Nvidia surround - how to enable in games?

[Duff-Man]

Okay, so I finally have my 3*30" setup working with nvidia surround (2D). The setup utility works just fine, I can perform bezel correction, and all expected surround resolutions are available in Windows (7680*1600, 5760*1200 etc), along with their bezel-corrected versions.

So... my question is how the hell do I enabled these resolutions in games? In the games I've tried (Fallout new vegas, Left4dead / L4D2 / crysis / HL2) the only resolution options available are the standard resolutions for 4:3, 16:10 and 16:9 screens. I've read of people selecting their surround resolution in-game with l4d, so it seems odd that I cannot.

Do I need to add these resolutions to the config files of these games, or is there just something else that I have missed?


I'm running SLI GTX480s on Win7 64bit, using the 260.99 WHQL drivers. I've tried uninstalling / reinstalling the drivers without any luck. Also tried the 258.96 drivers, but get the same thing.

Any suggestions much appreciated!

 

[Duff-Man]

Anyone?

Does anyone else have an nvidia surround setup? If so, do the surround resolutions appear in-game? Did you have to do anything special to get these resolutions to appear?

 

[Gerard]

Can only assume it works the way it does in eyefinity, select the 16:9 and it should appear in the list of resolutions.

 

[Duff-Man]

Can only assume it works the way it does in eyefinity, select the 16:9 and it should appear in the list of resolutions.

That's what I was expecting, but no dice

Reading into it, both eyefinity and surround are supposed to add the new resolutions to the list of supported resolutions in direct-x, that the games read from. No idea where this list is though, or how to edit it...

It's strange though, in-game one of the screens is completely disabled, whereas the other is active but shows only a blank image.

 

[kylew]

You should try Soft-TH to see if you can actually get games running across all three monitors first to rule out whether it's just some sort of software error, or a problem with one of the cards you have. With Soft-TH, it'd mean you're not relying on the nVidia software, thus isolating it from being the cause. If it works, then there's a strong implication that it's software.

Seems like a software issue though if you can get it working for the desktop. For Fallout New Vegas, I've been playing it across 3 monitors and I didn't have to set it up, it just automatically did it, so I'm assuming it used my desktop res as a reference.

The FONV does have something about Eyefinity in its ini file, so maybe it's not configured to automatically run it for nVidia surround. It's interesting that the other screens don't display something though. I have no experience of nVidia Surround, but with Eyefinity, if something's not running in a triple wide res (single screen res) it's repeated on all three screens, I would have thought nVidia surround would either do that or show the desktop, which makes me think again there's a software issue somewhere.

 

[Duff-Man]

I agree that it has to be a software issue; both cards work together effectively in regular single-screen SLI mode (checked GPU loads, and framerates are appropriate), and they also work together properly in surround when in Windows.

Thanks for the suggestion with regards SoftTH... I've downloaded the latest version (2.03), but all I get is a .dll file (d3d9.dll). There are no installation or operation instructions... Any idea what the hell I'm supposed to do with this .dll?!

 

[Skyrocket]

Run dxdiag and have a look which res are available

 

[Rroff]

I've only had a quick play so far but for me they showed up under 16:9 in most games, couple I had to adjust manually in the config file to the right resolution.

 

[Duff-Man]

Just checked dxdiag, and the correct resolutions are definitely listed...

Good news though: I remembered that I had an install of Vista on one of my other HDDs from before I got this SSD, so I switched over to that to try it. I did the surround setup, ran left4dead, and the resolutions were visible Jumped into a game quickly, and it was working as expected (resolutions listed under 16:9 just as you said Roff)

Anyway, I don't have too much of importance on this HDD, so I think I'll reinstall windows to see if that gets me anywhere.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[kylew]

I agree that it has to be a software issue; both cards work together effectively in regular single-screen SLI mode (checked GPU loads, and framerates are appropriate), and they also work together properly in surround when in Windows.

Thanks for the suggestion with regards SoftTH... I've downloaded the latest version (2.03), but all I get is a .dll file (d3d9.dll). There are no installation or operation instructions... Any idea what the hell I'm supposed to do with this .dll?!

It can be a pain to set up, but generally you put the files in the folder in the game directory that contains the game's exe file, then run it.

 

[kylew]

Just checked dxdiag, and the correct resolutions are definitely listed...

Good news though: I remembered that I had an install of Vista on one of my other HDDs from before I got this SSD, so I switched over to that to try it. I did the surround setup, ran left4dead, and the resolutions were visible Jumped into a game quickly, and it was working as expected (resolutions listed under 16:9 just as you said Roff)

Anyway, I don't have too much of importance on this HDD, so I think I'll reinstall windows to see if that gets me anywhere.

Thanks for all the help guys

Can only assume it works the way it does in eyefinity, select the 16:9 and it should appear in the list of resolutions.

Good to hear that you got it working in Vista though, that'd imply it's not a driver issue if you used the same drivers as you did in Win 7 (did you?).

 

[Duff-Man]

Reinstalled Win 7 64, and now it seems to be working just fine...

No idea what was the problem on the old install... I must have messed something up somewhere along the way. I have been messing around with surround-type settings for this past week (trying to get a different combination of screens talking to each other in surround) so that could have had something to do with it. Anyway, it's sorted now so it's all good

And yes, you're right, Gerard did say to look under 16:9 first. They weren't there when I tried though (original Win 7), but that's where they're listed now.