FreeTrack Forum

I have been using Freetrack in my Simpit for years with a Wii-remote and was fairly happy... but hated the occasional crashing and need to upgrade Bluetooth drivers. Since going to Win 8 there hasn't been any proper working Bluetooth drivers for Wii remotes (ie, Bluesoleil,etc)

I had since decided it may be time to give the PS3 eye a chance! Thank god I did!
I no longer have any crashing (when you startup correctly, read further down), and the performance is MUCH better and smoother! I can play in full daylight or at night with no problems. I use a simple 3 point LED model hat with 2 AAA batteries.




The PS3 eye I use is the newer sleh-00448 that came in the PS Move bundle (includes eye camera, Move controller, and sports game) for $30 Canadian on sale. The lens of the camera is actually the curved type, not the flat type that many people complain about... but I assure you it is the sleh-00448 model.

I have not modified this PS3 eye camera at all! All I did was use an old pair of  red/blue 3d glasses (from taking my kids to the Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D movie at the theatre years ago LOL!) as an IR "pass" filter to allow only the IR LEDS to pass through to the camera. Floppy discs and VHS tape didn't work.

I just cut out a piece of the red and blue from the glasses and inserted them (on top of each other) into the front of the camera on top of the lens. That's it! You could also just make a removable cap instead. Now all I had to do was configure Freetrack's camera settings.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Plug-in ps3eye
2. Download and install CLeye driver from: http://codelaboratories.com/downloads/
3. Download and unpack fix from: http://www.sendspace.com/file/2stcof
5. Install freetrack 2.2.0.279.
6. Copy files from unpacked fix to freetrack main folder (overwrite).
7. Start freetrack as administrator. (make sure it is set in compatibility mode settings)

There are some bugs in Freetrack, but you can avoid them and any crashes by doing this EVERYTIME you first start Freetrack and in the same order!

1. Make sure your source is PS3 eye camera
2. Click on Stream and choose your desired setting (should match your monitor's refresh rate. If your screen runs at 60 hz ie North America, then set it to 640x480 32 bits "60 FPS",  50hz PAL should be "50 FPS".    NOT 120 fps, 75 FPS,etc.. Anything else is a waste! Read below for more info)
3. Click Start
4. Click Camera and set your settings. I find I have to set these EVERYTIME I run Freetrack even after just stopping it. My slider settings are roughly :
                      Gain: 75%
                      Exposure: 75%
                      Red/Green/Blue: 40%

5. Make sure your Threshold is about 75-80% to the right

6. Click on the Frame Rate tab and make sure your "Actual Webcam FPS" matches your "Stream" setting. ie  60hz monitor/tv=60 FPS, 50hz=50 FPS. Also make sure your multiplier is set to 1, not AUTO or x2.

After that, you are good to go! Keep in mind that you only have to "change" the Camera settings each time.

I find having my smoothness settings for yaw,pitch,roll,x,y,z  set at about 40-50 works really well!  The sensitivity you will have to play with yourself.

When you have everything working the way you like, using Freetrack afterward  is as simple as:

-Run Freetrack
-click Stream, then ok
-click Start
-click Camera and check/change your settings, then ok
-look at the center of your screen and hit your "center" key/button
-minimize Freetrack
-run the TrackIR fixer program if needed
-Play your game!

It's important to have your frames per second (FPS) of tracking match your screen's refresh rate.

Do you need 120fps+ tracking?

Only if you have a TRUE 120 hz display. If you are using ANY TV screen than the answer is NO. If you have a monitor that runs at 60hz or 50hz, the answer is NO. There are very FEW screens out there that have a refresh rate of 120 hz!

Keep in mind that all TVs in North America (NTSC, HD,etc) have a refresh rate at 60hz and PAL TVs run at 50hz. This is also the case with most of the monitors out there.

When you see TV's advertised at 120hz,240hz,480hz... that is NOT the refresh rate. That is their so-called smoothing techniques to make the movement on your screen look smoother and less blurry. I've been an electronics tech for 17 years now, and this is a subject I could spend all day talking about!

Having your FPS for tracking set higher than your refresh rate is just a waste of processing that is unnecessary. Think of it like VSYNC for your games. Running more frames per second in your game than your display's refresh rate results in tearing on the screen.

I have extensively tested 125 and 112fps 320x240, 75fps and 60fps 640x480 on my 61" LED DLP TV, and my triple screen monitors and there is no difference. As long as your settings are correct you will have silky smooth tracking!

No more Bluetooth! No more batteries! It just works!

....and this is what I use it with! Took me a couple of weeks to build it!



...and the build process... its both a racing and flightsim pit! The console on the right rotates around to reveal a flightstick to use with the throttle on the left.

http://www.thewayiplay.com/mainforum/index.php?topic=981.0

...and Youtube videos of it before the PS3 eye being used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwsPDvnR5uc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-rjs7-CJ3o

Very nice pit!
...and thanks for these detailed explanations.

Hi,
your setup is something I can build maybe in a couple of weeks, but.... convincing my wife that I need something like that for my game will take a lifetime.
Great post!!!!!

greetz Stormrider

I think here are resolved all my doubts.
Thank you

random question!

would using something like this to recreate the 3d lenses work?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIEn9z0oBE8


I have a tonne of those new clear 3d lenses, but the old red/blue ones are gonna be a bit hard for me to track down.

It may be possible... but I haven't tried it myself.

its ok, I just bought 10 3d glasses off ebay for £1 so that should be here soon for me to finally have this damn thing work

Thank you for your post.
This helped out alot with my choosing between the Wiimote and the PS3 Eye. I had a Wiimote but no bluetooth receiver on my PC, so I needed to either go buy the receiver or go out and buy a webcam.
I read this one, remembered that I actually have some 3D glasses lying around and decided to go for this.
Got the system working for ARMA 2 and IL-2 at least. Takes some tweaking to get it right, but it works.