Black Shark Nirvana with TouchBuddy

EDIT: This post describes how to use my TouchBuddy profile with a three monitor setup. See my later post further down in this thread if you only have two monitors.

Hi all,

I've been doing a bit more tinkering with my multi-monitor setup and have managed to get the view forward on one screen, Shkval on another and this:

...on a third (touch) screen. Thanks to TouchBuddy, all the buttons and switches are touchable (or clickable with a mouse if you don't have a touchscreen), and they all have the same effect as their VC counterparts.

I've uploaded a short video here so you can see the profile in use (apologies for the quality, it was taken on my phone's dodgy camera). If you have three monitors and would like to try the setup yourself just follow the instructions below. If there's sufficient demand I might make a version for two monitor setups too.

Finally, a big thank you to Zorlac for creating the excellent TouchBuddy and Wild Bill Kelso for his TouchBuddy Toolkit.

Cheers,

DD

Installation

1. Download and install Touchbuddy.

2. Backup the following files:

Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\options.lua

Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\FUI\Common\StartImage-2.bmp

Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Config\Export\Export.lua

TouchBuddy\touchbuddy.cfg

3. Download this file to a temporary directory and unzip it. You should see four folders (BlackShark, Config, FUI and profiles) and a touchbuddy.cfg file. Copy and paste the BlackShark, Config and FUI folders to your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50 folder, overwriting the existing files (which you've already backed up in the previous step). Then copy and paste the profiles folder and the touchbuddy.cfg to your TouchBuddy folder, again overwriting the existing files.

4. In your graphics card control panel, set your monitors to Dual View mode and all their resolutions to 1024x768.

5. Check in Windows desktop properties that your monitors are arranged in a horizontal row with the ABRIS monitor on the LEFT, main monitor in the center and Shkval monitor on the RIGHT.

6. Open the file touchbuddy.cfg in your Touchbuddy folder with Notepad and scroll down until you see the following line:

lomac_data_file = C:\Sims\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat

Edit the path to match the location of your Ka-50 folder and save your changes.

7. Launch TB and load whichever profile suits the mission's starting conditions (either DCS-DickDastardly-prestartup.tbc or DCS-DickDastardly-inflight.tbc). Then click the "Let's Go" button and the panel should appear on the monitor on which you'll be viewing the ABRIS.

8. Launch the sim and select "Options" then "Controls" and change the key assigned to "Expedite Emergency ATGM Launch" to "J".

Now load a mission and you should see a test card on your Shkval monitor during mission loading if everything is setup correctly. Once you unpause, the Shkval, ABRIS and payload strip should all be live and you'll be able to touch (or click) any of the buttons to trigger the appropriate key presses.

N.B. The monitor on which I display the ABRIS is actually 5:4 rather than 4:3. If your monitor has a different aspect ratio then the image will be slightly stretched. Also, I've only tested this setup in Vista and the English version of DCS so I can't promise it'll work in XP or the Russian version (though I think it will).

Limitations

1. It doesn't seem to be possible to obtain the state of most switches and button lights via lua so TB can only deduce what state they should be in by knowing their initial position and keeping track of the number of times they've been pressed in TB. This means that if you click a button in the virtual cockpit then Touchbuddy won't know about it and will get out of synch. (If this happens you can either continue clicking in the VC until the positions match up again or press the "Reset button status" command on the *TB* tab).

2. The CMS display can only show the currently selected program as the number of flares remaining per side isn't obtainable via lua. (The total number of flares remaining is visible in the payload strip, however).

3. The PVI-800 display doesn't change, again due to a lack of data from lua. Hopefully the forthcoming Physical Cockpit Interface Package will give us the ability to export things like the nav display and keypad lights, along with the CMS display and EKRAN (ideally in the same way that the Shkval and ABRIS are currently).

4. The button to change the Nav/INU fixtaking method (labelled NAV TG SHKVL on my version of the Nav keypad) doesn't work. This seems to be due to a bug in the sim whereby no matter what keys you assign to this function, they have no effect. The only way to trigger it is by clicking the switch in the VC.

Thats is the absolutely awesome!......If only I wasn't 4000miles from home using a temporary setup.....

