NOTE: This post has been moved from the "Tips and Tricks" forum to the Hardware forum where it belongs...Hello,I'm using 2 screens in my sim, one displaying the front view and one is situated on my left displaying the left view.I was wondering what would be the best option to set this up. For the moment, my 2 screens are connected to 2 dvi outputs of my GTX560. I've set up windows to display a big horizontal desktop over the 2 screens. My fs2004 is running in full screen and I have 2 views open : a front view dragged on my 1st screen and a left view dragged on my 2nd screen. With this left screen I'm losing +- 20 frames... Is there another way to set this up having better performance ? I was thinking of a dualhead2go. Is there any performance difference when I run a 2720x768 screen out of 1 dvi output or the same desktop coming out of my 2 dvi outputs (what I'm doing now) ?Any other way to set this up in fs ?Thank you,Maxime.

Edited December 12, 201114 yr by n4gix
Wrong forum for question!

Maxime- When you display multiple views, your computer is having to work harder- so a loss in frame rate is normal. My system frame rate drops about 30% with 2 views and 50% with triple views.You can adjust the left view angle to compensate for the views being separated by the monitor bezels. When you do this, your brain is fooled into seeing only one very wide view.Since your 'puter has only one CPU, only one view can be updating at any moment- the other half of the image is frozen- which, when you think about it, is perfection!!As long as displayed frame rate remains above 16 or so, the whole thing will seem as smooth as the rate for a single monitor! Magic!!But you have to adjust the outer view angle accurately to shift it exactly the width of the pair of bezels. This is done in Panel Config for FS9.It is the same principle as in your car- there is always a slice of scenery hidden behind the windshield post- the driver side window view is NOT contiguous with the windshield view forward.For details on doing this, search this forum for "Multi Monitors". Lots written on this subject a couple of years ago.(And I would be willing to bet that you will then start planning to add a third monitor/view!)AR

Hello January, could I ask you to go in more details about your proposed configuration of two or more screens?I'm specifically referring to the 'only one view can be updating at any moment' bit.Whenever I enable a 2nd view on my screen the frame drops and it does not look smooth at all even if close to 16fps.Unless this is only valid for FS9? I'm using FSX.And what would need to be changed in panel.cfg to shift the head point left/right? I googled it but did not find any straight answer.Thanks for your time

Hello January, could I ask you to go in more details about your proposed configuration of two or more screens?I'm specifically referring to the 'only one view can be updating at any moment' bit.Whenever I enable a 2nd view on my screen the frame drops and it does not look smooth at all even if close to 16fps.Unless this is only valid for FS9? I'm using FSX.And what would need to be changed in panel.cfg to shift the head point left/right? I googled it but did not find any straight answer.Thanks for your time--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use the AVSIM search system to look for Multi Monitors in the Hardware/Monitors,Video cards forum. Go back at least a couple of years- the info you need is there.---------------------Your computer has only one CPU- therefore only one VIEW can be recomputed at any moment. The other view then is stationary at that same moment. The trick is to have the views so close together that your brain sees the combined scene as just ONE image.But because of monitor frames or bezels, it is impossible to put them close enough to fool the brain into thinking there is only one, very wide image.But if one view is recalibrated to a slightly different angle, the eye/brain then sees what seems to be just one very wide view with a narrow slice hidden behind the bezels. And 1/2 of that wide view is always frozen while the other half updates.If you use three monitors/views, then 2/3 of the whole thing is always frozen or appears to be a still picture.If all 2 or3 views are updated faster than your optical retention (usually agreed as about 16 FPS), then the whole thing seems smooth and appears as one big picture.The view angle adjustment is done in Panel Cfg in FS9 and in Camera for FSX. While I use FS9, I saw a similar adjustment done in FSX a few years ago. A pair of bezels will probably occupy about 6º of view so the outer view needs to be shifted by approx that amount. It is a custom calc for the actual monitors you use.To achieve this result you need to be able to get a steady 30-40 FPS with just one view active. Turn down FS settings if necessary to achieve that frame rate.AR

Thanks for the explanation ;-)I searched the forums, saw some topics but I can't find out how what you explain can be set up. This is my configuration :This is not 1 view stretched over 2 screens... That makes the difficulty of setting it up.Thank you,Maxime.

Maxime- nice setup you have. I did not realize your views were not adjacent- so shifting the view angle is not relevant to your very nice setup.I was referring to multiple adjacent views where shifting the outer view angles will take into account the bezel separation of views. FS default settings of view angles assumes the views touch each other- and ignores the fact that adjacent views have bezels in between. (Unless you happen to have monitors without bezels OR have a big enough screen to be able to simultaneously display multiple views- which CAN be done!)The attached pic shows the effect of the left view beiing shifted about 6º. It then makes the white painted runway line appear continuous. Without the angular shift, there would be a horizontal jog in the painted line and one's brain would say "something is wrong here; these are different views- not just a very wide single picture".AR

Hello,Thank you ;-) Indeed the 2 screens are not togheter, I cannot stretch one view over 2 screens. That's the problem, I have to run 2 views which makes the big performance hit...I see on your picture you are running window mode with the left view dragged to your left screen ?Maxime.

