DIY Head Tracker For A Tenner

[Junky Juke]

That's fine, honestly. Well, just let us know if there's anything we can do .

Well I'd have a question about this issue. Is there something that can be done to avoid such issues via software? Something like a treshold control on certain parameters. Like the ones we discovered today not working properly.
Maybe not now but in a future development...?

Tank you for the patience.

 

[brumster]

If it is indeed a faulty component then there's nothing we would want to do in software to work around it; I'm a firm believer in "fix the root cause" rather than introduce workarounds; they always come back to bite you in the backside at another time . I've suggested to Rob that we work on a debug feature in the GUI that can simply dump out a debug log that can be emailed to us and contain all the relevant data; this will be much more useful that people bouncing around screenshots. So that will help diagnose issues like this more quickly.

Ultimately I'd still rather have it in my hands and verify what's happening before we made any software updates.

 

[nosscar]

Hey Brumster, not sure if you knew, but the EDTracker works pretty good with the new Beta 6 in X Rebirth, i tried it yesterday, and was surprised that just by adding it to the camera binds for the cockpit and external view, it worked well in both. here's a sample video taken this morning, i posted this on the egosoft forums too, so you might even get some more customers.
Feel free to use the vid if you want to on your website.
No opentrack, just applied in the camera bindings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVnz585irec

 

[Cataclysm72]

I have a few edtracker diy pcbs for 9250s left from a personal project. Let's say €2.50 plus postage from the Netherlands.

 

[sewerratuk]

Brumster,

I have to say that I brought the EDTracker Pro the other week and I am very impressed by the hardware and the software.
I am totally capable of the self build but 2 reasons stopped me:
1. A bit busy (ne. lazy)
2. Giving a bit of cash to someone making a big effort to set up a good business helps me feel better about being lazy

If you need an endorsement I can say that the product was delivered within a couple of days of order, the build quality was great, the response to email queries was excellent and above all the thing works great with ED.
Well worth the cash I spent on it.

Cheers

 

[brumster]

Thanks chap I'll pass the feedback on, the guys (and gal) will be glad to hear it!

 

[atomic7431]

I have an issue with the pro tracker software (unless im missing something).

The tracker is calibrated and working great, reinstall windows due to new parts, then when i install the 2.01 software it asks me to plug in the tracker which i do, only problem is, i have no option other than re calibrate the device?

Is there no way to tell the software the tracker is already calibrated etc?

 

[sewerratuk]

I have an issue with the pro tracker software (unless im missing something).

The tracker is calibrated and working great, reinstall windows due to new parts, then when i install the 2.01 software it asks me to plug in the tracker which i do, only problem is, i have no option other than re calibrate the device?

Is there no way to tell the software the tracker is already calibrated etc?

You have to recalibrate when you reinstall the software

 

[brumster]

If you're comfortable editing registry keys, you can open RegEdit and navigate to :-

Computer/HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/EDTrackerPro

Set the CALCOMPLETE dword value to 1

...or, as said above, just do the calibration again

 

[SeeZaa]

Hey Brumster, not sure if you knew, but the EDTracker works pretty good with the new Beta 6 in X Rebirth, i tried it yesterday, and was surprised that just by adding it to the camera binds for the cockpit and external view, it worked well in both. here's a sample video taken this morning, i posted this on the egosoft forums too, so you might even get some more customers.
Feel free to use the vid if you want to on your website.
No opentrack, just applied in the camera bindings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVnz585irec

ok be honest now.. how often did you say to yourself.. not the chest.. not the chest.. not the chest.. while you were looking around during recording?

*i used the word chest as the proper word with 2 o's and 2 b's was.. 'disallowed'.. shocking!

 

[brumster]

For DIY users, there's some beta revisions of the firmware available tonight (enable DEV mode in the GUI from the About menu and they'll appear on the drop-down list).

For 6050 and 9150 users it's nothing really more than a reduced USB HID descriptor, with the keyboard and mouse aspects removed. This isn't really a functional change, however I believe it does make the device detection better on Linux and Mac as it doesn't get picked up as a keyboard by the operating system. I'm hoping it may also address the odd random bug we hear about, like Windows 10 issues and BIOS confusion when a PC is booted with the EDTracker plugged in. YMMV but if people want to try it out for a regression test if nothing else (ie. it's not got any worse), but don't expect any amazing new functionality. One bonus is it has dropped the memory requirements in the AVR a useful amount!

