Grid Demo and full game in TripleHead ... almost ...

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 10 May 2008, 00:46

As the title says the GRID demo and full game work in TripleHead ... sort of ...

First you need to set the Aspect Ratio in the game to "Normal" ...
The menus are vert- with TripleHead resolutions ...which means a lot of what you need to see is off screen ... :(

For instance ... the select key/icon here below the image ...

There are many other things off screen in TripleHead depending on the menu ... :(

The in game views are fine ... but the HUD is behind the gaps between the screens.

What I did was learn all the menus, buttons, keys and made my profile with the game at 1280x1024 ...
Then changed the game back to 3840x1024 ... which requires a restart ... :roll:

It is a bit of a muddle to get through I know but the racing is awesome ... I love it ... :mrgreen:

EDIT ... added a second menu screenshot.
Edit #2 ... added the blue bit of text.

JosephJEHancock · Post by **JosephJEHancock** » 10 May 2008, 18:28

Nice one mate! I may just have to show off your comparison pics on Gametrailers!

MrCrowley · Post by **MrCrowley** » 10 May 2008, 19:51

Some more:

With my rig (q6600, 8800ultra), at 3840x1024 - all max - it runs barely at 30fps, so tune down to 3072x768 with some down (people, pilot, 4xAA instead 16xAA) to get 55+ fps (about 5 or so more than those in the screenshots).

Saludos

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 10 May 2008, 19:55

Great shots ... :D
So how are you finding the menu ... ?

MrCrowley · Post by **MrCrowley** » 10 May 2008, 20:09

Great shots ... Very Happy
So how are you finding the menu ... ?

Try first with one monitor and learn how to make it work. For ex, change of resolution implies pressing right key and enter when the screen turns black. You donÂ´t see the options but theyÂ´re still there.

ItÂ´s something annoying but the final game I suppose that will not have this problem (Dirt did work flawlessly in that respect).

Byez.

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 10 May 2008, 20:17

Try first with one monitor and learn how to make it work. ....

I did ... see the first post ... :lol:
I was just hoping you would confirm my findings that whilst a pain it is ok once you know what you are doing ... and you did ... :D

Dirt's demo worked flawlessly too ... unlike this ... but true they could well fix this for the full release ... 8)

khula · Post by **khula** » 11 May 2008, 21:39

Woah hang on a mo... Paddy, is this in vista? Cos when I try it, the demo looks all squashed in game not just the menus... I have all the options viewable in the menus and not cropped like yours. but the racing looks like someone dropped an anvil on screen? Even when I change it to 16:9....?

Gonna try it in XP

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 11 May 2008, 21:53

Sorry ... I should have mentioned in the first post ... :oops: ...
You need to set the Aspect Ratio in the game to "Normal" to get what I got ...

Added it now ...

Richy · Post by **Richy** » 13 May 2008, 09:47

Too bad there are some graphical glitches in SoftTH 1.07

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 15 May 2008, 07:18

Guys ... if you haven't already ... please respond to this ... http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13718

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 15 May 2008, 17:54

Great news guys ... :D

The menu issue will be fixed in a patch on or shortly after release day ...
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=130320#130320

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 16 May 2008, 16:05

The game is not supposed to support SLi ...
From the readme ...

viii) Is ATIâ€™s Crossfire or NVIDIAâ€™s SLI supported?

Unfortunately, due to the working of GRIDâ€™s engine, systems which link two or more graphics cards (i.e. Crossfire or SLI) are not implicitly supported. This means you may not see a performance boost from having the second card, and you may even have trouble running the game. If GRID is failing to start properly and your system is SLI or Crossfire enabled, try disabling the technology in either NVIDIAâ€™s or ATIâ€™s control panel in Windows and see if this helps.

That said ... I improved my frame rates by about 20fps by renaming the GRID.exe to dirt.exe ... so that it uses the DIRT profile in the Nvidia Control Panel ...

Frame rate in top right ...
Before ...

After ...

Before ...

After ...

Before ...

After ...

Post by **wazoo** » 16 May 2008, 19:11

I can't seem to get this to run in TH2Go.....

I tried an install on Vista 32 and XP. With and without SLI.... with and without AA.... but I get the same problem:

Game runs flawlessly in 1600x1200. I reset to 3840x1024 and restart.

I get the GRID logo, my three screens activate indicating that 3840x1024 is initialized (also confirmed via FRAPS on my G15 keyboard), but the screens stay black.

