3 monitor setup MSFS 2020

You just can’t do that now. I’m not sure how wide the FOV will go on a single display (or in your case a single display surface across three monitors) but it’s definitely not 180 degrees. Zooming back may help a little, but the sim just doesn’t do this. Yet.

A true 180 degree display will only be possible once there is multi-monitor support in the game, which may be as early as SU10 but I think more likely SU11 or later. And we don’t know how bad the performance will be with multi-monitor when it comes.

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Thank you Neil and it doesn’t appear the VR is any better even with a $2000 Varjo VR headset as well.

To me, it still looks really big on your screen compared to my 5760x1080 setup.. double check in msfs graphics options, that the game is also running in 5760x1080 and 100% scaling.

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What @Clockstopp3r said. Also, check your Windows desktop scaling. MSFS draws its UI according to the desktop scaling percentage, and by default Windows increases this at higher resolutions. By the looks of this screenshot I would say you might have it at 200% or even 300%. It needs to be 100%. You can turn High DPI scaling off for MSFS specifically in the application properties (right click the icon, select properties and go to the compatibility tab) if you want to leave it higher for the desktop.

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Initially it was set at 300% by the system and I dropped it down to 150%. So I know it isn’t at 100%.
Thanks for your insight

Michael

Wow! I cannot thank everyone enough. I came home and changed the scaling to 100%.

Windows was set at 5760 x 1080
Nvidia was set at 5760 x 1080

But the Microsoft FS 2020 Simulator was set at 1920 x 1080.

The results were breath taking as I literally felt like I was coming in at my local airport and could see to turn left base, then final.

Thank you to everyone and maybe an old dog can learn new tricks.

My 1st computer was in Apple in 1979. I started opening them up in 80 to tinker on my Apple 2 On Prodigy internet in 84, 85. Built my first system in 1990. On the superfast Roadrunner internet that


came out in 1994. Learned HTML code and website building by 97,98.
Technology has grown so fast, so I appreciate your insight as I don’t live, eat and breathe it like I did 20-40 years ago.
But at 55, I am still a 20 year old at heart.

Thanks again everyone

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That’s awesome! I have triple 43" myself, and love being fully surrounded when I’m flying. The sides are still a bit stretched, and I should be able to see my wings/ leading edges when i physically turn my head, but it’s still very immersive. Can only hope someday MSFS fixes that part.

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Does anyone have any recommendations for brand and type of monitor to use for a 3-monitor setup in MSFS? After seeing examples of the new multi-monitor capability of MSFS, I want to invest in a more immersive experience (If and when MSFS is stable and if it works on the new generation of CPUs and GPUs coming out this fall).

I’m considering investing in 3 monitors that are:

  • about 30 inches, I don’t really need larger
  • Curved to maximize the wrap around immersion
  • 2K resolution (2560 x 1440)
  • 144 Hz or faster
  • 1 ms response or better
  • AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync capable (are these necessary?)
  • anti-glare

A quick search reveals that not many curved monitors have both AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync - I assume I want both in order to have flexibility of choice when it comes to GPU? If the monitor only has AMD FreeSync but I have an NVIDIA RTX GPU, I assume there is then no native sync (and does it matter)?

I plan on 60 degree Field of View on each, with the screens angled accordingly, for 180 degree view.

I found these 2 videos to be the most informative on how to plan a set up:

Russ Barlow, life-long pilot

Jon from BuildPicker on what CPU, GPU and RAM resources MSFS actually uses, and what it doesn’t

If you want curved monitors then I assume you want a smooth curve, so that restricts the angle you can have between your screens (they need to be congruent at the edges). I don’t think you’ll get 180 degrees of physical FOV that way because no curved monitor is that curved. If you angle them beyond the degree of curvature to each other, then you’ll get some visual distortion because the surface is curved but the rendering is for a flat surface.

Were it me, I would not be going for curved monitors, I’d be going for larger flat ones (or ideally TVs) large enough to truly surround you so that the 180 degree FOV is entirely immersive (ie you look left, you see the view you’d expect to see looking left in the cockpit, and similarly on the right).

