WidevieW Really Works!

[Michael Carter]

I downloaded copies to both computers today and without even having the new video card and upgraded ram installed the newer computer was still getting about 14fps on the ground at Mega-Heathrow. Can you believe that? At Mega Heathrow??

I guess this Celeron processor isn't so bad after all. I can't wait to see it run with the new video card w/two monitors and the new Corsair ram. :lol:

That won't be until tomorrow though when that arrives from Newegg.

I'm amazed at this program! It was cool watching the pushback from two different views and it was easy to install and configure. I'm using the stock 737-800 for the additional view(s) to get the correct eye height out the window.

[Michael Carter]

I finally got my 10 minutes worth out of the trial version. I won't be buying the .key for another week or so due to funds, but taxiing out of Vienna using Fly Tampa on both computers was simply stunning. I think even my old Athlon Thunderbird processor in the shop computer might be up for this. I'll have to experiment with it.

I've never seen out the side of the aircraft on lift-off and climb-out because I'm too busy flying the airplane to change views. Flying away from LOWW was jaw-dropping.

Awesome piece of software this WidevieW. Too bad they don't give out Nobel prizes for computer software engineering.

Now if I can just get ahold of the unused computer upstairs. Mmhhhuuaaaaaaaagh! :cool:

[ivar hestnes]

Did you get a chance to try this with weather and traffic?

Any issues?

Very interesting for sure:)

[Michael Carter]

I had real weather downloaded and turn on for updates and there were a few smaller planes taxiing around at LOWW. Didn't seem to bother the second computer in the least. The weather matched what was displayed on the server(main FS computer). That was scattered cumulus and light winds at about 1500 in the afternoon.

It still ran smooth with no noticable frame decrease. The second computer is locked at 25fps just like the main FS server computer but it only runs at about 14-16 fps. I was having a ball for those 10 minutes. I can't wait until next week.

I expect the frame rate and scenery to increase on the client with the new video card and the new 2GB of ram that's coming tomorrow. (That's why I can't afford the .key file for WV right now!)

Right now settings are near max on the client computer running the Celeron processor and only one GB of ram. I was surprised it's doing as well as it did. I expect an improvement tomorrow, but I was not unhappy with what I saw on the client.

The shop computer running a 1.3Ghz Athlon might be scraping the bottom of the barrel though. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to.

[Matt Olieman]

Good information Mike. Thanks :)

Matt Olieman

[Jackpilot]

Keep us posted.....

[Michael Carter]

Will do! ......

[Goldmember]

I've been using it for a while on 2 setups. The first setup was when I was planning my cockpit. It was my dual monitor office PC and a notebook, both on Vista. The notebook acted as server and forward view. The desktop acted as client with left/right-front view. Very funny to see traffic appearing/disappearing when it moves from one PC to the other :-D. This means Widetraffic is a must.

Some issues I have noticed.
- On Vista, there are permission problems. WidevieW settings are not stored in Vista because it (in fact FS) doesn't have writing rights in the folder that it needs to have. WidevieW suggests to give full access to the root folder (rants a bit about MUA) but that is what system administrators highly discourage. What I did was to run FS2004 in administrator mode, this solves the problem.
- There were constantly ghost views of the client aircraft on the right front view. Incomplete views from inside the plane flickered. It seems to be a bug in FS2004 with a workaround from WidevieW but I never got it to work. In the cockpit I'm building (runs on 2x XP), I don't experience that problem... yet, because I use only the front view. Don't know what happens when I start using multiple views but it might be a reason to go for the TH2G because it is only 1 view.
- There's no way to automatically switch on the server or the client 'due to security reasons'. Hmm. Not practical if your screens sit partly behind the MIP panel. There's a proggie called Key2mouse (or so) that enables a key to be assigned to a mouse click in a certain location. We would have to make a button in the cockpit, interface that button to a key and assign that in Key2mouse in order to start WidevieW.

So I agree WidevieW is a nice program but it's not perfect.

