Possible 3-monitor config?
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I use SoftTH with a 1280x1024;1920x1080;1280x1024 array. I use 4480x1080 as the rez and lose little corners. Eyefinity is great if you have three the same but it doesn’t do mixed very well.
Wrap around you have to understand that the picture is always flat. BMS just makes one viewport and tilting the monitors is like buying a painting and cutting it up to put in three frames. No matter how you do it you can’t see the back of Mona Lisa’s head!
DCS has a nice trick that has compressed panels of video or renders three different viewports and merges them. It’s interesting to see if you try it on one monitor and see the seams. BMS doesn’t have that though.
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For insim looks at 140 check….
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Heavy, wow, that is one big setup then! You’re gonna drown in all that view! Post a pic if you get it set up!
Striker, that is a very good video, but I want to see it how YOU see it… can you take a vid with a camera at around the distance your head is from the screens?
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Heavy, wow, that is one big setup then! You’re gonna drown in all that view! Post a pic if you get it set up!
No, no, I don’t have it, I only WISH I did!
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DCS has a nice trick that has compressed panels of video or renders three different viewports and merges them. It’s interesting to see if you try it on one monitor and see the seams. BMS doesn’t have that though.
Do you have an image of this Fred? I think you are describing what I always thought games should do for multiscreen (unless you have trackIR) but never did (as far as I knew).
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Tried to do an iPad recording, but I will need something better. Will try to record something with better camera this week.
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Made a short movie will upload it later tonight. Nothing fancy, just flying around and shooting in Israel. Shot with a Sony Video cam behind my recliner. There are some unmasked spots from the cockpit Liliput MFD screens with some colours slipping through above the MFD’s. The RWR, and left and right MFD’s are below the monitors right now. More to come on later stages. You can find info about the pit setup at Viperpit. Hero’s desktop pit. It’s 1.7 gigs… but if that is just too much, just skip it
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Do you have an image of this Fred? I think you are describing what I always thought games should do for multiscreen (unless you have trackIR) but never did (as far as I knew).
Look at A-10C\Config\MonitorSetup\3Cameras.lua It actually renders 3 cameras and splices the video together. https://www.dropbox.com/s/jd6a7wqgmcq610v/dcs%202012-05-30%2012-56-17-31.jpg TrackIR or not this is the best display method.
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Oh yeah, that’s fantastic, a point of convergence in each screen, distortion only at edges of screens, and the ability to turn your head and see in a perfectly natural way, I love it, hope we see it in BMS one day…
I know it looks funny when combined as a single flat image, but I’ve always wondered why all flight sims and first person shooters don’t use this method to enable 3 screens.
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Another +1 for “SoftTH”.
Late to the party,but just sent this PM;
"It is called “SoftTH”.
You simply put 4 files in your FalconBMS 4.32/Bin/x86 Folder,and it forces your GPU’s to spread 1 screen to all 3…sort of.
It actually adds the landscape you would see with a wider view.Once the files are in the “bin/x86 folder”…start BMS and select a new graphics resolution and fly.
If you have Windows XP,use SoftTH 1.09…if you have Vista or 7,then use the latest version.
Here are some links to SoftTH;
http://www.kegetys.net/forum/index.php?topic=2833.0
http://www.kegetys.net/forum/index.php?topic=2123.0
I run 2 EVGA GTX550Ti’s,and get 55-62 FPS on three 24" Monitors @ 5760x1200 resolution.
If you need help just PM me.
Cheers mate,Stix61
PS;….you MUST change the Field of View in 2 places in your Config file code.
Open BMS4.32 Directory/User/Config,and look for the “falcombms.config” file.
Open your Config File with NotePad,and scroll thru the lines of text,for FOV,or Field of view.
Default is 70.0, change it to at least 155.0.
There are 2 places in the Config file,but they read;“set g_fMaximumFOV 155 // Limits the maximum amount that the FOV can be increased”
We are not quite done yet…
Now you must find your Falcon BMS4.32 “Data” folder,
open it up and find the “Art” folder,
open it and find the “ckptart” folder,
open it and this must be done for every jet you fly…do the same for “ckptartn”Open each Jets folder and then open “3Dckpit.dat file” with NotePad,
and scroll down for this line of code;“viewlimit_pitch_down 75.0;”
75 seems good for me with Track IR 4.
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Does SoftTH do the warping like the DCS screenshot posted by Frederf? Or does it just spread a flat image on 3 screens? Also it seems to work good with 3 identical monitors but what about my case where I’m using a different center monitor from my side monitors?
If BMS only displays a wider view of a flat image, I wonder if I should even angle my side screens towards me or just keep them in line with the center screen?
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#1 I don’t know if DCS does pixel-remap compression or actually stitches 3 independent viewports, but yes, SoftTH has a warping mode to combat fisheye.
#2 What SoftTH does it trick the software into thinking you have a XxY monitor so the software generates an image for a single display. Then SoftTH sends “chunks” of that single video to different displays. The gane software has absolutely no idea that you have more than one monitor. SoftTH has post-process warping and mapping features, see #1.
