FOIP Configuration

Face Over IP is the name given to the interpretation and transmission of your facial expressions from a webcam to your player character. This is a quick guide to show you the main things you will want to look at.

Configure Windows

You will need to check your Windows privacy settings to allow the camera and microphone to be accessed and be sure to enable your microphone as an input device.

windows privacy settings
Windows privacy settings should be checked to allow access to your camera.

Install a Webcam

The iPhone app
The iPhone app

If you don’t already have a webcam, you might want to consider using your phone camera and an app rather than buying a dedicated one. There are a number of webcam iPhone apps available and iVCam is the best I found:

  • It worked with little fuss
  • Has zoom capability
  • Has 1080 pixel image
  • Tap the image to choose the brightness
  • You can try out the free version to see if you like it

In terms of features this beats the majority of dedicated webcams which have various limitations, particularly screen size. Note that I have no financial incentive to promote it.

Set Up Your Camera

You need to make facial recognitition as easy as possible for FOIP to work correctly, so set up the camera such that

  • Your face fills the screen
  • It is not at an angle, try to squarely face-on if possible
  • You face should be well lit.

Configure FOIP in Star Citizen

To enable FOIP, go to the options menu select the comms tab, enable FOIP and calibrate it.

To enable FOIP, go to the options menu select the comms tab, enable FOIP and calibrate it.

When you hit the calibrate button a feedback window will be created so if you don’t see one, use ALT-TAB to cycle through your open applications to find it.

Assume your resting-face pose. If all is well, Star Citizen will place dots around your features and use this as your normal appearance. If the result is a bit off, recalibrate and compensate for the exaggeration using your resting face.

Test FOIP in the Character Customiser

If all went well with the test screen, you can see what it looks like in-game by going to the character customisation screen where FOIP is running while you are customising.

FOIP character customisation
FOIP character customisation. This is a screenshot from Citko, a German gamer. I don’t know what he’s saying but it’s pretty funny at the 1:58 offset where he’s blowing kisses heh heh :0)

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