[How to] Multi monitor MFCD display export set-up guide - Nov 2024 (updated)

[Despayre]

Is it possible to do that for switching between the front and back in the F-15E? We'd need a different variable, not unit_type I wouldn't think.

[jonsky7]

13 hours ago, scrupeus said:

 

First, and most importantly, a huge thanks to @jonsky7 for all your work not only creating this guide but supporting it for more than two years!

---

There is an easy way to include multiple aircraft in a single monitor config file without renaming display exports.

NOTES:

1. Apparently, the method below worked many years ago, stopped working for a few years but is working again now (at least with OpenBeta 2.8.7).
2. As others have mentioned, many aircraft have common names for display exports (LEFT_MFCD, RIGHT_MFCD, etc.) so you may not need customisation for each aircraft.
3. As also mentioned by others, any display export that doesn't have a matching name will simply be ignored (meaning you could have an 'F14_EDI' entry for example and it would simply be ignored for other aircraft).
4. If you want to use a display that isn't exported for a given aircraft, then you will still need to add a 'try_find_assigned_viewport' function call into the aircraft's appropriate Lua file (details of how to do that can be found elsewhere).
5. I am by no means an expert with this stuff but it's working for me!!!

The following method is useful if you want different display arrangements for different aircraft, without having to customise display export names.

The solution is to use a 'reconfigure_for_unit' function and its passed 'unit_type' parameter...

(Note: this is in your monitors config file, after 'name =', 'description =', 'Viewports =', etc.)
Instead of just having a single, generic entry in your monitors config file that will be used for all aircraft:

LEFT_MFCD =
{
    ...
}
RIGHT_MFCD =
{
    ...
}

wrap them in a 'reconfigure_for_unit' function and define entries for each unit (aircraft, etc.):

function reconfigure_for_unit(unit_type) 
    if unit_type == "AH-64D_BLK_II" then
        LEFT_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
        RIGHT_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
        TEDAC =
        {
            ...
        }
    elseif unit_type == "FA-18C_hornet" then
        LEFT_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
        RIGHT_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
        CENTER_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
    elseif unit_type == "F-16C_50" then
        ...
    elseif unit_type == "F-14A-135-GR" then
        ...
    else  -- FALLBACK FOR UNITS NOT MATCHED ABOVE
        LEFT_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
        RIGHT_MFCD =
        {
            ...
        }
    end
end

(you need to replace '...' with appropriate values of 'x', 'y', 'width' and 'height' for each entry)

NOTE: There are various ways of finding unit type names - I got them from a Helios config file.  Here's a copy:

  Reveal hidden contents

A-10C

A-10C_2

F-14B

F-14A-135-GR

F-16C_50

FA-18C_hornet

A-10A

F-15C

MiG-29

Su-25

Su-27

Su-33

AV8BNA

UH-1H

Ka-50

Ka-50_3

AH-64D_BLK_II

AJS37

L-39

L-39C

L-39ZA

Mi-8MT

MiG-21Bis

P-51D

P-51D-30-NA

TF-51D

SA342

SA342L

SA342M

SA342Mistral

SA342Minigun

JF-17

Thanks again to @jonsky7 and everyone else who has contributed - it's been a huge help to me!

Excellent post, thank you. I had tried to get this working many moons ago but never managed it. Will certainly give it another try with your info. 

[Leg2ion]

On 2/26/2021 at 10:57 AM, jonsky7 said:

It is currently possible (29-July-2023) to set up your exports to be aircraft specific.

@scrupeus & @jonsky7 - many thanks for pulling this through - just what I was looking for and couldn't figure out how to do myself. Currently have Apache MFDs on a touchscreen, and A10 MFDs on a cougar setup - which was causing me a headache in configuration - and what was being displayed where. 

[Darkdiz]

On 7/28/2023 at 2:07 AM, Despayre said:

Is it possible to do that for switching between the front and back in the F-15E? We'd need a different variable, not unit_type I wouldn't think.

Any update on this?  How do we put a particular screen onto a particular MFD in the WSO seat? The Left_MFCD when in the WSO seat goes onto the wrong exported MFD, since it is called the same in both the front and back end. I got the 2 colour MFCDs to display properly (OUTER_LEFT_MFCD and OUTER_RIGHT_MFCD) but the LEFT_MFCD will not display on the monitor I want it to, which is the CENTER_MFCD is I am in the pilot seat (ie I want the inner left WSO mfd to display on the same monitor that the CENTER_MFCD in the pilot seat displays upon.

