BAM Headtracking in 2025

[dacstyle]

Hey fellow headtracking enthusiasts!

Over the past year, I've experimented with tons of stuff: headtracking, 3D, all kinds of frontends, pinvol, pinemhi, VR, thump SSF—you name it! Pretty much anything I found, I tested on my cab. As you might expect, after so many trials, Windows started acting up...

 

So I've decided to start fresh on a new disk with Baller Installer 2025, vpin studio (awesome app, by the way), and a few other cool things I liked.

My goal is to use Pinup Popper and, via the alternate launch option, be able to select whether a table launches in normal mode, VR, or BAM.

 

Normally, my favorite way to play is with BAM headtracking.

I've got everything up and running and have already loaded several tables onto this fresh install, so I figured it was time to test out BAM on the new disk.

But here's the surprise: Bam-Tracker.exe doesn't seem to be included anymore in the latest Future Pinball package, which now also has new BAM versions specifically for 3D and VR setups.

 

Before messing up something that's working so nicely, I wanted to check with you guys first. Has anyone successfully set up BAM Headtracking with the 2025 app versions?

Can I simply copy the old Bam-Tracker.exe into the new installation and have it work?

Can we also copy the old FP config, or do we need to redo the entire setup from scratch?

Any tips or thoughts are greatly appreciated! Ideally, I'd love for this thread to become a resource for getting a solid headtracking setup running smoothly in 2025 and encouraging more folks to enjoy what is easily my favorite gameplay mode.

I'm also hopeful that native headtracking support in VPX will soon become a reality!

Cheers!

[TerryRed]

The latest BAM Installer, or the latest Baller Installer, or the latest FP and BAM Essentials AIO all include the Bam-Tracker.exe.

 

I don't use headtracking anymore, so no idea about how it works with the latest VP.

 

Edited March 19, 2025 by TerryRed

[dacstyle]

Strange, I installed the latest baller installer twice and didn't find the BAM Tracker.

I'll check again; maybe it was a mistake on my part.

Thank you very much and my gratitude and admiration for your excellent work.

[LifeTag]

When I did the install, BAM-Tracker,exe wasnt included with baller installer. I downloaded FP+BAM installer and just copied the file from that and it worked fine

[dacstyle]

Same here, I needed to download the FP+BAM package, but I still not configured it again.

[txvepr]

Unfortunately, after almost a year of running BamHeadtracking with Kinect2, it is now failing. I can't really tell if it I a new driver, or something else in Windows11, but now my Kinect intermittently disconnects and reconnects.

It now does not stay on for an entire session.

I am running latest windows 11, driver for Kinect is 2.2.1905 .

 

I've tried rollback driver with no luck.

 

Anyone else or the original dev see the same issue?

[dacstyle]

I had exactly the same issue, and it turned out to be a hardware problem. I replaced the Kinect 2 camera, and the problem was solved.

[gginelli]

Kinect v2 connected to a USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-A port on a Intel z690 motherboard running Windows 11 fix that worked for me:

Go to System → Sound → Properties for the Kinect microphone device and disable Audio Enhancements.
This prevents Windows 11 from injecting DSP effects that cause USB resets on Kinect v2 composite devices.
No driver reinstall or hardware changes required.

Edited January 7 by gginelli

[gginelli]

On 7/25/2025 at 5:10 AM, txvepr said:

Unfortunately, after almost a year of running BamHeadtracking with Kinect2, it is now failing. I can't really tell if it I a new driver, or something else in Windows11, but now my Kinect intermittently disconnects and reconnects.

It now does not stay on for an entire session.

I am running latest windows 11, driver for Kinect is 2.2.1905 .

 

I've tried rollback driver with no luck.

 

Anyone else or the original dev see the same issue?

See my answer above.

[barneyrfd]

I've had a Kinect 2 BAM setup for about 8 months now.  I frequently swap back and forth between BAM 3D and regular play and have had no issues with the setup.  I'm still on Windows 10 and see no reason to upgrade to 11 right now so I can't comment on how BAM/Kinect 2 is with that. 

 

I have the Kinect 2 up on the top of the backbox pointing down to the playfield on as steep an angle as I can get.   I followed a few videos on youtube and played around with the configuration settings in both FP and VPX and really like the results.  The only issue I have noticed is every now and then there is a little jerk of the playfiled but I think that happens when you move your head and body really quickly, it only lasts a split second and does not really detract from gameplay at all.   The setup introduced no lag or game stuttering at all, still plays smooth.  I did notice my video card (RTX 3060Ti) heats up more than with normal paly but not to a serious point.  

 

You can go crazy wild with the 3D effect but I prefer to keep it subtle and just give it enough 3D to improve the realism of the table.  For me it really does make a nice 3D effect with most games without spending a fortune on a headset. 

[txvepr]

I replaced my old Kinect with a newer one and now the problem is solved. The unit was bad.  Anyway, we should compare notes on our setups! Like post what your BAM headtracker settings are in FP setup like Player position, eye vector, etc... What are your default settings in VPX. 

[philbury]

I am looking at s/h Kinects on eBay. What should I be looking for specifically? Thanks

[barneyrfd]

Don't have much in the way of specifications but you probably will be getting a pre-owned Kinect 2.  Look for a Kinect 2 with a power supply, the power supply is unique to the Kinect 2 so any old power supply will not work.  Often they are sold separately.  Try to get as new a version as possible.  I prefer to buy from a person rather than a company, often they will list how they used the item and provide better pictures so you get a decent idea of how it was used. 

 

Good hunting.

