DCS:A10C - Question on external MFD's?

[Ratcatcher]

Not sure if this has been asked before, if it has I cant find it.

 

Are there plans to allow an external monitor to display the TVM display for the A10? ( Via a Lan connection )

 

I've just got the excellant software written by Yoda running on 2 external 7" monitors plus the TM MFD's. They work brilliantly, however I remember reading in the Leavu thread that it can't run the TVM.

 

I also hope that the A10 module will keep the current ability to export the other MFD screens?

[Gadroc]

Not sure if this has been asked before, if it has I cant find it.

 

Are there plans to allow an external monitor to display the TVM display for the A10? ( Via a Lan connection )

 

I've just got the excellant software written by Yoda running on 2 external 7" monitors plus the TM MFD's. They work brilliantly, however I remember reading in the Leavu thread that it can't run the TVM.

 

I also hope that the A10 module will keep the current ability to export the other MFD screens?

 

I asked this of Wags at the HOTAS Warthog event. The MFD displays will be able to be placed on secondary monitors just like the ABRIS and SHKVAL in Black Shark. He did indicate it was process for doing so was streamlined, but no further specifics.

 

Note that saying second monitor is not the same thing as via lan connection. The way Black Shark works today it has to be a monitor connected to the same computer, I would guess that the same limitation will apply. Leavu takes export data and generates new screens, this is easy to do across a lan connection. Exporting full graphics like the TVM display would require a different scenario of encoding the frames in real time to a network friendly protocol and displaying them on a secondary computer (aka treat them as real time streaming video), or it would require a MS Flight Sim like capability of running the same simulation on multiple computers. It would be very cool, but I'd imagine low on the priority list as those are niche of a niche market type capabilities.

[Ratcatcher]

Hi Gadroc, many thanks for the reply.

 

So, good and bad news for me, as I currently have my main computer running 3 screens with eyeinfinity (Crossfired), and have had no luck adding extra screens to the setup ( even the usb ones I’m using with Leavu ). So if anyone knows how this can be done, please let us know!!!

 

From your explanation as to what they would have to do to get a Lan running I fully understand its going to be a low priority. - Quick edit - I had wondered if the pro version would have handled things differently, but thinking about it I'm sure they would'nt have to worry about doing eyeinfinity, and just get a big screen to begin with. ( Not an option for me though :( )

 

Either way, I'm still really looking forward to this baby shipping!

 

Edited June 19, 2010 by Ratcatcher

[Gadroc]

Hi Gadroc, many thanks for the reply.

 

So, good and bad news for me, as I currently have my main computer running 3 screens with eyeinfinity (Crossfired), and have had no luck adding extra screens to the setup ( even the usb ones I’m using with Leavu ). So if anyone knows how this can be done, please let us know!!!

 

USB monitors will probably not work for performance reasons on this kind of data display. You have really three options.

 

1) Get a TrippleHead2Go to run main three screens and connect the two MFD displays directly to your card.

2) Disable crossfire and use secondary video card to drive two MFD dipslays

3) Add a third video card. Performance will be an issue if you don't have another suitable PCI-E slot.

[Ratcatcher]

Thanks again!

 

Its weird, after wrtiting this I went back again to try and run the 7" monitors from my main computer, and after a bit of faffing...it works!

 

I hear what you say about the usb's though, I do however still have a triplehead2go. ( Stoped usuing it as it was such a nightmare setting the thing up. )

 

Thanks again for all your suggestions, I will get there!!!

 

EDIT -

 

Well my success was short lived, the 7" monitors work but even trying to use Leavu on them just doesn't work, so getting them to run the TVM has no chance. Bummer, looks like i've waisted a load of dosh on 2 displays that wont do what I want.( As there only usb ) This and Englands dismal performance yesterday leaves me feeling very deflated...I'm off to bed!

Edited June 19, 2010 by Ratcatcher

[Deigs]

Sad to hear that Ratcatcher as I was going to buy those small samsung USB monitors to fit behind the Thrustmaster MFD's for the A10.

