Overlay mode setup.

Setup and usage for running DashPanel in overlay mode.

Overlay mode

Overlay mode allows DashPanel widgets to be rendered on top of your locally running sim.
Note that this mode is currently experimental and may not work with all system/setting combinations. Overlay will not work on Windows 7 if AERO is disabled.

Overlay buttons

As the DashPanel client is written in Unity it cannot capture inputs when in the background. So this task is performed by the server. On the server you can assign any buttons/keys to the Toggle Overlay and Edit Overlay commands. This also means the client must be connected to the server to enable Overlay mode.

Sample

Overlay mode works well with widgets placed around the edges of the screen. Most DashPanel samples are designed to be run on extra screens or android devices so will not be very useable in overlay mode. Open the overlay sample as an example.

Running with sim

Depending on the sim it may not work with DashPanel in fullscreen mode. Assetto corsa definitely requires you to disable fullscreen rendering. Most of the other supported games work fine in fullscreen however it may be more clumsy to Alt-Tab back to DashPanel when editing in Overlay Mode. If DashPanel seems unresponsive and crashes when running the sim in fullscreen try borderless window:

Once you are in car and ready to display the overlay press the Toggle overlay button (Default ALT-O). Press the toggle again to hide the overlay.

Edit

When the overlay is showing you can quickly enter edit mode and have DashPanel in the foreground by pressing the Edit Overlay button (Default ALT-E). Press the Edit Overlay button again to exit edit mode and display the overlay again.

[PyrofrogStudios]

If you have malformed packets you have mixed up the ports. Connect the client on 9999 and send game data to the server on 20777 to keep the packet types separate.

[Cutie]

i need help with this. i've tried everything i can search about and think of, but nothing is stopping it from showing "malformed packets" constantly when a game is running in the background and connected. i will gladly talk about this for any way to get it working.

pc specs:

Intel Core I9-11900h
RTX 3080 Mobile 16GB
32GB 3600MHz RAM
1440p 165Hz Display with G-Sync

games i have this problem with:

Forza Motorsport 8
Forza Horizon 5

my OS:

Windows 11 Pro

any and all help would be appreciated

thank you

[Sergio_Marooned]

Thanks Pyro, I did lots of testing today and it seems it's related to RF2, it's not consistent, one session it works (practice) then in quali/race it lags again.

[PyrofrogStudios]

I tried with both default DashPanel and open beta with no problem.
Make sure you are running rF2 in borderless window mode and perhaps make sure to click on rF2 window after turning on overlay. Maybe it's losing the focus?
Thanks!

[Sergio_Marooned]

I didn't try open beta of DashPanel, I'm using your official releases. Only RF2 is the release candidate. I'll try to raise the priority and match the resolution with monitor may be it's reason. If not, I'll start the thread. Thanks for you swift replies as usual and your amazing software :)

[PyrofrogStudios]

Sergio
No problems for me with Overlay and rf2 RC.
Start a thread in the forum if you continue to have issues and we can troubleshoot there.

[PyrofrogStudios]

Hey
I’ve not tried the release candidate for rf2 let me have a look. Do you get different results using the open beta of DashPanel?

[Sergio_Marooned]

Hello Pyro, I've an issues recently and I'm not sure how to solve or why it's happening. on RF2 I use overlay, I recently updated to the release candidate to access the new multiplayer and on the same day you released an update so I'm not sure which is causing the issue. Insane latency to the point that I can't use dash panel any more. there's no wifi connection or anything, server and client both running on PC. any idea what might be the issue? Thanks in advance.

[PyrofrogStudios]

If you visit this page in chrome you can right click and select translate to German.

[[E.v.!.L]]

Gibts diese anleitung auch in deutsch?