Why does my X-Plane 11 launch to a black screen, then I have to Alt-Tab to get started?

Question

This happens 100% of the time.

If I hold Alt-Tab (to switch between applications), I always see two copies of the application. One of the windows allows you to select the normal menus at the top of the screen, the other doesn't. I happen to have two monitors, but it behaves this way regardless of if I configure to use that second monitor.

When I start up X-Plane 11 each time, it starts me on a black window. It works to Alt-Tab and select the other window.

I have Windows 10, and a GeForce 1060.  Nothing exotic at all.

Comments

I have a very similar problem.  Three ASUS (1080p, 144MHz, G-Sync) sim rendering monitors and two RealSimGear G1000 monitors.  So I have five monitors but six instances of X-Plane -- verified by using ALT-TAB as well as verifying that I have six X-Plane main threads running.  The non-visible extra display is identical to the front rendering view.  Because there is an extra thread, I assume that X-Plane is using (wasting) CPU resources to render that non-visible extra view.

I also see the blank screen on startup and have to use the ALT-TAB trick to continue.

All drivers are up-to-date, and the machine is a new build single-purposed for X-Plane, so nothing else is running on it.

I have submitted a bug report to Laminar and have not yet received an acknowledgement.

It's somewhat comforting that I'm not the only one experiencing the issue.

Answer 1

Hi Quizkid

I'm not with Laminar Research, just a fellow simmer in the UK, but a couple of questions:-

1. What is the native resolution of both monitors

2. How is each monitor set up in the NVIDIA settings control panel, please click on following link to show you what I mean:- http://questions.x-plane.com/?qa=blob&qa_blobid=504156320858320712

3. How are your graphic settings configured within X-Plane 11, as per following link:- http://questions.x-plane.com/?qa=blob&qa_blobid=491747032611431398

Regards

Comments

Both monitors are identical, 1920 x 1080 (AOC). But like I said, I get two instances in Windows 10 with one monitor. If I turn on the second monitor, I get three! instances.

I don't use the NVIDIA, I can upload that later, not sure if it will help. Following is my X-Plane configuration info.

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Hello there, i have the same problem, im not sure if this is also dropping my fps.... in my case i have 3 monitors, and 4 x-system windows show up uppon startup, all 3 monitors are black screens untill i hit alt-tab to switch between windows... then i can use the game... the only common denominator that im able to see, is that we both have AOC monitors and nvida cards...could this be a driver issue??, did you get it fixed?

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I never got this fixed. Current version is 11.36r2. Thanks for pointing out that you have AOC monitors also. It's hard for me to think that this would cause the problem - I don't think X-Plane can see the monitor in use at all.

I changed NVidia cards, still have the same issue.

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Hi Guys

Further to my original post, have you both set up your multiple displays in Windows 10, before using XP11?

Please see photos below:-

Regards

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@greengolfer15, actually i do have all 3 monitors showing up as extendend displays on my windows settings, i also checked my nvidia settings, that shows all 3 monitors, and only 3 monitors, my guess is with AOC drivers issue, i clearly remember running some AOC app called i-menu or something like that right before the problem appears, my main concern is that, leaving the alt-tab extra step appart, is that this problem is consuming fps, since it clearly shows 4 windows with game graphics once you hit alt-tab