Greetings Pyro Man, I can't thank you enough for this informative tutorial! I have been making inquires and perusing FSX forums, this past year, looking for the very answers you have provided in your video. You made my day!
Hey Pyroman, this is one of the best of these videos I've seen, and I've been looking at a lot of them lately. If I understood correctly, you are running this all on 1 PC? Can you tell me what kind of frames per second you are achieving? I have seen a lot of info stating that FSX simply wont run well with multiple displays unless you network multiple PC's and split to CPU load. What's been your experience?
Hi Steve, and that correct I run all of this off of 1 PC. This is a custom built gaming PC thats actually been rebuilt a few times over the last 2years as my simpit has expanded. The statement that it wont run well on 1 PC is a bit of a myth. Its all about balancing your settings for what your asking FSX to do. As you add more screens yes you will take a performance hit as you are asking the CPU and GPU to do alot more work. FSX is very CPU dependant so the faster clock speed the better. My setup is running an AMD8320 (8core) on liquid cooling at 4.4Ghz and FSX still wants more. As I said its a balance, my settings in FSX are about halfway to compensate for the extra screens. Also I use several FSX.CFG tweaks to increase performance. I am glad the video helped explain some of the nuances of using multiple screens, it certainly can be tricky. Anyway let me know if have any other questions.
Fantastic video extremely informative. Please could you advise where I can find a list of keyboard commands? Your commands don't appear in the standard fsx list. Many thanks.
Just wanted to comment here and let everyone know I will be doing another video on the simpit soon, and will cover the entire simpit in this video. Stay tuned! And thanks to all my subscribers, commentors, and viewers!
I saw left and right monitors (those connected to the center one) have no fisheye affect, i.e. views are not stretched. Are you setting up multiple windowed views within the large virtual screen rez? It looks great! I have three 24 inch monitors, wideview=yes and get lots of edge distortion at about all zoom settings.
Hi Dave, I am using a matrox tripleheadtogo which is a montior combiner. The matrox has a feature called "bezel managment" which fixes the jagged edges of the horizon when banking. The 3 monitors run one view and I use a zoom level of .80 to minimize the fisheye effect and yes wideviewtrue is also in use in my setup.
Hi Pyro Man, many thanks for the video. I have TH2go, FSX SE, Windows10; I have watched your video many times but am unable to replicate your system. I am hoping to have the standard cockpit display with panel gauges on the center screen and the left view on the left screen, right view on the right. I see on your video in the end only the virtual cockpit (no gauges.) I must be doing something wrong or SE does not allow for my 'design'. Or? Do you think that you can assist me some how, please? Many thanks again for the video, (I have subscribed), Bill T.
Sorry for the dumb question - and I feel silly having to ask. But the one comment that left me behind was "Hit the Left View Button" What button is that exactly?
Jenny Wilkinson hi Jenny replying from my mobile so please excuse any Grammer or typos. by defualt unless it's been changed in the fsx control menu its the numeric keypad on your keyboard (num lock should be on for it to work) then it's would be 4 to look left 6 to look right and this can also be changed in your control settings of fsx hope this helps and there are no dumb questions. happy flights
Hi, I’m very green with the PC/gaming/multi monitor stuff. I was wondering if you could make a few recommendations to get me started on a PC rig setup. (I don’t yet have the PC but am ready to either build or purchase one). I inherited an old Hot Seat Chassis. I’ve modified the chassis, allowing a triple screen exterior view with swinging mounts on left and right which will allow up to 50” monitors to be used. With the swing arms I can arrange the side monitors to provide a 180 view. This is what I’m aiming for. Additionally I’d like to position a fourth 24” touch screen monitor below the forward monitor for the instrument panel. My hope, if possible, is to manipulate the instrument panel via the touch screen….. (radios, transponder, altimeter, FMS, EFIS, etc….). I have a HOTAS stick and throttle mounted, and a MADCATZ Saitek® Pro Flight Yoke and throttle quadrant which can be used for variations. So, where I really need guidance is: 1. PC build recommendations. MOBO, CPU, GPU’s, etc…. I plan to use only one PC. This is likely as advanced as I will ever go. 2. Recommended Operating System. 3. Touch screen instrument panel. Is this possible using one PC? Which OS is best if using a touch screen instrument panel? 4. Am I limited to using MSFX, or is it possible to use Xplane or Prepard3d? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Marc mtl767@gmai.com
+729ML Hi Marc, The first thing I would say is to decide on the sim platform to use before anything else. This will allow you to build your setup for that platform. I'd personally recommend FSX/P3D over xplane just due to the amount of addons (free and payware) available, there is much more for FSX/P3d than there is for xplane. Lockheed Martin purchased the ESP engine (the fsx engine) from MS and have continued development, this also means the majority of FSX addons are p3d compatible, which is a huge plus. Now both FSX/P3d are very CPU dependant, so I'd say to get the fastest processor you can within your budget, and couple that with a decent video card, Id recommend Nvidia cards over ATI/AMD video cards for FSX/P3D use. The other important component is RAM clock speed, the faster the better. Theres alot of discussion around sim PC builds over at the flightsim.com forums, might be worth a look so you can see what others are using, and their experiences with their hardware. For operating system, I'd recommend windows 7, however 8 or 10 do work for FSX/P3D but there are a few known issues. For the touchscreen, yes you can use a touch screen, and it will interpret your touch as a mouse click, so yes you will be able to toggle switches/items on the panel loaded on your touchscreen, You can even make your own custom panels if you choose to do so, I make custom panels for all my aircraft using FS Panel Studio. Anyways I hope this gets you started, and let me know if you need more info...
