Multi-monitor set-up guide & help (unofficial)

[Dudikoff]

Is it possible to configure the lua for some static image file to be shown on a part of a screen?

E.g. if I'm using three MFDs over an external screen and I export two DCS instruments on two of them and a custom static jpg on the third to show some custom MFD key bindings.

Also, is there a list of all the supported constants for MonitorSetup (e.g. F14_DDD, etc.) somewhere? Can kneeboard be exported as well?

Thanks.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Dudikoff

[jonsky7]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:41 AM, Dudikoff said:

Is it possible to configure the lua for some static image file to be shown on a part of a screen?

E.g. if I'm using three MFDs over an external screen and I export two DCS instruments on two of them and a custom static jpg on the third to show some custom MFD key bindings.

Also, is there a list of all the supported constants for MonitorSetup (e.g. F14_DDD, etc.) somewhere? Can kneeboard be exported as well?

Thanks.

 

I wouldn't be very hopeful of being able to do that with the standard luas.

 

However I do something similar with "DCS Ikarus"

It is a program that replicates analogue gauges. You create a setup for each aircraft, and it automatically loads the one depending on your selected aircraft. You could make a background image to do what you're after. Unfortunately I don't think it's supported any more so many of the newer aircraft don't have files for them.

 

However part 2, there's a program called Helios which is still supported and does more or less the same thing, many people use it for their home cockpits so there's plenty of people to ask for help.

 

I've tried getting into it a couple of times, albeit half heartedly. Never managed to get it set up like my ikarus profile. Seems Ikarus does some aircraft and helios does some of the others.

 

Might be a place to start.

Edited October 23, 2021 by jonsky7

[oldpop]

looking for files to set up the FA18 with 2 monitors. #1 with normal "pit" (camera?) and 32 with rmfd and lmfd.  Anyone got that set up or could help me set this up?

 

[oldpop]

been banging my head for 2 days, I have 2 monitors #1 1920x1080 on left, #2 1200x1920on right. I want my normal pit on #1 and RMFD on #2.

see my 'lua att'ed Where am I going wrong

RMFCD.lua

[SparrowHawk003]

On 1/16/2022 at 9:59 PM, oldpop said:

been banging my head for 2 days, I have 2 monitors #1 1920x1080 on left, #2 1200x1920on right. I want my normal pit on #1 and RMFD on #2.

see my 'lua att'ed Where am I going wrong

RMFCD.lua 498 B · 0 downloads

 

think this will work. make sure game resolution in options is set to 3120x1920

 

 

_  = function(p) return p; end;
name = _('RMFCD');
Description = 'Right MFCD on the right and camera on the center'
Viewports =
{
     Center =
     {
          x = 0;
          y = 0;
          width  = 1920;
          height = 1080;
          viewDx = 0;
          viewDy = 0;
          aspect = 1920/1080;
     }
}

RIGHT_MFCD =
{
     x = 1920;
     y = 0;
     width = 1200;
     height = 1920;
}

UIMainView = Viewports.Center
GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center

 

[Schmafuzius]

I have small problems with my 2 monitor setup - maybe someone can help..
I use 2 x 24" screens with my main screen left and my 2 DDIs on the right (flying the F-18 only at the moment)

The only problems I have are:

- the COM menue is on the top right corner of the right screen which is black and I cant read the text - Can I change the position of the COM menue??

- the Main Screen when starting DCS and the MIssion Editor uses both screens and most menues are in the middle between the 2 screens and very hard to read... - Can I change is somehow that the Mission editor / Main Menue only uses 1 screen?

 

Edited February 25, 2022 by Schmafuzius

[jonsky7]

4 hours ago, Schmafuzius said:

I have small problems with my 2 monitor setup - maybe someone can help..
I use 2 x 24" screens with my main screen left and my 2 DDIs on the right (flying the F-18 only at the moment)

The only problems I have are:

- the COM menue is on the top right corner of the right screen which is black and I cant read the text - Can I change the position of the COM menue??

- the Main Screen when starting DCS and the MIssion Editor uses both screens and most menues are in the middle between the 2 screens and very hard to read... - Can I change is somehow that the Mission editor / Main Menue only uses 1 screen?

 

 

Strange, in order to help we need some more information.

What resolution are your monitors?

Can you post your monitor config file?

Can you take a screenshot of your DCS settings page?

 

Or

If both your monitors are 1080p then you could try this monitor config file Schmafuzius 1080.lua

if both are 1440p then try Schmafuzius 1440.lua

 

In DCS in game settings your resolution should be either 3840x1080 for 1080p, or 5120x1440 for 1440p

Enter the aspect ratio as either 3840/1080 or 5120/1440

and choose the monitor config file after placing in 

saved games\DCS\Config\Monitorsetup\ 
 

[Schmafuzius]

thx. I will provide the info as soon as I'm back home...

[Schmafuzius]

10 hours ago, jonsky7 said:

Strange, in order to help we need some more information.

What resolution are your monitors?

Can you post your monitor config file?

Can you take a screenshot of your DCS settings page?

....
 

Thank you so much, that already solved my problem..

