Improving Visuals (4 computers, 3 projectors, curved screen)

[Aaron]

Hello Friends!

After too much research, too much test and mistake, and a dozens of hours of work, we have started our last visual system. This system is still in progress, and is similar to some of our builders friends from this and other forums out there (fds, nthusim, widescreengaming, etc.) Ivar Hestnes, Nat Crea, etc. Many thanks to all of them, without their information and test, we were unable to start this project.

We start with this configuration a year ago: A high spec PC (i7-930, 6Gb, ATI5870, 3x47" LCD running in eyefinity mode). This setup give us this:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mbfQEc99Fig/Tk2ZED30hII/AAAAAAAAACc/jdlfiqpjMxo/s1600/backview.jpg

The setup was just fine. The ATI just did the job and this is our favourite multimonitor setup this days. Better and cheaper than TripleHead2Go, and a lot cheaper than nvidia surround (SLI required). The only issue, its that the ATI card its not happy handling bad weather and the drop of FPS and smothness is huge.

But we want one step more, and the choice was: curved screen and triple projector setup. The first problem is the space.

This is our room previously afte the re-building from another location
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Af-0nbIezms/TedGV6sjniI/AAAAAAAAACA/qs5SbdRww50/s1600/estadoactual.jpg

Very large room, but not too wide. We want to make a LAAARGE screen, because if you want to spend your time and money in things like this, you want to do the best as you can!.

After a quick tutorial (thank you, dad) in CAD, this is our first tests
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uirSpDn-mqM/TnYbNY4-XnI/AAAAAAAAADk/5Ds6qpUu--U/s1600/simulador.jpg

The right image show the concept with a screen with a radius of 2m. The left shows a 2.2m radius. The more radius, the best for visuals (larger image, less shadows from cockpit, best perspective, etc.) but not for our space. With a radius of 2.2 we need to cut our cockpit plataform (green square in the image) above the inner green line at the bottom of the cockpit. The projetions were made taking consideration of the measurements given by projectorcentral (http://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-EW610ST-projection-calculator-pro.htm&add=5927)

After the cut and recalculations, here are our measurements:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PnowIC5NLbQ/TnYbJ_RnvAI/AAAAAAAAADg/ai9rnY569FM/s1600/cotas.jpg
2.2m Radius, 8.4m perimeter (approx), 220º

The green circle, is the center point of view, wich is located more or less at the cutoff levers. But we have to move our cockpit slightly (0.2m above the center of the screen) ahead to make space to enter the cockpit. We want to have a third seat in our cockpit behind the first office for an observer, but due to this configuration we suspend the idea :(

Starting building.
We draw the center and the arc in the floor and the ceiling, and start to work on the screen (previously, we have removed the cockpit)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c5WDbie2P6E/TnX5QsJJPII/AAAAAAAAADI/8JlynQPQ7bY/s1600/nose.jpg

First steps:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6wURJB_eQkQ/TnX4oslOySI/AAAAAAAAACk/bJiq24xtVhc/s1600/building1.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CFxsxgvUUqk/TnX4sAB9ftI/AAAAAAAAACo/Dqz1BINmwNs/s1600/building2.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3IzUnfneLl0/TnX4vUyBszI/AAAAAAAAACs/J0SmCyLLK8o/s1600/building3.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C2LctRMImdQ/TnX4y8omi-I/AAAAAAAAACw/6j_t-4Uw5tM/s1600/building4.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QGGlEJAkA6Q/TnX43-SMjhI/AAAAAAAAAC0/2zf3Ic9qtt0/s1600/building5.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vVlrJgDO07k/TnX48iVzMrI/AAAAAAAAAC4/eXCAH3sOxXI/s1600/building6.jpg

Details in the roof and floor
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wMdfWvJQ7qA/TnX4_oPQigI/AAAAAAAAAC8/MrLpAyIMt9E/s1600/ceiling.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lz065Iu66u8/TnX5E-lDXjI/AAAAAAAAADA/DpzTeivBKF0/s1600/floor.jpg

While my mate Orlando works hard in the screen I play a little with this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0ZBWfXixn8/TnX5JiUvD3I/AAAAAAAAADE/OFzFIPTC9mc/s1600/hardware.jpg

A little zoom on my three daughters:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kff2NREyfX8/TnX5VAchluI/AAAAAAAAADM/UZgN_aKjeHM/s1600/vgas.jpg

Three projectors can be conected to one computer, with eyefinity, nvidia surround, or a triple head to go. The problem is the perspective. Just a wider front view is not enough for a such large screen, and we need to undock three or more views to get a more real perspective. Now the problem is the frame rate.

