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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 13, 2009 11:31:14 GMT -5
Hi again, Here is another option - a panel with round gauges but a widescreen view out the window: The only changes are that you do not drag the outside view or put up the radio panel, adjust the position of the Notepad(s), and keep the zoom at 0.75 (normal widescreen zoom; adjust to your specific screen proportions). Hope this helps,
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Post by hermankreimes on Nov 13, 2009 12:29:41 GMT -5
Most interesting and quite resourcefull Tom.
Herman
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Post by robertorizzo on Nov 13, 2009 13:12:37 GMT -5
Thanks Tom but it isn't what i meant. My Vista desktop is 16:9. As i start FS9 it turns to 4:3, ok. Of course on left and right side of my monitor i have black stripes. My panel is ok no distortions. I'm wondering if there's something i can do to drag and drop calclassic notepad or throttle window of whatsoever out of the panel space and in the black bands on left and right. Sorry for my english.
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 13, 2009 16:11:05 GMT -5
Hi,
No. That space is unavailable. If you want to do this you will need to choose a widescreen resolution in FS9 (for full screen) or on your Windows desktop (for windowed mode).
Hope this helps,
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Post by doylebob on Nov 13, 2009 16:40:20 GMT -5
Thanks for that Tom,
Those are certainly two interesting approaches to correcting the problem. I think I prefer the first option personally. I'll try them both and see. Out of curiosity, I wonder why you recommend the 0.75 view setting, wouldn't that leave the the same "distortion" only smaller. Also, do you recommend 0.75 for both options?
Thanks again
Bob
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 13, 2009 16:59:03 GMT -5
Hi,
When using a widescreen monitor with 16:9 proportions, a zoom of 0.75 gives you the same view out the window as a zoom of 1.0 using a 4:3 "normal" monitor. The reason why this is true is that MS FS *never* distorts the outside view - it only changes the zoom value as you widen the outside view window. We need to change it back so the view is the same as using a 4:3 monitor with a zoom of 1.0, only wider.
However, many widescreen monitors do not have a 16:9 ratio (or are not used with a 16:9 resolution). As stated in the text file in the Widescreen Monitors folder of my panels:
If you use a widescreen monitor and the outside view stretches all the way across the screen, this panel.cfg file and eyepoint (in the aircraft.cfg file, if included) should work better for you.
It resets the zoom to 0.75, equivalent to using a zoom of 1.0 with a normal 4:3 monitor.
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Note: This file is for widescreen monitors with a display ratio of 0.5625 (i.e. 1920 x 1080 - 1080 / 1920 = .5625). If your monitor has a different display ratio, you need to edit the panel.cfg file to give you the correct zoom:
1. Divide your display height by the width. For example, if you use a 1600 x 1000 display ratio, then 1000 / 1600 is 0.625.
2. Now divide this number by 0.75, the display ratio of a standard "square" screen. In our example, 0.625 / 0.75 = 0.83.
3. Adjust this number to the nearest 0.5 value. This is your new desired Zoom value. In our example, 0.83 becomes 0.85.
4. Edit the Views section of the panel.cfg file found in the dc6pnlKMCC folder to change the 0.75 zoom values to your new zoom value (0.85 in our example).
5. After loading the plane, in VC View change the zoom to your new value and save a Flight.
Hope this helps,
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 20, 2009 12:12:33 GMT -5
Hi all, I'm wondering if there is any interest for true widescreen 2D panels? They wouldn't be much - just a copy and paste of the left side of the panel onto the right edge of the image, a little fixing up of the painted panel elements, and a quick session in FS Panel Studio to add some gauges in the blank spots. Here is a quick rework of the Convair panel to widescreen format (16:9): What do you think?
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Post by Randy_Cain on Nov 20, 2009 12:37:03 GMT -5
Hi Tom, GREAT IDEA! ;D Yeah, when these monitors first started coming out, there were about 4 different aspect ratios competing for the "standard"..but 16:9 seems to be the winner ..at least for now. When I upgrade, (upgrade?) I'll probably go with the 16:9 screen as well. It would be really nice to have round gauges to go with it. ..and text looks really bad when stretched! (I'm hoping to get another year or 2 out of my CRT) ..anyway, back to the point..THAT LOOKS GREAT!!! Yours,
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bytes
ConvairLiner
Posts: 98
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Post by bytes on Nov 20, 2009 14:29:30 GMT -5
You can never have enough of a good thing! It would be great to have this.
