doveman
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Posts posted by doveman
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i'm gonna rename myself mr obvious but i'd like to point out that on UK keyboards the default comms key (with various modifiers) is the one with ~ and # on it next to the enter button and not the one over by left shift that has \ marked on it. Try it while assigning keys in dcs (if you have a uk keyboard that is)
Yeah, that's messed up. DCS sees the \ key as OEM102 and the ~/# key as \. I also don't have a right Win key and the key I do have DCS sees as Apps (I don't strictly have a R-Alt as it's marked Alt Gr but luckily DCS sees it as R-Alt, Xpadder doesn't see it at all which is rather useless), so it looks like any default mappings that use \, ~, # or R-Win won't work. I don't know if those keys are actually used for anything (other than \ for the Comms menu/SPU-9 PTT) but if so, it would be nice if ED would provide a default key-mapping that's compatible with UK keyboards.
Rather than have to remember that I have to press # instead of \ all the time, I just added a map for R-Alt+OEM102 (and just OEM102 for Communications Menu) and now I can open the Comm menu, albeit on the upper right of my right-hand monitor, so still not much use as I'll have Helios running on that so won't be able to see it.
Not sure what difference there is between Comm menu and SPU-9 PTT though as they both open the same menu.
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I'm running dual-screen and the Comm menu isn't working at all. I normally run Helios on the right-hand screen but even with that off, so that I only have the Shkval and Abris viewports on it surrounded by empty space the comm menu doesn't appear on there either.
It's obviously not even opening in some hidden space as pressing the F keys just changes the view.
I've tried \ and R-Alt+\ I checked the keyboard.lua and that already has the line TurboHog suggests adding. I don't really understand what I'd use R-Alt+\ to PTT for anyway, as what I need is to be able to bring up the Comm menu, or are both \ and R-Alt+\ supposed to do that now?
L-Alt+' does bring up the re-arming & re-fueling menu by the way, albeit split over my two monitors (as is the loading screen but I wasn't really bothered about that).
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I've started a new thread about this problem (and some others I'm having with the Helios profile) in a more appropriate section here http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=94326
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I'm trying to use the DDBrico profile http://www.gadrocsworkshop.com/node/14 with DCS World/BS2 and having a few problems. Note I had to reset this profile for my two displays but I don't think that can be causing any of these issues.
Firstly, the Shvkal display remains showing the static "off" background when the Shvkal comes on, blocking the exported view. I guess that's supposed to auto-hide when it detects the Shvkal comes on, which doesn't appear to be working.
The Abris display seems to have a similar problem and the on/off switch doesn't sync with the KA-50 (when doing auto startup anyway) but flicking the switch on the Helios monitor to On results in the Abris displaying properly, so I guess that switch hides the static background (I don't think there's any matching on/off switch in the Helios profile for the Shvkal that could be used to hide the static background).
I note another Gadroc profile shows the Shvkal and Abris without any static backgrounds http://www.gadrocsworkshop.com/node/17, so do we need to just stop using those?
Another problem is that some of the switches do weird things, like the Blade Tip Light switch on the hidden Panel Elec seems to do what F2 does and switch to an exterior view. It's assigned to {RALT}j though. Perhaps some of the default keys have been changed between this profile being designed and BS2 1.2? Some of the other switches bring up the briefing screen (not sure which key that is).
On the overhead panel, Panel Sup, the Windsh-Wiper switch does make the in-cockpit switch move but it doesn't actually turn the wiper on (it works if I click on the in-cockpit switch rather than the Helios one). Looking at it in the Editor, under Release it has "send keys Keyboard to" set to empty but it also has "Set Mechanical Windshield Wiper Switch on DCS Black Shark to 2" (if I select the upper part of this switch in the Editor, I can see there's a "position one entered" and "position two entered" entry which set it to 5 and 1 respectively) and as I say, it does make the in-cockpit switch move, so it's weird that the wipers don't activate.
Is there a list of keys for BS2 1.2 anywhere as I have a load of documents but they all seem to be for previous versions? A list of just the keys that have changed would be useful as well if anyone has one, as that would enable me to quickly find the Helios switches that need editing.
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I'm running two monitors, with the Abris and Shkval exported to the second one, which runs Helios.
