A-10C MFCD solutions - thoughts?

[lesthegrngo]

Hi Guys, as you can see from the picture I'm slowly getting there with my version of the A-10C cockpit. It's not accurate in terms of dimensions and so forth, but it will do what I need from it.

 

I have quite a way to go yet but one of the things I need to start thinking about is the two MFCD's on the dash panel (here cunningly represented by printed screens cut out and taped on!) in order to make them work with the game.

 

I can see options out there, such as Helios, also the use of Android tablets (of which I actually have two small ones my sons left behind) but each seems to come with some pitfall or at least complication. I worry about the Helios solution in terms of not knowing whether I would be able to connect all the necessary monitors, bearing in mind my current solution for the artificial horizon is to use Helios and a 7" LCD monitor. The MFCD's would make that a total of four monitors. I do have an old Nvdia graphics card (660GTX) sitting doing nothing that, assuming it is possible, I could install alongside my current 1060 card. However I don't know whether that would overstress the PC. I have a laptop I could use to network with the PC but would that cause lag?

 

For the tablet type, if I read it right, once you are using them they will essentially run on their internal battery until that discharges, so that is not ideal either.

 

So what are the pro's and cons, workarounds or alternatives to this? I'm not in any hurry, I have months of work yet to go but must also realise that I have to at least have an idea of how to proceed to make sure I am not going to have to make any drastic changes down the line to make things fit.

 

Cheers for any input and thoughts

 

Les

[Fusedspine33]

Have you considered using Helios with a single monitor or two monitors landscaped behind your physical mask? You should be able to adjust and size gauges and viewports to fit the holes you have made. The lower the number of monitors you have the higher your frame rates will be.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[A10Yoda]

Hi Guys, as you can see from the picture I'm slowly getting there with my version of the A-10C cockpit. It's not accurate in terms of dimensions and so forth, but it will do what I need from it.

 

 

 

I have quite a way to go yet but one of the things I need to start thinking about is the two MFCD's on the dash panel (here cunningly represented by printed screens cut out and taped on!) in order to make them work with the game.

 

 

 

I can see options out there, such as Helios, also the use of Android tablets (of which I actually have two small ones my sons left behind) but each seems to come with some pitfall or at least complication. I worry about the Helios solution in terms of not knowing whether I would be able to connect all the necessary monitors, bearing in mind my current solution for the artificial horizon is to use Helios and a 7" LCD monitor. The MFCD's would make that a total of four monitors. I do have an old Nvdia graphics card (660GTX) sitting doing nothing that, assuming it is possible, I could install alongside my current 1060 card. However I don't know whether that would overstress the PC. I have a laptop I could use to network with the PC but would that cause lag?

 

 

 

For the tablet type, if I read it right, once you are using them they will essentially run on their internal battery until that discharges, so that is not ideal either.

 

 

 

So what are the pro's and cons, workarounds or alternatives to this? I'm not in any hurry, I have months of work yet to go but must also realise that I have to at least have an idea of how to proceed to make sure I am not going to have to make any drastic changes down the line to make things fit.

 

 

 

Cheers for any input and thoughts

 

 

 

Les

Liliput UM-80

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[lesthegrngo]

Thank, but what advantage is there to the Liliput offering over other 9" or 10.1" LCD monitors? Apart from being a lot more expensive, i can't see what difference there is to my untrained eye

 

Cheers

 

Les

[A10Yoda]

Thank, but what advantage is there to the Liliput offering over other 9" or 10.1" LCD monitors? Apart from being a lot more expensive, i can't see what difference there is to my untrained eye

 

Cheers

 

Les

My assumption is longevity as they are strictly a monitor and do not have other conflicting software.. Additionally they are plug and play ready as an additional screen and only require a tweak to .lua file to setup.

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Brewnix]

Thank, but what advantage is there to the Liliput offering over other 9" or 10.1" LCD monitors? Apart from being a lot more expensive, i can't see what difference there is to my untrained eye

 

Cheers

 

Les

The Lilliputs are "USB" plug in so you can free up Video card ports. You can run up to 4 monitors one card no problem I ran 3 40in lcd's landscaped and one 23in as front dash. I had to buy different hdmi adapters. Like Dsiplayport to HMDI cord. How many monitors do you use for flying? Edited October 1, 2019 by Brewnix

[NightShiftNinja]

As for the second d video card, if you have it and your mother board it able to handle a second card (most are) that is likely your best option as the second card will offload some of the workload which will in turn make a minimal impact to overhead.

