Multiple monitors

[Guest sunbear]

Would someone help me with setting up a second monitor for use with FSX and the PMDG products. I can't seem to get the alignment correct on the second monitor that I have hooked up to the left of the main one. When in 2-D mode and I take off, the horizon does not align with the main monitor but moves down or up when in a banking turn. Is there anyway to coordinate the movements of both the main and the secondary (left) monitor so they show the same view of the horizon?Regardsjack

[january 19]

Would someone help me with setting up a second monitor for use with FSX and the PMDG products. I can't seem to get the alignment correct on the second monitor that I have hooked up to the left of the main one. When in 2-D mode and I take off, the horizon does not align with the main monitor but moves down or up when in a banking turn. Is there anyway to coordinate the movements of both the main and the secondary (left) monitor so they show the same view of the horizon?Regardsjack

jack- are you referring to the horizon "bending" when the aircraft rolls? That is- not staying as a single straight line?The cause is almost certainly that the second monitor is not square to your eyes. You need to angle the monitor so that its center point is square to your line of vision. And of course the side bezels must be in full contact. If your main monitor is tilted, so should the the left mon. This may require small shims under the base to keep the bezels touching- and will cause the left mon to twist upward slightly. Don't worry- it works! And wrap around contributes to the panoramic effect- your own little desktop IMAX!Any monitor should be viewed squarely. Visualize a diagonal line on the mon- as you move your head sideways, the monitor screen seems to become narrower and the diagonal line becomes steeper- eventually seeming to be vertical. This is why a visitor sitting beside you, sees a very distorted version of flight sim! And it's why a multi mon horizon will bend in roll mode.Finally you need to adjust the starting angle of the outer view to compensate for its displacement due to the bezel separation of the views. In FSX, I'm told you do that in the Camera section of Config (in FS9 it is done in Panel Config.) For typical narrow bezels the adjustment will be about 5

[Guest sunbear]

Alex,When I hit the [ sign and then the number 7 on the keypad to bring up the left fwd side view and then move it to the left monitor screen, do I drag it to encompass the entire monitor screen or just drag it to the left and not downwards. It seems that if I drag it to fill the entire monitor screen, it becomes really misaligned. Also, I'm using a 1920X1080 main monitor and a 1650X1080 on the left one. Is this a potential problem with this setup?Regards,jack

[january 19]

Alex,When I hit the [ sign and then the number 7 on the keypad to bring up the left fwd side view and then move it to the left monitor screen, do I drag it to encompass the entire monitor screen or just drag it to the left and not downwards. It seems that if I drag it to fill the entire monitor screen, it becomes really misaligned. Also, I'm using a 1920X1080 main monitor and a 1650X1080 on the left one. Is this a potential problem with this setup?Regards,jack

jack- yes the different resolutions will cause this when you drag to fill the screen. You have two options-Leave the view size as is and simply drag the bottom edge up/down to align the horizons. Any empty space at the bottom could be profitably filled with 2D popup sub panels. Or-Somewhere in your FSX Config file- Camera Section, there should be a line the equivalent of this FS9 Panel Cfg line-VIEW_FORWARD_LEFT_DIR=x,y,zWith this you can manipulate the left image as needed.x value sets the height of the view. Increase/decrease it by small amounts to change the overall height to your choice, while ensuring the two horizons continue to line up correctly. When you change a Cfg value, of course you must Save it. Then Reset the flight to see the effect of your change. It's a trial and error process. And will probably change for each different airplane.y value twists the pic to L or R and you shouldn't have to use it if you have angled the monitors as I described previously.z value adjusts the starting point of the various views. The views are specified as segments of a circle- each 45

[Guest sunbear]

jack- yes the different resolutions will cause this when you drag to fill the screen. You have two options-Leave the view size as is and simply drag the bottom edge up/down to align the horizons. Any empty space at the bottom could be profitably filled with 2D popup sub panels. Or-Somewhere in your FSX Config file- Camera Section, there should be a line the equivalent of this FS9 Panel Cfg line-VIEW_FORWARD_LEFT_DIR=x,y,zWith this you can manipulate the left image as needed.x value sets the height of the view. Increase/decrease it by small amounts to change the overall height to your choice, while ensuring the two horizons continue to line up correctly. When you change a Cfg value, of course you must Save it. Then Reset the flight to see the effect of your change. It's a trial and error process. And will probably change for each different airplane.y value twists the pic to L or R and you shouldn't have to use it if you have angled the monitors as I described previously.z value adjusts the starting point of the various views. The views are specified as segments of a circle- each 45

[january 19]

Thanks Alex for your detailed information. There is only one thing that really bothers me in FSX and that is the relative motion that is displayed when adding power on the ground or when in a turn in the air. I think this is something new that they added in FSX that is not present in Fs9. The forward view when accelerating gives one the impression that the horizon is sinking to replicate the movement in the cockpit at the time of acceleration or deceleration or in a turn. I don't think this was available in Fs9 as I have said and I think that this might be contributing to my alignment problems. Oh, one other thing, when I revert back to Fs9, I can't seem to get the view_forward_left to drag over to my left monitor even though I have everything set-up like I did in FSX!! Any ideas?Regards & thanks for the details once again.jack

