GregP

I think the massive framerate increases some people see in going from XP to Vista (Munny being a case in point) have to do with XP by default not taking advantage of multiple cores while Vista does. In my own experience, using DCSmax under both XP and Vista - and thus presumably roughly equal utilization of multiple cores between the two OSes - my framerates go from 45-50 in Instant Action in XP to 51-57 under Vista.

Absolutely! Here's what you do - package them up all nice and safe, drop them in the mail addressed to my house, and I promise to make downright splendid use of them in boosting up my framerates. :) Short of that, I guess overclocking the i7 wouldn't hurt; if BS is anything like LockOn - and I believe it is - CPU power is just as important, if not more so, than GPU power. When I overclock my E6700 from 2.66 to 3.5, I see a pretty linear increase in framerate in LockOn.

Well, this may be a dumb question, but are you certain it's actually applying the settings in-game? i.e. have you taken screenshots and then compared them outside the game? With Nvidia's Control Panel, you have to point the drivers to the "DCS.exe" in order to have it "take" the AA/AF settings - using the "launcher.exe" will not do anything, as that is just the GUI.

Actually that could be exactly my problem - do these default to the left monitor? If so, that would explain it. Good idea, I'll try shifting Shkval and ABRIS over to my right monitor.

yO!, What are you trying to do with 3 monitors? Just extend the cockpit view? Or put Shkval/ABRIS on separate monitors?

AlphaInfinity, My understanding is that the phantom monitor, especially if on the left, needs to use the same res as the right monitor. Therefore, your assumption in your numbers of 1024 on the left screen makes BS think the right screen should be 1024 also, and therefore it doesn't center your Shkval and ABRIS correctly. Two things you could try to test this: 1) Drop the res (in Nvidia/ATI Control Panel) of your right monitor to 1024. 2) Go through your test.lua and options.lua and re-set your numbers based on assuming 1280 width on both left and right monitors.

OK, so I went back and did a more rigorous test of what effect adding the second video card had, and the short answer is: it ain't good. :( My testing conditions were: Vista, 1024x768 on left and right monitors, 1920x1080 on center. First I tried all 3 screens (primary video card has center and right screens, secondary has left) and I get a steady framerate of 20 FPS. Then I disconnected the right monitor, removed it from the multiple-monitor config in Nvidia Control Panel, and now I get 40 (!) FPS. I then reconnected the right monitor but this time to the secondary video card and moved the left monitor to primary (just to verify first results): 18 FPS. So - running two video cards and three monitors, non-SLI, non-TH2GO, non-SoftTH, I am seeing a framerate drop of 50% over the single-card, two-monitor configuration - ouch! I guess that means I'll need to remove the third monitor from NVCP each time I want to fly the Shark. Annoying, but at least I get my frames back. Now if I could only get the in-game framerate counter and controls indicator to work - nothing I've done yet has solved this one, including the Phantom Monitor Fix when using two monitors.

I'm running in windowed mode because BS crashes if I try to use more than one monitor in fullscreen mode. My config is as follows - note that my left screen is using Dick Dastardly's awesome touch-buddy profile: options.lua: ["graphics"] = { ["multiMonitorSetup"] = "dd_shkabr+cam+phantom", ["color"] = "32", ["heatBlr"] = 1, ["scenes"] = "high", ["water"] = 2, ["fullScreen"] = false, ["visibRange"] = "High", ["aspect"] = 1.777777, ["textures"] = 2, ["shadows"] = 3, ["display_mode"] = { ["avi"] = { ["bpp"] = 32, ["resolution"] = "640x480", ["full_screen"] = false, ["aspect"] = 1.333333333, ["height"] = 480, ["width"] = 640, }, -- end of ["avi"] }, -- end of ["display_mode"] ["effects"] = 2, ["haze"] = 1, ["lights"] = 2, ["height"] = 1080, ["resolution"] = "3968x1080", ["civTraffic"] = 0, ["width"] = 3968, }, -- end of ["graphics"] DD_ShkABR+Cam+Phantom.lua: Description = 'Shkval & ABRIS on the left, camera on the center' Viewports = { Center = { x = 1024; --(the width of your leftmost monitor) y = 0; width = 1920; --(the width of your primary monitor) height = 1080; --(the height of your primary monitor) viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = screen.aspect; } } Shkval = { x = 13; y = 13; width = 486; height = 306; } ABRIS = { x = 585; y = 157; width = 366; height = 447; } This works pretty well under Vista; in Instant Action I get framerates in the mid-30's, down from low 50's with a single screen.

Thanks for that, Feuerfalke, some useful info there. Basically I answered my own question last night when my second video card arrived in the mail: Under Vista, I actually seem to see a 20-30% framerate DROP by adding a 3rd screen. Without the second video card, using my leftmost 1024 monitor, center 1920 monitor, and no right monitor (but specifying my "width" in options.lua as 3968, what it would have been had the rightmost monitor been there, which is what DCS requires in order to center the screens properly), I seemed to be getting framerates in the 30's. When I added the second video card, and actually output the rightmost screen (blank other than the DCS loading screen and comms menu, when I use it) but kept my options.lua "width" the same, framerate seemed to drop to low 20's. I have no idea why this would be, but for now it seems that it's smarter to just not use the 3rd monitor.

