Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

joost
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:23 am

Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by joost »

Hey, I really want trackIR in alot of great FPS games! I only used your track IR 4 like 10 times in a year or something, because there are not many games I like that are engached. So please help me out, I want it in Half Life 2. I allready searched the whole internet for a mod/update or something but I can't find it. I saw some stuff about mods that can turn any FPS games into a trackIR FPS game, but those story were from 2005 O_O I also saw that Valve was interested or something? And something about a Insurgency mod or a CS mod??? I don't really get all these stuff. I just want to play Half life 2 with my trackir 4.

And there are many other games i wanna play with my awsome trackir 4:trackmania, mirror's edge, bioshock(2), F.E.A.R(2), crysis, gta and waaaay more. So please help me.
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by Seth Steiling »

Hi joost. I share your desire to see TrackIR supported in more FPS games. We actually have contacted the developers of every one of those you listed, several times. We are more than happy to support them in integrating TrackIR, but in many cases, there have been some significant limiting technical factors. FPS developers often use shortcuts, like slaving aim to view, or optimizing pixel counts by not animating most of the first-person character model (portions of the model that TrackIR would expose). For Valve, for instance, this was the key prohibitive factor.

These obstacles make it difficult for TrackIR to be integrated in older games. However, we believe there is a very promising market for TrackIR in FPS--especially those that are more tactical in nature. So, our primary goal at this point is to work with developers on integrating TrackIR in new games--particularly those that are early on in their development cycle. We will continue to promote head tracking as a viable and valuable contribution to the genre, and we're hoping for many more TrackIR Enhanced FPS titles down the road. This is definitely a process that you guys, as a vocal community, can partner with us in. Just taking your requests to developers directly can often times make a significant impact on them, and their willingness to make the integration happen. So feel free to take up the cause! :)
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
joost
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:23 am

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by joost »

Ok,I will go nagging at the developers to use trackir :P
But dude, is there a way to make a mod or a tool or a program, that can transeform ANY game into a headtracking game? If you can make games compatible yourself (as a consumer/custumor),then we all don't need the game list, and you guys finnally have some more time for yourselves :P. So then you trackir people don't get constant annoying requests for games you'v already tried for 100 times to make them work with trackir.

Get it? Then we all can play our favorite games with your sick (means cool/awsome)headtracking device trackIR! That's alot less work for you guys, and alot more fun for all your customers.
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by Seth Steiling »

If only it were that easy! :D In some cases, modding-in support is possible. But, there are typically major limitations:

- It's very tricky to do, and can take a long time.

- You're not actually controlling the in-game view as intended--you're derailing it downstream.

- This means that you're going to be breaking models, potentially messing up aiming, and just delivering a subpar experience overall.

- Game developers don't typically appreciate other companies providing hacks for their game. It's a tough sell, and we value the relationships we have with these developers, so we're pretty apprehensive about jeopardizing them by creating view mods.

- If the game is online, the view mod will likely get flagged and potentially get users IP banned.

So, while we'd love to expedite the process like you're recommending, we don't typically consider it a realistic approach to take. So, for the foreseeable future, we're going to continue focusing on developing relationships with game developers as our primary avenue toward increased TrackIR support in new games.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
joost
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:23 am

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by joost »

Well, what if the developers like Valve make some more body parts to the guy who you'r controlling. In a patch/update or something.

But maybe you can put the trackir in the next Valve games. Maybe in Half Life 3, or I dunno. I just met Valve, some days ago so I don't no if Half life 3 is already released.

But it looks like, the developers are just plain lazy or don't see any potential in trackir for making more money :(
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by Seth Steiling »

In Valve's defense, they developed the Half Life franchise before we really got into the FPS genre. But, yes, we are hopeful for collaboration with them and others you mentioned on future titles, when TrackIR can be planned for earlier in the development process.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
Bob422
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:22 pm

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by Bob422 »

[quote=NaturalPoint - Seth]If only it were that easy! :D [/quote]

It is that easy. Just put the real mouse emulation you had in version 3 back into version 4 & 5 and keep it there. It worked great. The whole 6 DOF is great and all, but why dump basic mouse emulation? I still use version 3 and it works great in any fps I play. It might just be a substitue for mouse look, but many of us want and need that basic functionality. Please put it back as part of the main software and not an afterthought add on program that doesn't work.
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by Seth Steiling »

Mouse emulation does not function in the same way that TrackIR does. It's not just the distinction between degrees of freedom. In one use you're controlling the aim with your head. In another you're controlling the aim with the mouse, and adding a new function (view control) that is controlled with your head. Emulating the former is not what joost was asking for. When I said "it's not that easy," I was referring to the idea of modding our way into view control for any game. This is what he was asking for. For many reasons, that often vary from game to game, this is not feasible.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
Bob422
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:22 pm

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by Bob422 »

I totally understand what you are saying. But would it be very difficult to put the mouse emualtion feature that was a part of version 3 into a future release of 5 so that I could use my TrackIR to aim/look like I do with v3? For some reason I could never get the emulator that was included with v4 to work in any game I wanted like I can with v3. If v3 would work in Windows 7 64 bit, I wouldn't have a problem. But I will have to upgrade to Win 7 sooner or later from XP, and it looks like my TrackIR/SmartNav will no longer function the way it used to or the way I need it to with my disabiliy.
audunth
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 1:09 pm

Re: Half Life 2 and please some other FPS games COME ON!

Post by audunth »

Any update on Valve TrackIR support now that CS:Global Offensive is out?

And seriously, can't the TrackIR emulate the mouse for use in games that aren't enhanced yet??
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