Is the nose of the plane lifting a little on acceleration? - effectively the horizon drops a little? Or if the monitors are not set up as I described you can also get horizon "droop". See attached pic showing horizon sagging in the right mon. This was caused due to lack of desk space to correctly angle that (CRT) monitor to keep it square to my eyes. Now replaced with an LCD and angled correctly.If you can't drag a view, sounds like you haven't undocked it first.Also, once you have a flight set up the way you like it, Save it. Then start the next session with the saved flight- then moving it to the airport of your choice etc. Alex Reid

[Guest sunbear]

Thanks Alex. Is there a procedure to formally 'undock' a window or view? What I have done in the past on FSX was to hit the [ key then the 7 on the number pad, then hit the NumLock key to off then dragged the view over to my left monitor and it worked every time. This procedure does not work in Fs9 for me. What exactly is an 'undock' procedure?Regards,jack

[january 19]

Thanks Alex. Is there a procedure to formally 'undock' a window or view? What I have done in the past on FSX was to hit the [ key then the 7 on the number pad, then hit the NumLock key to off then dragged the view over to my left monitor and it worked every time. This procedure does not work in Fs9 for me. What exactly is an 'undock' procedure?Regards,jack

Place the mouse cursor on the new (mini) view you wish to drag to the other monitor. Right click to get a drop down menu where you click "Undock". You can now drag that view (or popup sub panel) to your other monitor for placing & resizing as you prefer. In FS9 you key Control + Num 7 to set and lock view Left Forward. Without Control being held while keying Num 7, the LF view will display but will disappear when 7 key is released. You must have Num Lock ON to lock the view.Alex Reid

[Guest sunbear]

Place the mouse cursor on the new (mini) view you wish to drag to the other monitor. Right click to get a drop down menu where you click "Undock". You can now drag that view (or popup sub panel) to your other monitor for placing & resizing as you prefer. In FS9 you key Control + Num 7 to set and lock view Left Forward. Without Control being held while keying Num 7, the LF view will display but will disappear when 7 key is released. You must have Num Lock ON to lock the view.Alex Reid

Alex,Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some of my questions about the multi-monitor setup procedures. You're a wealth of information.Regards,jack

[january 19]

Alex,Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some of my questions about the multi-monitor setup procedures. You're a wealth of information.Regards,jack

You are very welcome. Have you thought of a third monitor to produce triple views & a Field of View not too far off what a real pilot sees from the flightdeck?Alex Reid

[Guest sunbear]

You are very welcome. Have you thought of a third monitor to produce triple views & a Field of View not too far off what a real pilot sees from the flightdeck?Alex Reid

Yes I have Alex and I'm wondering if my present system/graphics card would support such an arrangement. My computer spec's are as follows: Q6600 with slight overclock to 2.67ghz, Asus P5Q3 motherboard, 4 gig of PC3-1800 ram, PNY 8800GT Graphics card, 250 gig H.D., 24" Dell, & a 21" Gateway monitor (@1650X1080) resolution. The Dell is running at 1950X1080 and don't know if this is a problem or not....I'll have to get another monitor to do it but don't know if I can with my current stats and conflicting resolutions on the monitors.Regards,jack

[january 19]

Yes I have Alex and I'm wondering if my present system/graphics card would support such an arrangement. My computer spec's are as follows: Q6600 with slight overclock to 2.67ghz, Asus P5Q3 motherboard, 4 gig of PC3-1800 ram, PNY 8800GT Graphics card, 250 gig H.D., 24" Dell, & a 21" Gateway monitor (@1650X1080) resolution. The Dell is running at 1950X1080 and don't know if this is a problem or not....I'll have to get another monitor to do it but don't know if I can with my current stats and conflicting resolutions on the monitors.Regards,jack

You would need a second graphics card that could utilize the same driver as your main GPU. Could be an older/cheaper card of the same family, from somebody's junk box. From what I've heard from other simmers, varying monitor resolutions can be coped with.---------------Did you know that there is a real Full Motion, Level D commercial simulator that uses 6 monitors for its Visual System? It is the Evans & Sutherland SP-1T with a Hydraulic six motion system. I believe there were a number of them in use by various airlines- QANTAS used one for certification of 737-300 crew.FS multi mon simmers are in good company!!!Alex Reid

[Guest sunbear]

You would need a second graphics card that could utilize the same driver as your main GPU. Could be an older/cheaper card of the same family, from somebody's junk box. From what I've heard from other simmers, varying monitor resolutions can be coped with.---------------Did you know that there is a real Full Motion, Level D commercial simulator that uses 6 monitors for its Visual System? It is the Evans & Sutherland SP-1T with a Hydraulic six motion system. I believe there were a number of them in use by various airlines- QANTAS used one for certification of 737-300 crew.FS multi mon simmers are in good company!!!Alex Reid

Once again, thanks for the info regarding the multi-monitor setup. I liked the info on the Level D also. I've got about 10 hours in a real 737-700 NG simulator and that was the reason that I purchased the PFC yoke & rudders. They have made all the differece in the world as far as the real feel of the aircraft. Thanks Alex for all your inputs.jack