I am trying to add a monitor above my head for an overhead panel. When I add a new view and set it up, it works great, but when I try to click the switches, it thinks I'm trying to move the window, so the white border flashes. Is there a way I can "lock" the view? Thanks
+Roger Hanchak Hi Roger, sounds like your using a touchscreen and its moving the view? Anyway, there is now way to lock the view in FSX fullscreen mode. However you could open the view in windowed mode, then right click on it and select undock window, then drag the window to your monitor, resize it and you should be good to go. Hope this helps, also I believe P3D has the ability to lock the view in fullscreen mode.
Thanks for the video. Perhaps the matrox video device is what I need for my problem. I have a laptop but I use two external monitors 1 - hdmi, the other - vga ports. I cannot get FSX to run when I click the "fly now" button if I have both monitors active. So what I do is tell win 7 that I have just the hdmi monitor. start fsx, do a fly now and pause, and then activate the second monitor so that I have dual monitors to do the work that I have to do. But I can't get an fsx window dragged to the second monitor. So what are your thoughts about using the Matrox video device? Thanks
Hi Charlie, Thanks for watching! Could you tell me a bit more about your laptop (make and model, aswell as OS)? Are you using the additional monitors as outside view, or for panels or GPS? As far as using a matrox, they do work well but the monitors you plug into it should be the same make and model(refresh rate) aswell as the same size. Let me know a bit more about the monitors you are using also.
Hi Pyro. You certainly have peeked my curiosity here. I have used a TH2G with 3 monitors in the past on a Mac Pro Tower. My question is this. Hows do you tie in other monitors when the vid output from the vid card Is dedicated to the TH2G? My guess is that to hand off video windows to other monitors outside the three you need them tied into the system somehow. Can you enlighten my a bit please. Thanks so much.
Once you setup the 3 monitors for FSX for the first time, when you exit Flight Simulator and re start it later on, will you have to adjust the cockpit views again to line it up with the screens properly, or will it just be saved from last time?
Hi Pearson, you would have to re-setup the views for each flight, unless you save the flight in windowed mode, with the views undocked and on the screens you want them on. Once you load the flight and switch to fullscreen mode they should be where you want them.
I have a three monitor setup for the FSX, I do get good front view on all the three monitors with surround. But my main instrument panel shows up as a black patch at the bottom of the monitor in a three monitor setup. The main panel shows perfectly good if it is a single monitor setup. Please help me in resolving this issue. All other panel displays are normal in the three monitor display.
Great video. Maybe you have an answer to my question. I have my main monitor and a second monitor hooked up to a single video card using outputs dvi-d and displayport. I know how to drag FSX panels to different screens and how to extend the main FSX view across multiple screens, but I am trying to run FSX on my main monitor in full screen mode and only display Plan-G on the second monitor as a map resource. To be clear I am not trying to split the FSX view "i.e. world view, cockpit, or side views.' I think because it does not open through FSX the second monitor cannot display it, it only goes black like your side monitors. I have been told getting this setup to work is impossible. Is this true? Would it work if I could get Plan-G to open under the Addon menu on the top FSX menu bar like FSUIPC does? Any help is great. Thanks.
west5786 Unfortunately you are correct, this is not possible, the reason is plang is completely separate windows application. When you go full screen in FSX it does exactly that, fullscreens FSX and FSX alone so plang and any other open applications disappear. The only advice I have for you to make this work, is to run Plan on a separate PC. I have used PlanG this way in the past, and it doesnt take a powerful system to run it, it works very well across a network. Hope this helps
So you don't use track IR? it seems like it would not work with Track IR because of how the flow of the monitors is not natural looking left right up down? Thanks for the codes on how to reposition the side window in the screen, if you could post those short cuts or a link to them that would be great I think you've done well but it seems a bit busy to me? but if it works for you awesome.
