Vive Tracker steals left hand controller role

[BOLL]

ISSUE

While in the SteamVR overlay or in a game that does not recognize Trackers, turning on a Tracker will after a while have it steal the controller role of my left controller.

OS

Windows 10 Home 64bit
Running the current SteamVR beta, 1537026838 (Sep 15th '18)
Using an HTC Vive
GPU Driver for my GTX 1070, 398.82

STEPS

1. Have SteamVR Home Beta off so you boot into the base environment.
   
2. Idle in the SteamVR overlay or just in the environment, not 100% sure now, sorry.
   
3. Have both controllers running.
   
4. Turn on a Vive Tracker, or three.
   
5. Wait for a few minutes, it does not happen immediately for me, and the left controller role will be stolen by one of the Trackers.

RESULTS

A Tracker will steal the left hand controller role, at least this is what it does for me repeatedly. If I go into the SteamVR overlay the left controller then cannot be used to interact with the menus. Turning the Tracker off will release the controller role and it will go back to the actual controller.

EXPECTED

A Tracker should not steal a controller role when that controller is actually present, even in titles that do not officially support Trackers.

SIDE NOTES

• If I play a game that actually supports Trackers, like VRChat, this problem does not happen and the Trackers do not steal any controller roles.
  
• I noticed this as I was working on my overlay that shows the position of my controllers in the room. And the pose returned for the controller would transition over to the Tracker.
  
• I tried going into the controller bindings to maybe remedy this, but it seems to only remap the active controller? As the Tracker has no trigger I cannot make it the active one... or I just don't know how the interface works.
  
• I realize this is probably a non-issue that only appears when developing/debugging other things, because nobody would have a Tracker turned on while not actually using it, but it still happens and is odd so I'm reporting it 😋

SPECULATION

I'm kind of presuming this has to do with the new input system, I've been battling it with my own applications a few weekends in a row now, hobby projects, which is why I could monitor the controller roles.
Maybe this is caused by the change in the 1535044770 update (Aug 28th, '18) where the default mode for Trackers was changed to "held in hand"? 🤔

[Maha]

Got the exact same issue since the last SteamVR (note Beta) Update. Could you fix it somehow?

Using 3 Tracker + 2 Hand Controller

Just found the solution
http://127.0.0.1:8998/dashboard/controllerbinding.html

[BOLL]

They actually just pushed a beta update to remedy this.

Originally posted by SteamVR Beta Updated (1538786062):

Changed left/right hand selection for Vive trackers in “handed” mode so that they will always be selected after Vive controllers (or any controllers) if those are present. This fixes the issue with Vive Tracker users finding that their controllers don’t work to control anything.

[developer]

Im runing SteamVR beta (1538786062)

They have not remedied anything. My trackers now act as controllers more often than my controlls do.

And with hip tracking enabled I see my character grabs his crotch and won't let go no matter what I try. It's very inappropriate!!

[Lord of the Stack]

Was having this exact same problem (on the public version). I dare say vive trackers are just completely broken for every user in this current release (not cool!)

Even outside of my game (which is using SteamVR v2 in Unity) I can see that the left hand icon on my left controller vanishes inside the system menu of steam, this happens the moment I turn on a vive tracker, before activating vive trackers the left and right hands work correctly.

I just switched over to the Beta version, and the issue seems to be fixed
Current Beta I just got is version 1539997838

I hope this goes to public release soon, as I'm sure this would be affecting many users.

[developer]

Is this still broken? I'm currently using old beta 1527117754 as only alternative, but would like to resume using current version.

Can anyone confirm LordOfTheStack's post that a beta has been released that addresses the above bugs?

[AbruptChaos]

Originally posted by developer:

Is this still broken? I'm currently using old beta 1527117754 as only alternative, but would like to resume using current version.

Can anyone confirm LordOfTheStack's post that a beta has been released that addresses the above bugs?

idk, but if you look at older comments here, you will find another thread that will show you how to fix this for the current version of SteamVR

[Lord of the Stack]

OMG I WORKED IT OUT!! and it seems so simple now

So the latest build seemed to be broken again... 1540280036
It was only working when I would pair everything over and over again, inconsistently.

And I was thinking, if only they just let us set the role this wouldn't be such an issue. so I poked around and SNEAKY SNEAKY they did add another settings menu that ISN'T included in the main bindings menu!

On the main SteamVR window, right click your tracker -> manage trackers !!
Set the roel of your trackers, they are defaulting to "IN HAND" meaning they replace your controllers, change the mto Feet or wherever you are using them, BOOM, fixed

screenshot
https://imgur.com/yBG0HSS

[developer]

Originally posted by Lord of the Stack:

OMG I WORKED IT OUT!! and it seems so simple now

So the latest build seemed to be broken again... 1540280036
It was only working when I would pair everything over and over again, inconsistently.

And I was thinking, if only they just let us set the role this wouldn't be such an issue. so I poked around and SNEAKY SNEAKY they did add another settings menu that ISN'T included in the main bindings menu!

On the main SteamVR window, right click your tracker -> manage trackers !!
Set the roel of your trackers, they are defaulting to "IN HAND" meaning they replace your controllers, change the mto Feet or wherever you are using them, BOOM, fixed

screenshot
https://imgur.com/yBG0HSS

Sounds great, can't wait to try it. Thanks for clarifying!

Why do they have options for setting a role for a tracker? Trackers get mixed around so ofter isn't it hard to keep their role consistent?

When I see some lighthouse trackers that look/feel like a real pair of shoes, then maybe I'll understand why.

[Lord of the Stack]

Originally posted by developer:

Why do they have options for setting a role for a tracker? Trackers get mixed around so ofter isn't it hard to keep their role consistent?

Totally agree, one game might use a baseball bat, another two feet, another track your hips, etc, their entire purpose is versatility.

I don't even know where I can access this role information in the API, and even if I can, I see no point in doing so. I'd be constantly mixing up my left and right feet if I were to use such primitive mapping. Calibration in game makes far more sense.

The other "wtf" is why they chose to default the role to "in hand", replacing a controller with a tracker has got to be the least common use I can think of. They could've defaulted it to literally anything else. Or just have an "unassigned" or something