In my lua file I only had only

GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center

and you suggested 

UIMainView = Viewports.Center
GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center

 

which solved both of my problems...

Thank you very much!!

 

Best,

Schmafuzius

Edited February 26, 2022 by Schmafuzius

[jonsky7]

9 hours ago, Schmafuzius said:

Thank you so much, that already solved my problem..

In my lua file I only had only

GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center

and you suggested 

UIMainView = Viewports.Center
GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center

 

which solved both of my problems...

Thank you very much!!

 

Best,

Schmafuzius

 

Glad to hear it solved your issue, and you are very welcome 

[mattjonesgr9]

Does anyone please have a lua file for this setup using a main screen of 1920 x 1080 and two x 800x600 lilliput screens for mfds please  

I spent a few hrs trying to get them to work without any luck 

[jonsky7]

6 hours ago, mattjonesgr9 said:

Does anyone please have a lua file for this setup using a main screen of 1920 x 1080 and two x 800x600 lilliput screens for mfds please  

I spent a few hrs trying to get them to work without any luck 

Try following this guide step by step.

 

[HawkEXO]

Posted this question in another thread, but then I found this one.  Can you guys save me 49 pages of reading and just let me know if this is normal?

I have a RTX 3090.  When I render individual viewports for my three monitors at 1920x1080, I am getting about 25-30 FPS.   When I combine all 3 of them into one 5760x1080 viewport i get about 50-80 FPS.  Has this sort of FPS penalty been your experience with 3x viewports?  The image, particularly the cockpit rendering, is so much cleaner when the viewports are rendered individually so I just take the FPS hit.  I would be thrilled if you guys know how to fix this.

[UberFinn]

Ive gotten DCS set up for 3 screens but its still launching on the middle and displaying on the right screen unless I change my windows main screen to the left one.

Is there a way to edit the LUA so that DCS will launch on my middle monitor so I dont have to change the windows default the whole time? Ive seen people say yes and no. Im confused at this point.

[milezee]

Hi!

Im currently planning and F18 simpit. Im not a new builder, I'm coming from 10 years of 737 with Prosim to give you my experience level.

 

I'm curious about multimonitor viewports. In particular about the Z axis.

What I'm planning is a standard 3 monitor surround, but I want to add a 4th monitor ON THE TOP. So I'd need to set up a z- axis tilt.

Can anyone give me pointers on this, is it possible? I know I could do it in Prepar3d, does DCS have the same ability?

[jonsky7]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:26 PM, milezee said:

Hi!

Im currently planning and F18 simpit. Im not a new builder, I'm coming from 10 years of 737 with Prosim to give you my experience level.

 

I'm curious about multimonitor viewports. In particular about the Z axis.

What I'm planning is a standard 3 monitor surround, but I want to add a 4th monitor ON THE TOP. So I'd need to set up a z- axis tilt.

Can anyone give me pointers on this, is it possible? I know I could do it in Prepar3d, does DCS have the same ability?

 

 

I'm pretty sure that's the y-axis you want, x being left and right, and y being up and down.

 

 

     upper = 
     {
          x = screen.width / 3;
          y = 0;
          width = screen.width / 3;
          height = screen.height;
          viewDx = 0;
          viewDy = 1;
          aspect = screen.aspect / 3;
     }
}

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by jonsky7

[milezee]

14 hours ago, jonsky7 said:

 

 

I'm pretty sure that's the y-axis you want, x being left and right, and y being up and down.

 

 

     upper = 
     {
          x = screen.width / 3;
          y = 0;
          width = screen.width / 3;
          height = screen.height;
          viewDx = 0;
          viewDy = 1;
          aspect = screen.aspect / 3;
     }
}

 

 

Uh huh, so its the viewDy. Yeah that works in a test set up. Many Thanks.

[Schmafuzius]

I recently added the Viper and the Tomcat to my list of planes...

while the F-16 MFDs work with the same settings from the Hornet, I do not see anything on the Tomcat.. Is there a way to display the VDI and HSD the same way as the MFDs on F-16 and F-18?

 

Thanks in advance..

[jonsky7]

10 hours ago, Schmafuzius said:

I recently added the Viper and the Tomcat to my list of planes...

while the F-16 MFDs work with the same settings from the Hornet, I do not see anything on the Tomcat.. Is there a way to display the VDI and HSD the same way as the MFDs on F-16 and F-18?

 

Thanks in advance..

Sure is,

in addition to LEFT_MFCD and RIGHT_MFCD in your monitor config file the F14 display names are 

F14_VDI = Top display for pilot
F14_HSD = lower display for pilot
F-14_TID = Rio display (can be exported while in pilot seat iirc)

eg:

LEFT_MFCD
{
x = 5130;
y = 360;
width = 825;
height = 825;

RIGHT_MFCD =
{
x = 6210;
y = 360;
width = 825;
height = 825;
}

F14_VDI =
{
x = 5130;
y = 360;
width = 825;
height = 825;
}

F14_HSD =
{
x = 6210;
y = 360;
width = 825;
height = 825;
}

F14_TID =
{
x = 2560;
y = 390;
width = 1100;
height = 1080;
}

Edited December 13, 2022 by jonsky7

[bones1014]

I've been using external monitors for years but just recently the edited lua's have been violating the integrity check. I have the radar display in the Viggen exported to viewport "VIGGEN_RADAR" by adding the lines

dofile(LockOn_Options.common_script_path.."ViewportHandling.lua")

try_find_assigned_viewport("VIGGEN_RADAR")

 

to the Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\TV-Indicator\Indicator\init.lua

Is there a better way to do it that won't break IC?

