Black Shark Nirvana with TouchBuddy

[Macka]

This game and community just gets better. Great work DickD. :). Went and bought a small monitor just to try this baby and see if I could use in conjunction with the Wiimote system for the touchscreen part.. Looks great on the second LCD monitor....a small ASUS 16.1 inch. Unfortunately cant get the calibration of the wiimote system to work using second display. Will play with it more tonite to see if there is a way to perfect it. By the way for any Aussies out there interested in a cheap second monitor for this, I picked mine up at JB hifi for $88 Aud. They and Clive Anthonys have it on special till Monday 23 Feb. :0 :)

[Snacko]

Nice Job DD!

[braden]

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

 

You could get an excellent MIMO UM 740 touchscreen...everything (power/signal/input/webcam etc) is handled via 1 USB2 connection

 

Its pretty small though, so using dickDastardlys profile is out of the question...depends what u wanna put on it. I love it.

I just programmed the on-screen labels on the bottom of ABRIS to be touchable, rather than take up extra realestate with a copy of the cockpit buttons.

[MackTheKnight]

This profile looks amazing. Sadly my touch screen only supports 800X600 so for now I'm still using a very basic profile.

 

Any chance this will be modified to 800x600 in the future?

 

Regards,

Mack

[hendo97]

DD you D MAN! I went and got a 15" ELO yesterday just to run this profile. Thanks! I am having a problem though. My shkval and Abbris are not displaying on the touch screen. My touchbuddy.cfg file looks like this...

 

# 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:\program file\Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\touchbuddy-export.dat

 

Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? I am running XP and every thing else is working great. Thanks again.

[DickDastardly]

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

 

Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? I am running XP and every thing else is working great. Thanks again.

 

Hi m8,

I suspect the line in your touchbuddy.cfg should be:

 

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

 

Note the "s" on the end of "Files" and the capitalization. Having said that, this line will only affect the weapons payload strip above the ABRIS so if the ABRIS and Shkval screens aren't working there must be some other problem. I'd need to see your options.lua and MonitorSetup config file to figure out what else is wrong.

Cheers,

DD

[hendo97]

DD thanks for the information on the payload strip it works great now. Do you have any ideas why the abbris display is not working?

[DickDastardly]

Hendo,

I've had a look at the files you sent me and everything looks fine there, the only other thing I can think of is that your monitors aren't arranged properly in your Windows desktop properties. For your setup you need your main monitor to be to the right of your secondary one (i.e. when you move your mouse off the right edge of your secondary screen it should appear on the left edge of your main screen). Can you check if this is the case?

Cheers,

DD

[hendo97]

DD,

This is the way my monitors are setup now. Touchscreen is on the left and main lcd is on the right. I read the touchbuddy form and followed some of the directions you posted there but still no joy. Can you tell me what file may be causing the problem (i.e. a file in touchbuddy or black shark)?

 

Thanks

Hendo97

[Moose]

Major thanks DickDistardly. Reps inbound for a great job done !

[DickDastardly]

This profile looks amazing. Sadly my touch screen only supports 800X600 so for now I'm still using a very basic profile. Any chance this will be modified to 800x600 in the future?

 

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that TB has some kind of scaling capability built in. It might be worth trawling through the TB docs or forum for more details. Sorry I can't be more help, but I've never used this feature myself.

 

DD,

This is the way my monitors are setup now. Touchscreen is on the left and main lcd is on the right. I read the touchbuddy form and followed some of the directions you posted there but still no joy. Can you tell me what file may be causing the problem (i.e. a file in touchbuddy or black shark)?

 

I'm a bit baffled by this issue. If you don't run TB but just load a mission in BS do you see a blurry version of the TB layout appear on your secondary monitor during mission loading, with a test card on the Shkval screen and a credits page on the ABRIS screen?

 

You could try downloading this test file to your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\Config\MonitorSetup folder, then in the BS options select "test.lua" in the monitors dropdown box. Load a mission (with TB not running) and you should see the Shkval screen on your secondary monitor and the ABRIS screen partly on your main monitor and partly on your secondary. Let me know what happens.

Cheers,

DD

[hendo97]

DD I did what you ask and it seems that nothing will display on my 2nd (touchscreen) monitor. I have been adjusting the monitor setup files in note pad ++ to see if I can move the abris over to the 2nd screen but have had no luck. I can change the size but I am not sure how to adjust the position. Can you tell me what file will allow me to change this?

