Disappearing IFLOLS Gauge - SOLVED - 3 Monitor issue

[Tregarth]

Sludge,

I am now starting to fly your manual Basic Hornet v Charlie, it is very good.  But I have noticed the following odd effect.

If I start FSX, choose the Sludge Basic CF-18A and start it off, if the virtual view has the blue FSX title bar showing, using Sh+KB6 the IFLOLS shows (as do the Fuel and PLAT Gauges), the cursor is the normal "Arrow".  

But, if I use Alt + Enter to go to full screen view the cursor becomes a flashing wheel and Sh+KB6 does not call up the IFL, nor does Sh+4 call up the Fuelling gauge and Sh+7 does not call the PLAT.  Reverting to title bar view has no effect, the cursor stays as a wheel and the IFL , Fuel and PLAT gauges do not appear.

If I start FSX in full screen view the cursor starts as the flashing wheel and neither the IFL, Fuel nor PLAT appear.  Reverting to title bar view has no effect.  But, if I restart FSX in "Title bar" mode all the gauges function.

All the other gauges (i.e. radios, GPS, HUD panel) appear as expected in both "Full screen" virtual view and "Title bar" view.

It maybe I have to fly in "Title bar" mode, but is there anything which can be done so I can fly in "Full screen" mode?  Is the flashing cursor wheel significant?

Keep up the good work!

Thanks,

Tregarth

[Sludge]

Tree...

Right off the bat, I'd say something isnt working right in FSX... meaning you are getting "stuck" when you switch screen modes.  Change the flight to full screen mode, hit ESC, END the flight.  Restart FSX and you should be able access all the gauges and functions.  IF that doesnt work, send me some pictures with labels, so I can try to figure this one out.

Later
Sludge

[Letourn]

Tregarth,

what is the resolution of your screen...are you using multi-monitor system?

[Tregarth]

Dear Sludge and Letourn,

Thanks for your replies.  I am using Win7 with a 3 monitor set up driven by a digital TripleHead2Go.

I started FSX and selected the Sludge Basic CF-18A; the sim started in "Title Bar" mode (TB). I  then used Alt to find the Menu Bar (MB) and selected Full Screen (FS).  The display went black and re-appeared in FS mode.

Using Sh+5 the GPS appeared with the arrow cursor but Sh+6 made the cursor become a flashing wheel and no IFL appeared.  Back to MB, changed to TB, cursor still a flashing wheel and no IFL.

As Sludge suggested, in FS mode used ESC, ended flight, closed FSX and restarted, selected Sludge F-18.  Sim starts in FS mode with arrow cursor, but Sh+6 gives flashing wheel cursor and no IFL.  Going back to TB mode still shows flashing cursor and no IFL.

If I start FSX in TB Mode the cusror is an arrow, Sh+6 calls the IFL and the cursor remains an arrow, Sh+4 calls the Fuel gauge with an arrow cursor and Sh+7 shows the PLAT with arrow cursor.  I now have all 3 gauges on the screen together and all is OK.  Going to FS mode wipes all 3 gauges from the screen and converts the arrow to a flashing wheel.

Does using the TH2G have an effect?

Also, Sludge for info, I copied your IFL code (as you told me how to) into Dino's T-45 and the works perfectly.  The wire trap info is missing, probably because I did not also copy the Trap files over, but as I am still flying both aircraft round El Centro this does not matter.

Brilliant work,

Thanks,

Tregarth

[Sludge]

Tree...

Will try to meet up on Skype and I can talk you thru setting everything up and doing some troubleshooting once I release the "fixes" UPDATE.ZIP for v1.2 CHARLIE.

Glad you got things working decently enough to get by for now.

Later
Sludge

[Letourn]

Tregarth,

its the resolution of your 3screens all the gauge are create for normal resolution like 1920 X 1080.

You are using probably 3 times that resolution with you 3H2Go. Some gauges work others dont and you get the flashing mouse pointer and slower FPS when loading them. Reload another aircraft for a temp fix.

You will need to resize the panel gauge that dont work reposition them. I havent install the Charlie yet but i can help you when i get home tonight with resizing the general gauge or can send you my old panel cfg and you will understand what need to be change. But Sludge is the one with the final solution because those gauges include a lot of stuff.

Let

[Tregarth]

Dear Sludge,

I look forward to hearing from; please tell me when it will be convenient.

