Settings & Setup guide for the Tobii Eye Tracker 5

The Tobii Eye Tracker 5 implementation in Microsoft Flight Simulator allows you to control the camera using your head and eyes, reducing the times you need to take your hands off your joystick or HOTAS.

SU8 introduced 6DoF and more detailed settings for the feature. Now you can tweak your Tobii Eye Tracker 5 experience to a much higher degree than previously

Getting Started

To get started, go to options > controls option and locate the Tobii option. Press sensitivity to get access to all the available settings.

I suggest that you play around with the settings a bit to find the best fit for you, but here are some suggested values to give you a good starting point.

Eye vs Head Tracking Ratio


Suggested default value:
0.85

Determines the percentage head tracking contributes to achieving the camera’s max angle.

50% means head tracking can at most achieve 50% of the max angle, the rest is achieved with eye tracking. Pick a high value if you prefer extended view to be mainly controlled with head tracking, and vice versa.

Eye Tracking Responsiveness


Suggested default value:
0.50

Adjust how fast the in-game camera reacts to your eye movements.

Head Tracking Sensitivity: Pitch/Yaw


Suggested default value:
2.0

Adjust how sensitive the camera is to your head movements. The higher the value, the more the in-game camera will turn when you move your head. The settings value is a multiplier of your head movements, so a setting of 2.0 means the in-game camera will turn twice as much compared to a value of 1.0.

Set to 0 to disable Yaw/Pitch tracking.

Center Stabilization


Suggested default value:
0.20

Adjusts how sensitive the in-game camera is to your head movements when close to its default straight on position (pitch/yaw). Increase the value to create a larger “deadzone”, meaning that you have to turn your head more before the in-game camera starts moving. This helps to reduce unwanted in-game camera movements.

Head Tracking Sensitivity: Roll


Suggested default value:
1.00

Adjust how sensitive the in-game camera is to left and right head leaning movements. The higher the value, the more the in-game camera moves when you move your head. The settings value is a multiplier of your head movements, so a setting of 2.0 means the in-game camera will turn twice as much compared to a value of 1.0.

Set to 0 to disable Head Roll tracking.

Head Tracking Sensitivity: Position


Suggested default value:
2.0

Adjust how sensitive the in-game camera is to Up/Down, Forwards/Backwards, Left/Right head movements. The higher the value, the more the in-game camera moves when you move your head. The settings value is a multiplier of your head movements, so a setting of 2.0 means the in-game camera will turn twice as much compared to a value of 1.0.

Set to 0 to disable Head Position tracking.

Before first use, once you have spawned into the game world, make sure to Reset Head Tracking using the Reset Head Tracking hotkey (default F12) for the best experience.

Head Tracking Auto-center


Suggested default value:
On (1, this on/off setting is represented by a slider with 0 or 1)

Automatically re-centers the in-game camera slowly over time, to account for small head position changes not directly intended to move the in-game camera.

You can also manually re-center by pressing the Reset Head Tracking hotkey .

Reset Head Tracking Hotkey

Suggested default value:
The hotkey is F12 and can since SU9 be rebound.
If the profile is from pre SU8 you might have to reset to default for this to hotkey to work.

Manually re-center the in-game camera based on your current head position and rotation.

If you want to know more about how the Tobii Eye Tracker 5 works with MSFS you can check the official Tobii Gaming Microsoft Flight Simulator page.

If you have issues with the Eye Tracker 5 and it doesn’t work as intended. Please check this guide: https://help.tobii.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009325857-Installation-or-setup-issues-for-Tobii-Eye-Tracker-5

If you still have issues please contact the Tobii Support team here: https://help.tobii.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

If you have any questions, feedback or run into a problem, feel free to tag me in the forums and I’ll do my best to help out.

Over and out!

Jonas
Senior Community Manager
Tobii Gaming

38 Likes

Much appreciated.

1 Like

Hi Jonas, do you know if the Tobii software built into Lenovo Legion laptops is officially supported? It’s a complete lottery when I fire up msfs if it works or not. Or it’ll work for abit and then when I go back to the main menu and get into another plane will stop working. As the tobii uses the webcam, there doesn’t seem to be much that I can do with regards to troubleshooting as it’s not like it includes any kind of calibration software or anything.

Many thanks.

From what I’ve heard that shouldn’t be any known problems. Please reach out to support via help.tobii.com and they’ll take a closer look.

So is there still no way to bind the “manual re-center” F12 hotkey to a jostick button?

1 Like

Yes, read towards the end of this thread. I have successfully assigned it to a button on my control panel.

Making Tobii eye tracker work with SU8 - Self-Service / Peripherals - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

3 Likes

Thanks for that!

Does anyone else have issues with Tobii completely disappearing from the controller menu randomly through a flight. It’s no longer even listed in the control menu. It completely stops and nothing will get it going again. I have checked USB power settings and tried different USB ports. It is working perfectly, but stops randomly.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Working fine here. Which version of Tobin hardware? Also which software/driver version - Ms Store version or downloaded direct from Tobii? Latest version?

