iControl DCS (Another iPad pit)

[boarder2]

Here are some new screenshots showing the configuration utility to help everyone set up their monitor luas easily :)

 

http://www.bit-shift.com/home/icontrol-dcs/monitorconfigurationprototype

[warthogmadman987]

Very nice. Looks professional!

[boarder2]

Progress update - looking pretty good so far. If all goes well, we'll be submitting to Apple before the end of the month, which would hopefully mean public availability early-mid May!

[boarder2]

Another progress update.

 

Finally been able to directly integrate with the lua scripting. Causing a pretty large rewrite of how I was doing a lot of things in the server, but this will make everything much "tighter" with the simulator.

 

Instead of simulating key presses, we'll be switching to sending direct commands to the simulator for button/lever/etc values. This will allow for knobs and multi-value switches in the future.

 

This may push the release toward the end of May because it's going to require a fair amount of testing, but I think the delay will be well worth the wait.

 

Think - Helios on iPad levels of integration eventually! (Without the ability to move gauges/views around.)

 

And just to string you Android boys along even more - the mother in law has provided me with a quite generous sum of disposable income for my 30th birthday and the ASUS Transformer is looking mighty tempting!!

Edited April 24, 2011 by boarder2

[boarder2]

I've just updated the website with information about the plans for release soon!

 

http://www.bit-shift.com/home/icontrol-dcs/releaseinformation-buyearlyatareducedprice

[boarder2]

Submitted to Apple today, now we play the waiting game!

 

Thanks to everyone who helped test.

 

Will update when it's officially released!

[boarder2]

I have gotten a combination view with the UFC and both MFDs on a single display working today. It will come with version two, which won't be too far behind the first version when Apple finally approves it!

 

I'll post a new video of it soon!

[Thisdale]

Hey Boarder2,

 

Got me the iControl DCS today on the applestore. Looks sweet.

 

However, cant seem to get it to work properly. I run on win7 and i only have 1 monitor. Windows wont recognize a second monitor (cause there isnt another one connected, only the ipad2) and so, i cant play the game fullscreen with iControlDCS... Basically, the screen which shares the MFDs and CDU and stuff is the same one that shares the cockpit view... and since i dont have access to a second monitor, i guess the system doesnt want to simply put stuff on another virtual monitor?

 

... ideas?!

Edited May 11, 2011 by Thisdale

[boarder2]

Hey Boarder2,

 

Got me the iControl DCS today on the applestore. Looks sweet.

 

However, cant seem to get it to work properly. I run on win7 and i only have 1 monitor. Windows wont recognize a second monitor (cause there isnt another one connected, only the ipad2) and so, i cant play the game fullscreen with iControlDCS... ideas?!

 

Did you follow the directions on the help site? http://www.bit-shift.com/home/icontrol-dcs/help/display-configuration

 

Also, I believe when the MFDs are exported, you can not run DCS in fullscreen mode, it has to be windowed.

[Thisdale]

Hey Boarder2;

 

Yeah ive been going at it for about an hour now. i played with different resolutions and such. It really comes down to this i believe;

 

The iControl requires 2 monitors to work. So since i do not have 2 monitors (win7 only detects 1, and wont let me create a second one, even virtual), i cant run iControl properly. nevermind the odd resolution, but check that screengrab i just did of my desktop game running:

 

 

Basically whats happening is, icontrol will run whatever area i designate (grey area) regardless of the set resolutions. so the CDU and MFDs will display properly on the ipad(2), but the game wont be playable since the single screen i use needs to share all the visual information. so essentially, this makes the whole exercise mute. unless im missing something i do not understand...

 

i believe what would be needed is for a way to tell iControl which area of the *grey area* to display in full screen, while sending the rest of the information to the Ipad.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Thisdale

[boarder2]

Hey Boarder2;

 

Yeah ive been going at it for about an hour now. i played with different resolutions and such. It really comes down to this i believe;

 

The iControl requires 2 monitors to work. So since i do not have 2 monitors (win7 only detects 1, and wont let me create a second one, even virtual), i cant run iControl properly. nevermind the odd resolution, but check that screengrab i just did of my desktop game running:

 

Basically whats happening is, icontrol will run whatever area i designate (grey area) regardless of the set resolutions. so the CDU and MFDs will display properly on the ipad(2), but the game wont be playable since the single screen i use needs to share all the visual information. so essentially, this makes the whole exercise mute. unless im missing something i do not understand...

 

i believe what would be needed is for a way to tell iControl which area of the *grey area* to display in full screen, while sending the rest of the information to the Ipad.

 

It definitely works with a single display. You need to expand the gray area to take up the entire screen, then expand the main cockpit to take up the entire screen as well. Then drag the MFDs to where you want them exported.

 

Here's how I would configure it if I were running DCS on my Macbook:

 

Also, do NOT change the resolution in the DCS settings. iControl Server should take care of setting all that stuff for you.

[Thisdale]

ah ok, but then, when i play, those MFDs will be displayed on screen as well? what about the CDU and UFC? Where do you put those? I'm not sure i quite understand why i'd play if all these are displayed on screen, over the game itself... (?!).

[boarder2]

The MFDs and CDU must be exported this way unfortunately. It's a limitation of DCS that ED apparently doesn't have much interest in doing anything about.

 

The CDU is a bit funky right now because the background is clear, so it's not very usable for people with a single monitor.

 

The UFC doesn't need to be exported.

[Thisdale]

ok, i haven't tried it yet since i'm at work at the moment, but a quick question;

 

I have a somewhat old laptop i could use as a secondary monitor (if windows will let me use it of course - gotta try that). Would that allow me to export all necessary content there then? somewhat like what you're doing?

