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#3633720 - 08/27/12 10:22 PM problems with Helios  
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I know this should be in the Helios forum, but I'v been waiting 5 hours for a account authentication and was getting impatient.

I can't seem to get Helios displays working properly on Falcon AF. I have a main monitor on 1920x1200, a secondary on 1240x1000, and I'm running the game on 1600x1200<i believe that's correct, not sure tho. I have no patch installed, as the latest one gave some game killing issues on my computer.
I downloaded Helios, made a quick test profile with 2 mfds, the ICP, RWR, Altimeter, ASI, trim indicator, and HSI. I then saved, hit the "file" dropdown menu, saw something like "profile manager", and clicked it. I set it to Falcon, then Falcon AF, now next to the monitor 1 tab I had a Falcon tab, I saved again. Now when loading in Helios manager, my profile no longer showed up, I opened the file location and saw it had been changed from a HDP file to a BAK file, so I made a copy of it and changed it to HDP. I now started Falcon. My first problem was that in the UI, the 300 pixels from my 1900 screen transfered over to my 1240 screen, since the difference between my game res and desktop res was 300 pixels. I exited and changed my PC res to 1240x1000 as well. Now I restarted the game, and since my screen res was below the games 1600, the 2nd screen leaked over onto my primary monitor cuss. I started a mission anyway, this was the first time with Helios. once ingame, the game played itself fullscreen, however since underneath the main resolution was smaller, part of the Helios setup was on the gamescreen(only the RWR). This is where it gets weird, none of the items on the Helios screen worked, it later clicked that I read the button interfaces like MFDs and ICP require a touchscreen, which takes away most of its appeal for me. nope and that Helios can't export MFD displays.(how does one export MFDs from Allied Forces?) However unless I messed something up the other stuff like fuel flow should work, the only working display was the RWR, which had snapped over to my primary display and was flickering underneath the gamescreen, through the flickers I could make out that it was showing radars and they were reacting to my bearing/distance changes.

Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong?
and how do I export MFDs in Allied Forces?


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#3634262 - 08/28/12 09:35 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Sorry, but can't help you with Allied Force. With BMS, I can export the DED, PFL, MFDs, and there is a program called MFDE that I use to export gauges as well. I got all instruments I need on my second monitor.

Regarding Helios, why are you running the game in a totally different res from your monitors? Why not run it on 1920x1200 res which is obviously your main monitor? Try creating a new profile for Helios, but the first thing you do is click Profile then Reset Monitors. Helios will detect your monitor arrangement so you can put your buttons/MFDs/etc on the monitor you want. Obviously, if Helios detects the monitors running at res XXXX but you run the game at res YYYY, then you will run into trouble as Helios gets confused.

And yes, Helios was intended for touch screens. On my setup, I got a Lilliput 10" touch screen monitor.... so Helios actually displays on two monitors, my 1920x1080 "instrument" monitor and the Lilliput monitor which contains all my buttons and switches.

Hope that helps!


- Ice
#3634270 - 08/28/12 09:44 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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quite simple really, there is no 1920x1200 resolution. the biggest (with proper proportions) is 1600x1200. Now this may not be the case with BMS, but even if I was running BMS, I couldn't get playable framerates anywhere near the 1920x1200 resolutions. Hence the reason I'm not running BMS as a daily driver till I update my PC soon-ish


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#3634307 - 08/28/12 10:57 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Is there no way to hack that? Or maybe try SoftTH? The only other solution is to probably FORCE your monitors to display 1600x1200 for your main display and whatever the other display is at when you play the game. Then start up Helios and Reset Monitors again. Hopefully, this will trick Helios to detect a resolution that you play the game at. Then do your trial profile again and test it.

Good luck!


- Ice
#3634337 - 08/29/12 12:22 AM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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aight current situation: the bleedover issues are temporarily fixed (AF cuts an inch off of the sides of my main display, BMS runs in a window) I want to set this aside till I can actually get Helios working.

I have a few questions, the reason I started trying Helios was because BMS made me run in a small window when exporting MFDs
1. is it possible to make the mainscreen window of BMS fullscreen without increasing resolution, this would fix my current problem, but I'd be missing whatever gauges BMS doesn't export, so I'd only be back later with the Helios issues.

2. how do I make BMS's exported displays show up on the Helios monitor, they currently get blotted out by Helios' background wallpaper

3. I want to point out that the fact that the RWR was on the main monitor was inconsequential, after temporarily fixing the bleedover and getting Helios properly fit on its screen the RWR is still the only working instrument. I duped my current profile, and changed the Interface to BMS, same thing, only the RWR is working...


