Game viewport corrupt when eporting out MFDs (F-16)

[TheWizkid]

Trying to get my 2 MFDs and main screen to work in DCS with Helios. MFDs export out fine, UI pops up on the correct monitor, my 4k TV but the main viewport is all messed up and I cant really figure out why. I have attached some screen shots and some pics of what I am seering. Any help would be great.

Im not using the first QHD monitor, just the 4K TV and the 2 800x600 displays on the MFDs

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, AMD RX6950XT, 64BGB DDR4

[MadKreator]

@TheWizkid Your helios setup looks fine, but that issue you're having is something I’ve never seen. Just for kicks I would turn off monitor 1,  reset monitors in helios, configure again in”DCS Monitor setup”, change the resolution in dcs and see if it works correctly. DCS has never really liked monitors being placed on the left of the main screen. IE it doesn’t like being offset from the  0,0 coordinate…. If it works you may just make sure to shut down screen 1 before playing dcs/ helios. You may even be able to trick it and turn that monitor on after dcs starts and helios is started and use it for other windows programs, discord, dcs nav map, the way, helios control center , dcs Olympus etc…. Since helios won’t let you exclude a screen to the left of the main from the dcs screenspace. ( you could if monitor one  was on the right)… again, dcs limitations. 

 You will prob get better responses regarding helios here too

Captain Zeen/ Helios discord: https://discord.gg/sS5rYAwKsr 

Edited March 22 by MadKreator

[SkateZilla]

Honestly, 

First that arrangement is wasting a lot of Pixels, under Screens 3 and 4, and under screen 1.

Just remember, the total width and height is rendered, so even the space that isn't occupied by a screen is still rendered.
So you have Screen 1, then the 4K Screen 2, then Smaller Screen 3 and 4.

You're looking at 8000 x 2160 total rendered area ( 17,280,000 Px), and you are only seeing maybe 66% of that. as you have a 1200x1560 section of empty space under the MFD screens, and another 2560 x 720 section under the Left 1440p .Screen

I'd Honestly move the MFD Screens underneath the 1440P screen in the array, which would cut about 1600x2160 pixels from being rendered on the right side totally. and adjust the LUA file to match the new coordinates.

Assuming those screens are 800x600 each.

you add 1600 x 600 under the 2560x1440p Screen,

2160Px (Max Vertical of the 4K screen)
2040Px (Max Vertical of the 1440P + 2x 800P screens below it)

So max Render Height would be 2160.

3840 (Max Horizontal of the 4K screen), + 2560 (Max Horizontal of the 1440P)

So Max Render wifth would be 6400

So your total rendered space would be 6400x2160, or 13,824,000 Px.

with only 400x600 Empty space on the left and right sides of the MFD Screens, and 120x2560 under the 1440P and MFD Screens.

You would drastically cut your Pixels rendered by 3,456,000 Px or 20%, at that high of a rendering area, 20% is ALOT.

Have the 4K as the Primary,
then the 1440P and 800x600 Screens as extended, to the left,

Set MainView as:

Viewports =
{
     Center =
     {
          x = 2560;
          y = 0;
          width = 3840;
          height = 2160;
          viewDx = 0;
          viewDy = 0;
          aspect = 1.777777777777778;
     }
}

Then Set the MFDs as:

F_16C_LEFT_MFCD =
{
     x = 0;
     y = 1440;
     width = 600;
     height = 600;
}
F_16C_RIGHT_MFCD =
{
     x = 800;
     y = 1440;
     width = 600;
     height = 600;
}

Also,
The Corrupted Problem on your 4K Display, is the MFDs being rendered before the viewport, and your coordinates are likely wrong.
Move the MFD Declaration below the Viewports { }.

Add them UIMainview.

They cannot be set before the main viewport, nor inside the viewport { }

As for Negative set screens comment above.
I run 5 extended screens, 2 of which are to the left of the Windows primary, and I have no issues setting negative coordinates.

Edited March 22 by SkateZilla

[SkateZilla]

it really should work with the MFDs defined above the viewport, at least it does for the hornet,
Installing the viper to check on that.

Also, Those Viewport names don't even work on my end.