 

thanks

Hendoo97

[DickDastardly]

DD I did what you ask and it seems that nothing will display on my 2nd (touchscreen) monitor. I have been adjusting the monitor setup files in note pad ++ to see if I can move the abris over to the 2nd screen but have had no luck. I can change the size but I am not sure how to adjust the position. Can you tell me what file will allow me to change this?

 

The position of the ABRIS is determined by the lines in the ABRIS section beginning with "x =" and "y =" in whichever monitor setup file you select in the BS options monitor dropdown box.

 

What happens if you select the 3Cameras.lua file? Do you see the central view on your main monitor and the view out your left window on your secondary monitor?

 

If not, and if you saw part of the ABRIS screen on your main monitor when using my test.lua file but nothing on your secondary screen then it still sounds like your monitors aren't set up correctly in your windows desktop properties.

 

If you drag a window on your desktop so the left half of it disappears off the left edge of your main monitor can you see the other half of the window on the right side of your secondary monitor? If you're using XP, have you tried "horizontal span" mode instead of "dual view"?

Cheers,

DD

[hendo97]

DD When I load BC I can see the load screen on both monitors but as soon as the sim starts the touchscreen says "no signal" and the main monitor looks like crap. I have tried to move the touchscreen to the left and right. But I get the same thing. I don't think the sim knows I have a 2nd monitor no matter what I do? I have tried duel view and horizontal setup. Now my Win. start bar is on the touchscreen (left of main screen) and still I get no signal while running the sim.

 

Thanks

Hendo97

[DickDastardly]

DD When I load BC I can see the load screen on both monitors but as soon as the sim starts the touchscreen says "no signal" and the main monitor looks like crap.

 

Was this using the 3cameras.lua monitor setup file? If not, did you try that one? Can you upload a screenshot? (that might give me a better idea of what's happening). What about when you launch TB, does that appear okay on your touchscreen and remain visible when you launch a mission (apart from the shkval and abris not working)?

 

Other than that, all I can think of to suggest is to redo the installation instructions from start to finish, or maybe try it with a different monitor if you have another or can borrow one.

Cheers,

DD

[hendo97]

DD, I have been working and not had much time to work on this problem. Today I reinstalled every thing from start to finish and I am sure it was done right. the screen shot is the best I can get. The picture is all on my 22" LCD. and the TB profile is on my 15" ts.

 

Thanks

Hendo97

[DickDastardly]

Hendo,

It looks like you're nearly there m8 - the monitor setup file is working exactly as it should, the only thing you need to change is your total screen width as defined in your Eagle Dynamics\Ka-50\BlackShark\data\scripts\optiona.lua file. If you open it in Notepad++ (after replacing your default options.lua with my version from the download), then the last few lines should read as follows:

 

["height"] = 768,

["resolution"] = "1024x768",

["civTraffic"] = 1,

["width"] = 3072,

}, -- end of ["graphics"]

} -- end of options

 

From your screenshot it looks as if your file still says ["width"] = 1024 which is why you're seeing all the Black Shark stuff crammed onto one screen.

Cheers,

DD

[tronso]

Now for 800*600 users!

 

I was a bit bummed when i first saw this excellent profile as I use Th2Go and run TB in client/server mode from an 800*600 10.4 inch touchscreen.

 

One of the best TB-profiles I've seen, and I couldn't use it!

 

But then I realized i could put my (limited) Photoshop-skills to use and make a version suited for smaller resolutions, and here's the result:

 

 

I added some extra buttons too, and a second tab with comms-shortcuts.

 

The profile is available in the "Profiles"-section at http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/

 

Note that I use a Norwegian keyboard, so a few of the buttons might need tweaking in the TB Toolkit too work with other localizations. See my post at the TB-forums for details.

 

-T

[Etsija]

As I already have a second 19'' 5:4 (1280+1024) monitor standing on my desk, which I use for Black Shark, and not much extra money :) I think best option for me would be to buy one of those 19'' touchscreen conversion kits. DD, you mentioned you have bought one from eBay Hong Kong? Did you have any problems with it? I live in Finland, so I guess postage to here is about the same as to UK.

 

Problem is the eBay items like this:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/19-Touch-Panel-Screen-Kit-PC-Desktop-Monitor-Display_W0QQitemZ180333886677QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_Monitors?hash=item180333886677&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

 

don't seem to tell whether they are 16:9 or 5:4 layouts (I THINK I need 5:4?).

 

EDIT: seems to be hard to find non-widescreen 19'' touchscreen conversion kits from eBay that ship to Europe in general...?

