I experimented a bit with TrackNoIR a month ago and actually it works very good.
No hatclip with reflectors or LEDs needed. Just a webcam and their freeware.
But decided to switch back to Freetrack for a simple reason. TrackNoIR needs sufficient light shining on your face to make it work. My PC isn't positioned to a window or lamplight in front of me so the yellow tracking lines didn't appear. And then it became a real CPU eater.
When I tried it out with extra lamplight everything was okay and it was not CPU demanding anymore.
More info about TrackNoIR, its tweaking and settings you can find at one of the modsites. Don't know if I'm allowed to mention the name here.

I'm hopeful that SOW will not have any commercial affiliations/restrictions to a particular piece of hardware. IMO, it shouldn't have to as it will be the most advanced WW2 combat SIM with little market competition. I suspect there would be a fair bit of criticsm and disappointment from FT users if excluded.
What would be the point of exclusion anyway other than that of a financial incentive/deal with NP? Forget that Oleg if you are considering it! SOW won't need support from anyone other than us enthusiasts - keep it clean and retain the philosphy of IL2 - a flight sim for all to enjoy from day one of opening the box! Just Remember, some of us may have to start budgeting for better graphics cards, motherboards, hi res monitors, etc....and ......oh damn!..... I have to buy a NP TrackIR.......do you really want us putting on our mickey mouse masks on and raiding the local Bank!

nah... i'll use one of the USA's presidents :grin:

well said for all the things... i agree with you

Any comments by Oleg or other developer about that subject? What kind of head tracking API support will be part of SoW : BoB?

I've made a thread asking just that for the past few months, but no official word yet. I'll try bumping my thread up to the top again, while Oleg might possibly be around.

So I broke down a bought a TrackIR 5. I had played with a face tracking program (not reliable enough) and contemplated building my own. I decided to just go with the big boys on the block to be safe. I feel like the price is a total rip off compared to what it must cost to produce the items that came in pack.

BUT!

It's a totally different experience. Once I got the "center" button mapped to something convenient and turned the "smoothing" all the way up, I was AMAZED (still gotta figure out how to increase the dead zone though).

This is the ONLY way I could imagine flying totally in cockpit and keeping decent SA.

Since I play on a large plasma screen and sit back a bit from it (recliner ya know lol), I was afraid the tracker would not pick up the reflectors. No problem.

Ya'll talked me into it. You owe me $150 :).

Splitter

Welcome to the HeadBobbers Club! Pity the 6DOF was never integrated into one of the official patches and only available as a mod. I don't know if this link explaining TrackIR setup is of any use or wether I am allowed to point you to it.......(I have FT and deadzone is adjusted by tweaking graphs for each axis).



http:////mission4today.com/index.php...p=show&kid=384

THANK YOU! That's a very good summary in that article.

Splitter

I actually can understand why its not official.

Most of the IL2 cockpits are 2D textures of the view from a central seating position. Thus moving you head sideways can either expose "holes" in the cockpit or give a distorted appearance to 3D items that have been pictured "side on" in the 2D texture.

No-one cares about these minor glitches in the "mod" version. People either ignore it or do not even notice, after all you mainly look outside the cockpit.

HOWEVER given the huge amount of whining that goes on in these forums, imagine what would happen if the same minor problems occurred in an official patch. There would be a whine and troll fest like never before. To make 6DOF official you would need to fix all the cockpits and that is a huge job.

Which is why it should be an option. People who think minor glitches + 6DoF is best can have it, people who think stuck position + 2Dof is best can have it too.

I noticed most of the glitches, and had no issues with them. I think the range of translational head movement should be limited by the sim, however.