FSX and Wide Screen Monitors

[kmanning]

HI all,
I don't remember what year FSX was released but I'm trying to remember if wide screen monitors were avaiable at the time of FSX release. The reason I ask is because in the FSX.CFG, there is a line that allows you to set Wide Screen Aspect=False or Wide Sreen Aspect=True, depending on if you're using a wide screen monitor. It's said that if you're using a wide screen monitor, this should be Wide Screen Aspect=True. But the problem with that is that the ouside view in the 2D panel is very opaque, or very distorted. When you press the W key in the 2D panel, the view is correct. But notice the airspeed and other gauges at the bottom and how oblong they look after you press the W key. Appearently, these guages were designed for the normal 4:3 monitors. When you use the side views in 2D, there's also no distortion and the view looks correct. The outside view is very distorted and opaque only when you're looking ahead in the 2D panel. Now, if FSX supports wide sreen monitors, then why is this distortion so prevalent? I was thinking that the bitmaps were not for wide screen monitors but only for the normal or 4:3 monitors. But since the side views look correct, I'm not sure. I'm just having a hard time trying to understand why this opaque view is so prevalent in the 2D panel and why Microsoft hasn't released a fix. So, what I do is set the Wide View Aspect=False and adjust my monitor for the aspect ratio of 4:3 so that view is correct. Does anyone know if there's a fix and if Microsoft is going to release a fix? I really prefer the Wide Screen Aspect=True but not if it's going to distort my view.

Ken.

[SAM Hunter]

kmanning:

I really don’t know about the setting you’re talking about but I’m running on a 32in LCD Samsung widescreen TV on a HDMI connection. I’m got my display settings at 1280X960X32 and have not had any problems with the distortions that you have described. My system settings are posted with my signature; see if your system can handle a later model monitor. I film at 1920X1080 HD settings and have not tweaked or modified the settings with-in the FSX program itself…Check-out any video that I have recently posted to see how my gauges are showing… You might want to check your video card if you’re having distortions with your gauges…

Respectfully:

David…

[mallcott]

Ken please review the sticky about asking for assistance.

There is absolutely no possibility whatosever fo MS fixing your issue they long ago disbanded the FSX team. The Prepar3d team might have a look at it, but as it a problem reported only by you, the suspicion must be it's something unique to your system, setup or inappropriate use.

[PAULCRAIG]

Have you tried adjusting the screen resolution in the FSX settings menu? FSX>Settings>Customize>Graphics, it will give you a number of different screen resolution options. I have my screen resolution set to 1366x768x32 & have no problems with distortion.

[kmanning]

Hi Dave, mallcot, and Paul,
I'm going to try to answer each of your posts one at a time.

Dave,
The settings I'm referring to are in the FSX.CFG file. I'm not sure what version of Windows you're running. If it's Windows 7, the fsx.cfg file is found at: Users, Your name, AppData, Roaming, Microsoft, FSX. Open the FSX and inside you'll find a file named fsx.cfg. Do not open the one that says fsx.cfg.text. Open the fsx.cfg file in Notepad and scroll down until you see Display. Continue to scroll down until you see Wide View Aspect=False. If you have not changed anything here, by default, this will be set at False. This is way you're not seeing any distortion. Change that to True and save the file. This is supposed to be set to True if you have a wide screen monitor. Now go and fly in the 2D panel view and you will see the opapue distortion I'm referring to. I'm not talking about the panel itself. I'm talking about the view as you're looking outside. The objects will look much farther away than what it did. Your monitor resolution will have nothing to do with this. Let me know if you see the opaque distortion or if you need help. You can alway change that back to False.

Mallcot,
This problem is not only reported by me. When I came upon this problem, I visited AVSIM.com and the problem has been reported by many. The problem is not something unique to my system nor inappropriate use. If you haven't already, follow the instructions above and let me know if you see the opque view in the 2D panel. Remember, I'm referring to the outside view as you're looking out the window, not the 2D panel.