Eventually, it CTD's with no error codes.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm running 9800GTX's with 174.74 drivers.

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 16 May 2008, 19:28

I found it wouldn't run if I changed the AA setting from the original setting ...
So I deleted the ... hardware_settings_config.xml ... from here ... C:Documents and SettingsAdministratorMy DocumentsCodemastersGRID Demohardwaresettings ... (XP)
It made a new one and started up in TH no prob ...

I have changed/played with every other setting and had no problems ...
Mine now running with everything set to the highest it can be but the AA is as it was the first time I fired it up ... 4xmsaa

So ...

Try deleting that hardware_settings_config.xml and let it make a new one.

Hope that helps ... :D

Post by **wazoo** » 16 May 2008, 19:55

Hey Paddy,

Thanks for the reply. Ends up it was much simpler.

When I reset to 3840x1024 and rebooted, there was a prompt asking me whether or not I wanted to keep the new resolution.

Because of the problem with the menus, I never saw it; only the black screen. I basically hit the arrow key right once (which moved the prompt that I could not see to YES - Accept Resolution) and then the enter key and all worked fine! :D

However... one problem I am having is that my gauges, map and standings are right in the bezels and thus difficult/impossible to read because I use bezel management.

No way around this?

EDIT: Just re-read your post above and see you have the same problem. I guess I'll add another post to the thread at CM and ask that they fix that.... but I assume that is a longshot.... :cry:

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 16 May 2008, 20:39

He-he ... glad you sorted it ... :D

Re the HUD ... bars etc ... The guy from Codies did say ...

We've just made a couple of small code changes, and the menus and overlays will now all render correctly, even in ultra-widescreen resolutions Smile

"Overlays" are the HUD elements ... so hopefully that will be fixed too ... 8)

Post by **skipclarke** » 17 May 2008, 07:20

I posted about this on the front page. Thanks for making the voice of the WSGF known out there, and for doing so in a polite manner.

khula · Post by **khula** » 18 May 2008, 12:42

As usual Paddy, you are THE man. Us triple head users are a small but powerful voice. Thanks so much for all your efforts!

blant · Post by **blant** » 18 May 2008, 21:34

really nice game lol

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 22 May 2008, 17:18

I created a couple of GRID widgets if anyone is interested ...

GRID Widget ...

Disclaimer:
This is a free to use desktop object/widget ...
If this application manipulates your computer in a harmful way I am not responsible.
Use at your own risk.

Different downloads for different countries ... displays a flag of the country in widget.
Not Tested in Vista.

Grid Widget ENG

Grid Widget AUS

Grid Widget US

Grid Widget NE

Grid Widget DE

Grid Widget ITA

Grid Widget ESP

Grid Widget UK

Grid Widget FR

Once downloaded and unzipped ...
Just double click the exe file to start it up ...
This does not install anything.

Right click the icon in the system tray to get some options ...

Hide/Show ... hides or shows the widget ...
Close ... ...
About ... tells you about widget ...
Preferences ... gives you some options such as ... Opacity ... Hue Shift ... Z-Order ... Start with Windows etc ...
I recommend you use this preference box to set the Z-Order to Desktop Level ... so that it is always behind other windows etc.

The "Flag" button will only link to the game demo if it is installed in the default location on the C: drive.
I will update the widget to link to the game (not the demo) once the game is out on the 30th.

If for some reason the widget goes off the screen and doesn't come back ...
Do a search on your system for a folder called ... GRID Widget ... you must include ... "Search hidden files or folders" ... in the " More advanced options" ...
Delete the folder called ... GRID Widget .
When you next start it up it will be back in the default position.

Wallpapers for the GRID Widget ...
You can of course use your own wallpapers for the widget but I thought I'd include one I made ... 5 sizes ...

A thumbnail with the Widget in place ...

Wallpaper link ...

3840x1024 TripleHead

GRID Speeders ...

Disclaimer:
This is a free to use desktop object/widget ...
If this application manipulates your computer in a harmful way I am not responsible.
Use at your own risk.

Grid Speeders

Once downloaded and unzipped ...
Just double click the exe file to start it up ...
This does not install anything.

Right click the icon in the system tray to get some options ... described above for the GRID widget

If for some reason the speeders disappear off the screen and don't come back ...
Do a search on your system for a folder called ... GRID Speeders ...
You must include ... in the " More advanced options" ... "Search hidden files or folders"
Delete the folder called ... GRID Speeders .
When you next start it up it will be back in the default position.

Enjoy.

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