fs9 Toolbox version 2
3

Multi-Monitor

This is one of the most important feature of fs9 Toolbox version 2. It is especially dedicated to those flight simmers who have several monitors. The interest of this feature is to let you easily save and restore a complex panel configuration composed of undocked panel windows that are moved on several monitors and allow the usage of full-screen mode even when undocked windows are used.

Topics covered on this page:  Setting a Panel Configuration in Full-Screen Mode / Saving and Restoring a Panel Configuration

Setting a Full-Screen Panel Configuration

The procedure below illustrates in details how to set up a full screen panel configuration with undocked windows (example with 2 monitors) :

1 Set the takbar in auto-hide mode so that it disappears when you fly with fs9.
2 Press the full-screen button of the fs9 window so that it takes the whole space on the main monitor.



Do NOT switch fs9 in full-screen mode by pressing Alt-Enter. You must keep fs9 in windowed mode to keep the ability to use undocked windows.
3 Popup the panel window that you wish to use as an undocked window. In this example, press Shift-2 to popup the radio stack.
4 Undock the panel window that you have just popped up so that it can move freely on the second monitor.

You just have to right-click in the window and select "Undock Window"
5 Move the undocked window wherever you want. In this example, we have undocked the radio stack and the GPS and moved them on the second monitor.
6 This step is optional.
If you wish, you can hide the window border of the undocked windows. This is useful for some cockpit builders who must avoid seeing the window decorations.
The window decorations disappear on the undocked windows displayed on the second monitor.

Note that an undocked window cannot be moved if its border is not visible. If you want to move the undocked winodws again, you must restore the undocked window borders by using the same menu action.
7 Use the 'Main Border Window' menu action to hide the fs9 main window border.


The panel may look strange at this stage because it is not correctly sized in height. Do not worry about this problem, it will disappear at the next step.
8 To have an fs9 window that really looks like full-screen mode, hide the fs9 menu bar using the fs9 contextual menu (right-click on the background and select "Hide Menu Bar"). This action causes an automatic resizing of the panel, which is now correctly sized in height.

If you need to have access to a menu again, you just have to press 'Alt' key at any time.
9 That's it...
You now have fs9 like in full-screen mode, while being able to have undocked windows on a second monitor (this can be extended to more monitors if necessary).
MAIN Monitor SECONDARY Monitor

Saving and Restoring a Panel Configuration

The procedure below shows how you can save and restore the whole panel configuration (window and border status) with a single click:

1 When the panel configuration is correctly set with all the undocked windows, you can save it for later use. This saves the position of all the undocked windows and the settings of the window borders.

This information is stored in the panel configuration file (panel.cfg) of the current aircraft. Any other aircraft that uses the same panel will benefit from this stored configuration.
2 Later, you can re-load this same aircraft in Flight Simulator and the standard panel appears on the main monitor, nothing is displayed on the second monitor.
MAIN Monitor SECOND Monitor
3 You can restore the configuration you have saved for this aircraft by a single click on the "Restore Configuration" menu.

All the panel windows automatically open, undock and move at their correct location with their correct size. The window borders will appear or disappear according to the saved configuration.
MAIN Monitor SECOND Monitor


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