One powerfull PC can handle the high resolution of a typical th2go setup with just one wider view, but manage three diferents perspectives are major words for just one PC. If you want a 8meter screen, you also want to fly smooth, and you want to fly smooth in every condition. Our solution, three PCs, one projector each and wideview, using our *old* I7930@4.2 with 5870 as wideview server.

Those PCs are:
Motherboard: Asrock P67 Pro (no need to SLI or Crossfire, so P67 Pro give us the best perfomance for our bucks)
Processor Intel I7 2600k @ 4.2
Memory 8Gb (2x4Gb)
HD sATA Seagate 1Tb (The motherboards comes with sata3, but no disk already, so I prefer to wait for a combination of sata3 + SSD)
Thermaltake 650W (more than enough for just 1 VGA and a very moderate overcloocking)

The idea is maximize the perfomance on this three PCs. The dont handle sound, no USB axis, no internet conection, etc. just Visual Clients for wideview, while our *old* PC manage the position and joysticks inputs and some sounds (other in the networked pcs with pmsounds, etc.) with the graphics sliders set to a minimum (there is no need to see this PC anywhere) to improve the perfomance.

I keep this post update as soon as we make improvements in our work!

[Matt Olieman]

Excellent project!!! and wonderful supply of information.

I look forward toward your continued information regarding your project as you continue to build. :) :) :)

Matt Olieman

[jrowland]

I've heard less than stellar reviews about using wideview for visuals... Specifically in clouds, where each PC will render the clouds just a little bit differently. Thus, when a cloud slides from one screen to the next (1 PC to another PC), or spans multiple screens, it wont maintain the same size/shape/dimensions. The same with other effects, but I don't remember the specifics.

I'd love to know if this is true or not, and if you have any luck with this arrangement.

[Aaron]

Hi Jrowland!

The sync of weather its perfect, much better than I spect. I've tried the demo version of wideview and vrsync (not buying yet, as we are still in construction). The clouds are perfect aligned, even the rain, flashing thunderstorms, etc. Also de AI aircraft its syncronized (this is with wideview-widetraffic, I think its not supported in vrsync). I have not tested this config with IVAO/VATSIM, but if AI aircraft works, network AI should work also.

I've tested this with FSX of course, no FS9 here. Maybe the sync in FS9 was worse or simply not available.

[Geremy Britton]

Thanks for a great post and plenty of pictures. The visual system looks particularly interesting and i thank you for sharing with us.

best regards

[Aaron]

I've heard less than stellar reviews about using wideview for visuals... Specifically in clouds, where each PC will render the clouds just a little bit differently. Thus, when a cloud slides from one screen to the next (1 PC to another PC), or spans multiple screens, it wont maintain the same size/shape/dimensions. The same with other effects, but I don't remember the specifics.

I'd love to know if this is true or not, and if you have any luck with this arrangement.

In addition to my tests (not still with our curved screen, but with monitors) here is one quote directly from wideview manual:

-Begin paste-
IMPORTANT (APPLIES TO FSX SP2)
With FSX SP2, the clouds seems to be actually capable to synchronize through the monitors, so you
can see the same cloud, with its specific shape and texture, passing from one monitor to another.
Anyway, this feature still require that the clients are powered up all together (with a maximum
tolerance of a few minutes between them) and also FSX launched at the same time (again, a few
minute of difference can be tolerated).
- End Paste -

This should be the reason why it works perfect for us and maybe not for everybody (anyone using FSX prior to SP2).

