Greetings for the New Year, last few days I'm finishing setting up my PC for the upcoming NGX, since its not yet reported to be in Beta, I wanted to discuss a scenario:I've got a Netbook and a Desktop which I interconnect using either a network cable or WiFi, and as I would imagine I can use a software like MaxiVista, AirDisplay (for iPhone or iPad), or Zonescreen, to extend my Desktop displays onto these. Still the main computation is done on the Desktop.Now is it possible to have stuff on the PMDG NGX that requires a lot of additional computation like FMC and AFDS systems to be moved over to a networked computer that connects to the main one using FSUIPC. Also without any extension of Desktops or with undocked windows, Can the software which runs on Netbook show me the instruments like FMS, Moving Map etc. using the Netbook or Tablet processing rather than Desktop. I think it would be great since most people have more than one computer and they'd be able to maintain smooth frame rates on the processor intensive FSX. Also this can also be used to enable touchscreen input on FMS CDU for folks having tablets etcI'm plannning to use my netbook with FSUIPC, WideFS to run FreeTrack and some other utilities.With Regards,B h a s k a r - K r i s h n a

Greetings for the New Year, last few days I'm finishing setting up my PC for the upcoming NGX, since its not yet reported to be in Beta, I wanted to discuss a scenario:I've got a Netbook and a Desktop which I interconnect using either a network cable or WiFi, and as I would imagine I can use a software like MaxiVista, AirDisplay (for iPhone or iPad), or Zonescreen, to extend my Desktop displays onto these. Still the main computation is done on the Desktop.Now is it possible to have stuff on the PMDG NGX that requires a lot of additional computation like FMC and AFDS systems to be moved over to a networked computer that connects to the main one using FSUIPC. Also without any extension of Desktops or with undocked windows, Can the software which runs on Netbook show me the instruments like FMS, Moving Map etc. using the Netbook or Tablet processing rather than Desktop. I think it would be great since most people have more than one computer and they'd be able to maintain smooth frame rates on the processor intensive FSX. Also this can also be used to enable touchscreen input on FMS CDU for folks having tablets etcI'm plannning to use my netbook with FSUIPC, WideFS to run FreeTrack and some other utilities.With Regards,B h a s k a r - K r i s h n a - expanded cause I don't want my name in searches :)

I'm not an expert but I think that multiple computers for FS was maybe good in the past. Today with multithreaded CPU's I don't think you will gain alot of performance.Best Regards,Bert Van Bulck

If you dont want your name in searches put it in your sigHappy new year

I tried the AirDisplay with FSX for an interactive Ipad FMC. It sort of worked but it was very laggy, I guess it's not DirectX 3D accelerated and you must be in windowed mode. Instead, now, I link my Ipad to my netbook for Navigraph Charts which works very well. (eeerrr when they finally connect)Also, netbooks are low performance machines, you may be creating a bottleneck instead of adding performance. A fast juicy laptop or another desktop with a proper graphics cards would be better in theory. Practice, uuummmmm? not tried it.

Nothing like this is planned - offloading processing like that isn't as simple as it sounds. You guys will be pleasantly surprised by the performance I think, especially if you have a PC akin to what's in my signature or better. It's liquid smooth most of the time for me. A huge airport like LAX or JFK with tons of weather and 100% AI + maxed out sliders will kill FPS, but that's not the plane causing that, it's the sim itself slowing down from the CPU load - it'll happen with virtually any plane you try that with short of the default ultralight or something.

This kind of thing is in essence what software like Project Magenta does, and some other add-ons. The aerosoft simulator that was talked about looked at maybe going down this road of being able to scale a simulator across a network, so being able to split up visuals and internals as you suggest.Leveld also have mentioned before about such ideas, of having a networked cockpit, in essence making it so you could expand that not only over a home network but also onto another location!I think it will be some time before we really see this fully utilised in FS if at all, as it really needs to be at sim level rather than just addon level, so all dependenadnt on if MS continue to develop FS after the next version, or if Aerosoft, XPLANE, or some of the other opensource developers jump onto the idea. Although you never know may see some benefits in MS Flight, as i think there was some intention with the SDK and Simconnect in FSX, but like many things with FSX ACES werent really given the opportunity to take that further. (i think the ideas were there, not the support and money though)There are things now that can benefit from running over a network, which is what I do now. So things like Activesky i run on a second PC, my MCP hardware, and panel hardware run from second PC, I use things like TOPCAT, FSBUILD, on network PC and send data from them to FSX PC, airhauler on network PC, AES Remote on Network, and various other software...In fact sometimes in I have 3 PCS all running supporting my FS operation.

Real level D sims do work this way where separate banks of computers handle the aircraft systems, the visuals, the weather calculations etc but it's very specialized and the "OSes" they run (made by CAE, Thales, and a couple other companies I believe) are designed from the ground up to do this. It's a lot more than the average home user is going to be capable of buying too - one sim I know of uses 16 Radeon GPUs just for the visuals.

Thanks All for responses, what I am doing is to use my netbook 1.6GHz processor for running FreeTrack (which connects via Bluetooth to my WiiMote) and Instructor Station, and both these connect to my main desktop running FSX through FSUIPC using WiFi or Network cable (I've tested both work fine).Over this with all the above running, still my netbook is responsive enough to run an Office application side by side, with that much of leftover processing, if some software like may be a display which shows Progress Page Data, Legs Page Data and other data from NGX systems would be really nice. Also with systems that do not require REAL TIME sync with the main FSX aircraft, can actually run with a slight lag on the netbook (I don't think that would happen though) and still be acceptable like FMC CDU inputs, or software that shows aircraft systems status etc.Anyway :) all this not to mean any delay in the release though ...Best Regards,B h a s k a r - K r i s h n a

One think I was hoping for in the NGX for cockpit builders was being able to use a 2nd PC for the same visuals, not necessarily to split processing but just so we'd have multiple video out. On our current setup we have one computer with 2 graphics cards going out 2 for displays (3 LCDs and 1 projector) and undocking MD11 panels for the other screens. The more screens we enable the less performance we get, and we'd need even more then 4 outputs. Being able to connect 2xFSX with NGX and be in complete sync we could use a 2nd computer for another 2 outputs and not loose the performance from the first one since the 2nd would just be reprocessing the same thing. I my mind I was thinking that Shared cockpit (if no other way given and if eventually implemented) could be used for this exact thing to have a 2nd Slave and maybe even 3rd Slave computer for multiple video outputs but for the same pilot/cockpit. Any idea if this could be possible this way? Another solution would be to redraw the PFD and NDs and EICAS' with input from SDK but that way we'd loose a lot of the simulated functions.

While I'm reading this (very old) thread, may as well comment that I believe this kind of functionality is possible with Prepar3d. You can apparently run one copy with panel-only, and another copy that displays only visuals, using simconnect to communicate. The visuals-only computer just gets the position etc. from the panel-only one, so I wouldn't expect issues with using the NGX. At the moment, the monthly subscription gives 2 copies to useEDIT- Oh and the NGX seems fine in Prepar3d :) even runs smoother!