The GUI fix does work for most things but doesn't seem to apply to the loading screen, which still gets spread over the two monitors (although I don't see the right-hand half as Helios is set to Always on Top), which isn't that big a deal but looks rather silly.
This is what I'm using:
_ = function(p) return p; end; name = _('Higgins'); Description = 'Two monitor configuration'; Viewports = { Center = { x = 0; y = 0; width = 1920; height = 1200; viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = 1.6; } } LEFT_MFCD = { x = 2676; y = 73; width = 465; height = 343; } RIGHT_MFCD = { x = 3230; y = 384; width = 370; height = 485; } Gui = { x = 460; y = 0; width = 1024; height = screen.height; } UIMainView = Gui -
I'm still having a few problems.
With Helios, I can't see the Shvkal. I've attached pictures of with and without Helios so you can see the viewports are being exported.
The Shvkal does have a background layer in Helios called "cache Shklval" (SHKVAL_e.png), the same as the ABRIS does (ABRIS_e.png) but for some reason the Shkval one seems to "stay-on-top" and therefore block the Shkval viewport.
Also, when exiting a mission the black background of the ABRIS disappears, leaving my desktop picture poking through. I guess I could either set the desktop on my 2nd monitor to solid black or enjoy a bit of the picture framed in the Abris window ;)
I also find that the Abris on/off switch doesn't always sync with DCS, so that if I have it on and then exit the mission and start another one, the switch stays up and when I turn on the Abris in the cockpit (or Auto-Start does it) the Helios Abris does come on but the switch doesn't move because it's already up. Other times I've found that the Helios Abris isn't displaying, despite the cockpit one being on, until I flick the Helios switch.
I did have to manually resize the Abris off background (ABRIS_e.png) as after resetting the profile to my two monitors it left a gap around the edges which looked bad but I can't see that doing that could be causing the issues with the Abris.
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Try disabling fullscreen. If you want to keep using fullscreen: use softth.
Heh, thanks. That just occurred to me to try and it worked. These things never occur to me until after I've spent three days getting nowhere and writing a long forum post ;)
I should have known that anyway as I learnt about SoftTH a few weeks ago but I've had to reinstall Win7 since then and have been running unmodified until I was sure everything was OK and I just forgot everything I'd learnt recently :doh:
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If I launch BS2 with 1920x1200, which is the res of my main monitor, it loads OK, even if I have my secondary monitor (1920x1080) enabled in Windows as well.
However, if I try and launch with a custom res of 3840x1200 or 3840x1080 it says "DCS has stopped working" when I try and launch BS2 and throws me back to the menu. If I try with this res and a custom MonitorSetup (as below) it does the same thing, so at the moment I can only run it on a single display. I did have it running with Helios on the secondary monitor OK before I had to reinstall Win7 though, so I know it should work.
_ = function(p) return p; end; name = _('Helios'); Description = 'Two monitor configuration'; Viewports = { Center = { x = 0; y = 0; width = 1920; height = 1200; viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = 1.6; } } LEFT_MFCD = { x = 2676; y = 73; width = 465; height = 343; } RIGHT_MFCD = { x = 3230; y = 384; width = 370; height = 485; } Gui = { x = 460; y = 0; width = 1024; height = screen.height; } UIMainView = Gui_ = function(p) return p; end; name = _('Dual Screen-MFCDs on Right'); Description = 'Two monitor configuration'; Viewports = { Center = { x = 0; y = 0; width = 1920; height = 1200; viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = 1.6; } } LEFT_MFCD = { x = 1920; y = 60; width = 960; height = 960; } RIGHT_MFCD = { x = 2880; y = 60; width = 960; height = 960; } Gui = { x = 460; y = 0; width = 1024; height = screen.height; } UIMainView = GuiI'm currently running with an unmodified OptionsData.lua so it looks like this
resolution = { __value__ = '1024x768', control = 'combo', values = {}, binder = 'bindResolutionCombo', },it shows the 3840x1200 res in the list but I guess it's just stored that in the user options.lua from where I typed it in manually last time I ran it.
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Use vsync and when running an instant mission for example hit right ctrl+G (or was it right shift? you'll find out) then you see the fps curve (push G afterwards bc ur landing gear will extract too :) )...if it has spikes you can try smoothing which is Rctrl+E or something and see if the spikes are gone then. If there is no difference then leave if off.
