Never ever want to see .30 zoom again. But how?

[spinoza 48]

It's a mystery to me why the default zoom is .30 in wide-angle mode in P3D v4.5.  That seems like a crazy zoom value to me. Who uses .30 anyway and for what??

So how do I change my default zoom to .60 in wide-angle view mode and forever avoid using .30 zoom? Thank you.

[Luis Hernandez 570]

Edit the settings for Virtual Cockpit in your cameras.cfg file. It's in the same folder as prepar3d.cfg.

There is a line that should say InitialZoom=0.30 or something like that. This is what you want to edit. Let us know if this works.

[avusm575 3]

4 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Edit the settings for Virtual Cockpit in your cameras.cfg file. It's in the same folder as prepar3d.cfg.

There is a line that should say InitialZoom=0.3

That's the trick I've used for years. My preferred zoom is 0.7. To get it to work in VC, I have created a shortcut / key assignment in P3D for "View (set to default -1x). After P3D starts up in VC, I press the key and I immediately get zoom 0.7. Then it stays like that until I restart P3D and I have to press the key again.

[spinoza 48]

On 1/23/2024 at 8:05 AM, Luis Hernandez said:

Edit the settings for Virtual Cockpit in your cameras.cfg file. It's in the same folder as prepar3d.cfg.

There is a line that should say InitialZoom=0.30 or something like that. This is what you want to edit. Let us know if this works.

How is that setting different from another advise I've been given (which doesn't seem to work):
C:\Users\**YOUR USERNAME***\AppData\Local\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D vx\Prepar3D_Default.fxml

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

Some years ago a clever chap posted the formula for determining the ideal magnification for your display. It’s based on the format, not size.

So, for example, a 16:9 display would be calculated as follows.

9 / 16 = 0.56.

So set your magnification to that for the most natural look. Easily done with ChasePlane.

For an ultra wide display such as 21:9 it would be 0.43.

Try it, it works great for me and all my aircraft.

[spilok 1,136]

47 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Some years ago a clever chap posted the formula for determining the ideal magnification for your display. It’s based on the format, not size.

So, for example, a 16:9 display would be calculated as follows.

9 / 16 = 0.56.

So set your magnification to that for the most natural look. Easily done with ChasePlane.

For an ultra wide display such as 21:9 it would be 0.43.

Try it, it works great for me and all my aircraft.

I use .60! Ray is right about .56 and I used to change my views constantly with different planes to get to .56.   However, it's much easier for me to just use the - key on the keyboard and with a few quick hits get to .60 instead of shift minus to get to go down .4.  I also use .60 for all my wing views as well.  It seems pretty realistic to me. There is not a hugely perceptible difference from .56 to .60 in my opinion. .56 though, is the most realistic viewpoint.

 

 

Edited January 24 by spilok

[Luis Hernandez 570]

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Some years ago a clever chap posted the formula for determining the ideal magnification for your display. It’s based on the format, not size.

So, for example, a 16:9 display would be calculated as follows.

9 / 16 = 0.56

Is that with Wide-view Aspect Ratio enabled or disabled, Ray? I understand this makes a difference. I still use this zoom factor in FS9 (with 16:9 laptop displays), which behaves as if I had Wide-view Aspect Ratio disabled.

[spinoza 48]

How do I add comments or comment-out a line in the cameras.cfg line?

@Luis Hernandez There's a bunch of line entries for "InitialZoom=0.30 in the C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\cameras.cfg file. Do I change them all to .60?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,964]

7 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Is that with Wide-view Aspect Ratio enabled or disabled, Ray? I understand this makes a difference. I still use this zoom factor in FS9 (with 16:9 laptop displays), which behaves as if I had Wide-view Aspect Ratio disabled.

I don’t think it makes a difference when using ChasePlane. I toggled the option on/off and couldn’t see any change. But that’s with P3D so perhaps different to FS9.

[Luis Hernandez 570]

6 hours ago, spinoza said:

How do I add comments or comment-out a line in the cameras.cfg line?

As with any .cfg file: double slash before the comments.

6 hours ago, spinoza said:

@Luis Hernandez There's a bunch of line entries for "InitialZoom=0.30 in the C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\cameras.cfg file. Do I change them all to .60?

No, only the one corresponding to VC. I think is [CameraDefinition.002].

3 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I don’t think it makes a difference when using ChasePlane

Understood. Makes sense.

[Daube 353]

Or switch to VR and forget about of this zoom nonsense forever by enjoying the beauty of zoom 1.0 also known as "everything at the right size anywhere anytime" 😄

Just kidding, I know VR is not for everybody yet. This topic just brought back some bad memories from the past. 😉

[spilok 1,136]

14 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Is that with Wide-view Aspect Ratio enabled or disabled, Ray? I understand this makes a difference. I still use this zoom factor in FS9 (with 16:9 laptop displays), which behaves as if I had Wide-view Aspect Ratio disabled.

I use Wide-View Aspect Ratio.

 

Stan

[spinoza 48]

2 hours ago, Daube said:

Or switch to VR and forget about of this zoom nonsense forever by enjoying the beauty of zoom 1.0 also known as "everything at the right size anywhere anytime" 😄

Just kidding, I know VR is not for everybody yet. This topic just brought back some bad memories from the past. 😉

Yup, totally agree. Meta recently released a new version, Quest 3, which at about $600 is very competitive with Apple's Vision Pro at about $3500. 

[Sparkrite 188]

Maybe I shouldn't ask this here......

I'm happy with my zoom/scaling/wide screen view in P3D, but very unhappy with the outside view in that other sim. Maybe its my setup but as I pan around a plane in flight I get what can be best described as elongated and out of proportion somewhat "stretched" views.

Can't get to grips with it at all!

[Daube 353]

Elongated view, no matter the sim, is always a result of a zoom that is too low.

If you set a very low zoom while being a bit far from your plane, then you'll get a very tiny plane.

If you set a very low zoom while being a bit too close from your plane, then you'll get an elongated plane.

In both case, the solution is to increase the zoom.