doveman

You mean Rift? I've got no interest in that at the moment as by all accounts, the resolution is inadequate for DCS. Maybe it will be a viable option one day but in the meantime, I want to be able to use three monitors.

Thanks for the info :thumbup:

I very much appreciate your profiles Capt Zeen, as I know from trying myself how difficult it can be to create Helios profiles. However, I would like to ask you to consider making some changes. 1. The Shvkal screen should be rectangular I believe, from looking at the in-cockpit one, whereas your Helios one is square, which must surely result in a distorted view, so if you could either extend it's width or reduce it's height to make it rectangular and a size that will allow us to maintain the aspect ratio, that would be great. I appreciate that there may not be enough room to extend the width, so reducing the height might be the best option, which would make it about 810x542. 2. I feel the Abris is somewhat taller than it needs to be and again doesn't allow us to maintain the aspect ratio, so if you could reduce both the height and width, to make it around 537x668, that would be great. 3. If you reduce the size of the Abris, then perhaps you could move the PVI to underneath it. As this is where it is, on the right, in the cockpit, I just find it a bit disorientating having it on the left as it is at present. Same goes for the Autopilot buttons. The datalink, radios and weapons switches are fine where they are. 4. You could perhaps swap the Shvkal and central gauges/warning lights over, so that the Shvkal is in the middle next to the Abris and the gauges are on the left, which will match the cockpit layout better. I appreciate it's easy to suggest things and it would involve a lot of work making these changes and I'll understand if you don't want to or don't have the time. As I say, I'm very grateful that you've shared what you've created with us, as I certainly couldn't have done anything like it myself, I just feel these suggestions would make it even better. In case it helps anyone else setting up their exports for this profile, this is what I got with EMC. I'm using two 1920 wide monitors in a horizontal arrangement (as far as Windows/DCS are concerned anyway, I can obviously physically put the second monitor wherever I want), so if you have your monitors setup the same way, these should work for you and save you having to position things yourself. I'm no expert though, so if anyone notices I've got something wrong, please point it out. ED_KA50_Shkval = { x = 1927; y = 7; width = 809; height = 650; } ED_KA50_ABRIS = { x = 3251; y = -1; width = 587; height = 838; } ED_KA50_PVI = { x = 1956; y = 678; width = 212; height = 107; } ED_KA50_Ekran = { x = 3080; y = 955; width = 162; height = 116; } ED_KA50_UV26 = { x = 2751; y = 533; width = 307; height = 84; }

I had a lot of trouble when I installed my touchscreen, with Windows 8.1 insisting that my non-touchscreen was the touchscreen and any presses on it activating on the non-touchscreen. I tried all the settings/calibration, etc in Windows but eventually I fixed it by swapping the cables over, so now I have the touchscreen/secondary on Displayport and the non-touchscreen/primary on DVI. Maybe there was another way to fix it but I couldn't find it, so maybe this will help someone else who runs into the same problem.

Can anyone tell me what can be exported from FC3 aircraft and what we have to put in our monitorconfig.lua to enable these? When I fly the F-15C I get the left-hand radar scan display on my secondary monitor but nothing else. I haven't tried with any other FC3 aircraft yet.

At the moment, we have to edit multiple luas to do various tweaks. Even though we can use JSGME to do these, it means we have to copy the original lua to our JSGME/mod folder, edit it, then enable it. Then when DCS is updated, we have to disable the mods, check to see if the original lua has been changed at all by the update and if so, copy the updated one to our JSGME/mod folder and make our edits to that. Then repeat all that for every lua that we've edited. Even if we can put our modified luas in Saved Games\ and I'm not sure if that works for every lua, (JSGME is probably not needed for this, as DCS doesn't update anything in Saved Games as far as I'm aware), that just means we don't have to enable/disable the mods when updating DCS but we still have to check the original luas after each update to see if they've been changed and if so, make new copies to Saved Games\ and re-edit them. What I propose is to have a single file in Saved Games\Config, e.g. userconfig.lua, in which we can put all our tweaks to the various luas. This could be done using headings, like ViewPortHandling under which any tweaks to ViewPortHandling.lua would go. Assuming that the luas all use variables that are distinct to them and not shared or common with any other lua, then these headings might not actually be needed by DCS internally but they'd help users to organise and understand the file. Then the only time we'd need to change our userconfig.lua is if we wanted to change something, add a new tweak or if ED changed the name of one of the variables used in the luas (which hopefully they can commit not to doing). Many mods probably only change one or two lines in a lua, so for example one mod I use I believe only changes these two lines in MissionEditor.lua: main_w = 1024 main_h = 768 So if main_w and main_h are only used in this lua, DCS will know what to do with them, regardless of whether the userconfig.lua uses headers or not. I'm not sure when exactly luas are loaded/processed but the userconfig.lua could be used in two ways, depending on how DCS works. One way would be to load it after everything else, substituting/overwriting (in memory) the values within for those in the original luas. The other way would be to load it into memory first and then refer to it every time an lua is processed and substitute the values within for those loaded from the original lua. So for example, MissionEditor.lua is processed and loads main_w and main_h into RAM somewhere, then DCS refers to userconfig.lua (which has already been stored in RAM to avoid constantly having to load it from HDD/SSD) and overwrites main_w and main_h wherever they are being stored in RAM. I suppose this would require DCS to use a table of sorts to reference where each variable is stored, as they're obviously not going to be loaded to the same specific location in RAM each time. I think I'll stop now, as I'm no programmer and I might not be making much sense but I think I've explained the idea at least and hopefully someone who is a programmer can explain how this would work better and ED will see the benefit and implement it.

