Hardware & Technical EDtracker drifts offcenter

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
Viajero
Just got a wireless EDTracker and it is been working fine except it tends to go off center (even a few degrees is quite annoying) quite often, especially after I need to look hard right or left to check pannels etc, and I constantly need to use the re-center shortcut, every couple minutes or so.

I think I have based and calibrated the device as required by the instructions. Many times already. I have it mounted with velcro on the top of my headset. Any thing I may have missed?
 
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the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
Try mounting it in a different orientation - I get crazy drift from the (otherwise excellent) orientation sensors on my S8+ when I use it for Opentrack. The solution I found was to strap it to my head the other way up. It tracks really well when I do that.
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
As per wireless EDTracker manual, "We advise you to place EDTracker on the top of your headset, with the USB port to one side", aside from that the only thing that could help with drifting is doing the best magnetometer calibration possible. I've never been able to totally remove drift on my unit either, but unless I really twitch around as crazy for minutes or I throw the tracker around the room it just requires a slight re-center every several minutes, very much tolerable for me.

One thing that worked better for me during the calibration was to rotate the tracker around its center, and not around the center of the support it was supposed to be used on as the software instructions showed, that invariably led to a very off calibration in my case.
 
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Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
Viajero
AkenBosch said:
As per wireless EDTracker manual, "We advise you to place EDTracker on the top of your headset, with the USB port to one side", aside from that the only thing that could help with drifting is doing the best magnetometer calibration possible. I've never been able to totally remove drift on my unit either, but unless I really twitch around as crazy for minutes or I throw the tracker around the room it just requires a slight re-center every several minutes, very much tolerable for me.

One thing that worked better for me during the calibration was to rotate the tracker around its center, and not around the center of the support it was supposed to be used on as the software instructions showed, that invariably led to a very off calibration in my case.
Click to expand...

I have tried calibrating also on a wooden stick of a hammer, just to rule out any intereference in the headset etc. I am at my wits ends as the drift always appear after a few minutes and is driving me crazy :p

Will try your suggestion and calibrate around the tracker center itself, thanks.
 

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
Viajero
No joy, calibrated thousand times now, it is still drifting off center way too often, every couple minutes or so I need to recenter. Shame, its main advantage, small, no fuss no cables gets completely wiped out by it just... not working.
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
Sorry to hear that, I'd suggest to contact the guys directly about the issue, I've heard nothing but praise about their support...the thing where it goes off-center after sharp turns of the head left or right happens to me too sometimes, other than that it usually works fine, I may still have to re-center it from time to time for some very little drift, but not always and only after many minutes.

Something I noticed though, it only seems to happen while in game, I did some testing some time ago where I could make any kind of sudden or exaggerated movement while in the EDtracker UI and it would always stay totally snap on center, then did a couple minutes of the same movements in game and drift happened. Never tried playing without using Opentrack in the middle though, I should test again without that.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Viajero said:
Just got a wireless EDTracker and it is been working fine except it tends to go off center (even a few degrees is quite annoying) quite often, especially after I need to look hard right or left to check pannels etc, and I constantly need to use the re-center shortcut, every couple minutes or so.

