G3

hello groove, hello germany. not familiar with the ati terminology but should be similar. if anyone has ati info that contradicts the info below please advise as i am only assuming its similar to the nvidia nview method. how to get 2 screens working. setup your windows desktop to cover the entire 2 monitors. choose a resolution your monitors can handle and go from there. typically for say 2 19" lcd's the best resolution is 1280x1024 so your desktop size would be 2x 1280 = 2560x1024 aspect ratio is horizontal divided by vertical, in this case its 1280/1024 = 2.5 enter this info in the appropriate location in the graphics.cfg file. located in the config folder. adjust the aspect ratio in the same way. start the game and when you go to fly it should be full width across both screens, i simply zoom out to make it look as it did on the single screen, just with much more, unfortunately the whole issue is that the join in the monitors is in the way, so three is so much better than two. good luck with it, let us know how you go with the ati card, the implemetation of the multimonitor support might be better from ati....... its so easy to drift off the topic...i do it all to often myself once or if we nut this out no doubt a full tutorial will made up for all to enjoy. at present we are still in the hope it works stage ourselves..... now back to 3 screens please :)

with the spanned desktop across the bottom 2 monitors i have been flying with just the view of the cockpit instruments filling the two screens, learning to use the radar etc and navigate without an outside view, makes you learn those key commands thats for sure. i think editing of the view config files, like jumpview etc could be the key to this setup. ED, any advise appreciated, thanks.

would love a projector and recently considered one, but the running costs are a little off putting where as with the 3 lcd's its a one off purchase that should last for years to come with no ongoing costs. currently looking at an older seleco crt projector like in pubs and clubs, i get to test it out before hand so no worries if its not suitable, i hear they are good images but low brightness with a longer life than the average modern projector. but thats another thread, and site so back to the triple screens........... i had the same issue as mentioned by the guy on the ubi forums but across 2 screens with the f2 view and the info bar, like you said no big deal. it seemed to happen after i changed the fullscreen setting and/or the menu res, can't be sure that was it but thats when i noticed it, as it wasn't like that yesterday. dam, i cannot get access to the ubi forums from due to filtering this end. could we possibly copy and post the relevant info on the subject from the ubi forum into this thread, sorry for the hassle, would be much appreciated. looking at my fx5200 as we type, will be doing some serious testing tomorrow. i found that i was unable to span across 2 screens in dualview mode set thru display properties and not nview, dualview seems to be what the standard display properties sets it to, it was only once i set nview to horizontal span that it semmed to work, this is not good. getting the spanning part set up is the biggest hurdle at the moment, please post your findings and we will pool our knowledge and with any luck overcome these issues..... its nice to discuss this with people who actually understand what i am attempting to do :) look fwd to hearing more............

brainstorm people, thats how we make it happen. i would assume prophet is correct, you would have to use a common resolution, whatever the smallest monitor can handle, edit this info in the graphics config file in the config folder. and as for resolution, prophet is right again, 1024x768 x3 = 3072x768. i think that would have an aspect ratio of 4 the important thing to get right seems to be the aspect ratio i have been trying with 3840x1024 (but only with 2 which = 2560x1024 ) eg: 3840 / 1024 has an aspect ratio of 3.75 aspect ratio. go into the config folder, then look for graphics.cfg and edit away........ from memory you edit the horizontal res, the vertical res and the aspect ratio all in that config. settings like FOV and zoom will be the next things to calibrate, all in good time, with any luck that time is soon :) note 1: to aquire the desired zoom, once in the cockpit i have been simply zooming right out and that gives the same cockpit view as a standard single screen. at present i have only done it with the 2 screens so i am unsure if this will change when adding the third screen, i would say so. ( this too can be manipulated but i am yet to sort that out.) i am very interested to see if the game will allow you to select a resolution as high as 3840x1024, this is the key to happiness :) note 2: i believe any changes made to the in game graphics options will affect your manually edited settings, so once you edit the graphics.cfg i suggest leaving the ingame graphics options alone, feel free to confirm or deny this theory. as for turning off the mini hud, i think that only happened on the 3 monitor pic i took as the side views were just panned views, i could be wrong, its happened before........ ps: evil-scotsman, i do like your system specs, cpu and videocard wise are what i think is my next upgrade path. looking at one of those new a8n32-sli (2x 16xpic-e) and you have to like that ram, would love to hear some more info in reguards to lockon performance on your computer, surely it runs well on that setup, do you run sli etc etc ? i know its all a little vague but let me know if you want any more info and i will do my best to help, as soon as my parts arrive i will be adding my 2 cents and hopefully some working screenshots. note 3: we need someone with editing lua experience, i think there are some more view files in there? i did see some parameters for zoom, they may have been in the config file, but after changing them quite a substantial amount, i saw no apparent change, so here is where we need some advise, from the developers would be warmly welcomed. (its good to see they actually do listen, advise and benefit from community input). note 4: i think where we may hit a snag is getting the triple desktop to be recognised as one firstly by windows and then in game. if you can get display properties to show all three monitors on a row then we are in with a good chance of the game liking it too. edit: fx5200 has landed :)

