Dual monitors on 9800

[Xaeron]

Ok this is driving me crazy. I want my desktop to stretch the entire width of both screens. I want the taskbar to stretch all the way across. I want this to be like a widescreen, not 2 seperate monitors. How do I get Wolf ET to span to the second monitor. All it does is stay on 1 monitor and I see my desktop on the other. I want the game on both. Help is greatly appreciated.

[Super Nintendo]

sorry but most of the stuff you won't won't happen. When you run a game it will stay on one monitor and I think you can stretch the taskbar. I would try out the video properties but I could be wrong. The duel monitor is so you can have multiply apps open if you are playing a game.

[Dc5e]

u can actually span a window across 2 screens, Ultramon (http://www.ultramon.com) allows you to span windows across the screens, and has a secondary taskbar on the second screen.

[Xaeron]

That ultramon is a great program, thanks! I still can't get wolf to span into both screens! This is driving me crazy. Parhelias can do it. Why can't I????

[HotKoala]

Because the Matrox knows how to make superior multi-monitor cards.

=P

Let me fetch another LCD and try it out on the 9500Pro. Windows defaults to "dual independant" output. You would need your driver to switch between "dual independant" to "dual stretched." Hydravision might very well be your answer.

Edit: Nope. Hydravision hasn't changed much. Just a bunch of bloat features you don't need. I was hoping ATi would have updated the utility needed for "dual stretched" but no luck.

So long as they act as independant outputs, gaming over more than one display won't be possible.

[Mustanley]

It's just not gonna work. The game has to be to written support multiple monitors. By adding a second monitor, you are doubling your field of view, which means that twice the amount your game world would have to be rendered to support the second display. If instead the single monitor field of view was stretched over two outputs, then everything would be distorted. Then theres the issue in FPS games where if you are using two monitors, the center of your field of view would have a large gap right in the middle where your two moinitors meet. The only way to utilize multiple monitors in FPS games is by setting up three displays with a triple head card like the Matrox. There are only a few games that support this anyway. Quake 3 is one, and games based on the Quake 3 engine like Jedi Knight 2 come to mind. I haven't heard of any directx games that support multiple displays.

[HotKoala]

Wolfenstein does support multi-monitor play. Just about every popular game, does, in fact. His only problem is that he can't get the proper output needed for the videocard to properly accelerate 3D over two displays. Windows has to see it as one whole display and not two seperate ones.

No doubt there's possibly a way around it. I would probably ask ATi for this feature. The work around I was thinking was to use some kind of Custom Resolution utility and have it stretch over two monitors. If you had a plasma screen(or any widescreen display for that matter), it would work, but for two output I'm reckon driver work needs doing.

Your list needs updating. (http://matrox.com/mga/3d_gaming/surrgame.cfm)

[Mustanley]

Wow, there are a bunch of titles that supprt 3 displays. The fact remains though that you need 3 outputs.

[HotKoala]

Originally posted by Mustanley
Wow, there are a bunch of titles that supprt 3 displays. The fact remains though that you need 3 outputs.

Of those games, many of them also support 2 outputs. Other than CS, just about every FPS I've played works under dual displays(How playable it is without a slim bezel LCD is an entirely different matter). AoM, NWN, and RoN do dual displays fine. And that about covers my range of games. FPS and RTS.