Dying Light 2 Head Tracking

An unofficial 6DOF head tracking mod for Dying Light 2 Stay Human using OpenTrack-compatible trackers.

Features

• Decoupled look + aim: Look around freely with your head while your aim stays independent
• 6DOF head tracking: Full rotation (yaw, pitch, roll) and positional tracking (X, Y, Z) via OpenTrack UDP protocol

Requirements

• Dying Light 2 Stay Human v1.16 or later
• Ultimate ASI Loader (auto-installed by install script)
• OpenTrack or a compatible head tracking app (smartphone, webcam, or dedicated hardware)

Installation

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Extract the ZIP anywhere
3. Double-click install.cmd

Manual Installation

Step 1: Install ASI Loader

1. Download Ultimate-ASI-Loader_x64.zip
2. Extract winmm.dll to your game directory:

   <DL2 Install>/ph/work/bin/x64/winmm.dll
   

Step 2: Install the Mod

1. Copy DL2HeadTracking.asi to:

   <DL2 Install>/ph/work/bin/x64/DL2HeadTracking.asi
   

2. Copy HeadTracking.ini to the same directory (optional - defaults will be created)

Finding Your Game Directory

• Steam: Right-click Dying Light 2 > Manage > Browse local files > navigate to ph/work/bin/x64/
• Epic Games: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\DyingLight2\ph\work\bin\x64\
• GOG: C:\GOG Games\Dying Light 2\ph\work\bin\x64\

Setting Up OpenTrack

1. Download and install OpenTrack
2. Configure your tracker (Input):
   • For webcam: Select "neuralnet tracker"
   • For phone app: Select "UDP over network"
3. Configure output:
   • Select UDP over network
   • Host: 127.0.0.1
   • Port: 4242
4. Click Start to begin tracking
5. Launch Dying Light 2

Phone App Setup

This mod includes built-in smoothing to handle network jitter, so if your tracking app already provides a filtered signal, you can send directly from your phone to the mod on port 4242 without needing OpenTrack on PC.

1. Install an OpenTrack-compatible head tracking app from your phone's app store
2. Configure your phone app to send to your PC's IP address on port 4242 (run ipconfig to find it, e.g. 192.168.1.100)
3. Set the protocol to OpenTrack/UDP
4. Start tracking

With OpenTrack (optional): If you want curve mapping or visual preview, route through OpenTrack by setting its Input to "UDP over network" and Output to port 4242.

Controls

Two equivalent binding sets - use whichever your keyboard has:

Action	Nav-cluster	Chord
Recenter	Home	Ctrl+Shift+T
Toggle tracking	End	Ctrl+Shift+Y
Cycle tracking mode	Page Up	Ctrl+Shift+G
Toggle yaw mode	Page Down	Ctrl+Shift+H
Toggle reticle	Insert	Ctrl+Shift+U

Page Up / Ctrl+Shift+G cycles tracking mode:

1. Normal head-tracked gameplay
2. Positional tracking disabled, rotational tracking enabled
3. Rotational tracking disabled, positional tracking enabled
4. Back to normal

Yaw mode

• Camera-local (default): yaw rotates around your head's up axis. When you pitch the view down and yaw, the horizon tilts and the view sweeps a cone. Matches traditional head-tracked FPS feel.
• World-locked: yaw rotates around the world's vertical axis. Pitch down and yaw - the horizon stays level and the view sweeps horizontally. Preferable if you find the default disorienting.

Your choice is remembered across sessions (written back to HeadTracking.ini).

Configuration

The mod creates HeadTracking.ini in the game directory with default settings on first run. Edit it to customize:

[Network]
UDPPort=4242              ; UDP port for tracker data

[Sensitivity]
YawMultiplier=1.0         ; Horizontal rotation sensitivity (0.1-5.0)
PitchMultiplier=1.0       ; Vertical rotation sensitivity (0.1-5.0)
RollMultiplier=1.0        ; Tilt sensitivity (0.0-2.0)

[Position]
SensitivityX=2.0          ; Position sensitivity per axis (0.1-10.0)
SensitivityY=2.0
SensitivityZ=2.0
LimitX=0.3                ; Max offset in meters per axis
LimitY=0.2
LimitZ=0.4
Smoothing=0.15            ; Position smoothing (0.0-0.99)
InvertX=false             ; Invert position axes
InvertY=false
InvertZ=false
Enabled=true              ; Enable/disable positional tracking (set false for 3DOF only)