i wasn't aware of the 6800 in a pci version, must check that out. as for lcd prices, they are getting seriously cheap these days even 8ms or less can be had for a good price, i guess its all relative, theres always your birthday :) soon we will know if this kind of setup is possible, i understand the hardware is a little mismatched but its essentially only for testing purposes :) once its a confirmed success :) (fingers crossed) , i'd say the sli 7800gtx setup would be the way to go. the anticipation is killing me ......... but i guess thats half the fun.

howdy witchking and for anyone else interested. here's a pic across all 3 screens @ 3840x1024x32 (3x 19" lcd). thats is the result i am after, this image was just a fake setup, starting the game on each pc and then adjusting the view to suit. so far its working with the tracker across 2 monitors, but as i said the join of the screens is in the way and thats not acceptable. as soon as the fx5200 pci card arrives i will be doing my best to get this sorted and to get all 3 screens workking together, i look forward to seeing that. i just can't emphasize how awesome it looks compared to a single screen.

this is an ongoing attempt to get lockon across 3 screens...... and working with the trackir device. after having limited success running 3 monitors on 3 seperate pc's connected across a network results have been less than impressive. i have for now focused on 3 screens from one computer for lockon. after seeing some promising results of running lockon across 2 monitors fed from the one videocard, i wish to try and add a third monitor and span the view across all three monitors powered by only one computer. (with only two, the middle of the 2 screens is the join and blocks your view horribly, 3 monitors will provide a clear middle view). i have read unconfirmed reports that this will infact now work on an sli nvidia setup with the cards not in the sli mode, powering up to 4 monitors. unfortunately that hardware is not yet on my desk :) wether or not all monitors can be spanned, all showing one third of the view is the question? hopefully the answer is yes, and wether its just driver support remains to be seen. many people say that you cannot achieve an nview span across more than two monitors, and this may well be the case, we will see. i have seen all three monitors working together, it has been on an older nvidia setup using a ti4600 agp and a fx5200 pci, i will be attempting the same thing with a 6800gt agp and an fx5200 pci. note: the advise was to forget about the nview software, setup the 3 monitors in the winxp display properties and leave it at that, then modify the config files in the games to suit. on games like quake 3 it is a simple matter of modifying the config file to match your desired resolution height and width along with a few other settings such as disabling full screen mode and adjusting FOV for example. this provides a full 3 screen wide view of the game, truely a site to behold. as for lockon what i have seen so far is looking promising: in the graphics.cfg file you can manually setup lockon to display the appropriate resolution across 2x 1280 giving a resolution of 2560x1024x32 and adjusting the aspect ratio to suit width divided by the height. 2560/1024 =2.5 this gives a much improved view of the surroundings and when fully zoomed out the cockpit appears to look the same size as standard single monitor view but with a whole lot more to see on each side. ultimately the perfect result would be spanning the view across all 3 monitors giving a horizontal/vertical resolution of 3840x1024x32. aspect ratio of 3.75 from what i understand a game will attempt or offer to display in whatever resolutions are available to it, in lockon once i modified the config to the 2560x1024 i saw other options including dual display and triple display in the graphics options within the ingame menus. this is encouraging i thought. so if xp is happy to accept you have a desktop 3 screens wide, then with any luck by adding the 3rd video output from the one pc thru the use of the pci fx5200, maybe just maybe we will see lockon spread across all 3 monitors. i would be most greatful to here from anyone with an sli setup, or an agp/pci combination like mine who's willing to attempt this idea, i can happily assist with the config mods if needed. if this is the go with the 2 powerful cards in non sli mode on a pci-e motherboard, we should be in for some fairly acceptable frame rates and i believe may become rather populat amoung simulator enthusiasts like ourselves.