 

thx

[boarder2]

ok, i haven't tried it yet since i'm at work at the moment, but a quick question;

 

I have a somewhat old laptop i could use as a secondary monitor (if windows will let me use it of course - gotta try that). Would that allow me to export all necessary content there then? somewhat like what you're doing?

 

thx

 

No, it will have to be exported to displays attached directly to your computer. It's a limitation of A-10C unfortunately.

[Thisdale]

Alright,

 

I've tried as much as i can to find a way around this, even asked tech guys at work. Nothing seems to do the trick.

 

The only choices are "intrusive MFD/other" displayed over game or [buy] a secondary monitor...

 

I would suggest you add this information to your website and applestore description of the product, because it could be felt to be misleading. I purchased this, but can't really use it properly.

 

I would also suggest you get in contact with DCS and try to get their support on this. A way to export all necessary information to your device would be great.

 

Thanks for your help.

[alphatoomega]

With a bit of playing around I found that I could create a fake display to place the mfcds and cdu on. I got the info from this forum post http://superuser.com/questions/62051/is-there-a-way-to-fake-a-dual-second-monitor

 

first download install tightVNC http://www.tightvnc.com/download.php

Then download install this demoForge driver http://www.demoforge.com/dfmirage.htm

 

Right click on desktop and go to Screen resolution then press detect. Hopefully it should detect another monitor that you can force on using vga. You can then extend your desktop onto the new monitor.

 

I haven't fully tested this method but I got it working on both my main desktop computer and laptop (both using an AMD graphics card).

 

I was then able to set a-10c and iControl to use the extra space with a bit of trial and error.

[Thisdale]

Hey Alpha,

 

Wow, that's an interesting concept. I investigated the Matrox approach but it doesn't really work on "non-matrox cards" unfortunately. This however, might just work.

 

I'll give it a thung tonight, see what happens. Thanks for sharing this!

[Ghost_unit13]

Woow!! I had a quick check with my Ipadpit and I can actually grab the virtual monitor desktop!! need to check it in game and configer the MFD to the virtual display but this looks like a perfect find!! Thanks Alpha !!

[Ghost_unit13]

And I had a try in game.. I can see my second virtual desktop on my mfd's in game ( and it is active when I go there with my mouse) But.. A10 does not gives me the option to make the in game resolution bigger than my default monitor (1920x1200) this means I cannot place the MFD over there with the lua files.. What am I missing here..

[alphatoomega]

You can just type in the resolution you want to use.

 

For example if your main monitor is 1920x1080 and the fake monitor you create is 800x600 change the res to 2720x1080. You also need to set up a lua file in your \Eagle Dynamics\DCS A-10C\Config\MonitorSetup folder to get the windows to draw in the correct places. Here is my monitor file. I use eyefinity over 3 monitors at a res of 5760x1200. I added a fake monitor that I set in portrait mode at 600x800 to the right of my main display. So my screen res for dcs a-10c is set to 6360x1200.

 

--***DO NOT MODIFY THESE COMMENT LINES***
--ICONTROLDCS v0.0.0.0
--LOCATION Config\MonitorSetup
--Monitor lua

_  = function(p) return p; end;
name = _('iControl DCS');
Description = 'Setup for iControl DCS MFCD and CDU Exports.'
Viewports =
{
    Center =
    {
         x = 0;
         y = 0;
         width = 5760;
         height = 1200;
         viewDx = 0;
         viewDy = 0;
         aspect = 4.8;
    }
}

LEFT_MFCD = 
{
   x = 5760;
   y = 0;
   width = 300;
   height = 300;
}

RIGHT_MFCD = 
{
   x = 5760;
   y = 300;
   width = 300;
   height = 300;
}

CDU_EXPORT = 
{
   x = 5760;
   y = 600;
   width = 280;
   height = 180;
}

UIMainView = Viewports.Center

The iControl server, Display configuration tool makes this far easier, although as you can't see the fake monitor you have to use the set positions manually option.

[Thisdale]

Thanks a lot for the info guys. However, Ive been trying to get this to work for a good 40 minutes now and i have absolutely no idea how to make it work. This TightVNC thing, i have no idea what it does, it seems to be a file sharing software, i see absolutely no monitor or resolution settings anywhere. I am completely confused right now :S

 

It basically creates a clone of my screen resolution in a window, but Win7 will not detect it as a second monitor, it still only detects 1 monitor.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Thisdale

[Ghost_unit13]

I had to click around in the resolution settings of win7 before I got it working. Do the detect, set it to VGA and extent you monitor with the new one should do the trick.

 

I had the monitor lua file configured for the mfd position but didn't set the total screen res manually. I left it default... I will try it when I'm home.

 

If this works it's perfect. What I've seen for so fare ( working desktop while in sim) looks very promising

[asparagin]

Good find guys! That would really be awesome.

I wonder how the performance is, from the methods I tried so far to make iPad as an sec monitor, the performance was pretty lame.

[Ghost_unit13]

I can confirm it is working with my Ipadpit !! Using a 800x600 virtual desktop with two static MFD's, I got a full cockpit available without mfd's obstructing my view of the cockpit.. With 800x600 the frame rate looks good for so fare. I need some more testing and change some aspect ratio setting for my view buttons but will make an instruction for you available.

 

update: I made some instructions that might be usefull for icontrol users also. You can get it from my document download section on my site http://www.ipadpit.nl

Edited May 13, 2011 by Ghost_unit13