MultipleMonitorsinFlightGear:QuickandDirty

Tableofcontents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
Positionthemonitors...........................................................................................................2
Startthemasterwithnativefdm.......................................................................................2
Startaslavewithfdmandnativefdm............................................................................3
Scaleslave............................................................................................................................3
Panslave..............................................................................................................................4
Improvementsandvariations...............................................................................................4
BestFOV.........................................................................................................................4
Stepoutsidethecockpit..................................................................................................5
Stereoscopicflying..........................................................................................................6
Troubleshooting...................................................................................................................7
FlightModel....................................................................................................................7
Angles.............................................................................................................................7
Rendering........................................................................................................................7
Network...........................................................................................................................7
Summary,contact,anddocumentinformation....................................................................8

Introduction
Ifyou'relikeme,youmaynothavetheequipmentandspacetosetupmultiplemonitors
forFlightGearpermanently.Butyoumighthaveanoddassortmentofcomputersand
monitorsthatyoucansetupnowandthenforashorttime.Thisisaquickanddirty
guideforsettingupmultiplemonitorsforFlightGearinjustafewminutes.

Positionthemonitors
Aligningtheimageswillbemucheasierifyoufollowtheseguidelines:

Keepthescreensvertical(nottilted).

Raiseorlowereachmonitorsothattheircentersarealignedhorizontally(Fig.1).

Placethemonitorsateyelevel.

Positionallthescreensthesamedistancefromyoureyes.

Aimallthemonitorsdirectlyatyoureyes.Inotherwords,yourlineofsight
shouldbeperpendiculartothefaceofthemonitorimage.

Fig1.Alignhorizontallyoncenter

Startthemasterwith--native-fdm
Themastercomputeriswhicheveroneyoudesignatetocomputetheflightdynamics
model(FDM)forthenetwork.Forthistutorial,we'lldesignatethecomputerattachedto
themonitorinfrontandcenterasthemaster.The--native-fdmoptiontellsthe
mastertosenditsFDMresultstoanothercomputer.Theformis
--native-fdm=socket,out,60,IP of slave,5500,udp

Addoneoftheseoptionsforeachslavecomputer.The60referstothenumberoftimes
persecondthatthemasterwillsendupdatedFDMinformationtotheslave.The5500is
theUDPportnumbertouse.
ThisoptioncanbesetintheGUIlauncherbyclickingAdvanced>Input/Output.

Startaslavewith--fdmand--native-fdm
Starteachslavewiththeseoptions:
--fdm=external
--native-fdm=socket,in,60,,5500,udp

NotethedoublecommanoIPaddressneedstobespecified.The60referstotherateat
whichtheslaveshouldexpecttoreceiveFDMupdatesfromthemasterandshouldmatch
thecorrespondingfieldofthemaster's--native-fdmoption.The5500istheUDP
portnumbertouse.
TheseoptionscanbesetintheGUIlauncheratAdvanced>FlightModelandAdvanced
>Input/Output.

Scaleslave
Ifallyourscreensarethesamephysicalsize,skiptothenextsection.Ifyourslaveand
mastermonitorsaredifferentsizes,youneedtoscaletheimagesdisplayedonthescreens
toapproximatelythesamephysicalsize.Ifyourmastermonitorisalreadysettoa
reasonablefieldofview,don'tchangeit.Usethex/Xkeyontheslavetozoomitsdisplay
inoroutsothatitsimageisthesamephysicalscaleasthemaster.Forexample,usea
rulertophysicallymeasurethedistancebetweentwoarbitraryinstrumentsonthe
instrumentpanel,thenzoomtheslavesothatthedistancebetweenthesametwo
instrumentsisthesame(Fig.2).

Fig2.Scaletothesamesize

Makenoteoftheresultingfieldofviewsothatyoucanputitonthecommandlinenext
timeandnothavetorepeatthisstep.Thenewfieldofviewbrieflyshowsonthedisplay
whenyouzoominorout.Thecommandlinetousethefutureis:
--fov=degrees

GUIuserscanalsoenterthefieldofviewinAdvanced>Rendering>FOV.