+Bam Bam (BamBam123) Hi Bam Bam, my problem with TrackIR is it uses ur head movement, so for example if u want to look down in the VC, you move your head down then strain your eyes while your head is down to view the screen. The premise behind this was to create a panaromic view where i can see everything I need to see, by simply moving my head and looking at the other monitors. TRACKIR was just a bit too clunky for my tastes esp with the eye strain of moving your head on direction the moving your eyes back to view the monitors. And yes it is a busy setup by design, as this was built to be a universal sim, for all types of aircraft, so there are alot of functions specific to various aircraft types. Anyways heres a full control list - stridspilot.se/files/FSX_KeyCommands.pdf - see the eyepoint section.
Hi marcondes, you would have to re-setup the views for each flight, unless you save the flight in windowed mode, with the views undocked and on the screens you want them on. Once you load the flight and switch to fullscreen mode they should be where you want them.
I have dual monitors but want to use just one for my flight sim and have the other one available for web browsing, addons and etc but the second monitor is all black and I can't do anything will im in the sim. Any help?!?!
This is only possible when FSX is in windowed mode, when in fullscreen mode it would black out all the the other monitors so that you could display FSX views or panels on those monitors. If you want to use apps outside of FSX you will need to use windowed mode. You can toggle between windowed and fullscreen via the FSX menubar or via Alt+enter
+AIRYADH Hi Airyadh, I took the existing GPS500 gauge and manually edited out the frame and buttons on the frame. As I have separate buttons for all the GPS function they were not needed in my case, so to maximize the GPS ont he screen I removed the frame. If you want a copy of this GPS gauge file with the frame removed I can certianly upload it somwhere for you to download. Let me know.
i have 2 monitors now I have just re-installed FSX and after I have selected the aircarft place and time and it loads it disapears, if i hit exc the end flight folder shows up with end flight, continues flying view flight analysis. Any ideas whats gone wrong?
Thats interesting, sounds like a display or graphics issue. A couple things to look at, first make sure the screen resolution you have set in windows matches the resolution you have set in FSX. Second what happens if you switch to windowed mode after it loads (alt+enter). You may also want to post this over on the flightsim.com forums, there are lots of simmers there who may be able to help, I am also an active forum member.
FSUIPC does have the ability to save input profiles for each aircraft, however it has nothing to do with the views. You can assign the same switch or button in your simpit to different functions across different aircraft with FSUIPC profiles. I dont really use it for this function, but this handy for aircraft that don't work with standard offsets.
Sir, many greetings from Kenya. a detailed explanation. very calm and to the point. thanks i have an 2 issues and have confidence that u may have a solution for me! I hav built a home cessna cockpit with a gud gaming machine....some 4770 8gb wth nvidia 750ti, running fsx se. problem no. 1) the 750ti has only 3 ports. a vga, an hdmi and a dvi. i have a projector for front view, 2 tv screens for side views , a monitor for instruments and a gps unit. all have to be connected to display. do i have to add a gpu? problem 2) how is ur display. if i connect front view to a single tv screen, my graphics are reasonably ok. but when i connect the the projector and the side screens, the runways, taxiways are pixelized and very flickery. pls help. thanks & god bless u!
Hi Zain, thanks for commenting and watching! For problem 1 you will probably need to add a seocnd GPU/Video card to give you additonal video ports to connect to your other monitors. There are also USB monitors available however most of these will not work in fullscreen mode and only in windowed mode. Be sure your motherboard can support a 2nd video card before purchasing one. For question 2, this sounds like it might be a texture filtering issue with the pixelation. Do you run Nvidia Inspector? FSX does a horrid job at managing the graphics settings, now u could try changing your filtering in FSX graphics options. But I run inspector, it basically allows you to override the FSX graphics settings at the driver level and allows you to use graphics settings not available in FSX itself. Heres some more info on nvidia inspector with FSX - www.simforums.com/forums/drivers-nv-inspector-fsxcfg-complete-guide_topic36586.html. Also be sure the resolution you set in FSX is a resolution that is supported by the projector
Pyro Man i sat for long last nyt. got very convinced that xplane11 is a good solution i shall give the nvidia inspector a shot but also thinking much abt moving to xplane11 will keep u posted if u dont mind.
