BHawthorne

Are we talking about the USAF -1 manual or something specific to DCS?

What format are you using for the cutting paths? DXF/DWG or something like EPS/AI/PDF? I'd be interested in buying a copy of the files to waterjet locally.

Not full time work, but sometimes they want to do a convention in the US and they need someone there so I do a one-off project with them. Most of the AMD events I've done I've seen income on. It's a hobby, not a job. The events are too one-off to be considered work. I do this for fun, not for consistent income at the moment. There is not enough income or consistency in it for me to take it seriously. It's fun every few months to be flown out to places like L.A., Dallas or Vegas and setup the screen though. I enjoy it for what it is, not what it might be. It's a welcome distraction every once in awhile for fun.

The main issue is that while not in-game, you don't have pre-warping capability on the desktop with NTHUSIM. It makes for a bit of clumsy navigation in Windows until the game is launched. What you're seeing in the pic is SimVisuals, which is an unreleased commercial product, not the readily available consumer NTHUSIM. SimVisuals desktop pre-warps, but NTHUSIM doesn't at the moment. The home builder would have access to NTHUSIM, not SimVisuals. For many that means the computer configuration would only be useful for in-game fullscreen use. With simpits, a dedicated host computer isn't all that unusual though. I installed DCS: A-10 and DCS: Blackshark again last night. They work great with NTHUSIM. All the menus and in-game works as intended for triple display.

The setup uses my prototype NTHUSIM screen. It's a pretty high profile build. AMD has shown it off for the AMD 6800-series launch, last October and at the AMD House of Blues CES 2011 VIP party in January. Most recently I had it out at a car convention with the flight simpit. The simpit isn't mine, but I get to "store" it at my house, so it gets good use. The simpit is an old military F-4 egress trainer shell retrofitted with the Saitek X65 setup and pedals with a 22" LCD glass cockpit panel. Justin Messenger of Nu-Tek Simulation owns the simpit. :) If you want to do it, here's a simplified shopping list: 3x Optoma GT720 @ $600 each 3x projector mounts Screen material @ $200-400 depending on material type and size Misc Home Depot supplies $200 NTHUSIM Plus $500 Any compatible AMD Eyefinity/Matrox TH2G/NVIDIA Surround computer setup Last but definitely not least -- a room large enough to put it in. In my case, I use a 13 foot wide room.

True, that would solve the problem too.

What price? I have Tri-SLI and thinking on dropping back to dual-SLI.

Even if ti doesn't hold up, they'll make good MDF templates regardless. Prototype in corrugated and do the final in MDF.

Actually, you'd be surprised just how things have taken off for triple projection in the last year. It's a case of an issue of a catch-22 dilemma though. Only few will use a triple projection setup for DCS games because of the issues, but there aren't enough projection users that use DCS to warrant it. Again, at issue is that it's a potential showcase of the DCS engine in a high profile location. I've already lined up two other options to showcase, but it would be nice to have DCS: A-10C as a third option. VRS and XSI are already on-board for product co-marketing at events. It would be nice to have ED in that group.

It's also a bit more than that though. Triple-screen mode in DCS engine treats each screen as a flat surface. When it's a uniform circular projection, you pan the camera up and down it doesn't look right on the setup. Hence why I say the current DCS triple camera setup is designed for flat panels, not circular. See how the horizon pans in a fractured manner in this video:

Nice thread crap there. The addition of your 2 cents to the thread I found rather insightful about you. Please remember next time that your opinion is only valued when it isn't condescending and insulting to those in the thread. I think I'll draw my own line and tell you that you've crossed it here. :thumbup:

The idea is to promote it at AMD events. It's not my pocketbook. They want to one-up things and show eye candy and that means I have to do more than 3x1L like I have been before for them. I have the projectors in inventory, just need content to show off on a greater than 180 degree screen. High visibility and co-marketing with AMD would be a driving factor, not whether most people would do it or not. I could always just use FSX and VRS Superbug with the TacPack, but I'm not too hot on promoting FSX, as it's not new and interesting.

