Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: the4ork on May 05, 2009, 06:44:02 PM
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does anyone use this?
im on an oldschool 17" viewsonic LCD thats coming up to 5 or 6 years old now...
its time for an upgrade, i keep thinking my deadpixels are cons and its starting to get annoying....
been thinking about going up to a HannsG 27.5" widescreen LCD, or grabbing x3 19 or 20" LCD's
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Think there are one or two players that use the Matrox TripleHead2Go. From the screenshots one of them posted, looked pretty cool.
ack-ack
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It won't make you any better, but it is pretty darn cool looking.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh473/cactuskooler/cockpit_min.jpg)
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh473/cactuskooler/cockpit.jpg)
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It won't make you any better, but it is pretty darn cool looking.
Actually it does, you can see alot more without moving the camera. I went from a full screen 20" to a widescreen 22", It's not much but I can see more.
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It won't make you any better, but it is pretty darn cool looking.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh473/cactuskooler/cockpit_min.jpg)
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh473/cactuskooler/cockpit.jpg)
that looks like absolute crap.
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that looks like absolute crap.
Your seeing a distorted view.....the screens would be angled.
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I know I am looking at setting something like this up instead of the IR thing. . mainly because I play other games where multiple screens would be helpful. . .
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that looks like absolute crap.
You're not looking at it from the 3-Monitor perspective.
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This is a great option for better immersion and will also help you with situational awareness. Combine a 3-monitor setup with a TrackIR and it will give you amazing immersion and visual experience of the game. I opted to go with a single 30" display combined with a TrackIR because at the time this magnificent little device was not yet supported by AH. Had I done the upgrade now the three display setup is a very attractive option, also at about 2/3 the cost of a single 30" display (depends highly on the quality of the displays you choose). The 30" native resolution of 2560x1600 will give you incredible detail, and I assure you that suddenly the hi-res textures no longer look so good :D but the three monitor setup will give you a level of immersion and speed experience not possible in any other way. Be aware though that the setup require a very good GFX card, you may want to get a dual-card setup even. With a high resolution and large display area the slightest decline in FPS is noticeable, additionally the human eye is more sensitive to it in the peripheral vision field where you will have the two side monitors.
At the end of the day, it won't make you any better but ****... you will have so much more fun!
:salute
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Heres a better look at the difference, I even twisted the "side" monitors in a bit to get the perspective better.
This the front view for a single monitor (top), and a tripe head 2 go (bottom)
(http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii253/maddogjoe_photos/view_3.gif)
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i think i want to do this :aok
here are my system specs:
Athlon x2 7750BE (2 core phenom 2.7ghz@3ghz)
4gb 1066mhz
ATI 4850 512mb
so im sure i'll be able to run the 3 screens off of a single card for this game, however any other game would be a huge problem (cod4/5, crysis, and any other new games i buy) due to the resolution...
so instead of buying the matrox part for $75-100 (dunno exact price) i think im going to throw in another card and do the crossfire, this should give me 3 monitor outputs and ATI supports surround gaming...
i think i can even get away with using my onboard hd3300 but that thing is a pile of crap, with the dedicated memory enabled i get artifacting (bad chip on the board i think)
i'll prably end up throwing another 4850 in there but im not sure if its going to help unless i upgrade both of them to 512mb since i'll be running huge resolutions accross 3 screens...
so im still debating.
27.5" for $369 or x3 20"ers for the same price + i have to buy another card
:/
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I'm not sure that the game itself supports the multiple monitors. It does support the triple head2 go. You might want to give HT a call first.
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the4ork, check out this thread from the 08 con;
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,250521.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,250521.0.html)
the OP used a a program called SoftTH to split the image across 3 monitors.
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FWIW, I've managed to make both 3-monitor and head-tracking work on my system, on the cheap. As someone previously posted, it is a huge leap in the immersion factor. Coupled with head-tracking it will give you quite a feeling of "being there." It will change how you see the game, both literally and figuratively.
3 monitors will help with your SA a bit, since there will be fewer view-switches you'll make. What happens, as you've seen in the screenshots others posted, is that your monitors will encompass a greater swath of the horizontal field of view. However the view is proportionately shorter, so you will still be doing the same amount of Up-viewing as before.
I've recently begun using the 3 panels in combo with head-tracking and really, it's an amazing shift in how I perceive the game. Now I feel much more like I'm IN a cockpit, and thanks to the head-tracking, my head position is independent of the orientation of the aircraft, as if I were compensating for banks and rolls.
The downside is that you will have to relearn gunnery a bit, and your SA will suffer as you get used to tracking targets with your eyes and not your hatswitch.
I used a freeware utility called SoftTH to link up my 3 dissimilar monitors (like a charm). For head-tracking, I used a free, semi-DIY solution called FreeTrack (works great). You can google both of those for their websites. Maybe I've been lucky, but I got both of these things to work fairly easily, though fine-tuning the head-tracking settings is an artform onto itself.
Good luck :aok
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Or you could go the VR route and gain the bonus of stereo 3D graphics. I see vuzix are launching a new headset with a 6DoF tracker soon.
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FYI, I tried to use the Matrox Triple Head Digital with 3 Acer X203W monitors and it was "no go". When talking with Matrox tech, they mentioned that they have had serious problems with Acers. Best for compatibility is Dell or Samsung (according to them). Exchanged the Acers for Dells and the Matrox set up in a heartbeat. Only problem now is that I can't move back far enough in the cockpit to see the instruments...
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Are you using the, "Widescreen" feature of Aces High?
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Just to close the circle on this post, I resolved the "too close to the instrument panel" problem by driving the custom "field of view" to 145 rather than widescreen. Works great now.
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Oh. Well, I'm glad it's working for you. :aok
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The "Widescreen" option is only for 16:10 aspect ratio monitors. For the Matrox triple head, you should set it to 145 (http://www2.hitechcreations.com/ahgs/launch.html) if you are using 3 wide screen monitors.
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Oh, thanks for the article Skuzzy. I wasn't aware of all the new video functions.