Dual Screen Graphics Corruption

[Zeus]

Hey all, hoping someone can help with a problem I have hit with a dual screen setup. I have two 19" lcd monitors which I want to use together specifically for fantasy grounds 2. I am using a Windows XP laptop with two VGA outputs, the primary graphics card is an ATi Mobility Radeon 9000 and the 2nd card is an EVGA UV+ USB2.

Both monitors have identical specifications and can support a variety of screen resolutions all the way up to 1440x900 32 bit color.

I can extend my Windows XP desktop across both monitors with no problems at all resolutions including 1440x900. With FG2 though I am getting some graphics corruption and was wondering what the maximum resolution support FG2 has for dual screen setups?

I can get it to work with no problems when both lcds are at 1280x768 and I can manually resize the FG2 window across both screens and everything is OK. The only problem is at this resolution the chat pad consumes the majority of the left hand side of the window forcing and forces modifier box and the dice to overlap with the bottom of the chat entry field.

If I try any resolution higher though and I get multi-colur blocks running diagonally right to left across 75% of the FG2 window (and across both lcds).

I don't think its the EVGA graphics adapter as the same problem occurs if I use the native laptop screen and one of the LCD's.

I suppose it could be the ATi graphics card (can anyone confirm if they have similar problems with this card?) however can't be certain.

So again just wondered what the upper limit resolution support for FG2 was when using dual screens?

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

[Bidmaron]

There is no FG2 limit other than what your graphics cards support. Folks on this board have used configurations (me included) far in excess of 1440x900 on 2 monitors, so it is your graphics card(s). Someone with more expertise may chime in here, but they are first going to tell you to check the manufacturer site and download the most up to date drivers.

[Zeus]

Thanks. The problem though is even though its an ATi graphics chip, ATi don't provide drivers for it as its oem'd to Dell (the laptop is a Latitude D600). I have checked Dell's webiste and I appear to be running the latest drivers already.

Every other app I have runs at 1440x900 across both LCDs including my XP extended desktop so is it really the graphics card or just the way FG2 renders/displays?

[Griogre]

Are you running any other DirectX app over both monitors? I would guess your problem is one of the cards in not fully DirectX 9c compatable (not uncommon with laptop video cards) or you resolution is too odd.

I take it those are wide screen monitors? If those are 4:3 LCD's 14x9 is a widescreen resolution. If they are 4:3's that may be why you can't get 14x9 to work.

[Sigurd]

Understand - FG is built on top of an environment that leverages a number of components and operating system elements. One of these elements is the display adapter. I don't think FG is even very demanding, as applications go.


Basically the application should run and behave like any number of programs - in a common environment which is in turn tested to most circumstances.


The problem though is that when you run into something not tested or, worse, not working there's precious little the application designers can do. The writers can note your problems and keep an eye out for possible solutions but since their environment is targeted at the greatest number of systems they won't change or rework it for an infrequent exception. Its sort of like saying of a highway "there are places that don't sell my favourite food". Even if they determined to fix the problem no matter what They'd likely introduce incompatabilities with windows that would dissapoint more users.


I think thats the long justification for not having much hope in fixing your bug, if its a bug with the windows display.

Still hope it gets fixed but if it doesn't, I want you to understand.

Sigurd

[Zeus]

Are you running any other DirectX app over both monitors? I would guess your problem is one of the cards in not fully DirectX 9c compatable (not uncommon with laptop video cards) or you resolution is too odd.

I take it those are wide screen monitors? If those are 4:3 LCD's 14x9 is a widescreen resolution. If they are 4:3's that may be why you can't get 14x9 to work.
Yes they are wide screen LCDs. I am not sure if I have any other Dirext9 apps as I mainly use this Winx XP laptop for FG2 exclusivley. I mainly use OS X as my preferred OS so all my other systems are macs.

Here's a couple of screenshots to help visualise the problem I'm getting.

First up is 1440x900 and FG2 works if I resize the window to approx 60% of both screens. So far so good.

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3527/3470638118_9fe5c85402.jpg?v=0

Now if I resize the window any further and I get this!