[jrowland]

Awesome news, Aaron. I had discarded the possibility of wideview after watching videos of clouds and autogen and AI not be faithfully sync'd across PCs. Another window of opportunity has presented itself. :^)

[Aaron]

Hello friends!

Some news in our project:

After a month or so of wait, finally we have our projectors at home:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2XDUg5cRUQ/ToN5dCYiXGI/AAAAAAAAADs/uNDEEXUqeuo/s1600/projector.jpg

Optoma EW610ST, the best we found for the money we have, here are the specs:
1280x800, DLP
Short throw (at 2m from screen 3.85m wide)
3100 Ansi
3000:1 Contrast.

We have almost finished the building of the screen. A bit hard to take photos...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mO-05rh6cKM/ToN5War5lgI/AAAAAAAAADo/_miQc7Tj_20/s1600/carpet.jpg
Installing black carpet before putting the cockpit in.

We build half screen first, then move the pit, and the finish the screen. There is no way to move out the cockpit with the screen finished!. You could notice the circle of the screen in both ceiling and floor, and a thread on each for measurements and calculations (shadows, angles, etc.)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kUNWyph8Lkw/ToN5hEPqAVI/AAAAAAAAADw/w9NsWqzPNWw/s1600/window.jpg

A pic from the outside, with the screen already painted.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t1aezavzF1c/ToN5ndvQrMI/AAAAAAAAAD0/kVAkutTZ0r0/s1600/panorama1.jpg

Finally a panorama just before paint (8 blended photos) from the end of the screen. The cockpit here is not in the exact place, just pushed back to let space for paint, etc. The panorama doesnt show the exact perspective, but its 8.5m wide x 2.5m high, and covers around 220º. Calculations are done to fullfilled the whole screen with 25-30cm of overlap between projectors.

I hope I can make photos of the "thing" running this weekend!

[Aaron]

Weekend update:

Positioning projectors is a little tricky, but finally we found the best solution for us. We make big mistake centering projectors instead of centering the proyectors LENS...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7pfrjDlashw/ToiNLLGXcfI/AAAAAAAAAEA/cwNlWi3lhwU/s1600/movingprojectors.jpg
My friend Orlando moving the projector to center on the lens and not the whole projector.

Two panoramas where you can observe the screen with low light showing the default solid color before power on the PCs

From the right side:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dYVjxmKgj3o/ToiNEINL9xI/AAAAAAAAAD8/LnF4SIr8thM/s1600/right.jpg

and the left:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s-c5J3G3JyE/ToiM-uhzrdI/AAAAAAAAAD4/NmDPOjiNN4c/s1600/left.jpg

We have two laser levels to warp the screen, but the beam was too short for us. We are looking for a circular one to the perfect alignment!.

[Matt Olieman]

Excellent presentation Aaron, thanks for sharing with us your project. I'm amazed at what you're able to do in such a confined space. Congratulations!!!!

Matt Olieman

[Geremy Britton]

Simply Brilliant! Keep us updated on this one. Thanks for lots of pics too :)

[Aaron]

You're welcome!

Today I've got my three Immersive Display Lite 2 licences (one per wideview client PC) and I found the circular laser level! So warping and blending the screen may be done in a few days.

[Aaron]

Hi guys!

After a very very hard research in every hardware store here, we can only found ONE circular laser level to warp the screen (At least its not very expensive (110€))
The head piece spins at X rpm (depends of a potentiometer) and makes the line.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ng2GHkB-UZg/ToxOBklRlcI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/NVAM_4SnITg/s1600/laser.jpg

The alignment for warping its not difficult, but its very odd. Much better with two people involve, but I was alone this time.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lO7QUL5EpTM/ToxNxw5VulI/AAAAAAAAAEM/x20r01VhQSA/s1600/alignment.jpg

You need to align the yellow boxes of every projector (so you need to do it in the three pc's) and sometimes the laser was unable to go till the end of the screen because the cockpit itself, so you need to move the tripod, level again, etc.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fs9-5Ifh1eI/ToxNhvwf6BI/AAAAAAAAAEI/LT7uWfFHnfI/s1600/grid.jpg

You should begins with just four points (the four corners) warp those points, then add one more point, warp all the points again (the previous warped points may move) and so on.

