TouchPal - Touchscreen Cockpit

[herr_LaSk]

Hi guys, I'm having a slight problem with touchpal at the moment. I got the program working and all, with buttons pushes in touchpal coresponding to the same buttons in the sim and so on:). However, often when I load up Black Shark the sim is superimposed over the touchpal window, so I only see the loading background picture of the Ka-50 with black bars on top and underneath. I can alt+tab to touchpal and get the touchpal window to show again, but then Black Shark doesnt recognise controll inputs to the sim. If I mouse click anywhere in the sim, the black shark loading window is superimposed over the touchpal window again. :( This happens about half the time I load up the sim (only the actual sim engine, when the main menu interface is loaded, touchpal shows up just fine), the other half it works as normal.

 

Another issue is whenever I click somewhere in touchpal the windows cursor always shows up where I clicked. Is there anyway for it not to show up when I click anywhere with touchpal? Minor issue I guess, but slightly annoying.:thumbup:

 

Im running windows 7, 64bit with a to monitor settup, a 24" main monitor running 1920x1200, and a LG Flatron L1510BF touchscreen monitor at 1024x764 resolution.

 

(sorry, I'm a complete noob:smartass:)

[C6_Hellfrog]

@herr_lask

suggestions :

 

verify admin rights on running the exes

verify dotnetframework updates on microsoft

 

@G3 :

ram on graphic card ?

GPU ?

CPU OVC ?

64 bits OS and more RAM ?

you may gain 20 fps with a recent pc config... see others'pits threads...

 

BUT on XP 32 with less then 3Gb RAm and 512Mo RAM for GPU and CPU below 3.2GHz you can't have significant gain without decreasing total screen width...

Edited April 8, 2010 by C6_Hellfrog

[bnepethomas]

This is amazing work guys, congrats

[G3]

 

@G3 :

ram on graphic card ?

GPU ?

CPU OVC ?

64 bits OS and more RAM ?

you may gain 20 fps with a recent pc config... see others'pits threads...

 

BUT on XP 32 with less then 3Gb RAm and 512Mo RAM for GPU and CPU below 3.2GHz you can't have significant gain without decreasing total screen width...

 

i have gtx 280 1 gig x2 in sli

e8500 @ 3.6ghz

4gig ddr2

xp pro 32

 

not ancient but getting on compared to what's out these days.

will move to win 7 ult 64 soon when i eventually dual boot next format.

Edited April 16, 2010 by G3

[C6_Hellfrog]

@ G3 : more ram and 64bits will give you 10 FPS more minimum, that is what I got at the time I did it last year.

[memento10]

I believe some people have been able to get Touchpal running on a 2nd PC.

 

I've tried doing this with no luck.

 

Other than changing the Host IP from 127.0.0.1 to the 2nd pc's IP 192.168.1.108 is their anything else that needs to be done?

 

I've tried opening the ports in Windows Firewall etc but can't get it to work.

 

Anybody able to describe how they got it working?

 

Thanks.

[Gadroc]

There is a slight bug in my releases of TouchPal which prevent this from working. Try the version by ddahlstrom earlier in this thread. I've been to lazy to merge his changes into the official source tree and re-release.

[ddahlstrom]

Yes. Try this. Be sure to read the readme.txt

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=795212&postcount=117

Edited April 20, 2010 by ddahlstrom

[memento10]

Thank you Gadroc and Ddhalstrom, worked like a charm!

 

I can now have a functioning BSVP, Touchpal and Sioc all running on a remote PC.

 

THANK YOU!

[Bucic]

These questions are not answered in TouchBuddy FAQ nor in http://www.cootek.com/

1. Does TouchPal require a 1024x768 screen to work with with BS or is it just the attached profile requirement and I could create my own profile for a smaller screen?
   
2. Can attached profile be easily modified to fit smaller screens or to exclude some parts of it to fit smaller screens?
   
3. Is creating such a profile is hard? Is LUA programming required?
   
4. Why TouchPal instead of TouchBuddy?
   
5. What's the price of a second hand touchscreen, 1024x768?
   
6. What are possible drawbacks regarding TouchPal and TouchBuddy in buying THE cheapest 800x600 touch screen?
   

[garengarch]

1. What's the price of a second hand touchscreen, 1024x768?
   

I got 2x ELO 17" touchscreens from ebay uk for £90, if thats any help as a guide,1280 x 1024.

