vive tracker 2.0 (2018) and USB communication

[devsmart]

Same here.

Just updated some Vive Tracker 2018 with the latest SteamVR Beta 1.3.4 firmware, no inputs received in SteamVR.

 

 Did we miss something? Any updated documentation available? This one seems out-of-date: https://dl.vive.com/Tracker/Guideline/HTC_Vive_Tracker(2018)_Developer+Guidelines_v1.0.pdf

[HackPerception]

Hello everybody,

I have fresh documentation that corresponds to this release. 

 

I've attached the latest revision of the Vive Tracker (2018) Developer Guidelines V1.4 to this thread. It contains documentation relevant to the release covered in this updated. We're still adding this document to our websites and servers. 

 

If you're having issues getting PoGo to work, please check your binding settings and try with the "held in hand" configuration. You can submit a developer support request at www.vive.to/devhelp if you require further assistance. 

 

       

 

[mellott124]

Anyone gotten it to work yet.  I still haven't.  

I have the 1.0 tracker working just fine on the same embedded code but 2.0 tracker never works despite trying many many different updates.  This should be a simple interface.  Especially if it truly mimics the 1.0 tracker.

[NicoL]

Hi,

Any update on this? I was just planning to implement something with the USB-connection since the Pogo-pins are extremely limiting in the things one can implement. When this does not work I seriously have to consider other routes of getting it to work.  Even if it is fixed by now, I seriously have to consider to implement it myself even if it means 2-3 times the effort. It cannot be that HTC just randomly decides to remove such a basic feature without any deprecation or alternative. 

[Light4speed]

Hey,

Is USB input working yet on Trackers 2.0 (2018) yet?

I've been running some experiments and have yet to see any of the inputs translated into SteamVR. Is there a way to verify my Trackers are running the necessary version?

Thanks!

[NicoL]

32 minutes ago, Light4speed said:

Hey,

Is USB input working yet on Trackers 2.0 (2018) yet?

I've been running some experiments and have yet to see any of the inputs translated into SteamVR. Is there a way to verify my Trackers are running the necessary version?

Thanks!

The most likely cause for this is that you either do not send the correct commands or that the firmware is outdated. I don't know if you can read out which version it currently has, but there are certainly instruction how to update it via normal SteamVR.

The problems do not end there though. SteamVR's support of the Vive Tracker slowly degraded over time and now we are in the state that it is virtually impossible that you get any more functionally over USB than over the normal Pogo Pins. So if you don't have anything fancy planned with it and the functionality of the Pogo Pins over USB solves your problem, then that's possible. Anything more, you can basically forget, especially if you want to use it in any professional way. Support is also basically non-existent as you see in this dead thread, apart from me who wants to save you a lot of time.

My recommendation would be to spend your time developing an external solution for inputs and just use the Tracker as a location device. That's what it's is good at and will probably always work.

Edited January 8, 2020 by NicoL

[Light4speed]

Thanks NicoL for the quick response and the great advice. Could you point me to some documentation of possibly structuring commands to appear as steamVR controller inputs? Even with an external transimiting design the commands would need to "appear" as controller inputs on the PC side.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

[NicoL]

I did not implement something like that, but I would say that you need to program your own OpenVR driver including setting up faked controllers. But this maybe includes the limitations of the selected controller in terms of input, since the I'm not sure if you are really able to add completely new controllers to SteamVR and if that would reliably work. Also it would probably break every now an then, because SteamVR changed something internally and nobody told you about that. 

Depending on the use case it would probably be (much) easier to use an Arduino that emulates a standard keyboard/mouse/game controller and send inputs that way. The game engine support would be no problem that way either. And if I remember correctly game controllers also show up in SteamVR so you could configure them.

And if you are working in a completely custom environment you can just write a simple Unity script or something along these lines that listens to bluetooth or parses custom TCP packets or literally anything. That way you avoid SteamVR completely and it would just work with your specific hardware and you would have to write the mapping logic yourself, but you gain full control and sidestep SteamVR. That is also a very valid option if you want to deploy own hardware and the user does not care about a missing icon in the SteamVR status monitor.

Hope this gives you some pointers to what you could do.