saving multimonitor setup

[Drewsta]

Hey guys, I would love to know how you can save a setup on multiple monitors so that when I restart flightsim it will automatically go back to that display. At present I start with the windows undocked and then move the primary instruments across to another screen, leaving the engine and radios on the middle screen. Once this is done I switch to full screen and hey presto! However when I restart Fs2004 I have to repeat that whole process. Is there a way to avoid this?

Thanks
Drewsta

[Trevor Hale]

Don't switch to full screen mode.

Undock your windows and place them in the right position. Save your flight.

and the next time you open your flight the windows will all be where you left them.

Best regards,

Trev

[Westozy]

Don't switch to full screen mode.

Undock your windows and place them in the right position. Save your flight.

and the next time you open your flight the windows will all be where you left them.

Best regards,

Trev

Trev is right and I always start FS with the same flight before switching airports. It works good with my PMDG based sim.

Gwyn

[rottenlungs]

Thanks for the tip. This really bugs me too.

One question, Trevor: if I don`t switch to full screen mode I have the ugly windows border around all my views during the flight, even if I choose 'Hide menu bar'. Are you saying I have to run the entire flight in windowed mode to avoid losing instrument panel positioning, or just to save the flight in windowed view, then load it and switch to full screen?

Cheers

James



Don't switch to full screen mode.

Undock your windows and place them in the right position. Save your flight.

and the next time you open your flight the windows will all be where you left them.

Best regards,

Trev

[Polmer]

I have the same situation, in that I save the set up in windows mode, but not in full screen mode. The problem is that If I stay with the windows mode; I do not have AA or AF and the graphics dont look nearly as good as in full screen mode.

There is a Utility available at the Level-D site which claims to save and recall multiple monitor setups, but I have not had luck getting it to work. I think the program was meant for FSX, and I am currently running fs2004.
Here is the thread which is found on the Level-D Member download forum;


Polmer


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Try this, works great!

This is the post from AVSIM MSFSX forum.

Will help Level-D drivers with second monitor panel setups.



"A software to save your panel position" Sat Sep-01-07 03:52 AM

Hello

I've made a little software to save and recall the panels' position an size.
It works when you use Fsx in Windowed mode and with undocked panels, and should help the users with multiple monitors.

How it works :
There are two applications, one for saving the position/size and another one to recall it. It saves one panels setup per aircraft.

Download "Panel Position" here :
http://www.casawave.fr/upload/fsx/Panel_Position.zip

- Unzip it in a folder
- Open Fsx in windowed mode
- Open the panels you need, undocked them, and place/resize them the way you want.
- Launch "Panel Store.exe" and wait a few (2 to 5 secondes)

Move, resize the panels or load/create a flight.

- Open the panels you need (undocked)
- Launch "Panel Restore.exe"

The size and the positions of your panels will be recalled.

More details :
When you execute "Panel Store.exe", it scans all the open windows, keep only the panels, and store their name, size and position in a .ini file. The .ini file name should be the aircraft name but I noticed it could be different with some addons.

When you execute "Panel Restore.exe", it search the aircraft name, scan for the .ini file that match and move/resize the panels if they are opened and undocked (otherwise the software can't do anything).

When you launch "Panel Store.exe", and if a corresponding .ini file is already created, it will delete it and create a new one.

Tips :
Create a shortcut for the two .exe, and assign a free keyboard shortcut.
For example : Ctrl+Alt+F11 to save and Ctrl+Alt+F12 to restore.

All comments are welcome.

Best

** As suggested by the author I used :

Create a shortcut for the two .exe, and assign a free keyboard shortcut.
For example : Ctrl+Alt+F11 to save and Ctrl+Alt+F12 to restore.

Make the shortcut on your desktop then right click on it, select properties, the click on the "shortcut line, then hit the "key combinations you want .. they will automatically "fill in" on the line.

That's it! Now from "inside" FSX you just do youe key combo to save or restore per above instructions!!

IMO, the author did a a work of art here for us!



Stéphane Péneau
Casawave

[Trevor Hale]

Thanks for the tip. This really bugs me too.

One question, Trevor: if I don`t switch to full screen mode I have the ugly windows border around all my views during the flight, even if I choose 'Hide menu bar'. Are you saying I have to run the entire flight in windowed mode to avoid losing instrument panel positioning, or just to save the flight in windowed view, then load it and switch to full screen?

Cheers

James


Nope what I am saying is this.

Open up your windows in window mode. Safe the flight and exit flightsim normally.

Then after you load your flight and the windows appear in the right spot, then switch to full screen mode.

I am just telling you that you have to save the flight when your in window mode.

You should be good to go :)

[Michael Carter]

I do something similar.

When I have FS open to the default 727 flight, the instrument panel displays over the forward view. When I go to window'ed mode, I undock and go back to full screen and the instrument panel jumps into position.

[warvet]

Yup,
I do exactly same and it works great. :)Another suggestion is save multiple flights say your favorite 10 starting locations in Myflts in windowed mode then just select 1 and voila all settings are there ready to go.

Tim
A340
Canada

[rottenlungs]

Gotcha.. Thanks Trevor I`ll give it a whirl tonight

Cheers

James



Nope what I am saying is this.

Open up your windows in window mode. Safe the flight and exit flightsim normally.

Then after you load your flight and the windows appear in the right spot, then switch to full screen mode.

I am just telling you that you have to save the flight when your in window mode.

You should be good to go :)

[Drewsta]

Just a quick thanks again for all your replies to this thread. I will try also what has been stated here to see if it works. :smile:

[Drewsta]

Well it definately works!! I loaded flight sim then switched to window view (turned off full screen/ ALt ENTER). I loaded my aircraft and panels, then undocked them and moved them to the correct screens. Once they were on the correct screens I switched back to Full screen dragging and expanded them to fit the entire screens. I then just switched back to windowed view and saved the flight. The interesting part next caught me out until I finally worked out what was happening. When you next load your saved flight you will find all the panels loaded on the one screen. Switch to windowed view first before loading your saved flight!! Then onced your flight is loaded click on the front panel you can see and undock it. Then the panels will automatically fly across to the appropriate screens in undocked mode ( they probably wont fit the whole screen at this stage). All you have to do then is go back to full screen and voila....panels will expand to fit the screen and are in exactly the right place and in full screen :)) Thanks to all who helped me work this out.!! All I need now id TH2GO and a projector and I'm halfway there :)

[Kennair]

Thanks Drewsta,

There has been a lot of talk about this reduction in functionality over at Avsim with Stephane's little app being the only work around apart from your listed manual procedure. Phil Taylor was unaware of it til just before the release of SP2 however the resolution never appeared in that update. It's a big setback for cockpit/multimonitor builders particularly since it works fine in FS9.

Ken.

[jytte]

I don't know if this might be computer specific in some way?

Cause it works fine for me with FSX - no need for extra software (running TH2G w 5 monitors).

I did the normal routine: Opened the desired flight in windowed mode, opened my GPS, then undocked and moved the panel and GPS to the two lower screens, then saved the flight (still in windowed mode).

When I start FSX, I can load my flight, and it pops up IN FULL MODE (if I exited FSX last time that way), with the panel and GPS positioned on the lower screens where I want them. And by the way, it also retains all other settings I had, like zoomed out/eyepoint position.

One IMPORTANT note though: you cannot resize the panel/gps before saving the flight, it makes FSX go nuts when you try to load it again(??). So you still have to do that when you reload, but that's a minor issue.

PS: I'm on win XP

I just installed FSX on a brand new PC, and I dunno if there might be some issues or other with other PCs??