DickDastardly

Cyberkut's explanation is absolutely correct in that whilst a touch screen isn't necessary it's certainly desirable. If you don't have one, however, you can either click the TouchPal buttons with your mouse or, if you prefer, just use your HOTAS buttons to activate stuff and use TouchPal purely as a display so you can keep track of button states etc. Cheers, DD

Hi all, Just posting to encourage anyone who hasn't yet tried TouchPal to give it a go -Gadroc has done a wonderful job and it's a huge step forward from my original TouchBuddy profiles, making Black Shark significantly easier to control (and much more fun). It's also worth stressing that a touch screen isn't necessary -all you need is a spare monitor. The screenshots posted earlier in this thread are of a slightly older version, so I've added a more recent one below: For those having problems getting started, here's a brief installation and setup guide (this was written for a Vista setup but the process should be fairly similar for XP): 1. Follow the four steps listed by Gadroc in the first post to download and install TouchPal. 2. Right click your desktop and choose personalize/display settings. If you have 3 monitors then arrange them like this: If you only have two monitors then arrange them like this: Note that the top edge of all your monitors should form an unbroken horizontal line as in the screenshots above. 3. The resolution of your main monitor (and your Shkval monitor in a 3 monitor setup) can be set to whatever you like. The monitor on which you plan to display TouchPal must be set to 1024x768 (the profile is designed so that the proportions will be correct when run at 1024x768 on a 5:4 screen). 4. Open touchpal.xml (in your Documents\TouchPal folder) with Notepad++ and edit the x position so that it is equal to the horizontal resolution of your main monitor. 5. Download whichever of these files is appropriate for your setup to your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Config\MonitorSetup folder: 2 Monitor setup file 3 Monitor setup file 6. Edit the downloaded file in Notepad++ and change the values which are commented to match your setup. For example, if you're running a three monitor setup at 1920x1080 on your main monitor, 1024x768 on your TouchPal monitor and 800x600 on your Shkval monitor then you would edit the DD_TouchPal_3Mon.lua file as follows: Description = 'Camera on the left, TouchPal+ABRIS on the center & Shkval on the right' Viewports = { Center = { x = 0; y = 0; width = [b]1920[/b]; --Horizontal res of main monitor height = [b]1080[/b]; --Vertical res of main monitor viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = screen.aspect; } } ABRIS = { x = [b]2249[/b]; --Horizontal res of main monitor + 329 y = 224; width = 366; height = 448; } Shkval = { x = [b]2944[/b]; --Horizontal res of main monitor + 1024 y = 0; width = [b]800[/b]; --Horizontal res of Shkval monitor height = [b]600[/b]; --Vertical res of Shkval monitor }7. Open Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\options.lua with Notepad++ and edit these lines as indicated by the comments: ["multiMonitorSetup"] = "dd_touchpal_3mon", --Or "dd_touchpal_2mon" for 2 screens ["fullScreen"] = false, ["height"] = 1080, --Vertical res of main monitor ["resolution"] = "1920x1080", --Res of main monitor ["width"] = 3744, --Total horizontal res of all monitors8. Launch TouchPal and it should appear on the appropriate screen if you've followed the preceding instructions correctly. 9. Launch Black Shark and start a mission. After you unpause, all the buttons, lights and displays along with the ABRIS and Shkval should be live. Cheers, DD

Oops, yeah I must confess I missed this thread, apologies for the duplication. I wonder if the issues grisha raised could be addressed by having aircraft use the proposed modified terrain mesh for collision detection whilst ground vehicles continue to use the default mesh. With regard to weapons, perhaps projectiles firing into or out of a forest could use the default mesh whilst anything else uses the new mesh. So choppers would be able to crash into forests and target or be targetted by vehicles inside them, but a vehicle couldn't target a heli if there was a forest between them (and vice versa). Of course, I've no idea what impact using two different meshes for collision detection would have on performance, perhaps it wouldn't be feasible. Cheers, DD

