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martinlest2

FSX on 2 screens. Anyone help please?

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Although my PC is a couple of years old now it still has a pretty good spec and runs FSX at good frame rates (and FS9 like the wind). The reason I hardly ever fly FSX, although I have it installed on the same PC as FS9, is that I can't get it to run properly on two monitors. Unlike in FS9, where I run FS on one screen and FSNavigator on the other, in FSX, when I go into Full Screen, the 2nd. monitor goes black. I therefore cannot have PlanG on the other screen to see where I am going. (Not sure how MS saw this as an 'advance' over FS9, but it's a bit late for all that of course!).

 

I use a little bit of software called FS-SIMtimizer, which runs FSX in windowed mode, but with a black border of just one pixel - which would be fine, but this is still windowed mode and in windowed mode FSX kind of ripples, like a flag in a breeze at worst (at best, the scenery 'catches' or tears, especially the sky as you pan round - hard to explain but I guess many will know what I mean), as you pan in Spot view, which kind of ruins the point of FSX for me: I use it for things like Aerosoft Antarctica and so on, which I buy for the scenery.

 

I would love to have the ORBX England, Wales (and soon, Scotland) but with the screen rippling as it does it is not worth the outlay. Has anyone got any ideas on this? I did post some time ago about the problem, but there may be other/better alternatives/workarounds now?

 

Thanks!

 

Martin

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Hey Martin if both screens are runing on the same Vcard try  runing FSX in windowed mode that way you can drag PlanG to the second monitor .... thats the way i do for any other nav software ..


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But it's windowed mode that causes the tearing and 'catching' effect. The graphics are SO much better in Full Screen (which I much prefer anyway). As soon as I go to Full Screen mode the 2nd. monitor blacks out.

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VSYNC TWEAK – WINDOWED MODE

 

If you are a windowed mode user (multiple screens for example), then you will be please to know there is a “fix” for Vsync in the windowed mode.

Previously, when Vsync in windowed mode was activated in FSX.cfg per ForceWindowedVSync=1 line, the FPS would always run at refresh rate dividers… 60, 30, 15… meaning, it was never able to run 25fps, or 23… from 30, if system could not maintain, FPS would drop to 15. And that led to quite a lot of stuttering. There is a fix now: after FSX has been started, an Aero restart is required, which in return fixes the normal Vsync operation in windowed mode.

 

To enable Vsync in windowed mode add following to your FSX.cfg:

 

[GRAPHICS]

ForceWindowedVsync=1

 

To restart Aero, there are more possibilities, choose yours:

 

1) manually – quit dwm.exe (task manager, Desktop Windows Manager), it will restart itself, and Aero will be enabled

 

2) create a batch file containing:

 

@echo off

start “” “E:\FSX\FSX.exe” (insert here the link to your FSX.exe)

net stop uxsms

net start uxsms

and run it. FSX is going to start, Aero is going to get started after FSX, and voila…

 

3) elegant solution, through FSUIPC (only works with registered version):

 

a) create a batch file containing:

 

net stop uxsms

net start uxsms

 

B) set the FSUIPC to run the batch file automatically, edit the FSUIPC.ini and enter:

 

[Programs]

Run1=HIDE,”E:\FSX\Modules\FSX.bat” (insert here the link to your FSX.bat)

 

This solution is going to do everything silently. No CMD popup windows, only visible Aero activation.

 

Reference post:

Link

http://#####.wordpress.com/fsx-software-and-hardware-guide/

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Hi. Thanks a lot for the reply, but I don't quite understand what you mean by "If you are a windowed mode user (multiple screens for example)"..  As I say, I always run FS in Full Screen Mode and in fact hate running either FS9 or FSX in windowed mode: in FSX, that is what gives me this 'rippling' effect in the scenery and sky as I pan. In full mode, all is fine (apart from the black 2nd. monitor!).

