Thrustmaster MFD Cougar

It's easier to think outside the box, when you are *actually* outside the box. ;)

Here's what I made from Thrustmaster MFD Cougar pack and 2x 8" monitors... now waiting for a flight sim where I can use them

^^^^

I see you keep your shirts ironed too! LOL!

By the way, I got MFD's working in OpenFalcon 4.7 (had to install Windows XP to get OF working without graphical glitches) by using MFD Extractor and in 3D pit (3D pit gives me much lower frame rate though, for example I get steady 60fps in 2D but in 3D even without running MFD extractor I get 20-25fps and up to 35fps when flying... so all in all they work in OF in case anyone wonders. It's very easy to "program" the Cougar MFD's, basically you just go to game input assignments and click on assignment button you want (for example Left MFD button 1) and press the apropriate Cougar MFD button.

Wish I could make a video but I have no video camera at my disposal

hey kuky,

it's al little bit OT, but how did you turn your cougar so it rests at an angle and is easier to use as a center mounted stick ?

happy landings

Julius

I just ordered the MFD Cougar, now figuring which best LCD monitor to fit in, I kind wish they also sell a 5X5 View size LCD monitor with USB. it gonna to be real nice!!

Monitors

I love this thread, fascinating stuff.

I am searching google and ebay for small monitors but am a bit confused.

What price range are you guys paying for 7" usb monitors folks?

Any good links / recommendations?

I paid about 100AUD for my 7inch one

I gave up on screens for the MFD cougars... nothing fits perfectly behind them.

hey kuky,

 

it's al little bit OT, but how did you turn your cougar so it rests at an angle and is easier to use as a center mounted stick ?

 

happy landings

Julius

Sorry didn't see your post till now... what I did was take off the stick, take the connector out of the shart, then cut off the ends of the black plastic that holds the connector in the shaft, and with file took off the guidance ends on the stick end. So this way the stick can be rotated any angle I like and I find it to be effective when using stick in centre position (and it didn't cost me anything to do this).

If you can't figure out what I've done just by reading what I wrote above and want to do the same, let me know and I will take pictures showing what I've done.

Hey Kuky, I would like a picture of what you have done. I'm not brave enough yet to start fileing away on mine yet. Thanks in advance.

Here's 2 quick photos I took of the stick and the shaft, should show give good idea what I've done

On first picture it's the shaft to which the stick handle is connected to... I've just cut off the ends of the metal so the connector can freely rotate

On Second picture it's the handle end, there I've shortened the black plastic so its narrower and had to file off the alluminium alloy till stick can freely be rotated... it's little bit of work but nothing too hard, it gives me ability to rotate the stick and that's what I was after

Nice job, Kuky!

If someone didn't want to risk butchering their Cougar, they could alternatively consider making an extension that would fit between the Cougar's removable grip and the base. That extension could then incorporate and angle change desired for the stick. I've seen other threads (either here or possibly SimHQ) that discuss what the electrical connectors and the mechanical connections are. One could keep the extension short if they didn't want the stick's throw to change much. Someone clever could probably even make it adustable so that it would be easy to change between side stick and center stick modes.

I paid about 100AUD for my 7inch one

I gave up on screens for the MFD cougars... nothing fits perfectly behind them.

Hey steve some people use samsung 700 UD. Its a bit larger but it seema to fit perfectly.

Here's what I made for MIG-29, SU-27 & SU-33. The font colours might need tweaking but otherwise I'm quite happy with the result...

Since i have a 22" monitor i ll wait until next ubber upgrade, when i ll get a 25" monitor, and work the MFD with touch buddy or something the like so the info will get in the right place and stuck some more info in the monitor.

thats seem more reasonable and cheaper than 2 7" monitors.

Hey steve some people use samsung 700 UD. Its a bit larger but it seema to fit perfectly.

Thanks for the info, but i can't find any info on it.

The problem that i see with the MFD's is (not really a design problem of course, just a problem for using them with screens) is that you need something like a 5"-7" 4:3 screen... most of the screens i've come across are 16:9. A rectangle in a square hole doesn't quite work and i gave up ages ago.

There are a lot of 5" 4:3 screens used for video survelance available. I just havent found any with a VGA coneector on it. Most seem to be BNC type... wonder if there is a way to convert a DVI signal to a BNC type cable.

5" is too small, you need 7" 4:3 ratio to fit best unless you can find a square screen to fit exactly

Just get the wide screen and run it at the 4:3 res and dont scale? Hide the black edges behind the MFD.

I've seen it done like that but the question is will you be able to make that work in A10c?

Just modded my MFD's had to switch the BRT and CON buttons around to match the hog and remap the buttons so they aren't flipped in the game......

I got my 2xMFD Cougar's today and was wondering if someone has the game profile for these, and can I install the drivers with the USB plug-in?

Also the green LED are showing on the inside left MFD green LED is on inside frame and same for right MFD the green LED is on the inside.

I got my 2xMFD Cougar's today and was wondering if someone has the game profile for these, and can I install the drivers with the USB plug-in?

Also the green LED are showing on the inside left MFD green LED is on inside frame and same for right MFD the green LED is on the inside.

Green LED should be on the left on Left MFD and on the right on Right MFD... if you have them both on same side maybe you got 2 left? I guess it doesn't really matter as long as they are recognized as 2 separate USB devices.

For DCS A-10C you don't need to program anything, they are already set.

wow pretty simple intuitive setup I like it already just had to physically move the left to the right and the right to the left for some reason when switching the usb plug-ins it would just not assign correctly the way I wanted.

now waiting on my TM HOTAS WartHog.. :thumbup:

I'm trying to find out how to do the MFD 7" screen thing. Been looking and reading for days now. For DCS BS and A10 do you need an MFD extractor program? I read some where that it is in sim selectable. Is this true? Does it hurt performance!

I'm trying to find out how to do the MFD 7" screen thing. Been looking and reading for days now. For DCS BS and A10 do you need an MFD extractor program? I read some where that it is in sim selectable. Is this true? Does it hurt performance!

for the A10 they are still working on that lua for that, as for the BS.

I have my USB Lilliput's 7 inch working you need to assign the width and length resolution setting as far as your size in the option.lua and you need to assign the sizes in the monitor-setup folder.

heres mine

this is a setup for 1920x1200x480x800x480x800

so you would add the lengthxlenghtxlength=1200

and then the width is 1920+480+800=3200