#3 Any imaginable combination of monitors is just fine. They don’t have to match or line up or anything. One big render is made and completely custom chunks are sent to various displays. I have (2) 1280x1024 and (1) 1920x1080 and it works fine.
#4 It depends on how the renderer converts the 3D world to the 2D image. Most times it assumes your display is a flat plane and for geometrical accuracy you would keep your displays in this flat arrangement. That is why the image looks stretched, because if the right edge of the screen was that far to the right then the horizontally stretched image wouldn’t look stretched because you are viewing it obliquely which has a squishing effect. An infinitely wide monitor can only display 180 degrees FoV the left and right parts of it past a mile from you would be responsible for a tiny amount of angular display because you are almost looking at the edges.
But we don’t want that. We want displays arrayed in a circle around us at constant radius because it is more efficient use of monitor width to have more display angle! If you look at a 20" wide monitor at 45 degrees then it is only 70.7% as wide to your eye. Normal incidence is maximum apparent width. So SoftTH non-linear pixel mapping adjustments that can compensate for a curved (or compound curve) displays. It can render more pixels than normally are allowed by your display set and contract them with lens or cylinder corrections. Even without this feature I would angle them in. I found about 25 degrees works with my display sizes and my distance to each center.
EDIT: Looks like 2.x has 64-bit support but no non-linear correction. 1.09 is 32-bit and has correction. So it’ll work on BMS but not DCS.
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Um, in English please Frederf? Lol, I understood maybe 40% of what you wrote there, but from what I understood, SoftTH can do the side-monitor-warping like DCS, yes? Would love to get a tutorial on how that’s done.
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I use SoftTH v 2.08b on my Win7 with 3x 24" monitors. (2 graphics cards).
It’s running smooth with the FOV and Viewlimit-settings that Drumstix61 recommends.For Win7 and v 2.08b, just copy the dll-file to the FalconBMS 4.32/Bin/x86 Folder and run the game.
Use the x86-version even though you run 64-bit OS. (BMS is running 32-bit)
An info-box will tell you that a new resolution has been added to BMS. (res ……x…)
It will use your current desktop resolution.
Just remember to set the far left monitor as main monitor if not running windowed mode.Select the new resolution from the Graphics-option and go flying!
Ringo
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Um, in English please Frederf? Lol, I understood maybe 40% of what you wrote there, but from what I understood, SoftTH can do the side-monitor-warping like DCS, yes? Would love to get a tutorial on how that’s done.
Yeah, me too. Supposedly 1.x (after 1.05) had these features. 2.x doesn’t (yet?). What should happen is you use it and press ApplicationKey+A/D/X/B etc hotkeys and get it how you like. Then in the future you can set these values in the .cfg. However I can’t get these to work right in 1.09 and BMS.
What you see is here: http://www.tawbaware.com/projections.htm Video games use rectilinear because it makes 3D rectangles look like 2D rectangles. I like cylindrical/spherical because it maps directly 3D angular position to 2D monitor position. The white lines are lines of constant angle. But this would be OK if you were sitting in the focus of a curved display. There are some other plugins that do some correction. Even if it never works, 3 monitors are better even if you don’t like the edge distortions exactly.
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Does SoftTH do the warping like the DCS screenshot posted by Frederf? Or does it just spread a flat image on 3 screens? Also it seems to work good with 3 identical monitors but what about my case where I’m using a different center monitor from my side monitors?
If BMS only displays a wider view of a flat image, I wonder if I should even angle my side screens towards me or just keep them in line with the center screen?
Mate,it adds the missing left and right viewing area…it “spans” the image to 3 screens,and does take into account any difference in Monitor size or Resolution.
It auto computes the best reso for you… -
So let me see if I get it right.
I have:
1. one 24" 1920x1200
2. two 19" 1280x1024I can have them in falcon in that same resolution? meaning mostly taking advantage of the 1920x1200 of the 24" or it will reduce it’s resolution to 1280x1024?
So this prog tricks falcon to think of what resolution in my case?
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Stix, I humbly request an audience with you!
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With SoftTH you make the rendered frame buffer any size you want and then position the monitor bounds anywhere in that frame. For example you could have 3868x1200 resolution and
Monitor 1 pixels 0-1280 x 88-1112
Monitor 2 pixels 1280-3200 x 0-1200
Monitor 3 pixels 3201-3868 x 88-1112
What about the frame that doesn’t show up on the monitor? Throw it away. Think of it like printing a picture and using scissors and glue to put parts of that picture in picture frames. Or you can make the rendered frame a little wider and have the displayed portions of the frame leave gaps to match the bezel room between monitors. Or you can make 3000px wide image on two 2000px monitors where some of the image is redundant. Lots and lots and lots of flexibility. If you can image it you can usually do it.If the bezel is about 100px each then I would do 4268x1200, 400 extra pixels to lose behind four frame thicknesses.
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ok I got u…
So I tell it to display 3868x1200 and that is the resolution I select in falcon? and what is not seen mostly loosing view from the sideways (peripheral) not so important but I will have the main screen 1920x1200 which is better… and all digital not analog… wow that will kill the fps…So I have to try it…
Thanx for the heads up… now doing it is another thing… right?