Skyrim Multi-Monitor User Interface Fix Discussion

[c69]

[quote]Hello,

I am a total noob at this.

I have Dual ATI HD 5870's in crossfire (2) configuration. I know that there are no drivers for skyrim from ati yet.

Last night I tried to change the executable to fallout 3 and it didn't work very well. I used the patch for menus and that worked pretty well; however, the performance was really crappy. So I'm wondering, are 2 HD 5870's enough power to get 5760x1200 triple screen action? I mean, it's basically not playable right now at that resolution.

Is there a guide somewhere with all of the steps to use to set this up?

-Myronman

The games doesn't support crossfire at all. People have had to actually remove the 2nd card from their system to get eyefinity working at an acceptable performance level. A few pages back there is a guy with the same problem but he has 2 HD6850s and after removing one card form his system he was able to play the game with much better performance.

Yeah, that was me. I got the game to work with crossfire on a single screen with some tweaks, although scaling was bad.

With eyefinity, the game would hang and stutter, even on the lowest detail. When I removed the second card, that fixed things. Just disabling CF didnt help. I can get 35+ fps with high/ultra settings on 3 1080 monitors with a single 6850. I would recommend disabling/removing one card for now as the game isn't that graphics intensive.

I havent given up however and am trying different things to get crossfire/eyefinity to work. I bought the second 6850 a couple weks ago from newegg and if I cant get CF to work with this title, I will send it back and get a 2GB card and sell my other 6850.

[c69]

What level of precision can we expect from the Hayden/Halifex fixes?

I have been playing around with both of them. I'm just in the first town with about 2 hours played total. I decided I'm not going to move on with playing the game until the fixes are mostly done.

Both tools have pros/cons.

Haydens tool maintains stock-like menuing (preferred for desktop monitors, imo), but the load screens seem to have been scaled down as a compromise. They show most of the picture, but the text is really compressed. The map looks stock-like. Picking up items, most of the picture is chopped off . Zooming in is broken because the item gets even bigger and you can see less of it. Books can't be read.

Halifex's tool does not do any zooming on load screens, the text is readable, but the pictures are chopped. The start menu is chopped/stretched but functional. Menus are all stretched and functional as long as you are not using bezel compensation. Map looks functional although all the icons are expanded out of scale. THere is a +/- workaround that lets you read books. The skills interface is expanded in an appealing way.

Right now, Halifex's tool is more functional, but less pretty. I've sure both of you guys are continuing to work and I thank you for your efforts. I would use either one without complaint, but I wonder what level of fix will eventually be provided? (I am waiting to play until most issues are fixed.)

Is it possible to decouple the pictures from the text, or will we always have a compromise? If the picture is fully visible, does that mean the text will be tiny/unreadable? Is hayden's current compromise approach, of scaling the load screens down, the best we can hope for?

I hate to be picky, but the game has ALOT of load screens that show items/lore that really adds to the game experience.

[SilenTKK8]

Yes, I'm using CE 6.1 and have downloaded the fix several times and still I get no joy. Took some screen so you can see:

Here I've opened CE 6.1 and put the fix in CE and it asks me if want to run it


After clicking "yes to all" I'm greeted by this:


Any ideas?

I just had the same issue. So I took helifax advice and reinstall CE 6.1 and now it is all working. Thanks a million Helifax!!

[kilmoor]

What level of precision can we expect from the Hayden/Halifex fixes?

Precision? It's code, so repeatability tends to be very high... Not sure what you mean by that.

I have been here since release day, and read every one of the 740-odd posts in this thread. Please, be thankful to these two guys for putting in all the time fixing and not playing this game so that we may play it ourselves. Instead of busting in with omygodidontknowhowtomakeitgofixitpleez, just check the last few pages and see how it is coming along. Read the detailed report and be happy that it is being presented to you so nicely on this wonderfully active "niche" forum! Great community effort, cheers!

[wt73]

[quote]What level of precision can we expect from the Hayden/Halifex fixes?

Precision? It's code, so repeatability tends to be very high... Not sure what you mean by that.

