Locking Panels and Views

[NeoMorph]

One thing I am having problems with is locking views into fixed positions for my MIP and outside views. Whenever I start up FSX I end up with my cockpit view and outside view on one monitor and I have to drag the other views to the other screens.

I have read that saving the flight will save the screen locations but not always it seems. The one flight I have ends up with the outside view being squashed into the top half of the plasma monitor I am using.

It's frustrating as hell trying to keep everything lined up... there should be a way to "lock" the views and gauges into a fixed position on every monitor. There has to be something I'm missing here.

[jackpilot]

Not sure but try to save the situation as default.
May also have to do with saving in windowed mode or full screen.

Others will confirm.
There should be some posts on that.

[Maurice]

This is a long shot but I had kind of similar problem when I was playing with 3 views on 3 projectors. This drove me totally nuts until I figured out what happened. Basically, the last window I clicked on before saving the flight automatically became the active window as seen in the .flt file of the flight I had saved. So when I started that flight again, the last window I had clicked on now had the wrong view showing.

I suspect you may be having a similar problem after you drag a view to another screen. Since that was the last view you clicked on, that view is now the active window. What you should try is clicking on the main window again after you dragged the other view and then save the flight. This type of problem happened to me everytime I saved a flight if I happened to have clicked one of the side windows before saving the flight.

You may want to take a look at one of my earlier posts where I talk about about this and the .FLT file. I know this isn't what you are doing but it may help you to figure out what is happening in your case. What I suggest is that if you are ever able to start a flight and have the right views in the right place, find the associated .FLT file before you click on any screen and/or save the flight and copy the views section in its entirety. Then you can save that information somewhere & use it to overwrite the views section of a flight that is not working OK.

http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=1340.msg9988#msg9988

Good luck

Maurice

[Vectro]

There is a freeware software that solves your problem:
http://www.casawave.fr/upload/fsx/Panel_Position.zip

[NeoMorph]

Thanks for that link Vectro... Just what I was looking for. I'll try it today but hopefully I can set it up to one of the dummy buttons in my cockpit and then when I press it it will automatically sort out the screens for me. Awesome!

[Vectro]

We have had same window positioning problems in Finnish projects (A320, etc.) and this little program has solved them all. 

More info here:
http://forum.avsim.net/topic/63144-a-software-to-save-your-panel-position/

[NeoMorph]

Well for some reason those programs do nothing whatsoever in Windows 7.

*bangs head on table*.

Why the hell couldn't Microsoft have built in a silly "Lock Panel In Position". It's such a mind blowing basic design fault that I just want to scream.

What I don't get is that other cockpit builders aren't screaming about the same problem. Once a MIP fascia is on it will hide the resize bars so having all the panels fall onto the one screen is going to drive cockpit builders nuts.

Do I have to go back to Windows XP just to get this running right? 

[Vectro]

You could still try to contact the programmer via the link I pasted above. Also there might be a similar software already in Avsim file library.

[NeoMorph]

Not using his program I found a way to set up my screens...

1. With my Flight 1 ATR 72-500 I line up all my screens and put them where I want... I save the flight. If I load the flight after re-starting FSX they all land on one monitor again... but there is a fix...

2. Load up a default 172... Grab the panels and drop them onto the correct screens. Don't bother re-sizing them, just make sure they are sitting on the right screen.

3. Load the ATR flight... all the screen are now EXACTLY how I saved them.

Why this happens I have no idea but I have to say that I wish that the Flight Sim developers had included a proper multi-monitor handling system. It seems a real shame that we have to mess about with things like this just to get the thing working right. I am just hoping Flight will have better multi-monitor support.

Ahh well, at least I have a work around now.