ARMA requires headtracking

[tj72 0]

Im using freelook,

When Im moving around with the weapon aim and I want to look around you can key ARMA's freelook and use the mouse. But how do you turn at the same time?! Head tracking is the only way to do this. You can look around but if you spot an enemy and want to quickly head for cover you have to disengage and then turn, a moment that can be the deciding factor.

I key the freelook and use head tracking when I move around. I can take my hand off the mouse and now turn with arrow keys and bind my forward arrow (or another nearby key) to zoom. It feels like moving with an Xbox controller this way and your not aiming your rifle but for looking while moving its simply the best way. I find sometimes Im looking around to sniff out opfor in my blind spots and other times Im sighted in and firing with zoom in tunnel vision so im back to non tracking mode. Im immersing into the game more fully and I have better awareness and its saved me a few times allready. I have no trouble switching between the two modes.

So its a must for really using the game to its potential. Just thought I would let you all know how to get the most out of ARMA.

[sickboy 13]

I oppose 'require', but I concur in the fact that your ArmA experience is a lot broader when using Track-IR

[dmarkwick 261]

Yeah "require" is a little strong, but hell it's almost there there's no doubt it enhances the experience incredibly. I was in Operation Flashpoint last night and I was uselessly flapping my head around to get situational awareness while running across open areas

I wish there were a "peep over" movement applied to the Y translation axis though. That would put the top hat on it

[4 IN 1 0]

i am using it, i get used to it, i am in love with it

really its not a must have as i play fairly well without turning it on, but flying/driving/fighting in town is much more enjoyable with it, someone said its a waste of $150, but for me its a gods give

[memnoch 0]

I find for flying I would miss not having Track-IR but when playing as Infantry I find that I have to reduce sensitivity to stop my view drifting around when I should be looking through the sights! It's not really noticeable when flying as I tend to do a lot of looking around anyway.

[Dallas 9]

I've assigned freelook to my mouse#4(thumb button), it's working very well. I don't miss TrackerIR.

[Col.Flanders 0]

TrackIR has been a completely revolutionary experience for me with this game...love it. Apart from the gripe I talked about in my thread about introducing a keypress option to lock the player's head forward while using ironsights, it's brilliant.

When I played OFP, I religiously used freelook when flying. That was even before IL2 days so that was an experience in its own right. When IL2 came out I thought...."ooooh this is gonna be good. I can look around the cockpit just like OFP!"

[Tic-Tac 0]

I would probably get annoyed with track-ir you have to keep looking at the screen while your head is turning which i find quite discomforting.

[sandzibar 0]

for flying its the best thing since sliced bread...

but i do tend to turn it off for inf stuff as i prefere to turn crosshairs off for realism and with trackIR its hard aiming quickly this way.

though i might try again using a TIR setup that has a much larger dead zone. that might work.

[AXR 0]

You can set the calibration easily. Besides you hardly have to move your head. Much better with trackir than using another button press. I got it for race sims then had to get into the flying stuff and couldn't wait to finally get ArmA. I found out about ArmA from TrackIR's site because of the feature of realistic head tracking movement built into a FPS sim/game. I had always thought you should aim with a mouse but also be able to look around easily. It's Innovative technology like this that will just keep getting better and making games more immersive if the costs stay reasonable like trackir. Stuff like this is what has made the wii take the lead for consoles because it's different yet intuitively easy to learn and more fun.

[tj72 0]

Well sorry for the strong words but hey I guess Im just enthusiastic.

But you all understand my point about a 3rd control vector so you can operate your inf guy properly. You can move look at the same time. If you cant or dont want to do this then....your not gettin the most out of yer ARMA!

In choppers its the best when you can freely peer around and spot infantry in the woods. Meanwhile you have both hands free to focus on movement controls.

No other shooter games even need this unless they have the same sophistication as ARMA (and those games are?).

Track IR is cool but im running freeware with a 70 dollar webcam and a little blue LED you just cant beat that ROI. If I could demo Track IR sometime I will. I just need to set up my moves so I can freelook from scope mode as the game supports.

