Hello from British Columbia Canada

[Conair]

Hello All! :cool:

I am new to mycockpit.org and the Aviation world. I work for our IT department and I was assigned this project to research and and build a Flight Simulator using Microsoft Flight Simulator X. The purpose of our simulartor is to be to train new pilots on arieal fire fighting.

I have researched around the web and seen a lot of amazing simulartors and gathered up great ideas. My main problem now is getting started.

Below is my required specification :D
9x – 19” Monitors (If we can do 9x that would be great but depending on the limitations of FSX we may need to do 7x only?).
1x for the forward view (3) monitors
1x for the left (2) monitors
1x for the right (2) monitors

Do I need 2, 3 or X computers to run this enviroment smoothy? I've read around and I am a bit confused on the number of machines required to run this environment. :?:

Mainboard: Evga/Intel X58 SLI
Graphics Card (ATI Eyefinity 6)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 (3.06GHz Quad Core)

Any feed back and tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and great to be part of this community. :D

Thanks,
Conair IT

[Crescent]

Hi Conair. I recently built a new computer similar to yours for my Lancaster project. I'm running a 6870 card which can do 3 displays at once and I have a crossfire mb, so I can add another card to link up to six monitors. I believe with yours you can do six on the one card, but no more. I think you would only need two computers to run what you want, but not 100% sure how you link the two computers.

Just an FYI, if you get another computer with a ati card that only allows three monitors you will need to get a dvi to displayport (or mini displayport) adapter and it has to be active, not passive. I had to order one, so if you need any info give a a shout.

Here's a basic setup guide: http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-eyefinity-technology/how-to/Pages/set-up.aspx

So what you want to do is totally possible....as I say from probably two computers, but how you link em up is something I have not tried...there are people on this forum that have done this though. Btw, have you hooked up with Shawn at http://wildfirepilot.com/ ? He's out of Kamloops Fire Center doing the same thing and I'm in Kelowna. Good Luck.

[Conair]

Thanks Cresent for your reply and information. Yes- I have emailed Shawn from Kamloops and he has been great in offering his knowledge and assistance on FS building. I am looking forward to meeting him and viewing his FS in Kamloops one day.

The minimum monitors Conair would require is 7. I am leaning towards 2-3 computers after doing some research. How do you find your 3 monitors working for you and your team so far? Do you have a seperate instructor computer setup to monitor the trainee's progress?

I will keep you updated on our progress on the FS. Thank you again for offerring your assistance. I am excited to get this project off the ground. ;)

[Crescent]

As it is right now, the sim is just for myself. Although I do fly for a helicopter company here in Kelowna (Northern Air Support) and would love to set up a sim to use for training with firefighting. With helicopters though, it's not a big part of our annual training....we just sorta deal with it on the job. You guys on the other hand have a much more difficult job with regards to timing your drops etc. You miss with a bucketload in a helicopter and you just go get another hehe. Not so easily done with the bombers.

That been said, I am looking forward to flying with Shawn and others using a helicopter to add in with the mix on some training missions. Anything else, please let me know.