I have been here since release day, and read every one of the 740-odd posts in this thread. Please, be thankful to these two guys for putting in all the time fixing and not playing this game so that we may play it ourselves. Instead of busting in with omygodidontknowhowtomakeitgofixitpleez, just check the last few pages and see how it is coming along. Read the detailed report and be happy that it is being presented to you so nicely on this wonderfully active "niche" forum! Great community effort, cheers!

Amen.

[thales100]

What level of precision can we expect from the Hayden/Halifex fixes?

Thats not an easy job to fix what developers havent cared to do, please lets show all our repect to these guys, there are thousands and thousands of lines and addresses that must be checked and tested before a way of fixing one single flaw happens, and fixing one flaw may break another, so getting a final 100% perfect solution, if possible, requires lots of time and persistence, you should ask this to Bethesda, that got your money, what level of precision can you expect from them in a future "maybe "patch that will add perfect multi-monitor support to this game, but not to HaYDeN and helifax, as they are doing 1- whats possible, 2- their best.

[ugzz]

as far as im concerned the current helifax fix, while not perfect, has the game 100% playable. i can read what i need, use what menus i need. level up, use map, read books. while its not always "pretty" its completely usable. and im in the regular game way more than in a menu. so i really dont care.
the toggie is a bummer. but at the same time.. it works. nuff said. as far as the looks of the menus and such, and ill take function before fashion any day of the week. if i can get both, awesome! but at this particular moment, i can't. so the game is now playable again :D


and i was with c69 for a while. i had literally jsut Stopped playing cause i was holding out for a fix. but once helifax pushed his most recent and i found out that with some tweaks to the cheat engine files i could get it working for myself. i was set. its Go time skyrim!
all thanks to helifax :D

im sure haydens fix will be uber awesome too, and i might switch over. heres hoping, and i have a fantastic stop gap filler until that time

[c69]

You guys misinterpreted my comment. First of all I am a software engineer, so I understand development, just am not familiar with their methods and what level of control they have. I understand that they are making a large time commitment for unpaid work and respect what they are doing.

My question is not to belittle their efforts or gripe, just find out what level of limitations they are dealing with. I would ask the same questions of an engineer on my team to find out what level of confidence he has, how long it will take, how functional it will be.

As I stated, I am waiting to play the game until fixes are made. If the graphics and text are always coupled, then I would not expect mcuh more than what Hayden has provided. IF that is the case, I can forge ahead now with Haydens fix (and use wiki to read books) or use Halifex's solution and just accept that I will not be able to appreciate load screens.

If the text and graphics are not coupled, then a more sophisticated solution may emerge.

[helifax]

Ok! Since people really want the menus to look nice and etc:)) I will release tonight a new version that has a "key" bind that will make the menus on the center screen. BUT:

-----Centered HUD-----
- CENTERED HUD
- LEVEL-UP menu works
- Inventory works
- Map DOES NOT PROPERLY WORK
- Reading BOOKS (with the SAME warkaround)
- LOADING SCREEN WOKS (even TEXTS)
= Some WORK others DON'T

-----Stretched HUD-----
- STRETCHED HUD (NOT SO NICE)
- LEVEL-UP menu works
- Inventory works
- Map WORKS
- Reading BOOKS (with the SAME warkaround)
= ALL WORK


Like before you will have to toggle between modes. TBH I wanted to do this without toggleing but too many things are broken and need re-fixing only to break something else....So I'm in a loop. This way everyone can have either CENTERED HUD or FULLY Functional STRETCHED HUD:D
Keep an eye on this thread for the release which will come along this evening...

Best Regards,
Helifax

[helifax]

You guys misinterpreted my comment. First of all I am a software engineer, so I understand development, just am not familiar with their methods and what level of control they have. I understand that they are making a large time commitment for unpaid work and respect what they are doing.

My question is not to belittle their efforts or gripe, just find out what level of limitations they are dealing with. I would ask the same questions of an engineer on my team to find out what level of confidence he has, how long it will take, how functional it will be.

As I stated, I am waiting to play the game until fixes are made. If the graphics and text are always coupled, then I would not expect mcuh more than what Hayden has provided. IF that is the case, I can forge ahead now with Haydens fix (and use wiki to read books) or use Halifex's solution and just accept that I will not be able to appreciate load screens.