From what I've read, most folks who are running multiple displays are using three screens for the view (plus whatever else they're using for Helios, etc) but at the moment there's no way for us to set an offset so that the side monitors display the views they should for what angle they're set at. All we get is an extended, flat, forward view and physically angling the side monitors in doesn't change that and just gives a distorted unrealistic view. What ED need to do is allow us to set the FOV and lateral offset for each monitor, as is possible with X-Plane, so for example, if each of the side monitors are angled at 45 degrees from the central monitor, we'd set the left monitor to -45 offset and the right to +45 offset, so that those monitors show what we would see IRL looking at 45 degrees off-centre. Or we could put the monitors 90 degrees to either side of our head and set them to -90 and +90 to give a view directly left and right. Or any other angle we want to use. All this needs in the options is a setting "Enable Triple-Screen" and then it should show settings for the Left, Central and Right monitors, allowing us to set the display number, lateral offset and FOV for each (although the latter is probably going to be the same for all three, so there could perhaps just be one global setting for that). With X-Plane, traditionally this has required multiple PCs, each running a copy of X-Plane and slaved to the master PC but with more powerful CPUs and GPUs, this can now be done with a single PC, as per this guide http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?...c=65660&page=1 It's still fiddly with X-Plane, as it requires making three copies of the install folder (mostly symlinks though, so it doesn't take up much extra storage space), then adjusting the settings for each, including distinct network ports and running in windowed mode and moving each window manually to the appropriate monitor (or using something like Actual Multiple Monitors to do this automatically). With DCS running all three screens from one PC, there's no need to bother the user with network ports or running multiple copies, as DCS can handle the syncing internally by itself and even if it's easier for it to run multiple instances of the image generator (as that's all the left and right monitors require, with the rest of the sim processed by the first instance) then DCS can do that in the background by itself, without the user even being aware.

One thing people should bear in mind is that you need to be no further than 3.5ft away from a 55" UHD screen to fully appreciate the extra resolution over a 1080p set. That's not to say you won't notice any difference if you're further away and in one, albeit rather unscientific, test, people could tell the difference from 9ft away http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/4k-resolution-201312153517.htm but the benefit starts to drop off after 3.5ft. From 5ft, you'd need a 85" to fully appreciate it and from 7ft, a 110". http://carltonbale.com/does-4k-resolution-matter/ So as far as living room TVs are concerned, where the average viewing distance is 8-9ft, a UHD TV is really a big waste of money. Simming is actually one of the things they might actually be useful for, as we tend to sit a lot closer to the displays and certainly with a desk pit, you're likely to be within 3.5ft of the display, it's more with cockpits, where the seat tends to be that much further from the display, that you need to think about this and consider whether your money would be better spent on something else, maybe an OLED for it's better contrast/black levels, or just saved until something more useful comes along.

