Rear View Mirror

[RAFAIR100]

Has anyone figured out a way to get a rear view mirror to check that all-important 6 o'clock?         I've tried a head-on view in a spot plane view window but your own aircraft gets in the way

[Dan]

I would say a clever bit of XML but thats not supported. A Gauge (*.gau) programmer might be able to do it.
Dan

[Hagar]

You could try a rear view in a new window. Shift + Num Pad 2 should lock the view although this can be a tad tricky. The window can be resized & repositioned where you wish. There are several problems with this method. It's not a proper "mirror" view which I find disconcerting & the seat/rear cockpit bulkhead still blocks the direct rear view. The extra window can affect frame rates just when you don't need it & the window is visible in all views.

I think there's a way to reposition the rear viewpoint in CFS2 with a Panel.cfg entry but I forget how it's done. I'm not sure this would work in CFS1. I find that panning views with the POV HAT is still the best method for checking your six.

[Dan]

The old 'Simpler is better' approach is it Doug? lol....
Dan

[Hagar]

The old 'Simpler is better' approach is it Doug? lol....
Dan

Right Dan. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is my motto. The least complicated you make it the less likely it is to go wrong. This works for everything in life.

[Padser]

~S~

I've located these panels by Mike Eustace here on SimV - CFS2 F-82 Twin Mustang Panel (Radar & Pilot) - http://www.simviation.com/cfs2panels11.htm

They recommend the new window set to rear view method - you simply create a new window, set the view and then place and resize it to coincide with the mirror area on the panel bitmap. As Hagar has mentioned, this window is likely to be visible in all views, so you'll still see it when looking left and right, etc.

When I was first flying CFS1 offline I went through a stage of flying in Window rather than Full-screen mode and placing extra windows around the central program window to give me rear, right and left views, etc.

It didn't last long... it was a pain in backside to set up and ultimately proved less useful than simply looking with the POV...

Best of luck with this - I doubt that a properly functioning rear-view mirror of the kind you mention is really possible in any of the CFS versions. How useful it would be though, eh?

As Hagar suggests, there is a way of setting up a POV view to function as a rear view mirror in CFS2 panel.cfg files. I've not tried this, but it could be worth experimenting with.

Have a look at the AF=Midway aircraft from their very good Midway campaign packages - available from here (I think) and also at Netwings (hem, hem...). The way they create the illusion of a virtual cockpit is by using bitmaps and so-called 'fixed windows'. Open up one of their panel.cfg files and you'll see what I mean.

I am sure you could use this approach