How-To: Set up a 4-screen, T-shaped display in DCS

Greg, I'm considering a 6-screen Eyefinity setup in order to be able to see and access the side panels using 3 touchscreens at the bottom with slight TrackIR movement and external peripheral vision. Unfortunately, I've never actually owned an AMD card and am not entirely familiar with Eyefinity or multi-screen gaming, plus all the information I've found on Eyefinity tonight has been spotty at best. First off, do you know if a CrossfireX setup enables Eyefinity across multiple monitors, and second would SoftTH be necessary while using the entire display area at the bottom?

Yes, CFX enables Eyefinity across multiple monitors. But the problem with a 6-screen setup is that, AFAIK, no AMD cards have more than 4 outputs. And because with CFX you can only plug monitors into one of the cards, you're therefore limited to 4 monitors at a time. I'm pretty sure that everyone who runs more than that uses something like Matrox TripleHead. As for SoftTH, when I was using it, I was running all 4 monitors off one card. I believe that if you want to run more than 4 with SoftTH, you need a third (non-CFX) card to plug them in to.

I may be totally wrong on this, so hopefully somebody else running 5+ will chime in to clarify.

Crossfire, Eyefinity

Shogouki,, I don't believe you will need the SoftTH software, it's purpose is to save your graphics-card's recourse's from having to render unused space(the area you are filling with the extra 2 monitors). The SoftTH program will allow you to custom set resolutions for the different screens if you need to lower resolution, etc.. If you had 1 card you would need the display-port cables that daisy chain. But you have 2cards in crossfire?? vs. a high end dual GPUcard? If you have 2 cards, you have plenty outputs.

Shouldn't need it, but may be useful, is the short answer.

Please guys let me know if you think I'm misleading him!!

ThePutzer

Yes, CFX enables Eyefinity across multiple monitors. But the problem with a 6-screen setup is that, AFAIK, no AMD cards have more than 4 outputs. And because with CFX you can only plug monitors into one of the cards, you're therefore limited to 4 monitors at a time. I'm pretty sure that everyone who runs more than that uses something like Matrox TripleHead. As for SoftTH, when I was using it, I was running all 4 monitors off one card. I believe that if you want to run more than 4 with SoftTH, you need a third (non-CFX) card to plug them in to.

 

I may be totally wrong on this, so hopefully somebody else running 5+ will chime in to clarify.

AMD Cards 7900 and R9s are all capable of Eyefinity 6

R9( w/ 2 DVI) 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 3 more on DisplayPort with MST Hub.

7900(w/ 2 MiniDP), HDMI, DVI, MinDP to DVI Active Adapter, then 3 more on the MST Hub

I run 3 Screens now via DVI, HDMI-> DVI, and MiniDP -> DVI, And Able to add 3 more via MST Hub to DP Monitors (or 3 more DP -> DVI Active Adapters)

MST Hubs are like $130, Only Brand availyble in USA is Accell, and only brand in the UK is Club3d.

Both Companies recommend not using DP-> DVI/HDMI Adapters and using DisplayPort Screens.

Eyefinity/Crossfire

I was wrong,,,, SkateZilla, is 100% correct, all 6 monitors need to be attached to 1 card...Crossfire will still work.! Here is a amd link showing the hub, SkateZilla was referring to.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/11

Asus had a 6displayport output card but they are rare and $$$..

On another note, fraps not workin in windowed mode, and cntl pause doesn't give a fps counter in game (p-51 or a-10),for me.. Is there a console command in game for a FPS command??

AND THANK YOU, for this link. great directions,,on T monitor set up..

ThePutzer

Try either CTL + Pause.

On another note, fraps not workin in windowed mode, and cntl pause doesn't give a fps counter in game (p-51 or a-10),for me.. Is there a console command in game for a FPS command??

AND THANK YOU, for this link. great directions,,on T monitor set up..

ThePutzer

Glad this thread has helped you. As for FRAPS and the FPS counter -- I had the same problem with my 7970s when I would switch from fullscreen to windowed mode. I think it has to do with the 'edges' of the render area being outside of the actual window, and thus FRAPS and the FPS counter just aren't visible. This problem could probably be fixed by setting you windowed resolution to exactly 5760 horizontally and thereby removing any bezel compensation (i.e. a 'window' can't display a resolution greater than the combined physical total resolution across your 3 monitors).

Greg, great write up! I am currently getting around 45fps and would like to add the 4th touch screen just like yours. Do you think my setup could handle it? If not, where should I look at upgrading. Currently running 3 27" monitors. Thanks in advance!

From your system specs I would guess that you could run 4 monitors without much trouble. DCS is very CPU-dependent though; are you running your 2500k at 3.3? If so you should definitely overclock it, as you're likely to get at least 4.5 out of it. I've had mine running at 4.8 for two years now with no problems at all, and in DCS faster CPU often translates directly into more FPS.

For Those wondering about Nivida and SLI, here is Nivida'a page showing how to hook up 2-6 monitors with and without SLI.

These cards don't have display port though.

http://www.nvidia.in/object/sli-technology-multimonitor-in.html

I'm getting ready for a new build to get 5 screens hopefully.

I'm Still stuck on what mobo and gpu to get. Ati or Nivida ??

Also on a budget and I don't like Nvida being locked to 2screens

per gpu in SLI. I've never ran an Ati gpu.

I'm just trying to use two monitors in a vertical arrangement at the moment, with the lower one showing the cockpit interior but when I try and use SoftTH, it just hangs at the splash screen after launching a mission and I don't even see the loading screen and have to Ctrl+Alt+Del to get to Taskmanager and kill DCS. If I rename the SoftTH d3d9.dll in /bin it works fine again.

I'm using this config file for SoftTH as the upper monitor is 1920x1200, then allowing 100 for the bezels and the lower monitor is 1920x1080, so 1920x2300 in total.

[main]

renderResolution=1920x2300

nonlocalFormat=RGB16D

keepComposition=1

smoothing=0

debugD3D=0

zClear=0

vsync=0

tripleBuffer=0

screenshotFormat=jpg

dllPathD3D9=auto

dllPathDXGI=auto

dllPathD3D11=auto

[overrides]

forceResolution=0

antialiasing=0

anisotropic=0

processAffinity=1

FOVForceHorizontal=0

FOVForceVertical=0

[debug]

compatibleIB=0

compatibleTex=0

compatibleVB=0

enableVBQuirk=1

[head_primary]

; borderA=0

; borderL=0

sourceRect=0,0,1920,1200

screenMode=1920x1200

[head_1]

; borderA=0

; borderL=0

devID=1

sourceRect=0,1300,1776,1000

destRect=0,0,1920,1080

transportResolution=1920x1080

transportMethod=local

noSync=0

fpsLimit=0

This is the graphics section of my options.lua. Windows doesn't make allowances for the bezel, so it only shows the combined resolution of the two monitors, 1920x2280.

["graphics"] =

{

["multiMonitorSetup"] = "1camera+centeredgui",

["color"] = "32",

["preloadRadius"] = 150000,

["heatBlr"] = 0,

["scenes"] = "high",

["water"] = 0,

["fullScreen"] = true,

["disableAero"] = false,

["visibRange"] = "Low",

["treesVisibility"] = 5977,

["aspect"] = 0.84210526315789,

["haze"] = 1,

["HDR"] = 0,

["TranspSSAA"] = false,

["textures"] = 2,

["cockpitShadows"] = true,

["shadows"] = 1,

["effects"] = 3,

["MSAA"] = 1,

["height"] = 2280,

["sync"] = false,

["shadowTree"] = false,

["civTraffic"] = "",

["width"] = 1920,

["clutterMaxDistance"] = 0,

["lights"] = 2,

}, -- end of ["graphics"]

So can anyone please tell me what I've done wrong?

