Dual Monitor Support

[Stee Jans]

Does FG2 support dual monitors?

[mr_h]

It does, sorta.

What I have to do is right click on the program and select window mode. Then you simply stretch the window across both monitors. It looks like this to me. (https://boxofgeeks.net/~mrh/Gurps/GurpsWWI-2.JPG)

[gmkieran]

I've had issues with the hot-key fields along the bottom of the screen when expanding to fit dual monitors. for some reason they overlap, visually, and occasionally I end up with the wrong dice when grabbing things to roll. The *may* have been fixed in the latest release, as the visual overlap has gone away, but I haven't tried actually using the hot-key fields, yet.

[mac40k]

Hmm, I do the stretch the window across two monitors trick and have never had any problems. In fact, FG2 was one of the main reasons I got a dual monitor setup.

[ddavison]

I have not noticed any problems with hotkey usage when stretching across multiple monitors. Note that when you extend your desktop to the 2nd monitor within Windows, you can adjust the relative placement to each other physically by dragging the monitors around on the Display Properties screen (of Windows.) This mostly comes into play if you have two different sized monitors or if they sport different resolutions -- which is sometimes the case when you have a 2nd monitor hooked up to a laptop.

[EugeneZ]

I've been using FG2 on dual monitors since I first bought it. Never had a single problem. I've heard about the hotkey issue, though; and one of my former players had a very strange issue where the mousewheel didn't work on one of his monitors. There's a thread around here somewhere, but I never ran into that issue either.

[Invain63]

I've tried using multiple monitors, but the performance is too laggy on my setup. It doesn't turn out to be that big a problem, though. It keeps me from doing things that would be a problem for my single (and non-wide) screen players. I also use the second screen to view docs that I need during the game.

That brings up the issue of another annoying bug, though. I have to alt-tab between FG and other windows because simply clicking back on the FG screen doesn't return keyboard control to the program.

-Kevin McD

[mr_h]

That brings up the issue of another annoying bug, though. I have to alt-tab between FG and other windows because simply clicking back on the FG screen doesn't return keyboard control to the program.


I've had that issue as well in the past. Usually I discover it after typing an entire paragraph without looking at the screen and not noticing that it's not working :b

[ddavison]

Do you have this issue when it is not maximized on the one screen?

[Doswelk]

I have never had any problems (when using Vista and Windows 7) whilst using a tool called Ultramon.

This adds some buttons to the windows one of which stretches a window accross multiple screens (I have tried with 3 once SWEET!).

The downside is it is not free (but no expensive), I am in no way connected to the person who wrote this product (cannot remember his name right now), just thought I'd mention it works very nicely with FGII.

[Oberoten]

It might be pointed out that this loss of focus is supposedly from some minor glitch with Direct3D rather than with FG.

- Obe

[Griogre]

That brings up the issue of another annoying bug, though. I have to alt-tab between FG and other windows because simply clicking back on the FG screen doesn't return keyboard control to the program.
This is a directX thing, still really shouldn't happen when FG is in windowed mode. I run on two monitors and you have to make sure you always give FG back the focus after you use another program. Instead of using alt tab I always just click on the top title bar when coming back to FG as I find it easier than Alt-tab since I usually have FG on one monitor and PDFs or other things on the second monitor though I'll sometimes expand FG partly on the other screen so I can put the combat tracker there.

[Invain63]

Do you have this issue when it is not maximized on the one screen?
I honestly haven't tried it non-maximized since FG is unplayable on my PC in a window. I guess that if the focus issue is a DirectX bug then it won't be solvable by SmiteWorks. It's not that big a deal, it just threw me and my players for a loop the first night we played and sometimes still trips us up.

Thanks for responding!

-Kevin McD

[lhide]

fg2 in my dual-monitor setup gets too laggy(visually) if it was a game i would say it is way bellow the normal fps...
any workaround?

my spec:
core 2 duo 2.10ghz
4gb dd2
radeon x850
windows 7

[Oberoten]

Do you have newest graphics-drivers and directX ?

- Obe

[longarms]

A couple people in this lag reported laggy (visually) when using multimonitor.

I am experiencing this right now. When I resize back to one monitor, laggyness goes away. Actually, when I resize down to about less than half of monitor 2, lag seems to go away. This is with no other programs open.

I have windows xp (max memory, ~3.2GB), directx 9.0c, two 1080p monitors. I have a 3850 graphics card. Any ideas?

[Moon Wizard]

My guess is some sort of graphics drawing lag when reaching a certain desktop size for FG. It's probably dependent on the graphics used in the ruleset.

Which ruleset are you using?
Any extensions used?
Is lag still there when all windows within FG closed, or does it seem to be associated with certain types of windows?

Thanks,
JPG

[longarms]

Using the savage worlds ruleset.

No extensions used.

Yes, there is lag when all windows within FG are closed.

[Xorn]

I also stretch a Windowed FG2 across two monitors. I keep the party window, combat tracker, and maps on the main screen, and all my story/npc/item entries I'm using up on the right monitor. I leave a little bit of space on the side of the right screen so I can have a PDF within a single-click for reference. I've always had issues with Alt-Tabbing a maximized FG2, so I've always used it in windowed mode. (Haven't tried maximized in a long time though, might be fine now)

[longarms]

OK, I didn't specify, but the lag I describe happens in windowed mode. I also do not play in full screen (I am not sure that would work with two monitors)

[Mgrancey]

I haven't had any problems with that, but I don't use it too often either. What size monitors are you using? Mine are 1920x1080. Mind you I have 12 GB of ram, and 6 core 2.7 GHz processor so probably not the best to judge against it.

Not to be patronizing, but what else do you have open at the same time? Some of the normal stuff on PC's anymore can use alot of memory when added together. I have Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Skydrive, Steam, a Bamboo driver, Skype (when I'm not annoyed with it) and Acrobat, etc and they can use up use up a good chunk of memory when added together.
How you are you communicating? Do you use Skype, cause that really eats up ram. Would suggest using the TS Server there is for FG, uses a lot less bandwidth and memory.

It will only appear on your main monitor unfortunately, to use both screens for FG you have to use it in windowed mode.

[longarms]

I will edit my previous post to add more details

[Moon Wizard]

I'm not seeing greater lag on my development machine when stretched vs. single screen; and from the reports, I'm guessing this is not a general issue.

My thoery is that it is more related to the machine configuration vs. what FG is trying to do. When you are running FG in stretched mode, it's similar to running any DirectX game stretched across 2 screens. If you are getting lag on a stretched screen, it's probably because your graphics card or driver or PC can not handle a DirectX application at that resolution.

Regards,
JPG

[longarms]

Any way to test that theory? (besides buying a new graphics card)

Could I for example provide some stats in a benchmarking application that would be informative whether my hardware would be expected to be sufficient for the program?

Or moon_wizard maybe I try the dual screen setup I described without the SW extension and see if I get the same result, or not.

[Moon Wizard]

Unfortunately, I have no good way of testing the theory. Compatibility testing across various hardware platforms is outside the budget of our company.

Your suggestion is a good one, just in case it is specific to SW and reproducible on higher spec machines.

The specs you posted were for a low-spec machine (at least these days), which is the theory basis. It's not clear whether a new graphics card would be sufficient; it could be related to other hardware or OS limitations.

I would suggest trying on another machine, if possible, to verify.

Regards,
JPG