Multi-monitor support - how to achieve happiness

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

I've seen an awful lot of people complaining about the lack of multi-monitor support in FS2004 and appearing (to me) to be making their own lives totally miserable as a result.Well chaps, I have the solution for you. Switch to windowed mode and all the panels can be docked, the flight saved and then reloaded in their correct places when you reload the flight.You can get rid of the menu bar by right-clicking on the view window and choosing the "Hide Menu" option. Then you can right-click the Taskbar, choose Properties and select "Auto-hide the Taskbar".All that's left is the windows title bar and by changing Windows settings it can be made quite narrow. The title bar is a small price to pay for total satisfaction - surely?It works for me - I hope it can for you.

[Guest ozhero]

Ray,I would like to do this but for an annoying problem in Windowed mode.When running the default GPS or even the new updated Reality XP GPS on a 2nd monitor when in windowed mode I a get a slight stutter approx every 5 seconds. I have tried countless different settings to get rid of it but to no avail.It does not happen in full screen mode.I am running WindowsXP SP1 and have disabled HT as I have seen elsewhere it caused problems in FS2004.If you can solve this one I would take your suggestion!

[Noel 4,487]

Tell me, can I expect the same or very similar performance, sending my main display to my Sony CRT at 1600x, and also send to a 15" screen as well, as in an LCD? I have the Radeon 9700 Pro as you can see . . .Noel

[Guest fleabag]

I have the same studder problem, with Im sure countless others...

[JSACKS 0]

Ray:Thanks for posting a workaround. I've tried some of it already but nothing quite compares with full screen mode where everything is sharper, clearer, and more fluid. I feel, as I believe many others around here do, that we've been sold a bill of goods. Frankly I'm getting tired of workarounds for almost everything in this version of the sim. FS2004 is really stunning, but alas it seems on a single screen only and with utterly massive processing and video card h.p. to run it really well. I'm sorry but after the endless joy and satisfaction of FS2002 on two or three monitors, FS2004 really is quite a let-down and an annoyance as well as a waste of time tweaking. And we're not looking to make ourselves miserable deliberately; it feels suspiciously like an MS con.Cheers!JS

[jagabom 21]

Got to agree. You would thing in this day and age that you should not have to do all this to get a program running. Their operating systems work better then this. You should never have to look at the title bar if you don't want to. ADVERTISING is all that is. This may be the first FS that I don't buy. Even I feel bad about that.JimCYWG.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

Noel,I've compared frame rates on my system in both windowed and full-screen modes and there's no difference. So yes, you should get the same.I'm not quite sure what you're sending to the second monitor. I'm referring to the normal panel view with nothing undocked.Cheers,

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

JS,<<...but nothing quite compares with full screen mode where everything is sharper, clearer, and more fluid.>>Sharper, clearer, more fluid? If you run at the same resolution how is that possible? You don't say what res you run at but every resolution in full-screen mode is available in windowed mode. As for "more fluid" I'm baffled. Are you saying full-screen mode uses less resources thus appearing "more fluid"?Perhaps you could post details of which aircraft/panel you are using and what it is you want undocked on the second screen.Cheers,

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

Hi Paul,I tried a flight from Manchester over to Liverpool with the Baron58 and couldn't reproduce the stutter problem. I didn't have a flight plan loaded so that could be an issue perhaps. Does it happen with and without a flight plan?My frame rates were identical in full-screen and windowed modes although I did get a 3-4fps hit with the default GPS open.Without knowing something about your system it's impossible to suggest what you can do. Here's my details...Athlon 2000XP, Ti4600 128Mb running Omega 1.1.82 drivers at 1280*960*32 (primary), 1440*1080*32 (secondary) on two CRT monitors and 1Gb PC2100 RAM.Just about all the sliders are to the right in FS2004 settings but that is far too unscientific to be of help. Having HT suggests you have a fast Pentium 4 processor humbling my Athlon2000.Sorry I can't be of much help.Cheers,

