Esulin
asked on
Multi Monitor "Spanning" on Radeon 9600XT for gaming.
It seems that once again ATI has created a 'better' product than nVidia and the rest. Although, this time it looks like it's to its user's detriment.
I have a Radeon 9600XT outputting to two monitors.
I want to be able to play certain games by spanning the games across the two screens. The specific game I have in mind is "X2: The Threat".
Now, here's the thing. To be able to play that game on multiple monitors, as with most games nowadays, you set your desktop to ‘span’ two monitors. Thus windows treats it as a single display while the video card outputs to two monitors at a virtual resolution of 2048,768 (2x 1024 monitors side by side). Some games, such as X2, support these ‘wide’ resolutions and present their GUI appropriately to that.
Unfortunately, by following the standards set out be Microsoft, ATI does not support this function, and outputs independent data to the monitors separately.
I'm looking for a way to get around this. Maybe some software that will allow me to set a dual screen (wide) resolution, and then would 'cut' the output in half and send each monitor the relevant data, or maybe, a similar hardware solution that spans video output across several monitors.
For a more detailed description of the problem have a look here:
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16866&highlight=radeon+spanning+monitor
Please read that before you post any solutions.
-Esulin.
P.S. I was only being sarcastic with the 'better product' thing. I'm not particularly fussed about whether people think nVidia or ATI are better, so don't bother starting on that one.
I have a Radeon 9600XT outputting to two monitors.
I want to be able to play certain games by spanning the games across the two screens. The specific game I have in mind is "X2: The Threat".
Now, here's the thing. To be able to play that game on multiple monitors, as with most games nowadays, you set your desktop to ‘span’ two monitors. Thus windows treats it as a single display while the video card outputs to two monitors at a virtual resolution of 2048,768 (2x 1024 monitors side by side). Some games, such as X2, support these ‘wide’ resolutions and present their GUI appropriately to that.
Unfortunately, by following the standards set out be Microsoft, ATI does not support this function, and outputs independent data to the monitors separately.
I'm looking for a way to get around this. Maybe some software that will allow me to set a dual screen (wide) resolution, and then would 'cut' the output in half and send each monitor the relevant data, or maybe, a similar hardware solution that spans video output across several monitors.
For a more detailed description of the problem have a look here:
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16866&highlight=radeon+spanning+monitor
Please read that before you post any solutions.
-Esulin.
P.S. I was only being sarcastic with the 'better product' thing. I'm not particularly fussed about whether people think nVidia or ATI are better, so don't bother starting on that one.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Well, bladefist, to be honest I just spent almost 200$ on this video card, and other than this one thing I'm very happy with it's performance. So, buying another video card is out of the question.
I've already tried UltraMon and Hydravision. Neither of them offers this functionality.
As for the software resolution, you're most probably right that it could be slow. Theoretically, if it's possible to interface to the cards output at it's final stage, a software like that would have to determine whether a pixel is on the left or right of the split, and redirect it to the appropriate monitor to a new coordinate. That's 1.5 million calculations for each screen refresh (at 2x1024). I think even on my Athlon64 XP3200, that would be quite taxing.
But, maybe there are ways whereby each pixel doesn't have to be calculated. I don't know anything about that kind of low-level hardware programming. That's why I'm asking. :)
I've already tried UltraMon and Hydravision. Neither of them offers this functionality.
As for the software resolution, you're most probably right that it could be slow. Theoretically, if it's possible to interface to the cards output at it's final stage, a software like that would have to determine whether a pixel is on the left or right of the split, and redirect it to the appropriate monitor to a new coordinate. That's 1.5 million calculations for each screen refresh (at 2x1024). I think even on my Athlon64 XP3200, that would be quite taxing.
But, maybe there are ways whereby each pixel doesn't have to be calculated. I don't know anything about that kind of low-level hardware programming. That's why I'm asking. :)
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Didn't really get an answer that helped in any way... But there's not point wasting the points.
Esulin.
P.S. Sorry bout the late close... I actually forgot this question was still open.
Esulin.
P.S. Sorry bout the late close... I actually forgot this question was still open.
ASKER
The thing is that X2, like most games, does not support it in such an explicit way, but rather only adapts its existing game engine to allow for this ‘hack’, for the lack of a better word.
Imagine re-coding your whole game to map to two or more independent Direct3D planes, as opposed to just stretching the one that you already have.
Thus yes, the game publisher should provide this kind of support, but they don’t. And since there is a feasible way around this issue, I don’t see why they should. If anything, it’s ATI that should provide support for ‘spanning’.
Thanks for the tip on PowerStrip though. If I can split the output of one monitor onto two, this will allow me set the appropriate resolution for that.