Tregarth

[Tregarth]

Letourn,

You are right.  My actual resolution across three screens is 4320 x 900 i.e the resolution of 1 screen is 1440 x 900 but I have 3 so the x direction resolution is 4320.

I have messed around with resolution of the IFL gauge previously; if you can give me a pointer about how to scale the current gauges I will have a go.

You seem to be replying to me in real time; I live in Woking, are you nearby?

Thanks for the reply,

Tregarth

[Sludge]

Tree...

Im usually on about 9-10pm, when Im winding down from the day.  Thats about 2200 Central US (ZULU - 5; or 0300Z next day).  PM me about what times work for you and we can set something up.  I can work on re-sizing the gauges but you'll also have to google/find out about multiple monitors operating in FSX, before we meet on Skype, so you have a working understanding of what you need me to do. I have ZERO experience or understanding of multiple monitor setups.

One of my online rules is that if its happened to me (any problem), its already happened to someone else and they probly have a fix for it.

Look at this: http://www.microsoft.com/Products/Games/FSInsider/tips/Pages/SupportAlertVistaMulti-MonitorFix.aspx
This sounds similar to the FULL SCREEN problems you are having and I JUST GOOGLED it, so read up on it and try to find out what you can before we meet up.

Or go on YouTube and type in FSX MULTIMONITOR in the search, find someone with current videos that are using 3 monitors and PM the poster/author of the video with your problems.  More than likely THATs where your best help will come from... as they are dealing DIRECTLY with the issues you have.
This link should help get you started:

Later
Sludge

[Letourn]

Hi,

Just got home from work my time is -5GMT

I will be able to send you some Exemple of the fix panel config numbers i have after i eat something.

[Tregarth]

Dear Sludge and Letourn,

Sludge: Thank you for your help and comments

Letourn has supplied the answer in his PM.  I will now have a hard look at the info in Letourn's PM and report back.  Basically, thanks to his guidance all I have to do is apply a scaling factor to compensate for the different screen resolutions we are using.

Something that I have realised is the the MS gauges work in both Title Bar (TB) mode and Full Screen (FS) mode but the non-MS gauges don't in FS.  Further the MS gauges are scalable in both modes, but although the F-18 HUD switches are scalable in TB, the IFL is not.

I have looked at the panel.cfg files for the default Cessna and the F-18 and see that there is a line in the MS panels "zorder= " which is missing in the F-18 files (see Panels.txt).

I wonder if this is significant, I will add the line to the F-18 files and see what happens.

Thank you both again for your help and time,

Tregarth

[Tregarth]

Thanks to Letourn the problem has been solved.

In a 3 monitor (TripleHead2Go set up) the flashing cursor is caused by the computer trying to launch an impossibly large image.  It reads the line in the Panel.cfg file "Window_size=1.000, 1.000" and tries to spread the image over 3 monitors in the X direction (in my case 4320 pixels).  The Y-axis value is unchanged because the monitors are arranged side by side so the vertical (Y) resolution remains 900 pixels

By reducing the values in the Window_size line to Window_size=0.333, 1.000 the image is only spread over 1 monitor so the PC can cope and the processor is not overloaded so the cursor does not flash and the image appears in both "Title Bar" and "Full Screen" view.

BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER, if you want to make changes to the Panel.cfg file, MAKE A COPY.

Following Letourn's guidance I changed the Window part of the Panel.cfg file as shown in the attachment.  If you transfer it to your Panel.cfg file it will work.  I have 3 wide screen monitors hence the 4320 x 900 resolution.  Letourn is using (3x1920) x 1200; I have not changed any of the other values and they worked fine for me.  One exception was the PLAT; I left that at Window_size=1.000, 1.000; changing the x value put the camera view of the left screen.

As a final thought the Sludge's IFLOLS, Fuelling gauge and PLAT can also be transferred into Dino's T-45 by
a) copying the IFLOLS.cab, PLAT_Camera.cab and RefuelingGauge.cab files into the Goshawk Panel folder and
b) editing the section [Window Titles] in the Panel.cfg to include the extra panels
c) editing the Goshawk Panel.cfg file as above.

One of the things I am always excited by in this forum is that someone in England can receive help from both Quebec and Oklahoma to solve a problem.

This is one of the things I think is so marvellous about the FSDreamTeam Community.

Thank you, Sludge and Letourn,

Tregarth