Thanks. DCS started crashing on me and I found out one of my RAM sticks has gone bad suddenly, so I'm going to wait until I get them replaced before testing DCS any more.
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Turns out one of my 4GB Corsair Vengeance sticks has just died suddenly, which was causing the crashes and BSOD. Individually tested, one stick passes memtest and the other throws up errors immediately.
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Hmm, now DCS keeps crashing :mad:
I've been able to actually fly without any problems, it's just after exiting back to the menu (or when it closes before launching KA-50) I get an error message that DCS has crashed and clicking that tends to get me back in, only for it to crash for a second and final time when I click on Next or whatever the button is.
Then, as I was typing this it seems the GPU driver or Aero crashed as the taskbar lost transparency and checking showed that it had switched to Basic Colour and said there was problems with Aero/Transparency (although the troubleshooter couldn't identify what the problem might be). It fixed itself after about 30s though. I'm not sure that was a GPU driver crash as I think CCC generates a message to tell you when that's happened.
I haven't a clue why it's started doing this. All I've done is disconnect the other HDD and until that one BSOD I got just before doing that, I've been running DCS from either drive all day without any problems. I don't think I've installed anything significant in the last 24 hours. I edited the registry keys for DCS to make sure they're pointing to the current path (although it didn't seem to take much notice of them when I had it installed on two drives and I could run one or the other without changing the registry paths) and it's a Vanilla installation (I had edited options.lua just to add a custom res, but I've restored the backup of that already). I've even dialled the CPU overclock back a notch, although it's been stable for ages and the GPU's at stock clocks.
Just as I thought I had it sorted as well :joystick: I guess there's nothing to lose by uninstalling and reinstalling, as I haven't really changed anything yet (I'll make a note of my settings before deleting the user files). I'll try without GameBooster as well, just in case that's shutting down something DCS needs (although I've been using it all this time and haven't changed what it's set to kill.
Looking through the Event log, it seems there were a couple of crashes of the ATI Fuel service in hour before DCS crashed
Faulting application name: Fuel.Service.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4f7e4d8c Faulting module name: Device.dll, version: 4.1.0.0, time stamp: 0x4f55e10b Exception code: 0xc0000005 Fault offset: 0x00000000000033c1 Faulting process id: 0x640 Faulting application start time: 0x01cd907d49eb34be Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Fuel\Fuel.Service.exe Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Fuel\Device.dll Report Id: 96928874-fc70-11e1-b854-8c89a563ffda
and then DCS itself
Faulting application name: dcs.exe, version: 1.2.0.3205, time stamp: 0x4ff3450d Faulting module name: atiumd64.dll, version: 7.14.10.903, time stamp: 0x4f7e458c Exception code: 0xc0000005 Fault offset: 0x000000000049e1ff Faulting process id: 0xe60 Faulting application start time: 0x01cd9080c43d1a0e Faulting application path: D:\Games\DCS World2\bin\dcs.exe Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\atiumd64.dll Report Id: 06c09d41-fc74-11e1-a9c6-8c89a563ffda
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I tested the 500GB HDD on SATA rather than e-SATA and was surprised to see the Burst Rate was a lot higher.
However, I also checked the SMART data and found it's been having UDMA CRC Errors, which it suggests may be caused by a damaged cable.
I actually noticed this when it was on e-SATA and it was on 739 then, so the increase to 767 and then 773 has been since it's been connected by SATA, by a different cable obviously so I doubt the problem is actually a damaged cable. It may be that the two usb leads powering it aren't quite enough, although if that was the case I'd expect far more problems and not be able to run Windows or DCS from it.
Mind you, I just tried running DCS from it once more and my PC BSOD! Might have been a coincidence but I'll disconnect it for now until I can find the PSU for it and stick to running with just the 2TB.
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In my setup 29 or 30 doesn't make a difference (at least with vsync on) and believe me I would see a single drop.
vsync in softTH doesn't do anything without the ingame v-sync on either.
But in all possible cases of FPS;vsync etc ...my outta screens judder...though they show the same fps as the super smooth middle one.
With my old single monitor setup I had better results with maxfps=29 though
Try it! best to go wide angle and look to the side to judge judder.
