UltraMFCD 3.0 is coming

Hi folks,

It's been a while, eh? In any case work is now underway on UltraMFCD 3.0 with promising results.

What to expect:

• Works with latest builds of DCS :thumbup: (I find this really helps a lot)
  
• Support for new aircraft. F/A-18C first with more to follow (Mirage, Viggen, AV-8B, F-16C, F-14) as time permits and in order of which aircraft benefits most from enhanced displays. Expect eventual modelling quality in line with the A-10C CDU MkII.
  
• Aircraft/ground object labels within DCS now work again. Very important for new/learning pilots.
  
• Radio message log (potentially)
  
• Other special sauce (dust off those old Android/iOS phones and tablets, they might enjoy a second life at some point).
  
• Getting rid of the dependency on a live internet connection to ultramfcd.com in order for the app to run.
  
• Auto-update system.
  
• Better in-app clarity as to which specific versions of DCS/Aircraft are and are not presently known to be supported. Every time DCS or an aircraft is updated there is the potential for those updates breaking uMFCD, so said system should alert you to whether it's a problem with the system in general or just that we've not yet caught up with any particular update.
  

More to follow. In the mean time, some eye candy:

--Sgt_Baker

Glad to hear you haven't given up.

Other special sauce (dust off those old Android/iOS phones and tablets, they might enjoy a second life at some point).

Glad to hear you haven't given up.

Does this sentence mean that UltraMFCD can finally transfer its data over a network to another device?

Yes.

Time to buy a few cheap tablets! Can’t wait!

Time to buy a few cheap tablets! Can’t wait!

Don't buy them until the facility is formally announced. :)

I just searching how to export some screens form DCS. Never hear about UltraMFCD... found DCS Virtual Cockpit, Helios etc. But UltraMFCD looks promissing.

Is there anyway to support you with money... I would like to pre-order! If you really succeeded release 3.0 version, I think you should think about some pay-model.... hold on... before you will say anything... generally I really like idea what Hollywood do with ViacomPro... most of features are free with just few extra in paid version. I really prefer pay $5-8 to get SW which is updated, supported and keeping up with changes in DCS, rather it's superb tool but stop working in DCS 3.0+... you know what I mean ;)

cheers!

I just searching how to export some screens form DCS. Never hear about UltraMFCD... found DCS Virtual Cockpit, Helios etc. But UltraMFCD looks promissing.

 

Is there anyway to support you with money... I would like to pre-order! If you really succeeded release 3.0 version, I think you should think about some pay-model.... hold on... before you will say anything... generally I really like idea what Hollywood do with ViacomPro... most of features are free with just few extra in paid version. I really prefer pay $5-8 to get SW which is updated, supported and keeping up with changes in DCS, rather it's superb tool but stop working in DCS 3.0+... you know what I mean ;)

 

cheers!

It's interesting that you mention this. The financial model you're referring to is generally known as "Freemium" - one where basic features are available to everybody yet the advanced features are licensed for a reasonable fee.

UltraMFCD is now, believe it or not, six years old. Its inception occurred almost by accident in the month following my finding myself homeless due to business deals gone wrong and poor decision making on my part. A royal cluster*$£%, if you will. UltraMFCD is, however, an extraordinarily complex piece of software. In order to extract displays from DCS demands that somebody (me) stare at The Matrix of numbers, detect patterns in those numbers, then program uMFCD to detect said patterns and extract the displays. This is a hideously complex process and the reason that uMFCD breaks down every time Eagle Dynamics adds new eye candy to their graphics rendering engine.

Fast-forward to the present day and the business behind uMFCD is in excellent health and, indeed, extracting money from non-DCS-related customers whether it be cash, card-holder present or card-holder not present. So, for those wondering where I've been, that's what I've been engaged with during my multi-year absence.

So this is what I'm suggesting:

Implement a freemium model in UltraMFCD 3.0. The more people who purchase a premium license the more money raised. Offer to pay Eagle Dynamics - whom have historically been resistant to anything uMFCD - to mitigate the "staring in to The Matrix" element that breaks uMFCD with every graphics engine update using said funds.

