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Nite 2002-10-13 06:25
Hi all.
I'm seeing more and more posts about people not getting this-and-this game to work on multiple monitors. Instead of replying to everyone of them individually, here goes my two cents. (or three, make your guess :)
1. Generally, full-screen multi-monitor gaming is available *only*, if using hardware the specifically supports this, or a game that has built-in support for multi-screen functions. (as of now, only Matrox Parhelia has three-screen support. ATI & nVIDIA have only dual-screen product. Games usually support only one monitor and to get a game like this to display on all monitors, Windows *has* to be configured to detect all monitors as a single "virtual" monitor. (Stretched Mode). (ie. 3072x768 instead of 3 monitors with 1024x768 each.)
2. With the new Detonator 40's, nVIDIA is (finally) offering multi-screen OpenGL (and D3D?) hardware acceleration, *BUT*, it isn't offering the Stretched Mode. To get any game to work HW-accelerated over multiple GeForce cards, you have to switch the game to windowed-mode. (Not all games support this OOB, but most of them can be made with a little config-file tweaking.)
3. I have been told (not verified, I don't own) that ATI has been offering multi-screen OpenGL (again, in windowed mode) with multiple Radeon cards since a couple of Catalyst drivers ago.
So. To conclude: To get full-screen, multiple-monitor (more than 2) gaming, you *have* to have specialized hardware (which, as of now, is the Parhelia).
Sorry for the rant, but (too) many people (not just here) seem to think that as long as you have three monitors working, you can get hw-acceleration full-screen just like that.
Sorry folks, no can do.
(I've mailed nVIDIA and ATI about this for months now, and they've replied nothing.)
(okay, was probably more than $0.05, but who cares ;)
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
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Artistimus 2002-10-23 19:00
"1. Generally, full-screen multi-monitor gaming is available *only*, if using hardware the specifically supports this, or a game that has built-in support for multi-screen functions. (as of now, only Matrox Parhelia has three-screen support. ATI & nVIDIA have only dual-screen product. Games usually support only one monitor and to get a game like this to display on all monitors, Windows *has* to be configured to detect all monitors as a single "virtual" monitor. (Stretched Mode). (ie. 3072x768 instead of 3 monitors with 1024x768 each.)"
Anyone in here know how to enable the stretch mode on the radeon 8500? I'm using win xp.
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Nite 2002-10-23 20:56
Again, I don't own any ATI cards (excpet my mach64, does that count? :D ), but I've heard, more than couple of times, that the Radeon(s) are indeed capable of the stretched mode, even with multiple adapters. But, sadly, I don't have *any* idea how to enable that.
If someone manages to do that, congrats to him. That would mean that about 90% of "Surround Gaming" enhanced games would be able to run in "Powered by ATI" -machines, IN fullscreen, WITH multiple adapters (provided all are [matching?] Radeons).
I've mailed to ATI about this half a year ago, but haven't received any reply. (I wouldn't *ever* buy an ATI card based on their customer relations...)
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
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Nite 2002-10-27 04:05
*Boink* (just a bump to the top, so that it's easier to find for "first-timer"s)
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
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