Might want to change the names to "LEFT_MFCD" and "RIGHT_MFCD"

Edited March 22 by SkateZilla

[MadKreator]

29 minutes ago, SkateZilla said:

As for Negative set screens comment above.
I run 5 extended screens, 2 of which are to the left of the Windows primary, and I have no issues setting negative coordinates.

Very interesting. I know the helios code is a bit “messy”, as the developer says, when it comes to translating certain monitor configurations.  I’ve been hit or miss getting a monitor to work correctly being on the left of the primary, by letting Helios write the monitor file. It sees the left screens as negative coordinate values coming from windows, and isn’t always happy about it. It’s just doing what it thinks DCS wants. I know lots of users with more complex screen setups seem to have better luck writing their own file instead of letting helios produce it. Helios also has trouble producing proper triple screen setups. 
- Curious if, in your setup SkateZilla, you are able to use your two left monitors for other windows applications while playing dcs. Or does dcs still see then as part of the screen space, just leaving them blank?
- I’d be interested to see your monitorsetup LUA for that particular configuration, if you would be willing to share I would like to compare and do some testing on some modified Helios monitor setups. 
- as for his mfds being before the viewports. I will check my Helios monitor file. It could be written that way due to Helios’ “patches”( modifications to the core files) for exporting things like the mfd’s, ded, eufi’s etc. <— I will revisit this one. That piques my interest as well.

I suppose my previous statement should have been “ limitation based on what Helios THINKS dcs wants”

[SkateZilla]

3 minutes ago, MadKreator said:

Very interesting. I know the helios code is a bit “messy”, as the developer says, when it comes to translating certain monitor configurations.  I’ve been hit or miss getting a monitor to work correctly being on the left of the primary, by letting Helios write the monitor file. It sees the left screens as negative coordinate values coming from windows, and isn’t always happy about it. It’s just doing what it thinks DCS wants. I know lots of users with more complex screen setups seem to have better luck writing their own file instead of letting helios produce it. Helios also has trouble producing proper triple screen setups. 
- Curious if, in your setup SkateZilla, you are able to use your two left monitors for other windows applications while playing dcs. Or does dcs still see then as part of the screen space, just leaving them blank?
- I’d be interested to see your monitorsetup LUA for that particular configuration, if you would be willing to share I would like to compare and do some testing on some modified Helios monitor setups. 
- as for his mfds being before the viewports. I will check my Helios monitor file. It could be written that way due to Helios’ “patches”( modifications to the core files) for exporting things like the mfd’s, ded, eufi’s etc. <— I will revisit this one. That piques my interest as well.

I suppose my previous statement should have been “ limitation based on what Helios THINKS dcs wants”

I dont have my old helios profile on hand anymore (was backed up a while back as I moved to purely VR).

I did run 5 screens (3 main view (L, C, R), 1 for MFCDs and 1 for Mirrors.


The MFCD Viewports can be listed before the viewports I just checked and it worked fine for F/A-18C and F-16C.

I did have an issue running w/ the Names "F_16C_LEFT_MFCD" and "F_16C_RIGHT_MFCD" when I set those names, no Displays were rendered, so that may also be your issue.

All screens blank out when DCS is Running foreground, unless you run DCS Windowed, with a resolution that does not include that display, which really isnt possible if the MFD displays are setup under the 1440P display.

Edited March 22 by SkateZilla

[MadKreator]

30 minutes ago, SkateZilla said:

I dont have my old helios profile on hand anymore (was backed up a while back as I moved to purely VR).

I did run 5 screens (3 main view (L, C, R), 1 for MFCDs and 1 for Mirrors.


The MFCD Viewports can be listed before the viewports I just checked and it worked fine for F/A-18C and F-16C.

I did have an issue running w/ the Names "F_16C_LEFT_MFCD" and "F_16C_RIGHT_MFCD" when I set those names, no Displays were rendered, so that may also be your issue.

All screens blank out when DCS is Running foreground, unless you run DCS Windowed, with a resolution that does not include that display, which really isnt possible if the MFD displays are setup under the 1440P display.