[MartinK]

I've also had had quite a few issues with WideView although the product in itself is fantastic.
After modifying the params through the WV supplied panel to not show the slew msg etc. anymore I had FS freezing regularly.
Also when after a de-install, make sure you remove the left overs manually since not everything is cleaned properly by WV. So, after the re-install you are still stuck with the earlier problems leading to the de-install in the first place.

In my situation (2x Vista) it turned out to be more stable to alter the .cfg files manually as opposed to having this done through WV.

All this had led to the configuration where I use WV only to sync my 'flightdynamics' machine (set for very low graphics to save fps) to my 'outside view' machine (set for optimized graphics and fixed at 25 fps).
The outside view machine uses a TH2GO to 3 projectors.

Cheers,

Martin

[Jackpilot]

AS far as I understand the TH2GO spreads on three Monitors/beamers
-ONE zoomed out forward(F) image or
-A composite image made out of three undocked views(FL,F,FR) stuck side by side on one computer screen (which would show the frames!!??)

Right?
Wrong?


I do not see how it can add anything or be used with Wideview?

[Goldmember]

See my question about TH2Go versus quad head video card here (http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15412).

[Michael Carter]

I created the thread because I was very surprised at the fact that I got it to work. I don't usually have very much luck with software related improvements.
Re: engine panel, radio installation, etc. Yeah, eventually with enough fiddling, changing, and hair-pulling I get it right, but never on the first try.

I didn't do anything special except to install it, tell it the view I wanted on the second monitor and away it went. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

All the machines are XP or XP Pro hard-wired to a hub/switch using TCP if that matters. I don't want to know why it works, I'm just glad it does.

[MartinK]

Currently it's one zoomed out forward view. I know there is the famous
NicD configuration but for some stupid reason 3 (or even 5) undocked view make my framerate drop too much at this moment.

Still doing some work to get FS performance better by applying tweaks as found on various websites. Haven't found the right one for my setup yet, hence the zoomed out forward view.

There is a considerable difference between the zoomed out single view vs the multiple undocked windows (composing the single view) in terms of perspective. I've gotten used to it by now but still looking into going to multiple undocked windows.

The way it works or adds to WV is that it allows me to keep the flightdynamics seperate from the views engine. This is particularly handy when the outside view is on projectors.
When preparing a flight you don't get a massive 1 square meter sized FMC thrown in your face or a 4 square meter overhead panel.

The outside view IS the outside view and that's it. That all it does. Messing around with all kinds of add-ons being hard- or software doesn't effect your outside views (anymore). The only way to do this is run a 2 PC setup - the only way to do this in an easy way is through WV. No need to worry about keeping traffic and clouds in sync and the flight dynamics PC can be a smaller/older machine with less specs since it's not being used for displaying framehungry stuff.

I've a quick drawing (see attachment) that shows the current setup.
The Flightdynamics PC is a 2.0 GHz Laptop running Vista and FS9. It has (obviously) FSUIPC and WideFs installed and is running all the add-ons and WideView server.
The Outside View machine is 2.6 GHz Desktop running Vista, FS9 and and WV client.

Let me know if you any add'l questions.

Cheers

Martin

[Goldmember]

This is exactly how I'm building it, except the projectors (I'm going to use 32" monitors tightly around the MIP).

- What is your zoom factor?
- Why do you need WideFS?

[Michael Carter]

The new video card and RAM came yesterday.

The video is MUCH improved over the onboard GPU, as I expected. However, I bought the wrong RAM (please see my for-sale ad if you need some nice memory) and the frame rate increased only by about 3fps. This is quite an improvement though when you consider it was running at 14-16fps at LOWW, EDDM, and EGLL.

I expect a further small increase when I get the correct RAM installed. I might be able to eek this up to the same performance as the Core 2 Duo processor on the server computer. Since the client is not running the Dreamfleet flight model, there's a good chance of getting nearly the same frame rate in graphic-intensive areas as the server computer is getting.

[Bob Reed]

I have set up an extensive WideView setup and it was stunning. There where a number of issues though. As mentioned here does the wather and traffic sync up now? It has been a couple years since I looked at it. I do own a licencse so maybe it is time to look again! I had been told by a simmer that the issues had been made better. I will look tonight.