[birdmanpin]

I use head tracking (Kinect 2) 100% in my VPin and prefer it over standard and 3D.  I spent a lot of time dialing it in, but once you do, and you tweak each and every table, the experience can be incredible.  I do think you need a lot of PC horsepower as you are introducing a lot of overhead. I occasionally get disconnects from my camera (the camera goes on and off repeatedly) and I confirmed this is a bug when Windows updates, and you have to adjust a mic setting from the camera in the windows audio menus. I haven’t had this happen in awhile so perhaps the latest Windows updates fixed it. 

[gginelli]

Hi guys, in case anybody is looking for an easy way to switch between BAM head-tracking mode and normal mode (and anaglyphic 3D mode) for VPX in PinUP Popper: 

 

 

Edited March 19 by gginelli

[thrillride11]

Well after many many minutes (felt like hours)! I finally managed to get a successful calibration in Future Pinball. Next hurdle...Black screen in VPX. I have the BAM tracker.exe to startup automatically so that is running in the background and when opening VPX 10.8.0 GL on its own (not front end) (I haven't implemented any scripts yet for alt mode) and selected BAM headtracking in video preferences to on. But all I get is a black screen the table plays and functions just no image. Any suggestions? Thank You!!

[barneyrfd]

Don't know if you have solved this yet but I think you have a problem with the BAM settings in VPX (...obviously).  If you can provide a table name I'll setup my working BAM and post an image of my settings for ya to try.

[pcfixhenning]

Does anyone know where and what file name the BAM head tracking calibration is stored in, I am trying to recover an accidentally deleted file, I tried calibrating again and it's way off compared to what I had, thanks in advance!!!

[gginelli]

On 5/17/2026 at 7:35 PM, pcfixhenning said:

Does anyone know where and what file name the BAM head tracking calibration is stored in, I am trying to recover an accidentally deleted file, I tried calibrating again and it's way off compared to what I had, thanks in advance!!!

The calibration results are stored in various files in the BAM directory of your FuturePinball folder, but not in human readable text format. Perhaps you mean your personal BAM head-tracking view settings for VPX? These are stored in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\VPinballX\BAMViewSettings.xml, where [username] refers to your Windows username. 

[Madonion]

Im building my Vpin slowly and already bougth the kinect. This guy set his up amazingly! 
 

This 

[barneyrfd]

I've been using BAM Kinect 3D for about a year now.  I have my kinect on top of the backbox just like he shows, it is well calibrated and while I can get a reasonable 3d effect it is not nearly as good as this.  Typically when I go for more depth the upper corners swing around wildly making it really hard to play.  I would sure like to kinow how he nailed it down.

[dacstyle]

Is anyone using BAM with Visual Pinball 10.8.1? I've tried several times, but the BAM menu for adjusting the POV no longer appears when I press the Q key like it did in 10.8.0, so I had to stay on that version.
I reported it at the time, but it seems it either wasn't fixed, or there's another way to access it that I'm not aware of.

[xYx]

On 7/12/2026 at 10:20 AM, barneyrfd said:

I've been using BAM Kinect 3D for about a year now.  I have my kinect on top of the backbox just like he shows, it is well calibrated and while I can get a reasonable 3d effect it is not nearly as good as this.  Typically when I go for more depth the upper corners swing around wildly making it really hard to play.  I would sure like to kinow how he nailed it down.

I just want to add my experience so that it may help others.  When calibrating the kinect v2 in Bam I set ShiftX, ShiftY and ShiftZ all to zero.  After calibration, I raised my ShiftY to 0.100.  My kinect is mounted on the top of the backbox so it is looking down toward me.  As the Kinect is tracking the middle of my head instead of my eyes it caused it to think my eyes were lower than they were.  To adjust ShiftY I moved my head side to side and watched the objects in the game sway rather then staying vertical...I slowly raised ShiftY until the swaying stopped.  I also adjusted ShiftZ to change the amount of movement when I moved closer and farther away.  When I left ShiftZ the movement seem too high to be realistic.  I found -0.500 was my sweet spot for ShiftZ .  In addition, I do not use Future Pinball.  However, I found that the Shift values are transferred to VPX with the calibrated location data.  Changing the ShiftX, ShiftY and ShiftZ values in Future Pinball also fixed the swaying in my VPX games.

 

Finally, I also set my cabinet informaiton in BAM before calibrating.  I set the cabinet front height, distance from the glass to the playfield screen and the monitor size.  This may not be required but it made sense to me that the kinect needed to know the scale of what it was looking at.

 

 

[barneyrfd]

Thanks for the info xYx, I'm gonna spend a little time this morning trying some of your suggestions and see if I can dial in a better "3D" look using BAM and Kinect in VPX.  Will post my results.

[barneyrfd]

Spent a little time on this this morning and wanted to share a reasonable BAM Kinect 2 headtracking solution that provides a not bad 3d simulation (for me anyway).

 

First thing I learned and kinda always suspected is that the Kinect2 settings you make in Future Pinball DO affect the headtracking settings in VPX.  So I ran through a few iterations in FP and came up with what works best for me in VPX, the first attached image shows the FP Kinect2 settings i used.  Your setup may need different settings but this should get you going in the right direction.  Be aware that if you change the Kinect settings in FP it WILL affect your setup in VPX.

 

Then I ran through a bunch of iterations in VPX and came up with the settings shown in the second attached image. These settings locked in the top and bottom corners of the table and just allowed the playfield itself to move as my head moved which is what I wanted.  Previous setups I used (before I adjuste the FP settings) had the top corners swaying from side to side making play not so good. 

 

If you set the 3D slope in the VPX headtracking higher to say 10 you get a much more 3d visual but it may be too much if you move your head alot.  If you kinda just stay still the effect is impressive as you are playing. 

 

Hopefully this helps others trying out the Kinect2 headtracking.