TrackIR For Mac

I just learned that TrackIR does not work on a Mac (serious bummer).

 

I'm wondering if anyone has found a similar solution for viewing that can work on a Mac.

 

Thanks for your help

 

Mike

I have always felt that "viewing" was the biggest problem with any flight simulator. When I heard about TrackIR, I thought, problem solved. I would think a lot more people would be interested in this, but I guess not

The greatest break though for flight simming would be the TrackIR, or more specifically, ANY hardware that would do what TrackIR does. And NOBODY is interested in this topic. If the people who make TrackIR would hear from Mac users more, maybe they would see a market for this and develop it. I can't believe that no one is replying to this post. There has to be someone that is interested in a view tool like this. No?

The greatest break though for flight simming would be the TrackIR, or more specifically, ANY hardware that would do what TrackIR does. And NOBODY is interested in this topic. If the people who make TrackIR would hear from Mac users more, maybe they would see a market for this and develop it. I can't believe that no one is replying to this post. There has to be someone that is interested in a view tool like this. No?

 

Hi Mike,

 

Are you running the software through OSX or Windows?

 

If you're experiencing problems with OSX, it might be worth installing Boot Camp and running X-Plane via that OS. Not only would your TrackIR work, but you'd also see the benefit of increased frame-rates.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/boot-camp

 

Regards

 

Dominic

Thanks for the reply.

 

Now I really don't know where to go. Let me explain.

 

I have used microsoft FS on a PC for many years and experienced more frustration than enjoyment.

 

I had heard a lot of positive things about X-Plane on a Mac, so when looking for a new computer I bought an iMac and X-Plane 10. To be honest, I preferred MicroSoft over X-Plane. I missed MFS so much, I bought an older version of Windows (6 or 7, I forget right now) and installed it using BootCamp. I loaded MSF onto Windows/BootCamp, and some things are a little quirky with that, such as keyboard commands. I tried to buy a windows keyboard but that didn't work either.

 

I'm a fairly new real world pilot, (a little over 100 hrs) and I have to say, it is easier to fly a real plane than a Sim. Anyway, I was hoping, (now that I have a Mac) to keep things as simple as possible by sticking to X-Plane on the Mac OS and just getting use to that. Then BAAM!, I hear about TrackIR. One of my biggest pet peeves about sims is using views. You don't have to worry about that when flying a real plane, you just look where you want to look. Now I wish that I would have bought a powerful PC and started using Prepar3D. Its going to be awhile before I can do that.

 

I always seem to have more trouble than its worth, yet I'm addicted to flying and would love to have a setup that works for me. I don't know where to go from here.

 

I can't believe there is no market form TrackIR in the Mac world.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Now I really don't know where to go. Let me explain.

 

I have used microsoft FS on a PC for many years and experienced more frustration than enjoyment.

 

I had heard a lot of positive things about X-Plane on a Mac, so when looking for a new computer I bought an iMac and X-Plane 10. To be honest, I preferred MicroSoft over X-Plane. I missed MFS so much, I bought an older version of Windows (6 or 7, I forget right now) and installed it using BootCamp. I loaded MSF onto Windows/BootCamp, and some things are a little quirky with that, such as keyboard commands. I tried to buy a windows keyboard but that didn't work either.

 

I'm a fairly new real world pilot, (a little over 100 hrs) and I have to say, it is easier to fly a real plane than a Sim. Anyway, I was hoping, (now that I have a Mac) to keep things as simple as possible by sticking to X-Plane on the Mac OS and just getting use to that. Then BAAM!, I hear about TrackIR. One of my biggest pet peeves about sims is using views. You don't have to worry about that when flying a real plane, you just look where you want to look. Now I wish that I would have bought a powerful PC and started using Prepar3D. Its going to be awhile before I can do that.

 

I always seem to have more trouble than its worth, yet I'm addicted to flying and would love to have a setup that works for me. I don't know where to go from here.

 

I can't believe there is no market form TrackIR in the Mac world.

 

Hi Mike,

 

Just a thought; have you tried this free alternative:

 

http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/home/default.htm

 

I know quite a few users who really rate it.

 

Regards

 

Dominic

One more thing Mike; have you selected the TrackIR option in X-Plane's menu:

 

 

Cheers

 

Dominic

Thank you DominicS ! Bingo! Just the sort info I was looking for.

