XP11 Multi screens

[himmelhorse 1,276]

Hello all,

I am in the midst of yet another attempt to fly XP11 with multiple screens. I actually have 6 working (which is great) but, they are all exactly the same and all respond to yoke input or scrolls in exactly the same way.

Can somebody show/tell/explain to me how to get different displays on each screen please.

Also bear in mind that this is probably the very first of many questions to follow.

Thanks in advance and Seasons Greetings

Regards

Tony Chilcott

[dvlourie 19]

Tony....couple of things to keep in mind:

1. How does XP run on a single monitor? FPS? Now adding two monitors then three?

Inside settings, you can control 3 separate monitor views by setting the offsets.

2. Be careful though, on a single monitor I get 80+ fps but drops to sometimes below 30 even 20 with 3 monitors and trying to spread the view across all three. You will have to turn down settings to get the results you might want and I don't like to fly below 30fps. 

 

BTW, I am running I7 7700K with 32GB ddr4 and gtx1070 and still have issues with 3 monitors.

[himmelhorse 1,276]

dvlourie,

Thanks for your response mate.

You are quite right with frame rates. I have not measured it but XP is telling me to move sliders LOL. I am really on a hiding to nothing here.  However, at the moment, that is not my problem.  I do not want to stretch 1 view over three screens. I am actually looking at different views each screen ie VC cockpit on the 60 inch main screen with instrument panels on three others and 2 outside left and right views (external cockpit). I have been into settings graphics and got 6 screens up but they are all showing just the VC cockpit., and I cannot see how to change an individual screen.  Also if I pan or use any keyboard stroke I get exactly the same response from ALL the screens.  I would be wanting to be able to click on an item like the landing lights on my top screen and not have an identical reaction on all screens. If you have a look at my Avatar you can see what I am doing with FS9 and this is what I would like to achieve with  XP11. I actually had a very short flight and it was very slow. I am not, however quite ready to fly yet as I have no add ons and am still looking around for a final configuration.  I am aware also that the more I add on to the platform the slower things are going to get. 

Also your comment about the incremental drops in FPS apply to all the sims I have, so please do not think I am singling out XP11.  In fact, I have to say that I am "stuck" in FS9 because it is the only platform where I can get above 30 FPS using 6 monitors. I get an incredible feeling of immersion in this configuration but...graphics and an incredibly large array of aircraft and sceneries are simply no longer available nor are they being updateds for this platform.

So, if you could just point out the way to get these different displays (and in very layman-like terms please) I would be very grateful.

Thank you in advance

Tony

[Silicus 850]

Russ Barlov explains it pretty good here:

Hope this helps!

Cheers.

[himmelhorse 1,276]

Silicus,

Great video and I thank you for it.  It helps somewhat.

However, as Russ says, this is for Triplehead to go which simply stretches a 180 degree view over three monitors.

The other part shows setting up three monitors individually and in a much more satisfactory view.  Again though, all 3 monitors, are 180 degrees seperated by bezels and ALL screens are, in this example, forward scenery. This is not changeable. What I want is a VC cockpit with forward scenery for the main display. The left and right display I want/need to be a 90 degree view left and right. but, I do not know (and the video does not show details) how to do this. That brings me back to the original question. The use of just three monitors on one computer though, would probably give me acceptable frame rates. (yet to be tested)

What did interest me greatly, though, was the fact that he mentioned networking another computer to run the other three screens which are obviously different and individual displays. I actually have a spare, albeit, ancient computer which just needs a Graphics card. Because the refresh demand on the instruments panels should be relatively low, I would imagine it would not require a powerful computer or a powerful GPU.

I would really like to pursue this aspect and find out how that is done.

Any further ideas??

Tony

[soaring_penguin 428]

Did you check the manual ?

http://www.x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/index.html#configuringamulti-monitorsimulator

I think it is explained in clear detail how to set up either config (both 3 screens connected to the same pc, and using another networked pc).

[Murmur 3,941]

What you can do is this:

.) Use the main forward VC views for the main display;

.) For the left and right displays, you have to change the "Wraparound (Rotation) Offsets". "Vertical rotation" and "Roll rotation" should probably remain to zero, while "Lateral rotation" should be set to "-90" and "90" for left and right displays respectively. At that point, you have to enable "flat (fractional) offsets" and experiment with the "Lateral fraction" and "Vertical fraction"offsets, and with the "Lateral field of view", until you have a view centered on the side windows.

.) For the overhead and pedestal, you can network the second computer (you'll need a decent GPU for it though) and do the same with the wraparound and flat offsets and the field of view, to center the 2 views on the overhead and pedestal.

.) Remember to set the number of objects and the reflection quality to minimum on the second computer to save frame rate, since you won't need to see external scenery on the overhead and pedestal views.

Keep in mind that during the course of the next year (approximately) X-Plane should go from OpenGL to Vulkan, yielding improved performance (you will need a modern, DX12 capable GPU for that, though).

 

[Murmur 3,941]

Here's what I got centering the left and right side windows views in the default B737:

 

The offsets I used are, for the left view:

Lateral rotation: -90

Lateral fractional: 0.90

Vertical fractional: 0.10

Field of view: 80 degrees

 

And for the right view:

Lateral rotation: 90

Field of view: 35 degrees

 

[Colonel X 1,428]

Boy your sim will crawl.

[Silicus 850]

Lengthy, but very detailed blog post about multi-monitor setup can be found here:

http://www.ontheglideslope.net/2016/12/14/how-i-configured-x-plane-screens-for-the-basement-sim/

I could not find it yesterday for my post, but it is worth a read.

Cheers.

[Murmur 3,941]

50 minutes ago, Colonel X said:

Boy your sim will crawl.

Well, it depends. He could use his second PC for 3 screens (overhead, fwd and aft pedestal) where he doesn't need external visuals, so he can set scenery complexity to the min for those. And for those screens the fps is less important, because the external scenery is not visible.

The 3 main screens (front, left, right) would probably be quite heavy performance-wise, but it depends on the resolution anyway. I presume his left/right monitors are not 4K, so maybe a very powerful GPU could handle all three (but he will have to compromise some settings).

And hopefully in less than a year Vulkan should be available. :-)

 

[himmelhorse 1,276]

Hello all,

Thank you all for your responses.

There is a huge amount of info here that will get me (probably) into more trouble. All very worthwhile and very much appreciated.

For everyones information, I DO, in fact, know that my sim "will crawl" I have already mentioned that I believe. However, for me, that is not really the point.

In the long term I know I will have to update at least my motherboard, CPU, Ram and probably GPU. This is a "given" All I am trying to achieve here is to get SET UP and know that I can do it whilst waiting for Vulcan. Even with the coming of Vulcan, I am pretty sure my system will still "crawl" but by then I can take further necessary steps to sort it out.

So, in reality, all of the information you have passed on is incredibly useful. I am also sure that my questions will not stop here, in that anything not really FS9 related is not entirely logical to my aged and feeble mind.

Also, guys and girls, please bear in mind that FSX, FSX-SE, P3D and even FSW I can marginally relate to. Most of my problems in that area are performance related (crawl) but using a single screen, even with my ancient system  it can "fly"  and do so with very good FPS. XPlane 11 to me is a very, very different system, to the extent that I was even totally unaware that there is a manual. Had I known that, my first question would probably have been "where do I find it" 

Thanks again to you all

Cheers

Tony