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Multiscreen configuration support


JoshuaBehrens
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I found a dead thread talking about multiscreen/second screen setups. As I am used to not summon zombies I am creating a new thread with a slightly different aspect.

 

In lots of games or game launchers I can choose which screen I want to play on with a choice of resolutions. I have a multiscreen setup with screens in different resolutions. Therefore some parts get cut off in the default fullscreen mode and I'd like to see at least the whole game. I can ask X11 or Windows (or Quartz? as Mac is not using X11 anymore for a decade) for the different screens and work myself through the endless possibilities. I cannot even just start my game locally in a single screen fullscreen mode and look at it properly so far. Lots of games also offer a windowed-fullscreen mode that might does things easier.

How do you (everyone reading this thread) handle this? This seem to be a very basic feature (although it has its own complexity) and stops me already from playing a game myself in this engine.

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Data for this is rare, but the best estimate I can find is that one-half of one percent of users have multiple monitors:
https://www.pcgamer.com/poll-do-you-use-more-than-one-monitor/

That said, I am interested in supporting this in the new engine, as developers tend to be a stranger bunch than the average PC gamer.

My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without.

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The additional google poll stated "One screen for Teamspeak etc is 'No'." which also means that a no can mean I have a second screen but it is not used for the game itself. I think that gaming video content creators have a second stream for their chat or their streaming/recording software. If there is a hassle with that the chance for earned media is reduced as well as the already stated developer experience.

In addition I am unsure how to read the steam data https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=combined. There it is stated that 74% share a similar multi monitor setup. Your referenced article is also juggling some numbers around. Eventually I am just in a bubble of peer thinkers and might not be able to evaluate the average gamer.

Is Turbo the new engine? I am new here so I am unsure what you are talking about. Is there a chance to contribute to the new engine for this case?

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Turbo Game Engine is due out in 2020.

i think the biggest question is what would the commands look like that the user interfaces with? How would your code automatically choose the right monitor to use? What do you think about this?

My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without.

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I don't have multiple monitors so I never got to play with this but what would devs and users want to do?  The dev should know about the monitors to start.  int CountMonitors();

Put windows on the appropriate monitor(s)?  Maybe window->SetMonitors(0); or more than one, left to right: window->SetMonitors(2, 0, 1);  window->Create would then spread itself over the set monitors in full screen.

What else would a user need?

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As a user I'd like to have:
window mode + free resize or set of multiple good resolutions (regard something like titlebar height, taskbars or menubars)
fullscreen + monitor selection (name of monitor + resolution for clear selection)
windowed fullscreen mode (window without borders) + monitor selection or free resize + window moving (for support of having a window stretched over multiple screens)

As a game developer I'd like to not think about it and just have a setting for this.

As an engine developer I'd like to have an abstraction layer of monitors, screen layouts (which screen is next to which one) and user areas (substraction of window borders and taskbars from screen area).

 


There are different choices for the window to launch. Best case: it is stored so on next start it is exactly at the same location (if the same screen layout is used). For first launch: where is the taskbar, on which screen is the mouse, where is the parent window (steam).

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Okay, first step it to start looking at the monitor commands for Windows, Linux, and Mac and see what can be abstracted between the three of those.

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My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without.

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