[How to] Multi monitor MFCD display export set-up guide - July 2023 (updated)

[JIGGAwest]

15 hours ago, oldpop said:

Both monitors are 1920x1080. Side by side.  display 1 is a 27", 2 is a 10". Both are "landscape"

send a screenshot of how you have your monitor layout in windows.

 

additionally, are you sure the native resolution of the 10" monitor is 16:9 ? is it a 4:3 aspect monitor?

Edited October 15, 2022 by JIGGAwest

[oldpop]

The 10" is a 16:9 ratio.  Should the #'s I have in file at'ed work. I am etting a good full screen on main monitor but the RMFCD is "egg" shapped, and takes up the entire screen???

Camera + RMFCD.lua

[JIGGAwest]

6 minutes ago, oldpop said:

The 10" is a 16:9 ratio.  Should the #'s I have in file at'ed work. I am etting a good full screen on main monitor but the RMFCD is "egg" shapped, and takes up the entire screen???

Camera + RMFCD.lua 343 B · 0 downloads

I would need to verify a few things.

 

(1) what resolutions for each monitor and relative monitor positions you have set in windows.  Like the  attached screen shot

 

(2) what the in game DCS screen resolution is set to

[oldpop]

both mon are 1920x1080, in gam resd 3820x1080, full screen un checked.   When in game , in pit, mon 1 is fine, mon 2 is full screenand egg shapped???

Camera + RMFCD1.lua

[JIGGAwest]

7 hours ago, oldpop said:

both mon are 1920x1080, in gam resd 3820x1080, full screen un checked.   When in game , in pit, mon 1 is fine, mon 2 is full screenand egg shapped???

Camera + RMFCD1.lua 386 B · 0 downloads

RIGHT_MFCD =
{
x = 1920;
y = 0;
width = 200;
}

 

Your missing the height!

 

RIGHT_MFCD =
{
      x = 1920;
      y = 0;

      width = 200;

      height = 200;

}

[oldpop]

oops! att'ed the wrong file!  Got it working now, but had to place the file in the in game mon setup folder & the one in "saved games".. Got both LMFDC and Right MFDC on my #2 mon now! Thanks for your help!

Edited October 17, 2022 by oldpop

[oldpop]

OK guys, I have found that some updates to DCS OB have changed a few items since this thead started, at least for me!

1.My set up is now, main monitor (m1) is a 1920x1080 with monitor #2 (m2) is a 1600x900 side by side, landscape bottom even.

2. created a new "lau" file. see att'ed

3. saved in both the " C drive, user,me,DCS oen Beta,saved games, config, monitor setup' as "RIGHT + LEFT+ CENTER.lau, and the G drive( where sim is installed) dcs open beta, config, momitor setup folder"

4. opened sim- settings Resolution 3520x1080 (1920+1600) == there is no aspect settings any longer==

5. selected my file (RIGHT+LEFT+CENTER) 

6. RAN MISSION.  M1  has pit, m2 has right and left MFCD!

Camera + LEFT + RIGHT.lua

[Sr.]

Sheesh... I've spent the better half of an hour breaking things. 

 

Does anyone have a lua file that simply allows my LEFT 1920x1080 monitor to be my MAIN display, while the RIGHT 3440x1440 run DCS full screen. I really don't care to have my map, kneeboard or anything outside that display. I would love to be able to run a youtube tutorial video on my LEFT (MAIN) display to follow along in DCS while playing.

 

 

[jonsky7]

21 hours ago, Sr. said:

Sheesh... I've spent the better half of an hour breaking things. 

 

Does anyone have a lua file that simply allows my LEFT 1920x1080 monitor to be my MAIN display, while the RIGHT 3440x1440 run DCS full screen. I really don't care to have my map, kneeboard or anything outside that display. I would love to be able to run a youtube tutorial video on my LEFT (MAIN) display to follow along in DCS while playing.

 

 

Unfortunately I don't think there is, or I havent been able to figure it out.

