howto: Fullscreen with dual monitors

insomniac · #1 12-10-2004, 01:58 AM

I knew there had to be a way to do this.

So you go fullscreen with eq2 in 1 monitor, but the second you click on something in the other monitor eq2 drops out of fullscreen. well try this:

In windowed mode, click the maximize button.
press alt enter
click in the other monitor

The screen will flash like it's going to drop out of fullscreen.. but then....it wont!

also, in the second monitor (mine is on the left) you should see a line on the right side, you can drag it and eq2 will span both monitors in full screen! good luck powering it...

edit: ok it will span both monitors by horribly distorting your veiw, it looks impressive tho. and when/if they ever add veiwport, it'll be good for interface peices.

silvrwolf · #2 12-10-2004, 03:58 AM

This -does- work, to a point.

The "bar" at the top is still half shown, and there's a "touch" at the bottom. you cannot fully "maximize" the window to full screened mode, and yes, it DOES make it "windowed" just a lot better than the normal windowed. =)

I'm working on getting this running without the title bar and with less space "open" on the bottom so that it looks & acts like full screen.

It really irritates me that Game Designes are STILL not using dual monitor technology (i.e. having the 3d rendered part of the game able to be a window within the game) properly, especially since dual monitors are available on most cards sold in the last 2 years (mid to high end).

Horizons had it running right, for a while. It was wonderful. Map, chats, quest journal, etc, were all open on the secondary monitor, while you had maybe one "main" chat and the 3D "window" maximized on your primary monitor (no border or anything) It made things SO much simpler. Their only downfall was that both monitors had to be at the same resolution, or it wouldn't run right.

insomniac · #3 12-10-2004, 04:04 AM

/shrug when i do it it's FULL screen, no titlebar or anything. maybe it has something to do with nveiw

silvrwolf · #4 12-10-2004, 04:17 AM

That would probably explain it, I'm running ATI, so NVidia's NView doesn't quite do things the same way.

It's an inherent difference in how the Video Card handles output.

For Nvidia, no matter HOW you set it up to windows, the Hardware sees it as ONE monitor (i.e. 1600 x 2400, or 3200 x 1200, i never can remember which). This has bonuses and downfalls. Bonuses include simplicity of programming dual monitor for programs in general, but on the flip side, If "one" is rendering 3d, and the other is not, you'll take a bigger performance hit.

For ATI, no matter HOW you set it up to windows, the Hardware sees it as two monitors. Bonuses include less of a performance hit for having one monitor doing 3D rendering and the other not (i take 0 performance loss for running like this), but on the flip side, I'm stuck with it sitting in windowed mode, albeit a LOT better than it used to be. =)

This has been in debate for years, actually. NVidia has gotten more companies to code programs to make use of it in a "single display" fashion, but running dual monitor in NVidia has always seen a larger performance loss. This is assuming you mean the 3D program on one monitor, and standard windows stuff on the other (browser windows, etc). For Dual monitor 3D rendering (i.e. stretching EQ2 over both monitors), Nvidia does slightly better performance wise (but they both still take a HUGE hit).

I will see what I can get to work in the mean time. =)

ATI has a multi-monitor program that's meant to be used when doing dual monitors. I'll DL that and see if it makes a difference. If it does, I'll post it here for all the ATI users.

silvrwolf · #5 12-10-2004, 05:03 AM

Update:

Hydravision (ATI's multimonitor program) does nothing of interest in regards to this situation.

However, the difference between ATI's Drivers and the Omega Drivers is significant.

With the Omega drivers, there was basically no way for the top & sides to be -completely- maxed (or the bottom).

With the ATI drivers from ATI's site, the top & sides are completely maxed out. There is still approximately 16 pixels at the bottom that it will not "max" over. I can't even "stretch" it anymore, as it think's 1600x1184 is the max. I saw that in a file somewhere, and I'm trying to find it so I can edit it, but no luck yet.

If I find anything, I'll post it here. Honestly, if you have your "start" bar set to auto-hide, and NOT set to "keep start bar above all other windows" it's difficult to even notice that it's not full screen.