 

I have my 3 main screens and my vive running off my main card and 3 extra screens (a 27, and 2 - 7inch hdmi screens) running off of a 970, I do not have any issues, in dcs or any other games for that matter

 

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[lesthegrngo]

Guys, there are some 10.1" TFT screens that can come with either Arduino shields or controllers for Raspberry Pi's for sale on ebay etc. The latter ones have an HDMI input, so my current thinking is that they could be used as monitors using the graphics card HDMI outputs.

 

Am I correct in my assumption on this?

 

If I am, they appear to be a neat solution, and potentially would enable me to simulate the adjacent gauges. My dash design would require no modifications other than the adapter frame, and being relatively low resolution wouldnt be overly taxing.

 

Cheers

[aniron]

Guys, there are some 10.1" TFT screens that can come with either Arduino shields or controllers for Raspberry Pi's for sale on ebay etc. The latter ones have an HDMI input, so my current thinking is that they could be used as monitors using the graphics card HDMI outputs.

 

Am I correct in my assumption on this?

 

If I am, they appear to be a neat solution, and potentially would enable me to simulate the adjacent gauges. My dash design would require no modifications other than the adapter frame, and being relatively low resolution wouldnt be overly taxing.

 

Cheers

 

If the displays have an HDMI Input, yes. Some Raspberry Pi displays connect to the GPIO instead.

[lesthegrngo]

Gents, as you can see from the sudden burst of posts, I have been fortunate in being able to push forward a lot with my setup, and after getting Helios working for the ADI and HSI, plus resolving some CMSC setup issues, I can now focus more on the MFCD's.

 

I went ahead and got the 10.1" TFT screens, and have connected one of them up. My current setup then is a a wide, curved screen 2560 x 1080 monitor and the 10.1" TFT's at 1024 x 600 running off a 1070 graphics card, with a 7" screen at 720 X 1280 ranged in a portrait fashion driven by a GTX 660 graphics card.

 

In Monitorsetup.lua, you have to set up an single monitor that emulates the extended desktop with the total width resolution x tallest height monitor resolution. My problem is that the Nvidia graphics setting control panel is not allowing me to set the monitors correctly. I cannot dictate what resolution to apply, instead it seems to choose its own, which has already resulted in me having to disconnect everything and restart with just one monitor, so weird is the resolution it chooses. You can't reverse it as you are unable to find the correct part of the control panel!

 

So before I start with this, I need to either have full control of the extended desktop, or I need an alternative way of displaying the MFCD's on the 10.1" screens. My preferences would be to export the MFCD's to secondary screens rather than trying to fool DCS into putting the MFCD's in certain position on a virtual desktop. Helios does it with the individual instruments, without having to resort to amalgamating all the monitors in to one overarching screen

 

Any ideas?

 

Cheers

Edited December 28, 2019 by lesthegrngo

[lesthegrngo]

Repeated response from separate thread

 

Well, I got it working. I would like to say that this was through careful study of the way that MonitorSetup.lua works, but unfortunately I would be lying.

 

I ended up putting the two 10.1" monitors under the main one on the desktop, and making the desktop extend down rather than sideways. This meant that at least the apply buttons etc were not outside of the frame. However it would still start with a weird configuration that meant none of the menu items were clickable. By pure chance, I happened to click on the taskbar icon of the running DCS that was visible on one of the 10.1" monitors, and that 'reset' the start screen of DCS. Once I chose the quick flight option, it all started fine, and with just a few tweaks to the positional setting I new have a rather splendid looking dash with both MFCD's displayed in the correct locations.

 

Helios needed to be re-set up in order to match the new monitor settings, but a couple of minutes had that sorted.

 

So, finally I have finished that bit. Of course, true to form, now my DCS BIOS driven gauges refuse to work properly.....**SIGH****

 

Cheers

 

Les