Hi everyone,I have an odd problem undocking panels on the 737NGX. It does not happen with other aircraft that I use. I am running in windowed mode, not fullscreen. S/W is FSX on Win7 x64. High end system - no issue with system specs I'm certain.I can undock panels and use them in the normal way on either of my two displays _if_ I stay with having all views, main and undocked, on that one single display. If I try and run the main VC window on one display and move the undocked view or views to the other display they go black or freeze and show the same display they did when moved without updating (mostly, they just go black). The views I'm trying to undock are the default 737NGX panels like the PFD, ND, DUs, CDU etc... If I move the main display (the fsx window with the vc in it) that works fine on the other display when dragged across.Doing the exact same thing (undocking 2d views and moving them to another display) works fine with all other aircraft. No other settings changed. The 737NGX is the only non-common factor.I haven't tested that much yet, but I believe that they are more reliable when not resized. If I move them over in their default small size they seem to work, at least some of the time and at least for a while (possibly they work perfectly, I haven't tested enough yet to say), but if they are resized they stop working every time. Although I can't say for sure yet, it seems like if I move them then resize they go black and if I resize on the main display then move they freeze and keep displaying whatever data was shown when moved. Another odd thing is that if I resize then move so they freeze or move then resize so they black out, I can then move them back to the main display and they instantly start working normally again. The data is obviously there and working normally, there's just some sort of displaying problem when they are on a display other than the main one FSX is running on.Several times, while testing (over the course of only about an hour, so very regularly in fact) I had CTDs mentioning API.dll which I believe is extensively used by 2D panels, so it's likely this is not just the blank or frozen panels, but also the cause of the CTDs.I haven't used the NGX much yet and only noticed it today so I will be testing some more soon to see if I can make any further observations regarding the pattern, but I thought it best to find out first if anyone is familiar with this issue...Has anyone seen this before?Cheers

Can you post you systems specs and used monitor resolutions anyway?I had a lot of problems when using 7 monitors: when undocking a window and moving it to the lower right monitor, the sim crashed immediately. Never had any problem with FS9 and the legacy PMDG 737.I decided to get rid of 1 of the 7 monitors and didn't get that problem any more. I made 2 larger windows wit instruments for the captain side and centre instruments; works fine. I can move them and resize them: no problems.I did get a lot of CTD's though. After disabling my Eyefinity displaygroup setup and installing the old matrox again for the 3 main monitors, the sim was stable, no more CTD's (exept for 1 fiddeling in the FMS I beleive)Bert Van Bulck

Hi guys,there is a way to save the undock position over the monitors instead of position them each time?Regards,Francesco

Check your nvidia control panelthese whatthe physx processor is assigned to. If mine is set to anything but the first video card I get the black undocked panels.

I had this problem too. I have two different types of video cards (both nvidia). I looked in the FSX.cfg file, and noticed that there were several different listings of video cards (see the below example that I kinda remade from what I can remember) even though I physically have only two cards.[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+.0]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 210.1]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 210.0]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 210.2]Mode=1024x768x32I removed two of the entries for the GeForce 210 cards, and I stopped getting black screens on my undocked windows.Hope this helps!

Hi guys,there is a way to save the undock position over the monitors instead of position them each time?Regards,Francesco

On my computer, if you save a flight with the windows undocked, they should be in that position when you load the flight later.

I had this problem too. I have two different types of video cards (both nvidia). I looked in the FSX.cfg file, and noticed that there were several different listings of video cards (see the below example that I kinda remade from what I can remember) even though I physically have only two cards.[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+.0]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 210.1]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 210.0]Mode=1024x768x32[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 210.2]Mode=1024x768x32I removed two of the entries for the GeForce 210 cards, and I stopped getting black screens on my undocked windows.Hope this helps!On my computer, if you save a flight with the windows undocked, they should be in that position when you load the flight later.

Sorry, Is not for me this is why i've asked.... What could be the problem? Regards,Francesco

Hello everyoneThanks for the replies. I have tried changing what card is doing PhysX in the nVidia settings but it's still happening.Bert, the displays are 2 different stretch resolutions on two Matrox TH2Go boxes. One is a triple wide set of monitors, 3x1920x1080 for 5760x1080, these are what I use for my normal desktop. On the other TH2Go there are 2x1920x1080 projectors for 3840x1080, mostly these are switched off to save bulb life and just used when running apps like FSX. Both TH2Go boxes are fed from the same graphics card, a 580GTX. There is another 580GTX in the machine but it is unused when running FSX and SLI is disabled. As for system specs generally, it's an i7 2600k at 4.6GHz, 16GB RAM. Graphics cards are not overclocked, but in any case not suspected to be the problem since it works with other aircraft and in other applications.I use various different fsx.cfg files tailored for particular setups (monitors only, projectors only, both projectors and monitors etc.) using the Orbx FSXGo program, but the only fsx.cfg file we're concerned with here is the one that relates to the setup with both sets of displays active, the relevant bit of that config file is:[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.0]Mode=5760x1080x32Trilinear=1AntiAlias=0[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.1]Mode=3840x1080x32TriLinear=1AntiAlias=0Incidentally, I have also tried changing which display is seen by windows as my main display (the one with the start menu and taskbar on it) but that didn't make any difference.Thanks

