Windowmaker tool updated!

[pirata1906]

i cant get it to work, i see two runways one in each view but i only want to see the runway centered in the bezel "like left side of runway monitor 1 and right side monitor 2". can you please help me? can you send me an example code? thank you very much

[MarkL]

Is there something I have to do different? I have a TH2G with a resolution of 5040x1024 across 3 21" monitors and attempting a FOV of 180 deg. With FSX windowed and constrained to the center screen and it looks perfect only, but when full screen (alt-ent) or maximized (windowed), it doesn't line up (stretched). I also set WideView to false, but windows like (REX Ess) behind kept flickering thru the fsx window, doesn't do it with Wideview set to true.

** Update **
Rebooted everything and started over. Seems to work now even with WideView=False.
Should this work for monitors, or do I have wait until I get my projectors, build a screen and warp it?
When banking with this setup or acceleration or decel, the alignment will go off. It would be nice until I get the projectors etc to not use the single window stretched across all 3 which gives the Fish eye effect.

Mark

[wledzian]

If the alignment looks correct when the windows are taller than they are wide (as they would be when three windows are constrained to a single monitor), then FSX is still running in Wideviewaspect=TRUE mode. If you've changed this value in the FSX.cfg located in your user directory (NOT the one in the FSX root folder), you've done it in the right place, and may just need to restart FSX for it to take effect.

This should work fine for monitors, with the exception that you need to calculate the FOV and offset manually if you want to account for the bezels. Here's the basics for that:
Calculate the -actual- FOV that each monitor will show.
FOV = 2 atan(Width / (2 * distance))
Calculate the -actual- angular position of each of the side monitors.
Run Windowmaker for three windows, with a total FOV equal to 3 times the -actual- fov covered by each monitor.
-Manually- revise the offset for the left and right windows to the actual offset angles of your monitors.

During banking, the straight horizon line should match position with, but will not match angle with, the horizon line on the adjacent monitor. This is normal, and should look perfectly OK when the monitors and your head are all in the right position.

During any acceleration (including pitch, roll, yaw), the head acceleration built in to the camera system moves the cameras, and things stop lining up perfectly. The only way to 'fix' this is to turn off head acceleration. I set up windowmaker to inclued 'use momentumeffect=NO', however that doesn't seem to work. You need to turn it off within FSX.cfg by setting the head acceleration values to zero. I'm sure you can find a reference online to tell you how to do this.

[MarkL]

Thanks alot for the information. The bezel calculation helped alot.

[ddimm]

In further reply to Ghetto regarding frame rate hit:

3: (this is the big one) Unless your 2D panel is active, FSX must have at least one full-screen window. If you initially saved your flight without the 2d panel, there will be one fullscreen window hidden behind the rest. The solution to that is to save your flight with the 2d panel enabled, modify the .flt file with the WindowMaker information, load the modified flight, then shrink the panel and stick it somewhere unobtrusive. Don't close the 2d panel.

Hello wledzian :
First, thank you for such a fantastic tool. You have save me countless hours of trying to get this right.

I am testing the window maker on three monitors before I hook it up to my projectors. I did notice a pretty big drop in performance as well (to be expected) but don't understand the part about the 2d panel.

Following the directions, I saved my flight in 2D panel mode, copied and pasted the windowmaker data over the .flt file. When I run it, I do not have the 2d panel present in the three windows. Should it be there? I did notice a fourth window behind the other three zoomed to 255. Did I do everything correctly as far as performance and display?

What is the purpose to have the 2D on the screen and not close it?

Thank you again!
-Daniel

[wledzian]

Unfortunately, this method of expanding the view does produce a performance hit, as FSX now has to perform the geometry operations four times, instead of once. I will say I'm slightly surprised at the extent of the frame rate drop, as I haven't noticed anything near as severe as the 50% drop that some users are reporting.

ddimm, the purpose of the 2d panel is to get FSX to stop forcing at least one window to fullscreen. I may be missing something in terms of a setting that is turned on with my config, but is not on in yours.

Try this:
- Resize one or all of the top windows by dragging the top or bottom edge to make the fourth window visible. (DON'T drag a side edge - you want to be able to resize it correctly later!).
- Make the fourth window active by clicking on it.
- press [1] to activate the 2d panel.
- Manually resize the fourth window. Smaller is better.
- Manually resize the 2d panel. Smaller is better. (note: you'll only be able to grab a panel edge that's not transparent.)
- Stick the 2D panel somewhere unobtrusive.
- Manually resize the three top windows by dragging their top and bottom edges back to the top and bottom of the screen.
- In the Views menu, select the 2d window to make it active and get rid of the white border on one of the 3d windows.

I hope that helps.
-Enjoy!

[ddimm]

[QUOTE=wledzian;133837]- In the Views menu, select the 2d window to make it active and get rid of the white border on one of the 3d windows.
-QUOTE]
Hello wledzian and thanks for the detailed information.

I have followed your directions and testing the new window frames now. I now have a tiny 2d panel present on my screen an repositioned in the corner.

My question on your final step, every time I do the "view menu" step it changes the window with the 2d panel resting on top to a different view and the zoom at 100%.
I'm not sure what I am doing wrong...
Thanks,
Daniel

[wledzian]

In the view menu, there is an option to select the view you want in the current window, as well as a list of the windows you've got open. It sounds like you're selecting a different view within the current window. You want to select from the list of open windows, to make the background window active.

[ddimm]

Thanks again for the detailed instructions. It seems to have helped! Is there any reason NOT to set the 2D panel to 100% transparent in the settings menu once you have all of this set up correctly. That way you are not "hiding it" somewhere outside of your field of view?
Regards,
Daniel

[wledzian]

Yes, there is a reason. Unfortunately, for any values other than 0% transparent, FSX will set the related window to full-screen, eliminating any frame rate benefit you may get from using a reduced-size background window.