Hi all, I was reading the patch thread in which the issue of collidable vegetation was raised again. I realise ED have stated that this isn't going to be changed in the near future due to limitations of the current engine, but it occurred to me that there might be a way to get most of the benefits of collidable vegetation without making any major engine changes. Currently the rendering code and the collision detection code presumably both use the same dataset of terrain mesh. Rather than add extra code to the collision detection to check if the heli is in contact with a tree model, couldn't a small modification be made so that the collision detection just uses a different terrain mesh? This modified mesh could have exactly the same number of verts as the original but in forested areas they would be raised to approximately treetop height. In other words, the rendering engine would draw the world as in the first pic below, whereas the collision detection would "see" the terrain as being shaped like the second pic: This would mean that bullets and missiles would no longer be able to pass through forested areas, allowing forests to be used properly as cover in pop-up attacks. I realise the proposed changes wouldn't be perfect -the resolution of the mesh might not be sufficient to allow for small terrain spikes like that shown in the second pic for the lone tree on the left, for example, but even if the height changes were restricted to forested areas rather than individual trees I think it would still be a big improvement. (The other obvious problem is that it would be possible to land on top of a forest but tbh I don't think that would be a big deal either). I'm sure one of the clever coders at ED could write some kind of automatic routine which would generate the new collision terrain mesh based on the old one plus the data for tree/forest locations, and obviously this would only need to be done once in advance to generate the new dataset (so there'd be no additional overhead whilst the sim is actually running). Anyway, there's the suggestion, I'd be interested to hear what you guys think. Cheers, DD

The procedure to fix the HMS reticule is described here. As Alex says, though, changing the HMS angle breaks track reproducibility. The easiest way round that issue is to write a couple of batch files: one to replace SnapViews.lua, Helmet.lua and PADLOCK_device.lua with the modified versions, and another to swap them back for the originals when you want to watch a track. Cheers, DD

Hi Pappavis, Currently it's only possible to display the ABRIS and SHKVAL on the same PC as Black Shark itself so you need to run TB in local mode with my profiles. The position at which the ABRIS and Shkval are displayed is defined by a file in your Ka-50/Config/MonitorSetup folder. The filename which is used is stored in your Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\options.lua file in the line beginning "["multiMonitorSetup"] =". If you've fully followed the profile setup instructions in this thread then everything should work okay but if you're still not getting any ABRIS/Shkval output then just post your options.lua and multiMonitorSetup files here and I'll be happy to check them for you. Cheers, DD

I think everything is rendered on the main card then the appropriate parts are passed to the secondary card. I agree, though, this does seem to be a weird way of doing it. Possibly instead each card just renders its own stuff but the faster card has to wait for the slower one to render each frame before it goes onto the next. Either way it would seem there is room for the process to be improved. In SLI only two outputs are available so you wouldn't be able to run three monitors (though obviously having two 8800s running in non-SLI will give better results on three monitors than a single 8800 + a 6200). Cheers, DD

As you've noted, multi-monitor performance in Black Shark does seem to be limited by the weakest link in the chain of components (the second graphics card) so minimizing its load by having it only draw one screen does seem to help considerably. One thing I've not tried is to compare performance when the main card draws the ABRIS+TB and the second card draws the Shkval to when the main card draws the Shkval and the second card draws the ABRIS+TB so that might be worth experimenting with. As for the suggestions that you run TB on a networked PC, this would make sense but of course the TB profile is designed around displaying the ABRIS so you would need to export that to the networked PC too. There are some tantalising hints in the lua files that this is possible, but to my knowledge nobody has managed to actually do it yet. The ideal solution would be to have a stripped down version of DCS:BS running on a networked PC which draws the ABRIS, Shkval and TB based on positional/state data sent from the main PC. There could then be an option to disable the ABRIS and Shkval completely on the main PC so it wouldn't have to do any processing for them and could just receive any required data from the networked PC (as sending the values of a few variables is obviously much quicker than sending values for tens of thousands of pixels). Hopefully we'll see improvements to Black Shark's handling of multi-monitors in the patch or the PCIP (though I've not heard anything definite yet). Cheers, DD

Depends what you mean by "below $50". For $20: definitely, for $30: maybe, for $49.99: not a snowball's chance in hell. Cheers, DD