 

So is what you advise not for me then, as I am not a 'windowed mode user'? I do have a registered copy of FSUIPC by the way..

 

Martin

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Thanks for the links.. 

 

DoubleJ, I guess you meant that I should try this when using FS-SIMtimizer? Sorry for being a bit slow to follow, if so. I'll try the suggestions tomorrow anyway. (I did try the ForceWindowedVsync=1 tweak before, with no effect, but I'll try again. I have a different GPU now and new drivers, so perhaps...).

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OK, here is what I did:

 

1. I already had this entry in my fsx.cfg file, so didn't need to change anything there...

 

[GRAPHICS]
ForceWindowedVsync=1

 

I also already had the line 'DisablePreload=1' in the [Main] section, so I left it.

 

2. Set my FSX profile in nVidia Inspector with these parameters (in the 'Common' section), for full screen 'tearing':

 

Vertical Sync Smooth AFR behavior: On  (can't see any difference in the sim, having turned this on)

Vertical Sync Tear Control: Standard

Vertical Sync: 1/2 Refresh Rate

 

I tried to apply the frame rate limiter in nVidia Inspector to 30, but that seems to have no effect. Had I misunderstood?

 

3. In FSX I set the max fps to 30

 

4. I made a batch file which kills DWM.exe (it restarts immediately of course) - I run this when FSX is up and running. I only have the registered FSUIPC for FS9, not FSX...

 

The result is pretty good. I get 30fps OK. Panning is not as smooth by any means as in FS9, but I don't seem to get the effect where different parts of the screen pan and slightly different rates, leading to that 'billowing flag' effect. I have only done a few flights to test, so will post back with any further comments. Thanks for the input.

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Martin -

 

I'm having the same problem on a similar system. I have three monitors... two high resolution monochrome monitors are on one video card and the main color display is a Nvidia 660 Ti GTX. I too want Plan G on one of the monochrome monitors and FSX in full screen mode, but the monochrome monitors and anything displayed on them go black when the main color monitor goes to full screen in FSX.

 

Please repost here if you find a solution and I will do the same....

 

Scott

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The above does work for me, as I just posted.

 

However, one 'bi-product' of this fix is that closing down dwm.exe and restarting again after FSX is running (as instructed) means that Aero is up and running along with FSX. That shouldn't happen. Usually Aero is automatically disabled when FSX starts, with a message saying it is incompatible with features in FSX. The two don't run well together (Aero diminishes performance in FSX according to Microsoft).

 

The batch file suggested immediately restarts Aero (dwn.exe) as soon as it is stopped. Shouldn't Aero only be restarted after FSX is shut down?

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Shouldn't Aero only be restarted after FSX is shut down?

 

As best I understand it, Vsync in FSX-Windowed mode will only work properly if Aero is running. See post #4 above which explains it pretty clearly.

 

You cannot achieve adaptive Vsync in FSX-Windowed mode if Aero is off. All you will get is Vsync in which the fps gets halved (30 to 15 to 7) rather than 30 to 27 to 25 to 23, etc. In other words, when Vsync is called and Aero is on you will get the best possible fps rather than losing half your frame rate.


- Jev McKee, AVSIM member since 2006.
Specs: i7-2600K oc to 4.7GHz, 8GB, GTX580-1.5GB, 512GB SSD, Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System, FSX-Acceleration 

 

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You cannot achieve adaptive Vsync in FSX-Windowed mode if Aero is off.

 

OK, well if that is true, that clinches that, I'll keep Aero running. The overall effect, as I say, is nowhere as smooth as FS9 (though my fps is fixed at 30, and that's what I usually get), but the tweaks have much improved things.

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Having been able to get rid of the dreaded tearing effect as I pan has given FSX a new lease of life as far as I am concerned. I've flown FSX more in the past couple of days than in the past year, and am going to 'invest in', er OK, buy, the ORBX England scenery to celebrate! Thanks again for the posts.

 

Martin

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