Nvidia Surround - 3 Screens

[Gordon861]

New hear so please be gentle but:

 

I've just installed DCS 1.5 and was playing OK with the client stretched across the three monitors, but that gave a distorted view. So started messing with the options and LUA files to create proper surround and I got the following:

 

 

If I click 'Fly' everything appears to be running correctly in the background and the vertical lines flash different colours.

 

I know I may be doing something stupid but not sure what. Any ideas?

 

Setup is:

i5-2500k @4.3Ghz, 8GB RAM

980 GTX

Win7-64it

[hansangb]

You'll have to post what lua file you're using. and the resolution of your monitors.

[fiveohmike]

Btw this is what the view looks like:

 

[Gordon861]

All screens 1920 X 1080.

 

Here is the LUA file from the MonitorSetup directory:

 

 

_ = function(p) return p; end;

name = _('test');

Description = 'Configuration with 3 identical monitors each with its own camera'

Viewports =

{

Left =

{

x = 0;

y = 0;

width = 1920;

height = 1080;

viewDx = -1;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 059259;

},

 

Center =

{

x = 1920;

y = 0;

width = 1920;

height = 1080;

viewDx = 0;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 059259;

},

 

Right =

{

x = 3840;

y = 0;

width = 1920;

height = 1080;

viewDx = 1;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 059259;

}

}

 

 

UIMainView = Viewports.Center

 

--[[

also you can use "displays" table to perfectly match you configuration .

it is generated by DCS automatically.

displays table is contains information about all currently attached displays

 

for example my setup is :

 

displays =

{

[1] =

{

x = 0, -- note : x == 0 and y == 0 is always mark primary windows display

y = 0,

width = 1920,

height = 1200

},

[2] =

{

x = -1440, -- mark that secondary display is on left side of primary display

y = 0,

width = 1440,

height = 900

},

... for all displays

}

 

screen table also contain x, y members which mark top left corner of DCS window

 

note about fullscreen : directx doesn't allow fullscreen applications with resolutions more than primary display can handle,

so multimonitor presets in DCS will fall back to windowed mode if fullscreen initialization failed ( this info also will be printed to dcs.log)

 

for reconfigure viewports setup for each unit type independently you can declare here function

 

function reconfigure_for_unit(unit_type) --unit type is string with unit name

if unit_type == "A-10C" then

 

Viewports = ... define new Viewports table

-- also you can define cockpit displays viewports here

RIGHT_MFCD = ... define new RIGHT_MFCD viewport

 

else

Viewports = ... define default for others

RIGHT_MFCD = nil -- remove for others

end

end

 

--]]

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Gordon861
More info

[StandingCow]

Nvidia surround was awesome while playing games... but once you are in the windows environment it drove me nuts. There is an app on steam called displayfusion which helped, but I still didn't care for it.

[Gordon861]

Update ...

 

After doing some further searching I found this thread in the A-10C area:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=60815

 

This should really have more prominence or be in a more central location but following the first bit DON'T USE NOTEPAD, USE NOTEPAD++ INSTEAD

 

I went back and redid my TEST.LUA file from scratch, and fixed the aspect ratio number (I think).

 

_ = function(p) return p; end;

name = _('test');

Description = 'Configuration with 3 identical monitors each with its own camera'

Viewports =

{

Left =

{

x = 0;

y = 0;

width = 1920;

height = 1080;

viewDx = -1;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 1.77778;

},

 

Center =

{

x = 1920;

y = 0;

width = 1920;

height = 1080;

viewDx = 0;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 1.77778;

},

 

Right =

{

x = 3840;

y = 0;

width = 1920;

height = 1080;

viewDx = 1;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 1.77778;

}

}

 

 

UIMainView = Viewports.Center

 

--[[

also you can use "displays" table to perfectly match you configuration .

it is generated by DCS automatically.

displays table is contains information about all currently attached displays

 

for example my setup is :

 

displays =

{

[1] =

{

x = 0, -- note : x == 0 and y == 0 is always mark primary windows display

y = 0,

width = 1920,

height = 1200

},

[2] =

{

x = -1440, -- mark that secondary display is on left side of primary display

y = 0,

width = 1440,

height = 900

},

... for all displays

}

 

screen table also contain x, y members which mark top left corner of DCS window

 

note about fullscreen : directx doesn't allow fullscreen applications with resolutions more than primary display can handle,

so multimonitor presets in DCS will fall back to windowed mode if fullscreen initialization failed ( this info also will be printed to dcs.log)

 

for reconfigure viewports setup for each unit type independently you can declare here function

 

function reconfigure_for_unit(unit_type) --unit type is string with unit name

if unit_type == "A-10C" then

 

Viewports = ... define new Viewports table

-- also you can define cockpit displays viewports here

RIGHT_MFCD = ... define new RIGHT_MFCD viewport

 

else

Viewports = ... define default for others

RIGHT_MFCD = nil -- remove for others

end

end

 

--]]

 

 

And I now have this:

 

So it looks like I need to continue reading that thread and take a look at what appears to now be an FOV/ZOOM problem, but it's getting there.

[fiveohmike]

Thanks will take a look!

[fiveohmike]

Well i decided to stop messing around and just play. So I went with:

 

[Deezle]

Nvidia surround was awesome while playing games... but once you are in the windows environment it drove me nuts. There is an app on steam called displayfusion which helped, but I still didn't care for it.

Cannot stand surround outside of games. Thankfully I really only play DCS and it doesn't need surround to work properly.

 

 

You wont get away from the distortion without using the 3 screen profile (which looks much worse to me), it comes with the territory. Zoom way out to an equivalent FOV with 1 monitor and it's just as distorted. I don't even notice it anymore.