Yep - I run my main view on a 1024x768 projector (producing a 6ft diagonal image). The instructions here describe how to set up my profiles with all screens running at 1024x768 (mainly to keep things simple but also because the framerate hit for multi-monitors makes it desirable to keep the resolution low on at least the secondary screens). In this thread on the Touchbuddy forums, however, I also give examples of how to use both two-monitor and three-monitor versions of the profiles with a higher resolution on the main screen (1680x1050 in the examples but the explanations there should also enable you to run at other resolutions too). Cheers, DD

Thanks for sorting that out m8 -I love the sim, but not quite enough to want to pay for it twice :). Not sure what the problem with my emails not getting through could be about - I mailed the support{at}digitalcombatsimulator.com address on 03 February 2009 17:31:20 (UK time) and activation{at}digitalcombatsimulator.com on 03 February 2009 16:41:06 and also tried activations{at}digitalcombatsimulator.com on 05 February 2009 07:05:50. (Obviously replacing the {at} with @). Cheers, DD

Still haven't received any PMs or e-mails regarding this issue. Does anyone from ED actually read this forum? Cheers, DD

I got mine from an "Irish" supplier on ebay.co.uk, although it was actually shipped direct from Hong Kong: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260369476902 As well as fixed price offers you can also get them quite a bit cheaper in auctions if you're patient (I paid under £40 iirc). There seem to be a lot of different sellers on ebay but, from the photos, it looks like just about all of them are from the same manufacturer. Unless they explicitly mention widescreen in the description then they'll almost certainly be 5:4 (like the one you linked to). Installation was pretty straightforward - just unscrew the monitor bezel, put the touchscreen in place and screw it all together again (I also had to snip a couple of plastic strips on a vent at the back of my monitor with some wirecutters to allow me to feed through the cable). Accuracy is excellent after you've done a simple 4-point callibration and it's great for sims (particularly things like an FMC or MFDs). Cheers, DD

Looks like there'll be some really nice additions in the patch. I particularly like the ability to include tracks in missions- great stuff guys :). I do have one question, though: Is there any news on bugfixes/improvements to the multi-monitor features of the sim? Cheers, DD

My personal wish-list: 1. Bug-fixes to multi-monitor implementation so that messages, comms menu etc appear on the correct screen. 2. Make more items displayable on other monitors in the same manner as the ABRIS and Shkval. Particularly the nav keypad and display, Datalink keypad, EKRAN display, CMS display, weapons status display, radio frequencies/channels and each group of warning/caution/status lights. 3. Expand the list of variables which are exportable via lua to enable everything in the cockpit to be replicated i.e. the status/position/value of every needle, flag, display and light. If this has an impact on fps then allow an "export rate" to be defined for each variable to reduce the number of calculations and bandwidth. For example, you're going to want pitch and roll data for your ADI to be exported every frame to ensure it's smooth, but it doesn't matter if your gear lights lag a bit so you might want to set the rate of the gear status variables to export only once per second instead of every frame. 4. Create a simple multi-monitor setup GUI which would display a picture of all your monitors and allow the user to position the camera(s)/ABRIS/Shkval etc by dragging them to the appropriate screen and resizing them as they like. This would then generate the required monitor setup file and make the necessary modifications to options.lua automatically. Cheers, DD P.S. There seems to be a bug with the keyboard command for "PVI Set Fixtaking Method" (RCTRL+V by default). No matter what key is assigned to this function it has no effect and can only be activated by clicking in the VC.

Hendo, It looks like you're nearly there m8 - the monitor setup file is working exactly as it should, the only thing you need to change is your total screen width as defined in your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\optiona.lua file. If you open it in Notepad++ (after replacing your default options.lua with my version from the download), then the last few lines should read as follows: ["height"] = 768, ["resolution"] = "1024x768", ["civTraffic"] = 1, ["width"] = 3072, }, -- end of ["graphics"] } -- end of options From your screenshot it looks as if your file still says ["width"] = 1024 which is why you're seeing all the Black Shark stuff crammed onto one screen. Cheers, DD

