Hi,
I have a Kinect V2 here which I never used on the Xbox. I read on reddit that it is possible to connect it to the PC and some are using it as a head tracker in Elite Dangerous.
Does anyone know if this is also working with MSFS?
Hi,
I have a Kinect V2 here which I never used on the Xbox. I read on reddit that it is possible to connect it to the PC and some are using it as a head tracker in Elite Dangerous.
Does anyone know if this is also working with MSFS?
It can work. I’ve done it.
You will need :
Kinect Adapter for Windows to connect the Kinect to your PC.
You need to install the Kinect SDK on your PC
Opentrack
Opentrack will support the input from the kinect v2 and is seen as a “trackir” sensor in MSFS. No configuration necessary in MSFS.
That being said, after using it for a few hours and I gave up. Not precise and smooth enough.
I did it as well, it does work with MSFS.
Used this software:
Required tweaking the settings, it’s precise enough if you are at a certain distance from the camera.
I used this guide to get started:
I had to mod the Xbox Kinect to connect it to a power source, there are videos on youtube explaining the procedure. Or you can purchase a special cable kit on ebay.
How did you like or not the experience?
Me, I didnt like it at all. Not precise and smooth enough. it gave me nausea
The way I would describe it is that it was in line with my expectations.
I wanted to use head tracking to change views, right and left, front and back, it was OK with some hiccups, not sure if it’s stricly Kinect related or just the demanding graphics.
Ironing out the settings took a lot of time. The Kinect was above a 42 inch screen. I was sitting more than 2 meters / 7ft away.
However I tried it around the time SU5 was released.
The sim was crashing all the time for reasons unrelated to Kinect. I gave up on using the sim after the next world patch, it was not stable enough for my taste.
So I did not use it extensively.
I plan to come back to it when MSFS releases reach a higher level of quality and stability. Probably 12/18 months from now.
I was thinking of trying this and got to searching when I found this thread. Did you ever get back to it? If so, has it improved?
Yes I did.
The sim itself is much smoother than it was when I first tried.
The experience is OK with a few caveats:
Kinectv2 is very sensitive to data bandwidth and stable USB3. I had to purchase a discrete USB3 PCIe card with a compatible chipset for best results (NEC/Renesas UPD720201, make sure it is genuine, not some knock off).
I noticed that plugging on the onboard USB3 would work with hiccups when USB3 bandwidth was shared with other devices.
Headtracking requires a decent graphics card to work smoothly. A 3060ti was borderline, a 3080 worked fine.
the XBOX version of Kinect v2 requires a specific cable to use with a Windows PC, it’s available on eBay, etc.
Or you can mod it for the purpose of ensuring proper 12V power delivery, there are videos on Youtube explaining the DIY process.
There are some best practices to follow to make it work.
In addition to the two links provided above, the following will get you started:
Using Microsoft Kinect V2 · opentrack/opentrack Wiki · GitHub
Kinect v2 is a powerful tool. With proper software configuration, with proper USB3 bandwidth and setup it works well.
Let us know how your experience goes, if you go for it
Thanks for the update. I already had the adaptor cable because I use to use it for an interactive music visualization program, though I’ll have to see if I can find it again or replace it. Interesting point about the graphics card too. I have an RX 6600XT, which I currently have tuned to run the sim about 45-50 fps in the most demanding areas.
You’re welcome.
Sorry I should have added that my experience was with ultra settings all around. I could probably have toned down the settings to get a good headtracking experience with the 3060ti, I have not tried.
Gotcha. I couldn’t find the adaptor, so I decided to play around with using my phone as a webcam (not via Smoothtrack). A little clunky, so I’m not sure if this is something I’ll want to spend money on. I’ve been fine so far with the controller and key binding inputs, but it’s an interesting concept.