 

No worries at all. Here is my helios monitor file..all viewports function as should. The specific naming used, is defined by the Helios Patches. I don't imagine they would work without the patches in place.
-I'm still a bit miffed at the OP's issue. To me it looks like a GPU issue, not necessarily directly with the monitor file in dcs or helios. Possibly that the GPU cant render a resolution with that total width? I'm not entirely sire how that works but I have seen users hit a resolution limit on some gpu's, but usually when trying to run 4k triples and part of a screen gets cut off.

 

Not sure why I have a y=5 offset on my primary.. just noticed that one..hmmm<--now fixed

 

 

Edited March 22 by MadKreator

[TheWizkid]

I moved the QHD monitor below the 4K TV and reset everything in Helios and everything appears to be working fine now! Thanks everyone!

[MadKreator]

3 hours ago, TheWizkid said:

I moved the QHD monitor below the 4K TV and reset everything in Helios and everything appears to be working fine now! Thanks everyone!

Awesome! Good deal

[TheWizkid]

I was doing a campain today and when I brought up my kneeboard it was lost between a tiny corner of the 4k monitor and the 2 MFDs. Any idea how to fix this?

[MadKreator]

4 hours ago, TheWizkid said:

I was doing a campain today and when I brought up my kneeboard it was lost between a tiny corner of the 4k monitor and the 2 MFDs. Any idea how to fix this?

You just have to use the mouse and resize and reposition it every time you start a new flight. It’s because of the enlarged screenspace dcs now uses with the added monitors.  ED has yet to address it after years of requests. There is a thread somewhere to change the size and position in the lua files, however it’s not a simple adjustment but the steps are pretty detailed if you want to give it a go.. I’ll try to find it.

[MadKreator]

Not sure where it’s at. Might take some deep digging through the forums… 
On a side note, if you notice exported mfd’s/ viewports being overly dark. Here is the “fix” using ReShade to make a mask of your viewport screen area then adding a couple filters to brighten them up. F-16 isn’t that bad but some like the f-15e are really dim.  Almost invisible in night mode. If you want to give this ago ever, and don’t have photoshop or gimp ( you could prob do it in MS paint, maybe), hit me up on here or CZ’s discord that I linked earlier and I’m happy to make the mask for you to use .
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/328747-my-workaround-for-exported-mdf-brightnes-issues/?do=findComment&comment=5395740

[rob10]

Actually, moving the kneeboard via .lua file is pretty simple other than figuring out where you need it the 1st time.  Not sure if this passes MP Integrity (I'm guessing not) so be aware of that before you spend a bunch of time setting it up if it that matters for you.

This is where mine is, your folder name may be slightly different.  The numbers I have in there put it on one of my MFD's which is positioned to the right of my main and at the bottom.  IIRC it will say "default" or something like that rather than have numbers when you open it 1st time.  Also, this needs to be redone after updates so make sure you make a note of whatever co-ordinates you settle on so you don't have to figure them out again.

 

D:\DCS World OpenBeta\Scripts\Aircrafts\_Common\Cockpit\ViewportHandling.lua 

dedicated_viewport                   = {3910,2437,600,700}       --  <<  AT LINE 33

 

[MadKreator]

9 hours ago, rob10 said:

Actually, moving the kneeboard via .lua file is pretty simple other than figuring out where you need it the 1st time.  Not sure if this passes MP Integrity (I'm guessing not) so be aware of that before you spend a bunch of time setting it up if it that matters for you.

This is where mine is, your folder name may be slightly different.  The numbers I have in there put it on one of my MFD's which is positioned to the right of my main and at the bottom.  IIRC it will say "default" or something like that rather than have numbers when you open it 1st time.  Also, this needs to be redone after updates so make sure you make a note of whatever co-ordinates you settle on so you don't have to figure them out again.

 

D:\DCS World OpenBeta\Scripts\Aircrafts\_Common\Cockpit\ViewportHandling.lua 

dedicated_viewport                   = {3910,2437,600,700}       --  <<  AT LINE 33

 

I've seen that. Easy enough.. I was looking for one where the guys added some lua files and did some other stuff that tricked it into not breaking IC (supposedly, never tried it) It was a long time ago. I have some viewporthandling mods already, plus the laundry list of things helios breaks, so whats one more!

Edited March 25 by MadKreator