Majestic Dash 8 Q400 Help Please Problem with flickering cursor

[aviator70]

Hi, I have just purchased the Majestic Dash 8 Q400 but am having problems with some of the views and have been unable to fly it so far.

I am using FSX steam edition with a three-monitor setup 5760 x 1080 x 32 using Nvaida surround with a GeForce GTX970 graphics card,

The problem starts when using the A key to change view. Although there is distortion in some views on the 9th press of the A key the bottom halve of the screen go’s black and I get a flickering ring on the cursor which will not go away. The FPS also drops.

I have tried amending the screen size in Window 00 from 1.000, 1000 to 0.333, 1000 but this has had no affect.

I am not that computer literate so cannot start making major changes like changing positions etc. without being given the information to type in.

So I was hoping someone in our flight-sim world may have a panel.cfg file that would help with my problem and that I could copy?

Thanks for your help

[evm]

This is the spinning mouse cursor of death. It doesn't happen in windowed mode, right? The sim is trying to stretch a 2D panel larger than one screen, leading to an error message, which cannot be displayed either, leading to an error message... and so on. Your computer is busy displaying error windows that it can't display.

 

Changing the size of the Window00 panel should be the right thing to do. If you post all the lines from that definition (only Window00), we can advise what changes are needed.

[aviator70]

Ok, Sorry for delay in replying. This is the Window00 as is :-

//--------------------------------------------------------

[Window00]

//file=cpt_panel_24.bmp

Background_color=0,0,0

size_mm=1680,1050

window_size_ratio=1.000

position=7

visible=1

ident=MAIN_PANEL

window_size= 1.000, 1.000

window_pos= 0.000, 0.000

gauge00=mjc84_main!MainGauge, 5,751,129,93

gauge01=mjc84_main!CptPanel_gauge, 0,0,1680,1050

 

When I did amend the first number of the window size to 0.333 this did

open a window on the left monitor, but the bottom of the centre and right

monitors were still black and cursor still flickering.

I also tried completley deleting the window00 but this had no affect.

 

Thanks for your help

[evm]

I had this problem with the PMDG MD-11 and FS2Crew. The FS2Crew app opened the 2D panels automatically, so the freeze could happen any time.

 

I only changed this, making the 2D windows really small:

window_size= 0.25, 0.10

[aviator70]

Thanks for your suggestion, I Just tried it but it had no affect, the bottom halve of all three screens still go black and the flickering circle starts.

[evm]

The bottom half will always stay black, that is the standard 2D cockpit view.

 

Unfortunately I have trouble testing it, my MJC Q400 keeps crashing on me. Try to set all pixel sizes to only half their values 1680,1050 = 840, 525 (size_mm and gauges) to make them smaller too.

 

Edit: got the dash back up running now. I also have 3 screens at full HD in Surround mode and I can confirm the mouse cursor problem in 2D cockpit view. I then applied the above change to the Window01 too, and I cut the pixel sizes of Window00 and Window01 in half, that fixed it.

 

[Window00]

//file=cpt_panel_24.bmp

Background_color=0,0,0

size_mm=840,525

window_size_ratio=1.000

position=7

visible=1

ident=MAIN_PANEL

window_size= 0.1, 0.1

window_pos= 0.000, 0.000

gauge00=mjc84_main!MainGauge, 0,0,129,93

gauge01=mjc84_main!CptPanel_gauge, 0,0,840,525

 

//--------------------------------------------------------

[Window01]

//file=cpt_panel_24.bmp

Background_color=0,0,0

size_mm=840,525

window_size_ratio=1.000

position=7

visible=1

ident=MAIN_PANEL

window_size= 0.1, 0.1

window_pos= 0.000, 0.000

gauge00=mjc84_main!MainGauge, 0,0,129,93

gauge01=mjc84_main!CptPanel_gauge, 0,0,840,525

 

Not sure if the pixel resize is necessary, but my FSX is very unstable and prevents me from investigating further.

[aviator70]

The only reason I switch to the 2D view, is that when using the “A” key to go through the various views, you have to complete the cycle to get back to the original cockpit pilots side view and it is the last view (press 9 of the key) that causes the problem. Using the “shift + 1” keys also gives the same view with the same result.

If I fly in window mode (which is only one screen) I have no problems but this defeats the object of a three-screen experience.

Is it possible to remove this view from the panel.cfg ? I did remove window00 from the cfg but this had no affect.

[evm]

If you set the views to the values above, then the blocked mouse cursor will be cured.

 

You could try to add "CycleHidden=true" to the default cockpit definition in cameras.cfg, but AFAIK you cannot remove the 2D cockpit that easily.

 

Instead of cycling through all cockpit cameras, you could use the default simulator hotkeys to jump to specific camera views too. Unfortunately they are not all set, and you would have to add them yourself to the desired camera definition in aircraft.cfg. Search for "Hotkeyselect=" in that file and add that line to the camera views that you want to access but which don't have it. The number behind the "=" is the hotkey, and you can assign these events in the controls dialog of FSX.

[aviator70]

Have only just got to the computer today and just tried your latest suggestions. I have made the changes to the cfg file and it has cured the flickering cursor when using the “A” key.

The flickering cursor now only appears when using the “Shift 3, 4 & 8 keys” the other shift keys work fine, so think I can live with this. But if you can think of any thing else please let me know.

Thanks for the time you have spent on this and all your help, which is very much appreciated.

[evm]

Setting

 

window_size= 0.1, 0.1

window_pos= 0.000, 0.000

 

on all 2D panel definitions (Window.xx) usually does the trick. But that makes the panels very small in the top left corner. If you want to use the 2D panels, you will have to find the correct size. Slightly below 0.3, 0.3 probably (you have three screens, so setting the size to 30% should limit the panel to a single screen, avoiding the spinning cursor.