"Burn them all."
--------------
Intel Core2 Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHz
4GB RAM
Sparkle Geforce GTX460
#3634683 - 08/29/12 07:24 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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What do you mean by "Helios working?" What is it NOT doing for you?

1. To export gauges/MFDs, BMS has to run in windowed mode. However, you can play BMS in windowed mode without actually seeing the "window." I can't recall if default BMS does this as I use SoftTH now with my triple screen setup, but you can try un-ticking the Borders box in the Main window selection when you enter the Cockpit Display Extraction from the Launcher.

2. If it gets exported, it should be fine. In Helios, click on the background, check Properties tab on the right side, and un-tick the Always on Top box under behavior. All exports by BMS and the MFDE should now show up.

3. Note that some things in Helios do not work properly, like the HSI course and range readouts. Helios also does not have an F-16 compatible fuel gauge, but rather uses a A-10C gauge. I used to use Helios gauges when I can, but have now preferred the MFDE gauges. Here is a screenshot of my instrument monitor (left side) and my touch screen (right side). On the instrument monitor, only the buttons are Helios, and are more of indicators than actual buttons --- as in they just light up when the appropriate light comes on in BMS. All the "working" buttons are on the touch screen. The upper small white rectangles are the DED and PFL displays from BMS and the lower two white squares are the MFD exports from BMS. Everything else, RWR, fault indicator lights, gauges, landing gear indicator, etc. are MFDE.






****************

Get the MFDE here!

****************


Good luck!


- Ice
#3634743 - 08/29/12 09:12 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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By getting Helios working I mean my question Number 3. I have a bunch of gauges, including: (off the top of my head, maybe more)

2x MFD buttons
ICP
RWR
Altimeter
ASI
Trim Indicator
HSI
Fuel FLow
RPM
AB Nozzle Position

now obviously since I don't have a touchscreen the 1st 2 are useless, but I didn't know that at the time, I figured I'd be able to pull my cursor over to that screen, but that's besides the point. The problem is, of all the above displays, only the RWR works, the rest just remain static. the ASI shows 0 airspeed, the altimeter shows 0 altitude, the fuel flow shows 0 flow, the HSI says I'm flying perfectly level, the RPM says I have no thrust, but the RWR tracks radars just like its supposed to, altho for some reason I'v noticed that the Helios RWR will show a threat about 30 seconds before it'll show up on the cockpit RWR, like it's got more range or something.

Last edited by FrontierProject; 08/29/12 09:13 PM.

"Burn them all."
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#3634767 - 08/29/12 10:16 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Oh. For the Helios gauges to work, you will have to bind them to the shared memory dump (or some sort of computer jargon) from BMS.

1. Go to the Bindings tab at the center-bottom of your screen. Click the Output section.
2. Select your monitor from the Monitor drop-down.
3. Select each gauge, then map it to the appropriate bindings in BMS.

This is the reason why I recommend MFDE. In that program, you simply select which gauge you want to display, drag it to where you want it to be, drag the corners/edges to resize as you please, and done! The gauges simply work! Obviously, there is no interface for buttons or knobs like the CRS and HDG knobs on the HSI, but that's easily done in Helios. The main drawback of MFDE for me is you cannot adjust the placement of gauges PRECISELY, as it is reliant on how steady your mouse-hand is... I'd love to be able to specify a pixel size and define it's coordinates with accuracy, but alas no. Also, the gauges in MFDE are not "locked," it is easily moved and accessed by the mouse all the time, everytime. Not fun if kids sometimes grabs the mouse in the middle of a game, or if you like clicking on anything in a screen that has MFDE gauges.

I wouldn't recommend dragging your mouse from one screen to the other as well. You will have one of two problems:
A. You end up with two mouse cursors, one that is limited to movement within the BMS game screen and one that moves across all your monitors. The problem here is even if your across-all-monitors mouse is over Button 1 in your Helios layout, if it is over another button in BMS, it'll click that button as well. Ever try to fly while watching TWO mouse cursors?
B. BMS goes into a standby state when you select something OUTSIDE the BMS window... you know, like alt+tabbing out of BMS or something. The downside here is that your aircraft loses control.... your throttle goes back to idle and I think a little control input sneaks past before you lose control of the aircraft... so unless you are perfectly straight-and-level and at Angels 20, or your AP is on, this isn't a very good idea. I've crashed twice due to this... clicking a button on a second monitor, hearing my jet power idle, then not being able to click back on the BMS window in time to recover my aircraft.