[fiveohmike]

I use surround exclusively when in Windows heh. Its great for my business uses (programming and a few other things)

[Deezle]

I use surround exclusively when in Windows heh. Its great for my business uses (programming and a few other things)

I can't easily have separate windows in each screen with surround on, if I drag a window to the top of a screen it stretches it across all three screens. If I want a full screen a youtube video on one screen, it full screens it on all 3 screens :doh: Unless you know some secret I don't, it's all but useless outside of games.

[fiveohmike]

I can't easily have separate windows in each screen with surround on, if I drag a window to the top of a screen it stretches it across all three screens. If I want a full screen a youtube video on one screen, it full screens it on all 3 screens :doh: Unless you know some secret I don't, it's all but useless outside of games.

 

Oh ya, that. I just have everything windowed to almost the maximum of a single screen and dont drag and drop

[hansangb]

All screens 1920 X 1080.

 

Here is the LUA file from the MonitorSetup directory:

 

 

You're actually using a 3 monitor setup. You can use a 1 monitor setup that spans all three monitors: It can be as simple as

 

 

Viewports =

{

Center =

{

x = 0;

y = 0;

width = 5760;

height = 1200;

viewDx = 0;

viewDy = 0;

aspect = 4.8;

},

 

/* left and right MFD config's deleted since you're not using it */

 

 

/* The GUI= and the last lines are not needed. It's only needed if you want to see the main gui in one of the screens insstead of spread out over three screens */

 

GUI =

{

x = 1280;

y = 0;

width = 1024

height = 768

},

 

 

 

UIMainView = Viewports.Center

GUI = Viewports.GUI

[Gordon861]

Btw this is what the view looks like:

 

 

OK so that one looks good.

 

What other files did you need to mess with as well as the one in MonitorSetup to get it looking like that?

[Deezle]

That's a single screen profile stretched across all three screens.

[Gman109]

Hey Deegle, I'm new but have a question for you as well - having a DK2 Rift kit, why would you have triple screen? Are you able to still see your monitor through the rift kit somehow? As I understand how Occulus/etc works, that's all you see, not the monitors...or am I missing something.

[Noksi]

I can't easily have separate windows in each screen with surround on, if I drag a window to the top of a screen it stretches it across all three screens. If I want a full screen a youtube video on one screen, it full screens it on all 3 screens :doh: Unless you know some secret I don't, it's all but useless outside of games.

 

Open the Nvidia settings, open "desktop" in the menu bar and deselect "pan across all windows" in the "surround" option menu. It might be worded different for you, doing a straight forward German-English translation here.

 

See the screenshot (which is in German).

 

That said, if you (I) max. a youtube video it still will max. Firefox etc. across all 3 monitors but the video is fullscreen at my middle monitor. But Firefox and all other apps will only max. onto one monitor.

 

I only wonder why you need to edit lua files etc. ? I have the option to choose my surround desktop resolution of 5760x1080, nothing else, and DCS runs across all 3 1920x1080 monitors.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Noksi

[hansangb]

Noksi, it's a matter of preference. You can use Nvidia's solution, or you can use DCS' built in solution. Some have reported issues with Surround setup in Nvidia. Never having used it myself (I just use the lua file method), I couldn't attest to the slowness when using Surround.

[Deezle]

Hey Deegle, I'm new but have a question for you as well - having a DK2 Rift kit, why would you have triple screen? Are you able to still see your monitor through the rift kit somehow? As I understand how Occulus/etc works, that's all you see, not the monitors...or am I missing something.

They're used separately. I really don't use the DK2 much, not enough resolution or performance, plus it makes me nauseous.

[harf4ng]

With my current LUA file it looks like :

 

My LUA :

(I took the three screen display setup and change just the viewport)

 

Viewports = 
{
    Left = 
    {
         x = 0;
         y = 0;
         width = screen.width / 3;
         height = screen.height;
         viewDx = -1.05;
         viewDy = 0;
         aspect = screen.aspect / 3;
    },

    Center = 
    {
         x = screen.width / 3;
         y = 0;
         width = screen.width / 3;
         height = screen.height;
         viewDx = 0.0;
         viewDy = 0;
         aspect = screen.aspect / 3;
    },

    Right = 
    {
         x = screen.width * 2 / 3;
         y = 0;
         width = screen.width / 3;
         height = screen.height;
         viewDx = 1.05;
         viewDy = 0;
         aspect = screen.aspect / 3;
    }
}

This looks not bad though still a bit tilted, and the more you look down the more the side views are tilted ;) But it is not that bad, and I can live with it ^^

[hansangb]

What's the 1st Place award for? :)

[harf4ng]

lol I got an award in iRacing (car racing) years ago as I managed to be at the first place in division 7 in an izod indycar championship :)

 

I sent this stuff by mail to Simona di silvestro (indycar driver) and she sent it back to me signed :)

[fiveohmike]

lol I got an award in iRacing (car racing) years ago as I managed to be at the first place in division 7 in an izod indycar championship :)

 

I sent this stuff by mail to Simona di silvestro (indycar driver) and she sent it back to me signed :)

 

Nice, I am an iracer myself!

[harf4ng]

I was, I'm not anymore, I'll sell my wheel. No time to practice enough and to race at given hours, so now I'm doing mostly flight sims and other kind of games...

[Socket7]

I've always found that trying to run DCS in 3 monitor mode made it take a huge dump in terms of frame rates. It's hard enough to wring 60FPS out of DCS, asking it to do 5760x1200 requires a beast of a machine, and putting DCS to 3 monitor mode in DCS ends up tanking framerates to slideshow territory.

 

I just use Surround mode with dcs set to single monitor as it gets me playable results.