Headlook automatically follow target?

[Kross]

I have been watching some YouTube videos of some folks playing ED and in a few of them I've noticed that it really helps to orient things during a dogfight if you're using your head-look/free-look to continuously keep an eye on the target as you go around each other trying to get your ship into position to fire.

Some pilots appear to be so good at it that it almost looks like the headlook is fixed on the target, like it is following whatever ship you have targeted within the confines of your ship's viewing area.

I have, of course, tried this in game (utilizing headlook via the appropriate "POV" mini-stick on my X55) but it's actually pretty hard to do it accurately while you're keeping an eye on where your ship is going, the management of your energy pips, etc etc.

So, I am wondering, is there a feature/button for where your head-look automatically centers on the targeted ship? Or are some of these players really that freaking good?

I feel like the answer is the latter... which would make the most sense since my piloting skills suck still. But I figured I'd ask you seasoned commanders nonetheless.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Witzo]

Never in any game have I come across a better tool for situational awareness than the Elite radar ellipse.

 

[rootsrat]

Hey there, Commander.

The pilots you've seen are most likely to be using some king of head tracking equipment/software.

Search the forums for TrackIR, ED Tracker or FaceTrackNoIR.

Personally I am using the latter, as it's the cheapest option (the software is free in fact, you just need a webcam capable of pulling 60 FPS) and it works great. It also doesn't make you wear some weird stuff on your head, like the IR solutions do

All of them have their pros and cons. Search the forums, there are plenty of information around.

 

[Doomus]

I think they're using head tracking such as TrackIR or EDTrack.

 

[Oss133]

What you are asking for is known in the flightsim world as padlock view. Elite does not have it, although some of us have asked for it before, and it looks unlikely to make an appearance as Frontier have never said anything positive about it.

 

[Doomus]

Ha. Too slow on the draw. Story of my life

 

[SnowImp]

I have been watching some YouTube videos of some folks playing ED and in a few of them I've noticed that it really helps to orient things during a dogfight if you're using your head-look/free-look to continuously keep an eye on the target as you go around each other trying to get your ship into position to fire.

Some pilots appear to be so good at it that it almost looks like the headlook is fixed on the target, like it is following whatever ship you have targeted within the confines of your ship's viewing area.

I have, of course, tried this in game (utilizing headlook via the appropriate "POV" mini-stick on my X55) but it's actually pretty hard to do it accurately while you're keeping an eye on where your ship is going, the management of your energy pips, etc etc.

So, I am wondering, is there a feature/button for where your head-look automatically centers on the targeted ship? Or are some of these players really that freaking good?

I feel like the answer is the latter... which would make the most sense since my piloting skills suck still. But I figured I'd ask you seasoned commanders nonetheless.

Thank you in advance!

You might find the players are using TrackIR or EDTracker where they can look using the movement of their head linked to the look around control settings, not in game mouse/keyboard/stick use.

I myself use EDTracker and am slowly finding I'm remembering I can look up to find an opponent.

EDIT: Ninja'd.

 

[Zargor]

I would kill for a Padlock view...

 

[bassman]

Never in any game have I come across a better tool for situational awareness than the Elite radar ellipse.

Indeed, between that, the target panel and the compass you have all the info you need. In fact I would go as far as to say that in combat I only need the center 2 or 3 inches of screen for fine aiming, the rest is superfluous and useful for immersion purposes only.

 

[Voyager_NL]

At FantastiCon I was lucky enough to have been able to play with a Oculus Rift DK2 for a while. I must say I just did exactly that during a dogfight.

The bad guy who was firing at me flew upwards. But where normally he would have left the monitor I now just looked upwards through the canopy of the Sidewinder ship and I was able to follow him much easier and coordinate my movements according to his much quicker.

I'm soo gonna love my rift with this game once I get my hands on a Consumer Edition!

 

[brumster]

It's very odd once you've been playing with head tracking to then play without it suddenly - I found I was still moving my head up/across to track a target but nothing was happening it was very weird! It takes a while to get accustomed to but once you do, you'll miss it when it's not there

edit: Padlock view would not be a bad idea at all for those who can't afford a head tracking solution.

 

[Stoo]

I very much doubt a Padlock View will be added... get headtracking if you want to follow targets around your cockpit.

 

[Zargor]

That's a paid solution though, I don't see the evil in adding it as an option in game - or am I missing something?

I've tried to track using the HAT switch but honestly it didn't work as well as in other flight sims.

 

[Tar Stone]

Using a head tracker for any length of time confuses my brain to the point that I get in the car, and try to scroll the reflection in my rear view mirror around using my head.

Padlock view - I play il2 Cliffs of Dover online, padlock view is disabled on most servers. It really can be used to 'cheat'.

Head tracking is fantastic, like playing a different game.

The Elite radar is instant situational awareness, it's frankly never been bettered in 30 years.

 

[ZeeWolf]

I do all of my free head movement using only the hat-switch on my force feedback 2 joystick. People watching my videos on youtube have commented that I must be using Track-IR and one person even wrote an article referencing one of my videos as being a good example of Track-IR in a game (I've never used Track-IR)

I set the headlook mode to 'accumulate' and bind up/down/left/right headlook to the hat-switch. Now when I switch into head-look mode and move my pilot's head he stays there until I switch off head-look. With a little practice it becomes very natural to look around for targets.

