TripleHead support... ruined by the UI !?

[scavv]

The demo makes good use of widescreen displays. Unfortunately it fails in "surround" (triple display) and not because of the 3D : the UI alone is to blame ! Could you please look into it ?

>>See DG:TA in Surround (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=151864) (with details on the issue)

>>TripleHead2Go product info (http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/)

[jeff]

I would think it would work in windowed mode (you'd have the border, but otherwise it should work, no?).





Jeff

[scavv]

Thanks for your suggestion, but windowed mode has only a limited list of (some odd) resolutions available, so I can't say. Editing config.ini doesn't help, as the game always overrides my resolution settings and opens in a 1600x900 window...

Is there any way I can start the game at a non-fullscreen resolution of my choice, using command line parameters or something ? Or any way to force the game to "obey" config.ini ?

I doubt it'd make any difference though, as the UI takes as much space in windowed 1600x900 as in any fullscreen 16:9 resolution for instance, so TripleHead aspect ratios are likely to have the same problem in windowed mode. I'd really like to be able to actually test it, though.

[jeff]

We query the OS for available screen resolutions to come up with the list that are available.* Likely Windows is only telling us what the max on one monitor is.* I'll ask our folks if there are any workarounds for that.





Jeff

[scavv]

You might also want to contact Matrox for technical details on how TripleHead2Go affects Windows resolutions and whatnot.

I know it's not a vital issue, but if you can fix it I'll definitely buy the full game at once AND spread the word among the growing "tripleheaders" community !

[jeff]

Is there a contact at Triplehead you can point me at?





Thanks,





Jeff

[Dem Pyros]

Hey Jeff,

I'm also looking for support for Triplehead resolutions, my own personal setup working at 4320*900 (1440*900 * 3).

If you could give us a heads-up as to where support stands (or how we could work out resolutions by ourselves) I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

[jeff]

Let me talk with the tech staff on things we could do to enable you to adjust it yourself.





Jeff

[DaFox]

With AMD's new ATi Eyefinity technology I am really looking forward to using surround, I hope the UI issues get sorted out.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I am another ATI Eyefinity user, I think you will find more and more triple screen users crop up with the release of the 5000 series ATI cards.



As mentioned it seems that in game by default with no modification the game is Hor+ (game properly extends the FOV across all screens without cropping)



The game also picks up my 5760x1200 resolution on its own without any modifications.



The problem is the game menu system and other 2d elements like the HUD, it just zooms to fit the width of all 3 screens by cropping the top and bottom so you can not see or even navigate the top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the menus.



It doesn't just make the game awkward to play, it makes it impossible since you can not see or select many elements within the game, cant even exit! Have to alt+tab (in the demo anyways)



Pictures are worth a thousand words and should make explaining this a lot easier.



Normal 1920x1200 Main Menu

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT139zPd8I/AAAAAAAACYY/CsjWog0PcjQ/s1152/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-22-14-57.jpg



Normal 1920x1200 In Game

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT14JnKTiI/AAAAAAAACYc/TGsAVHUN5v4/s1152/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-22-29-59.jpg



Surround 5760x1200 Menu

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT14vrKc9I/AAAAAAAACYg/VKH5YIbuq7o/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-12-21.jpg



You can see the zoom, doesnt break this part of the menu since it was a small one but...



Surround 5760x1200 Mission Select

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT143FEiuI/AAAAAAAACYk/Wuz3JmkCXlo/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-19-19.jpg



Take something like the missing select screen and you see the problem start to form.



Surround 5760x1200 In Game

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT141Rm9sI/AAAAAAAACYo/Nz3yhOpam1o/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-30-40.jpg



Get in game and now you see how great this game can be in surround, full Hor+ on all the 3d in game elements. But...



Surround 5760x1200 In Game Build Menu

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT19-zNQrI/AAAAAAAACYs/7CxNI8jO2JA/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-38-07.jpg



Now you see the problem... Cant see the unit select part of the menu.



So looks like if you can find a way to scale down the 2D elements/menu's your game is all fixed and ready to be played at a higher level, surround gaming.



I have the demo right now, not getting the full game until I see this support added. Not meant to be taken as a threat just a truth because I only like to play games that support my surround setup.

[jeff]

Thanks much for the detailed descriptions.* I'm hoping we can get a Triplehead setup in and address this in the future.





Jeff

[evilmatt]

I'm planning on investing in a radeon 6970 when they're released soon, and dabbling in some eyefinity gaming. Having recently bought defense grid in a steam sale, I was wondering if the menu elements were ever patched to work in triple-wide resolutions? This thread seems to have been abandoned :(

[jeff]

It has been a long time since we were looking into it.* I remember we asked for a triple head setup and were going to get one, but it never came.* We can ask again, but because of all that is going on in other areas, I am not sure TH support would come any time soon.





Jeff

[evilmatt]

You don't really need a triplehead setup these days, any Radeon or recent Nvidia card (2 in SLI for nvidia) supports triple screens.

I guess you just need to change the scaling of the 2D UI elements so that it takes the resolution height into account and doesn't scale them too tall to fit the screen?

[Mechfire]

I am another ATI Eyefinity user, I think you will find more and more triple screen users crop up with the release of the 5000 series ATI cards.



As mentioned it seems that in game by default with no modification the game is Hor+ (game properly extends the FOV across all screens without cropping)



The game also picks up my 5760x1200 resolution on its own without any modifications.



The problem is the game menu system and other 2d elements like the HUD, it just zooms to fit the width of all 3 screens by cropping the top and bottom so you can not see or even navigate the top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the menus.



It doesn't just make the game awkward to play, it makes it impossible since you can not see or select many elements within the game, cant even exit! Have to alt+tab (in the demo anyways)



Pictures are worth a thousand words and should make explaining this a lot easier.



Normal 1920x1200 Main Menu

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT139zPd8I/AAAAAAAACYY/CsjWog0PcjQ/s1152/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-22-14-57.jpg



Normal 1920x1200 In Game

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT14JnKTiI/AAAAAAAACYc/TGsAVHUN5v4/s1152/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-22-29-59.jpg



Surround 5760x1200 Menu

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT14vrKc9I/AAAAAAAACYg/VKH5YIbuq7o/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-12-21.jpg



You can see the zoom, doesnt break this part of the menu since it was a small one but...



Surround 5760x1200 Mission Select

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT143FEiuI/AAAAAAAACYk/Wuz3JmkCXlo/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-19-19.jpg



Take something like the missing select screen and you see the problem start to form.



Surround 5760x1200 In Game

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT141Rm9sI/AAAAAAAACYo/Nz3yhOpam1o/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-30-40.jpg



Get in game and now you see how great this game can be in surround, full Hor+ on all the 3d in game elements. But...



Surround 5760x1200 In Game Build Menu

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nNcVLzdKf-c/SzT19-zNQrI/AAAAAAAACYs/7CxNI8jO2JA/s1440/DefenseGridDemo%202009-12-25%2012-23-38-07.jpg



Now you see the problem... Cant see the unit select part of the menu.



So looks like if you can find a way to scale down the 2D elements/menu's your game is all fixed and ready to be played at a higher level, surround gaming.



I have the demo right now, not getting the full game until I see this support added. Not meant to be taken as a threat just a truth because I only like to play games that support my surround setup.


So I picked the game up under the Kickstarter efforts and am running into this same problem (yes, I realize it was two years ago). I was hoping there might be a work around since then? I'm running triple 24" @ 5760x1200 on a GTX670. Any solutions? I am unable to play the game unfortunately. I'm seeing the same issue as indicated above with windowed mode. 1920x1200 is the maximum resolution I have access to.