How's it working? I dont' want to brag or tout it, but I have to say I couldn't be any more happier. Matter of fact I feel...no word to describe it....lucky, amazed, and spoiled! What I'm seeing this system do with my sims is blowing my mind, FSX is amazing to me now, FS9 also actually finally runs the way it ought to in my opinion (balls-out totally high res with every imagineable option enabled or sliders all the way to the right). IL2 has no issues of course since it never taxed the hardware like FS9/FSX do.

The other hardware, the CH joystick/pedal/throttle setup, by comparison is more specialty equipment of course and not tied to a specific computer setup like the PC hardware is....and it's built to last for years so I know that 5 years from now it'll still be smooth and precise, just like my last CH stick. So I seperate this and the TrackIR into a different category of the PC cost since they're more permanent additions that will make the trip from one PC upgrade to the next.

Tied all together.....the difference is enormous, to be quite honest. I was never into long boring flights either too much, but now I have to confess to spending many many hours just dawdling along on slow, normal cruising flights looking around with my TrackIR just like you stare out the window of a plane, at all the beautiful detailed scenery crawling by, created by these sims on their higher/highest settings and displayed by that great ATI card. When I touch the stick to maneuver, it has a light, silky-smooth feel to it that I've only experienced in real aircraft, where you don't move the stick or yoke but rather put gentkle pressure on it to go in the direction you want. Precision is awesome....without using trim I held an inverted pass 10 feet above the deck for the entire length of a long runway and then through 3 more fields of crops beyond it, altitude never varied by more than a foot. In IL2, I can now just about put a bullet anywhere you want it. Dive-bombing in my SBD and putting that 1600-lb bomb right down the smokestack of a ship is almost too easy now. Taxiing with the ruder pedals and independant toe brakes is...well it's sheer pleasure. The throttle is a bigger boon and convenience than I even imagined it would be.

Sorry to go on and but since you asked, I am very tickled with the new hardware. That being said, I do NOT look forward to the day which will inevitably come where some of it is considered outdated...and so I definitely understand your position and agree with you!

Erich

#8: Re: TrackIR Author: Shades, Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:46 am
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- JG300-Stoopy

That being said, I do NOT look forward to the day which will inevitably come where some of it is considered outdated.

So coming up.
The CPU, RAM, HDD, and GPU you and I know today (and therefore the mobo's too) are on the verge of evolving into something entirely different.
Larger LCD flat-screen monitors are already starting to come down in price while their performance is on the increase as well.
Soon you'll be able to buy two 22" screens with greater contrast and lower response times than what we paid for a single 19" last year.
Next PC I build, in two or three years time, won't look or perform anything like the one I built last Summer.
But I bet I'm still dumb enough to put Windows on it.
*sigh*

#9: Re: TrackIR Author: Chuck_71st,

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:05 pm
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Thats great Stoopy! I think we all speak'n the same language.

Shades.. I have seen a site that apparrently has an Alpha version of DX10 for XP.

www.techmixer.com/down...indows-xp/

I hope your right because I really think someone has really doomed themselves to the hitchi'n post on this one. A grand example yet again of companies putting out a product too soon and letting their consumer base do all their beta testing for free. There otta be a law! Neutral

#10: Re: TrackIR Author: Shades, Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:52 pm
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Yep.
lol

#11: Re: TrackIR Author: 401RCAF_Hammer, Location: Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:14 pm
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-S-

Hey Stoopy..I was thinking of going to the CH Joystick, does it feel like the Logitek Extreme Pro.?..in the sence of stick tension. I dont like sticks that have a lot of freeplay as in the Sataik. Do you have to return the stick to center after a bank or can you just ease off and let the stick tension return to center. How about freeplay..eg null zone, is it small and can you set it..? I do all my flying on IL-2 1946 so I am looking for a fast stick combo. Picked up that Saytek monster, was the best throttle I have ever seen, but the stick sucks...way too much freeplay and the centering springs are a joke..I gave it to a friend for his kid. Makes me wonder why a company would produce such a great throttle and such a lousy stick..?

Hammer Cool

#12: Re: TrackIR Author: JG300-Stoopy, Location: Group W bench

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:53 pm
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Heya Hammer, thanx for asking and if it's cool I answered you question in the other thread about the CH stick just 'cause I don't wanna get to talking too much about the stick while Chuck is deciding to make one of the most intelligent and fulfilling purchases of his life by getting a TrackIR...

com-central.net/index....4271#64271

#13: Re: TrackIR Author: Chuck_71st,

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:06 pm
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lol

#14: Re: TrackIR Author: JG300-Stoopy, Location: Group W bench

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:51 am
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OK Chuck.... I know there are tons and tons of TrackIR videos but I couldn't resist.....this is my own experience lately with it in IL2, these are ntrk's you can just pop into your IL2 "records" folder and watch (leave Manual View Control turned off of course).....they're short, but a little large in size becuase they were taken in multiplayer and therefor have a lot of other aircraft data in 'em. It's from flying in the Warbirds of Prey "Zeke vs Wildcat" full-real server....much clearer and smoother than a youtube video.....

Essentially I think show up close and personal kinda what it brings to you in the heat of combat, aside from being able to smoothly scan the skies for bogies and snap your view just about anywhere you want, which is another big bonus.....please pardon my sloppy newbish flying, I'm still getting the hang of the sim....

Stoopy_P38_vs_Frank.zip

Stoopy_P47_vs_Oscar.zip

(Oh and Hammer, these are two fairly large US aircraft I'm trying to toss around, maybe this will give an idea of how that stick & pedal combo works).....

#15: Re: TrackIR Author: Chuck_71st,

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:36 am
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Hey thanks Stoopy! That was some nice fly'n there. Yes its now obvious to me that the trackir is invaluable in tacticle situations. Really puts new meaning in putting your head on a swivel.

Thanks again

Chuck_71st=SOLD!

Mr. Green

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