Sgt_Baker

Hi there, Both of you might like to try the two most recent beta builds available here, the latter of which specifically addresses the multiplayer issue and instant action crash. --Baker

This is shitty design on the part of OR. All display drivers should respect other drivers. The concept of "exclusive mode" no longer exists in graphics on Windows. Sure, an app can take "exclusive" control of one screen, yet Windows keeps rendering everything else - thus the "exclusive mode" device really isn't. And hasn't been "exclusive" since Win7 (or perhaps Vista). Does that make sense?

In that case it is theoretically much easier than it would be for a full-VR implementation. You might run in to issues where uMFCD complains and refuses to run under fullscreen, which is the result of its historical design. On the other hand, if you don't need to click or move the displays, the fullscreen issue is moot, so perhaps I'll consider that as more of a priority than it has been hitherto. So the question is this: Do the Lilliputs work /at all/ when OR is operating? I.e. do they display the Windows desktop?

This is something for which I currently have no hard data. That said, I'm inclined to guess that it wouldn't work out of the box. That and there's no easy way to develop in that direction without purchasing an OR - which is precisely why uMFCD needs to go commercial in the near future. So do you mean you flip up the "visor" when using the MFCDs? -- Baker Edit: I'm slowly getting around to creating a "pure DirectX" implementation of the GUI, which would certainly allow uMFCD to work within fullscreen scenarios, and by extension that would likely open the possibility of it working in VR setups too. It's surprisingly easy to make things stereoscopic once you're at that point. Now the real question is whether people would want the VR exports to be fixed in place in the VR world, or to act like they were mounted inside the helmet, like modern HMDs allow...

Just a quick heads up. UltraMFCD 2.5.7 Beta is available here. Now everything works properly in multiplayer. --Baker Change log: * FIXED: UltraMFCD now passes multiplayer integrity checks. (Except for colour LITENING functionality. This is a legitimate unfair advantage in multiplayer, so allowing this change should be at the discretion of server admins. Switch this option off is you fail to pass the integrity check.) * FIXED: Mission start dialogs no longer invisible during cold start and certain multiplayer scenarios. * FIXED: Display buttons now work in multiplayer. * FIXED: Ka-50 Shkval now respects request for no cockpit rendering in DCS 2.x NTTR. * Improved: Better FPS when graphics card close to 100% load. Known issues: * Not compatible with DCS 1.5.4 or below. * Exit mission dialog invisible after eject/crash. Entering F10 map view will enable the quit dialog. * Air/ground unit labels (Shift-F10) do not display properly. * TGP image doesn't update when in external views (F2 etc). This is because DCS itself no longer updates the TGP when you're "outside" the cockpit. * DCS kneeboard renders incorrectly.

It's not AlaskanGrizzly's fault. That's what I'm getting at here. :)

New IC checks as of 1.5.4, Fakum. A lot of mods will currently fail the checks in MP. Seems up to the developers to engage in a long-winded "authorised mod" process. Incidentally, this is part of the changelog for the latest internal build of uMFCD. I did not engage in the long-winded process: * FIXED: UltraMFCD now passes multiplayer integrity checks.

Hi Strike, Please submit a Diagnostics Package as per the instructions here. Saves a whole load of back-and-forth. :) --Baker

Forgot to ask: Are you running the absolute latest versions of DCS? They changed lots of things between 1.5.4 and 1.5.5. This version of uMFCD doesn't work with the former.

There's always one. :) Mind posting a diag package over at http://forum.ultramfcd.com/topics/3-Support?bugs=?

UltraMFCD 2.5.5 for DCS 1.5.5 and DCS 2.0.4 NTTR is available Click, Drag, Resize and Enhance DCS exports. Zero configuration - just launch and fly. Download link: https://ultramfcd.com/ 2.5.5 Changelog: * Reintroduced: A-10C's RWR, Clock and CMSC. * Reintroduced: KA-50's Shkval and ABRIS. * FIXED: Now works with DCS 1.5.5 and DCS 2.0.4 NTTR. * FIXED: Windows 7 "black screens" problem solved. * FIXED: UltraMFCD now works with low/medium water settings, HDR enabled and Lens Effects enabled. * FIXED: KA-50 warning panel no longer renders within Shkval and ABRIS exports. * Improved: Simplified core engine. Places much less strain on DCS. * Improved: Smoother rendering of exported displays. * Improved: Overall stability better. Complicated behind-the-scenes changes to how DCS and uMFCD communicate should result in fewer crashes. * Improved: Vastly better error handling. Much higher probability of uMFCD producing a Diagnostics Package that is useful for solving problems. Known issues: * Not compatible with DCS 1.5.4 or below. * Exit mission dialog invisible after eject/crash. Entering F10 map view will enable the quit dialog. * Air/ground unit labels (Shift-F10) do not display properly. * TGP image doesn't update when in external views (F2 etc). This is because DCS itself no longer updates the TGP when you're "outside" the cockpit. * DCS kneeboard renders incorrectly. Happy flying! --Baker

Edit: This post is now irrelevant.