Edited March 6, 2009 by Etsija

[DickDastardly]

As I already have a second 19'' 5:4 (1280+1024) monitor standing on my desk, which I use for Black Shark, and not much extra money :) I think best option for me would be to buy one of those 19'' touchscreen conversion kits. DD, you mentioned you have bought one from eBay Hong Kong? Did you have any problems with it? I live in Finland, so I guess postage to here is about the same as to UK.

 

Problem is the eBay items like this:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/19-Touch-Panel-Screen-Kit-PC-Desktop-Monitor-Display_W0QQitemZ180333886677QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_Monitors?hash=item180333886677&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

 

don't seem to tell whether they are 16:9 or 5:4 layouts (I THINK I need 5:4?).

 

EDIT: seems to be hard to find non-widescreen 19'' touchscreen conversion kits from eBay that ship to Europe in general...?

 

I got mine from an "Irish" supplier on ebay.co.uk, although it was actually shipped direct from Hong Kong:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260369476902

 

As well as fixed price offers you can also get them quite a bit cheaper in auctions if you're patient (I paid under £40 iirc). There seem to be a lot of different sellers on ebay but, from the photos, it looks like just about all of them are from the same manufacturer. Unless they explicitly mention widescreen in the description then they'll almost certainly be 5:4 (like the one you linked to).

 

Installation was pretty straightforward - just unscrew the monitor bezel, put the touchscreen in place and screw it all together again (I also had to snip a couple of plastic strips on a vent at the back of my monitor with some wirecutters to allow me to feed through the cable). Accuracy is excellent after you've done a simple 4-point callibration and it's great for sims (particularly things like an FMC or MFDs).

Cheers,

DD

[SinandGrin]

Wow i love this idea of a Touch Screen Conversion Kit. I've been checking Ebay for some to fit my extra 19" Dell 4:3 monitor and there seems to be a few. Does anyone have any experience with a particular kit? What is the Quality of these units like, and should I be looking for certain features or quality components?

[Volkum]

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

 

So...you main monitor runs at 1024x768? Am I interpreting this correctly?

Edited March 11, 2009 by Volkum

[DickDastardly]

So...you main monitor runs at 1024x768? Am I interpreting this correctly?

 

Yep - I run my main view on a 1024x768 projector (producing a 6ft diagonal image). The instructions here describe how to set up my profiles with all screens running at 1024x768 (mainly to keep things simple but also because the framerate hit for multi-monitors makes it desirable to keep the resolution low on at least the secondary screens).

 

In this thread on the Touchbuddy forums, however, I also give examples of how to use both two-monitor and three-monitor versions of the profiles with a higher resolution on the main screen (1680x1050 in the examples but the explanations there should also enable you to run at other resolutions too).

Cheers,

DD

[Volkum]

Yep - I run my main view on a 1024x768 projector (producing a 6ft diagonal image). The instructions here describe how to set up my profiles with all screens running at 1024x768 (mainly to keep things simple but also because the framerate hit for multi-monitors makes it desirable to keep the resolution low on at least the secondary screens).

 

In this thread on the Touchbuddy forums, however, I also give examples of how to use both two-monitor and three-monitor versions of the profiles with a higher resolution on the main screen (1680x1050 in the examples but the explanations there should also enable you to run at other resolutions too).

Cheers,

DD

 

Is there any way to use different/independant resolutions? I dual my 2405FPW with a Samsung 204B so I run 1920x1200 and 1600x1200 using Dualview and Ultramon.

[Etsija]

I got mine from an "Irish" supplier on ebay.co.uk, although it was actually shipped direct from Hong Kong:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260369476902

 

As well as fixed price offers you can also get them quite a bit cheaper in auctions if you're patient (I paid under £40 iirc).

 

Hmm, I'm just thinking, what about the customs issue: if eBay says they come from Ireland (which would be OK since I don't need to pay customs from Ireland to Finland), but they are shipped instead direct from Hong Kong, I need to pay extra for the customs? Seems like this "Ireland" is a bit misleading there.

 

Anyway, as I have time, but less money :) I will probably set up an eBay account and start beating down the bidding path. Any hints, or is this pretty straightforward? I haven't been using eBay.

 

EDIT: aside to SinandGrin: I've found at least one difference in the offers for the 19'' touchscreen overlays, in that one particular brand does not seem to offer Vista drivers along the product. Now I don't know if this really is the case, but you can never be too careful!

Edited March 11, 2009 by Etsija