Darkphox

Fixed Hey all, just dropping a note to confirm the latest patch has fully fixed this issue for me. It even went one step further, in old Dcs 1.2 and prior, the f10 map spread across my main display and out onto my mfcd panels, which sucked because they were only 800 pixels tall vs the 1200 of my main display. With the newest patch, my f15 radar not only exports again, but the f10 map doesn't spread beyond the main display anymore. Fantastic!

+1 to this. My export works fine in A10C, just as it did in version 1.2.xyz. For some reason the F-15C does not export. Additionally, I've set the cockpit mfd off in the viewporthandler lua, but in F15 it's still very much on. Not sure if this is something to do with a revert due to the export not working, but again it works fine in A10C, just not in the F15 (for me)

Hey there, I still get emails from this thread, no worries on late adds. If I'm reading your numbers right, you're getting 35 fps on each bench on high settings? Thats pretty good and better than you'd get on a 290x I would think. Also, I dont think DCS favors nvidia or radeon. In my own experience benchmarking, it just doesn't like multi-gpu setups...until edge of course. Unless im misreading your results, the 970 is performing solidly. R9 300 cards will be good but my 2 cents is wait for those and edge's release before switching out.

R9 290

Edit: sorry, didn't realize this was a month old. I've had this on and off between versions of DCS... With SoftTH, if the game loaded and went to full screen, it worked properly. If, when loading, it sort of flashed a minimized splash screen within a smaller window and then shifted to the lower right of myscreen, I had the click problem referred to in this post. Some versions the problem didn't exist. Other versions I couldn't get around it and just accepted that I would not be able to click the cockpit. For 1.2.7 I had to open an MP3 in VLC, start trackir, flash my head piece to trackir (but not leave it in view of the sensor) then start the multiplayer client and click it's icon on the taskbar twice. If I didn't follow this routine, the game would load as if it was behind an invisible window. I could see the cockpit, but not click it. It was mere luck that I realized I had an MP3 going and my head piece off when it suddenly worked one day. The two clicks may have been nothing more than a sacrificial offering to the DCS gods, but it worked nonetheless. Now that we have 1.2.7 update 1, all I had to do was uncheck "fullscreen" in the game's options and it works. (Yes, I tried this before resorting to voodoo in the previous version.) I don't know what they change between versions (my setup doesn't chang between versions) but in my experience this problem shifts with each patch.

Glad to hear you are happy with your setup Dave! I don't experience any issues with fan noise. That's never been a concern of mine anyway, but just to give a late response, my case is on the floor, under my desk about 2-3ft from my ears. With a game on I've never noticed the fans going at all. As for SSD, I have windows and several games all on a 180 gb and I've still got 74 gigs free. It's best if you have a secondary HDD to store miscellaneous stuff on and keep the SSD for your primary programs. Again, glad you're happy with the 290. This late after release, I'm guessing yours is non-flashable? I got mine the day after release and I ended up with the first Non-Flashable version. If I had ordered day of I might have gotten lucky like other folks have.

Doh! I hate to be the pilot who cried SAM, but this was a quickly resolved problem... I got a wild hair up my rear and decided to double check the SoftTH config file again...Zclear was set to 1 and it reminded me of an old post by Peter P regarding the Zclear setting. I switched it to 0 (off) and everything works! A few mysteries remain...I know I set this to 0 in the past...might have accidentally set it to 1 when I re-installed SoftTH. The other is I'm still not sure what the difference is between 1.2.5 and 1.2.6, since Zclear was still set to 1 in .5 but there was no problem. In the end, everything is well again! Sorry for yelling about the sky falling!

Hello all, Background: I run a 1920x1200 monitor with two 600x800 Lilliputs for MFCD export via SoftTH. Le Problem: 1.2.6 (as well as 1.2.3 IIRC) loads as if it were a secondary window, rather than the primary. The result is I can see the game screen just like normal but I can only click a portion of it. The left & right thirds of the screen are displayed properly, but it's like there's a clear window that I can't click through. This becomes a problem because I can load the game and even get into a mission...but I can't exit, close out menus, or manipulate the cockpit. The issue is exacerbated because SoftTH disables Alt-Tab functionality. I have to Ctrl+alt+del every time. I have two options. A: I stop exporting the MFCDs (turning expensive USB monitors into nice conversation pieces) or B: I roll back to 1.2.5 because it didn't have this problem (and lose ability to play with everyone else on 1.2.6). Neither is ideal. I've had this problem on Nvidia and AMD, and it persists through a clean windows install (formatted for the sake of Fall cleaning). I'm looking for any insight on a workaround, another way to export MFCDs to the USB monitors, or perhaps something I haven't thought to try? Thanks for any help!

