multiple displays?

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stormtrooper68
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multiple displays?

Post by stormtrooper68 »

Has anyone settup multiple displays? Like using 3 monitors for front/side views? Is this even possible?
CBJ
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Post by CBJ »

Yes, you can run multiple displays but there are some limitations. Running with 2 monitors places the target reticule right on the divide between the two screens, which obviously isn't ideal. The situation with 3 monitors is much better and looks amazing judging by the screenshots I've seen. This 3-monitor mode is usually achieved with the aid of something like a Matrox TripleHead2Go box. The other limitation is Vista which doesn't support "spanning" mode in the graphics drivers, making it impossible to play many games in multi-monitor mode, though the Matrox solution may still solve that.
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mad_axeman
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Re: multiple displays?

Post by mad_axeman »

stormtrooper68 wrote:Has anyone settup multiple displays? Like using 3 monitors for front/side views? Is this even possible?
Not by me and it's in X3R, but.....

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=223530
AdrianB1
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Post by AdrianB1 »

That is not multi-display, you will get the same with an extremely wide display. Multi-monitor support means that the application is aware of the existence of several monitors and can use this. Example in Windows (any version after '98): you can maximize any window to any monitor and it will not maximize to the entire space of the 2 or 3 displays. Another example: Flight Simulator series, where you have different content on any monitor, like cockpit on center, dashboard on left and map on right. The is nothing like this in X3 whatsoever.
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Post by CBJ »

It may not meet your personal definition of the term, but nowhere do I see the original poster asking whether the game ran a specific way on multiple displays. And I'd love you to show me an "extremely wide display" that can run the game at 3840x1024 or 5040x1050 resolutions!
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mad_axeman
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Post by mad_axeman »

AdrianB1 wrote:you can maximize any window to any monitor and it will not maximize to the entire space of the 2 or 3 displays.
But you can make a window as large as all the displays that you are using which is exactly what the game does. That fact that it doesn't allow you to use different monitors for different things is beside the point.
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Post by AdrianB1 »

Ok, a quick check for multimonitor capability in the application: is there anything different for the application if you have one monitor like 2560x1024 or two monitors of 1280x1024 each? There is any detection and change in behaviour in this situation? If not - and everything is done by the OS and driver spanning - then there is no multi-monitor capability in the application. Or you may argue than any application that runs under Windows is a multi-monitor application because ... it runs :D

* any multi-monitor capability starts with a monitor management. There is any?
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Post by CBJ »

Once again, your personal definitions have no bearing on the OP's question. The answer to their question is "yes", people have set up multiple displays. The side monitors don't give you pure side views, but they do extend the FOV massively to give the illusion of this in your peripheral vision as described by the player linked by mad_axeman. So yes it's "just" spanning, but it looks great. :)
stormtrooper68
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Post by stormtrooper68 »

well...let me further explain what I'm actually wanting to do....

I'm constructing a gamepod. I have a 42" front monitor and two spare 17" monitors I'd like to use as side windows. Ideally, I would like to have a true front view and actual left and right views to look as if your actually seeing out a cockpit. The Matrox triple head just stretches out your single front view as I'm understanding it. Any suggestions on how to do this or is it impossible since I'm seeing that X3 doesn't specifically support it?


And by the way...Thanks everyone for your input..it's greatly appreciated!! :D
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Post by CBJ »

The Matrox solution (or of course any other similar ones by other manfacturers) is the only one that works with this game. You won't be able to get true side views at the same time as the front view, as I don't think there's a graphics card on the market that could handle rendering three different views in this game at once.
stormtrooper68
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Post by stormtrooper68 »

Ah..on the graphic card side I'm running 3xGeForce 9800GTX...I can run those in SLI or non-SLI three monitor as needed. Works great for MSFlightsim...or Desktop apps...it's the emersion factor I was going for with split views :)
Xerion404
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Post by Xerion404 »

SoftTH and 2 videocards works fine for me. No need for a triplehead2go. Also you can use different size monitors with SoftTH and use much higher resolutions. I'm running 3x1600x1200 and some extra not shown pixels for bezel correction.
exogenesis
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Post by exogenesis »

Interesting that X3:Reunion is listed there :)
stormtrooper68
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Post by stormtrooper68 »

That is a great idea for me to try Xerion404...thanks for that info!!
StormMagi
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Post by StormMagi »

How well did it work (and can you post screens?) I would also love to see pictures of your pod if you don't mind, I have been wanting to do something similar as well.

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