In-Development Cougar MFD displays

Hasaf

Hasaf
I recently purchased a Cougar MFD set (for those who are not clear, they come as a pair). I have printed NC Sarge's insets and, in general, I like them. I will make some changes, in photoshop, soon; but I like the basic approach and theme.

I am also intrigued by the idea of putting a small screen in the centre of the MFD. I expect that I will run the G 19 application in one of them. Frankly I do not know what I will want in the other. It is very likely I will put a messenger or email screen in the other.I do not what a full sized screen behind them (if that is what you want, it appears that people recommend 7" 4:3). The reason is that I like having some printed text next to the buttons.

Toward that end, I am looking at two Very Small Monitors:
3-5-inch-bare-display.jpg

image from here

3-5-inch-composite-display.jpg

image from here

The top one is a bare screen and accepts an HDMI input. My thought was to get a USB to HDMI video adapter ( I am not looking for great video).

The second one is in a case. The problem I see is that it only accepts composite video. The problem with that is that I cannot find any USB to Composite adapters. However, this monitor is a lot cheaper (yet that savings is lost with multiple video adapters). I am also not likely to go this way because multiple adapters lead t near unsolvable problems.

I have looked at this page, and others on that site. I am looking to go smaller, so I can have text next to the buttons.

Here I say it, any thoughts or recommendations?
 

Asp Explorer

Asp Explorer
I tried that once, using cheap android tablets running Roccat power grid, and then a Chromebook with some hideous touchscreen adapter, and eventually gave up. They now lie gathering dust.

It's not a bad idea, and certainly the extra buttons are handy - but with HOTAS, VR, keypads, footpedals, cougars, tablets, gaming lights, triple screen etc - the cabling requirements just got completely out of hand :(
 

Hasaf

Hasaf
So to be clear, I could purchase that display, download your latest beta from here, take the stands off the MFDs', lie them flat on the display (really, tape them), and be done?

Is it easy for the user to change the text next to the buttons? I am much more trade and exploration focused and have no need to "combat" buttons.
 

Noogillim

Noogillim
I would use the first one along with a Raspberry Pi, as you could then program the Pi to do all the donkey work.
 

Hasaf

Hasaf
Noogillim said:
I would use the first one along with a Raspberry Pi, as you could then program the Pi to do all the donkey work.
Click to expand...

I have programmed on the Arduino boards; but I haven't used the Raspberry Pi boards at all. Frankly, I can't think of anything useful that the Raspberry Pi could do for me.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
Hasaf said:
So to be clear, I could purchase that display, download your latest beta from here, take the stands off the MFDs', lie them flat on the display (really, tape them), and be done?

Is it easy for the user to change the text next to the buttons? I am much more trade and exploration focused and have no need to "combat" buttons.
Click to expand...

I use a piece of acrylic as an interface (along with some quite capable double-sided tape) to which the MFDs are screwed (I tapped the holes that pass through the MFDs).

Here's a "design" for the interface piece (not to scale): https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachme...0816/Acrylic_Interface_Plate_20161205_NIC.pdf

There is text for each bindable button in the game - however no facility for user-defined text.

Obviously, the program does not require MFDs to be present to run - so you could easily "test-drive" it to see if it is suitable for your needs. The current bindings relevant to each MFD can be extracted from the game's bindings file (although there is currently an issue when two commands are bound to the same button) and applied to the settings.

There's currently plenty of scope for new "buttons" and "panels" - up to 4095 are possible in the current version of the settings file (uses Base64) - and I've only defined about 350 or so. Requests for specific additions are more than welcome - either in the development thread or on the Discord channel (link to invite in the Development thread).
 
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Hasaf

Hasaf
I think you have me sold on your approach. I was just looking at the program you wrote and it looks very good. Now it is just a matter of figuring out where to put it.

And you can also count me in on the group that would like the panel on my x52 to do something useful.
 

Slopey

Volunteer Moderator
Slopey
I'm just about to do something similar once the Beyond update drops.

I've recently got one of these bad boys: HyperPixel Display

I'm going to use it mounted to a Raspi Pi 3, and I'll pull the data back from the log files via the network, and parse it on the Pi via Python most likely. I'll probably build some sort of API back to a new version of my ye olde BPC to handle keystrokes/screenpresses being fed back (or maybe just a standalone helper app).
 

shroom2021

S
I've attached my MFDs to a panel with some other components on it. I'm going to cut out more sections of the panel and jam another monitor behind it. My plan is to use ontopreplica and other ED fan tools (One of the reasons I love this game is the mod community) to place output at these locations. The final step is attaching clear plexiglas over the areas and scratching it up a little. (Going for a very used look)
 

vrod

vrod
Not sure if this thread is dead, but I use 8" displays in my cockpit.

9VPg4XO.jpg


Instead of printed text, I have graphic text on my screens, so I can change them out.

Here is a video of my cockpit in action (a year ago).

[video=youtube;j1gNmbLAhjw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1gNmbLAhjw&t=2s[/video]


Note, that since the video was made, the consoles have had gray vinyl added to them as well as other visual improvements in the whole cockpit.
 

Commander Sixx

C
Wow Vrod that is very impressive. I'm currently looking into finding screens for my cougar mfd's. I really like what you have going on here. Any chance of you giving me some pointers on heading the direction you have gone? Feel free to email me at: beautifullozer@hotmail.com
Thanks in advance and very nice work!
 

Bionic Bytes

Bionic Bytes
You might be interested in my project using MFD Cougar displays. I've written an OpenGL application to render to multiple displays and react to the events written in the player journal files. This web page CougarDisplay.site has all the details, along with this forum link
I'd love to see it integrated into vrod's cockpit ! (2 posts above)
 
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