Hello,Thank you ;-) Indeed the 2 screens are not togheter, I cannot stretch one view over 2 screens. That's the problem, I have to run 2 views which makes the big performance hit...I see on your picture you are running window mode with the left view dragged to your left screen ?Maxime.

Yes- I ran triple views on 3 monitors- the outer views adjusted for bezel separation so that it appears to one's brain that it is a single image. The frame rate hit was about 50% but by adjusting FS9 settings to get single monitor 30-40 FPS, the whole thing ran at about 15-20 FPS.Since 2/3 of the whole image is always frozen (only one CPU means only one view is being updated at any moment) - the whole thing seems as smooth as a single view at 30+ !!Amazingly it was perfectly smooth right down to about 7 FPS although nearby objects such as blue runway lights flashing by the wingtips would "chatter". It was an odd sensation to fly and land smoothly when traditional experience said the low Frames made it impossble!Because you are using non contiguous views this bit of visual frame rate magic won't apply, I think you will have to live with your separate views running at a frame rate about 66% of a single monitor.The attached pic shows the whole scene- running smoothly on my ancient AMD 1.8 GHz 'puter.ARDreamFleet Baron- Snowy day at CYYJ. Two CRTs & one LCD. The outer CRT was replaced later and accordingly the gap between views was reduced. There was no problem in matching different monitors- just a bit of colour balancing made the different types and makes of monitor quite indistinguishable.Note that the starboard engine seems to twist inward- this is due to lack of space preventing the outer CRT to be angled sufficiently toward me so as to be square to my eyes. A physically smaller LCD cured this deficiency and balanced nicely with the leftmost LCD.

Hello,Thank you for the information ;-) I've been thinking today what to do with my visuals and came to an idea. I'll be staying with 1 screen, as there is no other solution than opening 2 views in fs and to have bad performance unfortunately.And instead of switching to a beamer I'm thinking of going for a big 51" screen instead of my 32" now. For example this one :http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/PN51D450A2DXZAThis would be perfect for a nice forward view covering my whole front window for better immersion (no bezels) and I don't have the problems of a beamer with this (window beside --> lights problem, good hd view with a screen, no lamp to replace, etc).Maxime.

Hello,Thank you for the information ;-) I've been thinking today what to do with my visuals and came to an idea. I'll be staying with 1 screen, as there is no other solution than opening 2 views in fs and to have bad performance unfortunately.And instead of switching to a beamer I'm thinking of going for a big 51" screen instead of my 32" now. For example this one :http://www.samsung.c.../PN51D450A2DXZAThis would be perfect for a nice forward view covering my whole front window for better immersion (no bezels) and I don't have the problems of a beamer with this (window beside --> lights problem, good hd view with a screen, no lamp to replace, etc).Maxime.

Maxime - With a big screen as you propose, you could display triple views very nicely. Here is an experiment I did years ago for just such a scheme. Here there are triple views on a SINGLE monitor for a 135º FOV. Plus the Lower EICAS AND SW Panel is displayed along with the CDU.This experiment was on an 18"CRT so everything was too small to be practical but it should work just fine on a big 51" display. The black rectangles are the unused outer monitors in this experiment.The second pic shows shows the PMDG 747 aloft near CYVR AND just how much could be packed onto a big display- including the First Officer panel! (That is the reason for the dual windscreen posts.) Amazingly that second pic flew very well on my ancient 1.8 Ghz system.AR

Hello,Very cool to be able to show that much on one screen. Here in my sim I just need the pilot viewpoint so I'll be running one front view without cockpit on the whole screen --> nice pilot view when sitting in the sim and amazing performance...Thank you,Maxime.

Maxime- you would be surprised at how much your sim flyimg skills improve for approaches and landings when you have peripheral vision that's similar to real life. There is a reason that the FAA will pull your Pilot's Licence if your visual Field of View is as narrow as Flight Sim View Forward.AR

The side views also add a lot of immersion for me but the performance is just so far out I can't make myself do it how I want it to. When I run eyefinity I can run 6000x1080 and get acceptable performance. The big problem is the 'stretching'/fisheye of the side views. I bring up new views and that fixes the strewtching, the view then is great but at a huge performance cost. I have tried it on prepar3d in case the graphics were an improvement but it's not. If FSX was my only sim I would use a couple spare pc's that are well up to the job of running the other views but as I run other software that is too inconvenient. So close..

Jason- a vital point when displaying multiple Views: NEVER allow a View on one monitor to overlap onto an adjacent monitor- even by the tiniest sliver. The result is a catastrophic drop in Frame Rate. However panels and gauge popups CAN be overlapped without penalty.AR

Hi January,How did you set up the one large monitor with three views? I have just bough a 40" Samsung TV to do just that and would like to know how to do that. Or alternatively use the TV for the outside views (3 screens) and the 19" monitor for the MIP. I am using FS9 and the PMDG 737, 747, and Level d 767ThanksRob