I was warping for a couple of hours, and I need to spent a little more time to finish the warping (I leave the highest points unwarped). But I want to see the progress!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqYOSxUsD0g/ToxNPS213XI/AAAAAAAAAEE/7EHhJsXq4Zc/s1600/gcrr.jpg

Warping not complete, not worked either on blending, and wideview just in default left side-front-right side, but the "thing" is going on!

The clouds seems to be perfectly aligned as I expect (althougt the wideview its not adjusted in any case)

I will upload a video as soon as the warping and blending was over.

[Sherezado]

Just aowsome!!! That should be a really inmersive experience. Blending the three projections may not be too difficult, but sure it takes a little bit more work than you may expect. Congratulations for your work, please keep uploading photos of the final results

[blueskydriver]

Great setup you got going Aaron!

Maybe, I missed it, but did you say how you plan to progress with the screen? I see the MDF(fiber) board being used for your screen and it appears to be multiple sheets laid horizontal. How do you plan to work with the seams or do you plan to add a screen fabric over this?

The reason I ask is for this:

My screen is done the same way and it is 9 feet high by 36 feet (curved), and we had the same problem with the seams. We tried wood filler and that cracked and looked bad. We then covered the entire screen in another layer of the MDF sheets.

Now, we have two layers of sheets or about 18 sheets (9 per layer). YES! A lot of wood, plus we have a backside layer. Then, we tried drywall compound and that was good at first, but the exspansion and contraction issues caused hairline cracks to form and then they got a little bigger...

Funny, we even tried using plastic sheets (9 sheets of 4 x 8 feet) before all this and the seam issues were just as bad then; okay, it's not so bad now. However, in the end, I wish I had just ordered the screen material. What's more funny is this; we got a 101 inch fixed projection screen for our home entertainment room and the screen material look simple enough, but it looked awesome when the projector was shown on it.

Therefore, it made the idea of getting screen material for the Sim's curved screen a solid idea... Problem is finding a company that will make it on such a big scale and not charge too much money, but that is not easy to do. Some want $2000-$5000 US to even consider it!

Finally, do post how you solve(d) this minor, but important issue. Thanks for posting your work progress and the photos.

BSD

[Nick1150]

That's a great project Aaron !!!

Thanks for the info

[Aaron]

Hi blueskydriver.

Yes you are right, I didnt say anything about the construction material, basically because the "wood artist" its my friend Orlando and also because Im not able to write in english about those materials names (in fact, I do not know its names in spanish haha) but I will try to explain what I know.


how you plan to progress with the screen?

By now, the screen is just what is show in the pics, those sheets screwed to the vertical stick? (the piece of wood from floor to ceiling)

The screen was made using MDF panels (7 pieces of 1.2m x 2.4m (4x8 feet)) 5mm thick, so we have three vertical and one horizontal joins. With the horizontal seams, we work with staples (from behind, just for avoid future separation joins, and taking care with staples size to not traspasing the wood) and glue adhesive for wood (the glue is to prevent the MDF to go inner or outer of his parallel)

The vertical was more problematic, we use wood filler too, but we tested three or four different brands (with diferents time of dried). We covered every screw hole and the seams. Our major problem was the different curved ratio which appears in the sheet joins, which its more planar next to the borders. We wasted three wood filler (1kg every one) to fullfill the seams and compensate this "more planar" surface.

5683

We use the wood filler (I assume thats the name) to cover the (dashed in the picture) area, to mantaing the screen curve.

After this, we sand the whole screen several times, and finally painted. The result its far to be perfect, but after painted, you cannot see the little imperfections. Off course, here in Canary island we have 21º over the year (from 18º in winter to 24 in summer) so I think cracking due to temp and humidity variation may not affect us here.

I will get you more information about the paint we use (we painted the screen in grey) as soon as I get the info.

