IL2 1946, Cliffs of Dover, Wings of Prey on SIX monitors?

[italo44]

Hi,

before I buy a 6870 eyefinity 6 edition graphic card to try a six monitor setup (3 over 3) for

-) IL2 1946,

-) Wings of Prey

-) IL2 Cliffs of Dover

I want to ask the forum, if anybody here has any experience or even already successfully installed a 6 monitor setup (3 over 3 with 3072x1536) for the above mentioned combat flight sims like is shown here for LockOn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I39LFabOyfg)

All my previous attempts with 2xTH2GO and also SoftTH 2.xx failed (3 monitorsetup with ONE TH2GO was no problem).

Any experience with eyefinity 6 edition (or a working solution for 2xTH2GO) is welcome!

Thanks and best regards, Harald

Asus P5N-E SLI / E8400 @ 3,8 GHz / 4GB RAM / ATI 4870, Catalyst 9.5 / TH2GO analog / Win XP, W7 64 bit with SoftTH 2.xx

[Taipan]

I only have 3 screens, but I can tell you about 2 of them:
-IL-2 1946 I am running in 4960x1600 resolution without SoftTH or any eyefinity etc. I setup my left monitor in windows as my "main" screen anytime I want to play and the game loads the res from the config file. It's Fullscreen mode as well. I suspect it might work for you to set the top left screen in windows as the main, then do it like that.
-IL-2 CloD - I run it in 2560x1600 only on my middle monitor, because even on only one screen with a 1200mhz overclocked 7970 I still don't get a 60FPS vsync. This game is troublesome and really demands resources. You could try it but don't expect much more FPS than 30 on a resolution like 3072x1536. Best to post in the 1C Forums to see if anyone has attempted it.

Also before you buy that card, remember that Sapphire leaked document has a 6 mini-DP 7970 with 6GB on the list. Just a rumour but I don't see why they wouldn't make it, the 7970 is begging for multi-monitors to be attached. On everything except CloD it is a beast.

[suiken_2mieu]

It's work flawlessly. I use a 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition. Back when I was using 6 monitors, since it's a hardware solution games (generally) just pickup the resolution. Some might need you enter them in manually, or use FOV fixes, but it works.

[italo44]

It's work flawlessly. I use a 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition. Back when I was using 6 monitors, since it's a hardware solution games (generally) just pickup the resolution. Some might need you enter them in manually, or use FOV fixes, but it works.

Hi,

thanks for your promising answer! Just to make sure: Can you confirm that IL2 1946 did work with the 5870 eyefinity 6 edition on 6 monitors (3 over 3) on your computer or is it just a general assumption?

I tried it for IL2 1946 with manual config changes as well as FOV fixes and also SoftTH without success during the last months (with 2xTH2GO).

Best regards, Harald

[BHawthorne]

Any particular reason why you want to game in 3x2? 3x2 is essentially the same aspect ratio as regular displays.

[italo44]

Any particular reason why you want to game in 3x2? 3x2 is essentially the same aspect ratio as regular displays.

That´s true, but the only way for my cockpit setup (older pic here with fs2004 and 4 monitors).

Nobody else running IL2 (1946 or CoD) on 6 (3 over 3) monitors? Any experience to VERTICAL combination of 2 or more monitors in IL2 is also welcome and might contribute to solve the issue! (HORIZONTAL combination is no problem).

Harald

Attached files

[sneaker-78-]

is it even possible to run 1946 on 3 screens?

[fluke69]

Hey guys,
New here, only because I haven't been stymied up to this point, but now I am. I have been running IL-2 1946 on 6 screens, 3 over 3, at 3840 X 2048 with no problems. I have GTX 680 in an i7 3770 Cyberpower PC. I have a TH2go analog plugged into the DVI-I port with 3- 19" Dell VGA screens, then I have 3- 19" DVI monitors plugged into the DVI-D, the HDMI and the Display Port outlets. As long as the primary monitor is the top left, IL-2 spans the whole desktop at 3840 X 2048. No problems and solid 60 FPS with V-sync. Didn't need Soft TH or anything, it just worked. I'm about to get IL-2 Cliffs of Dover and hoping that will just work as well.

But now I've been trying to get Wings of Prey on six screens but can"t. It only wants to stay on the primaty screen, whether that's the 3 TH2go screens or 1- 19". Although the six screens act as one desktop and I can move the mouse all over all of them, it's still not really one desktop. There are 4 seperate Win 7 backrounds on the monitors. one on the 3- TH2go screens, and 1 each on the others. In the Nvidea control panel, there is no setting for "Expand Desktop to these monitors". I'm thinking this is probably easy but no luck so far. Any ideas?

BTW, I have entered the res manually in the cofig.blk in the "My Games/WoP" directory and clicked the acesss.exe which skips the launcher. But whether you start the launcher or skip it, it still overwites the config setting, usually to 800 X 600. If I had to guess, I either have to make the desktop read as 3840 X 2048, or find some way to get that as an option in the launcher.

[fluke69]

Anybody? It's been 3 to 4 days. Nothin? Please...

[Delphium]

Pardon me, but how exactly are you displaying 6 screens from 1 nvidia card?
I understand you are using a TH2G unit, but the rest?

I think wings of prey really only works on 6 monitors when using AMD eyefinity with an E6 card.
You might be able to run the game in windowed mode and then stretch the window across all monitors, but the performance would be not be great.

[fluke69]

Delphium,
Read my previous post. It describes EXACTLY how I am doing it. But so far I am only able to do it with IL-2 1946, who's config file is highly modifyable. Her's a pic.