Regards,
bytes
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Post by doylebob on Nov 20, 2009 15:55:56 GMT -5
Yeah Tom, I think that's a great idea. However, I tried what you are suggesting myself a few days ago but the result was not what I expected. I increased the width of the bmp from 1024 to 1194, centered the original background and added a "strip" to each side of the background to fill out the 1194. But then, instead of fsim "reducing" the stretch of the width, which is what I thought would happen, it shrank the entire image so that there was a black strip left along the bottom!!! Frustrated, I gave up and said I'd wait till I got a better understanding later.
Bob
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 20, 2009 18:30:47 GMT -5
Hi, There may be some tricks that can help you. First, you have to work out the correct proportions of the panel image, not some exact pixel number based on your resolution. For example, the Convair image (currently) is 1024 x 768. That is a 4:3 ratio (1.333). This will fit a standard CRT screen exactly. My widescreen monitor is a 16:9 ratio (1920 x 1080, or 1.77777). This is the proportion that the new widescreen image needs to be. Since I wanted the panel bitmap to be the same height (768 pixels), I needed to increase the 1024 horizontal pixels by the difference in the screen ratios (1.777 vs 1.333). The ratio of those two numbers is 1.3333, as it turns out (1.77777 divided by 1.3333 is 1.3333). If I multiply 1024 by 1.3333 I get 1365.33, so my new widescreen bitmap needed to be 1365 x 768 pixels. That means I needed to add 341 pixels, which I added to the right side of the image (actually I added more than that, since I encroached on the right side of the existing panel image to make both sides symmetrical). Then I had to edit the panel.cfg file's entry for the main panel. The current Convair panel.cfg file looks like this: [Window00] file=Main final.bmp file_1024=Main final.bmp size_mm=1280,1024 window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7 visible=1 ident=MAIN_PANEL window_size= 1.000, 1.000 window_pos= 0.000, 0.000 I renamed my new bitmap main wide.bmp, so I edited this section to look like: [Window00] file=Main wide.bmp file_1024=Main wide.bmp size_mm=1706,1024 window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7 visible=1 ident=MAIN_PANEL window_size= 1.000, 1.000 window_pos= 0.000, 0.000 The two edits I made were to change the file name main final.bmp to main wide.bmp (in two places), and change the line: size_mm=1280,1024 to: size_mm=1706,1024 since 1280 multiplied by 1.3333 is 1706. After editing in FS Panel Studio to add gauges (and move a few too), I got the image you see above. Hope this helps,
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 20, 2009 20:30:13 GMT -5
Hi,
in my opinion this would be an straightforward solution to the widescreen "problem"
Would this changed files also add the possibility to use a 16:10 ratio screen without too much distortion ?
Best Regards Wolfgang
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Post by Mike on Nov 20, 2009 21:23:09 GMT -5
What do I think??
Posolutely and absitively "Yes, please". ;D Another boost for my favorite twin.
Thanks, Mike
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Post by Johan Dees on Nov 21, 2009 9:56:48 GMT -5
I use two widescreens, so I have 3360x1050 Going to try to make a REAL widescreen.. thanks for this good info!
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Nov 21, 2009 11:34:20 GMT -5
Hi, OK, OK, it will get released at some point, probably over the holidays. Wolfgang, as it turns out my gauges on this panel are a little wider than they are tall on a 16:9 screen in windowed mode (they are perfectly round in fullscreen mode). Since the difference between a 16:9 (1.7777) and 16:10 (1.6) screen is 0.9 in width (assuming the same height), I reduced the image above by 10% in width and the gauges became almost perfectly round in windowed mode. So it might be even better for a 16:10 screen in that mode, and only a little narrow in fullscreen. Hope this helps,
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