Can you also see the controls indicator (ENTER - RCTRL)? I've heard this is supposed to be the other benefit of using the PMF. After playing with it some more last night, I can confirm that no matter what I do, I never see the framerate counter nor the controls indicator for some reason. Ah - yes, that makes sense. So I think cypher1312 somehow just made a mistake in this first post where he leaves the res of his rightmost monitor out of the "width" property in his options.lua. For me, in XP the PMF seems to have no effect whatsoever; under Vista, it moves my left screen slightly off-center but leaves the center screen centered, but again doesn't offer any benefit either in terms of FPS or seeing framerate counter or controls indicator. Sure wish cypher1312 would come back!

I bought one off of eBay from a company called "easyworldwidetrading" in Hong Kong. From what I've seen, the ones they sell are for non-widescreens; I bought a 17" version which I used on an HP L1710 LCD. Installation was easy once I figured out how to pop the bezel off the LCD (just slid a screwdriver under the side of it and worked my way around the periphery). Once the bezel's off, you just lay the touchscreen on top, put the bezel back on (it does tend to bulge the bezel outward a bit, but mine still snapped back into place), hook up the USB cable and run the calibration utility on the enclosed CD. For $190 total, it cost less than the 7" Mimo touchscreen I'd been thinking about buying before that.

So, am I asking a really obvious and dumb question here? Or just nobody knows the answer? :) Maybe what I'm suggesting is not even possible for 3D apps. I know a second vid card can run additional monitors for 2D stuff, but maybe 3D apps use only the main graphics adaptor, and thus the need for something like TH2GO. Well, I'll find out in a few days when my other video card arrives.

But wait ... now I'm confused: in cypher1312's original post in this thread, he uses a resolution width of 1680+1280=2960, not the 1280+1680+1280 that it would be if he were rendering the phantom monitor too. So I think by using 3968 in my settings rather than 2944, I've short-circuited whatever benefit the PMF would have given me. Right?

Well I'll be damned! S77th-RYKE, you were right, those were the settings I needed to change to get my screens to center properly! Problem is ... I don't seem to be getting any better framerate with the PMF than I do without it. It's a slideshow. :( ARM505, I did try alt-tabbing out and trying to toggle PMF, but this doesn't seem to make any difference.

It's an HP L1710; got it for $80 ($110 with $30 rebate) from Tigerdirect. With the $90 touchscreen kit, it was cheaper than the 7" Mimo touchscreen (http://www.thegadgeteers.com/product_mimo.html) that I was originally considering!

Yup, I have, but that's caused other problems (both of my screens are offset to the right) that I posted about in his thread. :)

Having gotten my 17" touchscreen working over the weekend, I'm now using it in concert with my 37" main monitor and Dick Dastardly's Touch-buddy profile. TB works flawlessly, but I'm taking a huge framerate hit by having to render an effective 3968x1080 resolution (1024 on left touchscreen, 1920 on center, 1024 on right 'phantom' monitor), which drops FPS down to single digits and is basically unplayable. I also have a 22" widescreen that I want to add to this setup, so that in place of the right phantom monitor I'd be adding a 1680 screen, meaning now my effective resolution would be 4624 - ouch. To do this, though, without a Matrox TripleHead2Go device, I obviously need a second video card but I do not want to do SLI - rather, I want to buy a lesser card. What I'm wondering is, will the second card assume some significant portion of the load of rendering this massive 4624x1080 resolution? If I hook the second card up to the 22", and the first (which is more powerful) to the 17" and 37", would this be expected to give me any kind of improved framerate, or would it not make any difference? I'm wondering if maybe BS would consider the first video card the 'main' card and therefore somehow do the entire rendering job via that card instead of split between the two.

Well, Friday night I got the touchscreen working and I have to admit I was surprised at how easy it was to do. The hardest part was just figuring out how to get the front bezel off the LCD. Eventually by sliding a flathead screwdriver under it I was able to pop it off. After that, I simply slid the touchscreen on the LCD screen, put the bezel back on, hooked up the USB cables, ran the calibration program included on the enclosed CD, and it just WORKED! :) I've now got it working nicely with DD's profile here and I'm loving it ... well, other than the awful framerate hit I take by having to render a 3968x1080 resolution (1024 on the left touchscreen, 1920 on center, 1024 on right 'phantom' monitor).

Hmm, OK, thanks for the suggestions guys, will try out tonight. One other odd thing is that even when using cypher1312's exact settings, with my 1920x1080 center resolution replacing his 1680x1050 res, I get this "both screens shifted to the right" problem, i.e. I can't even reproduce what he sees when I use exactly the same options.lua and modified.lua settings that he lists in the first post.