I have seen that sometimes DCS uses the top left of all the displays as point x=0 y=0 but mine has always been the top left of my main display.

I don't know what the correlation is, whether it's graphics card related, or which ports the monitors are plugged into, or something else.

The only solution I have for you is to set your large display as the main display. You should then still be able to have your smaller display on the left in display settings and be able to use it for whatever you like. Tbh though I havent done any testing with this in mind.

[eracer1111]

Thanks so much for this detailed explanation.  I just got my gaming build done, and I'll be working on setting up my two monitor setup.

[McHox]

since i have an ultrawide monitor i just wanna have one of the mfds in my f16 overlaid on the main screen, which works fine with the config i created except that it is transparent. its basically unusable without a black background, any idea how i'd do this or if it is even possible? couldnt really find anything on this

[Despayre]

3 hours ago, McHox said:

since i have an ultrawide monitor i just wanna have one of the mfds in my f16 overlaid on the main screen, which works fine with the config i created except that it is transparent. its basically unusable without a black background, any idea how i'd do this or if it is even possible? couldnt really find anything on this

The only way I can think you could do that, is if you change your viewport, so that your cockpit X,Y doesn't equal 0,0. Move your X over, the number of pixels your MFD requires, but you're going to lose that entire viewing area from top to bottom (with a width of W=X), I don't think you can blank out just a square, it would have to be a top to bottom column. But then, I realize, that is definitely not the look you were going for, but, that's the only way I can see that it would work in that setup. (I'm sure if someone else has a better idea, they'll be along shortly to let ya know ).

[McHox]

yeah, i dont wanna crop in my main screen.
i run into another issue when i put them on my 2nd screen though,
frame pacing becomes unplayably bad whenever the cockpit is in view, even just the hud. looking straight up gets rid of it

happens in sp/mp, fullscreen on/off doesn't make a difference and neither do any of the mfd res settings

i've got no idea what could be causing this, but it doesn't happen when i move them to the main screen(they just become nearly useless thanks to not being opaque).
dcs discord was as helpful as ever with the old reliable "works on my end"

[Despayre]

2 hours ago, McHox said:

...no idea what could be causing this, but it doesn't happen when i move them to the main screen(they just become nearly useless thanks to not being opaque)..

That feels a whole lot more like a video driver issue to me. (Doesn't mean it is, but after 30 yrs in the IT world, ya get "a feel" for where to start looking a lot of the time. Sorry I can't help much more than that, but I'm still ahead of Discord )

[jonsky7]

3 hours ago, McHox said:

yeah, i dont wanna crop in my main screen.
i run into another issue when i put them on my 2nd screen though,
frame pacing becomes unplayably bad whenever the cockpit is in view, even just the hud. looking straight up gets rid of it

happens in sp/mp, fullscreen on/off doesn't make a difference and neither do any of the mfd res settings

i've got no idea what could be causing this, but it doesn't happen when i move them to the main screen(they just become nearly useless thanks to not being opaque).
dcs discord was as helpful as ever with the old reliable "works on my end"

the post above may help with setting a black background but I havent tested it personally.

Odd that exporting to your second screen causes such a big issue. I might expect fps to be slightly lower but not much.

Would you like to post your monitor config, a screenshot of your display settings, give us an idea of your system. We might be able to help.

Your second monitor isn't plugged into a motherboard port on the i/o panel is it? Where it might be triggering the cpu onboard graphics to kick in?

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by jonsky7

[McHox]

6 hours ago, Despayre said:

That feels a whole lot more like a video driver issue to me. (Doesn't mean it is, but after 30 yrs in the IT world, ya get "a feel" for where to start looking a lot of the time. Sorry I can't help much more than that, but I'm still ahead of Discord )

yeah prolly was. i kept messing around after i posted it and tried disabling gsync and vsync via nvcp which fixed it, but for some reason it was still fine after i enabled them again for a sanity check. getting printer vibes from all this..

 

4 hours ago, jonsky7 said:

the post above may help with setting a black background but I havent tested it personally.