Also remember that the way multi-screen works now, your eyepoint needs to be directly facing the centre of each screen when your head is turned to face it. If not, things won’t line up visually. Whether you’re comfortable with that distortion or not is up to you, of course. Many 3-monitor setups have the eyepoint for the left and right screens much further back than that because the screens are relatively small and you can’t sit that far forward, and you can’t compensate for that in MSFS in the current multi-view because there’s no ability to translate the view frustum for each screen, you can only angle it.

Some people swear by variable refresh rate. Personally I’ve never owned a VRR monitor, I just run with vsync on at 50%. I guess decide on your monitors before you decide on your GPU, if you can’t get one that supports both VRR standards. For my own money, NVIDIA beats AMD every day of the week and twice on Sundays currently, so I’d prioritise G-Sync since I know I’m only buying NVIDIA GPUs. But that’s my personal preference, just like I prefer Intel CPUs for single-threaded performance. Though the AMD Ryzen 7000 series looks like it’ll reverse that trend again.

Just my $0.02, though, so take it all with a pinch of salt!

Because I intend on using Russ Barlow’s suggestions (as a start) of each monitor having a 60 degree Field of View, and then the physical monitor will be 120 degrees from each other (per photo), I want curved glass just to lessen the reflection of one monitor off the other where the bezels meet, and even a slight curve will make each surface a more consitent distance from the eye which I think helps slightly with the immersion.

This is Russ’s diagram of 60 degree field of View with 3 flat screens (green) and I’m going to try 3 curved screens (red) - although not as large as his.

He has a calculator that allows you to choose screen size, FOV, angle and shows you distance. When I set up 3 monitors that are 32 inches with a suitable table I can sit at it like a desk and be the correct distance. I’ve got all that figured out. Now just looking for the best brand / model.

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Gimbal I’m curious if you moved forward with the curved monitors. I was thinking about doing that too until I saw Russ‘s video. Thanks Russ for the video I was going with three 32” inch monitors and I’m trying to figure out if it’s better to go with a straight/flat monitor or curved monitor. I heard Russ talk about distortion with the curve monitors but I figured with a 32 inch curved monitor I could find one that’s not super stretch. I’m not totally sure about all of this which is why I was curious what you were doing.

I have a limited space in my office and I’m pretty sure three 32” inch monitor is all I could fit. I guess something else that just occurred is it’s probably way cheaper to get three 4K 32 inch TVs then it is to get 4K 32 inch monitors. I’ve been wanting the best rig to run MSFS for a long time and I don’t want to skimp on bad equipment.

Yes - a year ago I bought a 32" curved 4k monitor for £289, a month ago i bought three 50" 4k tv’s for £249ea They work well with MSFS

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No I haven’t yet. Maybe next year.

I think he suggested that MSFS draws the screen expecting it to be flat, so it’s possible that if you had a long straight line like a road, spanning 2 monitors, you might get some warping because of the curvature of the monitors (more so if the monitors have smaller radius curves).

For example, if you set 2 flat monitors at 60 degrees from one another, they are at 60 degrees… but if you then replace them with 2 curved monitors in the same relative position, the angle where the bezels meet might only be 50 or 40 degrees, depending on the curve radius. But this is a hypothetical problem - I haven’t actually tried it.

Russ Barlow discusses the question briefly in a new video:

Having looked at lots of other people’s videos, it looks like the immersive effect of 3 properly configured flat monitors is great, so I probably won’t bother with the expense of curved ones.

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So I am trying to create a setup that consist of 3 x 32" monitors. The monitors are not angled in a circle around me as most people seem to be trying to do. Now that may work in a single seat plane setup but if you like I spend most time in a commercial plane then it simple looks to strange to me.
I previously used Nvidia surround but I hate the bars around window - kills the immersion effect for me.
Also Nvidia surround is not very effective fps wise. Simply to much running in the background that is not switched off the same way as in a full screen program.
So does anyone have a working receipt on how to setup FS2020 like that?
For future upgrades I am also considering using the monitor from my music streaming platform as a 4th monitor above the center monitor in my current setup. Why? Well simple as that monitor is a touch monitor. Now I know that I can connect up to 4 monitors on my 3090 that I currently have but question is if that performance hit would make it a better idea to add a second graphic card in stead.
Would love to get feedback on botrh.