I would like to make a feature request to better suit options for multi-display. I would like the ability for the DCS engine to properly cater to 2x1, 3x1, 4x1, 5x1 and 6x1 both in portrait and landscape modes. Also the ability to accommodate flat screen and circular. At the moment only single and triple screen flat panel are catered to. At the moment circular multi-projector setups are gaining traction in the home sim community and there are at least four different software pre-warping utilities out there catering to multi-projector home consumers. This allows for a far more immersive environment for users. At issue is how games handle multi-display though. They are designed to be flat panel LCD display centric and also have issue with anything over 180 degrees. My suggestion is to allow the ability to set up to 360 degrees FOV by assigning 60 degrees per display for 6x1L and 72 degrees per display in a 5x1L configuration. My dilemma at the moment is I am working up a new prototype demo build to promote NTHUSIM and there simply isn't any content to show off at 5x1L or 6x1L @ 360 degrees. I'd like to show off the DCS series in such a setup in booths for AMD and/or NVIDIA. I have close connections with AMD and they are interested in such a build. My problem is I don't want to show off FSX on the setup. I'd rather show off something like DCS: A-10C. I'd like to see a setup in preferences where it would be roughly like this: Screen Configuration: (Options: 1x1, 2x1, 3x1, 4x1, 5x1, 6x1) FOV Per Screen: (Options: 60, 72, Custom) Screen Configuration: (Options: Flat, Circular) If ED can make this happen, I can give it high visibility at events by AMD promoting Eyefinity.

It's pretty cool stuff. Gene Buckle is using optical mylar on his collumnated screen setup as an example.

The rear projection tv material is optical quality Mylar mirror film. It's available several places for online purchase. I suggest at least 2mil because 1mil is prone to damage because of it being so thin. http://reflectiveroll.com/

Here is a real-world example. Uninstalling 11.4 preview and then installing 11.4 release. What the driver uninstaller log claims: What is really left to clean out after a reboot: This is also one of the prime reasons why Catalyst drivers have such a bad reputation. Dirty installs directly effect hardware stability and induce operator error because people do not realize just what left around in your system directories and registry between driver installs. Do not blindly trust the uninstaller to clean out stuff. If at all possible learn what files and registry stuff needs to be removed, or just do what I do and use latest CCleaner and Driver Sweeper utilities in safe mode after the uninstall. Both are free.

Consider that AMD hires me to demo for them I think I know a bit of what I'm talking about. They hired me for both the 6800-series launch in October and for CES 2011 in January to show off Eyefinity projection demos. It's best to clean out registry and orphined AMD files from System32 and SysWow64 that the installer misses. Since most of you people don't know which files those are, using a free driver cleaner works. To give you a prime example, in the last 6 months the CCC has changed design at least 3 times and the installer has not always cleaned out everything old. It has lead to stability issues in many cases if you do a dirty install. In my particular case, it's lead to breaking some Eyefinity configuration options and to in-game stuttering on dirty installs. If you question my credibility, I'm perfectly capable of giving you example links of my work with AMD. :P

Remember to properly clean out drivers between installs or they WILL be flakey. The AMD installers don't properly clean out everything. I suggest DriverSweeper -- a free download from Guru3D.

Power down the computer and reboot. Why are you hot-swapping video ports while a machine is powered up?

Correct, you were CPU bottlenecked. You can get even better FPS out of it by achieving a 4ghz+ OC on the CPU. Work with someone that knows how to OC though.

Exactly, swap the GTX260 back in and throw the 5450 out. A 5450 is only good for desktop and video.

A P4 would seriously CPU bottleneck a system.

Wow, you're going to be in technology shock when you upgrade with the differences between the systems. :)

Here are two of the setups I helped build for AMD. These were shown off at CES 2011 in January. The one on the left is two BenQ W1000 with edge blending and two D-Box fully actuated home theater chairs. The right pic is three Optoma GT720 with edge blending and a Virtual-GT racing sim. The screen on the right I use in my basement with the rig I'm typing on. (Just wish I had that Virtual-GT racing simpit too *chuckle*) That screen was used at both the AMD 6800-series launch last October and the AMD CES 2011 setup in January. My simpit is a real F-84F fuselage/cockpit that I purchased in 2008. Here it is in storage at the moment. I've got a TON of work left to do on it, but once it's done it's gonna be a lot of fun. Sure, it's no Warthog...it's one of the Warthog's grandparents though. Both came out of the thunder factory. :)