Paul,
Yes, I've tried those but the resolution has nothing to do with this problem, although it may affect it in some way. If you want, follow the instructions above and you'll see the opaque distortion I'm referring to.

Ken.

[JSkorna]

Ken,

Do you mean gauges that are not perfectly round on your screen or that are somewhat see-through?

[kmanning]

Ken,

Do you mean gauges that are not perfectly round on your screen or that are somewhat see-through?

Hi Jim,
Well, it's true that if you have a wide screen monitor and you're sitting in the Cessna 172, for example, the guages in the 2D Panel will not be perfectly round, and if you press the W key, you'll also notice the guages at the bottom of you screen will not be perfectly round. My monitor allows me to set the aspect ratio to 4:3. At that setting, these gauges are perfectly round. But this is not what I'm referring to. If you have one of the PMDG airliners or the Level D 767, load one of them and put yourself on the runway. Make sure the Wide View Aspect=True in the fsx.cfg file. You might want to check your zoom and make sure it's set at 1.00. Now while stting in the 2D Panel, look outside and you'll notice that the objects look farther away and it's very opaque. If you taxi the airplane slowly and just make small zig-zag turns, you'll noticed that the center view look sqeezed and the edges are stretching out as you're turning or as the outside view is moving, in other words, as though you were panning the camera. But when you press the W key, the outside view no longer has the opaque look. That's the best I can explain it. But when you try it, you'll see what I'm referring to. I can post a screen shot if this forum has a way for me to post it.

Ken.

[Mark Hurst]

I'm talking about the view as you're looking outside. The objects will look much farther away than what it did.

The view outside is 'distorted' because it is zoomed out further, that's all. WideViewAspect affects the available zoom range (in the real world we'd say focal length) of your 3D view, including the default zoom setting. In my experience its only purpose is to let you zoom out far enough to see the instruments in your virtual cockpit (i.e. nothing to do with 2D panels). You don't need it unless you are using an ultra-wide aspect ratio (e.g. 4:1).

[kmanning]

The view outside is 'distorted' because it is zoomed out further, that's all. WideViewAspect affects the available zoom range (in the real world we'd say focal length) of your 3D view, including the default zoom setting. In my experience its only purpose is to let you zoom out far enough to see the instruments in your virtual cockpit (i.e. nothing to do with 2D panels). You don't need it unless you are using an ultra-wide aspect ratio (e.g. 4:1).

Hi Mark,
The Wide View Aspect=True is for wide screen monitors and most of them are 16:9. Yes, it looks as though it was zoomed out to about 50 or less but you have this distortion when your zoom factor is set to 1.00. You can set the front and side views to a zoom factor of 1.00 and the only view that will be distorted is the front outside view. This is the problem that has been reported. Even in the virtual cockpit when you zoom out to see the instruments, there is some distortion, and the more you zoom out the more distortion you'll have. When I want to fly in the 2D mode, I want the view to look like it does in FS9 and not look like I'm looking through a Curved lens. So, I guess I'll just have to leave the Wide View Aspect=False.

Ken.

[Mark Hurst]

The Wide View Aspect=True is for wide screen monitors and most of them are 16:9

If you fiddle with the WideViewAspect flag, my observation is that the behaviour of FSX is not significantly different whether you have a 4:3 or a 16:9 monitor. (The fact that you have decided to leave it at False with no obvious penalty would seem to testify such.) In other words, it has no use for this purpose.

I don't know how you have arrived at your assertion that WideViewAspect is 'for' 16:9 monitors. 16:9 monitors were around when FSX was introduced and FSX displays its 3D views in the correct aspect on any monitor, and yet WideViewAspect is undocumented and is not switchable from any of the settings dialogs. Hence WideViewAspect is for something else. In my experience setting WideViewAsepect to True is essential for 4:1 displays with a TH2GO or nVidia 2D Surround. I assume it was introduced as a fiddle factor when people began using high aspect displays.