[brydling]

Triplehead2Go with ATi cards is a no go. I have three 1680x1050 displays that I used with a GeForce 8800 GTS. When I upgraded to a Radeon HD 5870, it didn't support 5040x1050 that my Triplehead2Go-setup needed. I was forced to stop using the TH2GO and buy a Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity Edition with six monitor outputs instead.

[71st_Mastiff]

that interesting I had both my 7 inch monitors USB working with LEAVU and both.

in FC2

 

 

[Ratcatcher]

that interesting I had both my 7 inch monitors USB working with LEAVU and both.

in FC2

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT - Well, some good news and bad news... Deigs - good news for you! The USB monitors do work with FC2 and Win7 64 on the one machine....

 

The bad news ... for me... Its eyeinfinity thats the problem, I disabled the 3 monitor group, so just used the central display for the game, and the USB monitors started working as they should. Video ran fine and I then booted up FC2 with Leavu and the display showed the radar,etc.

 

I wonder if anyone else with eyeinfinity has found this problem? I will try my luck over at the widescreen gaming forum. As it stands I'm not sure I could go back to just using one screen to fly with. Looking at that one screen, it made flying kinda like doing up a tie with one hand...possible but really no fun at all!!!

 

( Sorry mods, I realise this is rapidly going off topic ):doh:

Edited June 20, 2010 by Ratcatcher

[71st_Mastiff]

EDIT - Well, some good news and bad news... Deigs - good news for you! The USB monitors do work with FC2 and Win7 64 on the one machine....

 

The bad news ... for me... Its eyeinfinity thats the problem, I disabled the 3 monitor group, so just used the central display for the game, and the USB monitors started working as they should. Video ran fine and I then booted up FC2 with Leavu and the display showed the radar,etc.

 

I wonder if anyone else with eyeinfinity has found this problem? I will try my luck over at the widescreen gaming forum. As it stands I'm not sure I could go back to just using one screen to fly with. Looking at that one screen, it made flying kinda like doing up a tie with one hand...possible but really no fun at all!!!

 

( Sorry mods, I realise this is rapidly going off topic ):doh:

 

no I have it running on this one, ATI HD 5850 with eye-infinity; that's were you can move your monitors around in the display area right? I have both video cards and they both ran it fine.

 

both run the BS DCS fine with the monitors too.

I'm pretty sure they'll (ED) will have it like BS were you can set up Multi-monitors to run the radar/air and ground mfd's and the TV mfd.

Seems to be the most question that is missed when SiM HQ and other magazine's ask question they don't ask any thing specific. It's like hey man ask the most questions about it don't be afraid. what do they have to hide if anything?

 

Edited June 20, 2010 by Mastiff

[Ratcatcher]

no I have it running on this one, ATI HD 5850 with eye-infinity; that's were you can move your monitors around in the display area right? I have both video cards and they both ran it fine.

 

both run the BS DCS fine with the monitors too.

I'm pretty sure they'll (ED) will have it like BS were you can set up Multi-monitors to run the radar/air and ground mfd's and the TV mfd.

Seems to be the most question that is missed when SiM HQ and other magazine's ask question they don't ask any thing specific. It's like hey man ask the most questions about it don't be afraid. what do they have to hide if anything?

 

 

Not sure if you do have eyeinfinity setup, looking at your pic it seems you are just using the one large monitor and the other smaller monitors are just recognised by the Graphics Card as additional monitors.

 

Have you set them up by going into "Display Group/Create Group?

 

Please see my setup pictured below, which hoepfully explains better than what I've just written! You can see that my 3 monitors are no.1 with the usb's designated 2 & 3. No.1 is an attached group in eyeinfinity. ( hope this makes sense )

 

 

Edited July 3, 2010 by Ratcatcher

[S3NTRY11]

Would you guys mind mentioning what models of display you're using for your external MFDs?

 

Especially the Cougar displays.

 

Sweet gear. Me want!

[Ratcatcher]

Would you guys mind mentioning what models of display you're using for your external MFDs?

 

Especially the Cougar displays.

 

Sweet gear. Me want!

 

It truly is sweet...when it all works! The usb screens I'm using are the Mimo 7" mini monitors ( http://www.mimomonitors.com/ ).