This weekend we've installed another layer of sheets (blackpainted) over and under the effective screen, and also painted the ceiling in blackmate to increase the feel of contrast and to avoid light reflections.




Therefore, it made the idea of getting screen material for the Sim's curved screen a solid idea... Problem is finding a company that will make it on such a big scale and not charge too much money, but that is not easy to do. Some want $2000-$5000 US to even consider it!

Finally, do post how you solve(d) this minor, but important issue. Thanks for posting your work progress and the photos.

BSD

We were looking for another materials too, but as soon as we warped the screen to test the projection, and see how little noticiable they are, we pass to another step in our building.

[Aaron]

Thanks Sherezado and Nick!

Its a hard work, but when you look to the right and the left, and see how you leave the ground... thats priceless!

[Aaron]

Lot of work this weekend:

First: Cover the screen and the cockpit to paint the ceiling in mate black.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uH3KNqF6rdI/TpNbCL8MOPI/AAAAAAAAAEg/kR-Gtr-XbgU/s1600/paintedceiling.jpg

Then we add another layer of MDF sheets already painted in black just below and over the used screen
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKmXQCXUJd0/TpNa9h2IZYI/AAAAAAAAAEc/7PBTNOn6tH8/s1600/screenframe.jpg

When the screen was more or less finished, I take the first step blending the projection: Here a little approach:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ne1N3vZp25k/TpNayPHo6nI/AAAAAAAAAEY/Z-mEMD5GZbY/s1600/blend.jpg

After a quick setup, not worked too much on right blending and alignment. The left one was more accurate as you can see
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1MS_8l32u9c/TpNatdlMH0I/AAAAAAAAAEU/9trRN0hq-es/s1600/first.jpg

You can see where the blend starts if looks at the typical red text (sound off in this case) on top right every projector. Hard work with wideview, choosing differents angles, points of view, and zoom to give your final FOV and position. Very much test and try. You can also see the perfect syncronization that wideview do in the clouds, tested in all condition and worked flawlessly (even rain, snow, fog, etc.)

[Matt Olieman]

WOW!!!! Looks FANTASTIC!!!!!!

:D:D:D

Matt Olieman

[Tom_G_2010]

. . . First: Cover the screen and the cockpit to paint the ceiling in mate black . . .

. . . Then we add another layer of MDF sheets already painted in black just below and over the used screen . . .

This, blacking out areas outside the projection screen, is something I have been pondering. To either side and below it seems to help keep focus on the projected image. However, above I keep pondering if it would be better to use a "typical sky blue or to go hi tech as I've seen in some museum type exhibits that use scenery projection, and pick up on the screen color at the top edge and project it as a single color very low light wash across the ceiling above.

Where I've seen it done it had the affect of adding to the illusion/immersion, however, those settings where not flight sims. Just curious if anyone has done this or not. Good or Bad idea? Thoughts?

[Aaron]

...I keep pondering if it would be better to use a "typical sky blue or to go hi tech as I've seen in some museum type exhibits that use scenery projection, and pick up on the screen color at the top edge and project it as a single color very low light wash across the ceiling above.

I've never heard of anyone doing this at home, but could have great results. Its something like "ambilight" does in Philips TVs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK4qng65TXw).

The best escenario its no too see any bezels around the screen (Just see the screen all around you)! We are very close to this, at present, we just see the inferior border if you look down left, at nine o'clock from the captain side or three o'clock from the FO side. In fact we have the intention of modifying the side windows frame to avoid this.

[blueskydriver]

Aaron,

Thank you for explaining things and it seems that you've been down the road like all of us with curved screens...as much hard work it can be, it's still worth it. The black surrounding paint is right on track. We did the same thing here with our sim...

Tom it sounds like a good idea because it would lend to lighting the cockpit up during the daytime; however, the problem comes in when you add glass or plexiglass (plastic) to your windows. You will get reflections from the ceiling and then the angle of the light hitting the windows causes you to squint from glare.

Although, we did paint our ceiling black first, we left our screen white all the way up to the ceiling. Even though this portion of the screen is not seen in the cockpit, it still provides light reflection which causes the glare...somewhat. I could imagine if the the ceiling was white it would be much worse.

