Freetrack Not Working After Installing X52 Pro

[CNutter 24]

I recently got an X52 Pro from Saitek. So I installed the drivers and Smart Technology programming software for it and it all seemed to work fine, but when I fired up Arma 3 I found that my head tracking wasn't working in-game. The head was working fine in Freetrack and the Freetrack interface was selected in the outputs tab. It just wasn't showing up as a controller in A3.

What I've done to test / look for a solution:

I tested Freetrack in Arma 2 OA and both Freetrack and TrackIR interfaces were showing up.

Normally I use the Freetrack interface in A3 since it supports it, so I looked in my game configs and only my X360 controller and the X52 Pro were showing in the list. No Freetrack

I went back to Freetrack and checked TrackIR off in the outputs tab and unchecked Freetrack. Then I went back to A3 and TrackIR does seem to show up as a controller, so I enabled it but my head still isn't moving in game.

So I figured maybe my controls weren't configured for TrackIR. I checked the view section in A3 controls, and all of the correct things are bound to TrackIR movements but Arma just isn't getting the output data from Freetrack

I've re-installed Freetrack, and ran A3 without any mods on, but neither fixed the problem.

I thought maybe my player profile was corrupted (since that's what saves control settings), so I created a new one. Still didn't work.

So I did some research and found this:

http://free-track.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1224

Which basically says that Saitek's Smart Technology software prevents Freetrack from communicating with other programs. So I uninstalled Smart Technology and restarted my system. Checked and head tracking still doesn't work. I ran CCleaner thinking that maybe there were still a few registry values that needed to be cleaned up. Restarted my system again, and still nothing.

TL;DR

>got a new Saitek X52 Pro

>installed its stuff

>Freetrack no longer works in A3

>It still works in A2 OA, so is probably an issue with A3

>can't fix it, need help

I've checked my firewalls and anything else that might be preventing Freetrack from working, tried using the TrackIR interface instead, banged my head on a wall, and nothing's working.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Or better yet, how to fix it?

I can't function without Freetrack, and I'm not going to shell out another hundred or so to buy TrackIR.

Thanks,

Nutter

Problem Solved!

For reference to anyone else who gets this problem:

What causes the problem: Something to do with Saitek software, or just installing new drivers for anything can cause it. (that is, actually installing a driver other than windows default driver)

What I believe causes this is when the new software is installed it changes a registry key that ends up preventing Freetrack from communicating with Arma 3. Or at least that's the best I can figure.

What the problem looks like: 1. You install a new piece of hardware (i.e. a controller) or software (i.e. lower level code such as a hardware driver) 2. You find that Freetrack appears to work when launching it, but it doesn't show up in A3 as a controller.

How to fix it: Re-installing Freetrack, creating a new A3 profile (or resetting your A3 settings), restarting your machine, and changing Freetrack's output will likely not solve the problem!

So What I ended up doing is downloading something called FaceTrackNoIR and setting it up with Freetrack's Point Tracker as the source and TrackIR as the output.

I used this guide to set it up (Skip straight to the "Installing and Configuring FaceTrackNoIR" section!), and FaceTrack's website can be found here

Edited December 11, 2014 by CNutter
Problem solved, updating OP with steps to fix

[forteh 11]

Curiously I had this last night, I just got an ssd so did a fresh install of windows + arma, set up freetrack and copied my profile over (which was working perfectly) and got exactly the same issue you have - no freetrack showing up in controllers and no response from the trackir option. I haven't installed any saitek hardware, I have a thrustmaster warthog and a logitech driving force wheel that I ripped the guts out of and used to convert my thrustmaster rcs pedals to usb, both of which are using windows default drivers.

I gave up in the end and installed FacetrackNoIR which uses a lot of the freetrack setup/system but I believe is kept up to date. Once you figure out your settings it actually works better than freetrack, I find it a little smoother and responsive; it can also output correctly as a trackir controller so that is what is enabled and bound in arma.

Sucks that I have spent months and months perfecting the freetrack profile to have to change but it really is better and once you know what you're doing only takes a few minutes to set up a new profile :)

[CNutter 24]

Yeah, I've used FaceTrack before (stayed with Freetrack because I liked it more), and I'm guessing I'll be forced to switch to it :(

I just wish I could figure out what's up with Freetrack.

But no matter if I use the Freetrack or the TrackIR interface to output in Freetrack it doesn't show up in-game... So I wonder if FaceTrack would even work.

I'll try that next, and if it doesn't work I guess I'll try a fresh install of Arma as much as I hate to do it.

I'll update this after some more testing, so fingers crossed!

---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------

By God FaceTrackNoIR Works!

Now I just have another million hours of tweaking my profile and curves to perfection *sigh*

You wouldn't happen to know a way to import the curves from Freetrack 2.2 into FaceTrack, would you?

Thanks,

Nutter

[forteh 11]

I set the output from facetrack to be trackir, hiding the freetrack option and it picks up as trackir perfectly :)

I used the freetrack 3point tracking system as it works perfectly with the IR led clip I made.

edit: sneaky ninja post!

I don't know of a way to import them, although I found the facetrack curves to be easier to understand/set up for limits and ratio of movements, I use linear for most of my axis, the only exception being z and x translation (zoom view and lean in arma3). I do wish there was a way to increase the smoothing when the z translation rises, worked perfectly with freetrack as well!

Edited December 11, 2014 by forteh

[CNutter 24]

Yeah, Freetrack had a slightly nicer UI in general, but oh well. And I agree completely, FaceTrack has much smoother head tracking, and it's less finicky to set up. Love it!

I guess I've solved my problem, and I honestly didn't expect to come close to fixing it when I came here. This is probably the best first impression I've gotten on any forum / community ever!

Updating the OP with some reference information in case anybody else comes across this problem / thread.

Thanks,

Nutter

[naizarak 4]

you can also use opentrack which is currently the best headtracking solution out there

[forteh 11]

I was having issues with facetrack not picking up in game so downloaded opentrack to test it out. The ui is more polished than facetrack although it took a while to figure out all the camera settings so it would track properly. Set up the curves no issues and it worked really well in-game, the only issue I have with it is that it puts loads of Z translation input on when yawing - you turn your head and it zooms, I couldn't get it to isolate the axis like freetrack and facetrack do :(

The issue with facetrack seems to be is that arma doesn't recognise inputs from it unless you start it up once you're in-game. Not a major issue though :)

[sokoleoko 10]

@CNutter:

I got into similar problem after installing x52 pro driver (not software).

It's nice you described your problem very well but you're saying you've got solution and what you suggest is not really it - it's like saying "My car has broken. Problem solved! how to fix it? Buy different car (maybe with same engine, but still...)!

Now what I found was in path like: C:\Users\username\Documents\Arma 3 is file profilename.Arma3Profile and inside was entry freeTrack=0; which needs to be changed to 1. Also in freetrack output options i kept both freetrack and trackir interfaces checked.

One more thing. For other, not related reason before playing I have to start arma, exit it and then start again. I was doing it this way well before installing x52 pro. I don't know if this will be like that in someone's else case but after first arma launch freetrack is not visible. After arma restart everything is ok.