REORIENTING THE OUTSIDE VIEWS ON THE CLIENTS


All the commands used to perform this task has been removed from WidevieW and everything is carried out by editing the "panel.cfg" file of the aircraft in use on the client (it is usually located into FS's \aircraft\my_aircraft_name\panel). Toward the bottom of the file, you should find something like this:

[Views]
VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=3.0,0.0,0.0

In order to reorient the view, just change the last digit to the desired view angle, for example 45.0 (note the 1/10th degree of precision !), then save the panel file and select that aircraft from FS. Positive numbers rotate to the right, negatives to the left. If the above lines are not contained in the panel.cfg that you are using, you can still copy them from the default Cessna or Lear (avoid to type them directly to prevent errors) and they will work.
In addition to view's reorientation, adjusting the zoom factor can be still required in order to properly make a "continuous line" between the monitors. This task can be performed from FS's view menu and saved in the startup flight. Finding the proper view angle and zoom setting is VERY system's related and may require several hours of work and a lot of experiments.

 

INSTALLING THE MONITORS

In order to have the views properly aligned, with the horizon forming an "ideal" line on any pitch / bank angle, it is extremely important to meet the followings conditions:

1) The monitors should be placed on a solid and flat surface, all at the same level
2) The monitors should be of the same size --- or better --- of the same brand / model
3) The resolution and refresh rate should be the same
4) The size of the external view's window must be identical on the monitors (for example full-screen everywhere)
5) The angle formed between the monitors should meet the actual view orientation used in FS (for example, if 45 degrees is selected in panel.cfg, that monitor should be placed at a 45 degrees angle from the front view)
6) Your head should be in the "center" of the cockpit and if you have a panel.cfg configured to 90 degrees, you should actually rotate your head of 90 degrees in order to see that monitor.

Of course this is the ideal condition (my cockpit is configured like that).
Usually there are no problems if the things are more-or-less adjusted.

 

EXAMPLES ON HOW TO CONFIGURE FS:

Configuration 1, Three clients with full-screen outside views
Front View - just set the zoom to 1.2
Front-Right View - set the zoom to 1.2 and the view_forward_dir to 3.0,0.0,45.0
Front-Left View - set the zoom to 1.2 and the view_forward_dir to 3.0,0.0,-45.0

Configuration 2, Five clients with full-screen outside views
Front View - just set the zoom to 1.2
Front-Right View - set the zoom to 1.2 and the view_forward_dir to 3.0,0.0,45.0
Front-Left View - set the zoom to 1.2 and the view_forward_dir to 3.0,0.0,-45.0
Right View - set the zoom to 1.2 and the view_forward_dir to 3.0,0.0,90.0
Left View - set the zoom to 1.2 and the view_forward_dir to 3.0,0.0,-90.0

 

INTERESTING VARIANTS
Wide(R)vieW - A configuration idea by Gerard Salden

The following idea can be used to make the cockpit larger.

Normally you have to choose between a projector or a WidevieW setup. The nice thing about a projector is that it can fill the whole view for 2 pilots and WidevieW couldn't, because of the angles of the monitors. You would need about 35" monitors to make the circle wide enough to accomodate 2 pilots !!! But using video projectors you loose the side views... unless you buy 3 or 5 projectors... so, how to find a solution for this dilemma ?
As you can see normally, the monitors are standing in an angle of 45 degrees... but... why not change the amount of degrees to less then 45 ? For example, for a five monitors setup, the "panel.cfg" files could be set from 0.0 to -45 , -22.5 , 22.5 and 45 degrees.

The only additional thing you have to do is change the ZOOM in your View / Options . The more monitors you add the higher the numbers for the zoom, but also the more real the view will be. The max you can do is about 7 to make an half a circle. So now you can make the monitor setup wider with each monitor you add and for cockpit-builders there will be enough space for sitting in it instead of sitting in front of it. With 4 monitors it is wide enough for the cockpit of a ltitle commercial plane and with 5 or more monitors it is wide enough for the cockpit of a real big commercial plane like the 777 or even the 747. And with this way you zoom in on the scenery , making it larger and even more realistic. With 4 monitors the runway is starting to look as a real runway and with 5 monitors it looks almost as wide as a real one.

The zoom factor can be calculated as follows:
Angle of the monitors towards eachother X zoom = 56.25 ...... example :
angle between the monitors = 30 degrees ----------> the zoom will be 56.25 / 30 = 1.875 , so it will be 1.85 or 1.90
angle between the monitors = 45 degrees -----------> the zoom will be 56.25 / 45 = 1.25

Please note that sometime it is necessary to add or subtract 0.05 from the resulting zoom factor.
Just try on your setup and see what happens...

To better understand all that above, take a look at the pictures, where distances (metric), angles and zoom factors, are clearly indicated.

Amsterdam on short final, a spectacular Wide(R)vieW example

Drawings and picture by Gerard Salden


INDEX