[JSACKS 0]

Ray:Yes, yes, and yes. FULL SCREEN is fantastically better than windows mode. I run a DELL P4 2.53 Ghz, 1024RDRAM, and a TI4600, nVidia 45.23 drivers. I have two principal monitors, a TRINITRON 21", and a DELL 19" LCD. The 21" is the primary monitor for FS2004. With FS2002, I ran FSNavigator + pedestal, FMC, radios, etc. on the 19" DELL for a long time with no trouble at all. And all in FULL SCREEN. I can no longer do this. (I was thinking about getting another video card or possibly the Parhelia to rope in my third 19" TRINI for FS2004, but what's the point right now?)With FS2004, I'd like to least undock all the stuff I used to undock from FS2002 in full screen mode. But I can't. I can undock anything in Windows mode and stick it on monitor 2, but the picture quality is like FS95. It is full of jaggies and it looks like an old fashioned sim. But when I go to full screen on the 21" however, the picture is sensational in 1600x1200x32 @85 Hz. It is almost as sharp as an FSAA picture running at 1280x1024x32 (which I ran for FS2002). So, yeah, in full screen mode, FS2004 is nicer, sharper, and it runs smoother. I think the frames are slightly higher in full screen but I believe that MS would support this observation.I just don't know why MS re-engineered things in this manner. I mean nothing in my P4 has changed between FS2002 and FS2004 except for the updated nVidia drivers which are outstanding and stable. Oh, yeah, and I upgraded from DirectX 8.1 to DirectX9.0b. If I undock in Windows mode and then go to FULL SCREEN, the secondary monitors blanks and all undocked windows fly back to the primary monitor except for the GPS which remains sitting there looking stupid, doing nothing, immovable and unresizable. Actually, at this stage, before I chuck in FS2004 for the time being, I am wondering if I can simply cut and paste my FS2004 default scenery and scenery textures and clouds and shove 'em into FS2004. That might keep me happy if it works!!JS

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

JS,<>This baffles me. What is the picture like in Windowed mode at 1600*1200*32?Are you telling me that you get "jaggies" at 1600*1200*32 in windowed mode and not in full-screen mode at the same resolution? I cannot understand the logic of that statement. It sounds like you have something else controlling AA in f/s mode that doesn't work in Windowed mode.Cheers,

[JSACKS 0]

Ray:In Windows mode at 1600x1200 etc, the pic is rather shabby and jaggy. Why? I dunno. I shall research further and report back....JS

[JSACKS 0]

Ray:OK, just checked again. The windows mode pic is "OK" (a grade B to B +) but not as good as full screen (grade A-). It is slightly jaggy from no FSAA. In full screen, the pic is very sharp indeed and there seems to be minimal and slightly less "swimming" of some scenery textures as well. I guess if forced to, I can live with Windows mode pic although in some spot views, it really does look pretty substandard (grade C).Oi (sigh!), the things we do for FS.......!JS

[Guest wkzzo]

The reason it looks bad in windows mode is because FS switches to your desktop resolution in windowed mode. Run your desktop same as fs and it will look better.Multi- monitor mode , I have no problem going to windowed and undocking then switching back to full screen, but on some ocassions when hitting the ALT key to bring up the menu in full screen mode with undocked panels on the second monitor the screen will freeze. This does not happen if I close the undocked windows.This never happened in fs2002 it was so seemless and trouble free .It is now a pain in the neck and cumbersome, I don't call this an advancement from fs2002, Quite simply its a bug that ms missed. There is something causing strange instability with the menu system with undocked panels.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

Hi JS,Do you honestly need AA at 1600*1200? Isn't that resolution high enough to remove all the "jaggies"? In any case AA will kill performance especially at that high resolution.I'm running at 1280*960 on a 19" CRT and can happily live with no AA. I suppose it's a subjective thing. At least if you can live with the image in windowed mode you can undock panels to your heart's content :-)<>Tell me about it! :-(Cheers,