Edited April 27, 2010 by garengarch
mistakes

[Gadroc]

These questions are not answered in TouchBuddy FAQ nor in http://www.cootek.com/

1. Does TouchPal require a 1024x768 screen to work with with BS or is it just the attached profile requirement and I could create my own profile for a smaller screen?
   
2. Can attached profile be easily modified to fit smaller screens or to exclude some parts of it to fit smaller screens?
   
3. Is creating such a profile is hard? Is LUA programming required?
   
4. Why TouchPal instead of TouchBuddy?
   
5. What's the price of a second hand touchscreen, 1024x768?
   
6. What are possible drawbacks regarding TouchPal and TouchBuddy in buying THE cheapest 800x600 touch screen?
   

 

1. 1024x768 is just what the profile was designed for. You can modify or create your own profile.
   
2. It can be done and "easy" is in the eyes of the one doing it. If you have a good grasp of XML you should be able to modify as you see fit. You may also have to redo some of the graphics.
   
3. Not hard if you have a good grasp on XML and have some graphics skill to make the images. Also look earlier in the thread as someone has already created an editor based on open office. LUA is not required (unless you want to interface to a new simulations like FC2)
   
4. TouchPal supports two-way communication with the sim. It reads the state of the sim to display switch positions and indicators. TouchPal sends absolute switch positions to the simulations. This all means TouchPal is never out of sync with the simulation.
   
5. Varies greatly. I've gotten one as low as $50 US from e-bay, but they often go for $200+ on ebay as well. You can get new 21-23" touch screen new from HP and Acer for $300-$500 so check before you plunk down the higher end for a used 15". You can also get kits to add touch screen to an existing monitor for $80+.
   
6. Just that you'll have to setup your own profile. There is not enough screen real estate to do ABRIS or Shkval on them either, but that may not be important to you.
   

[C6_Hellfrog]

102 patch and touchpal and multiscreen

 

Touchpal seems not to work anympore with 1.02 patch

 

export.lua is Ok

 

for multiscreen , Haeris from french 16thBlackReapers squadron found that one :

 

Keys profiles

 

backing up "/Config/Input" from 101 folder and pasting it in new 102 works fine

 

File export.lua:

old 101 one is compatible without any error with 102

 

Grafics settings:

old 101 file "option.lua" is no more compatible with 102

 

First settings to do directly in BS options

 

Then to have multiscreen working correctly you need to Edit adequate file in /Config/MonitorSetup, so you need to add following code at start of that file

 

_  = function(p) return p; end;
name = _('XXXX'); -- where XXXX is filename without lua extension 

Then in options.lua , find line "multiMonitorSetup" and add filename without ".lua" extension.

Last, edit and correct line "width" with appropriate value

 

Last info : they corrected the comms screen : no more on the right now but on the main screen !

EDIT 18/05/10

but for touchpal :

 

Touchpal display and ABRIS export is OK but touching touchpal screen doesn't launch anything, as if touch fact was not recognized.

Touching main Bs screen is ok on the other hand.

the touchpal bug is solved : the user who sent that t o me had an inversion of drivers between the two screens : it is solved touchpal works normally.

Edited May 18, 2010 by C6_Hellfrog

[Bucic]

1. 1024x768 is just what the profile was designed for. You can modify or create your own profile.
   .
   .
   .
    
   

Thank you very much for such a comprehensive answer!

[ddahlstrom]

but for touchpal :

 

Touchpal display and ABRIS export is OK but touching touchpal screen doesn't launch anything, as if touch fact was not recognized.

Touching main Bs screen is ok on the other hand.

 

need to explore that more.

 

I use TouchPal on an independent touchscreen PC that communicates over the network, and it seems to work ok on 1.02.

[C6_Hellfrog]

touchpal pbug solved : the user who sended it back had a video driver inversion between the wtwo screens. it is solved.

 

original post edited

[Sno250]

that's right, set it in windows display settnig below the main, adjust your options lua H & W to suit, res to stay the same.

subtrack your horizontal res from the abris and shkval positions in your monitor config, and edit touchpal.xml to position tp below the main.

----------------------------------

 

finally got my setup configured on xp with th2go, and tp with abris and shkval on an extra screen to the right.

 

horizonal span was not an option as it changes to th2go middle screen

and tp screen only disabling my left and right th2go screens so i set it to

dual view.

i just don't think it can span that high a res horizontally?, not sure.