can we please discuss the possibility of displaying the main instruments of the cockpit on a seperate monitor, either thru one pc and a dual output videocard, a second videcard in the same pc, or even better across a lan to another computer altogether. as it stands you can currently zoom in on areas of the instrumentation by using the numberpad "ins" + "1 to 9" and this gives a close up of individual areas such as the tews, pacs and vsd. this would allow for the placement of monitors in homebuilt cockpits, similar to the glass cockpit displays you see for msfs2004. ideally we could have the entire cockpit instrument panels displayed across 2 additional monitors horizontally sitting next to each other below the main viewing screen. even if it was just a full screen of tews, pacs and vsd, one at a time and toggle-able to select which one you want to view on what monitor, oh yeah that would be sweet :) see the rough example below: nnnnnnnnnnnnnnj_()_ ------------------------------------------ ltttttttttttttt monitor 1 ttttttttttttttttttttttl lnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnnnmain viewing window nnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnnnnwith trackir vectornnnnnnnnnn l l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl lnnnn perhaps a nice new dell 24" :)nnnnn l l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ l nnnnmonitor 2nnnn ll nnnnmonitor 3nnnnn l l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnll nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnVSDnnnnnn llnnnnnn TEWSnnnnnn l l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnll nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnl l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnll nnnnnnnothernnnnnn l l nnnnnPACS nnnnnnll nnnngauges etc nnnnl l nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnllnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn l ------------------------------------------ this would be an awesome way to create an achievable glass cockpit. allowing you to clearly see the gauges at all times even in the thick of it. lets say monitor 1 is a 24" dell lcd, monitor 2 & 3 might be 2x 15" lcd's. hopefully this will spark someones imagination @ ED.

as promised, just set it up for the occassion, hope you like it :)

update, tonight i saw lockon across 3 monitors, looking good. still much alignment to be done, but it does look nice. will post screenshot asap, currently fixing others but will have it sorted soon for all to enjoy. what i need is someone well versed in manipulating cockpit views. the big question??? is it possible to get into an opponents cockpit view in multiplayer??? so that you see from their eyes, the same as in your own cockpit (f1 view) when you view others in multiplayer using F2 its all good, but once you hit F1 you return to your own plane, i would like the key command to remain in the opponents cockpit, please advise if you can in any way, thankyou.

evil-scotsman, glad to hear you are on the same wavelength. i can only assume my pic is there, as i am blocked at my end and cannot view images. as for the testing i have done, its basically just trying to manipulate different already available views, my knowledge on modifying lua's etc is non-existant so i would say that not all avenues are exhausted just yet :) if only i could get into the other planes cockpit and manipulate the views from there................... is there someone in particular at ED that we should be speaking with, that is a known guru in this area? ps: interesting to here about the il2 series though as i am a big fan of them too, actually its the flight sim that got me back into it in the first place. but now i cannot leave lomac alone, here's fingers crossed then :)

update: F-15 lockon screenshot @ 3840 x 1024 :) lately i have spent some time flying msfs2004 across 3 networked computers, not in multiplayer but to produce a single view across all 3 monitors in the horizontal plain, using an addon called WidevieW, along with another addon called widefs for instruments. configurable up to as many monitors as you care to add, these programs takes care instrument views and of the pitch angles etc for the side screens to be aligned properly. basically giving you a left front view, front view and right front view, in an arc shape approx arm length giving a field of view of around 100-120'. its amazing to look at with all 3 pictures moving together. i am a huge fan of lockon and have been flying it continually for approx a year, i have been experimenting with this idea for lomac but without success. it would be easily achievable if i could just get into the cockpit of another player, this way you could just run a multiplayer game and set the side screens to view the middles screens player, just viewing it with the appropriate left and right angles. i did read somewhere that you can jump into another players cockpit but can no longer find the information, this would be a great start to get a multiple screen cockpit happening in lomac. ED if we could get some information about the possibility of something like this it would be greatly appreciated, by many i am sure.

i have been using lomac with trackir3pro and found it most enjoyable, lately i have been experimenting with msfs2004 and it has me thinking. i offen have a hard time looking at my cockpit gauges/instruments and after flying the bell jetranger in msfs2004 i thought it would be a good idea to have a dedicated screen just for gauges. i want to place all the instruments on a seperate monitor and leave my external view just to lookaround so the instruments are always there, on a monitor below my external view monitor/s. i saw a rather crued version that supported a few gauges, it was a very simple looking layout, but the idea was there. take msfs2004 for example: with the use of some 3rd party software you can move the instrument panels/gauges to a secondary monitor on the gaming computer or a seperate networked computer, this way freeing up the view on your external views monitor. could we please discuss the possibility, of having lockon be able to move the instrument panel view (keypad ins would do) to a seperate monitor and being permanently displayed. or an instrument panel that takes up a maximised window (full screen), ideally it would span 2 monitors to show all instruments in say the f-15. this would be awesome and a dedicated pc with a dual head videocard could easily handle the workload. i understand there are lua files and others we can edit so i would assume it to be in one of those or similar, ED please assist if possible, thankyou. maybe some pics will help the idea get moving.