Putting a function call doesn't work for this, as the LEFT_MFCD and RIGHT_MFCD are called the same no matter if the pilot or WSO seat is in use. Need a seperate call for the WSO seat. Anyone have any ideas?

[jonsky7]

39 minutes ago, Darkdiz said:

Any update on this?  How do we put a particular screen onto a particular MFD in the WSO seat? The Left_MFCD when in the WSO seat goes onto the wrong exported MFD, since it is called the same in both the front and back end. I got the 2 colour MFCDs to display properly (OUTER_LEFT_MFCD and OUTER_RIGHT_MFCD) but the LEFT_MFCD will not display on the monitor I want it to, which is the CENTER_MFCD is I am in the pilot seat (ie I want the inner left WSO mfd to display on the same monitor that the CENTER_MFCD in the pilot seat displays upon.

Putting a function call doesn't work for this, as the LEFT_MFCD and RIGHT_MFCD are called the same no matter if the pilot or WSO seat is in use. Need a seperate call for the WSO seat. Anyone have any ideas?

Depends on if you're concerned about the integrity check or not for servers running the option require pure scripts = true

I do not currently own the F-15E, but you may be able to modify the names of the exports and then you could create separate entries for all 7 screens in the config file. 

You can use notepad++ to search within files. Under search, Find in files

Run a search for LEFT_MFCD and RIGHT_MFCD, 

you'll find entries along the lines of 

try_find_assigned_viewport("LEFT_MFCD")

It will then depend how they are managing the switching of the displays.

The Apache has only one entry for LEFT and RIGHT MFCD's and I'm not good enough with the code to figure out how the switching takes place and whether or not that could be used in the monitor config file. 

 

[Darkdiz]

I had a pretty good look, RAZBAM kind of goes their own way on stuff like this. What I found points to the generic viewport.handling lua in the aircraft/common folder, which doesn't really help.

I have managed to get the displays to sort of work, but there is still a mismatch between the back and front end. What I would like is for the pilot's center_mfcd to display... you guessed it, in one of the middle mfds. What was happening, because the left_mfcd is called the same in the front and back end, both were displaying on the far left mfd when in the WSO seat, with nothing displayed on the inner left mfd.  There needs to be a different name for the WSO left MFCD.  The OUTER_LEFT_MFCD works, as does the OUTER_RIGHT_MFCD, and they display properly. It is the 2 inner displays that are problematic.

In a nutshell, the WSO LEFT_MFCD needs to display on a different monitor than the pilot's LEFT_MFCD. As far as I can tell, the F-15 is not that advanced yet, hopefully it will come

More testing methinks

[jonsky7]

13 minutes ago, Darkdiz said:

I had a pretty good look, RAZBAM kind of goes their own way on stuff like this. What I found points to the generic viewport.handling lua in the aircraft/common folder, which doesn't really help.

I have managed to get the displays to sort of work, but there is still a mismatch between the back and front end. What I would like is for the pilot's center_mfcd to display... you guessed it, in one of the middle mfds. What was happening, because the left_mfcd is called the same in the front and back end, both were displaying on the far left mfd when in the WSO seat, with nothing displayed on the inner left mfd.  There needs to be a different name for the WSO left MFCD.  The OUTER_LEFT_MFCD works, as does the OUTER_RIGHT_MFCD, and they display properly. It is the 2 inner displays that are problematic.

In a nutshell, the WSO LEFT_MFCD needs to display on a different monitor than the pilot's LEFT_MFCD. As far as I can tell, the F-15 is not that advanced yet, hopefully it will come

More testing methinks

Wouldn't it just be easier to put the front seat CENTER_MFCD in the same position as a rear seat OUTER_MFCD?

 

[Despayre]

27 minutes ago, jonsky7 said:

Wouldn't it just be easier to put the front seat CENTER_MFCD in the same position as a rear seat OUTER_MFCD?

 

I think the best solution is to rename the WSO MFCD's...

WSO_LEFT_OUTER_MFCD

WSO_LEFT_MFCD

WSO_RIGHT_MFCD

WSO_RIGHT_OUTER_MFCD

Never have a problem ever again, nor with any other module, current or future

[Darkdiz]

I got it to work, renamed the 2 inner ones (the outers are already named). Not sure if it will pass integrity, but at least I got it to work.

The pilot displays are called LEFT_MFCD, RIGHT_MFCD and CENTER_MFCD.

