Central View and Lateral View in FSX: how to do??

[maddoc]

Hi guys,

I use FSX, i have 3 monitors. I have one PC with Windows7 Ultimate 64bit, Intel I7 3.2Ghz, Asus P6TD Deluxe, 12 GB RAM and graphic card NVidia GTX 285

I wish to put the central view of my plane cockpit in the central one monitor, and i wish to put the 2 lateral cockpit view in the other two monitor that are positioned at 45° lateral to the central monitor one like the picture below

6503

How can i have this in FSX?? What i need to make this?

I keep in my mind 2 possibilities:

1) I must have 3 pc, each monitor linked to one pc and linked them using WideView
2) I can use one PC with 2 or more graphic video
3) I have to use an eyefinity graphic card
4) I can use one pc with one graphic card and the Maxtor Triple Head2Go

Wich is the correct way to obtain the 3 visuals (central and lateral) of the cockpit??

Wich way you suggest???

Thank you very much

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
You will not get 45* using eyefinity. Eyefinity is what I use and the monitors must be in a straight line as eyefinity basically turns 3 monitors in one super widescreen monitor. It suits my purpose as I did not want to go with the added expense of using 3 computers with wideview.
The way most of us do this is to use a computer to run the visuals (or 3 computers for wideview) and another computer and monitor or (monitors) for the instruments over a network using software such as prosim737.
It takes a while to get your head around it but if a computer dunce like me can do it then anyone can.
Allan.

[wledzian]

1) You don't need 3 PCs. A single PC will work. You do have to have a way to treat three monitors as a single display device.
2) Yes, you can use one PC with 2 or more graphics cards, as long as the driver software will let you treat three of the outputs as a single display device.
3) You can use an eyefinity card. If you don't have a DisplayPort monitor, you will need an active DisplayPort adapter to convert to VGA or DVI.
4) You can use a Matrox TH2Go. This is probably your best option if you've already got one.

5) You can keep an eye out for the recently-released NVidia GTX680, which supports four outputs natively (three spanned as a single display device, with the fourth as an auxiliary). It's a bit expensive at the moment if you can manage to get your hands on one at all, but if you factor in the money you're saving by not buying a TH2Go, it's not bad.

Follow-up edit to Notgotaclue's reply:
A single view spread over three monitors will not look right when the side monitors are angled inward, but you can achieve the effect you want by using three separate views configured properly for each screen. Here's my solution to that issue.
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php/23199-Windowmaker-tool-updated!

[maddoc]

Thank you very much for your precious information.

Another question:
in an italian forum (www.volovirtuale.com) many simmers who have an home cockpit say that the use of 3 monitors linked to one PC trough Maxtor TripleHead2Go cause a very high reduction of frame rate using the central view and the two lateral views.

The frame rate reduction happens in FSX and not in FS9.

What you think about that??

Thanks

[wledzian]

There are some issues with using multiple views. One of those revolves around FSX using at least one full-screen window, unless one of your views is the 2-d cockpit. When using the config generated by WindowMaker, the flight should start with the 2-D panel visible on top of three windows at the correct angles. The outside view associated with the 2-d panel is tiny and hidden in the background. If you simply close the panel, the view window associated with it will go to full-screen, but it will still be in the background, hidden behind the other three windows. Even though you don't see it, the computer does all the work to render it, resulting in a ~50% frame rate hit. This can be partially mitigated by shrinking the 2-d panel and moving it somewhere unobtrusive.

When I did my tests comparing equal total field of view, I saw no noticeable impact to frame rates. I did notice an impact when I went to extremely wide fields of view, but I attribute this more to the increased geometry load and less to the extra windows.

[maddoc]

There are some issues with using multiple views. One of those revolves around FSX using at least one full-screen window, unless one of your views is the 2-d cockpit. When using the config generated by WindowMaker, the flight should start with the 2-D panel visible on top of three windows at the correct angles. The outside view associated with the 2-d panel is tiny and hidden in the background. If you simply close the panel, the view window associated with it will go to full-screen, but it will still be in the background, hidden behind the other three windows. Even though you don't see it, the computer does all the work to render it, resulting in a ~50% frame rate hit. This can be partially mitigated by shrinking the 2-d panel and moving it somewhere unobtrusive.

When I did my tests comparing equal total field of view, I saw no noticeable impact to frame rates. I did notice an impact when I went to extremely wide fields of view, but I attribute this more to the increased geometry load and less to the extra windows.

So I'm forced to use the 2D panel in the central monitor? I can not use the VC in the central monitor?

Thank you so much

[wledzian]

No, you're not forced to use the 2d panel in the central monitor.

Unless the 2d panel is being used, FSX insists on having at least one full-screen window. You cannot simply generate three VC views of the correct size, as FSX will convert one of them to full-screen. The solution is to have a 2-d panel view open and set to a small size, with the panel itself also set to a small size and placed somewhere unobtrusive (I intend to create a custom panel with no gauges and only one non-transparent pixel, but you can just shrink it down and stick it in a corner), and three proper VC windows at the correct size and configuration for your displays.

[maddoc]

Ok, thanks. I think it is quite clear. Probably i'll ask more questions when I am ready to make the three views in FSX.
In the meantime I have to decide how to make this thing. I already have three monitors.
What do you advise me to do?

1) Buy the card Maxtor TripleHead2Go?

2) Add another NVidia video card to my PC?

Which of these two systems do you think is most appropriate to achieve the three views in three monitor in FSX?

I forgot....my system is: I7 3.2Ghz, Asus P6TD Deluxe , I have 12GB RAM, Graphic Card NVidia GTX 285. Now in the present i just used my Graphic Card with one monitor and with VRInsight CDUII

Thank you very much