BSD

[Aaron]

Hi guys!

Everything is running almost fine. Very much hard work these days, but we are close to the neverending point hehe.

Yesterday I make a short video with some new things and our visuals.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=E7vggfnmzWI

[blueskydriver]

Aaron,

What are you using to get the weather for the ND at such smaller distances? In PM, it only shows up good at 160 to 320 NM, but yours is really good at 10, 20 and 40. So, what is your secret?

BSD

[Jan Pemöller]

very good set ... but please post a video with real weather (REX) and on a big Airport like EDDF.
There the frames are interesting. Thanks for sharing your tests and ideas.
Jan

[Aaron]

Aaron,

What are you using to get the weather for the ND at such smaller distances? In PM, it only shows up good at 160 to 320 NM, but yours is really good at 10, 20 and 40. So, what is your secret?

BSD

Hi blueskydriver!

There is no mystery there. I use the typical sa_wrx for weather on the ND but I think there is no visible weather on the video. I believe you are thinking the island on the terrain button are clouds :-P (http://www.vacationstogo.com/images/maps/CanaryIsls700.gif

[Aaron]

very good set ... but please post a video with real weather (REX) and on a big Airport like EDDF.
There the frames are interesting. Thanks for sharing your tests and ideas.
Jan

Hallo Jan!

I dont have rex for a few reasons (I need three licences (one per visual PC) I dont know how compatible it is with wideview, not installed any addons but airports and I have not finished with some major things yet) But I think I can make a little approach video (If I can find the tripod for the camera!) with heavy storm.

[Aaron]

Hello friends!

Sorry for the delay

I try to make this video for myself, but was imposible to record while landing or taking off. Finally a friend of mine get this record in LOWI with heavy snow and thunderstorm via AS with me and Orlando as F/O


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68gtAqjh-6U

Finally we get REX, but I decide not to install on the three computers yet, until get some more information of what it change for make backups of the visual clients (to much work to re-done if anything gets wrong)

[tomcat78]

Hi Aaron,
Very nice setup. Your Outside view solution is the direction i have committed myself to go in. I purchased 3 i7's and have them overclocked to 3.8 ghz. WidevieW was always my prefered choice, rather than a triple header. This was because i wanted higher res, and smoother frames.

I am however having trouble with the performance of Wideview on the clients. I cant seem to achieve smooth motion. I know my client computers are more that capable of processing FSX, so my guess is its the setting within WidevieW.

I posted a thread on here, but no luck in finding a solution, except pausing the clients. This makes them smoother, but creates undesirable results (No animation, rain, snow ect..).

Could you please help me and post me your setup config within wideview and maybe even some tips.
I see i have simular hardware specs(computers) to you, and i am amazed with the smoothness of your Panoramic outside view.
Thanks
Regards
TOM

[Aaron]

Hi Tom,

I dont know the specifics settings by memory, but everything its almost default in wideview settings. The only thing we have change is the visual settings (degrees to de left, right, etc.) the network setup is adjusted by default.

Our visual server is running the booster, and the FS windows its a very small one, with all the graphics option at minimum. The clients DO NOT HANDLE sound in every way (no sound cards installed, and the motherboard sound is disable) and have not USB, serial ports, etc.

The operating system on the three clients and the servers is tweaked more or less as suggested by the classical NickN guide. The FS on the server its very close to default, but the FS on the visuals PCs its heavy tweaked to take advantages from bojote and other tweaks.

Before installed wideview, I "play" with one client PC until I was very satisfied with the perfomance, then I repeat the same on the other two and copy the fsx.cfg.

My advice is to check your clients without wideview. If they work fine without, they should work the same networked via wideview. Try disabling sound (press "q") it seems to create heavy stutters in some configurations.

I can do this because my clients PC do "nothing". They just boot up, automatically run FSX, and automatically search for the server to follow it. The sounds, joysticks, weather, etc. its all taken from the server, the client just show you the result.

This weekend I will try to make an screenshot of our client and server configuration.

