| Author | Message | ||
     Cryingfoot Rating: N/A |
Did anywone out there is a ( unreal like ) player, and have a interax2 system. It s possible to play and be competetive with others on the net without broke your neck! lol Cause my mouse is very fast and i wonder if my neck could go this fast and in the same time not being sick at all! lol ;) | ||
| Ray Price Rating: N/A |
Yes, I have used the intertrax 2 with most FPS, but still find myself using the mouse to aim and shoot. Until games can separate the control of head movement from the control of weapon targetting (such as op flash) you will always end up using the mouse. Intertrax 2 is very cool though, I use mine mostly with FS2002, which is awesome. | ||
| tj Rating: N/A |
I modified the Quake2 source code to do this (see below). The key is to separate head movement from the movement of your "virtual body" in the game. That is, when you're playing and you are seated, if you turn your head to the side and press the "move forward" button, you should see movement in the direction your body is facing, not the direction your head is facing. Otherwise the effect is neither immersive nor convincingly realistic. The only alternative is to play standing up... which worked with the VFX1/VFX3D since it had the Cyberpuck. Unfortunately, even then, you had to basically move your head and your body in unison to make it convincing. You might as well have been wearing a neck brace! If you'd watch people play, they'd turn their head, then have to turn their body accordingly when they realized that's the way their "virtual body" was moving (otherwise it's like your head has left your body and is traveling off in its own direction!). Then there's the issue of getting wrapped up in the cords... For anyone who doesn't know, the way most trackers try to work with FPS games is to emulate mouse look. This works for the most part, but there are two problems: (1) No separate head vs. body movement, as I've just mentioned; and (2) No roll support (which further detracts from immersiveness). To test this (and because I'm fed up with lack of support) I took the Quake2 source code and modified it to support the InterTrax2, InterTrax 30, etc. I separated head tracker yaw from mouse (virtual body) yaw. Roll support required no additional effort. I use the same keyboard controls for forward/back/sideways-strafe. Mouse forward/back is not needed anymore to look up/down (so actually I reassigned it to movement). I have a stereo SVGA HMD (LDI-D100B), which using the NVIDIA GeForce drivers handles page flipping automatically, so stereo is no problem. Note that the tracker is 3DOF (yaw/pitch/roll only), so you can't really "look around walls" or jump up or anything. It controls point-of-view only. You still have to hit keys to jump, crouch, etc. If anyone wants the code, it's all GPL, so you can have it (maybe after I clean it up a little). I used the code directly from id, but I know that lots of folks have been modifying it... adding capabilities, including the ability to load Quake3 levels. I wouldn't mind adding my changes to one of those latest versions. As far as separate weapon targeting too, I've thought about it (more on this in a second). Without it, and the way my code currently works, your weapon always follows your view (your head). Thus you always shoot in the direction you're looking. I think that this only makes sense. Realistically, I can't imagine shooting a weapon in a direction you're not aiming it (and of course aiming is done with your eyes)! Maybe a better analogy is to imagine, instead of your head pivoting, your upper torso pivoting at the waist, with your gun drawn and aligned steady with your eye. However, let's still consider tracked weapon targeting... To implement it would require yet another tracker (placed on a mockup weapon). So you'd then have body position (keyboard/mouse controlled) vs. head position (tracker 1 controlled) vs. weapon position (tracker 2). The problem is that using this other tracker would take your hands off the keyboard. Also, it would really need to be a 6DOF tracker to be realistic (6DOF is WAY expensive). You could get by with 3DOF, but you'd have to assume that the weapon was always pointed outwards (in whichever direction) from the center of your body. This all might be too much to be worth it (and probably not realistic enough)... :-( Oh yeah, and I mentioned a "mockup weapon"... Does anyone remember a company called GameBox Entertainment with a product line called DreamGuns? They were at E3 in 2001. The guns were "life-sized wireless weapons complete with heft and recoil." You could get shotguns, machine guns, etc. That would be perfect for a FPS with a tracked weapon! They even had buttons on them that I think you could've used to control other aspects of the game. Unfortunately, I think that company is out of business. Googling on them yields basically nothing. :-( Oh yeah, one more thing... a question for you all... Several months ago I saw a guy selling a tracker on eBay, which he claimed he had attached to a weapon for use in a FPS (he even had pictures of that). His description said it was "InterTrax" but it didn't look like any InterSense tracker I've ever seen (looked just like a cigarette pack sized black box). The thing is, I don't know of ANY game that supports what he was claiming -- i.e., a tracked weapon. Ya think it was a scam? ...or is there some stuff out there I've missed? Thanks! | ||
| Cryingfoot Rating: N/A |
