[evilc]

Hi, I found out about fs2Open from my trackir newsletter, but I cannot find out how to get TrackIR working in FS2Open.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Well I take it you already have FS2 and FS2_Open.  I not 100% on this but I believe you need a 3.6.10 build to use TrackIR.  You can grab the latest one here:  http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,57028.0.html  Just put it in your FS2 folder and select it with the launcher. 

[evilc]

Hmm, I tried a .10 exe before (the one linked in the newsletter) but it did not work. This one did, thankyou

[NastyCanasta]

Hello.

I also learned of FSO via the TrackIR newsletter.I tried using the build linked here to enable TrackIR but it didn't work for me. The  builds I have tried are:

fs2_open_3_6_10d-20081010_r4871.exe
fs2_open_3_6_10r-20081010_r4871.exe

I can't get TrackIR to work on neither of them, am I missing something? Do I need to configure something else on the launcher or the ingame menu?

Thanks and great work!...I played FS2 back when it first came out and it looks fantastic now.

[Topgun]

try this.
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,57540.0.htm

[NastyCanasta]

Hey Topgun.

Thanks for the link but it didn't work either. When I start the game the Blue LED on the tracker does not turn on and in game I have tried several views annd free camera mode to no avail.

Maybe the USB port I have TrackIR hooked up to has something to do with it? Right now it's plugged through my monitor.

[Topgun]

I really don't know what to tell you. maybe someone that has trackir can help.

[evilc]

Hey Topgun.

Thanks for the link but it didn't work either. When I start the game the Blue LED on the tracker does not turn on and in game I have tried several views annd free camera mode to no avail.

Maybe the USB port I have TrackIR hooked up to has something to do with it? Right now it's plugged through my monitor.

Quit any games and check the following (in order).

Do you have the latest version of TIR software?
Does TIR's views (Heads, guages etc) work before you enter the game?
Do you have a game exe that supports TIR?

If all the above are YES, then TIR should work - as soon as you are in the cockpit it will start working.

No options appear for TIR IIRC, it just works when you get everything right.

[Herra Tohtori]

Has the TrackIR DLL file been integrated into the FS2_Open codebase or is it still needed as a separate file?

[NastyCanasta]

Hello evilC

Yes, I checked to see if I everything was working properly on the TIR software before launching FSO, head tracking and gauges are Ok.  Regarding the executable, how can I make sure the the .exe I'm trying supports it?

Thanks!

[NastyCanasta]

Well I feel like a dumbass......

I knew for a fact that I did not have the latest TIR driver but since the latest driver changes were fixes for windows Vista users and russian lenguage pack I figured that since I don't use win Vista and I'm not russian I could skip the install......

So out of sheer desperation I installed it and behold.....it works like a charm now.

Which brings me to my next question, right now when I look around I feel like I'm a ghost roaming through space, is there a "cockpit" view I can use? You know, a view that has kind of a spaceship "dashboard" so to speak?

Thanks again to everyone who answered.

[evilc]

Don't worry about it - I did the same.
I have a funny feeling that if you add a new profile for the game EXE, that may solve it too - just putting it in exclusive load won't do the trick.

And no, I don't know any way of getting a cockpit either.

[Herra Tohtori]

There's a way, provided that the ship you're using actually has a cockpit model (and that the viewpoint is positioned so that you can actually see anything from the cockpit, which is not always the case). Also, some ships have HUD screen on their cockpit which prevents visibility, and some have one that is partially transparent, and some have other glitches, but there is a way...

You need to add "show ship" flag to the ships with a modular table.

Example:

-Make a new directory path ..\FreeSpace2\COCKPITMOD\data\tables\
-Create a new text file in the tables directory you just made and name it visible_cockpits-shp.tbm  [technical explanation - the *.tbm extension means it will be used as a modular table extension file, and the -shp part in the filename means it will extend the ships.tbl file]

-Copy this into the text file:

Code: [Select]

#Ship Classes

;;Terran Fighters. All the terran ships included here do have cockpits, but
;;some might or might not work well depending on how picky you are.

;;If you want to disable some ship model from showing, just remove or comment out
;;the appropriate section.

$Name: GTF Ulysses
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Hercules
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Loki
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Hercules Mark II
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Ares
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Erinyes
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Pegasus
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTF Perseus
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

;;Terran Bombers

$Name: GTB Medusa
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTB Ursa
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GTB Zeus
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

;;Vasudan ships; note that none of the vasudan ships actually
;;has cockpits, but some of them work fairly well regardless, when you can see
;;the ship itself (Serapis being a good example of this)

$Name: GVF Seth
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GVF Horus
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GVF Thoth
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GVF Serapis
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GVF Tauret
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GVB Sekhmet
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

$Name: GVB Osiris
+nocreate
$Flags: ( "show ship" )
+noreplace

#End
-go to Launcher's Features tab and find "Custom flags" field. Add there an entry -mod COCKPITMOD,mediavps. This will activate the visible cockpits mod and the mediaVP's.


Please remember that most of these cockpits were not designed to be used as anything else than externally viewed cockpits, so they are quite low-res and low-poly for this kind of use... additionally, several ships have issues with their HUD screen transparency (Hercs, Ursa, Perseus, actually most ships that have it) and cause strange glitches in rendering order due to this.

Also, in Vasudan ships you won't see cockpit but in some ships you can see the model's parts outside the cockpit (Osiris and Serapis work exceptionally well in forward view) but viewing around in the cockpit will make you see through the ship, which will probably look odd... but at least it'll allow you to keep a sense of view direction in relation to the ship. If you don't like some ship, just remove it from the table I posted, and only use those where it works well enough to not cause any glaring problems. Sadly, that list is short and you'll probably find yourself limited to the Ulysses (assuming that you have the cockpitted model of it; you'll eventually get this with the 3.6.10 mediaVP's), Loki, Zeus, Ares, maybe Medusa as well.

There is supposedly a better internal cockpit system to come, in which the cockpit model will be dealt with in a different way that should work way better than this way, which is to be hones bit of a hack... but as always, dates and deadlines are nonexistant until the release.


EDIT: I have just been informed that using $Flags on a modular table erases the existing flags on the ship from other tables, so it would cause some problems to appear...
Added a +noreplace entry to the table fields, but this only works on relatively recent builds.