Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum
The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.

Akimbo monitors.

AyeJayeAyeJaye Registered User regular
edited April 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
So my dad no longer needed an old LCD that he's had for a while, and I took the opportunity to take it and set up dual monitors on my computer. I've got it working fine, but I'd like to know if there's any way to have the taskbar on both monitors, and if it is at all possible to move the cursor from one to another while there is a game on the first.

Any help is appreciated.

delicious.
AyeJaye on

Posts

  • ElectricTurtleElectricTurtle Seeress WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    To my knowledge, no to both. There might be some software out there that can hax0r your taskbar, but natively that doesn't work in Windows. And with most games, you're working with that lovely subset of DirectX known as DirectDraw, which frequently sets up a fixed area within which you can make things happen, and you can't pull things in or out of it. TBSS.

    ElectricTurtle on
    yfrxgugaj8wu.png
  • robaalrobaal Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    You could maybe try running games in windowed mode at the full resolution of one of the monitors?

    This might disable the ability to scroll the viewable game area when you move the mouse to the edge of the screen in some games.
    I think FPP games often lock the cursor inside the window when you're looking around and release it when inside the menu or the like?

    robaal on
    "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra when suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
    At night, the ice weasels come."
  • GoogGoog Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    you probably want to lookup ultramon, it's good stuff.

    Goog on
  • Bouncing_SoulBouncing_Soul Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Goog wrote: »
    you probably want to lookup ultramon, it's good stuff.

    I agree.

    It stretches the taskbar too if you want.

    Bouncing_Soul on
    Umlauf.gif
    Buy some useless stuff at my Cafepress site!
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Ultramon handles the taskbar thing. No way around the mouse, though, which is a good thing: imagine playing an FPS and if you turn right you're broken out of the game.

    Alt-Tab should break you out of the game, though. Go ahead and try working with that.

    Daedalus on
  • AyeJayeAyeJaye Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Well, it's mostly for WoW, and running it in windowed is like a fucking slideshow.

    Though for some reason it stopped being as bad now. It works, and I took my ObjectDock over to the secondary monitor and enabled the taskbar portion of it. I'll look up Ultramon, though. Thanks.

    AyeJaye on
    delicious.
  • AyeJayeAyeJaye Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Hate to bring this back, but I can't seem to get Winamp or Rainlendar to stay on my secondary desktop, no matter what I do. When I lock Rainlendar in place, then exit the menu, it just pops back up halfway between the two desktops. Winamp just always opens on my main monitor.

    Halp.

    AyeJaye on
    delicious.
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Are you using UltraMon? I don't know if UltraMon does it or not, but I use it an Winamp always opens on the second monitor if I close it there.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator, Administrator admin
    edited April 2007
    If you run the game windowed but maximized on one desktop you can probably move the mouse between screens, unless the game locks the mouse while it's active. Then you'll have to alt-tab first.

    Echo on
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited April 2007
    Echo wrote: »
    If you run the game windowed but maximized on one desktop you can probably move the mouse between screens, unless the game locks the mouse while it's active. Then you'll have to alt-tab first.

    WoW works beautifully on dual monitors in windowed mode, maximized.

    Doc on
  • Mai-KeroMai-Kero Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Doc wrote: »
    Echo wrote: »
    If you run the game windowed but maximized on one desktop you can probably move the mouse between screens, unless the game locks the mouse while it's active. Then you'll have to alt-tab first.

    WoW works beautifully on dual monitors in windowed mode, maximized.

    WoW has the best maximized windowed mode I've ever seen in a game ever.

    It also has the only maximized windowed mode I've ever seen.

    But it runs perfect.

    Mai-Kero on
  • AyeJayeAyeJaye Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Indeed. And Winamp starts on the right monitor now.
    But rainlendar D:

    AyeJaye on
    delicious.
  • embrikembrik Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    AyeJaye wrote: »
    Indeed. And Winamp starts on the right monitor now.
    But rainlendar D:

    Searching "Dual monitor" on the Rainlendar forums yielded some results. Perhaps something there might help. It does look like it's possible.

    embrik on
    "Damn you and your Daily Doubles, you brigand!"

    I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
Sign In or Register to comment.
Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum