OCZ NIA setup and help thread

[NicoOCZ]

Hello everyone,

I'm glad to introduce you to our Neural Impulse Actuator, OCZ's latest innovative product for the gaming market.

Let's start with the retail box.

Front:



Back:



Opened up:



The NIA:



Bundle:



This is how NIA will look like on your desk:

So far, so good. It couldn't be easier to install NIA, just connect it it to your machine with the bundled USB cable and attach the headband to the NIA box. Once done, Windows will recognize it and ask for drivers. Just use the OCZ driver CD to install the NIA software.

Here's how the software looks like:



A very detailed tutorial section is included, explaining how NIA works and how you want to use it:



Make sure you calibrate it before using it on your favorite games, you need to relax your face muscles and focus on the gyroscope to do so:



The so-called Brainfingers section:



The OCZ NIA software comes with some mini games for you to practice controls. I love playing pong with the help of my face muscles



NIA software comes with a few game profiles already included, it's extremely easy to modify the profiles or create new profiles for your favorite games. You can enable or disable NIA ingame any time by pressing CTRL+F12.

I found playing games with NIA extremely enjoyable, it feels almost unreal that you actually control games with neural impulses. It takes some time to get used to, but you sure don't want to miss it after you tried it once

[NicoOCZ]

Now let's create a game profile. I love Crysis, so I choose this popular game for this guide.

The NIA profile setup wizard, just click "Create new profile". You can also import profiles of your friends:



This is where it gets interesting, you can choose which actions you want to fullfil with your NIA:



Choose which impulses you would like to use to control your game. I choose "Muscle":

Now I'd like to bind W (used for walking forward in game) to zone 2 (Z2) and S (walking backward in game) to zone 1 (Z1). This means, if I brace my muscles so strong that the indicator hits Z2, my character in Crysis will move forward. Relaxed face muscles would result in walking backwards. You can increase or decrease the range of these zones as much as you like, so only a minor muscle action would be needed to walk - or an extreme one, it's up to you.

The final step before getting ready to play is choosing the game executable. Just browse to the game directory and choose Crysis.exe

Done! You can now launch the game yourself or have the NIA software do it for you. You can enable or disable NIA ingame any time by pressing CTRL + F12.

[Unregistered]

Actually, there is no need for calibration, or rather, one should wait until the readings are approaching the baseline. The key thing there is that the center sensor makes good contact with the forehead, if that is the case, then the signal will drop very quickly to the baseline and there is no need to calibrate - if you would calibrate without having proper contact, the baseline would shift very quickly afterwards and you would need to recalibrate again. And that would get you back to the default settings anyway.

Don't get hung up with the practice games either, those are somewhat esoteric anyway and not really fun. My recommendation is to use the UT3-easy profile for most first person shooters and either change the key-binding in the game options or else in the nia Profile Editor. That one will get you going without even knowing what you are doing or without having to think about what you want to do as long as you keep in mind that relaxing will get you moving forward and tension will cause you to jump or go backwards.

Post your experiences and problems and I'll try to help out as much as possible.

[Unregistered]

There will be a new driver version available hopefully later today with a simplified interface and a bug fix for the glance bar in the brainfingers panel. Some of the changes are based on the feedback we received from the early testers over the last couple of days. I'll post the link to the download location as soon as the software is tested and uploaded on the server!

[TIB]

This is by far the coolest thing since sliced bread, it takes some getting used to but I am getting better fast. I was having trouble at first with moving forward in UT3 and had to ask my GURU for help. The fix was easy, I clench my teeth a lot so he told me to lower the movement to 3.0 on the joystick 1 profile and wala I am unstoppable. OCZ ROCKS. The more I play the more I see how slow my keyboard is, I had to set my mouse sensitivity up so it could keep up with the advanced profile movements.


TIB

[Unregistered]

New, updated drivers with better calibration are available here:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers...ta32_1.001.zip

Enjoy!!!

[Aschlak]

Any info when x64 drivers are coming for the nia?

[Unregistered]

We are working on 64-bit drivers but there is no ETA yet. Keep in mind that the drivers need to be tested and debugged and that may take a bit.

Thanks for understanding!

[Galv]

and what's new in 1.001 version driver?

[TIB]

I love the new software it makes it allot easier to calibrate. I am trying to learn how to control the Alpha and Beta signals, if I think about what it feels like before I get a migraine the beta 1 drops and with some practice I can control it however; when I add the muscle back in it makes it really hard to keep the beta 1 signal down. I played with a new profile for UT3 that is more of a run up and shoot them in the face approach and am playing on one for Crysis. If you like you can check them out here...----> http://thinkinginbinary.startlogic.com/TIB/nia.htm
I am trying to do a racing profile for NFS, we will see...
Anyone having luck controlling the eye triggers?


Too much fun, I am glad I am the boss or I would have been fired by now

TIB

[Flapper]

Been using the Nia for two days now. My observations..

I am quite old and only have one arm.

Nia is amazing even though the learning curve is very steep.

Worst thing is Calibration!!! Every time i want to use the nia it takes me an 30 mins to an hour staring at the screen!! Thats with the latest update applied.

I try to show it to friends and they have usually gone home by the green line (30m-60m).

When calibrated - I have controlled UT3 with just the mouse without using the buttons. Moved forward - fire - stop. The glance function doesnt work for me.

Have applied my favourite lotion - scrubbed forehead - sensors above eyebrow - repositioned

Any advice would be welcome with calibration and the glance function.

Thanks OCZ

[Delogic]

The glare function is the most useless of the bunch I guess, as they can't (for me at least) hold, and thus forcing you to use toggle or other action that's only single action. I also move my eyes a lot when I game, so it's out of the question from that basic premise alone..

[TIB]

I find that putting some pressure on the band flattening the pads to my skin sometimes helps. Kind of hard to get at first for me too but the more I use it the better and faster it is at calibrating. I think the box gets a bit of static built up so I sometimes ground myself and then touch the box, you will see a spike then it seems to drop.

Hope it helps.
TIB

[Unregistered]

Flapper, calibration shouldn't take very long, for me it is usually anywhere between 10 sec and 2-3 minutes but I also realize that the older the headband gets, the faster it'll equilibrate with the skin, kind of like it needs a burn-in.

The glance is something that is more difficult to control than the vertical joysticks and it does require a bit more learning. It is almost like riding a bicycle for the first time, going forward is easy but keeping the balance is not, especially when you are standing still.

Don't give up yet, though, there will be another version of the software released hopefully by tomorrow and the link will be posted here. We are trying to make everything more intuitive and user-friendly, especially after getting feedback like the posts here.

Stay tuned

[K3T]

HA! i bet those bots are novice level