If the text and graphics are not coupled, then a more sophisticated solution may emerge.

Well to be blunt:)) THE DAMN ENGINE WAS MADE FOR SINGLE SCREEN:(( the way the rending is done.. you put an offset here only to find out that the DAMN text in the book is missing...and spend a couple of hours to understand why....which I still don't fully understand how is hanndled..that is why the toggle is there....If I fix the text in books, I begin to have some texture corruption problems... It's a damn vicious circle...
I don't believe they will fix SKyrim for multi mon support anytime soon. Even with the source code I think they need to make some serious changes to the engine...

[ugzz]

coolness!

hey i made that mod by complete accident last night! haha. (well i put all the menus and such on the left screen but man did they look "perfect". it just broke almost everything else lol
that was my fun with editing your "do not modify" field haha

i was thinking hey i bet i could make a THIRD hotkey to just do this.. but in the end i decided that id opt for less screwing around with it and just use the stretched menu

[AmeerNuub]

Thales100:

Thats not an easy job to fix what developers havent cared to do, please lets show all our repect to these guys, there are thousands and thousands of lines and addresses that must be checked and tested before a way of fixing one single flaw happens, and fixing one flaw may break another, so getting a final 100% perfect solution, if possible, requires lots of time and persistence, you should ask this to Bethesda, that got your money, what level of precision can you expect from them in a future "maybe "patch that will add perfect multi-monitor support to this game, but not to HaYDeN and helifax, as they are doing 1- whats possible, 2- their best.

ABSOLUTELY.

From the mouths of the much appreciated coders volunteering their time trying to fix this, these issues could have been so easily avoided with the slightest consideration during development, and if missed, taken an hour's worth of work by the developers with access to the source code, development tools, etc.

This lazy port IS SHAMEFUL. Reminds me of all the positive reviews for the Netflix iphone app just based on the "novelty" of being able to stream movies to your phone, rather than the actual app itself (very buggy). Yes, Skyrim is going to be an awesome game, but in an industry that dwarfs the other industries earnings by multiples, Bethusda needs to be called out for this. The way they have handled it. The arrogant responses. SLI will "never be supported"? What? Might as well have placed a sticker on the package saying "runs best on Commodore 64".

This "charge the suckers full price for a lazy dragon-drop / point n port" culture needs to be opposed.

(you see what I did there? Cause I have no idea... )

[c69]

[quote]You guys misinterpreted my comment. First of all I am a software engineer, so I understand development, just am not familiar with their methods and what level of control they have. I understand that they are making a large time commitment for unpaid work and respect what they are doing.

My question is not to belittle their efforts or gripe, just find out what level of limitations they are dealing with. I would ask the same questions of an engineer on my team to find out what level of confidence he has, how long it will take, how functional it will be.

As I stated, I am waiting to play the game until fixes are made. If the graphics and text are always coupled, then I would not expect mcuh more than what Hayden has provided. IF that is the case, I can forge ahead now with Haydens fix (and use wiki to read books) or use Halifex's solution and just accept that I will not be able to appreciate load screens.

If the text and graphics are not coupled, then a more sophisticated solution may emerge.

Well to be blunt:)) THE DAMN ENGINE WAS MADE FOR SINGLE SCREEN:(( the way the rending is done.. you put an offset here only to find out that the DAMN text in the book is missing...and spend a couple of hours to understand why....which I still don't fully understand how is hanndled..that is why the toggle is there....If I fix the text in books, I begin to have some texture corruption problems... It's a damn vicious circle...
I don't believe they will fix SKyrim for multi mon support anytime soon. Even with the source code I think they need to make some serious changes to the engine...

Thanks, keep up the great work!

[Exodus]

I keep getting the same error everytime I run the script under Cheat Engine 6.1. As a matter of fact I have always gotten the error from the first time I ran the script. However the script still seems to be working when I run the game even with the error. I run cheat engine. load the script. Get the error. I get ?? pn the resolution variables in cheat engine and the script boxes are unchecked. However I run the game and it loads with the large menus. I hit the + key and - key and it toggles back and fourth from very large menus to unreadably small menus. So I switch to the large menu and I load the first game that I can click on. Once the game loads though the modified menus in your script start working well with the + and - keys. If I alt tab out cheat engine shows the script boxes as checked with the proper resolution values in teh ?? I saw before. So the script is still working even though I am getting that error every time in cheat engine when I load the file.