Thanks for the replies everyone, this post got more traction when I found a "solution" than when I was having the problem, lol. 1 - I did only have 6 gigs of ram when I posted this, so you're not crazy Sith. That said, I still wasn't capping out. 2 - I had a GTX 680 at the time I was having this issue, so it's not R9 290 related From the error log, I thought it may have been something involving DirectX. What I did for a short time was host the server on my laptop, and play as a client on my desktop. That way when the mission crashed at least the server didn't go with it. I haven't tried Dragon maps since upping to 12gigs and the 290. I will give it another go and post back if I see anything different.

3120x1200 vs 1920x1200 Alrighty, had a chance to do that second comparison. Here's the results: Not exporting the MFCDs actually made a sizeable difference on Low settings. On high, there's 2-3 fps lost. 15-18fps is the absolute lowest I've seen, but I'll reiterate that this is intended to represent the worst-case scenario. In normal circumstances I'm seeing 40-45fps, with lows of about 30 when inbound to land in a busy area (trees!). Again, hope this is informative in some fashion!

Long version: It does a little bit. I've got SoftTH setting the virtual resolution and the extra 1200px width is only used to export MCDS, so it's not a significant loss. I did do a quick test in 1920x1200 to see how it felt but I didn't do specific settings or run a bench. Short version: I'll try to rerun the benches in that resolution tonight or tomorrow and post an update for ya.

Check out some reviews of the gtx 780ti and r9 290x...most sites show performance being nearly equal. Same thing with gtx 780 and r9 290. Hard ocp has good reviews on each card and tech report even has scatterplots that give a nice visual.

Cool, look forward to hearing your results TZeer.

I updated the reserved 2nd post to include a link to the benchmark track. Thanks for the idea, SkateZilla.

Here's a link to download the track, in case anyone wants to replicate for their own benchmark/comparing purposes. You'll see the nosewheel steering light flash 3x as the first benchmark begins. You'll also see it come back on at the end of bench 1, and flash 3x again as bench 2 begins. Part 1 fps are pretty steady, part 2 varies as you gain altitude. Recommend running a 60 sec fraps bench to get reliable figures. http://www.mediafire.com/?h27148511gmxtdq

Hello again all, As you probably know, the latest battles in the graphics card department are raging, and I felt like doing some benchmark comparisons for anyone interested. Basically, I'm rehashing my previous effort with the 6990 vs 680 found here. Once again, I ran two FRAPS benchmarks for 60 seconds each. I picked an area that I typically see the LOWEST performance in (same place as the last comparison). This way, I know the cards are taxed, and the results are indicative of the worst case scenario. Benchmark 1: Runway start at Senaki-Kolkhi with the TAD on the left MFCD(default display), and the TGP (White hot) on the right. I made a waypoint in a nearby town, and slewed the TGP to it. This way the TGP display has trees (lots of trees), some buildings, and smoke. Benchmark 2: Right after benchmark 1 hits 60 seconds, I throttle up and begin the second test with take-off. Once in the air I hit auto-pilot at a 5 degree climb. TGP is still staring at the waypoint. For consistency, I flew the benchmarks then ran the actual tests on the recorded track. This ensures the exact same experience across every test. Each benchmark was run on low, medium and high settings. Specific settings, and results are below. So there were a couple surprises... First, on low settings the GTX 680 floored the R9 290. If you have either of these cards, you're not gonna play on LOW settings...but I thought it was interesting anyway. Second, the R9 290 performs about the same regardless of the AA level. I ran 16x AA and got the same results as 8x and 4x. I didn't think to run a 16x test before I took the 680 out so I don't have numbers for that, but the 290 can max out AA with no real hit to FPS. Final Thoughts: After reading a lot of reviews, I decided to get an R9 290 because it performs very closely to the 290X, and is ONLY $400. I sold my GTX 680 for $300, so my upgrade was pretty cost effective. In my case, the worst case performance of the 290 is about 20-30% better than the 680. For a net cost of $100, I'm happy with that. HOWEVER... If you have a 680, I would stick with it another generation, unless you play other games that benefit more from an upgrade, or you are able to make a deal like I did. Outright, I do not feel the increase is worth the cost of a new card. Once EDGE comes out, the option to get another GTX 680 for $300 or less will surely stomp the single 290 option. As mentioned, this is representative of "worst case". For the average mission, my experience on the GTX 680 was usually ~30fps. The R9 290 is giving me around 40fps. With mirrors on and MFCDs set to 1024 every frame, I'm getting about 25fps.Your mileage may vary. I'm currently running a 1920x1200 main display with MFCDs exported to 8'' lilliputs. This does reduce FPS vs displaying MFCDs in the cockpit. Another consideration is your resolution. As the resolution goes up, the 290 is known to pull away from the 680 (or 770). I hope this has been informative, feel free to leave any questions or comments below. Thanks! Edit: Drivers used for testing were Nvidia's 320.49 and AMD's 13.11 Beta 9.2.