Hi folks, Apparently DCS 1.5.5 has completely broken uMFCD. But fret not! Already fixed on this end, and will be releasing a hotfix in short order. Would be releasing in this very post, but going to see whether I can get it to work in DCS 2.0 as well. Watch this space. --Baker

Hey folks, For those of you who've been experiencing the notorious "black screen" problem, I've just finished a patch which doesn't necessarily fix the problem, but should provide explicit information regarding the black screens error in the diag package. If this problem has affected you, please give this build a whirl and post a diag package. Incidentally, what this build /does/ fix is all manner of strange occurring when people have multiple graphics cards with multiple monitors attached. Feedback would be much appreciated. :) https://ultramfcd.com/Downloads/UlraMFCD.2.4.2.Prerelease.BlackScreenHunt.zip Cheers, Baker

Hold shift while dragging the corner and resize width/height independently. :) --Baker (Always pleasing when an already-implemented feature request comes up)

Let's not beat about the bush. The software needs to be weapons-grade before I charge a penny.

uMFCD should run identically on Win 7, 8 and 10. It's designed not to use any features unique to 8 or 10, simply because I anticipated that tonnes of people would put off upgrading for as long as possible. That said, there are always quirks to any given OS version that will break stuff from time to time, and the only way to really know what's going on is to run full-fat versions of each OS (before anybody mentions it: VMs don't count, as they have very limited access to GFX card functionality). As for paying, how can you be ripping me off if you've not got software that works? :) The time for paid versions of uMFCD is near, although not as near as it was when we were in the DX9 versions with DCS 1.2.6. It's a catch 22. Developing software like this is expensive, due to the non-cooperative nature by which it pulls data from DCS, yet it is also implicitly somewhat fragile as a direct result. The question is "when am I comfortable to charge, and by what means?"

It's looking increasingly like it's something related to Win 7 in particular. I'd have to sift through all the diag packs to confirm, but the suspicion is that something has crept in to the code that breaks on Win7. I develop in Win 10, so it's a bit more convoluted to test on this end. I just tried running with your helios export.lua and everything was fine. Additionally, both G00dnight and @BillyReedMusic both run uMFCD alongside Helios with no problems, so let's not point the finger in that direction. Given that DCS is running happily and the displays are showing up and movable (despite being useless), things could be much worse. I hope you appreciate that it's difficult to debug a problem I can't see, touch and fiddle with in person. I'm going to bit the bullet and install Win7 to see whether I can reproduce the issue in said environment. Regards, Baker

Hey Jerry, Out of interest, have you tried running uMFCD without Helios active? Should be as simple as temporarily renaming your export.lua to something like export.lua.ignore. --Baker

In somewhat related news, I'm not the best virtual pilot on this earth. While I know my way around a number of aircraft, there are always better pilots out there. As you might imagine, I fly a lot of test flights for uMFCD. However, sometimes I get carried away. This screenshot is the first, and likely only time I'll ever destroy an entire SA-11 site using the cannon alone. And only then because I screwed up the Maverick release but decided to press home the attack at NoE (my left wingtip touched the ground at one point) regardless. (We all get to brag sometimes, right?) :)

Setup in Windoze as above/below, right? If that's the case, it's a known bug in the most recent release, and one which I've hopefully just finished patching as of yesterday. You could try the latest pre-relase to see whether the problem is remedied. If not, it's another of those pesky "black screens" bugs that we're still chasing. https://ultramfcd.com/Downloads/UltraMFCD.2.4.1.Prerelease.BillyReed.zip --Baker

What kind of screen setup do you have?

Oh, could you try exactly what you did the first time once again, please? Beginning to suspect there's a bug where all exports are screwed (everything works except the imagery) on first run...

Which mods are you running, Econ? As far as the diag package goes, I'm seeing this from the DCS log: === Log opened UTC 2016-10-08 12:47:39 00000.000 INFO VFS: Using 'Saved Games': "C:\Users\Econ\Saved Games" 00000.105 INFO DCS: DCS/1.5.4.57288 (x86_64; Windows/6.1.7601) 00000.105 INFO DCS: CPU cores: 4, System RAM: 8174 MB === Log closed. ...and that's it. Could this be some conflict between the stuff in your export.lua an uMFCD? --Baker

Hi Rolibi, This is clearly another thing that I need to fix. The internal engine still needs some tweaks, as some glitches remain even in single-player. Will bundle getting those sorted with the multiplayer fixes. Regards, Baker