Prepar3D can be purchased and downloaded from the Prepar3D.com website. It should be installed in the primary flight simulator computer. Ideally is should be installed on the secondary hard drive that is dedicated for the flight simulator software. This computer needs to have high performance capability, with specifications that meet a high-end gaming computer, to provide an acceptable frame rate, especially when multiple displays are used.
The following settings are adjusted from their default values:
Application – deselect prompt on exit & avatar mode.
Information – deselect all vehicle labels, air traffic control, other text. Leave only primary info text & pause for the top right corner.
Traffic – initially set to 0% and can later try to increase if frame rate allows.
Realism – set all options to 100%. Deselect visualize G-effects and momentum effects.
Display – set texture resolution to 4096 x 4096, display resolution to 1920 x 1080, and target frame rate to 45 fps.
Other Controls – deselect advanced mouse controls and controllers.
View Groups & Field of View
Configuring Prepar3D for the external displays is an intensive process if the goal is to have an accurate depiction of that a pilot would see from the real aircraft with their eyepoint from the pilot’s seat. In Prepar3D, this is done by using View Groups.
First, the field of view must be calculated for the vertical and horizontal dimension of each of the external LCD displays. This requires measurement of the display’s dimensions, bezel width, and distance from the pilot’s eyepoint when seated in the flight deck.
Field of view is calculated by right triangle trigonometry. The width of one leg of the triangle is measured from the exact center of the display to the lateral edge of the display on one side. The other leg of the triangle is eyepoint distance. This is measured from the pilot’s eyepoint to the display surface. An angle is calculated by taking the arctan of the width divided by the eyepoint distance to the display. This angle is then multiplied by two so that it is equal to the total field of view from one edge of the display to the other edge. This same approach is used for calculation of both the vertical field of view and horizontal field of view.
In this flight simulator, the pilot’s eyepoint is located 55.7 inches from the center of each of the three external LCD displays. The displays are 57.3 inches wide and 32.9 inches tall, so the horizontal field of view is 54.4 degrees for each monitor, or 163.3 degrees for all three monitors. Vertical field of view is 32.9 degrees.
In Prepar3D, a new View Group is created using the menu Views | View Management | View Group Management. Three Views are added, each one representing one of the external LCD displays. Edge overlap values are entered to compensate for the bezel width on each display. A “frustum” is added, and horizontal and vertical side angles are entered for each display. Also, a heading offset is entered to reflect the degrees of rotation offset for the left and right display. Once this process is completed, Prepar3D must be restarted so that the new View Group will appear as an option in the menu system.
The process described above is a simplified overview. In this simulator, there are three different View Groups that were created. One view group incorporates parallax corrections for the pilot’s eyepoint when seating in the captain’s seat. A second view group incorporates parallax corrections for the pilot’s eyepoint when seated in the first officer’s seat. A third view group is without any parallax correction. Any one of the three view groups can be selected from the Prepar3D menu system.
Here is an Excel spreadsheet which can demonstrates the calculations needed for configuring View Groups in Prepar3D. Here is a PDF description of the configuration procedure for View Groups with Prepar3D. There is a separate article, “Field of View & Parallax” that has more a more detailed explanation.
Prepar3D’s website has a “Learning Center” that provides more detailed information regarding setting up View Groups for multiple displays.