I never aim with the tracking for shooting, only for getting target awereness if you will....

Carry on...

[nubbin77 0]

I think there was another thread that requested TIR profiles. I feel like I can't get a good setting. Could some of you that love it share your profiles? I have stopped using it (at least for infantry which is what I play 95% of the time). While I enjoyed it, I was always very aware of it and was much faster in terms of reactions and aiming without it. But after taking a break from it I'm willing to give it another chance. I'd really appreciate any profiles that work for others. Perhaps they will work for me.

[BigWolf 0]

I personally wish I could afford it

The amount of people Ive talked to on Teamspeak that has it, makes me real curious about it

[mtlgd 0]

... Apart from the gripe I talked about in my thread about introducing a keypress option to lock the player's head forward while using ironsights, it's brilliant.

I haven't seen the other thread, but are you aware that you can set one of your joystick buttons (or any other) to disable the TrackIR in the TIR profile? When you press the button, it disables and you have the normal "locked" view, press the button again to resume using TIR. I think the default for this function is F9, but you may not be able to use that in ArmA. I have mine set to a JS button that ArmA won't recognize anyway. Same with the recenter, and precision.

Mtl

[4 IN 1 0]

I think there was another thread that requested TIR profiles.  I feel like I can't get a good setting.  Could some of you that love it share your profiles?  I have stopped using it (at least for infantry which is what I play 95% of the time).  While I enjoyed it, I was always very aware of it and was much faster in terms of reactions and aiming without it.  But after taking a break from it I'm willing to give it another chance.  I'd really appreciate any profiles that work for others.  Perhaps they will work for me.

its hard to say others profile is best for you, i have changed mine many times as i use it more, your feeling changes over time so you will need to adjects your setting a bit so it you feel comfortable with it

for inf part, most of the time i use a dead zone of 4 to 6 in center and post 2 and 3 while other set as line for about 10 ~ 12, this almost lock my view when i center my head while not losing all of my movements, i can turn my head slightly when in ironsight mode, i can turn my head more if need and easily back to center line without auto center TIR

oh someone said it is robotic, but its less of my problem

[icebreakr 3159]

Around half of our team is using TIR4 Pro now and we're impressed with it. The most fun are landings (LZs) where you can move head and see whats almost directly below you not to mention quickly checking your team.

[Col.Flanders 0]

mtlgd,

Yea, I have my pause TIR and precision set up but that doesn't solve the problem as when you pause, your leaning gets turned off as well.

Have a look here

What I have done is disabled my zoom axis because I found that to be a mind#$%^ of note. Everything else I use, including when as infantry. Because of the problem I experience in my thread linked above, I often use the pause TIR function to aim with my ironsights (frustrating). I've BTS'd the issue as a tweak to include a keypress to lock view forward. (Essentially blocking x and y TIR input but allowing everything else). If this was implemented, I could use TIR permanently enabled in the game - it would be the business. Definitely takes a while to get used to (especially as infantryman) but wow does it add to the experience.

I could post/host my profile if someone wants it but I agree that it's about taking time and tweaking your own and adjusting as you see fit over time. I can say that I have no deadzones set in my profile - it's all fluid movement except I do have a small deadzone set for my leaning axis. The reason for this is that you can't sprint if you're leaning (even the the smallest amount.) So, while you think you may not be leaning, chances are that if you don't have a deadzone, you probably are. Then, you need to sprint and your character lurches forward and stops. This causes death....and cursing and frustration. A small deadzone basically ensures that I only lean when I actually intend to.

[BroK3n 0]

Aye Col. Flanders! Could you PM me your TrackIR profile?

Anyways i just bought TrackIR yesterday and was using it both online and in the editor. Flying with this is godsent; tracking and locking on to enemies is not a problem any more. If I had a bigger screen (say... 32 inch) I believe that flying a jet would be an experience to behold.