For the WSO displays, the files you need to edit to do this are in the F-15E\Cockpit\Bake\MFDG folder, they are Bake_RCLI_init.lua and Bake_RCRI_init.lua. Look for the Tryfindviewport line in each (both files are really small) and where it says "LEFT_MFCD" and "RIGHT_MFCD" add "WSO" so they look like "WSO_LEFT_MFCD" and "WSO_RIGHT_MFCD".

Then in your monitor config file, add the following lines (obviously put your own x, y, width etc values, the ones below are for my particular setup, I run 4 dedicated 800x600 mfd monitors):

OUTER_LEFT_MFCD = -- MFD 3 F-15 WSO
{
     x = 90;
     y = 5;
     width = 600;
     height = 600;
     aspect = 600/600
}

OUTER_RIGHT_MFCD = -- MFD 4 F-15 WSO
{
     x = 1190;
     y = 5;
     width = 600;
     height = 600;
     aspect = 600/600
}

WSO_LEFT_MFCD = -- MFD 1 F-15 WSO
{
     x = 100;
     y = 600;
     width = 600;
     height = 600;
     aspect = 600/600
}

WSO_RIGHT_MFCD = -- MFD 2 F-15 WSO
{
     x = 1210;
     y = 600;
     width = 600;
     height = 600;
     aspect = 600/600
}

[jonsky7]

1 hour ago, Despayre said:

I think the best solution is to rename the WSO MFCD's...

WSO_LEFT_OUTER_MFCD

WSO_LEFT_MFCD

WSO_RIGHT_MFCD

WSO_RIGHT_OUTER_MFCD

Never have a problem ever again, nor with any other module, current or future

If they would all just give them a unique name and default name we could choose either or.

eg turn
try_find_assigned_viewport("LEFT_MFCD")

into
try_find_assigned_viewport("WSO_LEFT_MFCD", "LEFT_MFCD")

Then if you make an entry in your config file for WSO_LEFT_MFCD, that would take priority over LEFT_MFCD

Several modules already follow this approach so it's not something new, and would take a few moments to implement.

The Ka50 does it with the ABRIS and Shkval
try_find_assigned_viewport("ABRIS","RIGHT_MFCD")
try_find_assigned_viewport("Shkval","LEFT_MFCD")

 

The JF-17 does it with all its displays
try_find_assigned_viewport('JF17_LEFT_MFCD', 'LEFT_MFCD')

 

and the Apache does it with the TEDAC, albeit slightly differently
if not try_find_assigned_viewport("TEDAC") then
       try_find_assigned_viewport("CENTER_MFCD")
end

Edited August 1, 2023 by jonsky7

[Darkdiz]

Anyone figure out the F-15 kneeboard position yet? After the last patch (and me moving my monitors around a bit) the kneeboard position mod (viewporthandling_resize.lua) causes the F-15 to CTD (at least it does for me). Occasionally, it just causes no airframe to render (cockpit etc).

Any ideas?

Update: I figured out how to resize the kneeboard, it is in the F-15E\Cockpit\KNEEBOARD\device\declare_kneeboard_device.lua file. Change the sw and sh values (I changed them to 0.100 each), at least it made the kneeboard so I can see it properly without having to drag the corners, but it still has to be dialled in for my setup.

The next part is a bit more complex, but I'm working on it...

In the F-15E\Cockpit\KNEEBOARD\pages\1.lua file is the script for the actual writing of the info found on the first page of the kneeboard.  Problem is when you resize the kneeboard as above, the writing does not resize with it Ends up misaligned, so not very useful. Apparently, each column and row have to also be resized, clearly a PITA.

The drag-to-resize works, but there has to be a way of making the F-15 kneeboard appear at the size and position the pilot wants WITHOUT having to drag and resize.

More work needed!

Edited August 5, 2023 by Darkdiz

[BaronVonVaderham]

Hi all,

i seem to have some degree of success with this. But I’m not sure I did things right completely.

i didn’t change the config.lua in the save games directory, so multi monitor is still set to 1camera.

a couple of things that may or may not be important:

1) I’m using a 4K as main display and 2 1280x800 displays for mfcd (I think their resolution can be set higher, but this is the recommended windows setting)

2) I put them horizontally in line; display 3 is 4K and main view, display 1 is the left mfcd, and 2 is the right mfcd.

3) The order of the displays in Windows from left to right is 3-1-2, with display 3 being the main display. See screenshot widowed display setup.