Following up in case anyone see's this post down the road...I noticed the problem was only occurring when I played a "Dragon's" map. I love the maps, and I know he put a lot of work into them, but I have not had an error since I stopped playing on them. I think it may have something to do with having exported MFCDs with SoftTH, because a friend of mine (non exported) didn't get the errors at all, but for some reason I couldn't go 30 min without crashing. Anyhow, my "fix" was to stop playing on some of my favorite maps...I know it sucks, but hopefully this may help if someone else has a similar issue. On the plus side, I've learned how to use the mission editor to make my own maps!

Hey guys, sorry for the delay...I've been busy at work so I haven't had a chance to provide an update to my original post until now. I updated to 1.2.6 last night and everything is working perfectly again! I didn't do anything except move the files in the "backup.00x" folder back into their appropriate folders. No more ghost window that prevents me from clicking within DCS. I see that some folks are still having issues. I am all too familiar with the feeling that comes with "it's always something"...I wish you the best of luck in finding a solution.

Hi all, Since downloading the latest patch, I've been having a problem. The game loads up (multiplayer server) but it seems like it no longer starts as the active window. I use SoftTH to push my MFCDs to two Lilliput USB monitors. As you may know, SoftTH adds some nice features but removes some functionality like being able to Alt-Tab from the game. When DCS gets loaded and it's not the active window, I see the game just like normal but my mouse clicks on whatever is "behind" that visual. This leaves me able to do as much as my joystick will let me, but I cant click any switches or even exit the game. I can only click what's hidden behind the game's visual. I have to ctrl+alt+del and logoff or restart because I can't click Exit. My mouse just clicks on whatever window is behind the exit button. Has anyone else had this issue, or know how to get DCS back to being the active window on startup?

This page has a more detailed and lengthy way to edit the file as well...gonna give this one a try tonight: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1775015#post1775015

Solved Found a possible solution in the input/output forums...http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=105321 Specifically, Not sure which lines to edit but will plug and play for a bit and followup with the result.

Hi all, I'm running a custom display setup via SoftTH. It's a 1920x1200 monitor in center with a 600x800 LCD on each side (for exporting MFDs in A10 & KA50). The Huey doesn't have MFDs, but in 1.2.4 the "weapon hints"/autopilot overlay displayed on my right side LCD. That left my center monitor clean and dedicated to the cockpit. Now in 1.2.5 the weapon hints/autopilot overlay is displayed (very largely) on my center monitor and is a bit in the way. Can anyone guide me to the LUA that controls the weapon hints/autopilot overlay? I'd like to move it back to my side LCD where it's out of the way. Any insight is appreciated, -Phox

logs and the second half:

logs It's a bit long, but here is the first half of the accompanying DCS log: Thanks for looking, and to anyone who might have an idea of what's going on!

Hey all, I am getting a consistent crash that I can't figure out. Crash log: I'm not sure what this actually means, but it looks like there is a problem with dx drawing an effect. Can anyone provide detail or insight? I have seen no pattern to the cause, but the log is always the same, "impl@effects". It's random, and has occurred when I join, when I shoot, when I am shot at, and randomly as I fly. The cause is not consistent as far as I can tell, but again the log is always the same. Any insight is appreciated!