--Baker

...and from now on known as Neo :)

Glad to see you back Baker. Will the "data over network" function include video?

Hey, Baker.

Does UMFCD 3.0 operate with DCS in and out of Full-Screen mode? I find DCS unplayable unless I've alt-entered into full screen.

Thanks!

PS - Work on an IPad as well?

Glad to see that UMFCD comes back to life :),I were waiting such a long time for this news :)))

Hey Sgt.! Welcome back!!!

As others, was very waiting for that, glad to hear!

I'll look forward, i used the "old" version and it was great!

I remember it working years ago, fantastic bit of software. Sorry to hear you had such a rough spell, but am glad that things are looking up. I too believe in rewarding such generous work financially, so will happily pay a premium.

Well this is great news, If all these posts haven't scared Baker off yet. I was one of the original users and really missed it when I could no longer get it to work, I have played very little DCS since.

So time to dust off the throttle and stick.

Great news Sgt_Baker, I am very much looking forward to the new version!

One question please: any chance it will be possible for UltraMFCD 3.0 to export MFDs while using VR at the same time?

Again thanks for your work!

Glad to see you back Baker. Will the "data over network" function include video?

Yep. Exactly what you see in the desktop version, except on the device(s) of your choosing.

Hey, Baker.

 

Does UMFCD 3.0 operate with DCS in and out of Full-Screen mode? I find DCS unplayable unless I've alt-entered into full screen.

 

Thanks!

 

PS - Work on an IPad as well?

UltraMFCD has never supported true full-screen mode (nor, for that matter, does Windows these days). Full-screen, borderless windowed mode is, however, supported. There's a very good reason for this in that a full-screen application is 100% greedy when it comes to the screen space and mouse clicks. So the unacceptable scenario would be that DCS minimises every time you attempt to interact with a uMFCD display, whether it be moving, resizing or clicking buttons.

If you're having issues with non-fullscreen DCS perhaps there's some driver/setup/hardware issue somewhere else, as DCS (and uMFCD) runs normally on 2012 hardware (at 2012 FPS, obviously) in tests on this end.

And yes to iPad.

Edit: Although it should be fine with full-screen if you're on running exported displays on external devices.

Great news Sgt_Baker, I am very much looking forward to the new version!

 

One question please: any chance it will be possible for UltraMFCD 3.0 to export MFDs while using VR at the same time?

 

Again thanks for your work!

The technical theory and groundwork for uMFCD + VR is already laid down and sound. Yet I'll be honest in that it's not a priority feature at the moment. For every person flying in VR there are twenty asking for this or that module support or these or those additional features.

Oh, and the resources required - in terms of time and £££ - to implement VR support are probably about the same as implementing support for all sensible aircraft plus network streaming. Consequently the road map must follow a route of certain common sense. :)

A work in progress....

But where do all the calculators I mean Radio Messages go?

There's a good reason for this. Maintaining one's kneeboard scratch pad is all fair and well until AI aircraft start freaking out during a furball and spam over the radio constantly, including over transmissions for you, until one side or the other is all dead.

Glad to see you back Mate!

fantastic - really looking forward to this.

you mention VR - I didn't quite understand the support - are you saying this would work with VR ?

Are the position and sizing possible ?

Can this tool extract MFCD screens without setting up viewports in monitor config files?

Can this tool extract MFCD screens without setting up viewports in monitor config files?

Yes, that's exactly what it does. Zero configuration. Everything is 100% automatic. And it doesn't make any changes to your files, so if you decide you don't like uMFCD you simply forget about it. There's nothing to uninstall or undo.

fantastic - really looking forward to this.

 

you mention VR - I didn't quite understand the support - are you saying this would work with VR ?

 

Are the position and sizing possible ?

It should/might work with VR once I get around to implementing that as an official feature. The reason it not at the front of the queue is that it's expensive, time-consuming and would detract from implementing features that are in greater demand.

looking forward to F-16 support - thanks!