Dual Monitor for VC...how to do that?

[neu]

Hi there!

I'm new to the site, and glad to be part of the community I fly fs2004 with several add-ons, but I was not able to figure out of there's any way to use my two displays for the cockpit. I don't mean one cockpit view, and some instruments on the other, but using both displays for the cockpit, or virtual cockpit. I'd like to have this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2TmdqPbVU
I think it would be really cool with track IR

Please don't tell me that I should buy the Triplehead2go from matrox, I have only 2 displays, and probably it will not change in the future due to room limitations

Any help would be highly appreciated, I'm really frustrated that I couldn't find out how to do this

Greetings, neu
www.deploymentproductions.com

[ctjoyce]

Sorry buddy but you need a Matrox. Basically the computer sees the matrox as only one display, so says "I'll set all my graphics rendering power there" Then the unit itself breaks the display three ways and you get that beautiful view. When you just expand your desktop over two monitors the video card knows this, and only renders the game on one monitor and not the other so as to balance system load. Not even a SLi or crossfire setup would work, because the second cards display out ports get turned off because its rendering the bottom half of your main screen.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I know thats how the world works.

Cheers
Cameron

EDIT: Just to let you know, Matrox also makes a dual head system http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/p ... l/home.php

[neu]

Yeah....unfortunatelly it  sounds reasonable....I didn't know that there is a dual version as well, it's definately good news anyway!

Thanks for your help!
Greetings, neu
www.deploymentproductions.com

[JSpahn]

Trying to render any 3d program on a dual output card will really bring down performance. Yeah the Matronix dual head would be the best choice

[fabiane]

You mean like this:
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 195081855/

Done without any Matrox Hardware.

The only problem you have is, that you're goning to have the plastic in the middle of the two screens.

Other than that works fine, brings down the Fps, but depends on your system / card of course.

Plug one monitor via DVI, the other via VGA, or the other DVI depends on your card, set the resolution and you're done.

Cheers,
Fabian

[neu]

Yes, but how to do that? I did not manage to make it. Is it an FSX feature or it can be done in FS2004 as well? Actually that's what I'm looking for in the first round, but I have no idea how to achieve it. What's the trick?

Greetings, neu
www.deploymentproductions.com

[fabiane]

Ok, if I understand right you've conected both screens but you don't know how to get them working in FS?

rightclick on desktop, porperties and then enable dualview / display on both monitors. Depends on your card (Catalyst for ATIs, Nvidia Control center for Geforce) - in the display properties. If you see the taskbar in both monitors and the mousepointer moves from one screen to another - good, 1st step completed!

Start whatever FS version you want and set screen resoltion. I used 2560x1024 that time. Remember when flying in 2d panel mode the panel will look strange, because the panel won't fit the new acpect ratio properly.

Fly and have fun, that's it.

Cheers,
Fabian

[neu]

Thanks Fabian, this is what we figured out as well here....shame on me that I did not remember this!
Thanks for your help!

Can't wait to try it at home, especially the framerate

Greetings, neu
www.deploymentproductions.com

[fabiane]

So, does it work?

[neu]

Yes it does Though, with this in mind, I'm not completely sure what the dualhead2go is good for

Thanks guys, I leave to fly now!
Greetings, neu

[fabiane]

Maybe if you have only one output.

But the plastics in the middle went on my nerves, so I have a clue why 3: No plastic in the middle.

Glad I could help,

Cheers,
Fabian

[neu]

Well, the plastic in the middle is really disturbing indeed, especially as I have CRT's But the good thing, that I fly PMDG 737NG, so I "sit" on the left, and with Active Camera I can position myself to a location where I have clear view, and the plastic is approximately at the same place by default as the windowe frame of the plane. Also I use TrackIR so it helps a lot as well....

Maybe later, if I win on the lottery, I'll buy 3 LCD's with the matrox stuff...that must be killer, but for now, I'm fine with this "free" solution

Thanks, neu
www.deploymentproductions.com

[ctjoyce]

The dual head is a much more system friendly piece of hardware. Doing what you are is putting a lot of stress on your video card, because you are trying to render a huge resolution. The Dual head takes the signal from your PC which would be the normal desktop resolution you would want, and blows it up onto two monitors. Basically you get a bunch of desktop landscape, but the computer thinks is only one monitor, so its much more system happy experience because you can crank up your settings to the max and still see happy frame rates.

Its also used for SLi Crossfire systems where you loose the ability to do multiple monitors in game because the cards are dedicated to just producing one high class image on the one screen.

Cheers
Cameron

[neu]

I see...thanks for explaining it!

[macca22au]

And if you can afford the Matrox dual head then think about the Triple Head2Go.  

I am set up with three 19" screens running off the DVI, through the Matrox box (dead easy to set up) which gives me a phenomenal 3840 pixel width even though the computer thinks its still rendering at 1280xx so the resolution is high.  

I then attach a fourth screen to the other outlet of the video card, and I can then park the GPS, ATC, other screens on that.  The new digital version has an easy utility to align across the three screens to enhance the realism.

The new big monitors still only give 1920 width, or else you have to sit in front of a Plasma monster which would destroy my old eyes.  So the Matrox THG is a cheap and effective alternative.

I could never go back to one screen.