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Letschill 2002-05-28 15:24
Hi,
First of all thanks for writing a great piece of software. On to the problem:
The "Set Primary" option has always had the Monitor 2 selection dimmed out, ever since the first version of Ultramon I tried out (beta 5), which still exists on beta 7. When I try to overcome this in creating a new Display Profile, the check box for setting Monitor 2 as primary is dimmed out.
I'm on WinXP, problem can be replicated on Radeon 8500 as well as Radeon Mobility on a laptop.
Any suggestions welcome.
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Christian Studer 2002-05-29 01:56
This is an issue with the ATI drivers.
On the laptop, this behavior is normal, the external monitor is reported as being removable, and removable monitors can't be set as primary. As far as I know this is intended to prevent a situation where the laptop is booted without the primary monitor being available (for example the monitor in the docking station is set as primary but the laptop isn't docked).
On the desktop, the driver shouldn't report that the second monitor is removable, at least I can't see any reason why this would be necessary.
If you go to Windows Display Properties, the 'use this device as primary' option will be disabled for the secondary monitor as well (let me know if it isn't).
BTW, the system information on UltraMon's About dialog will show if a monitor is removable.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Letschill 2002-05-29 15:27
Hi Christian,
You are spot on about the laptop, but not true for the 8500. I can actually set the secondary monitor as primary in Windows Display Properties. It's just a huge hassle to do that everytime (doing it for the purpose of WMP8 won't do full screen on secondary, TV Tuner won't play on secondary, etc), so was thinking it would be wonderful if I could create a shortcut using Ultramon.
I tried different setups, including 2 identical flat panels, 1 flat panel and 1 CRT, obviously to no avial as I think it is an ultramon issue.
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Christian Studer 2002-05-30 01:16
Can you set it as primary using Display Properties or one of the custom ATI property pages?
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Letschill 2002-06-02 13:35
Using ATI Custom Property, yes. Not with Windows Display though, the set primary was grayed out.
Thanks for adding support.
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Christian Studer 2002-06-03 13:37
Unfortunately this won't be possible, setting the primary using the ATI controls is not the same as using Windows Display Properties, and is proprietary to ATI drivers. As far as I can tell, this only changes the monitor on which overlays are supported, nothing else.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Letschill 2002-06-04 18:34
Arggh. If I were to add a PCI Video Card (ie G450) to handle the second monitor, would that solve the issue? I need overlay on the second monitor. Few questions I've been digging on the net but unable to come up with definitive answers regarding adding a PCI card for secondary:
1). For OpenGL apps like Quake, would I still need to disable second monitor?
2). Everything on the secondary monitor would then be accelerated by the PCI card? So in theory, I can play Quake on the secondary if the card supports it?
3). Will DVD playing be handled by the secondary card when I play on the secondary screen? What happens when I drag the DVD app split across 2 screens?
Thanks for taking the time.
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Nite 2002-06-04 23:38
1) I don't think so. I'm running GF2 + various PCI based cards as secondaries and I don't have to disable them when I run OpenGL games.
2) Well, yes and no. Everything on the second is handled by the PCI card, except in few situations, such as many games. If a game allowsyou to choose the used adapter, it's possible to use that.
3) Most probably no. DVD acceleration is normally available only on the primary card, regardless of the capabilites of the secondary card. Either only the part that is visible on the primary monitor would play, or the application could crash.
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
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Christian Studer 2002-06-05 01:08
You can play DVDs on the secondary if it supports overlays, but your DVD player software needs to support it (Zoom Player does for example).
As Nite said, stretching the DVD window across both displays won't work.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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