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36 CHAPTER 4. CONFIGURING AND TUNING YOUR X-PLANE INSTALLATION
Monitor Settings” will make X-Plane use the same resolution as your operating system. If you choose
a resolution with a different aspect ratio than your monitor has, X-Plane will appear stretched. This
would happen, for instance, if your monitor had a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 (a widescreen,
16:9 aspect ratio) and you selected a resolution of 1024 x 768 (a “standard” 4:3 aspect ratio).
4.8.1.5 Frame Rate Locking
The frame rate lock to monitor drop-down box allows you to steady the simulator’s frame rate
by not allowing the frame rate to exceed a certain value. If X-Plane generally runs as a high frame
rate on your computer, but does not do so smoothly and consistently, you can lock the frame rate
to some ratio of your monitor’s refresh rate to keep the frame rate steady.
4.8.1.6 Anti-Aliasing
The anti-alias level parameter is used to smooth the edges of the objects drawn in the simulator.
When a computer tries to draw diagonal lines across the finite number of rectangular pixels in a
monitor, “jaggies” result—pixelated-looking, stair-stepped lines. These jaggies may be (somewhat)
eliminated by turning on anti-aliasing. This will cause X-Plane to actually draw the simulated world
several times per frame and blend those frames together, resulting in a better looking image. Thus,
it is similar to using a higher screen resolution; running at a resolution of 2048 x 2048 without
anti-aliasing is similar to running at 1024 x 1024 and 4x anti-aliasing. Both situations tax the video
card with virtually no increase in CPU use. This will completely kill the simulator’s frame rate if
the system doesn’t have a strong video card, but if the video card can take it, crank this option up.
Please note that in HDR rendering mode, standard anti-aliasing using this parameter is not
recommended; it will impact frame rate without providing any real benefit—this is simply a function
of the way the new deferred rendering system works. Since HDR rendering is really the way X-Plane
10 was meant to be seen (since it is the only mode where the beautifully realistic global shadows
are available), the anti-alias level parameter should probably be left at “none.” Instead, use an
HDR-specific method of anti-aliasing described in the section “Special Effects” below.
4.8.1.7 Field of View
The final of the basic graphics settings is the lateral field of view, found near the bottom center
of the screen in the section of the window labeled “Special Viewing Options.” Older monitors with
a 4:3 aspect ratio (corresponding to a resolution like 1024 x 768 or 1600 x 1200) probably want to
stick to a 45 ◦ field of view. Widescreen monitors (those with an aspect ratio of, say, 16:10 or 16:9
and a resolution of, say, 1920 x 1080, 1600 x 900, and so on) may benefit from a wider field of view
(60 ◦ or so).
4.8.2 Setting Up the X-Plane World
Many features of the X-Plane world are turned on or off using controls found in the portion of the
window labeled “Stuff to Draw.” These are discussed below.
4.8.2.1 Miscellaneous Drawing Settings
When the box on the far left labeled draw view indicator is checked, you will see a small orange
airplane in the top of the screen when you rotate your view left or right using the Q and E keys,
respectively.