TouchPal - Touchscreen Cockpit

[MAThrasher]

I have seen a post on this. They said they hope this gets fixed in next patch.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=45546&highlight=led+display

[Smoky]

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, that capability is built into DCS:BS. Camera + Shkval.

 

Although that sounds like it would work (and be the most straightforward choice), it did not used to and I thought it still did not work. These days it's tough to find time to sit down and fly so next time I'm up in the sim I'll give it a shot again. Maybe with 1.0.1 versions that selection works now.

 

Thanks!

[Professor]

I have seen a post on this. They said they hope this gets fixed in next patch.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=45546&highlight=led+display

 

 

Thnx mate!

[Краш]

Hello Taipan,

 

Not sure you received my MP. Something strange....

The link you want.

 

++

[dnnzed]

Hi,

 

earlier (when TouchPal "announced" :) ) I have tried to make it to work, but I have trouble with it (shkval and abris didn't appeared on it, just a pink/black region). I gave up, it wasn't working, tried lots of things, but no effect. I was on XPSP3.

Now, my OS was changed, I'm on W7x64. I thought, I will give it another chance.

But.

:cry:

I setup everything, and wanted to run touchpal.exe and whoops>

 

Description:

Stopped working

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: CLR20r3

Problem Signature 01: touchpal.exe

Problem Signature 02: 0.0.0.0

Problem Signature 03: 4acffdab

Problem Signature 04: mscorlib

Problem Signature 05: 2.0.0.0

Problem Signature 06: 4a27471d

Problem Signature 07: 349e

Problem Signature 08: e1

Problem Signature 09: System.IO.FileNotFoundException

OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.48

Locale ID: 1033

 

I have no UAC etc, tried to run in admin mode.

Whats wrong?

Thanks in advance!

[Gadroc]

Reread / do step 2 of the instructions in the first post of this thread. Touchpal is not finding the touchpal.xml file, which is usually caused by expanding the blackshark profile into the wrong directory.

[dnnzed]

Baaaahh.... :doh:

Thanks.

 

 

So, configured fine, screens set up.

But TouchPal's buttons are not reacting, except the View buttons on the bottom left. If I press the shkval button on the top of the abris, shkval screen appears, so it's okay, but abris is black. Doesn't matter if I press anything around there. :huh:

[Gadroc]

On to step 3. The view buttons are use keyboard emulation so they work no matter what. The ABRIS is blanked out until it is turned on as BlackShark has funky graphics glitches. In order for TouchPal to know the ABRIS is turned on and for the other buttons to work the Export.lua file needs to be installed an executing correctly.

[Griffin]

My friend is trying to get rid of a 19" TFT screen and I have the opportunity to get it very cheap. A TouchPal setup would be awesome. I have a few questions though. I tried searching this thread but couldn't find a clear answer.

 

1) What kind of performance hit does this cause?

 

2) Is this system enough to run this without a significant performance hit?

 

Intel C2D E7200 @ 3.17 GHz

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Toxic 512MB

2 GB DDR2

Windows 7 64x

 

3) Or should I rather go for "traditional" 2 monitor setup with ABRIS and Shkval on the second one, especially as I don't have a touchscreen?

 

4) Is it possible to "retrofit" a normal TFT screen with a touchpanel and what is the name of that kind of touchpanel? Couldn't find by googling.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Griffin

[CyBerkut]

4) Is it possible to "retrofit" a normal TFT screen with a touchpanel and what is the name of that kind of touchpanel? Couldn't find by googling.

 

Yes. You obtain a "Touchscreen Overlay" and install it upon the monitor. Usually by removing the bezel, placing the overlay and routing the cabling, then reinstalling the bezel over it.

 

You may want to check out the TouchBuddy forums for information on overlays, as they probably have at least one thread on it.

 

There are a number of sources for buying overlays. Along with a number of websites for manufacturers, etc., I've seen overlays for sale on eBay.

 

One thing to watch out for is height vs width ratio. If you get a widescreen version for a 4:3 screen, or vice-versa, you will not be happy.

[Griffin]

Thanks but damn the prices! I was expecting something like that though.

[Gadroc]

My friend is trying to get rid of a 19" TFT screen and I have the opportunity to get it very cheap. A TouchPal setup would be awesome. I have a few questions though. I tried searching this thread but couldn't find a clear answer.

 

1) What kind of performance hit does this cause?

 

2) Is this system enough to run this without a significant performance hit?

 

Intel C2D E7200 @ 3.17 GHz

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Toxic 512MB

2 GB DDR2

Windows 7 64x

 

3) Or should I rather go for "traditional" 2 monitor setup with ABRIS and Shkval on the second one, especially as I don't have a touchscreen?

 

4) Is it possible to "retrofit" a normal TFT screen with a touchpanel and what is the name of that kind of touchpanel? Couldn't find by googling.

 

1) The biggest hit is just using a windowed multi-monitor config in Black Shark. You will take this hit no matter what you do beyond a single monitor.

 

2) I would expect you would at least be able to run at least 20-30 fps probably more after tweaking.

 

3) Up to you on if the additional input method is worth the price. I'd have a hard time going back.

 

4) Touch screen overlays on ebay go from 80-150 depending on the size and aspect ratio. Always pay attention to the shipping cost before bidding as most of them have $30+ in shipping, as these panels are primarily shipped out of Asia and are delicate. I ended up getting a couple good deals so I have not used one of these.

[Griffin]

Ok thank you. I will give it a try. I'll also check out the touchscreen overlays if i happen to have extra money. That would be sweet!