Odd that exporting to your second screen causes such a big issue. I might expect fps to be slightly lower but not much.

Would you like to post your monitor config, a screenshot of your display settings, give us an idea of your system. We might be able to help.

Your second monitor isn't plugged into a motherboard port on the i/o panel is it? Where it might be triggering the cpu onboard graphics to kick in?

 

 

yeah i've looked at that but tbh i'm way too lazy to figure out how to adapt that to the f16 and getting it to work in general. its fine on the 2nd monitor for now
 

[bond672]

Good evening, 

I am not tech savvy, I am rather old, I have a 1920x1080tv which I use as the main monitor, I attached 2xcougar mfds to a 17 inch monitor which is below the main screen. I am not very smart at coding, I am trying to make the bottom screen show the mfds but all I end up doing is squishing the top screen. Could anyone please help? Thankyou so much. 

Simon. 

[jonsky7]

7 minutes ago, bond672 said:

Good evening, 

I am not tech savvy, I am rather old, I have a 1920x1080tv which I use as the main monitor, I attached 2xcougar mfds to a 17 inch monitor which is below the main screen. I am not very smart at coding, I am trying to make the bottom screen show the mfds but all I end up doing is squishing the top screen. Could anyone please help? Thankyou so much. 

Simon. 

Can you show me your display settings in windows? 

Also need the resolution of your 17 inch monitor.

[bond672]

Good afternoon, I have added a couple of pictures which I hope will. Help? 

Thanks in advance 

Simon

[jonsky7]

5 hours ago, bond672 said:

Good afternoon, I have added a couple of pictures which I hope will. Help? 

Thanks in advance 

Simon

 

 

I've written a file for you. It's probably going to need adjustments. It's very hard to guess what size to make the MFCD exports so they will fit inside your Cougars.

Download Here --- bond672.lua

This needs to be placed in

Saved Games/DCS World/config/monitorsetup/

Then when you load DCS go to the settings menu, you need to select "bond672" for your monitor setup in the "monitors" box.

And select 3200x1080 as your resolution. This is normally at the very bottom of the resolution drop down list, or you can just type it into the box.

 

This is a little program that opens a window. As you move the window around, and resize it, it will display information about the location and size of the window.

http://breakthrusoftware.com/html/onlinedocs/kb/installkb/ScreenCoordTool.html

So you can run this little program, and move it and resize it so it fits inside your Cougar as you would like it. You can then either use that information to adjust the file I made above, or post the information here and I'll adjust it for you.

Good luck and happy holidays.

 

[bond672]

I have added the pictures as requested, I didn't want to mess up your amazing work. You're a genius! 

Simon. 

[jonsky7]

6 minutes ago, bond672 said:

I have added the pictures as requested, I didn't want to mess up your amazing work. You're a genius! 

Simon. 

Can't quite make out the text in the first pic

Does it say x=1906 y=52 width=440 height=440?

Just the x=1906 doesn't seem quite right to me if your TV is 1920x1080?

Edited December 25, 2022 by jonsky7

[bond672]

Just now, jonsky7 said:

Can't quite make out the text in the first pic

Does it say x=1906 y=52 width=440 height=440?

Just the x=1906 doesn't seem quite right to me if your TV is 1920x1080?

 

i just moved it over it again its x=1909, y=50 width and height 440

yes the tv is 1920x1080

 

the images on the monitor are not out my much, let me load it up again and take a picture

 

I have added the pictures as requested, I didn't want to mess up your amazing work. You're a genius! 

Simon. 

[jonsky7]

2 minutes ago, bond672 said:

i just moved it over it again its x=1909, y=50 width and height 440

yes the tv is 1920x1080

 

the images on the monitor are not out my much, let me load it up again and take a picture

 

Because your TV is 1920, I would expect that the left mfcd would be

X=1920 - 1925 ish

1906 puts it within your TV space by 14 pixels

[bond672]

They also need to come down slightly. Do in just edit the values on x and y for each mfd at a time?