Need help with multi-monitor setup..game not using one monitor?

[Smoky]

Hi folks

 

I have a four monitor setup.

 

Main display is projector.

 

Other three displays are touch screen and act as:

 

-upfront panels gauges/MFDs

-left side-pod controls

-right side-pod controls

 

 

At the moment I am shaping everything around Gadroc's Helios profile for 3-touch monitors. I am working with Gadroc to get that setup functional for my scenario.

 

My problem however is that everything otherwise works peachy EXCEPT the right side-pod monitor is NOT being "painted black" while in-game.

 

What I mean is, when DCS A10 is running the monitors for the left side-pod and upfront panels both go black. When the cursor is on those screens it is the standard DCS yellow cockpit crosshair. And I can move viewports to these screens that get "blacked out" while in-game.

 

Unfortunately the right side-pod monitor never goes black. It continues to show the windows desktop and taskbar.

 

Helios DOES paint the profile onto all screens correctly.

 

But DCS A10 is somehow not seeing this right side-pod monitor.

 

I have my resolution in DCS set as 5760x2160 so that should be the view area in DCS options. That should cover three monitors across:

1920x1080 1920x1080 1920x1080

1920x1080

with two screens stacked in the middle

 

 

 

Any ideas why the 1920x1080 space on the LEFT is being included in the game's draw space but the 1920x1080 space on the RIGHT is being ignored by DCS?

 

 

Thanks!!

[airdog]

A screen shot of your windows monitor setup would be helpful. I run pretty much the same setup with a res of 4080x2160. DCS is set to windowed mode and I export viewports to all 3 of my touchscreens. I have my main screen as the left most monitor my 2 side consoles are set in portrait mode to the right of the main monitor my center console screen screen is under my main monitor. Any screen set to the left of your main view will cause problems. I am not using softTH for this setup.

Here is a short video of my setup:

Edited November 29, 2012 by airdog

[Smoky]

You may have solved my problem with that reply. I was arranging the monitors in Windows 1:1 with reality. I didn't know about the limitation you describe. I'll experiment with that tonight. Thanks!!!

[airdog]

Quick shot of my monitor config. Just to let you know Monitor #3 is physically on my left as seen in the video above.

 

[Smoky]

How do you rotate them in the Windows config like that? I rotate mine in nvidia config and it seems less effective (ie less apparent to windows that the screen is in a different orientation)

[airdog]

It's right there in orientation drop down box select the monitor you want to change then select the appropriate orientation of the monitor. Whatever you do there will also show up in the nvidia control panel.

You can also select it as Portrait (flipped)...that is how my #4 monitor is, that way I can have the power buttons of the monitor pointed to the outside. I have 2 of the older Acer T230H touchscreens and they have a funky shaped bottom bezel so its nice to point it away from my legs.

Edited November 30, 2012 by airdog

[Smoky]

I will give it a shot in a bit. Somehow my eyes just weren't seeing that button before ! That's what I get for going straight to the Nvidia tools! Thanks!

 

What are you using for your panels and view ports?? Helios? Your setup is where I want to be but I can't quite find the panel setup that is just right. And no time now to make one from scratch.

Edited November 30, 2012 by Smoky

[airdog]

I use Helios and mostly Loz's profile adapted to my configuration. There are some of Gadrocs panels in it also. Basicly its a frakenstein profile to fit my needs.

Remember that you can open multiple windows of helios profile editor and open seperate profiles and then copy and past what you want from each profile into your own...that is pretty much how i did it.

[Smoky]

are you running 3 1920x1080 touch panels, one in landscape and two in portrait, all in addition to your main view? If so, any chance I could just pilfer your profile to save some time?

[Weltensegler]

You need softTH sir! gives a more flexibility for the render area and more fps with this resolution

[Smoky]

You need softTH sir! gives a more flexibility for the render area and more fps with this resolution

 

 

Not so sure...I'm not rendering the external view across these monitors...they are only touch panels used to mimic the controls and MFDs. And I have two video cards to provide native support for this feature. I'm not sure what SoftTH or TH2Go would offer here. I actually sold my TH2Go a while back!

[JG14_Smil]

SoftTH is free and more than easy to use. You are in error for not trying it out.

[Smoky]

SoftTH is free and more than easy to use. You are in error for not trying it out.

 

 

That is not in contention. Please re-read my reply. I am only saying I think it is overkill for my scenario.

 

But now that you bring it up, there is simply no way a software render of any kind can keep up with hardware rendering. I would need a TH2Go (sold mine because I dont) or SoftTH if I had only one video board and needed the "extra help" to get multi-monitor support. But I don't! I have two video cards JUST for this purpose. I'll go toe-to-toe in FRAPS any day with any software rendering method vs my all-hardware setup on an otherwise equivalent machine without concern that I'll see higher FPS every time.

