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I've just installed FSX and 4.1.029 beta 4 for my TrackIR 4:Pro and both are working fine. However one thing I've noticed in the VC, is that any attempt to 'adjust my seat' using the standard FS Eye Position commands is ignored. ie if TrackIR is running, the picture flickers when I press say the Eye Up command (Shift + Enter) but does not actually move. If I stop TrackIR using F9, the 'seat moves up' OK, but as soon as I start TrackIR again my eye position immediately reverts back to its original position. The same is also true if I press F12.

Meanwhile this function is still working fine in FS9, running on the same machine and so using the same 4.1.029 beta 4 driver. Therefore this must presumably be a TrackIR/FSX issue as eye movements work fine again in FSX as soon as TrackIR is stopped.

I do hope you are able to fix this problem as being able to 'adjust my seat' in the VC is a very useful facility.

PS: I do like being able to use TrackIR in the other views in FSX, great idea!

Actually the seat adjustment issue is something built within FSX. It stems from the way that the application sets priorities within itself for view control. As long as the TrackIR, or any tracking application, is running it has priority for head placement and movement, thereby disabling the ability to adjust the seating.

Thanks for your reply, but what a nuisance! Just an idea, but having pressed F9, adjusted the seat and then pressed F12, would it then be possible for TrackIR to then use the new position to reset from rather than the old position?

Although FSX has been less than helpful when it comes to adjusting seats, I've just spent a happy afternoon discovering it does something I've always wanted to do. I've added a fixed camera (attached to a FLT file) positioned on a hill I know well (in the real world) with Track=None (see below) and can now pan around independently of the plane and look around just like I do when I'm really stood there. I can now replay my flight, go and stand on my hill and watch the plane go past, without it being always in the centre of the frame. That is always such a give away when looking at screen shots of FS! (As I have a Matrox Parhelia with three screens I'm glad to say that an off-centre shot does look seriously good.) However, I'm afraid there is a however - when I start TrackIR although it works initially and I can stand there looking around, I then start slowly travelling along (!) and I just carry on and on. This effect can also be seen on both the Microsoft Pan and Fixed example FLT's files that come with the FSX SDK and in both cases it is preceded by the view point first slowly falling out of the sky before then starting to travel along!

Do you have idea why this is happening and is there any chance at all, that you could stop this behaviour and leave the view point fixed when using TrackIR?

For scenery buffs like me this would be bliss! (That said I still haven't go over travelling along stood on the de Havilland Beaver's float using TrackIR to look around!)

Camera Definition as follows:-

[CameraDefinition.001]
Title = Fixed Camera 1
Guid = {0877B951-6647-47a1-93C2-40A36842C650}
Description = Test - Rodneys Pillar
Origin = Fixed
InstancedBased = No
SnapPbhAdjust = None
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
AllowPbhAdjust = Yes
Track = None
ShowAxis = No
AllowZoom = Yes
InitialZoom = 1.0
SmoothZoomTime = 0.5
ShowWeather = Yes
XyzAdjust = FALSE
Transition = No
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
Category = Custom
FixedLatitude=N52� 43' 14.00"
FixedLongitude=W3� 3' 03.00"
FixedAltitude=100
InitialPbh=0, 0, 0

So from a fixed position, the TrackIR starts to move you across the screen?

Yes that is right, the camera's position starts to drop straight away (but slowly I mean, it drifts down) and once it gets to ground level it starts to drift along in a direction of its own choosing. I noticed it first with the standard, out of the box, Microsoft example cameras from the SKD, before I had even created my camera definition. I just found TrackIR produced the same effect with my camera definition. The reason I say TrackIR is that where ever the source of the problem lies, starting TrackIR (F9) triggers the behaviour and once started, it carries on even if you stop TrackIR (F9 again).

So, just to be clear, my test sequence is:-
1) Open the Microsoft file 'Camera Configuration.htm' (found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\Camera Configuration) in the Examples section at the bottom you can pick up their PanRateTest.FLT and FixedCameraTest.FLT files and drop them in with your own flight files.
2) Start TrackIR up and then stop it by using F9.
3) Now start up FSX and start either of the two flights.
4) Use S and A to get yourself to one of the defined cameras. These are positioned 230ft above the runway.
5) Note, right now all is OK. Now press F9 and at first everything looks fine, but after a little while it becomes clear that you are actually drifting down, eventually you get down to ground level and then start travelling along!
6) Pressing F9 again now has no effect and the camera position just carries on drifting, following the ground contours.

I hope this helps and that you can reproduce this effect at your end and it's not just my machine!

Useful appendium:-

I've just done some more testing and discovered I can control the rate of drift using TrackIR. It is related to the distance I move my head away from my centering point (where I F12'd) and it responds particularly well when I move my head near to or further away from the screen. The further I move from the F12 point the faster the drift!

Hope this addional info helps.

Sounds like a camera issue within FSX.

FSX handles head tracking cameras differently than other camera view points, and it sounds like when the override commands are initiated within FSX (TrackIR is detected) the view point then starts to drift. It also sounds like the drift is being affected by the z axis input of the TrackIR unit, or this are just exaggerating the primary issue within FSX.

Hi, I've just completed further tests and can now initiate this behaviour in FSX without TrackIR being present. FSX's behaviour seems to be very much along the lines you suggested. If I add the InitialXyz command with all three values set to zero, the camera point stays fixed, however if I introduce a value it immediately drifts in that direction ie. the direction of drift is in the direction of the X, Y or Z value. Small values produce a slow drift, while large values produce a fast movement. Furthermore the camera point does not stop when it reaches the requested offset but carries on and on. Unfortunately setting XyzAdjust=FALSE doesn't make any difference.

What do you think is the best approach for reporting this bug to Microsoft?

You could try the following places...

http://fsinsider.com/ -- They have a feedback section that might be helpful.

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/defaul ... rid=455751

As long as the TrackIR, or any tracking application, is running it has priority for head placement and movement, thereby disabling the ability to adjust the seating.

Not exactly. I posted a request on the Feature Request / Development forum regarding this problem.

Actually, the fDeltaY argument of the SimConnect_CameraSetRelative6DOF function could be set to SIMCONNECT_CAMERA_IGNORE_FIELD, rather than 0 (as TrackIR currently does when Y is not enabled). Doing this would let the eyepoint be set by other means.

This would be a very minor modification of the software, would give more sense to the Enabled checkbox, and give more flexibility to the user.