Live DDI Screens on your Real WINWING Panels

Three links in a chain. DCS paints each display into a fixed rectangle on your monitor; PSF captures that rectangle live; the capture rides on a world-locked mask that you place into the physical panel opening.

The capture pipeline: export → capture → place. Nothing is drawn by hand — it's the live sim picture.

Watch it in action: capturing a DDI screen region and pinning it into the real panel.

DCS decides where each display is drawn using a monitor config — a tiny Lua file. You give each display a named rectangle; DCS renders it there every frame, even in VR. Create the file here:

C:\Users\<you>\Saved Games\DCS\Config\MonitorSetup\DDI Export.lua

(Use DCS.openbeta instead of DCS if that's your install. If the MonitorSetup folder doesn't exist, create it.) Paste this and save:

_  = function(p) return p; end;
name = _('DDI Export');
Description = 'Main camera + F/A-18C MFCDs exported to right of primary'

Viewports =
{
     Center =
     {
          x      = 0;
          y      = 0;
          width  = 3840;
          height = 2160;
          viewDx = 0;
          viewDy = 0;
          aspect = 3840 / 2160;
     }
}

UIMainView       = Viewports.Center
GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center

-- Three 1280x1280 squares in a row along the top of a 3840x2160 desktop.
LEFT_MFCD   = { x = 0;        y = 0; width = 1280; height = 1280 }   -- left  DDI
RIGHT_MFCD  = { x = 0 + 1280; y = 0; width = 1280; height = 1280 }   -- right DDI
CENTER_MFCD = { x = 0 + 2560; y = 0; width = 1280; height = 1280 }   -- AMPCD


VR_MIRROR = {
 x = 0,
 y = 0,
 width = 3840,
 height = 2160,
 }

-- The key VR line: lets the MFCD exports render even though you're in the HMD.
VR_allow_MFD_out_of_HMD = true

What the config produces on your desktop: three fixed squares PSF will capture from.

Now tell DCS to use it: Settings → System, set Monitors to DDI Export (the file name), and set Resolution to exactly your monitor's resolution as reported by Windows (Settings → System → Display) — here 3840×2160. Apply and restart the mission.

📷

Your screenshot here:

screenshots/gamescreenshot.jpg

Dual-monitor example. Say your primary is 2560×1440 (the game view) and you add a 4K monitor to its right for the DDIs. The second monitor then starts at x = 2560 in the combined desktop, so every square shifts right by 2560:

Dual monitor: DCS Resolution = 2560 + 3840 = 6400 wide × largest height 2160; the DDIs start at x = 2560.

-- DUAL MONITOR: primary 2560x1440 (game) + 4K monitor to its RIGHT (DDIs).
-- DCS Resolution field:  2560 + 3840 = 6400   x   max(1440, 2160) = 2160
Center      = { x = 0;          y = 0; width = 2560; height = 1440 }   -- primary

LEFT_MFCD   = { x = 2560 + 0;    y = 0; width = 1280; height = 1280 }   -- x = 2560
RIGHT_MFCD  = { x = 2560 + 1280; y = 0; width = 1280; height = 1280 }   -- x = 3840
CENTER_MFCD = { x = 2560 + 2560; y = 0; width = 1280; height = 1280 }   -- x = 5120

In PSF, pick the second monitor — its crops are local, so LDDI x0, RDDI x1280, AMPCD x2560 (= the lua x minus the 2560 offset).

Jump into a Hornet on the ground with power on. On your desktop monitor (headset off, or glance under it) you should see the three squares filled with the live DDI and AMPCD pictures. This is the picture PSF will capture, so get it looking right here first.

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Your screenshot here:

screenshots/DCS_alpXPCwTAf.jpg

In the PSF desktop editor, make one mask per display:

1. Press + Add Mask to open the wizard and choose “Capture monitor region…” (Cropped live mirror of a whole monitor).

   

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   Your screenshot here:

   screenshots/PassthroughForge_rACbfpQquO.jpg

2. In the Pick a Monitor Region picker, select the monitor the DDIs render on, then drag a rectangle around the left DDI square. For a pixel-perfect grab, type the exact rectangle from your config (x 0, y 0, 1280 × 1280).

   

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   Your screenshot here:

   screenshots/PassthroughForge_rlsIFcH3Ga.jpg

3. Confirm — the mask now shows the live left DDI. Rename it LDDI so the tabs stay clear.

   

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   Your screenshot here:

   screenshots/PassthroughForge_eerNe9SaSZ.jpg

4. Repeat for the right DDI (x 1280, y 0) and the AMPCD (x 2560, y 0) — each 1280 × 1280. Three masks total: LDDI, RDDI, AMPCD.

The captured screens are opaque — they show the display, not reality. To see your real MIP and buttons, the area around the screens has to be passthrough. If your cockpit passthrough already covers the MIP, you're done. If not, add one ordinary passthrough mask over the whole panel:

• Create a normal mask (a see-through window) and shape it to cover the MIP face.
• The three capture masks then sit on top, filling the display openings, while the passthrough shows the real bezel and your hands.

Now the satisfying part: in VR, move each DDI mask so it sits on top of the passthrough window, right in the physical display opening.

1. Leave the capture masks on Tracking = None (World) — your MIP doesn't move relative to your seat, so a world-locked screen stays put.
2. Select a DDI mask and move / nudge it over the real opening (on top of your passthrough panel), then scale it until its edges meet the bezel. Do it with your head steady in your normal seated position. New to moving and positioning masks? The Getting Started guide walks through it step by step.
3. Line up all three: LDDI upper-left, RDDI upper-right, AMPCD lower centre.
4. Save Profile. Next session it's one recenter away from perfect.

Target layout on the MIP: glowing captures in the glass, real buttons all around via passthrough.

The payoff — live DDIs and AMPCD sitting in your real panel.

Stuck? Jump on our Discord — plenty of hardware-pit builders there who run exactly this setup.