For 9250 users it's the same, but I've also fixed the mag calibration scaling so your red/green spheres should now be visible in the GUI more

Let me know if you find any problems and likewise let me know if you don't !

Will push the source up to GitHub tomorrow if there's no reported issues...

 

[atomic7431]

If you're comfortable editing registry keys, you can open RegEdit and navigate to :-

Computer/HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/EDTrackerPro

Set the CALCOMPLETE dword value to 1

...or, as said above, just do the calibration again

will remember that for future usage thanks

 

[jumpingclear]

I built an edtracker some time ago. It is the magnetometer version and I bought the parts from ebay suppliers in China.

It works but I have a problem with 'juddering'. Even if the device is stationary on the desk the view will be slightly moving. It isn't a steady drift but a constant juddering or bouncing. Obviously this makes it a bit uncomfortable to use.

I have tried upping the filtering slider a bit but when high enough to reduce it it causes noticeable lag or sluggish response. I can avoid it to some extent in ED when looking forward by setting a deadzone on the axis but it is nor ideal and the problem is back as soon as I look away from the centre of the screen.

It was the first time I had soldered anything for many years and much smaller than I realized. It wouldn't surprise me if I had a fault there or maybe one of the components is faulty but I don't know how to go about diagnosing what the problem is.

Any suggestions? thanks

Anyone got any ideas on this?

 

[brumster]

First steps would be to restore factory defaults and start again, but juddering isn't something normal - sounds like the accel/gyro is reading incorrectly. What MPU did you build it from, 9150 or 9250? And which firmware have you flashed in?

On the graphs that are displayed in the GUI, can you see recorded gyro movement even when it's sitting still? This would indicate a faulty gyro (assuming several auto-bias clicks don't kick it into touch)...

 

[FiddenUK]

Unfortunately, I've never managed to get mine to work properly either... It detected fine by Windows, connected and appears in game. I switch it on (with a hotkey in game), look at the screen and press the button to re-centre, and it works that first time. The moment I switch it off with the hotkey to do something else, then switch it back on again with the hotkey, it immediately flies across to the left screen and stays there, regardless of how I move my head. It has to be re-centered again before it will work, but only that once, before flying across to the left screen again!

Recalibration follows deManglers' experiences above. Works for a short time, but then is gone again. The unit is strapped to a headset and is orientated as per the setup program.

After further testing, I found that the later version of the software has helped, and it is a lot more stable in use, but still pulls to the left after an extended (10 minutes) period. , and this only happens after I disable headlook and turn it on again when needed. I've set a reset button in the software (F1) and simply tapping that and then re-enabling headlook sorts that out.

Not sure how often the unit should need resetting like that, but it could be a viable workaround, and much better than I was getting before! What I need to work on now, is how to quickly get it to snap back to 'normal' view, as often I find myself looking forward, but not seeing all of the controls. This also means that the 'select target ahead' does not always lock on (most likely because the game doesn't view me as looking straight ahead).

 

[dave11]

What I need to work on now, is how to quickly get it to snap back to 'normal' view, as often I find myself looking forward, but not seeing all of the controls. This also means that the 'select target ahead' does not always lock on (most likely because the game doesn't view me as looking straight ahead).

I set a very small deadzone in the ED settings for the trackers x and y axis (I think I have a slightly higher x deadzone than y) - if I understand your issue correctly then hopefully this can improve the experience when looking centered.

 

[FiddenUK]

This is how the EDTracker software looks after ~10 minutes of sitting (before game is loaded). It started off facing me as normal.

 

[NeilF]

This is how the EDTracker software looks after ~10 minutes of sitting (before game is loaded). It started off facing me as normal.

View attachment 100791

Isn't that quite an old app? Mine is EdTrackerPro V2... Is your device flashed up to date too?

If I was having that issue I'd do an "Auto Bias" setup first.... and if that didn't help, reset the magnetometer settings again...

 

[Duedy]

And if you want to spash out get one for £11 which has a tin foil hat.

 

[brumster]

This is how the EDTracker software looks after ~10 minutes of sitting (before game is loaded). It started off facing me as normal.

View attachment 100791

There's a very important bullet point on page 16 of the user guide regards this - on the older 6050 devices, when the GUI is maximised it disables the drift compensation. It has to in order to measure drift! So once you've measured and applied the drift compensation, you should close or minimise the GUI. If you leave it up and running then it will indeed drift off - but you should not see this in-game (provided the UI is minimised, like I say)...

Cheers,
Dan