I’m currently running three monitors. I have a 21" center monitor, and matched pair of 17", one each side. I run the sim windowed and stretched to ~3000x1000 out onto the side monitors. I use the outside half of each 17" run LNM and a couple of other programs. Sure, the image is a little distorted around the edges, just like my peripheral vision is in real life, but that’s what “Pan” is for.
I’m also running it all on a Ryzen 2700+ w/32Gb ram, and a Geforce GTX 960. I consistently get 24fps at mostly medium graphic settings. Scoff all you want, but I’d like to show you a Commodore 64 running SubLogic Flight Sim from a cassette tape on a 21" tube television as a reminder of how far I’ve come.
WardoMon52 - Wow, you go back a ways, as that Commodore, was my first wish for gift back in early mid 80’s. Also had IBM Desktop 1st Generation I got free someplace as technology moved way beyond that. My first one was Compaq, which HP gobbled up. Built all my desktops after that, and may do so again, one day. Currently using ASUS ROG Laptop, and it can through powered hub power three monitors, just need to find them cheap. Not sure of configuration for them, so it’s all up in air now. Suppose, next year going to get new monitor and use this one as second. Not sure the resolution wont cause issues. Decisions! Asobo, move multi-monitor support up on your priority list please, as that is way more important to me than VR, and even the USA Update you have scheduled.
Also, suspect serious upgrade to the graphics engine of this SIM/Game, because why just make it so it can support multiple monitors, so again, as that happens, some older Graphic Cards we now use are going to become obsolete, as they just won’t be able to handle the data load. I upgraded early on my Laptop by about a year, and if that Sim upgrade causes me to be sort of left in the dust, not sure I am going to play the chase the ball game for it. It’s too expensive to buy new machine, or build TOL unit, just to have it eclipsed in 12 months. Unless I win Irish sweepstakes, big, won’t be able to afford to do it more than every three years, so possibly lots of people get left in the dust so to speak.
Interesting, that for a racing sim (moving on a surface - 2 dimensions) multi monitor support is deemed essential, but for a VFR flight simulator where peripheral vision is a must (and the pilot is moving in 3 dimensions), it is not deemed essential.
I shudder to think of all the money we’ve spent upgrading our systems … new CPU’s, Ram, high end graphics cards and SSD and M.2 hard drives - just so we can handle the demands of multi monitors and an amazing sim… only to find out the required features were never there in the first place. Very disappointing.
My case exactly: 1070Ti replaced by 3070, RAM upgraded from 16 to 32 GB. Additional Windows 13" tablet with external 10" touch display to allow 2 touch screens to run AirManager 4 and display my instruments. Just to be ready to run 3 1920x1080 (5900x1080 with bezel correction) displays. 3070 makes limited sense for one 1920x1080 display, so currently I still have three, placed in one flat row with nVidia surround. But this can’t be compared to the proper setup with individual views defined for left and right.
Another shame in MFS2020, you can’t have full external view, without cockpit. The devs are probably in love with the cockpits they produced with all the buttons meticulously rendered, some not much functional, so they can’t imagine somebody may prefer to have separate displays for the panels and more screen estate for the external view. So I was forced to move my eyepoint all the way forward, just behind the windscreen to be still able to see rain effects. But such position is not natural, especially when you pan left right.
You also can’t move your glass panels together with their buttons to external touch displays.
At least I have now great performance in Project Cars 2, offering native support for side displays.
If I had written a list of items I would deem essential in a flight simulator, this would be one of them.
What almost everyone wants is the feeling of immersion, whether ground crew behaving correctly, ATC showing some common sense (descent angle of 45 degrees, really?), AP/instruments responding correctly, taxiways which are not obstructed by a main road, less intrusive taxi ribbons, etc. The devs certainly have an awful lot of tidying up to do.
It’s funny how they have the category description to this “Home Cockpit Builders” forum as:
“This category is provided as a place where sim enthusiasts interested in constructing anything from a simple cockpit replica in their home/office to a mega motion-based simulator in their garage.”
In reality it should say:
“This category is provided as a place where sim enthusiasts interested in constructing anything from a simple cockpit replica in their home/office to a mega motion-based simulator in their garage (with one screen).”
Yes, I am pretty sure Asobo aren’t saying. We’re just going to wait a year or two and turn the multi-monitor support switch on.
It takes time to develop stuff. I’m sure that the multi-monitor crowd are a fairly small subset of the simmer crowd. Otherwise it would have been more a priority before. That is what development is, prioritizing features based on popularity and difficulty.
You can always tell who is a pioneer. by the number of arrows they have in their back!
The video posted above explaining SMP, is very exciting. Does anyone know the timeline for introduction? Nvidia is saying very soon.
Once out I would assume the existing two simulators would upgrade.
As for Asobo/Microsoft, it would seem stupid not to start with SMP.
With one million copies sold in the first 6 weeks, this cash-cow generated sufficient revenue to put a new development team on this kind of a project. (Between $50 to $100 millions in retail income.) Sales would increase with commercial and professional pilot education as well as the serious Simer, which would by in large, justify additional investments.
In my estimation , the commercial market can generate much more money then a VR gaming market that is today still in its infancy.
They could have selected a large time window to see how many request this feature - so keep those VOTES coming in! It may move them to get it done sooner rather than later!
I must be ancient 