I think I have based and calibrated the device as required by the instructions. Many times already. I have it mounted with velcro on the top of my headset. Any thing I may have missed?
Click to expand...
Just jumped back in the game after long hiatus and have the exact same issue with my EDTracker Pro wireless. I have to reset every few minutes. One would think that some sort of deadzone re-center was in place, but no. Have tried fiddling with the deadzones within the E: D controls>headlook mode interface. Not sure that it makes any difference though. :(
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Odd insta-fix: Having assigned the headtracker in the E: D interface I re-ran the confing wizard of the EDTracker (thus blanking the interface completely), BUT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. DIDN'T RE-CALIBRATE, DIDN'T ASSIGN ANY SETTINGS. Just went straight into the game, and headtracking seemed to work perfectly. Haven't tried it over a longer period of time, but definitely worth a shot.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Odder edit: I don't even need to have the EDTracker app running in the background now. Headtracking works just the same... :/ Re-plug the dongle if it loses connection.
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
Indeed, starting the software is only needed to connect the tracker with the dongle or to calibrate/adjust settings, once it is set the software can be closed altogether.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
AkenBosch said:
Indeed, starting the software is only needed to connect the tracker with the dongle or to calibrate/adjust settings, once it is set the software can be closed altogether.
Click to expand...
News to me. Sadly I'm stuck with 3.2 beta firmware. Tried updating as described, but the prompt is stuck at "searching for EDTracker". :(
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
Thanks for the link, I already stumbled upon that thread some months ago, when this discussion was first active. Already upgraded to 3.5, but didn't notice any particular difference over previous behaviour. I've also read around of people suggesting to close the EDTracker software when also using OpenTrack to solve the creeping drift issue, but I didn't find any particular difference doing that either. If anything, I've noticed that as of lately drift compensation is a bit hit and miss, sometimes I align everything and can play straight away for half an hour with virtually no drift, sometimes I can literally see the view gradually moving to a side even with the head still. When that happens, if I do a "Set Level" (the gyro bias calibration) while in-game, I can play for the rest of the session without issues (unless I do very wide and sudden left-right movements, these are likely to put the thing off-center some way).
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
AkenBosch said:
Thanks for the link, I already stumbled upon that thread some months ago, when this discussion was first active. Already upgraded to 3.5, but didn't notice any particular difference over previous behaviour. I've also read around of people suggesting to close the EDTracker software when also using OpenTrack to solve the creeping drift issue, but I didn't find any particular difference doing that either. If anything, I've noticed that as of lately drift compensation is a bit hit and miss, sometimes I align everything and can play straight away for half an hour with virtually no drift, sometimes I can literally see the view gradually moving to a side even with the head still. When that happens, if I do a "Set Level" (the gyro bias calibration) while in-game, I can play for the rest of the session without issues (unless I do very wide and sudden left-right movements, these are likely to put the thing off-center some way).
Click to expand...
You have any idea why my firmware updater (flash.bat) can't find my tracker?
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
Sorry, read that yesterday and then forgot to answer, usual me.

No idea anyway, I don't rember it being any more complicated than plugging the tracker to a usb port (the actual tracker, not the dongle) and letting the .bat do its stuff.

Can't remember by what name it gets recognized exactly from the device manager, you could check that you don't have any unrecognized device or exclamation mark there, just in case.
 
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Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
AkenBosch said:
Sorry, read that yesterday and then forgot to answer, usual me.

No idea anyway, I don't rember it being any more complicated than plugging the tracker to a usb port (the actual tracker, not the dongle) and letting the .bat do its stuff.

Can't remember by what name it gets recognized exactly from the device manager, you could check that you don't have any unrecognized device or exclamation mark there, just in case.
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Cheers. For some reason it only worked when I used the usb port that the dongle had been in. 3.5 now. Haven't had time to test it yet though.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Ok. This is interesting. I find that if I turn off the EDTracker app/interface after initial setup/reset (before each play session) there is no drift at all, but if I leave the app/interface running in the background I get drift... Odd. But solved for me. I hope this solution solves it for Viajero too.
 

AkenBosch

AkenBosch
I read about that too while googling for infos on the issue, tried it but honestly it didn't seem to make any difference for me. It could be a thing only affecting people who don't use Opentrack on top of the EDTracker.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
AkenBosch said:
I read about that too while googling for infos on the issue, tried it but honestly it didn't seem to make any difference for me. It could be a thing only affecting people who don't use Opentrack on top of the EDTracker.
Click to expand...
I was wrong. It came back. But your solution seemed to fix it. To keep the app running in the background and do a second reset while in-game. Oh well. :) Fly safe Commander.
 
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