 

BUT, that is not what this thread is about. And I really don't want to debate this here. Please let's focus on the topic, which actually has been resolved!

 

Moving the monitors around in Windows as airdog suggested WORKED PERFECTLY and helped me to achieve the result I need. Now I just need airdog to let me sample his profile and monitorsetup.lua file to save me time on my next diagnostic step which is getting the Gadroc 3-monitor profile to work. I can get the LOZ Helios profile to work fine but not the Gadroc setup for some reason.

 

Cheers

[Weltensegler]

I didn't mean to make this a softTH discussion but you to have more performance. Even with one main monitor and one for front panel it can be worth it.

 

SoftTH doesn't have to do with TH2GO!

I have two graphic cards for example and no TH2GO and get 20% more FPS.

(but I also do render main view over multiple monitors yes)

 

As soon as you export displays for example you have to be in windowed mode while with softTH you can be in full-screen mode and still export those which gives you a lot more performance.

But if you get enough fps on max settings already I wouldn't bother either :)

[airdog]

Here is a zip file with my monitor config and my helios profile file. The helios profile may be very incomplete for you. I know that you at least have to have Loz's and gadrocs profiles loaded with the images in the correct folders because my profile is a frankenstein profile. I'm almost positive you will have issues with the CDU screen area because I made custom textures for the area around the screen. Anything in the profile that pops up with red X is a missing image file. You may have the file on your setup but it may be in a different location within your helios images folders. I did not change the name of any of the image files so you may be able to reassociate them within the helios profile editor with a little search.

Not to be a jerk but I really dont want to have to build your whole helios file for you so please make an effort to fix what you can yourself. If there are image files you absolutely have to have post here (with their exact name) and i'll get them too you. I know some of the image files I use I made custom transparent cutouts for the viewports to show thru...Let me know if those are needed.

HeliosMonitorConfig.zip

[Smoky]

That is perfect and exactly what I was after. Like I said, I just needed something to pilfer from so I could get started. Definitely wasn't looking for you to do all the work. I just didn't want to start from scratch. When you have little ones running around there isn't a lot of time left at the end of the day for setup and experimentation on this gear. With your examples I can get back to flying more quickly. Thanks!

[airdog]

Happy to help! Good luck.

[Smoky]

Quick shot of my monitor config. Just to let you know Monitor #3 is physically on my left as seen in the video above.

 

 

 

The icon symbols within each of your monitors infers that you have multiple "this is my main monitor" options checked, one for each monitor. However the checkbox is not checked in this example for monitor 3. To maintain my touchscreen alignment and monitor assignment I have to assign my main monitor as one of the touch monitors. How are you handling this?

 

 

Thanks

 

PS Also wanted to mention that as of a few mins ago I have EVERYTHING working EXACTLY as I want it. I filled in the blanks on your setup real quick, got it all running. Man this is GREAT!! Thanks again for your help!

Edited December 4, 2012 by Smoky

[Weltensegler]

The symbol in screen 1 is the symbol for main monitor.

Symbols on screen 2,3,4 show desktop extensions.

[airdog]

Weltensegler is right about the symbols...2,3 and 4 are extensions and #1 is checked as my main monitor only.

I do not have my main monitor setup as a touchscreen.

About the touch screens. My guess is that you are not doing the calibration correctly in the control panel is the Tablet PC settings. Setup and calibration have to be done correctly in there. I think it is in the Setup portion where MUST hit "ESC"to move on, if you mouse click to move to the next portion of the setup it will make that screen a touchscreen. Go thru setup and FULLY read the steps as you go thru as I was making that mistake early on in my setups.

 

I know there are specfic settings that need to be turned off in order for helios to work correctly also. Its is outlined somewhere...possibly in the Helios instructions. Things like flicks and other items need to be turned off in the Pen and Touch section of your control panel. I dont remember the exact items but its out there somewhere.

[Smoky]

I actually have everything working just fine now, save for a couple questions below. I think the issue I have with one specific panel not getting it's touch assigned correctly unless being the primary is because this is the monitor sitting on the second video card. that + a lack of Elo Win8 multitouch drivers prob doesn't make matters any better. That should be remedied soon.

 

Only two things remain at the moment... the CMSC and CMSP. I can't seem to get those viewports to come up. I seem to recall having to do something extra to get those to work before when I was using the LOZ profile. But I CANNOT remember what it was and none of my Helios-setup bookmarked threads are giving me a hint. Do either of those viewports need something special to get working? Are they working on your setup airdog?

[airdog]

Mine both work.

Did you swap out the init.lua files for those 2 view ports? There are special ones that activate those view ports. If they are not with loz files you can go to the dcs website and get them from the users files section. PeterP uploaded them there.

[Smoky]

Thanks for the lead I'll check that out and follow-up