Thanks Tj and Ray. very interesting Tj. long description love IT! I have another question. Scince i will buy a Interax2 only for games; does it support only Fs2002 or it support as well Combat flight s.2 and Mechwarrior. There is any Racing Car supported? F12002 or grand prix 4? And Tj it s cool u have try to modify quake 2! Only hope we will be able to do the same with the next doom and UTC2003! Anyway thanks to post. | ||
| Neil Axe Rating: N/A |
To Ray and Tj: One question: Does the InterTrax2 add to the gaming experience? In other words, does it make a FPS game better than playing without it? Thanks | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Tj: I bid on that black box tracker. It didnt say it was a Intertrax tracker, it said it worked like an intertrax tracker. It emulated a mouse, so it should of been supported by all FPS games. | ||
| fiend41 Rating: N/A |
i agree with the black box idea. i destroyed my unionreality helmet, and it's very small inside and there is the tracker !! so with my virtual 2d glasses i will easily make a hack and light one, and be really cool in few time  | ||
| tj Rating: N/A |
Hey Neil, IMO, as to what head tracking adds to a FPS: Does it make someone a better player? No. Does it make someone say, "That's cool!"? Yes. Adding tracking is kinda like adding stereo 3D --> it doesn't really give any advantage to playing the game, or make it any easier - but it does add to the "cool factor." (Although I hate using such lame Microsoftesque "terminology"!) If you're into that kind of thing - the gadgetry or the idea of using more of your senses - it does add to the experience. Yet of course it's not for everyone. Just like some people are into stereo 3D, some aren't. Some enjoy the 3D sensation enough that it enhances the game and it's worth it to them. For others, that added sensation isn't special enough to be worth the expense of the additional equipment, the extra work to get it operating, the hassle or discomfort of wearing the glasses, the ghosting, etc. For those drones... er, I mean people!... For those people, a regular old monitor in 2D is just fine. People tend to resist change too. HMDs aren't overly comfortable either, but stereo 3D (that is also solid and non-ghosting) is inherent to their design and the head tracking capability contributes enough to the experience to make them "worth it," in my opinion. As for the black box tracker: correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall that in the seller's description and picture, he had it hooked to a gun. Since I know of no FPS that supports a separately tracked headset and gun, him "selling" this concept along with his tracker on eBay seems deceptive. A naive buyer might bid more, thinking that capability is included, when it's not! ...but that's just me. | ||
| Craig Rating: N/A |
Hi Neil, I have a ? for you. have you used your HMD in any driving games? I have used 3D shutter glasses in driving games and I think this is the one type of game where 3D helps. Not just for looks but for depth perception when going into a turn. You can drive better and more relaxed with 3D in driving games. I think 3d is def. an advantage for driving games. Have you tryed any neil ? | ||
| Neil Axe Rating: N/A |
Craig, Up till now, I have not tried any racing games, but now that you mention it, I would like to see how a racing game would look in 3D. Do you have any suggestions for a good driving game? Thanks! | ||
| Craig Rating: N/A |
Neil, The 3D realy makes any racing game better (a real useable improvement). Even useing shutter glasses with the ghosting, you can gauge speed and distance much better when comming up on a turn. I'm telling Ya 3D was made for driveing games. I like the "Need for Speed" games, can't wait for hot pursuit 2. If you want a good game for cheap, I saw NFS3 HOT PURSUIT in walmart with another racing game, I think it was an older NASCar game bundled together for $12.95 Look in the area where they have the games in the jewel cases not the retail Box. An old game viper Racing was good too. Try a racing game Neil, you will like it... | ||
| Scotty Rating: N/A |
Burnout would be mind blowing in 3D!!! | ||
| Ray Price Rating: N/A |
Cryingfoot, the intertrax definitely works with CFS2 not sure about the other game. It basically gives you a joystick device in FS2002, although I am not sure if this is using DirectPlay or can be used in any other games. Not many racing games I have seen incorporate a virtual cockpit which you can look around. If you find one than does, and that supports mouselook you can use the JMouse utility to use the intertrax with it. | ||
| donna simpson Rating: N/A |
hi there i was just wondering if anyone had the drivers for the URgear headset please. i would be greatful if you could email me at donnasimpson69@hotmail.com on wear i could get it or if you have it thank you again donna | ||
| BOPrey Rating: N/A |
tj, Good to see we have ackownlegdable people here. I have a question for you. For most flight sims out there, they only implemented 2DOF head movement. I have VR glasses and a Logic tech 6DOF tracker. Is it possible to intercept the DX calls for the camera location/direction, and change it so 6DOF for head movement could be implemented? If so, which DX function should I intercept? I can intercept any function the application calls as long as the function definition and the DLL name are known. | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
tj you still use your LDI100 stereo glasses? | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
hi, i have windows xp and can't see, to calibirate my VR headset can anyone help plz? quicksilver780@aol.com |
