Nvidia Nview not on win7 64bit = No ability to do spanning

lurkio · 5 Jan 2011 at 11:11

Having switched from Xp to windows 7 64 Iam a bit miffed because
there is no way to do dual screen spanning , nview is missing

It is a bit of a shame I have 2 x 1920 x 1200 screen but I can only use
them independately ie I cannot do 3840 x 1200

Does anyone know if there is a work around for this ?

The main reason I want this is some games will allow 2 monitors to be used
eg DCS Black shark

Iam now thinking that my next card may have to be ATI , because they are
still allowing people to setup their screens the way they want to.

bru · 5 Jan 2011 at 11:32

when you right click on the desktop and select screen resolution, the options for multiply screens are listed there.

Rroff · 5 Jan 2011 at 11:39

nView/display spanning has been missing from nVidia GeForce (still available for quadro) drivers in XP and Windows 7 for ages you must be using really old drivers - you can still use extended desktop but obviously that can't be used for games in the way the old display spanning could.

Don't agree with nVidia removing it - the only nVidia options really now is to use 2x GPUs and 3x monitors in surround mode.

lurkio · 5 Jan 2011 at 11:45

Would it be worth my while trying to get my GTX280 to take "hacked" quatro drivers ?

Has anyone any experience of trying this sort of stuff ?

Rroff · 5 Jan 2011 at 11:56

not sure - I'm using hacked quadro drivers on my 470s atm and don't see the option like on professional cards but I only have 1 monitor connected atm so it might show up with 2.

Ch3m1c4L · 5 Jan 2011 at 16:09

surely the windows/nvidia control panel has the options you need? Im sure Ive seen spanning in it somewhere and then not used it as mine arent the same res.

lurkio · 6 Jan 2011 at 12:33

Nope it does not have this functionality , hense that is why I ask for work arounds

Rroff , you got any handy links for modified quatro drivers ?

Ch3m1c4L · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:46

Ill take a look when Im at home next, probably tomorrow. Im sure there is some app that will do it, something like SoftTH, but for 2 monitors, so maybe someone has made it already?

Wucked · 6 Jan 2011 at 14:15

The easy work around is to extend your desktop over both screens and then run your game in windowed mode and drag it across both screens. I do it sometimes in Win7 x64 with my GTX580 (and before that with my 275) and it works fine...

lurkio · 6 Jan 2011 at 14:23

Wucked said:
The easy work around is to extend your desktop over both screens and then run your game in windowed mode and drag it across both screens. I do it sometimes in Win7 x64 with my GTX580 (and before that with my 275) and it works fine...

hmmm , my desktop is already extended across both screens (but not spanned hense windows see's 2 x 1920 x 1200 screen NOT 1 x 3840 x 1200 )
What u are asking me to try is to get a game window that will be 1920 x 1200 and stretch it to fill both screens which will look a bit odd to say the least.
I will have a look at this later but I dont hold out much hope

Ch3m1c4L · 6 Jan 2011 at 15:13

Just for games, a lot of them you can run in custom res (widescreengamingforum.com) and that will hopefully just go over both your monitors. Have you tried just turning on Nvidia Surround vision and see what happens when you only have two monitors on one card?

Ch3m1c4L · 6 Jan 2011 at 15:24

Can you run a custom resolution of 3840*2160 as it is only what windows sees. Ive tried testing but I only have my laptop and a second screen, which are different res etc so it doens twork, but not sure if its just cause its a laptop etc.

lurkio · 6 Jan 2011 at 15:29

Ch3m1c4L said:
Can you run a custom resolution of 3840*2160 as it is only what windows sees. Ive tried testing but I only have my laptop and a second screen, which are different res etc so it doens twork, but not sure if its just cause its a laptop etc.

NO , this is the point I think you are missing , if I could run at 3840 x 1200
all would be well.

If I try what you suggested earlier the game will only see a res of 1920 x1200 then if I stretch it across 2 screens it will look weird as hell.

Damn you Nvidia! , for removing decent functionality

Ch3m1c4L · 6 Jan 2011 at 15:38

I dont think you understand what I am saying.

Your not stretching the game window, your running it at that res. With the game running at that res it will have to go off one desktop and onto the other, as such it will be spanned.

With the custom res, I was asking you if you have tried it, as its all I can see on my laptop that you hadnt mentioned yet. When I am at home I can check many more things out as I have two monitors then etc. The below is a shot of the window where you set it up in the Nvidia control panel, i dont expect it to work but it might so it is worth giving it a try as it will only take 10 seconds. If you have tried this way specifically I apologise.

Have you looked into SoftTH to see if that will work with just two monitors? I know its not ideal but it at least might get you somewhere.

andicole0 · 6 Jan 2011 at 15:44

lurkio said:
NO , this is the point I think you are missing , if I could run at 3840 x 1200
all would be well.

If I try what you suggested earlier the game will only see a res of 1920 x1200 then if I stretch it across 2 screens it will look weird as hell.

Damn you Nvidia! , for removing decent functionality

Have you tried asking on the Nvidia user forums I'm sure what you want can be done, but I can't get to a suitable PC to try at the moment.

