Fullscreen games and dual monitors?

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2007-07-11 05:15pm

I recently picked up a second LCD panel for my computer, and have been using the TwinView feature of the nVidia drivers (with my two DVI output 6600GT) to expand my desktop across both of them. I am, however, completely unable to use any fullscreen 3D applications (most notably games) in any useful fashion -- nearly everything I've tried has resulted in the second monitor's resolution being changed to a full multiple of the primary's fullscreen resolution and the game on the first monitor slowing to a complete crawl (presumably from rendering both the game and the Windows desktop). I can evade these problems by manually dropping back to a single desktop via the nVidia control panel, but this results in all of my icons and apps on the second desktop being spilled back across the primary desktop, leaving a complete mess when I quit the fullscreen app.

For other people here with multiple screens -- how do you handle gaming? Is there a way to temporarily suspend rendering to the second monitor without dumping everything to the main desktop?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2007-07-11 05:33pm

For me it shows up on one screen and I still have my windows desktop on the other, are you using extended desktop?

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2007-07-11 05:41pm

I'm using DualView (the default setting), which treats the two monitors as two separate desktops. I can drag stuff between the two, but it doesn't act like horizontal spanning (the extended desktop setting). If I open a fullscreen app, it always opens on the primary monitor, changes the second monitor's resolution (but keeps the contents intact), then the first monitor bogs down so badly in framerate that I can't do anything.

Isil`Zha · Post by **Isil`Zha** » 2007-07-11 10:01pm

You should be able to set it to extended desktop instead of a second one and just move the stuff over. On mine at least, under tools, there's a Window's Utilities section with a "Move to Display" button that moves all your icons, task bar... basically your desktop to the other monitor.

I have it set this way for when I play fullscreen games and it works fine. The game pops up on the primary display, my desktop is over on the other display with no problems.