Star Citizen · Head & eye tracking
Tobii Eye Tracker 5 for Star Citizen
Look around your cockpit by turning your head, check your six without touching a hat switch, and lock targets by looking at them. This guide takes you from the box to a tuned setup: mounting, Windows 11 install, calibration, and the in-game settings and keybinds.
Windows 11Windows 10Star Citizen Alpha 4.10
At a glance
Before you start
| What it does | Tracks your head in six directions (turning, nodding and tilting, plus moving left/right, up/down and in/out) and your eyes, and moves your in-game view with them. Star Citizen calls this Extended View. |
|---|---|
| Works on | Windows 10 and Windows 11. |
| PC Tobii recommends | 6th-gen Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or a 64-bit AMD equivalent at 2 GHz or faster, 8 GB RAM and a free USB port. Head tracking runs on your CPU, so it adds a little CPU load. |
| Screen size | Eye tracking: 15″ to 27″ at 16:9, or up to 30″ at 21:9. Head tracking works on any size. |
| Software | Tobii Experience (Microsoft Store). Star Citizen has Tobii support built in, so you don’t need Tobii Game Hub for it. |
What’s in the box
- Tobii Eye Tracker 5
- USB extension cable
- Flex mount (metal plate already attached)
- Two spare metal-plate mounts
Step 1
Mount it under your screen
Where the tracker sits matters more than any setting. It has to see your eyes from below.
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Pick a mount
- Flex mount (comes with a metal plate already on it): goes under the bottom edge of the screen. Use it for curved screens and most monitors. Keep it clear of buttons and air vents.
- Metal plate: sticks to the front of the bottom bezel. For flat monitors and laptop screens.
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Clean, stick, wait
Wipe the bottom-center of the screen frame clean (oil weakens the adhesive), peel the backing and press the mount on, centered. With the flex mount, wait a few hours before clipping the tracker on, or the mount can come loose. The adhesive is strong and hard to remove, so line it up first.
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Center it, never on top
Clip the tracker on, centered and level along the bottom edge. Tobii and RSI both say it can’t go on top of the screen: from above, eyelashes and eyelids get in the way.
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Keep its view clear
Nothing between the tracker and your face: a yoke, throttle, stick base or stream deck in front of the screen will block it.
Step 2
Install it on Windows 11
The Eye Tracker 5 is plug and play: Windows fetches the driver and the app for you. These steps also work on Windows 10.
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Plug it in
Plug the USB cable straight into a port on the PC (use the extension cable if you need the length) rather than through a hub or monitor USB port, and make sure the PC is online.
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Let Windows install the driver
Windows Update installs the driver, then Tobii Experience installs from the Microsoft Store. Give it a few minutes. You’ll find the app in the Start menu when it’s done.
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Nothing happened?
- No app after a few minutes: install Tobii Experience from the Microsoft Store yourself. Tobii says the driver has to be in place first.
- No driver either: on Tobii’s get started page choose Tobii Eye Tracking, then Tobii Eye Tracker 5, and download the driver (the offline installer).
- Old driver: open Device Manager, expand the USB devices section, right-click EyeChip, choose Update driver and let it search automatically.
- Check it took: Settings › Apps › Installed apps lists Tobii Experience Software for Windows, and Device Manager shows Tobii Eye Tracker 5 under Software components.
Step 3
Set up your display and calibrate
Tobii Experience walks you through this the first time. You can redo it any time from the profile and calibration menu at the top right, next to the eye icon.
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Display setup
If you have more than one screen, pick the one the tracker is mounted on. Then drag the left and right lines until the dashed lines on screen line up with the white marks on top of the tracker. It can only track your gaze on that one screen.
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Calibrate
Sit the way you normally play, then look at each of the 7 dots until it pops. Name the profile when it asks. Each person who uses the tracker needs their own profile.
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Calibrate a second time
Tobii recommends two calibrations: one with the room lit and one dark. Open your profile and choose Improve calibration. It keeps the two most recent.
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Check both eyes are tracked
In your profile, the eyes-to-track setting should be both eyes unless you have a reason to change it.