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3576/3469823827_6d821fd47a.jpg?v=0

And finally here's MS Powerpoint running across both lcds at 1440x900.

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3469832739_f26986e4e4.jpg?v=0

[Zeus]

Understand - FG is built on top of an environment that leverages a number of components and operating system elements. One of these elements is the display adapter. I don't think FG is even very demanding, as applications go.


Basically the application should run and behave like any number of programs - in a common environment which is in turn tested to most circumstances.


The problem though is that when you run into something not tested or, worse, not working there's precious little the application designers can do. The writers can note your problems and keep an eye out for possible solutions but since their environment is targeted at the greatest number of systems they won't change or rework it for an infrequent exception. Its sort of like saying of a highway "there are places that don't sell my favourite food". Even if they determined to fix the problem no matter what They'd likely introduce incompatabilities with windows that would dissapoint more users.


I think thats the long justification for not having much hope in fixing your bug, if its a bug with the windows display.

Still hope it gets fixed but if it doesn't, I want you to understand.

Sigurd

I understand completely as I work in the IT industry as well. Please understand that I am simply raising the problem for awareness however I still luv FG2 and will continue using it.

Its not that critical an issue really as I can still use FG2 at the 1440x900 dual screen resolution as long as I don't resize the window much above 60% of the total screen estate. This is actually OK with me as it enables me to have a smaller Adobe Reader/Firefox windows open at the same time for PDF/DDI reference.

It would be nice to see this fixed (if indeed it could be) but I can work as is anyway so not to worry if its can't be.

[Griogre]

Looking at those pics, if those were monitors instead of LCDs I would tell you it looks like your refresh rates are too low or you were in a non native monitor resolution. Is 14x9 the native resolution of those LCDs?

My guess is your video cards are too slow to refresh the display with FG in windowed mode past a certain size. Have you tried full screen mode? That is usually a bit less demanding on hardware. There still could be some DirectX compatibility problems, but I'm inclined towards your refresh rate being too low after looking at those pics. Laptop video cards are calibrated more towards conserving power usage, instead of max GPU cycles. I suppose you could also be a bit short on video ram on those cards, too. DirectX apps are like an order of magnitude more demanding than normal business apps. FG is on the very bottom of requirements for a DirectX app - but it is still one.

If 14x9 is not those LCDs native mode, then I would try putting the LCDs in their "native" resolution even if it is bigger. If it is the native resolution, then you might see if you can increase the refresh rate, however BEFORE you do that check those LCD's specs - you can permanently damage them if you force them into too high a refresh rate. You may find that your LCDs can handle a higher refresh but one or both cards can't deliver it.

[Zeus]

The LCDs are Fujitsu-Siemens ScaleOView H19-1Ws. According to the manual the refresh rate range is 55 Hz - 75 Hz. The native resolution is 1440x900 at 60Hz.

I have checked the screen refresh rate under the advanced properties of the card and its set to 60Hz with no other options available at this resolution.

I can drop back down to 1152x864 at 75Hz and the same thing occurs when i resize to about 85% of both screens.

if I drop down to 1024x768 at 75Hz it works and I can stretch across both screens. The only problem is the modifier/dice overlap with the bottom of the chatpad (see screenshot below).

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3471012641_d341ff855b.jpg?v=0

So unless you know how I can resize the chatpad I am stuck if I use this resolution.

Regarding using full screen rather than resizing the window manually, if I use the full screen button it only consumes the primary display (in my case the right lcd panel). I have even tried UltraMon to see if that resulted in any difference but alas the same problem occurs.

As a last recourse I tried reversing the order of the panels so that the primary (lcd 1) is the left rather than the right, again though this made no difference and the same problem occurs.

I also tried reducing the palette to 16-bit to see if that made any difference but again the corruption still occurs.

I admit I am stumped.

Thanks for your help though.

[Griogre]

Hmm. I'm thinking its the widescreen resolutions (though it could still be video card ram). Out of curiosity, can you get those LCDs into 1280x1024? It will probably look like crap, but see if you can stretch FG across both screens.

[Zeus]

No unfortunatley I only have 1280x768 at 60Hz; using this resolution resizing the window causes corruption at about 65% of both displays.