 

First, I will look into the FaceTrackNoIR. I figured there must be something for us Mac users, I only just recently heard about TrackIR and and didn't know there was other hardware for Macs

 

And Second, I didn't know that option existed in X-PLane. That option would certainly give you the impression that TrackIR DOES work with X-Plane. But would that be the windows versions of X-Plane? I have not purchased TrackIR yet. I did send a message to the manufacturer and asked if TrackIR worked on a Mac and the answer was certainly not yes. They gave me a link to someone that buys a bunch of their TrackIR's, and than reprograms them to work on a Mac. I said, thanks, but no thanks. It sounded like too much trouble, and didn't want to mess with anything that was designed to. But I will look into the FaceTrackNoIR

 

Thanks

Mike

I DO see that option for TrackIR in the settings menu! What I don't understand now is, Why didn't NaturalPoint simply say, "Yes, it does work with X-Plane on a Mac. Just go to Setting/Equipment and select TrackIR". I don't get it. If Amazon agrees to me returning it, if it doesn't work, I might as well buy it and give it a shot. Unless you think the other one, FaceTrackNoIR is better. maybe I should look into both before buying either.

 

Thanks for the info

Ok, Update. NaturalPoint says TrackIR does NOT work on a Mac. My question now is, Why is there an option to enable it in the settings. Does X-Plane simply use the same screen for a Mac as it does on a Windows computer, and the option is there but just inactive on the Mac computers?

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?304262-X-Plane-10-IXEG-737-Classic-Rainy-Seattle-TrackIR

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?304262-X-Plane-10-IXEG-737-Classic-Rainy-Seattle-TrackIR

 

Was that flown with X-Plane on a Mac or PC? Took a quick look and it wasn't clear.

Ok, Update. NaturalPoint says TrackIR does NOT work on a Mac. My question now is, Why is there an option to enable it in the settings. Does X-Plane simply use the same screen for a Mac as it does on a Windows computer, and the option is there but just inactive on the Mac computers?

 

Let's try this one more time in case you missed my other replies. While TrackIR may not officially support Macs, others have gotten it to work. This may be why X-Plane still presents you with the option. Or they simply didn't hide the option in the Mac version. See the thread below for one lead.

 

To loki,

 

I do appreciate the reply, and maybe I mentioned this in another post, but why does this have to be so hard. With all due respect to all you simmers, I'm really getting the feeling that flight simming is more about playing with computers than it is about flying. Its seems like all I read about is fram rates, video cards, getting this to work, or getting that to work, designing planes, creating scenery, and everything BUT flying.

 

I guess this is just not for me.

 

Thanks

Hi Mike,

 

Just a thought; have you tried this free alternative:

 

http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/home/default.htm

 

I know quite a few users who really rate it.

 

Regards

 

Dominic

 

Has anyone completely missed the fact that he ( & I) wanted one for a MAC!!!!! because every suggestion everyone has made is for bloody windows.I have followed all the links and not one has a download for MAC...

 

WHen the thread is titled "TrackIR FOR MAC". why the hell would anyone suggest Windows programs,,....FFS people....

I don't think anyone has missed the Mac part. Links were provided for third party software to use TrackIR hardware with a Mac, but the reality remains that TrackIR is not natively supported on Macs by the developer. This leaves either the third party workarounds like those posted or using Boot Camp to run Windows on your Mac as other have suggested. Both routes are going to require some effort on your part. Neither is an ideal solution but those are the options available, whether they are liked or not.

 

https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack/wiki/Downloads

 

I would also suggest reading the forum rules regarding language.

OK -- so TrackIR runs well on BootCamp (BC) Windows 10 pro on a MBP-16. I use BC to run DCS and this runs fine - MBP has the 5600M Radeon so that helps. Windows can allocate the full power of the 5600M GPU to the application under bootcamp and so far DCS has worked fine. (I cannot say the same for the mapping for the A-10 HOTAS and rudders).

The question is will Xplane-11 AND trackIR 5.4.2 run on Windows 10 Pro mounted as a virtual machine running within MAC -- I use Parallels Pro 15, which has DirectX support for 10 or 11) -- I already know that DCS will not run successfully without crashing on a virtual machine, within Mac OSX and so Boot camp is required.The answer is Yes to Xplane AND YES to trackIR -- the software will load and run and if you have correctly assigned the USB device to Windows 10 (not MAC) then it runs fine. (I have not found a MAC version of the software).

 

In summary -- TrackIR works great on Windows 10 on a MAcBook Pro when running on either BootCamp and Parallels Pro 15; but I have not been able to make it work on Mac-OSX (there being no software)