[Griffin]

I picked up the monitor from my friend and set everything up. It works, almost. ABRIS screen is transparent and I see my desktop wallpaper, Shkval doesnt show and PVI display is blank. I tried searching this thread but didn't find a solution. Something with export.lua or simply positioning failure? I did almost everything according to the instuctions, only a couple of tricks to set the views how they should be.

[Gadroc]

I picked up the monitor from my friend and set everything up. It works, almost. ABRIS screen is transparent and I see my desktop wallpaper, Shkval doesnt show and PVI display is blank. I tried searching this thread but didn't find a solution. Something with export.lua or simply positioning failure? I did almost everything according to the instuctions, only a couple of tricks to set the views how they should be.

 

PVI will always be blank as that information is not available from the simulation. Do EKRAN messages show up? If so the Export.lua is working correctly.

 

To get the ABRIS and Shkval at the correct locations make sure to follow DickDastardly's posts on how to setup black shark correctly.

[Griffin]

PVI will always be blank as that information is not available from the simulation. Do EKRAN messages show up? If so the Export.lua is working correctly. To get the ABRIS and Shkval at the correct locations make sure to follow DickDastardly's posts on how to setup black shark correctly.

Okay I got it working, except for Shkval image which doesn't show up at all when activated. Also the ABRIS button names are offset because of the upper DCS window bar. The Windows taskbar isn't nice either. Let alone I'm not running DCS on the native resolution, so in windowed mode the TouchPal appears half and half on both screens and it's not even possible to drag it. Is there no way to run this on fullscreen (+ setting TouchPal to be always on top)?

 

I did actually read about all the restrictions and everything but forgot about the PVI.

 

So, at the current level this isn't usable for me. If I don't find any other use for the extra monitor, I'll have to take it back to my friend and tell him he won't get his 15 €. :D Might try only with ABRIS/Shkval on the second screen but that's for tomorrow. I already screwed up a few calculations due to tired brains.

 

Gadroc, thank you alot! You deserve alot more rep points than the current one I see there. Let me know if you know some trick to make this work. :)

Edited February 9, 2010 by Griffin

[Griffin]

Today I tried again with the native resolution. It worked seamlessly! Would be an awesome piece of software if my PC could handle it well enough. At the moment, I get over 20 FPS all the time but theres great amount of stuttering anyway. Maybe more graphics card memory would help to deal with the large resolutions? Maybe in the future. Thanks for all the help and trouble.

[G3]

hey Gadroc, wondering how your latest touchpal profile is going,

 

i understand you are pit building also,

and i dare say taking the occasional flight

so all in good time, loving what we have so far.

 

looked into the profile editing business myself yesterday,

being the master coder i am (not) i decided to change a few values, :smartass:

managed to move the stop button to the centre of the bottom panel,

and then shifted the entire abris panel, sounds like nothing i know,

but i was pretty pleased with my initial efforts, haha :D

 

made me think an option for some might be a small touchscreen which could

display the in game abris and the touchpal abris panel with the 5 buttons below it.

 

 

anyway, enough of my waffle,

would love a screenie or 3 (no pun intended) if you have made any progress.

Edited February 10, 2010 by G3

[dnnzed]

Hey DCS/TouchPal/Multimonitor users/gurus!

 

How did you solve the following problem;

I have set up my two monitors, placed and running everyting fine except one thing: the text messages. (My config is: main/cockpit screen phisically on the right, and TP on the left - in the software setup it is reversed but I use in this way because of comfortability but it doesn't matter.)

As we know, on a multimonitor setup we have to increase the width (and height) for the proper screen resolution.

But this occurs that the message box "slides away" (actually in this case to the right) from the main/center screen it is not "ended" on the right side if the cockpit screen, it is flow to the right screen. The trouble with it that TP is "over" DCS, so the texts are hidden. :huh:

Is there an option to set the text box border or something?

 

Thanks

[C6_Hellfrog]

no way

although to invert left and right, and as a possible soluce to that, is to invert physically the screens, but desktop is inverted in windows tasks...

[Gadroc]

Hey DCS/TouchPal/Multimonitor users/gurus!

 

How did you solve the following problem;

I have set up my two monitors, placed and running everyting fine except one thing: the text messages. (My config is: main/cockpit screen phisically on the right, and TP on the left - in the software setup it is reversed but I use in this way because of comfortability but it doesn't matter.)

As we know, on a multimonitor setup we have to increase the width (and height) for the proper screen resolution.

But this occurs that the message box "slides away" (actually in this case to the right) from the main/center screen it is not "ended" on the right side if the cockpit screen, it is flow to the right screen. The trouble with it that TP is "over" DCS, so the texts are hidden. :huh:

Is there an option to set the text box border or something?

 

Thanks

 

The only way to get rid of the that is to setup so your secondary monitor is virtually below your primary monitor.

[ddahlstrom]

The only way to get rid of the that is to setup so your secondary monitor is virtually below your primary monitor.

 

Yup. That's how I do it too.

[dnnzed]

Hmm.

And you configure all the settings (monitor setup lua etc.) as the secondary is below the main screen? (Like: Width: 1280, but the height is 1024*2, and set abris/shkval coordinates to the proper (in this case to bottom) position?)

[G3]

Hmm.

And you configure all the settings (monitor setup lua etc.) as the secondary is below the main screen? (Like: Width: 1280, but the height is 1024*2, and set abris/shkval coordinates to the proper (in this case to bottom) position?)

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.

Edited February 20, 2010 by G3

[dnnzed]

Yeeeaaarrrggghh!

Now it's perfectly set up, everything work fine!

 

Thanks guys!

 

:notworthy: