External Radar: Partially working!

[dispatchgeek]

I am looking for some help testing a possible method of having an external radar display for the StrikeFighters series. I have an external radar set up on my Windows XP WOV install, using a program called Magnifixer.

 

Magnifixer (Available for free here) is a piece of software designed for visually impaired people to magnify their computer screen. The magnification window can be dragged and dropped on a second monitor, and the magnified area can be locked at one spot.

 

Doing a quick and dirty test, I loaded up magnifixer on my second monitor, and set the magnified area for the approximate location of the right hand corner radar display. Magnifixer did not display correctly during the menu and loading screens, but I had limited success in flight.

 

It will display the radar quite well. I set the update frequency on Magnifixer to 25x per second. The only problem I have doing so is the background occasionally flickers through on the magnified window. I've toyed with the "ALPHA=" settings in the hud INI, but it still flickers displaying the background irregardless of how I have transparency set.

 

I am curious if someone with Strike Fighters 2 would be willing to test this out. I'd like to see if SF2 flickers like SF1 does in the Magnifixer display, or if it's even possible.

 

It's not an ideal setup, but it's similar to the way Falcon 4 MFD Extractor used to work. If we can get this working right, this would be nice for people who want to build a cockpit panel housing a small monitor for their radar.

 

I also plan on uploading a video of this working in WoV next week. (You know, that whole work thing getting in the way of a good day of simming!)

 

EDIT: I am also in contact with the developer of Magnifixer who seems interested in assisting with this issue.

Edited September 26, 2012 by dispatchgeek

[EricJ]

Se HUD to Easy and it'll show on the upper right.

Edited September 26, 2012 by EricJ

[Sheriff001]

I thought "external radar" meant a podded radar, like the F4U-5N Corsair. Oh well.

[Romflyer]

I really like your idea.......I have D/L'd the program and am trying to figure it out, If I can get it to stop shadowing each image that it captures then it could be very helpfull tool to get gauges onto another monitor

[+SkateZilla]

Set teh HUD to Easy, and Change the Position of the Radar in the HUD Data.ini to be on the 2nd screen,

 

i know people that use USB2.0 Displays and have the radar overlay shifted onto the smaller (7 inch) Screen by changing the position.

 

same thing can be done in DCS

[dispatchgeek]

Skatezilla: I didn't think it was possible to move any rendered object out of the primary game on the strike fighters series. I would be interested in persuing this route if I can make it happen. Do you know of anyone around here that I might be able to peek at their HUDDATA.INI settings and export that corner radar off to a different screen? That would make my life a lot easier with this project!

[+SkateZilla]

should be able to put a 2nd screen and set them up 1:2 (one on top of each other), and move the RDR overlay down to the bottom screen.

[Romflyer]

Well that certainly sounds like a simple solution?.....I didnt know you could span the view of the game vertically over multi monitors like you can horizontally using TH2Go or Eyefinity??.......I have never seen resolution options that would support that.

[+SkateZilla]

Eyefinity can be 2 or 3 horizontally and 2 or 3 vertically.

 

i think you have to use SofTH, and setup a smaller screen below the main screen, and move the RDR Overlay down.

 

I did it before when I only had 2 screens, I'll have to dig through my old system's HDD to get the HUDDAta.

Edited September 28, 2012 by SkateZilla

[Doc60]

This thread is old (2012). I use tightVNC to export DCS A10C gauges to my USB screens on a second network computer.  So it seems like a good fit for using on Strike Fighters. The great thing about TightVNC is it allows you to send touch screen commands back to the rendering monitor. You can click buttons and control the sim.It works great in DCS. Not sure how it would apply to Strke Fighters. But I thought I would just mention the capability.

 

Doc60