Geez,

Now I need to go out and get a touchscreen monitor. That is very NICE.

Great looking! I have a few of questions.

1) If one were to purchase a touchscreen - are there specifics (quality) that one should look for in the touch screen or is one touch screen the same as the next (except for resolution and screen size, of course)?

2) Regarding:

4. In your graphics card control panel, set your monitors to Dual View mode and all their resolutions to 1024x768.

5. Check in Windows desktop properties that your monitors are arranged in a horizontal row....

I use TH2Go - so this doesn't make sense to me (call me stupid). What are the specifics for TH2Go?

3) Where is the file: TouchBuddy\touchbuddy.cfg ? Is that only somewhere if you have used TouchBuddy before?

Thank you for your time and input!

touchscreen buttons?

:notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:

1337

Geez,

 

Now I need to go out and get a touchscreen monitor. That is very NICE.

:lol: Very nice indeed, but also a kind of unrealistic.

< Maj. Ballz raising hand for two monitor setup instructions>

"7. Launch TB"

- how?

I installed the 'TBToolkit_-_1.3.4 setup.exe' into a folder of my choosing (E:\GAMING\GAME APPS\Touchbuddy) but there is no Touchbuddy.exe in that folder after install.

So, when I click on "TBToolkit.exe" (which is the only exe in that folder), it asks me for the location of "Touchbuddy.exe". I have no idea where to find this exe.

Completely lost and running around in circles.

Please advise as to the location of "Touchbuddy.exe" after installing TBToolkit_-_1.3.4

Or where am I going wrong?

Thanks!

Edit: This (attached - magnify it) is what I see when I just start the game now (without the above issue being resolved).

The resolution makes the buttons unreadable and none of the buttons are clickable in the left panel.

Please advise.

tahsnk!

Excellent!

Out

Great looking! I have a few of questions.

 

1) If one were to purchase a touchscreen - are there specifics (quality) that one should look for in the touch screen or is one touch screen the same as the next (except for resolution and screen size, of course)?

 

2) I use TH2Go - so this doesn't make sense to me (call me stupid). What are the specifics for TH2Go?

 

3) Where is the file: TouchBuddy\touchbuddy.cfg ? Is that only somewhere if you have used TouchBuddy before?

 

Thank you for your time and input!

1. There's a forum over at TouchBuddy which discusses different touchscreen h/w. Personally I bought a 19" touchscreen conversion kit from Hong Kong (via ebay) which works great and was about £40 iirc.

2. I don't have TH2G myself but if I understand how it works then you should just be able to set your windows desktop to 3072x768.

3. The touchbuddy.cfg file will be in your Touchbuddy folder once you've installed it. Then just overwrite it with my version (after you've backed up the original).

I installed the 'TBToolkit_-_1.3.4 setup.exe' into a folder of my choosing (E:\GAMING\GAME APPS\Touchbuddy) but there is no Touchbuddy.exe in that folder after install.

 

So, when I click on "TBToolkit.exe" (which is the only exe in that folder), it asks me for the location of "Touchbuddy.exe". I have no idea where to find this exe.

 

Completely lost and running around in circles.

 

Please advise as to the location of "Touchbuddy.exe" after installing TBToolkit_-_1.3.4

 

Or where am I going wrong?

 

Thanks!!

The "TouchBuddy Toolkit" is an app which helps you design TouchBuddy profiles - you don't actually need it to run my profile. The download you want is the TouchBuddy program itself: TouchBuddy v1.3.0 (Revision 18 - full build).

Good stuff. Thx!

I so need to figure out how to do this...

Good work their :thumbup:

what kind of connections do you need to use a touchscreen monitor? is it usb+vga or dvi or what?

^^The monitor itself connects to the PC via the normal connections, ie VGA or DVI. The touch screen overlay has a seperate connection, usually USB.

That is a really awesome Touch Buddy profile for Black Shark. Nice work!

This.. is.. AWESOME.

awesome work!

Fantastic job! :thumbup: Time to dust off the TS monitor!

Glad to hear you guys like the profile :). I've updated the link in the first post to a new copy which has a couple of minor improvements and fixes, and I've now also finished a version for those with only 2 monitors. You can see this new version in action in this video. The process to install it is as follows:

Installation

1. Download and install Touchbuddy. (The current version is v1.3.0, Revision 18, don't confuse it with the Touchbuddy Toolkit which is just above it on that download page).

