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Track IR: what are your experiences in SB (3.028)


Koen

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As Track IR 5 is really expensive, I wonder what are your experiences in SB, before eventually spending money on it.

* Greatly increases immersion or limited only ?

* Makes it easier to be a TC and handle a tank/platoon or not really?

* TIR 5 or will much cheaper TIR 4 do ? (I 'd only use it in SB and maybe Arma)

Thx for your feedback !

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As one of a handful of users who made an early pitch for this, let me offer my input:

*For me, it greatly increases the immersion, but this personal judgment is going to vary between users. I find the use of headtracking software to be super-intuitive, and the ability to "look around" in a normal, human fashion is infinitely more natural to me than reaching for a mouse. I also use a voice command app, and with that combination I certainly get the "feeling" of being inside a tank and commanding the action. (Well, as close as one will ever get sitting in a gaming chair in his comfortable den, of course).

*I play almost exclusively as TC, most-often at a platoon level. I'm not sure it makes command of the tank or platoon any "easier." More "natural" perhaps, in the same context as the above point. One advantage in my case is that I now have one less reason to shift my hand from my HOTAS to the mouse and back. I think the higher in command you go, the more time you spend in the map, the less use it will be to you.

*I believe TIR 4 will most certainly be sufficient in your case. I use an even earlier version -- TIR 3 -- and I don't even have the vector expansion activated. In other words, I don't have the additional zoom axis. I might now go ahead and pay to activate that or upgrade to a newer unit ... but for now I'm fine even without it.

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If cost is a concern, you can save yourself a lot of money trying out the concept by buying a replacement LED headset from Track IR and using a PS3 EYE cam, an IR filter made from a piece of floppy disk, and free software for about $30 total. You lose a little processing power and possibly some precision since this method lacks Track IR's built-in processor, but it tracks well and smoothly.

Head tracking is nice for Steel Beasts, but I don't feel it offers the same level of advantage as it does for a flight sim. It is nice to be able to look around inside the tank while using the mouse solely for pushing buttons- very immersive. I have found head tracking provides an intuitive sense of "forward" when looking around in all the sims I use with it.

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I have been using it but don't find it much help. A bit more immersive as TC, but I can't think of a situation where it has been or would be critical.

You can use TIR5 software with a TIR 4 track clip or hat reflectors (I have this setup - requires nothing special to run the 4 device on the 5 software).

Hope this helps.

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If you can get stretched go for Track IR 5.

It is more sensitive & precise then previous models and it will give you better control overall.

Is it worthy money and is it good in SB?

It is worthy of money ( my opinion, i use it for FSx, Elite, DCS, DayZ etc..).

And it helps a lot in SB: For example you can look around and have turret override to where are you looking and no problem in maintaining your line of sight even while turret traverse rapidly. Looking left and right becomes natural thing.

If you can - grab it for test from some1, try it , then decide on your own.

P.S. If I may recommend voice command tool, go for Voice Attack - very versatile & powerful speech recognition module. Im using it with lot of games and it is incredible.

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I have used TRackIR from years ago and in Sb it´s very very nice detail (THX Devs). Now you have free look (indoor/outdoor tank) for rapidly check instruments or observe (Tank Comander) from top of turret. The best thing is when you take binocs (binocs view automaticly stop TrackIR and you move binocks with stick or mouse - IMHO very good solucion.

As BigBadVuk for all formation command I use Voice Attack software (7€ "versatile & powerful"). VA software it´s best quality price choice today for all simulators.

Salu2

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I have TIR 5 and used it extensively for flight sim and car racing games back in the days before I discovered Steel Beasts. I've tried it in this game but for some reason find joystick control of view direction much better. Others differ, so like many other things in computer games/sims, it's a question of personal preference. I would never try to convince others that my way is the best way.

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P.S. If I may recommend voice command tool, go for Voice Attack - very versatile & powerful speech recognition module. Im using it with lot of games and it is incredible.