Are you using SoftTH 1.xx? If so why not 2.08 instead? 2.08 is more advanced and a bit simpler. For example in 2.08 you don't set a destRect.

One problem I can see is that you're asking DCS to render a smaller area than SoftTH is being told to work with -- this is likely what's causing your hanging. If you're really allowing 100 pixels for the bezels, your resolution both in DCS *and* SoftTH should be 1920x2380. Change that and see how it works.

Are you using SoftTH 1.xx? If so why not 2.08 instead? 2.08 is more advanced and a bit simpler. For example in 2.08 you don't set a destRect.

 

One problem I can see is that you're asking DCS to render a smaller area than SoftTH is being told to work with -- this is likely what's causing your hanging. If you're really allowing 100 pixels for the bezels, your resolution both in DCS *and* SoftTH should be 1920x2380. Change that and see how it works.

It's definitely 2.08b alpha x64 as I downloaded it again and checked it against the dll I've already got installed, so I guess there's just some redundant lines left over in the config.

Thanks for the suggestion re. the resolution, I'll try that and see if it works. Certainly DCS didn't offer 1920x2380 but hopefully if I edit options.lua to that manually it will stick.

I actually calculated the 1920x2300 using your method of 1200+100+1000 (sorry, didn't explain that properly in my last post), and then stretching the lower monitor from 1776x1000 to 1920x1080, so I'm not sure 1920x2380 will work unless I edit [head_1] to make the SourceRect 0,1300,1920,1080, which obviously won't then use your clever calculations to compensate for the different monitor sizes (my upper monitor is 24" 1920x1200 16:10 and the lower 22" 1920x1080 16:9)

Yeah, I realized afterward that was what you were doing (re: vertical res of 1000) but then forgot to go back and change my post. Right, so you need a total res of 1920x2300. The reason it doesn't appear as an option in DCS is because DCS can't auto-populate odd resolutions like that. You have to either manually specify it in the options.lua file or I believe you can even just type it into the GUI box.

Thanks, I didn't realise I could type the resolution into the GUI box. Setting it to 1920x2300 and it worked OK.

However, I was unable to click on Fly and pressing the Pause button didn't work either. I couldn't even ctrl-alt-del to the Task Manager as it flashed it up and then went straight back to DCS World. The GUI was properly contained on my first monitor.

On the second try, I managed to start it with Pause but then when I pressed Esc, I couldn't click on the Menu (Quit, etc) and had to kill it (this time I was able to get to Task Manager).

After disabling SoftTH and running on only one monitor, the buttons all worked normally. I wasn't using any mods other than SoftTH as I've just updated to 1.2.7.

I've never heard of not being able to click on Fly -- you're talking about on the mission selection screen, right?

As for the 2nd problem -- being able to start the mission but unable to click on anything in the 'escape' menu -- this is, as far as I know, an unsolvable problem, and I suffer(ed) from it too. Very, very frustrating. When not using SoftTH, a quick alt-tab out and then back in usually solves not being able to click on the menu. However, SoftTH prevents you from alt-tabbing out, meaning you're often stuck in a situation where you can't alt-tab out and basically have to reboot the computer to regain control.

The only partial solution I ever found was to ctrl-alt-del, choose 'switch profile', choose your same profile, Windows will flash the screen a few times, and then you're able to click on the menu again. It's annoying, and slow, but seemed to work pretty reliably for me.

Sorry I don't have a better answer. This problem drove me absolutely insane, leading me to sink many hours into testing various fixes, none of which ever worked.

This may be worth a try because I'm sure that I was having this same problem when 1.2.7 first came out and I installed SoftTH. I think I cured it by uninstalling both the .dll and the config, and then re-installing.

Hope it works for you as mine works as expected with 1.2.7 now.

I've never heard of not being able to click on Fly -- you're talking about on the mission selection screen, right?