Bad idea IMHO. DCS can already run three monitors (or four with a extra one for Helios or similar) with a decent CPU and GPU and I imagine that's overwhelmingly the most common multi-screen setup, so that's what they should focus their efforts on. What ED need to do is allow us to set the FOV and lateral offset for each monitor, as is possible with X-Plane, so for example, if each of the side monitors are angled at 45 degrees from the central monitor, we'd set the left monitor to -45 offset and the right to +45 offset, so that those monitors show what we would see IRL looking at 45 degrees off-centre. Or we could put the monitors 90 degrees to either side of our head and set them to -90 and +90 to give a view directly left and right. Or any other angle we want to use. At the moment, the three screens just display a wider, flat, forward view and physically angling them in doesn't change that and just gives a distorted unrealistic view. All it needs in the options is a setting "Enable Triple-Screen" and then it should show settings for the Left, Central and Right monitors, allowing us to set the display number, lateral offset and FOV for each (although the latter is probably going to be the same for all three, so there could perhaps just be one global setting for that). With X-Plane, traditionally this has required multiple PCs, each running a copy of X-Plane and slaved to the master PC but with more powerful CPUs and GPUs, this can now be done with a single PC, as per this guide http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=65660&page=1 It's still fiddly with X-Plane, as it requires making three copies of the install folder (mostly symlinks though, so it doesn't take up much extra storage space), then adjusting the settings for each, including distinct network ports and running in windowed mode and moving each window manually to the appropriate monitor (or using something like Actual Multiple Monitors to do this automatically). With DCS, there's no need to bother the user with network ports or running multiple copies, as DCS can handle the syncing internally by itself and even if it's easier for it to run multiple instances of the image generator (as that's all the left and right monitors require, with the rest of the sim processed by the first instance) then DCS can do that in the background by itself, without the user even being aware. Along with separating the views out like this, so each screen is running individually at 1920x1080, rather than one large 5760x1080 display that covers all three screens, it would also be useful to have the exports directed to a specific display, i.e number 4 in Windows terms, so that they can be positioned within that 1920x1080 area, rather than having to extend the DCS display area as we currently do, so for 3+1 in a line that's 7680x1080 and then position the exports within that area, e.g. for the Left MFCD 5761,0. Whilst that would still be using the same overall area/number of pixels, it would simplify things for users and make it easier for them to share setups, as it wouldn't matter whether someone had a 1+1 setup for DCS/Helios or a 3+1 setup, the MFCD, etc positions would still be the same. Once ED has provided us with settings to enable us to properly setup a three monitor view on a single PC, then they can of course look at syncing multiple copies on multiple PCs for even more displays if they want but it would be completely premature to work on that now, when it won't be of interest or benefit to most users.

I don't really get what Eyefinity does. I mean, by default Windows will use three 1920x1080p monitors as a single 5760x1080 desktop and DCS can be set to the same and use the entire area, so what difference does it make if I create an Eyefinity Display Group?

Kudos to you sir, those are some damn fine looking panels!

Cool, glad I could help. Lol, I know. I just got one myself as I've always found them too expensive but I got a good deal on this one. Just need to sort out my desk so I have room to put it where I want and then no more trying to remember keyboard commands :)

Just a thought as you don't mention it but have you set your resolution to cover both monitors, e.g. for two 1920x1080 monitors in a horizontal arrangement it would be 3840x1080 or in a vertical arrangement 1920x2160?

Next question. Does anyone understand how there can be both this type of mod, which modifies the files in the specific aircraft folders and this http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=96829 which modifies CockpitsHDTextures.zip in the \Bazar\World\textures folder? I just can't understand how the cockpit files can be in two different places :huh:

Thanks Lizzard, I was clearly doing it totally wrong so not surprising it didn't work :doh:

Thanks for the info, I understand why the Due needs the debugger/programmer now. They do seem rather expensive though, so I would probably use an XPro board instead, to keep costs down. I'm actually wondering whether I should just keep the F-16 stick intact and wire up both the switches and pots to an Arduino or Hempstick and use it for flying planes. It rather depends on whether the pots in the F-16 stick are any good. I'm sure it's possible to replace them or even substitute hall sensors but that might be a bit beyond me. My FFB2 probably has sufficient buttons for the KA-50 or UH-1H, so I could just use the existing stick with an extension for those and switch to the F-16 stick when I want to fly planes. I'll probably still need to buy a throttle for those, which could be the TM Hog one if it's available separately or something else.

Great, thanks. This will be very helpful for my Dad when I give him some pedals for Christmas :)

Really? I never found that screw. I've given it to my Dad now, so I'll have to check it again when I'm over there.

EDIT: Ignore me, I'm stupid!

OK, thanks. I'll try and find it. Regarding moving the kneeboard, that seems problematic if it has to be done with \DCS World\Scripts\Aircrafts\_Common\Cockpit\ViewportHandling.lua, as that affects all aircraft and not all Helios profiles are going to be designed to have the Kneeboard in the same place (or even at all).

Glad to hear it. I see they developed the engine for the Arrow, so at least there was some connection there.

Don't I know it. I'm British and politics has resulted in us spending ridiculous sums of money on aircraft carriers without any suitable aircraft to launch from them :doh:

Yeah, seems a real shame, not just for the aviation industry but all the supporting industries, not to mention the possible non-aviation related spinoffs that often result from large military industries. Sorry to hear your Grandfather got caught up in this mess. Did he manage to find alternative work in his field, either in Canada or abroad?

Thanks, I'll look out for that. Much as I enjoyed the movie, I'm sure the book will give me a much more accurate description of events.

Yeah, I suspected it was probably just hyperbole in the closing captions but was interested to know what other people thought. Thanks for the info. Not when I'm using Tapatalk as it's not shown ;)