Having a bit of problems with infantry though. I didnt disable my zoom axis cause i like the idea of moving my body forward to look into the ironsights but the freelook that comes along with it is a bit jibbijabba. Bang bang bang and i'm looking at the sky.

But, yes. Even though TrackIR isnt neccessary for Arma, it does help a lot in getting involved with the games... and surviving.

[Rynthas 0]

I bought a TrackIR 4 system for ArmA, but I find myself rarely using it outside of vehicles. It's just really annoying, and I can't seem to get the settings tweaked to fix it.

What I'd like is a large deadzone, since I've noticed it tends to 'drift' once I return to center after moving my head. It's bad enough that I almost always have to tap my center key to get it re-locked.

Beyond that, when I do move my head, TrackIR has a nasty habit of continuing to decelerate after I stop. This makes using it for quick glances almost useless, which was the big selling feature. I find myself hitting the freelook key and using my mouse simply because it's so much faster to look at a specific area, then be viewing forward again.

The sad part is, the two "modes" each have a feature I want, but also exaggerate the one I don't. The default deadzone profile settings cut down on the drift a lot (though it still happens), but have really awful lag times on stopping once I've turned, and precision mode gives me the kind of response to stopping I want, but drifts like mad once I've returned to center.

Any vets have suggestions?

[Col.Flanders 0]

Rynthas - to me it sounds like your settings are what's causing you problems. Have you tried using linear settings for x & y axes? Sounds as though you have some sort of curve in those axes. A linear setting will act more like a mouse, giving you more control in the way that when you stop moving your head, it stops the motion completely and does not decelarate.

[FWF.Osteo 0]

I've got to agree with Col. Flanders. I've set all but the zoom axis to linear with a small dead space and can control the viewpoint much better.

I did find that for the zoom, if I made about a 2-3 inch dead space with linear zoom in and a very steep linear zoom out (as I can easily move my head forward but can only get a few inches back due to a very high-backed chair) I get very good results and don't have to disable the zoom like some of the others have noted.

I'd really suggest examining the guages. Watching the guages in the edit screen really helped and I was able to get the tracking to its maximums at the comfortable end limit of my movements (full easy movements for me maxed out the tracking in all the axis of the game).

[Rogueci5 0]

I will get it when they produce a 180 monitor screen, thats cheap to buy.

Other wise its just easy on a joystick, or mouse or keyboard keys for me, at the speed at which I play the game.

[mooncaine 0]

You can set the calibration easily. Besides you hardly have to move your head.

So, you have to keep looking at the screen, but your head is turning from side to side, albeit not much....

Isn't it difficult to keep your head still? I move my head around a lot already!

I think I'd rather have wraparound monitors -- well, what I'd probably really rather have is those VR goggles we've been expecting for, what, 15 years now?

Where's my flying jet car? LOL.

[Col.Flanders 0]

Mooncaine,

It goes something like this, at least with the settings I use:

You look no further than the edge of your screen. Basically, if you want to look back over your shoulder, you look toward the edge of your screen. If you want to look at something on-screen in front of you, you literally point your head at at. Essentially, it's really subtle and not the head-twisting excercise you might imagine. Becomes second nature too.

Is it hard to keep your head still? Generally speaking, no but I'd like to see some further refinements by the devs on this one...there are one or two minor issues I still have. Aside from that, the TIR software has a reset function which I use all the time. If you turn your head for whatever reason, you simply hit the reset key and your view centres.

[Col.Flanders 0]

I will get it when they produce a 180 monitor screen, thats cheap to buy.

That would sort of defeat the purpose because then you would really be turning your head 90 degrees either side to see what's there. The game enivironment is basically wrapping itself around you.

The ultimate ultimate for me would be a TIR unit and some sort of glasses, hell BRAIN INPUT combined to give a true virtual reality experience. In other words, you have a 1:1 movement system with the "TIR" input (basically, where you look is where you look - behind you, over your shoulder etc.)

But for now, TIR is awesome!