Try this first:

  1. Quit MSFS.
  2. Unplug the Tobii Eye Tracker 5 from a USB hub and plug it directly into a rear USB port preferably a USB 3 port.
  3. Click on the Windows Search Bar.
  4. Type in:
    Control Panel
    and click on it.
  5. Click Power Options.
  6. Click the down arrow to the left of where it says Show additional plans.
  7. Click the radio button for High performance.
  8. Click Change plan settings.
  9. Click the drop down menu for Put the computer to sleep: and click on Never.
  10. Click on Change advanced power settings.
  11. For Hard disk → Turn off hard disk after → Setting (Minutes): click and hold on the down arrow until it changes to Never.
  12. For USB settings → USB selective suspend setting → Setting: click on Enabled and change to Disabled.
  13. Click OK.
  14. Click the X to close off Control Panel.
  15. Click on the Windows Search Bar.
  16. Type in:
    Device Manager
    and click on it.
  17. Click on the right arrow next to Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  18. Right click on the top entry and then click Properties.
  19. Click the Power Management tab.
  20. UNtick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
  21. Click OK.
  22. Repeat steps 18-21 for all the other devices listed under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  23. Click on the right arrow next to Universal Serial Bus devices.
  24. Right click on EyeChip and then click Properties.
  25. Click the Power Management tab.
  26. UNtick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
  27. Click OK.
  28. Click on the right arrow next to Software components.
  29. Right click on Eye Tracker 5 and then click Properties.
  30. Click the Power Management tab(if it has one otherwise ignore this step and the next step).
  31. UNtick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
  32. Click OK.
  33. Click the X to close off Device Manager.
  34. Reboot and after logging back in launch MSFS and test Tobii.

If that doesn’t fix it try this second:
35. Visit this url: https://help.tobii.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
36. Click the Please select your type of issue below drop down box and choose Technical Issue
37. In the Description field type this in:
I would like to do a clean reinstall of Tobii Experience, please email me Tobii Scripts.zip file.
38. Fill out the rest of the form and click the Submit button down the bottom.
39. Wait for the email from Tobii with the Tobii Scripts.zip attached.
40. Save the Tobii Scripts.zip file to your Downloads folder.
41. Click on the Windows Search Bar.
42. Type in:
Control Panel
and click on it.
43. Click on Programs and Features.
44. Click on Tobii Experience Software For Windows (EyeTracker5).
45. Click Uninstall and follow the prompts.
46. Click the X to close off Control Panel.
47. Click on the Windows Search Bar.
48. Type in:
Settings
and click on it.
49. Click Apps.
50. Scroll down until you find Tobii Experience and click on it.
51. Click Uninstall button and follow the prompts.
52. Click the X to close off Settings.
53. Click on the Windows Search Bar.
54. Type in:
File Explorer
and click on it.
55. Navigate to your Downloads folder.
56. Extract the contents of Tobii Scripts.zip into a Tobii Scripts subdirectory.
57. Open Tobii Scripts folder.
58. Double click on Pre-Cleaner Scripts folder.
59. Right click on 1.bat and click on Run as administrator.
60. Right click on 2.bat and click on Run as administrator.
61. Click the up arrow to go back to the Tobii Scripts folder.
62. Double click on Cleaner folder.
63. Right click on TobiiTotalCleanup.exe and click on Run as administrator and follow the prompts.
64. Click the X to close off TobiiTotalCleanup.exe.
65. Reboot.
66. Visit this url: https://gaming.tobii.com/getstarted/.
67. Click on tobii eyetracking
68. Click the Device drop down box and click on your Tobii hardware e.g. Tobii Eye Tracker 5
69. Click the blue Download Driver button.
70. Disable your anti-virus software.
71. Click on the Windows Search Bar.
72. Type in:
File Explorer
and click on it.
73. Navigate to your Downloads directory.
74. Double click on Tobii.EyeTracker5.Offline.Installer_4.124.0.15937.msi and follow the prompts. During the install process it should connect you to the Microsoft Store to download Tobii Experience.
75. Complete the install by setting up your screen, completing the calibration, and naming your profile.
76. When you are done click X to minimise Tobii Experience to the taskbar.
77. Launch MSFS and test Tobii.

If that still doesn’t fix it try this third:
78. Setup and use FaceTrackNoIR by following the short guide I posted here: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/making-tobii-eye-tracker-work-with-su8/472111/252

2 Likes

Head tracking reset is just a standard keybind, always has been, whether used for a Tobii tracker or TrackIR. Just bind it to whatever key or button you want.

To note. All the recent Tobii tracker info is noted against the model 5 device. All works identically and just as well on the previous 4c model.

I think you are thinking of TOGGLE HEAD TRACKING and it currently unbound so you need to bind a key to it however when turning TOGGLE HEAD TRACKING off it resets the view to looking straight forward so I’ve written a workaround that you can use here(it will keep your view where you are currently looking at): https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/making-tobii-eye-tracker-work-with-su8/472111/252.

F12 is the new hidden function to Center/Reset your tracker.

2 Likes

Whenever I turn head tracking off I want it to reset the view forward so I guess I’m not understanding all the fuss here.

For example say you wanted to interact with those switches you see near the fire extinguisher:


you want to be able pause head tracking so that nothing moves and you don’t want the view to reset to forward because you are already looking at where you want to interact with.

5 Likes

Thanks for the very detailed response @skysthelimit707
Will try that out shortly.

One thing I forgot to mention, just before you reinstall the Tobii software disable your anti-virus first. I’ve updated the steps above to reflect this.

My Eye Tracker 5 arrived today and doesn’t work in MSFS. Haven’t gone through the uninstall, reinstall malarkey yet, now waiting for the zip file to be mailed to me.

However, it worked in the Steam version of ETS2 from the get go. No additional steps required.

Probably an issue with the Game Pass version of MSFS, then?

Did you try toggling head tracking on or off in the camera menu or with a key bind? Does it show up under the controllers menu?

Of course. It works brilliantly everywhere, except in MSFS.