66 replies to this topic

[Kiblams]

Hey guys,

I have been playing a lot of Elite Dangerous and pretty much everyone and their dog over there is using Headtracking of some form, and yet it seems retty rare for MWO.

I have made a video that you can watch over here:

http://youtu.be/fbPLbC6ukS4

What does everyone think? its easy to set up and can be cheap as chips if you go for something like the EDTracker to do it.

Here's a few things I am curious about as a new convert to the ways of headtracking in sim/vehicle games:

Do you consider being able to torso twist without losing sight of your enemy as cheating? And it does also allow a much wider angle where you can spot enemies and friendlies alike.

Is it too much to keep ontop of? we already have heat management, legs, torso etc. to keep an eye on.

As it could take some getting used to at first can you see comp users taking them up as they have more time to master using it to their advantage?

Do you think it is more useful in Assault mechs? I found that the usefullness of this is much higher in mechs whose torso twist speeds are much lower.

If it becomes more common would it affect the meta by making more mechs viable? There are mechs such as the Atlas where this simply isn't an advantage at all.

TL:DR? Do you use Headtracking in MWO and do you think it is a powerful tool for winning battles?

Cheers for reading, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Malckovich]

I wouldn't think it is cheating, as I believe there is already a button you can hold down to look freely around the cockpit. This is simply keeping that button held down and delivering the movement via a separate input.

I have never used head-tracking but it seems interesting, and while I wouldn't consider it big advantage it has some benefits.

[Creovex]

Let me be clear...
What key do you hit to free look?
left "alt"

Why does head tracking fail?
Explain to me at what point does peripheral vision become better/clearer for my eyes and game play? Never. Stick with the "click key" to free look approach. I know people like the hands free feel but you can just as easily map it to anything. Also a mouse with high sensitivity is more responsive then the head tracking system.

[Mitsuragi]

Looks pretty cool

[Xmith]

Give us a demostration on how it works with actual gameplay.

[LordMelvin]

If I could use head tracking to aim arms as well as control the head I'd probably consider it. As it stands, leaving armlock off serves much the same purpose for me.

[Kiblams]

Wow, being away from MWO for a months seems to have made me forget how grumpy these forums are...

Nevertheless thanks for your thoughts!

[OznerpaG]

i thought it would be an amazing tool to use, but when i tried my brother's it just doesn't work well - wicked in theory, horrible in practice

what i wanted was the entire HUD to stay in place, while i used the head tracking to 'free-look' everywhere so i could have better situational awareness

what i got was the entire HUD moving with my head except for the aiming reticule which made it very difficult to aim since it's very hard to keep track of the tiny reticule with the entire rest of the HUD moving around, especially when it's already hard enough to see the IS reticule on some of the maps. you basically have to completely relearn your 'HUD positioning awareness'

if we could 'free look' around while the HUD stays in place, then it would be amazing. as is - no way

Edited by JagdFlanker, 12 February 2015 - 09:38 AM.

[Mister Blastman]

MWO already has headtracking support with Track IR.

Unfortunately it was poorly implemented. It is impossible to aim with Track IR loaded as you lose extreme degrees of precision with mouse movement. It's almost like they change the mouse driver from 32-bit to 4-bit precision and it becomes extremely jerky and lacks all smoothness that it had before.

[Krivvan]

JagdFlanker, on 12 February 2015 - 09:36 AM, said:

what i got was the entire HUD moving with my head except for the aiming reticule which made it very difficult to aim since it's very hard to keep track of the tiny reticule with the entire rest of the HUD moving around, especially when it's already hard enough to see the IS reticule on some of the maps. you basically have to completely relearn your 'HUD positioning awareness'

if we could 'free look' around while the HUD stays in place, then it would be amazing. as is - no way

VR developers have learned that HUDs that actually follow your face are disorienting and uncomfortable for people.

[Fishbulb333]

Seems pretty cool, but would probably take a lot of getting used to, also having a fixed screen but moving your head around could get a bit disorientating..

Is the basic £5 DIY pcb kit enough to get this working? I've got a soldering iron etc, and probably suitable housing/cables knocking around. Or would you recommend going for the prebuilt (+ magnetometer?) ones?

Doubt it'd give any advantages over the ctrl + mouselook method, but seems worth a try, especially for a fiver.

ps - is it weird that I think this would work better as a foot tracker than a head tracker?

[Kiblams]

Krivvan, on 12 February 2015 - 09:44 AM, said:

VR developers have learned that HUDs that actually follow your face are disorienting and uncomfortable for people.

I was wondering why I was struggling to face forwards when it comes so easily in elite dangerous! They need to freeze the HUD!