 

As for the 2nd problem -- being able to start the mission but unable to click on anything in the 'escape' menu -- this is, as far as I know, an unsolvable problem, and I suffer(ed) from it too. Very, very frustrating. When not using SoftTH, a quick alt-tab out and then back in usually solves not being able to click on the menu. However, SoftTH prevents you from alt-tabbing out, meaning you're often stuck in a situation where you can't alt-tab out and basically have to reboot the computer to regain control.

 

The only partial solution I ever found was to ctrl-alt-del, choose 'switch profile', choose your same profile, Windows will flash the screen a few times, and then you're able to click on the menu again. It's annoying, and slow, but seemed to work pretty reliably for me.

 

Sorry I don't have a better answer. This problem drove me absolutely insane, leading me to sink many hours into testing various fixes, none of which ever worked.

I wouldn't call it the Mission Selection screen, it's after the mission has loaded when it pauses and waits for you to click Fly or press Pause/Break before starting.

I actually did something similar to what you did on the first attempt when I couldn't get to Task Manager and used Switch Profile, although maybe Log Off would have been quicker. Your method would have been quicker still, so thanks for the tip, it will save me time in future at least :)

This may be worth a try because I'm sure that I was having this same problem when 1.2.7 first came out and I installed SoftTH. I think I cured it by uninstalling both the .dll and the config, and then re-installing.

Hope it works for you as mine works as expected with 1.2.7 now.

I'll give it a go thanks, although as uninstalling and reinstalling basically just involves moving the two files out of bin/ and then back again, it's hard to see how that could make any difference. :huh:

I wouldn't call it the Mission Selection screen, it's after the mission has loaded when it pauses and waits for you to click Fly or press Pause/Break before starting.

Well that one's easy -- can't you just hit 'escape' and then 'pause' rather than click 'Fly'?

I'll give it a go thanks, although as uninstalling and reinstalling basically just involves moving the two files out of bin/ and then back again, it's hard to see how that could make any difference. :huh:

That's a good point that you make, maybe I installed a later version! What version of SoftTH are you using? The latest one that I know of is the 2.08b which you can get here

Well that one's easy -- can't you just hit 'escape' and then 'pause' rather than click 'Fly'?

I'm pretty sure I mashed any key I could think of and nothing worked but as far as I know, pressing the pause button is an alternative to clicking Fly to start it and I'm not sure that 'esc then pause' is even programmed to do anything. I'll try again though.

That's a good point that you make, maybe I installed a later version! What version of SoftTH are you using? The latest one that I know of is the 2.08b which you can get here

Yep, that's what I'm using too.

I've never heard of not being able to click on Fly -- you're talking about on the mission selection screen, right?

 

As for the 2nd problem -- being able to start the mission but unable to click on anything in the 'escape' menu -- this is, as far as I know, an unsolvable problem, and I suffer(ed) from it too. Very, very frustrating. When not using SoftTH, a quick alt-tab out and then back in usually solves not being able to click on the menu. However, SoftTH prevents you from alt-tabbing out, meaning you're often stuck in a situation where you can't alt-tab out and basically have to reboot the computer to regain control.

 

The only partial solution I ever found was to ctrl-alt-del, choose 'switch profile', choose your same profile, Windows will flash the screen a few times, and then you're able to click on the menu again. It's annoying, and slow, but seemed to work pretty reliably for me.

 

Sorry I don't have a better answer. This problem drove me absolutely insane, leading me to sink many hours into testing various fixes, none of which ever worked.

I have the same problem :( btw in windowed mode, the R9 290X hold between 20~40 fps still playable :)

I try to find and solve the problem... but it's impossible to me.

I'm pretty sure I mashed any key I could think of and nothing worked but as far as I know, pressing the pause button is an alternative to clicking Fly to start it and I'm not sure that 'esc then pause' is even programmed to do anything. I'll try again though.

OK, it seems that pressing Esc starts the mission just the same as clicking Fly, so that's one problem solved.