2. Backup the following files:

Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\options.lua

Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\FUI\Common\StartImage-2.bmp

Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Config\Export\Export.lua

TouchBuddy\touchbuddy.cfg

3. Download this file to a temporary directory and unzip it. You should see four folders (BlackShark, Config, FUI and profiles) and a touchbuddy.cfg file. Copy and paste the BlackShark, Config and FUI folders to your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50 folder, overwriting the existing files (which you've already backed up in the previous step). Then copy and paste the profiles folder and the touchbuddy.cfg to your TouchBuddy folder, again overwriting the existing files.

4. In your graphics card control panel, set your monitors to Dual View mode and both their resolutions to 1024x768.

5. Check in Windows desktop properties that your primary monitor (which will display the view out of your cockpit) is immediatelyto the RIGHT of your secondary monitor (which will display my Touchbuddy profile and the Shkval and ABRIS).

6. Open the file touchbuddy.cfg in your Touchbuddy folder with Notepad and scroll down until you see the following line:

lomac_data_file = C:\Sims\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat

Edit the path to match the location of your Ka-50 folder and save your changes.

7. Launch TB and load whichever profile suits the mission's starting conditions (either DCS-DickDastardly-prestartup-2mon.tbc or DCS-DickDastardly-inflight-2mon.tbc). Then click the "Let's Go" button and the panel should appear on your secondary monitor.

8. Launch the sim and select "Options" then "Controls" and change the key assigned to "Expedite Emergency ATGM Launch" to "J".

Now load a mission and you should see a test card on your Shkval monitor during mission loading if everything is setup correctly. Once you unpause, the Shkval, ABRIS and payload strip should all be live and you'll be able to touch (or click) any of the buttons to trigger the appropriate key presses.

N.B. The monitor on which I display the ABRIS is actually 5:4 rather than 4:3. If your monitor has a different aspect ratio then the image will be slightly stretched. Again, I've only tested this setup in Vista and the English version of DCS so I can't promise it'll work in XP or the Russian version (though I think it will).

Cheers,

DD

Don't work for dual view :-/

And i can't locate

lomac_data_file = C:\Sims\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat

in the touchbuddy.cfg ..

that looks the ducks guts :thumbup: tidy work DD

Great work I'll be giving it a try as soon as my DVD copy arrives next month.

Don't work for dual view :-/ And i can't locate

lomac_data_file = C:\Sims\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat

in the touchbuddy.cfg ..

If you're using XP, try "Horizontal Span" mode instead of dual view. The important thing is that you need to be seeing 1024x768 pixels on each monitor. The "lomac_data_file =" line is in the copy of the touchbuddy.cfg included in my download, at the end of this section:

# Active "plugins"

#

# Active Plugin update rate

# On tabs that have active plugins (The Lomac TEWs for example), this value determines

# how often window updates happen. The value is in number on 0.1 seconds to wait between

# updates. A vaue of 10 will give you 0.1 x 10 seconds delay (or 1 second).

# WARNING: Decreasing this value increases the CPU time that TouchBuddy will use. Ideally

# anim_update (above) and active_plugin_update should be the same value, but they dont have to be.

active_plugin_update = 10

# filename of the data file exported by Lomac

# NOTE: THIS ENTRY IS JUST A DEMO ENTRY!!! Remove this and enable the entry below

#that is commented out!!!

#lomac_data_file = .\touchbuddy-export.dat

#this is the REAL location of the data file, the above line is just to demo

#the active Lomac TEWS plugin.

lomac_data_file = C:\Sims\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat

(The line in bold is the one you want to change, then drop the edited version into your Touchbuddy folder, overwriting the default cfg file).

Cheers,

DD

1024x768, the screen will look ugly on my 24" lol

1024x768, the screen will look ugly on my 24" lol

You don't actually have to run all screens at 1024x768, it just makes things simpler if you do. In this thread, for example, I describe how to set it up with a primary monitor running at 1680x1050 and a secondary at 1024x768.

Cheers,

DD