Fishbulb333, on 12 February 2015 - 10:00 AM, said:

Seems pretty cool, but would probably take a lot of getting used to, also having a fixed screen but moving your head around could get a bit disorientating..

Is the basic £5 DIY pcb kit enough to get this working? I've got a soldering iron etc, and probably suitable housing/cables knocking around. Or would you recommend going for the prebuilt (+ magnetometer?) ones?

Doubt it'd give any advantages over the ctrl + mouselook method, but seems worth a try, especially for a fiver.

ps - is it weird that I think this would work better as a foot tracker than a head tracker?

I'm not too sure about building one, I got one prebuilt with the magnometer and I've nor had a problem with yaw drift so I'd say that's the best one.

The PC registers the EDTracker as a joystick so you could actually use it as a pedal by strapping it to your foot no problem, I have been toying with the idea of an 'air joystick' by attaching it to a wireless mouse... Not one of my best ideas I'll admit.

In terms of immersion, using head tracking in my mech cockpit really made it feel like I was controlling a massive walking machine!

Edited by Kiblams, 12 February 2015 - 10:30 AM.

[mogs01gt]

So its essentially free look or is it moving the torso?? If its free look, I'd like it since I would rather move my head than torso to look around. I'd agree this would only help mechs with slow torso twist.

Edited by mogs01gt, 12 February 2015 - 10:36 AM.

[Alistair Winter]

Thanks for posting this, much appreciated!

But yeah, it would be nice to see a video of some actual fighting. At some point, it looked like you were struggling a bit to maintain the reticule on the stationary Catapult while you were moving and turning your head. When you were looking directly at it, you were able to aim better.

So moar videos plz

[Kiblams]

mogs01gt, on 12 February 2015 - 10:35 AM, said:

So its essentially free look or is it moving the torso?? If its free look, I'd like it since I would rather move my head than torso to look around. I'd agree this would only help mechs with slow torso twist.

Yeah it's separate from the torso.

Alistair Winter, on 12 February 2015 - 10:38 AM, said:

Thanks for posting this, much appreciated!

But yeah, it would be nice to see a video of some actual fighting. At some point, it looked like you were struggling a bit to maintain the reticule on the stationary Catapult while you were moving and turning your head. When you were looking directly at it, you were able to aim better.

So moar videos plz

No problem, yeah I was struggling on that map and I'm not sure why, I had a run around other maps before making the video and i was able.to keep it centred without issues when targeting. Might have been because I was distracred by trying to get my point across on the video.

I would love to do some.combat, but I'm not playing fighting games at the moment, we lost our 18 month old daughter a few weeks ago and the trading and exploring on elite dangerous is mundane and repetative while being always hands on, and I have found it a great help in helping me mourn my little girl.

Sorry for killing the mood, and thanks for your thoughts on head tracking!

[Mechteric]

Seems neat, probably could use some tuning to make it easier to find the center though. But maybe that really is just a deadzone setting in the software you could setup.

[Kiblams]

CapperDeluxe, on 12 February 2015 - 10:48 AM, said:

Seems neat, probably could use some tuning to make it easier to find the center though. But maybe that really is just a deadzone setting in the software you could setup.

I have a very small curve to slow it down at the centre and the other guys here have hit the nail on the head when they say the issue is that the HUD moves too, which makesit hard to centre on the tiny reticle.

Edited by Kiblams, 12 February 2015 - 10:50 AM.

[mogs01gt]

Kiblams, on 12 February 2015 - 10:49 AM, said:

I have a very small curve to slow it down at the centre and the other guys here have hit the nail on the head when they say the issue is that the HUD moves too, which makesit hard to centre on the tiny reticle.

With training, centering shouldnt matter since you are using the cross hair and reticle to aim. It's like shooting a gun, you dont bring your face to the gun, you bring the gun to your face.


Yes, I simplified aiming there by a lot .

Edited by mogs01gt, 12 February 2015 - 10:58 AM.

[OznerpaG]

Krivvan, on 12 February 2015 - 09:44 AM, said:

VR developers have learned that HUDs that actually follow your face are disorienting and uncomfortable for people.

i agree - my wish was to be able to free-look but the HUD stays put, including the reticule. in any case i'm not sure if that would be any better than the current implementation, but i'd just like to try and see

[Kiblams]

JagdFlanker, on 12 February 2015 - 11:04 AM, said:

i agree - my wish was to be able to free-look but the HUD stays put, including the reticule. in any case i'm not sure if that would be any better than the current implementation, but i'd just like to try and see

If you have ever played elite dangerous that was built with the oculus rift in mind; that game attaches the HUD to the cockpit and not your head and that game is no problem at all to aim. Its the only difference between the two games I can put my finger on which makes a difference to free look.