 

They are quite neat and come on their own twist stand ( portrait/landscape), they have just the one output, a twin usb lead ( though it seems to work well just using the one usb ).

 

The MFD's are from Thrustmaster and again are just plug and play with a usb lead. The MFD's dont fit exactly onto the monitors, but a little black insulating tape soon covers up the overlap!

 

To program the MFD's while using LEAVU over a lan I used the freeware "Xpadder" ( thanks to Schizwiz for pointing me in the right direction )which was actually pretty straight forward after my initial minutes of staring blankly at the screen thinking "what the f...... do i do now" - If you take a look at the LEAVU thread ( http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=53464 ) it shows some differant kit running it all.

[S3NTRY11]

Very nice indeed!

 

Cheers, rep inbound.

[Ratcatcher]

Very nice indeed!

 

Cheers, rep inbound.

 

Many thanks to you too Sir!

 

If you have any other questions, fire away!

[CyBerkut]

It truly is sweet...when it all works! The usb screens I'm using are the Mimo 7" mini monitors ( http://www.mimomonitors.com/ ).

 

They are quite neat and come on their own twist stand ( portrait/landscape), they have just the one output, a twin usb lead ( though it seems to work well just using the one usb ).

 

It's just a long shot, but have you tried the eyefinity 3 screen display combined with the USB displays while plugging both of the twin USB leads in for each of them?

 

Also, have you tried the eyefinity 3 screen with a single USB (using both of its USB leads)?

 

If that still won't work for you, do you have a second PC (old laptop, or whaever) that you can hang the USB screens on? LEAVU works over a LAN, after all.

[Ratcatcher]

It's just a long shot, but have you tried the eyefinity 3 screen display combined with the USB displays while plugging both of the twin USB leads in for each of them?

 

Also, have you tried the eyefinity 3 screen with a single USB (using both of its USB leads)?

 

If that still won't work for you, do you have a second PC (old laptop, or whaever) that you can hang the USB screens on? LEAVU works over a LAN, after all.

 

Not 100% I fully understand what your suggesting, if you mean using the existing eyeinfinty group ( 3x24" Monitors ) and then adding the 2 mini's ( 2x7" Mimo's ) using both the USB cables, then yes i have tried that as well as using just the one usb for each 7".

 

Both ways, still no dice.

 

I am already running LEAVU with out a problem through a LAN. My orginal post was to do with DCS A10, and whether they are going to allow the TVM image to be relayed via a lan or just the same as BS does it with its weapons views.

 

The current problems have arisen becuase ( it would seem ) anyone using eyeinfinity (3 x screens as one group ) in addition to other monitors. Those secondary monitors will not relay information such as moving video or the LEAVU display, though they can display static images OK.

 

It does mention in the mini monitors manual that they cannot display 3d graphics. Though as discussed earlier the LEAVU graphics run without a problem through the LAN on them. ( Of course these are pretty simple graphics and dont involve 3d rendering etc ).

 

It would have just be less hassle to have the LEAVU running from just the one computer, but I can live with it. I would just really like to utilise the external monitors (and Cougar MFD's) for DCS A10.

 

Thanks very much for your suggestions though, I will keep my fingers crossed for a working solution. I haven't had time to try the widescreen forum yet but if I get any joy I will post back here in case anyone else finds themselves in my situation.

[CyBerkut]

Ah, I see. Thanks for sharing the info. My new desktop has an 5870 Eyefinity 6 card, so I'm considering my options beyond the single touchscreen that I have now. Knowing about what you are running into is helpful.

[Ratcatcher]

Ah, I see. Thanks for sharing the info. My new desktop has an 5870 Eyefinity 6 card, so I'm considering my options beyond the single touchscreen that I have now. Knowing about what you are running into is helpful.

 

Glad to be of some help, now thinking about touchscreens, I have a small touchscreen, which has a normal vga connection. If I can get this running with eyeinfinty then I can just split the TVM off onto that. Keeping the small usb's for running LEAVU with the A10 (assuming Yoda updates LEAVU for it ).

 

All this has reminded me of the "good old days" of pc gaming when most of the battle with a new game was getting the damn thing to run on the PC, let alone actually playing it!