Was this using the 3cameras.lua monitor setup file? If not, did you try that one? Can you upload a screenshot? (that might give me a better idea of what's happening). What about when you launch TB, does that appear okay on your touchscreen and remain visible when you launch a mission (apart from the shkval and abris not working)? Other than that, all I can think of to suggest is to redo the installation instructions from start to finish, or maybe try it with a different monitor if you have another or can borrow one. Cheers, DD

The position of the ABRIS is determined by the lines in the ABRIS section beginning with "x =" and "y =" in whichever monitor setup file you select in the BS options monitor dropdown box. What happens if you select the 3Cameras.lua file? Do you see the central view on your main monitor and the view out your left window on your secondary monitor? If not, and if you saw part of the ABRIS screen on your main monitor when using my test.lua file but nothing on your secondary screen then it still sounds like your monitors aren't set up correctly in your windows desktop properties. If you drag a window on your desktop so the left half of it disappears off the left edge of your main monitor can you see the other half of the window on the right side of your secondary monitor? If you're using XP, have you tried "horizontal span" mode instead of "dual view"? Cheers, DD

I was also charged twice and contacted ProtX who said I needed to contact ED. I did so using the activations@digitalcombatsimulator.com address (on the 5th of February) but still haven't received any reply. My email address is @hotmail.com (mikejsteven) so possibly this may be a factor, but I've checked all junk mail folders and haven't had anything there. Could someone from ED PM me about this issue please? Cheers, DD

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that TB has some kind of scaling capability built in. It might be worth trawling through the TB docs or forum for more details. Sorry I can't be more help, but I've never used this feature myself. I'm a bit baffled by this issue. If you don't run TB but just load a mission in BS do you see a blurry version of the TB layout appear on your secondary monitor during mission loading, with a test card on the Shkval screen and a credits page on the ABRIS screen? You could try downloading this test file to your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Config\MonitorSetup folder, then in the BS options select "test.lua" in the monitors dropdown box. Load a mission (with TB not running) and you should see the Shkval screen on your secondary monitor and the ABRIS screen partly on your main monitor and partly on your secondary. Let me know what happens. Cheers, DD

Hendo, I've had a look at the files you sent me and everything looks fine there, the only other thing I can think of is that your monitors aren't arranged properly in your Windows desktop properties. For your setup you need your main monitor to be to the right of your secondary one (i.e. when you move your mouse off the right edge of your secondary screen it should appear on the left edge of your main screen). Can you check if this is the case? Cheers, DD

Hi m8, I suspect the line in your touchbuddy.cfg should be: lomac_data_file = C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat Note the "s" on the end of "Files" and the capitalization. Having said that, this line will only affect the weapons payload strip above the ABRIS so if the ABRIS and Shkval screens aren't working there must be some other problem. I'd need to see your options.lua and MonitorSetup config file to figure out what else is wrong. Cheers, DD

Здесь оно в английском: Hi all, I've recently posted about my TouchBuddy profiles for Black Shark in the English forums and thought you guys might like to try them too. They allow you to display something like this on a second or third monitor: [sEE PICTURE ABOVE] The buttons are all clickable (or can be activated by touch if you have a touch screen monitor). If you would like to see them in action, I've uploaded a video of my 3 monitor profile here, and another of my 2 monitor profile here. For more details please see this thread. Cheers, DD

Здравствулте!, Я недавно написал о моих профилях TouchBuddy для черной акулы в английских форумах и подумано вы ванты могли хотеть попробовать их слишком. Они позволяют вам показать что-нибудь подобное на втором или третьем мониторе: Кнопки все clickable (или смогите быть активировано касанием если вы имеете монитор экрана касания). Если вы хотел были бы увидеть их в действии, то я uploaded видео моего профиля 3 мониторов здесь, и другой из моего профиля 2 мониторов здесь. Для больше деталей угодите те эту резьбу. Приветственные восклицания, DD P.S. Извинения если мой русский очень не хорош. Я переводил это с BabelFish.

You don't actually have to run all screens at 1024x768, it just makes things simpler if you do. In this thread, for example, I describe how to set it up with a primary monitor running at 1680x1050 and a secondary at 1024x768. Cheers, DD