ULTIMATE AFFORDABLE FLIGHT DECK SET UP FOR FS2004

[Guest]

Hi guys, its been along time since I posted but got some great news.I have been looking at building a sim in one of my rooms. I had been to more sights than you could imagine to look at photos for ideals. From the basic setup to the setup with actual airplane parts, throttles, yokes, etc. Howevery in every case the price was too much for me, I make a good living, but this is a hobby. I actually got pretty close to purchase a radio stack at precision flight controls($1795). Then i started to think about it. In fs2002 the radio/comm freqs change for you, so I'm spending $1795 to watch the freq change, though the hardware they sell is well worth it. I had been following Go Flight(hardware) for some time and saw that the had added auto pilot controls as well as seperate nav & comm controls. ranging as low as $99 per piece. So I could build and add. But lets be real, the biggest pain as well as other expense is..networking PCs as well as extra cards for those PCs and monitors. Well after constant surfing, maybe about 3 years(by the way I've been simming for about 14 years)I came across a company, Colorgraphic Communications, that has a card that can put diplay up tp 8 monitors WITH OUT NETWORKIN, yes, only 1 I said ONLY 1 PC.The card is called Xentera, which will have the ATI technology put into it. So here my project this summer..LISTEN CLOSELY. I've got a storage area under my staircase( Like some of you) that is only used for, you guessed it..STORAGE! I'm 6'6 and the storage is about 7ft hy by 34inches wide( a little wider than your door way. Then after about 2 feet the ceiling start to angle downward because of the stairs on the otherside. That decline is where I will put my engine start switches from GOFLIGHT. I will use 5 monitors. 1 Main (19inch CRT), 2 front side(15inch LCD) and 2 side monitors(15inch LCD). and one monitor(15inch LCD) below the main screen for my gauges( split screen with magenta software..I hope). I will use the goflight hardware that includes auto pilot, landing gear, nav controls , comm controls,as well as any additions they make in the future. They will make throttle and rudder in the future. here hat makes the beautiful with out all the headache. All monitors will go through an 8 port video card. All hardware from goflight is USB and is very easy to program. and the last piece of the puzzle is FS2004. From what I have read so far is that the new program will allow you to project different displays on different monitors. THATS MY PROJECT.NO NETWORKING, ONLY ONE PC, EASY TP PROGRAM ALL THE BUTTONS ONE SWITCHES...AND AFFORDABLE...NO 1 - 5 YEAR PROJECT. would like to hear any response or other ideals. thanks for listenening

[Guest GPan]

Sounds interesting, but I wonder if you will be able to open multiple 3D windows on 1 PC and still get decent framerates. The reason most builders use multiple PCs is that multiple 3D windows require more processing power.As far as changing frequencies, you can do it manually w/ GoFlight or any other hardware, just skip hitting the "1" key in ATC after a frequency change is assigned and do it yourself with the mouse, keys or hardware. I've been doing it w/ my ACP Compact since FS2002 came out.Good luck and keep us posted. You may get more feedback in the Home Cockpit Builders forum.

[Guest]

Interesting, but, unless I'm misunderstanding, how would you fit five monitors across in a 34" space?In answer to your question, I do not believe experience has shown FS to be effective with any more than one (1) external view per processor. For my FS server, I have three - one 19" external view + two 17" panel views. If I try to spread, stretch, or creat a new external view on one of the other monitors then everything grinds to a 2 FPS hault.

[Guest]

You should try to get in touch with ret. Cpt. Mel Ott. He runs a cockpit of that kind. Don't know where to find him though.

[Guest]

I'd agree with others here that it probably isn't feasible to run 5 views off 1 machine, even if the card supports it. The card is probably just meant for a (huge) extended desktop or some other function that isn't as CPU and video intensive as actully running multiple external views in MSFS. Realistically, I think the only way to do this is with multiple machines.

[Guest]

I had the same questions, however the video card is already used by current application, such as multi screen tasking for staock brokers. When I spoke to techsupport he explained to me that when using multiple screens the framerate did not deminish that much, and thats the current card with out ATI developers getting a hold to it. Tech support even mentioned the the current cards were inferior to the ATI cards. Remember, this card will be designed in part by ATI(currently the leader in video card hardware). Everything at this stage is just a possibilty. As computers get more advance hardware and software developers find more challanges to overcome.

[Guest]

As Monitors go I plan to use a 19in for the main view and 15ins for the rest. The side monitors would be at a 90 degree angle from the front view but the front roght/left views would most likely be 60-75 degrees from the main view. It will be tight, sort of like a jet cockpit. I rarely flight with anyone. Plus I don't worry about dedicating a full room for my project.

[Guest]

you might be right, but stock brokers use this method, and a lost in framerates might cause a trading error. Though the current card suppports the applications the use, the card by the summer will have ATI technology. I'm just crossing my fingers.