More FSX brainstorming

[FlyingsCool 3]

Plus I don't think the different view/aspect ratio is an issue either. The VC view is different from one machine to another depending on aspect ratio.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com/FC_StartJava.html] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[Djang0 1]

>That's an ocean texture problemReally... that would explain the "shadows" on the ocean in cloudless skies at night too!http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/147175.jpg>... cloud shadows aren't>in FS2004.Yeah it looks like your right... I must have also been confusing some kind if land texture problem (similar to the above) with shadows too as I have also seen what looked like rectilinear shaped dark patches on land!

[n4gix 4,947]

>So is it possible to display the main background and gauges>so that some are not on the screen?Yes, but on screen or not, .gau files will still get loaded and add to the sim's overhead. XML gauges simply won't display at all, if even 1 pixel is "off screen."> My point is, I think with smart panel design, if you can>control what portion of the whole panel is shown depending on>the aspect ratio of the screen (which I think you can do>today, but maybe not, it's been a long time since I did any>panel design), you could design flexible panels that can be>easily configured for any aspect ratio by changing a variable>or two and having a portion of the panel hidden on the lower>aspect ratio screens, compensating by having windows with the>missing gauges as above. Unfortunately, it just isn't that simple. Every gauge listed in a panel.cfg for a "wide-screen" format would need to have its size declarations changed to "de-ovalize" it... In short, you would still need two complete panel.cfg files: one for 4:3 "normal" display, and another for wide-screen......making it more complex, how wide IS the user's wide-screen monitor?

[FlyingsCool 3]

Remember, my original comment was framed as an ENHANCEMENT to the current version. The point of the enhancement is to BREAK the link to the ratio of the screen that is currently hard coded, breaking the need for a new panel.cfg.Theoretically, if only a portion of the panel is displayed, and the portion of the panel displayed corresponds to the ratio of the screen, there should be no ovalization of the gauges, and therefore no need to have to have multiple panel .cfgs for multiple ratios.Imagine a picture, and you are looking at that picture through a window smaller than the picture. The window is your screen. You draw a panel, and then fit the window to the best portion of the panel that you can view through the window. The question becomes, how do you define where to place the window in relation to the picture (panel). But I'm sure an answer can be found for this programmatically.> ...making it more complex, how wide IS the user's wide-screen monitor?You should be able to access the screen ratio information from the system. Perhaps the ratio can be set automatically for FS, but allow the user to control it, too. Are you asking something else? Are you asking, "How wide to make the picture?", who knows? but you can make a good guess looking at hardware available. And then make a choice. If the programming is open enough, it shouldn't matter. Plus, I can think of lots of ways of implementing this. >Yes, but on screen or not, .gau files will still get loaded and add to the sim's overhead.No matter what you do, somebody's going to be penalized. If you have gauges that can be seen with widescreen but not with "small" screen, the small screen people are penalized by having to pay for performance they can't see. If panels are designed for small screen then widescreen users are penalized because their panels look squished or they have a bunch of unused real estate.The idea is that the panels are designed for use with small screen, and that the people with widescreen get extra candy without having to suffer ovalization. The gauges that would be offscreen for small screen users would be in panels the small screen user can pop up, and are most likely not primary gauges, and there probably won't be a lot of them, so if the panel designer is smart, shouldn't hit performance too bad. And maybe FS could be designed to turn gauges that aren't being used off so they don't affect performance.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com/FC_StartJava.html] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[n4gix 4,947]

Thomas,At the moment, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few..." ;)When and if wide-screens become the majority, rather than the minority, then there might be greater impetus to implement this idea (which does have merit, btw!).Also, as a panel designer/gauge programmer and modeler, I'd have to have a wide-screen available for my own use before I could even think of designing panels to work properly... I don't earn enough (yet) to afford such luxuries... ;)I've not yet recoverd from investing in Max8, not to mention Photoshop 8... :-lol

[FlyingsCool 3]

Nah, you won't need a widescreen to develop for it. If the user is able to control the aspect ratio of what is displayed, then just choose the widest aspect available. The top and bottom will have black stripes, and the gauges will be somewhat smaller, but you will be able to develop for it.In my experience, pretty much every computer being sold today comes with a widescreen display. We just bought 2 Dells for Christmas, and they both came with 1600 x 1050 displays for $1600 I think, 2.8 GHz computers for the kids.I've been getting laptops with 1920 x 1200 displays for 2 years now. High end, but not near top of the line.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com/FC_StartJava.html] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[n4gix 4,947]

>I've been getting laptops with 1920 x 1200 displays for 2>years now. High end, but not near top of the line.You don't try to live on $12k/year do you? I'm disabled enough to have to work from home, but not so much that I can qualify for disability from Social Security...

[cat 2]

Wow! Xmas in April! Lucky kids! Hope they repay youby doing the dishes!!!Peter Sydney Australia

[FlyingsCool 3]

Bill,I'm sorry, I did not mean to imply that you should purchase a widescreen monitor, as noted by my first paragraph. The second paragraph was in response to your comment "The needs of the many vs. the few". I think it is very important that MS support the many widescreen monitors out there, and they are increasing in number. The panels look very silly when the gauges are squished.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com/FC_StartJava.html] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[Djang0 1]

>Perhaps you already know this, and you prefer cycling through>the views, but just resetting the zoom of the current view by>hitting backspace should give you back zoom control when it>"freezes"Thanks for youe tip Thomas, but I tried that in several different aircraft and it didn't work. :-( Could it be something to do with my FS settings, as resetting the zoom works for you?>In my experience, pretty much every computer being sold today comes>with a widescreen display.:-hmmm There goes another reason to feel sorry for myself.:-violin

[Guest Traffic]

I have to say that although there are more 4:3 displays on PCs right now, it certainly won't be the case in a little while.Widescreen has been slow in coming to be sure, but I can tell you whether we like it or not its here. Almost every single notebook on the planet is widescreen as standard. Try finding one that isn't.As far as desktops go, locally I've witnessed the trend from last year where not a single widescreen was displayed to now where almost one in five being sold is a 16by9.And you should just see the general public's demand for it, I can tell you its growing by the second. The push for multi tasking the PC for DVD viewing/editing/authoring as well as TV programming/watching and all the High Def talk is just stirring demand up, way up.Every game is now natively supporting 16by9 and console-media has gone the same way.In a year or two from now we won't be having this discussion, why? Because widescreen will be the standard.Knowing flight sim

[Guest JSPuonti]

To avoid confusion, my understanding is that the most common widescreen aspect ratio in computer monitors is actually 16:10, while LCD TVs tend to go for 16:9. Just thought I should mention this in case someone's looking to buy a widescreen monitor and keeps on running into "16:10 aspect ratio" instead of 16:9.

[FlyingsCool 3]

Interesting. On my system, "Set zoom to 1x" is set to Backspace, and "Reset Eyepoint" is set to Space. Maybe check your key assignments?Are you using Active Camera or something else which modifies viewing?As far as I know, I don't have anything loaded which modifies the view like that program. But I don't think that made any difference. I do have FSUIPC loaded, maybe this does something?Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com/FC_StartJava.html] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[Djang0 1]

I'm using the free FSUIPC version and don't have active camera. Just to be clear... when the sim is behaving normly then I also press the space bar to (set zoom=1X) = (reset eyepoint). But occasionaly the zoom freezes at whatever it was set to. I'm pretty sure I had the same behaviour with FS2002 as well.I tried using the freeware F1View utility (http://www.flight1.com/view.asp?page=library). It seemed that using my mouse wheel with F1View unfroze the zoom when it stuck but the freezing still occured.