OK thanks.
I'm still not clear whether I should use smoothing, vsync and triple-buffering in SoftTH when I use it (either for single or dual display) or not though, if anyone knows.
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Then i got good news for you. Assuming it is new to you since you joined the forum july this year.
ED is working on multicore support and the sound engine is already running in its own thread.
Its no easy task though and we won't have all our cores maxed out for a good while to come.
(hopefully they surprise us in this regard whit FC3, missile AFM in separate core maybe???)
That is encouraging news. I look forward to that :)
I found the thread I was thinking about regarding MaxFPS and SoftTH http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1397655&postcount=21
Looking at the first few posts in that thread, it seems we need to use MaxFPS=29 rather than 30 as DCS starts counting at 0, unless they've changed that recently as that's thread's about a year old and about DCS:A-10C.
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@doveman:
Try tweaking Accela and increasing your curve output for yaw. It's also recommended to calibrate your camera. I can supply a lens file if needed. Please email me if you're interested.
Since you're using the Eye, just tell me which FOV you use (70-ish or 50-ish, I need the precise value). I can then compute a lens file. Oh, I also need the EXACT name of the camera that shows on the FTNOIR screen.
Sorry (to Wim too) for not replying sooner. Somehow I managed to not have notification active for this thread, so only just saw your replies!
I haven't had time to play with FTNoIR lately much anyway but I'm interested in trying with a lens file. Regarding the FOV, are you asking for the FOV set in DCS? I haven't changed it (I probably should but don't actually know how to yet) so if you could tell me where to find it, I'll send you the required information.
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Just wondering whether using just MaxFPS=29 and in-game Vsync, or with SoftTH with Vsync on in both that and DCS, plus smoothing and triple-buffering enabled in SoftTH, as per the post below, will work best to give a smooth 30FPS on a single display?
http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1397655&postcount=21
Once I add Helios on a second monitor, will SoftTH's smoothing, Vsync and Triple-Buffering still be usable or do they not work on dual-screen setups?
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Sorted. I reverted to a True Image backup of Windows and Helios loads the profiles in normal time now :)
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The physical position of the monitors really matters for this setup. I tried it out once and could not get it comfortable with my setup. I think that configuring it for more than one aircraft is going to be problematic as well.
If it works for you it will be a nice way to fly.
I think I'll probably use Helios actually. I like the fact that can have hidden tabs to access more controls and I'm skeptical I'll be able to setup the monitors to get only the instrument panel on the bottom monitor. Not to mention the software I use, Actual Multiple Monitors, which is fantastic for switching between monitor setups, doesn't support Eyefinity groups and so I'd have to mess around in CCC each time I wanted to activate that.
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It is because DCS is one of few games that really tests your system, as a whole.
Not just the graphics card by using some fancy blinb bling generators.
Something that makes it even worse is that a lot of people use additonal stuff whit DCS that they don't use whit other games.
TeamSpeak
Multiple External controllers
Helios
TrackIR
and who knows what else.
@ doveman, im afraid the max fps setting won't be that beneficial to you then, but maybe it helps someone else.
No, I think just eliminating the ups and downs by limiting it to 30 FPS will help make things smoother, even if I still get the occassional stutter. That's the impression I got from reading some threads about doing this anyway.
As for stressing the system, as you can see from the results I posted earlier, even with HDR on, the GPU only hit 88% and the CPU 51% (only core4 was fully loaded at 99%), so it seems there's a fair bit of optimisation that needs to be done to use all cores properly at least, particularly as a lot of slowdown appears to be caused by calculating non-graphical data for other nearby helos, which is obviously done by the CPU.
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Well, i got another suggestion to try and eliminate the stutters.
Settle for an overall lower but stable framerate.
Because the framerate dropping from lets say 55 to 40 fps may seem as a stutter.
Given all the details you provided i think your system should be able to run whit 30 fps 90% of the time.
So, here's how to enforce a maximum fps of 30 in DCS.
Navigate to your root DCS folder
Config folder
open graphics.cfg
Look for the line "MaxFPS = 120;" and change the value to 30.
This will cause the game to run at no more then 30 fps, but at least it will be running there comfortably and without stutters most of the time.
(feel free to experiment whit higher/lower fps settings ofcourse)
Next thing to do is leave the fps counter off and enjoy the sim instead.