4) arranging 1 and 2 in windows doesn’t have any effect. In real life the physical units are still arranged the same way compared to the main 4k display. I have to swap displays 1 and 2 physically, before  they align in windows. I don’t understand this. it is as of windows always looks at the physical port and ignores the number.

5) based on my calculations I should have a total resolution of 6400x2160, but for some reason there is a 6400x2167 resolution in DCS available as well. I double checked the monitor lua, and there’s no Y position or height that would in some way result in 2167. See screenshot lua file.

6) In DCS I selected the correct resolution, and I selected for monitors “3monitorsetup” Which is what I named my monitor lua file. See screenshot DCS options.

Problem 1: on display 2, my right mfcd, the windows task bar appears, but not on my display 1 the left mfcd. See screenshot desktop. How do I get rid of that task bar?

Problem 2: where does the 2167 come from? Should I worry about this?

Problem 3: how can I ensure windows sees the left mfcd as display 1 and the right mfcd as display 2 without having to swap them physically? (They are correct note, but when I start building my cockpit I will forgot which one is which, and I don’t want to keep troubleshooting this over and over again.
 

[Despayre]

Problem 1 - Windows setting, turn off taskbar on all monitors except primary.

Problem 2 - If the images look right, it's not a problem, move on.

Problem 3 - from the screen you took a screenshot of, you can literally grab the monitors with your mouse and move them onscreen to the correct positions.

 

And yes, I read this part:

3) The order of the displays in Windows from left to right is 3-1-2, with display 3 being the main display. See screenshot widowed display setup.

4) arranging 1 and 2 in windows doesn’t have any effect. In real life the physical units are still arranged the same way compared to the main 4k display. I have to swap displays 1 and 2 physically, before  they align in windows. I don’t understand this. it is as of windows always looks at the physical port and ignores the number.

 

I don't know what's gone wrong to make that the case here, but that's not usually how Windows works, so my best guesses are either you have a non-standard monitor installation somehow, are using some drivers that Windows doesn't understand, or your X,Y values in DCS are not calculated correctly. What type of connections are your 2 smaller monitors using? are there any USB conversion adapters in play here?

Edited August 20, 2023 by Despayre

[BaronVonVaderham]

1 hour ago, Despayre said:

I don't know what's gone wrong to make that the case here, but that's not usually how Windows works, so my best guesses are either you have a non-standard monitor installation somehow, are using some drivers that Windows doesn't understand, or your X,Y values in DCS are not calculated correctly. What type of connections are your 2 smaller monitors using? are there any USB conversion adapters in play here?

 

I’ll give your suggestions for probleem 1 a go. I agree with problem 2 being a non issue in practice. Just would be nice to know what happened there.

as for problem 3, nothing un -standard that I’m aware of. Using an rtx 4080 card with Nvidia latest drivers.

mfcd monitors are connected with hdmi and usb (usb for power). I tried again but swapping their location in widows but I can still follow the mouse from left to right.

 Maybe it’s the monitors themselves? They’re cheap-ish 8” (ones from Amazon. “ELECROW Mini Monitor, 8 Inch Raspberry Pi Display, IPS Screen, External Screem with HD Resolution, 1280 x 800 Portable Monitor for Laptop, PC, Raspberry Pi, Game Console”, see screenshot.

 I’m using 2 hdmi connectors on my gpu.

 It’s not really an issue as long as I number them and use them consistently in that physical order.

 

[Despayre]

3 hours ago, BaronVonVaderham said:

I tried again but swapping their location in widows but I can still follow the mouse from left to right.

This seems like the problem. That should not be possible. On any multi-mon system I've had (I have been running multi-mon setups since XP) once Windows knows where the monitors are, and you change them, and apply changes, the same mouse movements should not still be possible... but from way over here, I don't have any more info to give you, but I'd bet 5 bucks that this is somehow the source of your problem, not DCS.

[BaronVonVaderham]

3 hours ago, Despayre said:

This seems like the problem. That should not be possible. On any multi-mon system I've had (I have been running multi-mon setups since XP) once Windows knows where the monitors are, and you change them, and apply changes, the same mouse movements should not still be possible... but from way over here, I don't have any more info to give you, but I'd bet 5 bucks that this is somehow the source of your problem, not DCS.