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Optional: Windows features while you play
Tobii Experience also has Windows features that can surprise you mid-flight. Look through them and turn off what you don’t want: Dim screen (dims when it can’t see your eyes, for example when you look down at the keyboard), Auto-lock Windows, and Mouse warp on key (check its key doesn’t clash with a game binding).
Step 4
Turn it on in Star Citizen
Press Esc, choose Options and open the COMMS, FOIP, VR & HEAD TRACKING tab. Names below are exactly as they appear in the game (Alpha 4.10), and the defaults come from the game’s own default settings file. The ones RSI calls out are listed first.
| Setting | Game default | Set to | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head Tracking - General - Source | — | Tobii | Turns it on. Nothing else works until this is set. |
| Head Tracking - General - Toggle - Enabled | No | Yes | Turns tracking on. Off by default, so this one matters. |
| Head Tracking - Tobii - Extended View Enabled | Yes | Yes | The Tobii view features. |
| Head Tracking - General - Use Position Offsets in Cockpits | Yes | Yes | Moves the view when you lean or shift your head, not just when you turn it. |
| Head Tracking - General - Toggle - Disable While Seated | No | No | Track in pilot and turret seats. |
| Head Tracking - General - Toggle - Disable During FPS | Yes | No | Track on foot. On by default, so change it. |
| Head Tracking - General - Toggle - Disable During mobiGlas | Yes | No | Track with mobiGlas open. |
| Head Tracking - General - Toggle - Auto Recalibrate | Yes | Your choice | Yes re-centers the view when you change state, such as sitting down. |
| Head Tracking - General - Disable During ADS | Yes | Your choice | No keeps tracking while aiming down sights. |
| Head Tracking - General - Toggle - Disable During Interaction Mode | No | Your choice | No keeps tracking in interaction mode. |
| Head Tracking - General - Enable Roll in Seats / Enable Roll in FPS | Yes / No | Your choice | Tilting your head rolls the view. |
| Head Tracking - General - External View Toggle Enabled | No | Your choice | Yes tracks in third-person view too. |
Something set strangely and you can’t find it? The options screen’s Reset button puts things back to default, but RSI warns it also resets all your keybindings, so export or back up your controls first.
Step 4, continued
The Tobii settings
Below the general settings is a Head Tracking - Tobii group. Most settings come twice: Seated (or Seat) for ships and FPS for on foot, so you can tune each separately. Neither RSI nor Tobii publishes recommended numbers, so start at the game’s defaults (shown below, from the game’s own default settings file) and use the tuning guide further down.
| Head Tracking - Tobii - … | Game default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Seat / FPS - Input Gaze Method | — | Choose Input Mix or Camera Boost. They’re two ways of blending eye movement into the camera, and each turns the other off. |
| Seated / FPS - Input Mix (0: Gaze, 1: Head) | 0.85 | How much of the view comes from your head and how much from your eyes. 1.0 = head only, 0.0 = eyes only. |
| Seat / FPS - Camera Boost Value | 1.5 | Camera Boost only. How far the view swings as you turn your head away from center. Higher lets you see to the side or behind you with less head movement. |
| Seat / FPS - Camera Boost Deadzone | 0.5 | Camera Boost only. The area in the middle of the screen where the boost does nothing. Raise it if the view swings away too soon. |
| Seated / FPS - Gaze Responsiveness | 0.5 | How quickly the view reacts to your eyes. |
| Seated / FPS - Head Sensitivity Yaw / Pitch / Roll | 2.0 / 2.0 / 1.0 | How far the view turns, nods and tilts for each bit of head movement. |
| Seated / FPS - Center Stabilization | 0.3 | Size of the steady zone in the middle. Higher = a bigger zone where small head movements don’t move the view. |
| Seated / FPS - Auto Center Enabled | Yes | Lets the view re-center itself when you shift in your seat. |
| Position - Input Scale | 1.0 | How much the view moves when you lean. Higher = smaller leans move it. |
| Position - Dead Zone Left / Right, Forward / Back, Up / Down | 0.05 each | Leaning inside these zones doesn’t move the view. |
| Gaze Based Target Selection | — | Look at a ship to select it, then lock it with your lock key (Step 5). |
| Gaze Based Missile Lock / Gaze Based Desired Impact Point | — | More gaze aiming options. Try them once the basics feel right. |
Step 5
Bind the head-tracking keys
Open Options › Keybindings › Advanced Controls Customization. The head-tracking actions are in the VOIP, FOIP and Head Tracking category. These are the game’s defaults.