If you are looking for a way to display gauges in a second screen, Helios or even better, MFDE can help. If you want to display buttons, like the missile launch button or the Master Caution button, Helios can do this... again, you'll have to bind them to the proper BMS binding as above. If you want to INTERACT with the buttons/switches/levers, your best bet is a touch screen or something like iFlyBMS if you have an iPad.


Hope that helps!


- Ice
#3634788 - 08/29/12 10:59 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Thanx for the help (this forum really needs a rep system)
I already had MFDE downloaded, just never got around to installing with all the Helios business taking up my time. My dad has a 9" Android tablet that he picked up in a pawn shop and never uses, I'll use iDisplay to make that my touchscreen. I might be able to find a use for my phone too,it has a 4.2" screen.

edit: btw I wanted to send u a pm bout something, but ur "private topic" memory is full

Last edited by FrontierProject; 08/29/12 11:01 PM.

"Burn them all."
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#3634794 - 08/29/12 11:14 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Well, like I said for gauges, MFDE is better. I used to think Helios was better at this too, but once I discovered the "flaw" in the HSI, I started to see everything else too like the fuel gauge and the pain of setting things up and testing it. MFDE has it's shortcomings too but is quicker to use and easier to setup, so it gets my vote for now.

Not familiar with android devices so pass on that.

Inbox cleared out, sorry about that. Glad to have helped.


- Ice
#3635160 - 08/30/12 03:56 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Is there a config application for MFDE, digging through that config file with Notepad++ seems rather crummy.
My overall opinion right now is it could be done better, what with no way simple way to add guages, no way to close it outside of task manager's kill process, and in trying to find a way to close it, I identically hid the MFDs, now the config file says they'r showing, but they don't show up on the screen cuz presumably they'r hidden mycomputer


"Burn them all."
--------------
Intel Core2 Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHz
4GB RAM
Sparkle Geforce GTX460
#3635449 - 08/31/12 12:22 AM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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alright I havemy MFDE setup going, but when trying to port Helios to my Android tablet I get issues. The tablet is registering my touches as mouse clicks, which puts me right back to square one, basically when I touch my screen, the computer tries to drag my cursor to that location and click, which doesn't work because the cursor can't leave BMS's window. Also the tablet registers my touches a quarter inch to the left of where they happen. Which program do u guys use to connect a touchscreen, I'm using iDisplay.


"Burn them all."
--------------
Intel Core2 Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHz
4GB RAM
Sparkle Geforce GTX460
#3636868 - 09/02/12 08:24 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Originally Posted By: FrontierProject
Is there a config application for MFDE, digging through that config file with Notepad++ seems rather crummy.
My overall opinion right now is it could be done better, what with no way simple way to add guages, no way to close it outside of task manager's kill process, and in trying to find a way to close it, I identically hid the MFDs, now the config file says they'r showing, but they don't show up on the screen cuz presumably they'r hidden mycomputer


Huh? What are you trying to do with MFDE? It "lives" in the taskbar, double-clicking the desktop icon starts up the program but you have to right-click the taskbar icon and select Options which brings up the config settings...




Note that I do **NOT** use MFDE to extract the MFDs and DED/PFL... I use the built-in extractor from the BMS launcher program for those. The MFDE is simply for the gauges, HSI, and RWR.

As for porting Helios into the Android tablet, I pass on that. I don't even know if that's possible. I am successfully using Helios with a Lilliput 10" touchscreen USB monitor with no problems with BMS's cursor.


- Ice
#3636923 - 09/02/12 09:40 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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ahhh the taskbar, thanx for that. Well it seems I'm all set now, I don't have any Helios so nothing is interactable, but I'm all set, all I wanted to begin with was the MFD's, but looking into that I thought the other stuff would be nice also.

All this time I'v been adding panels to MFDE by going to its install location, opening the MDFEextractor.exe.config with Notepad++ and manually setting the "enableXXXoutput" of the gauges I wanted to true. duh


"Burn them all."
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Intel Core2 Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHz
4GB RAM
Sparkle Geforce GTX460
#3637446 - 09/03/12 05:09 PM Re: problems with Helios [Re: FrontierProject]  
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Lol, no worries.

Like I said, MFDE doesn't do buttons so I use Helios to display a Master Caution button that lights up when it lights up in the sim. Same for a missile warning button. That way, I can be "looking left" in the sim but I can quickly take a look at my center monitor WITHOUT MOVING MY HEAD and check some details. Again, if you manage to secure a touch screen device, you can use Helios there too for switches and buttons.


- Ice

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