TrackIR has become unreliable after recent updates?

I used TrackIR in the sim right from the start. And it was totally reliable with no failures for the first 3 months(ish).

Starting sometime this month (November), MSFS seems to randomly lose its connection to TrackIR and becomes unable to re-establish it.

I don’t believe this to be a hardware issue, as the TrackIR software is running just fine, the left light indicates that my headpiece is recognized and within range, and within the TrackIR software, all my head movements are recognized without issue.

The problem seems to be solely the connection to MSFS. MSFS seems to lose the connection and does not want to re-establish it once lost. The only way to re-establish a connection is to restart the sim. Sometimes it won’t even connect right from starting the sim. Other times it will be connected and then lose its connection mid-flight.

I have tried many variations, including running TrackIR before and after starting the sim. Rebooted many times. TrackIR is fully up-to-date. (Just checked again.) Restarted TrackIR many times, and even unplugging and plugging it in. Cycled the TrackIR option within the sim’s camera menus. MSFS just loses all recognition that TrackIR exists until the sim restarts.

It’s strange because it was completely reliable before, but the last few weeks it seems like less than 50% of my flights will have TrackIR last until the end.

Anyone else experience a decrease in reliability over Nov 2020?

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Absolute no problem with trackir.

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You might want to reset the settings.
Another thing to be aware of is any sunlight including reflected in view of the camera. There are a few months out of the year that the angle is just right/wrong and I have to close the shades

Which settings? In TrackIR or MSFS?

And it is not a TrackIR issue. I can use it without fail in multiple other games. And it is not a lighting issue. Those are easy to diagnose as TrackIR stops responding and the headset link light goes out. In this case the headset is still linked and detected by the TrackIR program. It is the connection between the TrackIR software and MSFS that is broken and does not seem to be resettable.

I had this exact problem

It’s a USB issue; trackIR is very sensitive to USB ports and I the devices using the same hub (external hubs & internal pc hubs). It’s just a matter of trouble shooting by switching ports and devices until you find a port that works

It was 100% reliable prior to this patch but I’ve had MSFS disconnect four times now. I’ve done maybe 20ish flights so most of the time it is OK. But yes, something else that was working great can’t be relied on.

This is very true but I use TrakcIR in all my games only only since the last patch have I had issues. And only with MSFS. I use it for several hours a day, every day so I use it a fair bit.

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Are you using it through a USB hub?
I had one go faulty and wasn’t able to supply a constant voltage and I suspect that was causing TrackIR to fail.

Have you recently added any different usb devices or changed their ports?

But is still worth trying different ports to see if that is the issue; Clashing devices and faulty hubs and ports are the most common issue with these drop outs. Note that my hub still worked with other devices it was just that TrackIR was very sensitive to something!

I have also just had a similar issue. I have always used TrackIR with MSFS2020 and I’ve rarely encountered any problems. I was just doing a flight of about 1.5 hours and was head down in the cockpit using the FMC and when I tried to look up again I was unable to. I was able to switch between cockpit and external views but the internal views were restricted to heads down in the cockpit and I was unable to return to a view from inside the aircraft looking out the windshield. It wasn’t a TrackIR problem and it wasn’t an external light source problem etc. It was MSFS not receiving an input from TrackIR. It has happened to me before but only about 3 or 4 times since the launch of the sim and I have never been able to find anything to remedy the situation except for a restart of the sim. The other times that it has occurred were before the November update. Each time it has occurred it was whilst approaching or intercepting an approach to land when everything seemed to be working normally with perfectly adequate FPS. It has happened so infrequently that I have not been able to readily identify common or potential factors causing it but it is definitely frustrating when it does happen. As infrequent as it is, I’d be pretty happy if anyone was able to get to the bottom of it.

No problems, works well.

I’m having a very similar problem. In MSFS my view starts to drift downwards after a couple of seconds in flight. I can re-center my view with the assigned key, only to have it drift down immediately. This is reproducable, it happens every time I try to use TrackIR with MSFS. So MSFS currently is not usable with TrackIR at all for me.
When I look at the TrackIR utility program at the same time I’m experiencing the problems in MSFS, I see that the view there is perfectly ok - centered when I look straight ahead, no drift at all. So MSFS -> drift down until I literally look at the pilot seat, TrackIR utility program -> normal orientation.
The TrackIR camera is connected directly to a USB on the computer, no USB hub involved.
I noticed this behaviour first the first time I used MSFS after the Dezember patch.
Does anyone have any idea how this can be fixed? Right now it is holding me off from using MSFS at all - the experience with TrackIR is so much better than without, and it will be some time before I can get a VR headset.

Did you ever figure this out? I’m having a similar issue except it drifts up. Only in MSFS, every other game works and the TrackIR software shows me dead center. The issue only started after December.

Failed 2x in recent days and after 6 of 7.5 hrs (wsss - ybbn). Very strange… tracker software is ok. Reconnecting dosen’t work.

In my experience these trackIr problems are to do with USB ports, not the game.
Something in you pc system is causing a glitch; trackIr is stupidly sensitive.

Try different USB ports; that solved the problem for me

If the TrackIR works faultlessly in P3D but drops when I start a flight in MSFS, it’s not a USB problem. MSFS strikes again.

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I’ve found too that trackIr drops out after this last update
Wa working perfectly before!

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You can try if the opentrack software (free) works for you. It should support the TrackIR headtracker out of the box.

I have no problems with that one. Works like a charm, also after the latest world update.

TrackIR has been acting up for me as well, i load up a plane, i make sure before i start up MSFS that everything is in order, the camera works, its picking up my TrackClip Pro. Also use the latest TrackIR software and drivers. But it has happened to me twice now in i think two weeks where it just stops working ONLY in the sim! When i alt tab and check TrackIR it’s still works!

TrackIR 5 (or whatever the last version was) + TrackClip Pro or Delanclip wireless.

Works fine.

*Notes.
I play in a room with good control over ambient light.
My trackIR cam is on a USB 3.0 host controller via a powered usb 3.0 hub.

Only glitch worth noting in months =

I have had a wierd glitch where I leaned forward and to the right to tweak a desktop speaker - I’m not sure if this put the emitter headset out of range and/or mangled the logic but the indicator in left of camera blinked out as if it could not see the headset.
Restarting TrckIR while still in flight actually worked! The left led illuminated again and despite the fact that the right “linked to game” led was out it still actually functioned in game.

I don’t think this was an MSFS issue. I think this was pure TrackIR software side. Something about where I had put my head freaked the software out. (Like it wasn’t able to resolve the angle maybe)

I have the same problem with my TrackIR.

Had the same problem with my but was able to fix it by using a different USB port
TrackIR is very sensitive to USB port anomalies

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