Can somebody help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here? I'm using a 17" touchscreen with Touch-buddy on the left along with my main 37" in the center. I'm running 1024x768 on the 17" and 1920x1080 on the 37". Using the following settings, I can get Black Shark and Touch-buddy (using Dick Dastardly's 2-monitor profile) to work together, but with a horrible framerate hit caused by the insane required resolution of 3968x1080 (note this is before trying to use the Phantom Monitor Fix). options.lua: ["graphics"] = { ["multiMonitorSetup"] = "dd_shkabr+cam+phantom", ["color"] = "32", ["heatBlr"] = 1, ["scenes"] = "high", ["water"] = 2, ["fullScreen"] = false, ["visibRange"] = "High", ["aspect"] = 1.777777, ["textures"] = 2, ["shadows"] = 3, ["display_mode"] = { ["avi"] = { ["bpp"] = 32, ["resolution"] = "640x480", ["full_screen"] = false, ["aspect"] = 1.333333333, ["height"] = 480, ["width"] = 640, }, -- end of ["avi"] }, -- end of ["display_mode"] ["effects"] = 2, ["haze"] = 1, ["lights"] = 2, ["height"] = 1080, ["resolution"] = "3968x1080", ["civTraffic"] = 0, ["width"] = 3968, }, -- end of ["graphics"] DD_ShkABR+Cam+Phantom.lua: Description = 'Shkval & ABRIS on the left, camera on the center' Viewports = { Center = { x = 1024; --(the width of your leftmost monitor) y = 0; width = 1920; --(the width of your primary monitor) height = 1080; --(the height of your primary monitor) viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = screen.aspect; } } Shkval = { x = 13; y = 13; width = 486; height = 306; } ABRIS = { x = 585; y = 157; width = 366; height = 447; } My understanding of the Phantom Monitor Fix is that I can just run the exe in the background, change my 'width' in options.lua to reflect the actual two screens I want to render rather than the 3 it renders by default (i.e. 2944 instead of 3968 since I'm not rendering the rightmost 1024 screen anymore), and I should be good to go. But when I do this, the center image and Touch-buddy screen shift to the right by about a third of the 1024's width, and the underlying ABRIS and Shkval no longer line up under the Touch-buddy overlay. And it seems that no matter what I change, both of my screens just refuse to center properly. Can anybody see what I'm doing wrong here? Has anybody else got DD's Touch-buddy profile working with the Phantom Monitor Fix?

I've got a 17" LCD arriving today and a touchscreen kit coming sometime soon, so I'll be sure to report my experience putting it together.

Yeah, LtFransky, just as confirmation, that is definitely an issue with your video settings and not the fault of the game. You're right, it absolutely shouldn't be such an unreadable, fuzzy mess. It should be closer to this:

Great video, and I actually liked the music. I only know these two groups by name - which tracks and albums did you use, specifically?

Seems this question continues to come up on a regular basis ... The simple answer is, $50 USD is what PC games cost these days in the US. The price is set by what people are willing to pay and how much the publisher wants to charge. In Russia, presumably there just is no (or little) market for PC games at the $50 price point; while in the US, they all cost that much, with console games usually $10-20 higher. Unlike many other games I've bought and then been disappointed with, I feel that for $50, I'm getting more than my money's worth with DCS: Black Shark. That's also why I had no problem buying the Russian version too: I think supporting a unique developer like ED is worth it. If we don't buy their games, there won't be any more of them - it's as simple as that.

Corrections for Chapters 1 and 2 ii: CONTERMEASURES SYSTEMS iii: Wall panel, Forward Section: 'p' in panel should be capitalized for consistency iv: MENU/OPTION Sub-Mode: 'm' in mode should be lower case for consistency 1-3: 1st paragraph: kgf/sq.cm.. : extra period 1-6: Advanced Map Moving System (AMMS): should be Advanced Moving Map System 1-7: 5th bullet "Rubicon" should be Rubikon for consistency 1-8: CONTERMEASURES SYSTEMS 2-6: paragraph under 1 thru 9: "input control manger" 2-16: third paragraph in HSI section: "and the either the" 2-17: Figure 2-12 label: "HSI Indicator" is redundant 2-20: 5: QFE pressure scale in millimeters of mercury: should be "tens of millimeters" 2-35: Running engines shouldn't be hotter than 150 C but stopped engines shouldn't be hotter than 800 C? Is this backwards? 2-40: 2. "This four position switch and three speeds and off positions)." ? 2-42: bottom center box in table: WAEPON 2-47: 3rd paragraph: "how may flares" 2-58: 4. "can store up to the six waypoints" 2-62: 18. "coordinates will [be] similar." 2-71: note under table: "Aidroms list" 2nd paragraph: "switch is set it to the" 2-81: "monitoring of oil pressure, transmission oil pressure, and engine oil pressure" - redundant - third item should be "oil temperature"? 2-90 and 2-91: items 1 and 2 have exact same description 2-92: UBM-U is not shown on picture of panel on previous page, and there's no description of BCP and BPN in the figure Paragraph starting "Before a second" says "the rocket type of gun pod", "of" should be "or"? 2-98: Maikop / Maykop inconsistency "you will here broadcasts" 2-100: NNY "Moving canon" 2-101: second bullet: "postion" 4-4: 1. "Target Bearning Scale"