 

took a major performance hit, i understand it's alot of pixels :)

going from 30-40 fps without the 4th screen,

and down to 8-10 fps with the 4th screen and it's basically a slide show.

options lua set to w= 4864, H = 1024, res 3840x1024

with the monitor config set accordingly.

 

also tried with the 4th screen below, w = 3840, H = 1792

resluts were about the same.

 

wondering if you guys are suffering the same kind of performance loss?

 

had it totally working though and it is most impressive to finally use on my flight setup, previous testing was only on my laptop.

 

would also like to add that for a while i could not get touchpal to start up,

this was caused by me not having the dotnetfix 3.5 sp1 installed.

after that all was well.

 

this app is just begging for the networked option, which i believe is possible already but not so good for abris and shkval.

would really be nice if ED can work out how to share the load across multiple pc's, as MSFS does with their view options.

as i understand it each pc has the game/sim installed and the view data comes from the main pc.

 

keep up the good work, makes the sim so much easier to fly :thumbup:

 

edit: on my intended setup for the shark, which is a 1280x720 projector with TP & bsvp, the performance loss has far less impact, so for now it's just not a viable option to run it with the th2go.

 

Anyway I can get an example of the coordinates you use for the setup with the second monitor on the bottom? I have gotten everything working with the 2nd on the right but when I changed everything for 2nd on the bottom the Abris and Shkval do not show up. The touchpal window is positioned correctly and all I need is to get the Abris and Shkval set correctly. My main monitor is 1920X1200 and the 2nd is set at 1024X768 with its starting coordinates as 0,1200. Thanx in advance for any help on this issue.

[thereminqblank]

I recently downloaded TouchPal and it looks amazing. I haven't got a touch screen yet but hope to soon.

 

But I noticed this post by Taipan in another thread:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=910487&postcount=3

 

It mentions that TouchPal won't work in the online servers because the export.lua is blocked. Does that man the 'keystrokes' won't work, or just the data that's fed back to TouchPal from Black Shark?

[C6_Hellfrog]

if the export.lua is locked, nothing will go in neither go out between BS and touchpal...

[TAIPAN_]

I thought the keystrokes will at least work. I used before patch online. But status updates important for some like the auto pilot buttons otherwise you are looking and acting in 2 places.

 

But I use my bottom monitor to display cockpit now because I know the layout better. And my touchscreen died so my 24" is going to bottom and a new 30" to top :)

 

Acer are now making 23" wide touchscreens but I can't buy 2 at once :(

[thereminqblank]

Thanks Hellfrog and Taipan for your answers.

 

Taipan, how do you mean you use your bottom monitor to display the cockpit? Do you span the image across both monitors?

 

Yeah, I recently saw those Acer touchscreens. 23" touch screen for AUS$500 is not bad at all!

[ddahlstrom]

Does that man the 'keystrokes' won't work, or just the data that's fed back to TouchPal from Black Shark?

 

Keystrokes don't go through export.lua, they are sent from TouchPal as ordinary local keystrokes, so I wouldn't imagine that they would be blocked.

[TAIPAN_]

Thanks Hellfrog and Taipan for your answers.

 

Taipan, how do you mean you use your bottom monitor to display the cockpit? Do you span the image across both monitors?

 

Yeah, I recently saw those Acer touchscreens. 23" touch screen for AUS$500 is not bad at all!

 

Yeah you need windows setup as a span. I tested and found a horizontal span setup has better frame rates than a vertical. So I setup as a horizontal span in windows, but physically as vertical.

 

In your monitor config file for DCS, you set the second as viewdy = -0.8, i.e looking downward from the main view. You could go -1, but I prefer it at -0.8 as I find -1 is going too far down.

 

In your options.lua, you set the width = the total pixel width of both monitors, and you point to your new monitor config.

 

I did find the cockpit view a bit small compared to the top, because the bottom monitor wasn't a widescreen, so I zoomed the bottom one with a trick in the config file. If you need to do this, you can see how I did that here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=890462#post890462

 

But if both monitors are the same size, you shouldn't need to zoom the bottom one.

 

The screenshot is Su-25t but I also had it on Ka-50.

 

Can't wait to get my new 30" and it is 30" + 24" :joystick:

 

[thereminqblank]

Thanks for the info TAIPAN. I'm going to have to look into this when I get a second monitor :D

 

But....are you using XP? I thought Vista/Win7 don't offer span....

[TAIPAN_]

Win7. It may not be called span but it's working. Taskbar only

on main screen though.