 

Still I can't wait to get my hands on the A10 expansion. Its looking truly superb!

[MackTheKnight]

I don't know if it helps or not but I was running one of those 7" Mimo displays with blackshark and using it as a Shkval display. Sadly my Mimo screen was faulty and died after a week, so I'm awaiting RMA. It worked well until the unit failed on me.

 

Caveat is I only use a single touch screen for my main display at 1920 X 1080 and then the 7" for my Shkval. On the other hand this does prove that those Mimo USB Monitors can handle the 3d render of the Shkval.

 

-Mack

[Ratcatcher]

I don't know if it helps or not but I was running one of those 7" Mimo displays with blackshark and using it as a Shkval display. Sadly my Mimo screen was faulty and died after a week, so I'm awaiting RMA. It worked well until the unit failed on me.

 

Caveat is I only use a single touch screen for my main display at 1920 X 1080 and then the 7" for my Shkval. On the other hand this does prove that those Mimo USB Monitors can handle the 3d render of the Shkval.

 

-Mack

 

Hi Mack, thanks very much for that info. Thats very useful to know. It seems it really is the eyeinfinity thats causing all the problems, if I had the money I would buy one of those curved screens! Oh well maybe a lottery win this Friday will sort out my woes!

[MackTheKnight]

Oh well maybe a lottery win this Friday will sort out my woes!

 

hehe, I say that every week...

 

Does DCS see the eyefinity setup as 1 screen or 3? If it sees it as 3, I wonder if there's a way to fool DCS into thinking you're running one really big monitor with very high res and can get it to scale your main screen accordingly.

 

If that were possible, perhaps in this way you could get the other 2 screens to work...

 

Just brainstorming here...

 

-Mack

[Ratcatcher]

 

Does DCS see the eyefinity setup as 1 screen or 3? If it sees it as 3, I wonder if there's a way to fool DCS into thinking you're running one really big monitor with very high res and can get it to scale your main screen accordingly.

 

If that were possible, perhaps in this way you could get the other 2 screens to work...

 

I dont think its actually DCS thats the problem, more so its eyeinfinty. It seems like its drawing too much power from the graphics card to allow them to run anything else effectively. ( Please Note - I know zip about how these things actually work so I'm just guessing ).

 

But having disengaged eyeinfintiy ( disabling the 3xmonitor group ) I could run the 2 usb mini monitors without a problem.

 

So I think I should be able to set up DCS with the 3x24" monitors as being seen as just the 1 monitor and an extra monitor ( either usb or the touch screen ) as a second monitor. I'm just not very confident that I could run such a setup while running eyeinfinity.

 

If theres anyone else out there running eyeinfinity please let us know!

 

- For info my Graphics Cards are 2xAti 5870's 1024mbs running in crossfire.

[Gadroc]

I dont think its actually DCS thats the problem, more so its eyeinfinty. It seems like its drawing too much power from the graphics card to allow them to run anything else effectively. ( Please Note - I know zip about how these things actually work so I'm just guessing ).

 

But having disengaged eyeinfintiy ( disabling the 3xmonitor group ) I could run the 2 usb mini monitors without a problem.

 

So I think I should be able to set up DCS with the 3x24" monitors as being seen as just the 1 monitor and an extra monitor ( either usb or the touch screen ) as a second monitor. I'm just not very confident that I could run such a setup while running eyeinfinity.

 

If theres anyone else out there running eyeinfinity please let us know!

 

- For info my Graphics Cards are 2xAti 5870's 1024mbs running in crossfire.

 

It's not power necessarily. If I remember right the display link drivers are kind of a hack which taps into an existing driver instead of supplying it's own full blown display driver. It wouldn't surprise me if that has issues with advanced things like eyefinity.

[CyBerkut]

Hmmm... the use of crossfire might be a factor worth investigating. I've seen mention of issues with crossfire causing slide show-like stuttering on really large pixel count display groups. (reportedly a bandwidth limitation issue of the crossfire connection) Your setup is obviously different, but perhaps it is seeing a bandwidth issue due to the mix of both USB and crossfire.