~S~
It's definitely stutter as the whole thing freezes momentarily and would be noticeable even without a FPS counter, although thankfully it happens rarely when running from the 2TB drive.
Thanks for the suggestion about limiting to 30FPS. I was thinking of doing that anyway but perhaps using softTH instead as I think I read that works better somehow (perhaps something to do with Vsync not working properly with MaxFPS?) and I'm planning to use it to put Helios on my other monitor anyway. I'd use RadeonPro, which can also force triple buffering (I think softTH might be able to do this too) but that isn't compatible with 64-bit games yet.
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Well I tried copying the clean DCS install back to the eSATA drive and running from that I got the stutters again, so it's clearly the drive rather than any mods/settings I was using previously.
As you can see from the attached screenshots, the 500GB eSATA drive is quite a bit slower than the 2TB one, so perhaps it just can't provide the data fast enough for DCS. I'm somewhat surprised as I think ArmaIIOA is supposed to be quite demanding in terms of streaming data and that works fine from this drive but perhaps it's not quite as demanding as DCS.
I don't think the dips mean much as they're probably caused by Windows accessing the drive, particularly for the 2GB as Windows and the pagefile are on it.
I think what I'll try next is running Windows from the 500GB HDD (I've already got a spare partition at the start I can use for this) and run DCS from the 2TB to see if that helps get rid of the remaining few stutters, which may be due to Windows/pagefile accessing the drive.
Then I'll start saving for that SSD (just heard prices are coming down 25%, so that'll help!)
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setting lights to 1 will boost frame rates up , but youll loose visuals on light beams.
I thought it would in Mozdok as there's a few lights there but in my test it didn't make any difference. Maybe it does somewhere else.
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That is just a multi-screen display with the bottom screen being a touch screen.
So if I've got a 1920x1200 and 1920x1080 monitor, I'd just set them to be one big display in CCC and for the Centre viewport I'd just set it like this?
Center =
{
x = 1920;
y = 2280;
width = screen.width;
height = screen.height;
viewDx = 0;
viewDy = 0;
aspect = screen.aspect;
I'm not sure that would put just the instrument panel on the bottom monitor though.
Even if it does, surely then the instrument panel display will shift when moving the main view with TrackIR or hat though but I guess as long as it fits the monitor properly when TrackIR is centered/disabled that would be OK?
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I ran the test on Mozdok again, this time monitoring the CPU/GPU usage and found:
GPU 88%
CPU: 51%
core1 44.5%
core2 65%
core3 67%
core4 99%
So it seems that both the GPU and CPU could be better utilised.
I also did a shorter test (just looking left and right at the start) with HDR off and got 43-30-35, so changing AA from none to 4x and Shadows from Low to High hasn't made things worse (at that location anyway). For this test I also tried setting ["lights"] = 1 in options.lua as suggested by diveplane here as I thought that might have something to do with the drops when looking at the other helos but that didn't make any difference so I'll put that back to 2.
With those settings usage was:
GPU 73.9%
CPU: 46.6%
core1 61.3%
core2 63%
core3 40.6%
core4 87.1%
So it seems the drops aren't being caused by either the GPU or CPU being insufficient.
Issues with Helios profile and DCS World/BS2
in PC Hardware and Related Software
Posted · Edited by doveman
Thanks. I've edited the profile to remove the Shkval "off" background now and now I can see it properly. I can also see my desktop picture in the Shkval are when it's off but I don't mind and as you say, using a black desktop for the Helios monitor will solve that problem.
I don't know if the problems are necessarily due to Helios or just incorrect key-bindings in the particular profile I'm using. I just read (and stupidly lost the page) that RAlt+J is indeed the wrong binding for the Blade Tip Light switch, or at least it's incorrectly bound twice so that it switches to exterior view, so that's a DCS bug.
I haven't actually tried switching the ABRIS with a key-binding, I was just testing with the auto-startup sequence and it didn't switch on in Helios. If I start a mission where everything, including the ABRIS, is powered up, it's switched off in Helios until I flick that switch as well. I could just remove the ABRIS "off" background as I did with the Shkval one though, as a workaround.
Thanks for the list of known non-working bindings. I'll check those on the profile I'm using.