Here's one of my videos

I really like that ED doesn't have a padlook mode. At first it was strange as nearly every simulator has used this ability since the 16-bit era. But Frontier have really thrown out the tropes expected in games over the past two decades and we're left with something that leaves you responsible for situation awareness and everything that happens in the cockpit.

 

[Kross]

Ahhh! TrackIR! All you Ninja Commanders knew the answer right away

I've never really tried it... maybe I'll give the free app a go first and see how I like it before I splurge. I know that the POV Hat on the X55 doesn't really do it for me in terms of effectiveness.

 

[CaptainTrips]

I use TrackIR which I had due to the numerous Flightsims I use (Rise of Flight being a particular favourite) and I could quite confidently say that if I went up against someone in the same craft or even slightly more powerful but THEY didn't have headtracking, I would come out on top 99% of the time - it really makes one hell of a difference.

 

[Omegahunter]

It's very odd once you've been playing with head tracking to then play without it suddenly - I found I was still moving my head up/across to track a target but nothing was happening it was very weird! It takes a while to get accustomed to but once you do, you'll miss it when it's not there

edit: Padlock view would not be a bad idea at all for those who can't afford a head tracking solution.

I very much doubt a Padlock View will be added... get headtracking if you want to follow targets around your cockpit.

Been thinking about the Padlock view idea for people without head tracking devices and can only see one way to make it work.


1: Have head tracking work the current way with the mouse or a hat switch.
(A players center of view box will need to be added)

2: Only when the target is within this small area of view the players will be allowed the option to turn on padlock mode. (Or maybe have an auto on option, but don't like that idea myself.)

3: Padlock mode will only keep tracking the target as long as its with in the cockpit viewable area. If the ship moves beyond that then lock is lost.

4: If the player changes their view to look at the console UI menus etc or if they use the Padlock control to toggle the view off, the lock is lost.

5: Pressing the Padlock lock mode button with no target in the current viewing area (after a toggle off above) will move to look in the last known direction of the target (time limited to allow for a look away to the scanner etc). If at this point the target is within a slightly larger area of the center of the view the player get an auto relock, or if that box area passes the target on its way to the last known direction.

The relock option could be made to take account of the players flight maneuvers if the player was looking at the scanner view while making them.

6: If not at this point the target will need to be refound like above before Padlock mode can be locked back on to the target.

 

[Rookie Ray]

I have been watching some YouTube videos of some folks playing ED and in a few of them I've noticed that it really helps to orient things during a dogfight if you're using your head-look/free-look to continuously keep an eye on the target as you go around each other trying to get your ship into position to fire.

Some pilots appear to be so good at it that it almost looks like the headlook is fixed on the target, like it is following whatever ship you have targeted within the confines of your ship's viewing area.

I have, of course, tried this in game (utilizing headlook via the appropriate "POV" mini-stick on my X55) but it's actually pretty hard to do it accurately while you're keeping an eye on where your ship is going, the management of your energy pips, etc etc.

So, I am wondering, is there a feature/button for where your head-look automatically centers on the targeted ship? Or are some of these players really that freaking good?

I feel like the answer is the latter... which would make the most sense since my piloting skills suck still. But I figured I'd ask you seasoned commanders nonetheless.

Thank you in advance!

Generally TrackIR is the best choice for this. It's the smothest and has the best response time.

Face trackNoIR is a glitchy temporary solution but requires a lot of set up to get working right and isn't too reliable.

There are probably some others out there and ways to make your own on google.

Would be more handy if I could see behind me though. Why are planes designed in the 60's designed better than a space ship from 3000+ ad.

 

[rootsrat]

Generally TrackIR is the best choice for this. It's the smothest and has the best response time.

Face trackNoIR is a glitchy temporary solution but requires a lot of set up to get working right and isn't too reliable.

There are probably some others out there and ways to make your own on google.

Would be more handy if I could see behind me though. Why are planes designed in the 60's designed better than a space ship from 3000+ ad.

Mild disagreement with highlighted part of your post

I use FaceTrackNoIR for a good few weeks now and it's working really well for me. The solution has its downsides and it isn't perfect - true. I have to press the reset view button every now and then when I adjust my position in the chair, it won't work when it's too dark in the room for the webcam to "see" my face and also when I eat or drink something the tracking gets disrupted, but I think these are minor disadvantages compared to price (it's free).

I don't find it glitchy at all. It works perfectly fine, subject to right conditions (webcam being able to see your face).

It does not require a lot of set up. Where did you get that idea from? All you have to do is download an updated config file from internet, stick it in the right folder, tick a box to invert Z axis in the settings and you're ready to go. That really isn't a lot to do... If you want, you can fine tune the tracking by adjusting the input/output curves, but the default setting works pretty good too.

Saying that, I have never tried TrackIR system, so the only thing I can really compare is the price. TrackIR: £140. FaceTrackNoIR: Free