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by bones1014

[jonsky7]

20 hours ago, bones1014 said:

I've been using external monitors for years but just recently the edited lua's have been violating the integrity check. I have the radar display in the Viggen exported to viewport "VIGGEN_RADAR" by adding the lines

dofile(LockOn_Options.common_script_path.."ViewportHandling.lua")

try_find_assigned_viewport("VIGGEN_RADAR")

 

to the Mods\aircraft\AJS37\Cockpit\scripts\TV-Indicator\Indicator\init.lua

Is there a better way to do it that won't break IC?

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I don't think there is at the moment.

You should still be able to join mp servers that do not have the "require pure scripts" option enabled. And it doesnt effect sp play.

However, whenever a non pure script is loaded, like whenever you load into an aircraft you have modified scripts for, whether that be in sp or mp, the IC check fail is flagged. This will prevent you from joining a mp server whether it requires pure scripts or not.

The workaround is to restart DCS entirely, this resets the IC fail flag and you should be able to join servers that do not require pure scripts.

This is a currently known issue and has been reported.

 

[bones1014]

13 hours ago, jonsky7 said:

Unfortunately I don't think there is at the moment.

You should still be able to join mp servers that do not have the "require pure scripts" option enabled. And it doesnt effect sp play.

However, whenever a non pure script is loaded, like whenever you load into an aircraft you have modified scripts for, whether that be in sp or mp, the IC check fail is flagged. This will prevent you from joining a mp server whether it requires pure scripts or not.

The workaround is to restart DCS entirely, this resets the IC fail flag and you should be able to join servers that do not require pure scripts.

This is a currently known issue and has been reported.

 

It's weird because I can join a server but if I disconnect it flags the the IC and I can't reconnect without restarting DCS world.

[jonsky7]

On 12/21/2022 at 1:16 PM, bones1014 said:

It's weird because I can join a server but if I disconnect it flags the the IC and I can't reconnect without restarting DCS world.

I believe that's because DCS doesn't recognise them as modified until they are loaded. Many files aren't loaded at startup, but as and when they are required.

If you had a map texture mod, and the server requires pure textures, you would get kicked back to the list as soon as the map starts loading in.

If you had modified files for the f16 but not the f18, and you only flew the f18 on a script restricted server, you probably wouldn't get kicked. Then if you loaded the f16 you would get kicked back to list.

[gozzy8778]

Hello from Austria

I would need the help of the DCS community for my monitor/screen-setup.

I have the following setup.

My DCS menu looks pretty fine ;D

 

But the cockpit doesn't fit pretty well : /

As you see the bottom-monitor is a black screen and I would like to have some "gauges" in this bottom-monitor

But the mouse (yellow cross) from DCS can also move around in this bottom-monitor/black screen.

 

Please can you help me with the code/lua-file

Thx a lot for your time and your help!

 

Philipp

 

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, Asus ROG Crosshair VII, G Skill Aegis 64GB DDR4-3000, Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Strix, Samsung SSD 970Evo Plus 2TB, Samsung SSD 860 Evo 1TB, Thrustmaster HOTAs Warthog Stick, Throttle, Thrustmaster TPR Pendular Rudder and Obutto Revolution Rig.

[jonsky7]

On 1/10/2023 at 5:10 PM, gozzy8778 said:

Hello from Austria

I would need the help of the DCS community for my monitor/screen-setup.

I have the following setup.

My DCS menu looks pretty fine ;D

 

But the cockpit doesn't fit pretty well : /

 

As you see the bottom-monitor is a black screen and I would like to have some "gauges" in this bottom-monitor

But the mouse (yellow cross) from DCS can also move around in this bottom-monitor/black screen.

 

Please can you help me with the code/lua-file

Thx a lot for your time and your help!

 

Philipp

 

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, Asus ROG Crosshair VII, G Skill Aegis 64GB DDR4-3000, Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Strix, Samsung SSD 970Evo Plus 2TB, Samsung SSD 860 Evo 1TB, Thrustmaster HOTAs Warthog Stick, Throttle, Thrustmaster TPR Pendular Rudder and Obutto Revolution Rig.

Which monitor is set to your main monitor in windows display settings? It needs to be the top one!

Have you entered 5120x2880 in the DCS settings menu?

I haven't done much testing with multiple monitors for the cockpit view, but both your Top and Center are currently set to display the same thing. I'm not sure if that stops DCS rendering it twice however.
Anyway, you will need to change the value of ViewDy in your Center viewport, that changes the cameras view up and down. I'm not sure if you need positive or negative value to make it look down more.

tried with fullscreen set to off?

Edited January 12, 2023 by jonsky7