Hello everyoneThanks for the replies. I have tried changing what card is doing PhysX in the nVidia settings but it's still happening.Bert, the displays are 2 different stretch resolutions on two Matrox TH2Go boxes. One is a triple wide set of monitors, 3x1920x1080 for 5760x1080, these are what I use for my normal desktop. On the other TH2Go there are 2x1920x1080 projectors for 3840x1080, mostly these are switched off to save bulb life and just used when running apps like FSX. Both TH2Go boxes are fed from the same graphics card, a 580GTX. There is another 580GTX in the machine but it is unused when running FSX and SLI is disabled. As for system specs generally, it's an i7 2600k at 4.6GHz, 16GB RAM. Graphics cards are not overclocked, but in any case not suspected to be the problem since it works with other aircraft and in other applications.I use various different fsx.cfg files tailored for particular setups (monitors only, projectors only, both projectors and monitors etc.) using the Orbx FSXGo program, but the only fsx.cfg file we're concerned with here is the one that relates to the setup with both sets of displays active, the relevant bit of that config file is:[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.0]Mode=5760x1080x32Trilinear=1AntiAlias=0[DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.1]Mode=3840x1080x32TriLinear=1AntiAlias=0Incidentally, I have also tried changing which display is seen by windows as my main display (the one with the start menu and taskbar on it) but that didn't make any difference.Thanks

I think you are using too much video memory: combination of Win7, FSX and PMDG did cause this problem for me too. Again, it worked fine with XP, FS9 and PMDG 737 legacy, not with the newer sutff.I don't think you will solve this unless you use less screen "pixels".Bert Van Bulck

Bert,Thanks, but I suspect it's not that, since I can undock panels with other fairly complex planes and gpu-z shows my vram usage in the 700-800mb range on a 1.5gb card. I am thinking about reinstalling the nvidia drivers as I wonder if that might be the cause.

Hello again.I have a solution. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before. I start a flight on the monitors, undock and resize the panels and position them on the monitors as required. I then and only then move the vc window on to the projectors and resize it, I can then fly with my undocked panels perfectly as long as I don't resize them subsequently.Thanks again

Finally I have cracked this incredibly annoying problem of black undocked panels when resized on second monitors tonight. Hopefully my solution works for someone else and can save them tearing their hair out. I read several threads on various forums where people had the same problem and had either not fixed it or had found another solution, so I guess the same symptoms can occur due to more than one cause, however this is definitely worth a try as after trying basically everything else possible I stumbled upon the following solution through a process of elimination.In fsx.cfg, set maximized=1 so that fsx starts in full screen. Then, after it loads a flight you can alt-enter to return to windowed and undock, move and resize panels as needed. After I've loaded a flight this way, I can even "end flight" on the menu, start a new flight which will start windowed (since exiting a flight windowed writes maximized=0 to the config file and further flights then start windowed) and it _still_ works, it seems it just has to be started maximized the first time. Whether this is FSX or the Nvidia drivers at fault I do not know, nor do I care now I finally have this fixed.If anyone else does this to fix it, bear in mind that unless you maximize fsx then exit or end a flight from that view, it will save maximized=0 to the fsx.cfg and the problem will come right back next time you start FSX. You either need to exit from fullscreen mode each time or have a configuration like mine where there are "master" fsx.cfg files which aren't written to and are used to generate the "actual" fsx.cfg each start (I used Orbx FSXGo which does this) so that you can set the option in the master cfg file so that it is re-set in the generated fsx.cfg every time FSX is started.I haven't tried whether or not having maximized=0 in the config but then maximizing and restoring back to a window before undocking anything works, but it might.

HiI also had this issue. and have been trying for about two days to resolve it.Just wanted to say a big Thank You for the post. A life saver.Many ThanksLeslie

Had the same problem - resizing the undocked windows on the second screen makes them go black.

I have no problem resizing the undocked windows on FSX main screen and THAN dragging them to the 2nd screen. Only thing I have to avoid - resizing them on the other monitor (with different resolution). If I did that - I had to restart FSX to use the undocked windows again.

But I found a WORKAROUND to get the undocked black instruments back alive by simply DRAGGING MAIN FSX window to the screen with the black instruments window. This revives the screen that went black - now I can rearrange my windows and continue my flight using my undocked instruments as intended.

 

Of course this works for full screen, too by just ALT+ENTER it into windowed mode, doing the above and re-ALT+ENTER into full screen.

 

Hope that works for you, too.

btw maximized = 1 means the screen number - not on or off!

F.e. on my system my main FSX screen is number 2 as shown in the resolution settings of windows. So my fsx.cfg shows maximised = 2 to run FSX maximised on my sceen number 2 wich is my main screen...