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110 CHAPTER 9. EXPERT ESSAYS
of view of 45 ◦ , these images will blend together seamlessly if you don’t consider the width of the
displays’ bezels (the frame around each monitor). If you cannot set up the monitors to run their
effective image all the way to the edge (as you can with some, even though you wouldn’t be able
to see the part under the border), you might instead try a field of view of maybe 43 ◦ based on
whatever fraction of the monitor is visible. Vertical and roll offsets, of course, are the up/down and
tilt equivalents of the lateral offset.
Note: While the view offsets do indicate how much to the left or right or up or down each view
is looking, people make the same mistake over and over: they run a center view with a cockpit in
the center screen, and external visuals on the left and right—which is fine—but they notice that
the horizon in the center (cockpit) screen does not line up with the horizons on either side. The
reason for this is that the center-point of the screen where the horizon rests in a level flight attitude
is up near the top of the screen in the cockpit view (to make room for the instrument panel) and
the center of the screen for the external visuals (which do not need room at the bottom for the
instrument panel). Often, people will incorrectly lower the vertical offset of the center panel (with
the cockpit).
This results in countless problems with the views not lining up. The way to correct this is to do
as in the “Lining Up the Horizon (Without Vertical Offsets)” section above and change the screen
center for your aircraft; only then will the horizon always line up across all the visuals. In other
words, the only time a vertical offset should be used is if there is one monitor on top of another.
9.3.2.3 Using Other Special Viewing Controls
The lateral field of view setting, located in the Rendering Options window, will change the way
X-Plane displays the view of the outside world. Higher settings will allow more of the terrain to
be viewed at any one time, but will reduce performance. Higher settings will also increase the
“fish eye” effect of the simulator. The default value is 45 ◦ per display, which generally gives good
performance and a natural view. Note, of course, that changing the field of view of a monitor in a
multi-display setup will require you to re-evaluate your lateral offset values as well.
Now, suppose you are using multiple monitors, some for external visuals and others for cockpit
displays. You may notice that when views are changed within X-Plane, the change propagates to
all the visuals. To stop this from occurring, you can select the radio button labeled lock to panel
view near the bottom right of the Rendering Options dialog box. Selecting this will cause the
display to always show the forward-with-cockpit view.