[fluke69]

So I can get IL-2 1946 and Cliffs of Dover on 6 screens without Nvidea Surround. The GTX 680 will put out on all four outputs, DVI-D, DVI-I w/ TH2go, HDMI and Display Port. Each screen at 1280 X 1024 for 3840 X 2048. So why can't I get Wings of Prey to do the same? I have changed the screen res in the config file but it switches back to 3840 X 1024 when it launches whether I use the Launcher or acess but it doesn't rewrite the config setting. Is there another config somewhere that allows the change in screen res? In IL-2 its callled "EnableResize" and" ChangeScreenRes" but I can't find anything like that in WoP. If I enable Surround in the Nvidia control panel it wants to turn off one of the GTX 680's outputs. And it chooses the DVI-I with my TH2go plugged into it because it's a diffent res from the other 3. Anybody got any ideas? Please...

[GeneralAdmission]

Greetings.

If I have understood your config correctly, the problem is that you are running 4 displays instead of 1 unified display spanned over six screens. To my knowledge, the vast majority of games do not support multiple display outputs. It sounds like IL2 has this kind of support built into its engine, which is why it works over all six screens. The bad news is that may be the only game you'll be able to get working on this config.

I haven't used an NVIDIA card for some time, but I believe NV Surround does not support a 3 over 3 configuration. What you need is an Eyefinity 6 card that can create a single large surface resolution that spans all six screens, creating one display output that all your games will see the same way.

If anyone more knowledgeable sees that I've missed some details, please correct me.

[fluke69]

General,
It is one continuos desktop as I can move my mouse all over all six screens in a 3 X 2 configuration. But the task bar will only go on the screen designated as "Primary" whether thats the 3 screens on the TH2go or 1 of the other three. The only place to set "Extend the desktop over all screens" is in the Nvidea control panel under the "Setting up Surround" tab. If I try to turn "Surround" on, it wants to shut off the TH2go because its a different res from the other 3. The IL-2 games old and new both seem happy to span whatever desktop you can set up. It seems silly that a new game like WoP wouldn't do it. I could probably get it to work if I bought a second TH2go and then the vid card would see only 2 screens at 3840 X 1024 and "Surround" would let me make one enormous spanned desktop. I think.

[GeneralAdmission]

Fluke,

Your additional description confirms what I suspected. Using Windows in extended desktop mode does allow seamless, contiguous mouse movement for desktop usage but that is simply Windows' built-in ability to span itself over multiple displays. Most games, however, don't support multi-display configurations (IL2 apparently does, and I believe SupCom does also). This is actually the reason behind the birth of TH2GO, EF, and NVS--all of these technologies create a single, super-large display surface that is split and routed to multiple, physical screens. Windows and applications will thus only "see" one large display resolution--they have no idea that the actual video output is being split and routed to multiple physical devices.

My setup is similar to yours. I have 3 19" displays connected to a TH2Go and 1 24" HDTV on a separate DVI output. Windows sees this as 2 displays in extended desktop mode (3840x1024 and 1920x1080, respectively), my mouse moves laterally between all the screens seamlessly, but if I run a game it will only show on either the 3 TH2Go-connected screens or the HDTV, not on both. This is why WoP insists on running either on the 3 TH2Go screens or a single top screen of your system. Adding another TH2Go for the top 3 screens and enabling NV Surround in Portrait mode should accomplish your goal. The configuration page HERE seems to approve this config as a valid possibility, but please do a little more research since I don't claim expertise on NV hardware. Scratch this. The FAQ page states repeatedly the need for 3 displays, so we need an NVS user to chime in and clarify things.

[italo44]

I could probably get it to work if I bought a second TH2go and then the vid card would see only 2 screens at 3840 X 1024 and "Surround" would let me make one enormous spanned desktop. I think.

Hi Fluke,
I can confirm that SOFTTH 2.04 and Wings of Prey runs perfectly with 2x TH2Go analog devices on a ATI 4890 (=6 screens) with a resoultion of 3072 x 1536 in window mode:
http://www.kegetys.fi/forum/index.php?topic=2577.0
I can send you my softth config - just let me know.
My system: E8600@4,2GHz, Asus P5N-E SLI, ATI4890/4770, 2xTH2GO (analog), Windows XP


Now a question from my side regarding IL2 1946: My system is rather old, I know - do you think, it could be possible for me to run also IL2 1946 with 6 screens with a 2x3 screen setup as you did with your GTX 680? So far I failed, only a "normal" TH2Go setup of 3x3072x768 was possible, with or without SoftTH. It would be great help if you could send me a PM with your graphic settings in the config file of IL2 1946.

Thanks & best regards, Harald

[fluke69]

italo,
I think you can do it easier without SoftTH. As long as you can set up your desktop in the CCC to span all six screens, and you set your res in the config to match, IL2 will span the whole thing. Just make sure the primary screen is top left, or top in your case. Here's the first few relevent lines of my config:

[window]
width=3840
height=2048
ColourBits=32
DepthBits=24
StencilBits=8
ChangeScreenRes=0
FullScreen=1
DrawIfNotFocused=0
EnableResize=0
EnableClose=1
SaveAspect=0
Use3Renders=0

I do this without Nvidia Surround or anything. And I would guess you should get at least 30+ FPS with your rig, but that's just a guess.
Going back to WoP, I have been able to span the six screens in windowed mode but it's larger than the six screens and very distorted and stretched to the point of being unplayable. Let me know if you IL2 on 6.