[Hotkeys]
ToggleKey=0x23            ; End key (VK code in hex)
RecenterKey=0x24          ; Home key (VK code in hex)
TrackingModeKey=0x21      ; Page Up key - cycles normal / rotation only / position only
YawModeKey=0x22           ; Page Down key - toggles camera-local / world-locked yaw
ReticleToggleKey=0x2d     ; Insert key (VK code in hex)

[Rotation]
WorldLockedYaw=false      ; false = camera-local (default), true = world-up yaw

[Reticle]
Enabled=true              ; Show/hide the head tracking reticle overlay

[General]
AutoEnable=true           ; Start tracking when game launches
ShowNotifications=true    ; Show on-screen status messages

Troubleshooting

Mod not loading:

• Verify winmm.dll (ASI Loader) is in ph/work/bin/x64/
• Check that DL2HeadTracking.asi is in the same directory
• Check HeadTracking.log for error messages

No tracking response:

• Ensure your tracker is running and outputting data
• Verify UDP port matches in both tracker and HeadTracking.ini
• Press End to enable tracking if auto-enable is off
• Press Home to recenter if the view is offset

Camera jittering:

• Increase filtering in your tracker software
• Reduce sensitivity multipliers in HeadTracking.ini
• Improve lighting for webcam-based tracking

Uninstalling

Remove the mod only — delete from <DL2 Install>/ph/work/bin/x64/:

• DL2HeadTracking.asi
• HeadTracking.ini
• HeadTracking.log (if present)

Remove all mods — delete winmm.dll from the game directory to disable ASI loading entirely.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• Visual Studio 2022 with C++ desktop development workload
• CMake 3.20+
• Git
• Pixi (optional, for task automation) - Install pixi

Clone the Repository

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/itsloopyo/dying-light-2-headtracking.git
cd dying-light-2-headtracking

Build

With pixi:

# Debug build
pixi run build

# Release build
pixi run build-release

Manual CMake:

# Configure
cmake -B build -A x64

# Build Debug
cmake --build build --config Debug

# Build Release
cmake --build build --config Release

Output: bin/Debug/DL2HeadTracking.asi or bin/Release/DL2HeadTracking.asi

Install to Game

With pixi:

# Build release and install to game directory
pixi run install

# Install only config file (for quick settings changes)
pixi run deploy-config

The install scripts automatically detect your game installation via Steam/registry.

Project Structure

dying-light-2-headtracking/
├── src/
│   ├── core/           # Core mod logic
│   │   ├── mod.cpp     # Main mod class
│   │   ├── config.cpp  # Configuration handling
│   │   └── logger.cpp  # Logging
│   ├── hooks/          # Game hooks
│   │   ├── engine_camera_hook.cpp  # Camera manipulation
│   │   ├── input_hook.cpp          # Hotkey handling
│   │   ├── dx_hook.cpp             # DirectX overlay
│   │   └── crosshair_hook.cpp      # Crosshair management
│   └── ui/             # User interface
│       └── notification.cpp        # On-screen notifications
├── extern/             # External dependencies (auto-downloaded)
├── libs/               # Vendored libraries (ImGui, Kiero)
├── scripts/            # Build and deployment scripts
├── HeadTracking.ini    # Default configuration
├── CMakeLists.txt      # Build configuration
└── pixi.toml           # Task runner configuration

Available Pixi Tasks

Task	Description
build	Build debug configuration
build-release	Build release configuration
install	Build release and install to game directory
uninstall	Remove HeadTracking mod only
deploy-config	Deploy only config file
detect-game	Show detected game path
clean	Clean build artifacts
clean-all	Clean all artifacts including release
release	Automated release workflow
show-changelog	Preview changelog for next release
test-udp	Test UDP receiver with simulated data
test-udp-continuous	Send continuous test tracking data

Debugging

1. Build debug configuration: pixi run build
2. Install: pixi run deploy
3. Check logs at <game dir>/ph/work/bin/x64/HeadTracking.log
4. Attach Visual Studio debugger to DyingLightGame_x64_rwdi.exe if needed

Community & Support

• Discord: Loop's Head Tracking Hangout - setup help, bug reports, and new-release announcements
• Lopari - free Windows launcher with one-click install and launch for the released head-tracking mods
• Headcam - free app that turns your iPhone or Android phone into the head tracker

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Credits

• Techland - Dying Light 2
• OpenTrack - Head tracking protocol and software
• MinHook - API hooking library
• Dear ImGui - Overlay UI
• Kiero - DirectX hooking
• inih - INI file parser
• Ultimate ASI Loader - ASI plugin loading