Hi again Zain, yes they are separate, Nvidia control panel comes as part of the video card driver and allows you to change some settings in there that would apply to all apps/situations. With inspector it allows you to use graphic features that dont exist in FSX (its 10years old and there are many features your video card is capable of that FSX cant use as they didnt exist when FSX was created) basically inspector allows you set specific settings that will only apply when FSX is run (or other apps of your choice). For example in FSX you can only go upto anistrophic filtering (1x) with inspector you can go upto 16X among many other features. The link I posted earlier will walk you thru setting it up. As far as XPLANE i have toyed with it in the past, but dont use it myself these days. Have you looked into Lockheed Martins P3D? Lockheed purchased the ESP engine (what fsx uses) and enhanced it even further, more info here on their site - prepar3d.com/ The cool thing about P3D is that 99% of FSX addons work with it! Let me know how it goes...
Do you have to make any changes or special settings that allow FSX to run large across your three screens? My FSX only goes a little over the first monitor and then black.
+Aaron Cook Hi Aaron, yes the FSX.cfg must have the wideviewaspect=true line added, more info here - www.flightsimworld.com/forums/topic/103308-fsx-widescreen/
Hi there, Is there a way of setting up the panels on their respective screens and then locking them there? and then when I restart Prepar3D or FSX, they should start up on those screens.
There is, but its a bit clunky. Theres a vid here on youtube someone did on how to do that. Basically you need to save your flight with FSX in windowed mode, with your views undocked and where you want them. Once you load the flight and switch to full screen mode they should all be where you want them.
Hi Flox, you would have to re-setup the views for each flight, unless you save the flight in windowed mode, with the views undocked and on the screens you want them on. Once you load the flight and switch to fullscreen mode they should be where you want them.
+Kevin Tesmar Hi Kevin, this is a tough question to answer, frame rates in FSX vary wildly depending on many factors, such as the aircraft used, the scenery used, the weather engine and/or weather textures used among many other factors. I limit my frame rate in FSX to 20 as these seems to remove the microstutters. Also note that the frame rate that FSX reports is not accurate at all, you can validate this by comparing with a 3rd party frame rate monitoring tool. Generally speaking in a default aircraft with no scenery (over the ocean) and clear weather (no clouds) I can average around 60 wtih the frame rate set to unlimited. On the other side of the spectrum, in a payware aircraft, at a dense payware scenery like LA or NYC with weather I can be as low as 5FPS. FPS in FSX has been talked about for years with many people doing many extensive tests, a quick google search will show many articles on this topic. I always tell people not to obsess over the frame rate, obess over smoothness, 60 frames per second with mico stutters is not smooth compared to a lower frame rate without microstutters. Microstutters is something else that plagues FSX but once you have your FSX tuned properly for your hardware it minimize it.
Hi, Thanks for the video, as Charlie I have FS9 installed in a laptop with two external screens both HDMI, and I want to see the cockpit view on those external screens and the radios panel on the laptop screen, but when I select fly now the cockpit appear just on one of the external screens and if I try to adjust the size to see It on both screens, I cant do It. What do you think I can do to get It..? Thanks again...!
Hi Erik, thanks for watching. Unfortunatly FS does not allow to just resize your main view over to the additonal monitors to give you a wider view across both. In my video you can see my main view is across 3 monitors but thats due to the matrox triplehead2go, which basically tricks FS into thinking those 3 monitors are 1 really wide monitor. The only way to do this would be to open a new "view" window and dragging that to the second screen, this will just give you a cloned view of what you already have on your main monitor, so you will need to manually adjust the view of the camera using the eyepoint keyboard commands. It may take some toying around with to get both views matched up. But as I said there really is no easy way of doing this as FS wont allow you to stretch the way you are trying. Heres the eyepoint commands - Reset* CTRL + SPACEBAR Tilt down* CTRL + Q Tilt up* CTRL + SHIFT + Q Periscope up SHIFT + ENTER Periscope down SHIFT + BACKSPACE Zoom backward CTRL + ENTER Zoom forward CTRL + BACKSPACE Dolly left CTRL + SHIFT + BACKSPACE Dolly right CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER Reset* CTRL + SPACEBAR
I have an Nvidia GTX660 TI spanning three screens using Surround. In FSX the cockpit display takes up nearly all of the screen such that out of the front window I can only see the super closeup gauges or out of the window, the not both. How are you getting so much view with your triple screen setup? Thanks !