| Action | Default key | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Head Tracking (Toggle) | Numpad / | Turns tracking on and off. Bind it to a HOTAS button you can reach. |
| Recenter Head Tracking Device (except TrackIR) | Numpad 5 | Snaps the view back to straight ahead. The one you’ll use most. |
| Head Tracking (Hold) | Not bound | Tracks only while held. Works in states where tracking is off. Set Head Tracking - General - Hold - Use Device Offset to Yes. |
| Enable / Disable Head Tracking for 3rd Person Camera (Toggle) | Not bound | Tracking in third-person view on or off. |
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Gaze target lock
To lock whatever you’re looking at, turn on Gaze Based Target Selection (Step 4), then bind Vehicles - Targeting › Lock Selected Target (not bound by default). Tobii also suggests unbinding Vehicles - Target Cycling › Cycle Lock - In View - Forward and Cycle Lock - In View - Under Reticle (both T by default), and leaving only Lock Selected Target bound for targeting.
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Using one of our controller profiles?
Our X56, SOL-R, G PRO yoke and gamepad profiles don’t bind any head-tracking or gaze-lock actions, so the keyboard defaults above keep working after you load one. Add your HOTAS buttons for Toggle, Recenter and Lock Selected Target on top. If you load a different profile later, check these binds are still there.
Tuning
Make it feel right
Change one setting at a time and fly a lap of the hangar before changing the next. Tobii’s Star Citizen settings guide explains each slider.
| If this happens | Try this |
|---|---|
| The view drifts off center | Press Recenter. Turn on Auto Center Enabled, or Toggle - Auto Recalibrate to re-center when you change seats. |
| Small head twitches shake the view | Raise Center Stabilization. If it’s from leaning, widen the Position - Dead Zone settings. |
| Have to turn too far to check six | Raise Head Sensitivity Yaw, or switch Input Gaze Method to Camera Boost and raise the boost value. |
| View moves when you only meant to glance at the HUD | Move Input Mix toward 1.0 (more head, less eye). Or use Camera Boost with a larger deadzone. |
| Leaning feels too strong or too weak | Position - Input Scale (higher = smaller leans needed). |
| Screen bigger than 27″ (16:9) or 30″ (21:9) | Eye tracking is outside its range. Set Input Mix to 1.0 for head-only tracking, which has no size limit. |
| Fine in ships, odd on foot | Tune the FPS versions of the settings separately from the Seated ones. |
Troubleshooting
If something’s not right
- Tobii Experience says it can’t find the tracker? Try another USB port on the PC itself, then check Device Manager for EyeChip (Step 2). Tobii’s help center has a full clean-reinstall guide if the driver is broken.
- It can’t see your eyes, or tracking is jumpy? Redo the display setup and calibration (Step 3), sitting how you play. Clean your glasses, close blinds against direct sunlight, and move large shiny surfaces out from behind you.
- Works on the desktop, nothing in the game? Check Head Tracking - General - Source is Tobii and Toggle - Enabled is Yes. Then press your toggle key: Numpad / is easy to hit by accident.
- Works in the seat, not on foot (or the reverse)? Check Disable While Seated and Disable During FPS are No.
- Frame rate dropped after turning it on? Head tracking runs on the CPU. Close background apps you don’t need while playing.
- Still not right? Tobii support handles the tracker and its software. For problems only in Star Citizen, search the Issue Council and add a report with Tobii in the title. For our profiles, ask on our Discord.
Star Citizen controller kits
Pair the Tobii with one of our free controller profiles. Each kit has the control map, an editable PDF form and an XML generator.