[CILLER]

That sounds like a awesome fix helifax,
a nicely centered HUD where possible and if it gets broken the ability to toggle to work with it.
You are making me a happy man tonight :P

[Oz]

Good work halifax, but sorry for saying it but i cant get on with tha stretched hud.

im using hayden's fix at the moment, just storing my books in my own home ready to read when a fix is possible to read with a centred hud, so halifax when your ready dude.

oh and where is hayden these last couple days, hopefully he will show up with a "yes here you all go guys 1 perfect patch to fix everything" message :D

thank you guys and damn you Bethesda, hope your reading this forum and can see that the comunity is fixing your broken attitude.

[helifax]

Ok! Since people really want the menus to look nice and etc:)) this new version that a "key" bind that will make the menus on the center screen. BUT:

-----Centered HUD-----
- CENTERED HUD
- LEVEL-UP menu works
- Inventory works
- Map DOES NOT PROPERLY WORK
- Reading BOOKS (with the SAME warkaround)
- LOADING SCREEN PARTIALLY WORKS (texts are somehow...funny)
= Some WORK others DON'T

-----Stretched HUD-----
- STRETCHED HUD (NOT SO NICE)
- LEVEL-UP menu works
- Inventory works
- Map WORKS
- LOADING SCREEN WORKS (even TEXTS)
- Reading BOOKS (with the SAME warkaround)
= ALL WORK


Like before you will have to toggle between modes. TBH I wanted to do this without toggleing but too many things are broken and need re-fixing only to break something else....So I'm in a loop. This way everyone can have either CENTERED HUD or FULLY Functional STRETCHED HUD:D

KEYS:
numpad / - CENTERED HUD
numpad * - STRETCHED HUD
numpad - - Activate before ACTIVATING a BOOK

THE Game will start by default in CENTERED HUD. EACH mode can be switched at any moment(except for the Reading BOOK one). So if during loadscreen or when you are in MAP view you want a flawless display press the STRETCHED HUD key and everything will be readable, usable, etc

I also Include a small pic that describes how to SET YOUR CUSTOM RESOLUTION:


Modify only the RED FIELDS with your resolutions (1680 stands for SINGLE monitor resolution, 5040 STANDS for Eyefinity/SUrround resolution) DO NOT MODIFY ANYTHING ELSE OR IT WILL BREAK
Like before use it with CHEAT ENGINE 6.1 and select "YES TO ALL"

Now I am going to SKYrim since I haven't actually played the game until now:)))

Best Regards,
Helifax

EDIT: MINOR PROBLEM WITH THE FIX!!! WILL RE-UPLOAD

Attached files

Centered+Stretched+Book FIX.rar (2.7 KB)

[Baer]

I have been running fine and my SLI set up with the beta driver from NV seems to be working well. Of course having GTX cards I cannot run in wide screen three monitors without two cards in SLI. I am not a fanboi for either brand but it makes me happy that for this builds latest upgrade I went with 580's. Hopefully AMD will sonn get a new driver out.

I really think that Bethesda got stuck since they had made a big deal of "Available 11-11-11" so I will bet that they shiped it well before it was ready. I know little about writing code but I honestly feel that they have a breach of contract with customers issue and that a class action i could be brewing, just my humble opinion. Not saying it would win but that is something they would not want going on. It would be much easier for them to spend some development time providing a fix. I personally sure wish they had delayed launch of the P C version until it was ready. There is far more wrong with this port than just wide screen compatability. We should all make some noise I think, in forums ETc and perhaps they will decide to put forth a little more efort.
I do know that if you guys here had not at least fixed enough to make it playable I would be angry enough to support some action against them.
I know I continue to check back here for new INfo every day. As said before, great job and we all owe you a big heap of thanks.

[kohan69]

awesome! how do we change the hotkey, i dont have a numpad

i tried reassignthing the hotkey three times under each value in the table, that didnt work :(

[helifax]

Delete that CT Table is not working properly...
I will release a new one:)