Interesting. Do you play MP? If so, are you able to use the voice command programme without everything you say going out over the comms channel? And if so, how so please?

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Interesting. Do you play MP? If so, are you able to use the voice command programme without everything you say going out over the comms channel? And if so, how so please?

At the risk of derailing this thread too far from its TrackIR subject, please allow me to answer out of turn ...

I think first and foremost it's important to note that one uses a voice app for exactly the same reason he uses TrackIR -- added immersion. TrackIR lets you look around like a human; a voice app lets you order around your ai crewmembers through a headset rather than pecking at a keyboard.

Unless you have a physical disability, there's no real need for either. And the need for the voice app is reduced somewhat if you have other live players in the mix. So in effect, it's kind of a single-player solution.

But in theory, I can think of no reason why it wouldn't be possible to use a voice app even in multiplay. You just need to set separate push-to-talk buttons -- and then keep them straight under pressure, of course. That comes with practice, and I wouldn't suppose it to be any different than real-life radio coms where you need to make sure you're broadcasting on the correct net.

With TeamSpeak you talk to other players; with the voice app you talk to the ai. Why wouldn't that work?

I haven't had TeamSpeak set up for a long time. Can't you set it to push-to-talk for a specified key or keys?

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Interesting. Do you play MP? If so, are you able to use the voice command programme without everything you say going out over the comms channel? And if so, how so please?

I have a TM Warthog. I programmed a singe button to do two things (well, 4 really):

1. When pressed, it issues a keystroke that temporarily disables the voice activation software AND issues the TeamSpeak push-to-talk keystroke.

2. When released, it releases the disable-voice-activation key and releases the TeamSpeak push-to-talk key.

Of course, not every joystick has that programming flexibility.

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Interesting. Do you play MP? If so, are you able to use the voice command programme without everything you say going out over the comms channel? And if so, how so please?

In order not to go off topic ill send you PM with tips - im not an expert but it works nicely even without PTT button etc.

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For me personally, while I like TIR in principle, what turned out to be a dealbreaker for me was the requirement to either wear some hat or headset featuring that 'tracking dot(s)'. I guess I'm just a person who likes to be unencumbered when playing, and needing to put on some equipment just ended in my not using TIR..

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Thx all !

Splash, which voice command app do you use ?

Rgds, K

Aside: You may want to take a look at Voice Attack. Easy to use and create profiles for. Very, very powerful system and last time I checked it was selling for $8. http://www.voiceattack.com/

This is an excellent video that shows the power of the program. It'd work really well with SB I imagine.

Speech Recognition in Gaming: Elite Dangerous with Voice Pack

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Aside: You may want to take a look at Voice Attack. Easy to use and create profiles for. Very, very powerful system and last time I checked it was selling for $8. http://www.voiceattack.com/

This is an excellent video that shows the power of the program. It'd work really well with SB I imagine.

Speech Recognition in Gaming: Elite Dangerous with Voice Pack

I have that combination.. If you are not lazy and you read profiles for Eilte in VA and learn how they used some tricks, you can make wonders with this and SB pro. So it is my absolute recommendation. Playing afterwards without those little gadgets feels like you are fighting with 1 hand tied behind.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is it worthy money and is it good in SB?

It is worthy of money ( my opinion, i use it for FSx, Elite, DCS, DayZ etc..).

And it helps a lot in SB: For example you can look around and have turret override to where are you looking and no problem in maintaining your line of sight even while turret traverse rapidly. Looking left and right becomes natural thing.

Can you please explain this futher? Im very interested. How can you override gunner when you look through Binocs and have the turret point to where you look?

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With binocs, it is hard to do it, and it requires a bit of practice, but if you are not using zoom it is easy - spot the threat, grab joystick, press the override and turn turret while moving your head to keep threat in sight, and gunner will call the target once he can identify it.

It helps to practice with low realism first so that you have white cross showing you where gun is pointed atm.

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