No worries. 
not sure why this is happening either. Maybe some peeps at work can explain. Maybe I’ll need to reinstall some drivers, or maybe it’s the monitors I’m using. 
 

got another problem now:

i seem to be getting a few pixel lines of the desktop seeping through on the bottom, which is a little weird. 
maybe if the displays had more pixels?? This would explain why there is a profile with 7 extra vertical pixels. 
not sure of this is the widows alignment (which snaps to certain locations), or maybe I need to stretch the image for the right mfd.

Edit: fixed it: it was the windows alignment…

Edited August 20, 2023 by BaronVonVaderham

[jonsky7]

1 hour ago, BaronVonVaderham said:

No worries. 
not sure why this is happening either. Maybe some peeps at work can explain. Maybe I’ll need to reinstall some drivers, or maybe it’s the monitors I’m using. 
 

got another problem now:

i seem to be getting a few pixel lines of the desktop seeping through on the bottom, which is a little weird. 
maybe if the displays had more pixels?? This would explain why there is a profile with 7 extra vertical pixels. 
not sure of this is the widows alignment (which snaps to certain locations), or maybe I need to stretch the image for the right mfd.

Edit: fixed it: it was the windows alignment…

 

That's down to the monitors 1 and 2 not being perfectly aligned on the bottom edge with monitor 3.

That's why you're getting a resolution option of 2167.

One or both of the monitors is 7 pixels below the bottom edge of monitor 3.

On windows display settings screen. Move monitor 3 up and down as well as trying 1 and 2 to get them lined up perfectly.

Or just choose the 2167 resolution in DCS, that should get rid of the desktop showing on the bottom edge.

[jonsky7]

2 hours ago, jonsky7 said:

That's down to the monitors 1 and 2 not being perfectly aligned on the bottom edge with monitor 3.

That's why you're getting a resolution option of 2167.

One or both of the monitors is 7 pixels below the bottom edge of monitor 3.

On windows display settings screen. Move monitor 3 up and down as well as trying 1 and 2 to get them lined up perfectly.

Or just choose the 2167 resolution in DCS, that should get rid of the desktop showing on the bottom edge.

If I remember correctly, you can highlight the monitor in windows display settings and use the arrow keys to move it around a bit more accurately. 

You might have to hold CTRL for the arrow keys to work. Been a while since I had to do it.

[Despayre]

4 hours ago, BaronVonVaderham said:

 

Edit: fixed it: it was the windows alignment…

 

 

Who do I contact to get my 5 bucks?

[BaronVonVaderham]

1 hour ago, Despayre said:

Who do I contact to get my 5 bucks?

1 hour ago, jonsky7 said:

If I remember correctly, you can highlight the monitor in windows display settings and use the arrow keys to move it around a bit more accurately. 

You might have to hold CTRL for the arrow keys to work. Been a while since I had to do it.

Thanks, I’ll give that a go.

one question (before I google it and give you the answer  how can I ensure the monitors are perfectly lined up?

[jonsky7]

17 hours ago, BaronVonVaderham said:

Thanks, I’ll give that a go.

one question (before I google it and give you the answer  how can I ensure the monitors are perfectly lined up?

You'll get a resolution of 6400x2160 in DCS

[BaronVonVaderham]

2 hours ago, jonsky7 said:

You'll get a resolution of 6400x2160 in DCS

[Lucky]

Jonsky7 thanks for putting this guide together. After following your instructions I got my 2nd monitor up and running, AH-64D, A-10C ii,  F/A-18C, F-15E, F-16C all export the MFD's to my 2nd monitor. Thanks again.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Lucky
Added info

[jonsky7]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:26 AM, Lucky said:

Jonsky7 thanks for putting this guide together. After following your instructions I got my 2nd monitor up and running, AH-64D, A-10C ii,  F/A-18C, F-15E, F-16C all export the MFD's to my 2nd monitor. Thanks again.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to leave a thank you note, cheers 

[Leg2ion]

Slightly different question - and to be honest not sure if it is 'doable'.

Have a AH64 setup (with a very hybrid .lua file that uses both a Helios setup and standard viewports) on a 15.6" touchscreen - to which I export the MFDs - which now swap between Pilot/CPG when I move seats. I also have a pair of cougar MFDs - to which I currently export the CPG MFDs - the consequence of which is that they only display what is being displayed in the CPG position - and the moving map doesn't move until I flick between seat positions.

Is there any way to display the pilot MFDs in two positions - so on both the touchscreen and the cougar MFDs - so they both swap between stations as I move seats?