+SkyFive Hello SkyFive, it sounds like you need to add the wideviewaspect=true line into your FSX.cfg. More details on this can be found here - www.flightsimworld.com/forums/topic/103308-fsx-widescreen/ a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=21610
Hi Scott, I currently dont have these gauge panels available for download. I custom make panels specific to aircraft models. Is their a certain aircraft you need a panel for? Also I create these panels with FSPANELSTUDIO (great app). And as a side note to add my panel you will need to edit your panel.cfg for the aircraft you want to add my panel into. Let me know, I can send you one, feel free to contact me via youtube messaging.
Hi again Scot, I dont use the NGX myself, however I do have a standard 737 fullscreen panel that uses some of the default gauges on it. If your still interested send me an email addr and I can send you the panel and instructions for installing it.
you just click on the monitor and you can move it anywhere you want. You click on number 4 and move it beside 1, and then you just move your mouse to the left and not up. I cant believe you can do all that but you are unaware that you can click and move them where you want. YIKES
Jordan, Are you referring to the monitor settings in windows? I am unsure what your comment is referring too. If you are referring to windows monitor settings, yes I am fully aware you can click and move them where you want. The way they are setup in this video fits my needs based on the physical locations of the monitors in the simpit. The reason this is shown in the video is help viewers understand how MY montiors are configured in windows to show how that translates to setting up views within FSX. This video does not touch on how to setup monitors in windows, only FSX. And the reason why I choose to have monitors above or below the main monitors is so I dont have to mouse all the way left to right, its shorter and easier to mouse up. Keep in mind, physical monitors exist in a 3d space, windows monitors only configure on a 2d plane. Also keep in mind im using 2 Matrox units which combines monitors in the windows setup. For example monitor #4 in the windows config, is really 2 monitors, my left and right monitor in the simpit. So if i move #4 to the left of #1, I will have a monitor that is physcially on my right in the simpit but have to mouse left. If i move #4 to the right of #1 then i will have a monitor that is physically on my left but i have to move right. This is due to the matrox unit combining both side monitors into 1 monitor in windows, even though they are seperate and reside to my left and right sitting in the sim. With that said making #4 above #1 suits my needs the best for my setup. This video is more of a how to setup FSX views, and not how to config monitors in windows.
Hi Sammy, The saitek instrument panel comes with several gauges built in as you know. These gauges are coded in XML and many people have created their own custom gauges. This particular gauge I downloaded from simviation, check this link for many addon gauges - simviation.com/1/browse-FS+Gauges-106-0 Thanks for watching!
sammyryan10 The gauges that come with it are very basic - Altimeter Attitude Indicator Airspeed Indicator Compass Turn and Slip indicator Vertical Speed www.saitek.com/uk/prod/fip.html Currently I am not aware of any MFD gauges for these unfortunatly.
Hi Alfred, I use "FS Panel Strudio" to custom make fullscreen gauge panels that are displayed on 2 monitors. FS Panel Studio is a software utility for creating your own panels.
+Wened Hello, the short answer is yes, unplugging and replugging a HDMI (or DVI or VGA) while the PC is on will not have any adverse affect. However windows or your applications may reset or change the resolution of this screen.
Hi RS, the main 3 monitors that show one image across all 3 is done by the matrox triple head to go. This is basically a monitor combiner, more info can be found here - www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/digital/
Setup is nice bro, but your Video Instructions and horrible. All you did was bragged about your setup instead of showing what the title says, FSX How to Setup...
+Akash Colvin Did you even watch the entire video? And the title is "how to setup VIEWS on multiple monitors" and that is exactly what this video covers....
+Akash Colvin Also, my intent was not to brag, in any way shape or form, but as no 2 simulator setups are the same, how can one show how to setup views on mulltiple monitors without first showing how the monitors are physically connected but also configured in windows. The intent of my vids is to help others with their setups, but w/o showing how my setup works first its near impossible for viewers to translate that into their setups. Anyway thanks for watching, but I fail to see the point of your comment.
Pyro Man @akash: ur comment is not polite and hurts. give someone credit for the effort. he definitely did not brag. on the contrary a thorough gentleman in his presentation and definitely sounds to be a cool guy. let us pls be appreciative.
