Why so many FSX.cfg [Display Device ....] entries?

[JoTayhen 5]

I'm hoping to get someone to help me understand why I have so many [DISPLAY.DEVICE.NVIDIA.GEFORCE ....] entries in my FSX.cfg file. First, a little information.I have two graphics cards installed, a GTX 580 and a GTX 240. The GTX 580 is designated as the primary card. The GTX 240 drives a fourth monitor only. Back in March, 2011 I uploaded my FSX.cfg file to Bojote's Tweaking Service and received an amended file in return which I installed and it works fine. I notice that there are a total of 11 display device entries in that file. The cards referenced in those entries are: (in the order they appear in the FSX.cfg file) GTX 240.3 580.0.0 580.0 240.0 240.1.0 240.1 240.1.1 580.1 580.0.1 240.2 580.2 What is the significance of the numbers after the periods? Why would the GTX 240 be involved at all in the file except to drive the fourth monitor? Are any of these entries redundant? Maybe I need to amend some of these entries to reflect the GTX 580 rather than the GTX 240? I suspect one would need to examine my FSX.cfg file in its entirety to make sense of this issue. If there is a place I can be directed to learn about the ins & outs so to speak of the FSX.cfg file, I would be grateful for the direction to that location. Thanks! John

[Bert Pieke 3,454]

Start by renaming your fsx.cfg file and let FSX generate a new one. That will show you what is required and what is redundant.

[JoTayhen 5]

Thanks Bert - What about the different cards listed? And the different variations of each card? If the 580 is picked as the primary card why would FSX look to the second card at all? John

[Illegitimi non carborundum 4]

JohnThey represent the video cards that were installed on your system and the different driver uploads/installations that you have completed, so you must have had a GTX240 before your 580? I can't remember what 580.0, 580.1 or 580.2 etc etc means!! The problem in having multiple entries which may be different in terms of what you chose in FSX eg AA or AF and the config file may pick up the 'wrong' one and may lead to some graphical anomalies - However, this has never been conclusively proved. As BP says it is best to start with a clean cfg file to avoid video card confusion, I clean out any previous entries in the cfg file to my video card after each driver install, the bottomost entry is usually the latest - but not always - hence rebuilding the cfg. Bearing in mind when you rebuild the cfg file you do lose all of your "tweaks" and "trusted" components such as gauges, etc. Hence that is why I remove only the graphics card entries if you know which refers to your latest update.RegardsPeterH

[Odaat 0]

I just ran into this yesterday. I deleted all graphics card entries from the config file and let FSX put the one I use back in. Worked fine without losing anything else. I always assumed .0 and .1 were the monitors. Might be wrong on that.

[JoTayhen 5]

Thanks for the information fellas. I'm going to rename my present cfg file and allow FSX to rebuild it. Then, I will compare the graphics card entries. I presently have both the 240 and the 580 installed, PeterH. I have elected the 580 as the primary card and the 240 simply drives the fourth monitor. As long as I have saved the original cfg file I could remove and/or change the graphics card entries in the newly built file just to see what happens. If all else fails, I could then bring the original cfg file back on-line by changing its name again and I would be back to square one. I'll let you know. Thanks again. John

[cianpars 102]

FYI, the designation 0 and 1 usually represents standard mode and DX10 mode for the particular card. IAN

[JoTayhen 5]

Thanks IAN - I just cleaned out my FSX.cfg file leaving only one DISPLAY entry (labeled: DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.0). I then turned all four monitors on (three wide screens directly driven by the 580 and one regular driven by the 240) and did some touch -n-gos at Key West Int'l. I then shut down FSX and looked at the cfg file. Lo and behold there were additional DISPLAY entries at the bottom of the file. They were: [DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.1]Mode=1920x1080x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GT 240.2]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GT 240.3]Mode=1280x1024x32 I run the three wide screen monitors all at 1920x1080x32 and the one regular monitor which is connected to the 240 at 1280x1024x32. Do you think the numbers that appear after the period actually refer to the monitors? John