[tomcat78]

Hi Aaron,
My client PCs do indeed run FSX very well by themselves, but it seems there is something in my WidevieW network that is giving me stutters on my clients. I have spent many hours changing the "buffer" and "update rate" settings, using values between 1 and 100, on both the clients and server. Sometimes changing these values dosent seem to make any difference whatsoever, then other times, the results seem worse.
"Locking frame so sync" seems to bring all the clients into sync, but still with stutters.
My "intelli smooth" buffer is set to 7. This is the only value that seems to give me obvious improvements.
If this value is any higher, there is too much delay, any less and too jumpy.
My "external booster" is enabled on the server, and disabled on the clients. Enabling this on the clients seems to make no difference.

Would very much like to see your config setup on the server and clients. I had almost given up with WidevieW, thinking that it was just not able to perform the way i wanted to. Very frustrating decision when i have spent several thousand dollars on 3 top-end PC's, purely for scenery.

But then i saw your video. Hope was restored.

Thankyou

TOM

[Aaron]

Hi Tom,

Here are the settings in my wideview server:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-opwYAZCLhLI/T0p9coai0cI/AAAAAAAAAHs/NTY_LHPSYZc/s1600/servidorwideview.JPG

And the client setting:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CC6oxj91rzc/T0p9Ywb1bFI/AAAAAAAAAHk/rmtrjvtMYCo/s1600/cliente.JPG

[tomcat78]

Thanks for the settings Aaron,

I set mine the same. Using Intellismooth at 65 gave me smoothness, but almost 1 second response time, from server user input, to scenery client update.

Im assuming your setup does not have this effect?


If so then my server PC might be the problem, as it is an older P4.

Looks like my saga continues. I will no longer plague your thread with my problems.

Im looking forward to more videos of your setup, on Youtube,
Thanks

Tom

[Aaron]

Hi Tom,

If the intellismooth setting its different than default was because "the suggested configuration" in the footer of the window advise me to use these.

About the "delay" between our server and the clients I cant really tell you exactly because I have the server in different room and cant see the screen at the same time, but according with the response time when I bank or pitch the plane, dont seem to be as high as you say (or maybe its around 1 second but im unable to "feel it").

If your clients have exactly the same hardware, I will use one of them as server to test the configuration (you know, central as server, both sides as clients).

And please, keep updating the post with yours advances in your setup, because I think the wideview forum its not so good and that could help lot of people.

[Bernie]

Yes you are right Aaron, The Intellismooth is meant to be used when only the Clients are displaying the scenery. It will always be a problem if using the server for scenery. I use the server for my forward view and do not suffer with any stuttering or bluriness but do not use the intellismooth function. I do run the external booster and use ORBX scenery all in Anaglyph 3D at 100% separation. All my Wideview and Widetraffic setting are at default. My setup is -70,-35,0,35,70 with .89 Zoom with wideview aspect=false in FSX configuration.

Kind Regards

Bernie.

[tomcat78]

Hi Aaron,
I had a breakthrough. For some reason i had always set "lock frame to sync" as active.
I had done this because it helped keep all the clients is sync. Especialy when banking.

Little did i know that activating this was increasing the delay. Intellismooth couldnt go above 8 without feeling too delayed.
My suggested intellismooth value ranged between 10 and 24 on my left and right clients, and 350 on my center client.
I have no idea why this is, maybe something to do with router traffic, or the different motherboard
(P6t on the left and right client Vs. P6tSE on the center client). Who knows? But here's my fix......

I unchecked "Lock frame to sync and noticed less delay, however the 3 clients didnt move in sync. The center client,
for some reason had less response time, than the left and right.

I compensated for this, by having a greater intellismooth buffer on the center, than the left and right.
My final setting are Intellismooth L&R = 28, Intellismooth 350 on the center.

This enabled all the clients to run together, with even response across all.

I have you to thank, for getting me back to default values, and realising that Lock frame to sync was not allowing me to
have higher intellismooth buffers on my clients.

What a learning curve, almost a year in the making!

Thanks

TOM