Andi.

Ch3m1c4L · 6 Jan 2011 at 16:04

Ive researched this for you, as in googled it and read like the first result.

nVidia says:
Horizontal and Vertical span modes are no longer available under Windows Vista.
Due to architectural changes in the new Windows Vista Window Display Driver Model (WDDM), span mode cannot be supported in NVIDIA graphics drivers. NVIDIA recommends using the built-in Windows Vista multi-display modes.

So basically WDDM 1.1 doesnt support this feature anymore, WDDM 2.0 wasnt finished in time for win 7 and people arent sure if it would even support it. Surround Vision or Eyefinity is the only "proper" way to get it back. While this is a lie, since the drivers could just tell windows there is a super widescreen monitor attached and windows wouldnt know any different or care and would jsut drive that res, which the card/driver could split over the outputs (same as a matrox dual/triple head 2 go does). But they are still providing a way of doing it with surround vision and eyefinity.

Having a single card, do you even have an option to do with surround vision in your nvidia control panel, either on the left menu, or under the "set SLI and physx configuration". Tomorrow at some point I will look at my setup at home where I have quad sli and dual monitor so I can tell you the different options I have (have seen surround vision and 3d options but not played around with them).

From reading around, something like Ultramon could be used in Vista to make it so that you could load up wow in a full screen window over both monitors. below is copied from another forum, and was not written/posed by me.

Code:

There is one workarround but it takes additional software to make it work. Note this is only for Nvidia display adapters using latest nvidia drivers in Vista. I do not know of the software and this workarround work in windows 7. I also use World of Warcraft as the example game/software since it's what i was trying to get spanning in vista at the time. Step 1. Create a custom resolution in the nvidia controll panel. it should be same height but twice the with *assuming both monitors are same size/make/model. Step 2. Purchase/install Ultramon. Step 3. choose a hotkey for you to use to cause any window application to span both monitors. Step 4. open World of warcraft. Under video in resolution section you will see your custom resolution available. select it. Make sure you selected windowed mode and maximized. step 5. Push the hotkey *i used ctrl-alt-numpad 0 * Enjoy spanning both monitors with the application. WARNING: Ultramon has not been tested with windows 7 and i do not know if there is a 64 bit version. This should work with any software that allows you to play/use in Windowed mode, maximized. some games and applications will still have a border when used in windowed mode. Another option is to purchase a Matrox Triplehead to go *assuming you wish to use 3 monitors instead of 2*

lurkio · 6 Jan 2011 at 16:17

andicole0 said:
Have you tried asking on the Nvidia user forums I'm sure what you want can be done, but I can't get to a suitable PC to try at the moment.

Andi.

Yep I have had a look in Nvidia forums, Iam not alone in wanting this it seems

Nvidia's response "Make a request through our website" .... awesome

Ch3m1c4L · 6 Jan 2011 at 16:21

This is SoftTH since you seem to be unable to google it

, it has support for dual monitors for lots of DX 9 games, it takes a bit fo time to set it up but its free.
http://www.kegetys.net/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=3e5b8ce24f542ffe62cf944c1e2d805c&topic=2123.0

Just had a read through Nvidia forums and 2 monitor surround is not going to be supported for some reason.
From Nvidia Tech Suport man

You can file a "bug" here:
http://nvidia-submit.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia_submit.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php

Its a new bug submission tool. It also has a voting feature. The more votes that a bug gets, the higher priority a bug receives. Might help the software team to reconsider offering support for dual monitor spanning.

drunkenmaster · 6 Jan 2011 at 16:39

This is classic ridiculous MS rubbish. They have their driver models and will not let gpu makers ignore the rules.

There is a thread on here somewhere about forcing triple buffering with a 3rd party app Rivatuna installs, its madness MS flat out won't allow AMD/Nvidia to force vsync or trip buffering in DX, the options in the control panel are ONLY for Opengl, its just nonsensical.

AMD/Nvidia can do it no problem, its basically no effort at all, the only reason the drivers can't force it themselves is MS won't give a driver WHQL status if they had the option.

AMD/Nvidia really need to get together on this and stick two fingers up at MS and say, we'll do it our way, for the end user and you'll just be forced to WHQL them anyway because you have no choice.

Spanning is the same issue, MS randomly decide a driver has to do X, Y and Z and can't possibly do A, B and C because MS don't think they should.

As for complaining, it won't likely get anywhere, well unless the complaint goes to MS, dual screen spanning, ability to force DX features, both retarded with literally not a single sane reason for MS insisting the features can't be supported. Try as I might I can't come up with anything, a single logical reason for them not being allowed to support such features.

Personally I think the CCC sucks, and Nvidia control panel, and both were forced into their current iteration again because MS were forcing a specific way the control panels had to work. Though both control panels are now well into "shiny and limited because people think Apple is cool" type UI's these days.

lurkio · 8 Jan 2011 at 13:19

Been super busy last few days , only got chance to try this today and ......

Woo Hoo it works!!

@Ch3m1c4L , yep that method pretty much works.
Creating the new display profile allows the game to select that res then
it just magically auto fills to both screens when the game starts.

Thanks for the help guys