Panslave
Ifyou'vefollowedthesuggestionssofar,thenthisfinaladjustmentwillbemagically
simple.Rightclickthemousetogetintopanviewmode(wherethecursorbecomesa
doubleheadedarrow).Avoidpanningupordown.Justpanrightorlefttowherethe
imageshouldbe.
Youmightwanttopositionyouraircraftonapavedrunwayinpreparationforthis
adjustment.Taxialittledistancesothatthedistinctrunwaymarkingsappeartobe
continuousfromonedisplaytotheother,asifthemonitorswerewindows.Weave
aroundabitandcheckthattherunwaymarkingsflowfromonescreentoanotherasyou
wouldexpect.
Afteryouestablishthecorrectviewangle,youcanavoidhavingtodothisstepinthe
futurebyspecifyingtheangleonthecommandline.UnliketheFOV,thepanangle
doesn'tappearonthescreenwhenyouchangeit.Youcandiscoveryourcurrentpan
anglebybrowsingtheinternalpropertytreeat/sim/view/config/headingoffsetdeg.The
commandlineformattouseinthefutureis:
--prop:/sim/view[0]/config/heading-offset-deg=
degrees

Usenegativeoffsetstolooktotheright,positiveoffsetstolookleft.GUIusersareoutof
luck(theAdvanced>Rendering>ViewOffsetsettingandthe--view-offset
commandlineoptionevidentiallydosomethingelse).

Improvementsandvariations
BestFOV
Thefieldofview(FOV)inasinglemonitorsetupisflexible.Yourbrainunderstands
whatyoureyesseeacrossawiderangeofFOVsettings.Whenyouaddasecondorthird
monitor,youaremorelikelytonoticedistortionsfromanincorrectlychosenFOV
compoundedacrossmultiplescreens.There'saquickanddirtymethodtodeterminethe
correctFOVifyourmonitorsareimmediatelyadjacenteachotherwithlittleornovisual
gapbetweenscreens.Measureorestimatetheanglefromyoureyestotheleftmostand
rightmostedgesoftheoverallimage(Fig.3).Dividebythenumberofmonitors.Zoom

thecentermonitortothisFOVandscalethesidemonitorstomatch.Yourbrainwillbe
abletointerpretthedistortionresultingfromusingslightlywiderfieldsofview,but
significantlywiderviewsmaymakeithardtoalignallthescreenswithoutdistortionas
yourollandpitchinyouraircraft.

150
TotalFOV=150
EachmonitorFOV= 150
3

=50

Fig3.Fieldofview

Stepoutsidethecockpit
FlightGear'saircraftmodelssimulatetherestrictedviewapilothasfromthepilot'sseat.
Ifyouwantalessrestrictedviewoutthesidemonitors,youcanchangethevieworiginto
apointjustoutsidetheaircraftbodywithoutdistortingtheoverallimagealignment
perceptibly.YoucandothisgraphicallywhentheprogramisrunningbyclickingView
>AdjustViewDistance.Notethesettingbeforeyouchangeit,particularlytherightleft
position(Fig.4).Youcandialinanewvieworiginbyclickingandholdingtheleft
mousebuttononthedial.There'satricktomakingfineadjustmentswiththiscontrol.
Clickonthedialwithamouseleftclick.Holdthemousebuttondownanddragthe
cursorouttotheedgeofthescreen.Yourmousewillthenworklikeaninvisible,
extendedhandletothedial.

Fig4.Adjustingthevieworigin

Afteryouselectanewvieworigin,makeanoteofthethreevaluesintheviewlocation
GUIsothatyoucanspecifythesevaluesonthecommandlineinthefutureandnothave
torepeatthisexercise.Theformatis:
--prop:/sim/view[0]/config/x-offset-m=meters
--prop:/sim/view[0]/config/y-offset-m=meters
--prop:/sim/view[0]/config/z-offset-m=meters

UsepositiveXvaluestomoveyourviewpointtotheright,positiveYoffsetstomove
higher,andpositiveZoffsetstomoveaft.

Stereoscopicflying
Usingtheviewlocationadjustmentdescribedintheprevioussection,youcanviewthe
worldinthreedimensions.Placetwomonitorssidebysideasclosetogetheraspossible.
Shiftthevieworiginofonetotheleft,andtheothertotheright,fortheeffectasshown
inFigs.5aand5b.

Fig5a.RemotePeruvianAndesinstereo,forcrosseyedviewing

Fig5b.RemotePeruvianAndesinstereo,fornoncrosseyedviewing

Troubleshooting
FlightModel
Ifthemasterdisplayshowsaninstrumentpanelbutnoscenery,verifythatoption
--fdm=externalisnotonthecommandlineorinanyconfigurationfile.IntheGUI
launcher,verifythatAdvanced>FlightModelisnotsettoexternal.
Ifaslavestartsupinadifferentpartoftheworldorotherwiseseemstorunindependent
ofthemaster,verifythattheslaveusestheoption--fdm=external.

Angles
Ifyoujustcan'tgettheimagestomatchupinitiallyortoremainalignedasyoupitchand
rollyouraircraft,thencheckthatyoubeganyouralignmentprocedurewiththefront
centerdisplaysettoviewdirectlyforwardwithnopitch.Youcanmovethefrontdisplay
directlyrightorleftwithnoproblem,butanymovementupordownwillmakeitharder
toalignthedisplaysonthesides.
Alsocheckthatyoubeganyouralignmentprocedurewiththecenterdisplaysettothe
correctfieldofview.Itseasytosetthecenterdisplaytoafieldofviewtoowide,which
thenstrainstheforgivinggeometryofourquickanddirtyapproach.

Rendering
Iftheterrainlooksdifferentonthemasterandslave,orifrunwaysorotherobjects
appeardifferent,checkthatthemasterandslaveusethesamesceneryandobjectsdata.
Thisisgenerallyanythingatorbelow$FG_ROOT/data/ andat$FG_SCENERY.
Thesedirectoryhierarchiescanbereplicatedlocally,orsharedatacommonnetwork
location.
Ifthemasterandslaveshowdifferentcloudlayers,ordifferentvisibility,orpositionof
thesun,orappeardifferentinotherways,checkthatthemasterandslaveusethesameor
compatibleoptions.Ifthecommandlinesappeartobethesame,checkforoptionsinall
thepossibleconfigurationfilessuchaspreferences.xml,and~/.fgfsrc
(system.fgfsrcinWindows).

Network
Ifaslaveshowsaninstrumentpanelbutnoscenery,itmayindicatethattheFDMresults
arenotgettingtransmittedfromthemastertotheslave,sotheslavedoesn'tknowwhere
itis,andthereforedoesn'tknowhowtorenderthescenery.Verifythatthemasteruses
oneoption--native-fdmforeachslave,withthecorrectIPaddressoftheslave.

Checkthattheslavehasamatching--native-fdmoptionforinputwithnoIPaddress
given.Seeifthetwocomputerscanpingeachother.Verifythatthere'snofirewall
blockingtrafficbetweenthetwocomputers.

Fig.6.FlyingundertheGoldenGateBridge
Twolaptops,twodesktops,LinuxandWindows

Summary,contact,anddocumentinformation
FlightGear'ssupportformultiplemonitorsisflexible,general,andeasytoconfigureby
theseatofyourpants.Experimentandenjoy.
Checkforlaterversionsofthisdocumentathttp://www.inkdrop.net/dave/multimon.pdf.
DavidR.Miller,dave@inkdrop.net
Updated4Mar2006.