Running AO on dual monitors?

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dpidcoe
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Running AO on dual monitors?

Post by dpidcoe »

In the past I've always run AO in windowed mode on my single 17 CRT. My dad just gave me his 19 inch LCD so I decided to try a dual monitor setup. I got the other monitor plugged in and it's working fine. But when I try to start AO in windowed mode it just sticks on a black screen, I can hear sounds from ingame but get no video. It works fine in full screen mode, but that defeats the reason for 2 monitors as I need to minimize the game to do anything on the second monitor.

The video card is an agp 6600gt.
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Hyde
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Post by Hyde »

Most cards with dual monitor output only run 3D apps on 1 monitor. I use the same chipset as you do and that's the case for me. Put AO on the other monitor. If that works, you can swap the monitors to make the larger one the primary in the display settings.
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Post by dpidcoe »

that fixed it, thanks.
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Post by Sillanto »

A few ideas...

- In your hardware settings do you have more than 1 graphics card show up? My nvidia card shows up as 3, the first allows and app to run on either monitor, the 2nd and 3rd are used to force an app to a specific monitor.

- Also have you tried Ultramon? I find its a great program to run a dual monitor setup.

- Third point is a technical one. AO does not take switching monitors well. if you try moving ti from one monitor to the other while its loading it gets stuck black, so make sure you are in game before slidign it across.
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Post by Alphacenta »

Sillanto wrote:A few ideas...

- In your hardware settings do you have more than 1 graphics card show up? My nvidia card shows up as 3, the first allows and app to run on either monitor, the 2nd and 3rd are used to force an app to a specific monitor.

- Also have you tried Ultramon? I find its a great program to run a dual monitor setup.

- Third point is a technical one. AO does not take switching monitors well. if you try moving ti from one monitor to the other while its loading it gets stuck black, so make sure you are in game before slidign it across.
- Fourth point: get Sill back to AO. He plays some evil game called EVE at the moment, let's prepare an attack on the servers? :twisted:
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Post by Hyde »

believe he got it working
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Post by Sillanto »

Derailing the a little more because i am indeed evil :twisted:
Im not gone from AO, yes i am playing with EVE now and again, more the point is Ive played AO almost constantly probably more than i should have.. And suddently realised i wasnt playing for the enjoyment i use to get but more that the game was playing me. i was logging on and wandering around aimlessly doing nothing and the only good part of the game was org chat. So im taking a little break :) Ill definately be back as my accounts are paid for a while to come :)
EVE is just a game that doesnt require my full attention to complete and it also appeals to my tradeskill side. so i can set something going then wander off. Im also getting killed alot playing BF2142 :P Other things im trying to do are learning to program PIC's and rewireing my car radio.

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Post by docksider »

Sillanto wrote:Derailing the a little more because i am indeed evil :twisted:
Im not gone from AO, yes i am playing with EVE now and again, more the point is Ive played AO almost constantly probably more than i should have.. And suddently realised i wasnt playing for the enjoyment i use to get but more that the game was playing me. i was logging on and wandering around aimlessly doing nothing and the only good part of the game was org chat. So im taking a little break :) Ill definately be back as my accounts are paid for a while to come :)
EVE is just a game that doesnt require my full attention to complete and it also appeals to my tradeskill side. so i can set something going then wander off. Im also getting killed alot playing BF2142 :P Other things im trying to do are learning to program PIC's and rewireing my car radio.

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Hehe was just about to post a tracking thread for ya :wink:
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Post by dpidcoe »

to toss the thread back on subject, here are some interesting things I've discovered through trial and error:

3d apps are displayed on monitor 1, regardless of which monitor I set as the primary one.

If I set monitor 2 as the primary monitor, no 3d apps will run in windowed mode. I'm assuming it's because the window gets sent to the primary monitor (monitor 2 in this case) instead of monitor 1. Dragging the window to monitor 1 doesn't fix anything.

I can change the monitor number by unplugging both, thruning off the computer, plugging in the monitor I was to be 1, turning on the computer, then plugging in 2. I can't find any video settings to change it.

the left and right monitors are decided by which port on the video card they're plugged into, I can't find any video settings to change it.

The colors are consistant across monitors, the CRT seems to have a cooler color tempature than the LCD. no amount of fiddling with the color settings seems to be helping. (this is driving me nuts, I think the CRT has the most accurate colors)

If I span a video across both monitors, only the monitor with the majority of the video window on it will play, the part of the window on the other monitor remains blank.

I get a noticable drop in FPS when playing games like ut2k4 in windowed mode.

People I know in RL who are clueless about computers think I'm crazy for having 2 monitors and see no point to it.
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Post by Alphacenta »

Sillanto wrote:Derailing the a little more because i am indeed evil :twisted:
Im not gone from AO, yes i am playing with EVE now and again, more the point is Ive played AO almost constantly probably more than i should have.. And suddently realised i wasnt playing for the enjoyment i use to get but more that the game was playing me. i was logging on and wandering around aimlessly doing nothing and the only good part of the game was org chat. So im taking a little break :) Ill definately be back as my accounts are paid for a while to come :)
EVE is just a game that doesnt require my full attention to complete and it also appeals to my tradeskill side. so i can set something going then wander off. Im also getting killed alot playing BF2142 :P Other things im trying to do are learning to program PIC's and rewireing my car radio.

In those famous words... I'll Be Back
Good boy :)
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Post by Sillanto »

http://130.94.74.217/ultramon/

give this a try, its much better than the standard windows monitor config.

Also check in the AO graphics options for how many devices you can choose from (usually 2, a hardware and a software)

When running a 3d app on my second monitor it doesnt matter if i select hardware or software as it will always run software.

All monitors end up looking differnt, i have 2 lcd's one which looks really good playing games the other is best for web browsing and films. (and i have no idea why :P)
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Post by Chrisax »

Matrox Dualhead and Triplehead... work with existing hardware, not sure it works with AO. And, well, Matrox pricing.

Image
Image



"Graphics eXpansion Modules (GXM)

Matrox GXM are a new line of patent-pending technology that allows users to add multi-display support to a system via external connectivity. GXM are easy-to-use, external, palm-sized boxes that connect to a notebook or desktop PC. Benefit from multi-display computing without having to open the PC chassis."


Main page http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/
Details:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/p ... l/home.php
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/p ... o/home.php
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/p ... l/home.php
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/p ... o/home.php



Image
SEE BIG PICTURE HERE:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/media/co ... l_with.jpg
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Post by Mophro »

Chrisax wrote: SEE BIG PICTURE HERE:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/media/co ... l_with.jpg
Is that big? I can look at that picture fullsize, full resolution, np.
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Post by Chrisax »

Well, it's 2251x851 pixels so quite big compared to the little one you can see in my post. That's what I meant. :)
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Post by core »

The only problem with the matrox solution is that it doesnt have enough power to drive games at that resolution.

Even nvidia and ati/amd that have mainstream cards that can be used to play at that resolution, both have problems atm being either drivers or game implementation.

The multi monitor solutions atm are there but mostly for desktop apps

If you have money to spare buy a 32'' or larger trueHD LCD TV it will change the way you look at games :)

There are true HD solutions starting at 600 euros at 32'' (viable ones) and they can certainly replace any PC monitor.
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