Thanks!!

It was fairly easy to set mine up…

The three screens are all identical, that helps, mounted at exactly the same height, the angle at the two joins is 65deg but could vary a fair bit but not 90deg as the gap to get in is too small and claustrophobic.

The sim is then set as one 4k screen in centre and two 2k screens on the sides - 2k is plenty for peripheral vision and helps the FPS. The sim ‘windows’ are set at 90deg to start with - regardless that the monitors are at 65deg. Next set the main zoom, height, left/right sliders to 50% and forget them.

In the cockpit use the camera controls to define a new cockpit VFR zero view and save it, i also saved it as a custom view as well. Get your height right using the balls if the plane has them - note you will not see the cockpit instruments unless using TrackIR - I added two small touch panels and AirManager software

Then using the window settings adjust the roll and lateral view sliders a tiny bit to tweak the fit of the lines on a runway etc. NOTE - the head height is critical, the view with windowed monitors will only be correct with head in one place. Remove the ‘zoom’ mappings from the mouse scroll wheel as any additional zoom will wreck the alignment.

Adjusting the previous 90deg setting will tweak the bezels of the screens out of the view - only tiny tweaks for this, mine is something like 88.7deg

It takes a little getting used to but the effect is stunning.

Hey Gimbal

Just wondering if you’ve made a decision yet on what monitor setup you plan to use. I keep going back-and-forth but at the moment I am seriously thinking about getting an old lead from LG their C2, which is basically the same as the C1 or CX seems to help make the flight simulator. Very breathtaking. I haven’t had much luck in finding out how the other LCD or QLED monitors handle night imagery, especially around airports. I saw a screenshot of an OLED TV that was amazing with obviously no blooming. From all the reviews I’ve seen I haven’t read any real positive reviews of 32 inch monitors with good local dimming. To me at this time I feel that I am OK with the slight to moderate risk of an OLED burn-in.

So yeah man I was just curious what you were leaning towards. I know a 3-32 inch monitor set up would be pretty immersive, but I think a large 48 inch screen with track IR could be pretty good too. I think.…

I’ve been searching far and wide on the internet and the forums and I can’t seem to find any information on the current development of multi monitor support. Did Asobo do an initial release and dropped further development? Is there a feature request thread somewhere about expanding the options?

I’m building a home cockpit and my design doesn’t allow me to change to 3x 55” TV’s
So I have to move forward with 1x65” & 2x32” but I’m afraid to get disappointed with the outcome with the current state multi monitor support is in.

I would really like to be able to follow any development on this front. Is anyone able to point me in the right direction?

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Question for the group. I have gone all in with 3 55" TV’s hooked to 3070TI graphics card. With the new multi view setup in MSFS I can get the front and right TV working great, but when adding the third it appears to come up behind the front monitor, it will not use the left TV. I can use that TV for my desktop, my mouse can go all the way around from the left to right.

Has anyone else seen this? Is it many the monitor numbers? (The middle one is 1, right is 2, left is 3, maybe I need to reorder?)

Have you extended the desktop to the left display in the Windows settings? It sounds like maybe you did this for the middle and right but not the left.

Its not the numbers, mine are 1-3-2 and its fine.

You only add two windows not three, start with the sim in single screen mode with the display on the front-centre screen. Then add one window, set it to “Windowed” mode and drag it to one side screen. Then add one more window, “Windowed” ad drag it to the other side.

Now mouse into either side and press Alt-Enter i think, and it should maximise, do same for other side.

Now you can go into experimental again and set the rotations to 90deg and -90deg for each side, experimentation will show which is which.

I’m not sure of what resolution you were hoping for but the best is likely 2K-4K-2K note though that my system with a 3080ti really struggled to give decent FPS. You could try 2K-2K-2K maybe.

And as mentioned above, make sure you “extend” the desktop to reach all 3 screens in windows display settings first.