The online racing simulator
#1 - MatsB
Support for multiple monitors
Dear Sirs,

Since Vista no longer supports the "Stretch Desktop" option when using more than one monitor, it is no longer possible to play LFS2 on more than one monitor (unless buying a Matrox hardware splitter for 2-3 monitors). It used to be possible to run LFS in windowed mode and then stretch the window using the mouse, but in the later versions this is prevented since the window size can not be adjusted using the mouse anymore. In fact the max resolution is now locked to the max resolution of the largest monitor, in my case 1600x1200 pixels.

Of course, what I really would like is full screen mode on multiple monitors. My three screen horizontal resolution should be 3 x 1600 = 4800 pixels and vertically 1200, while I still have a fourth monitor for lap data etc.

Games like Microsoft's Flight Simulator X has solved the multi-viewport problem by allowing multiple windows to be opened and then dragged onto any other monitor, thus supporting very large views. I use 3 monitors for the external view and the fourth for the flight instruments which is superb!

Will you be implementing support for multiple monitors/viewports in LFS? If not, will you allow for manually configured screen resolutions in windowed mode?

LFS truly benefits from multi monitor support!!!
I miss it...

Best regards,
Mats B.
#3 - MatsB
Hi Maxim and thanks for the tip!
I just tried it and after some initial crashes it seems to be working. Lo and behold! I am impressed and under Vista 64x too!
I have not checked frame-rates etc yet but it sure looks promising.

In no way diminishing my gratitude for Maxim's advice though I would still ask the LFS2 development team to look into this since supporting multiple monitors is something that is much better left to the original software, not least since the full potential of multiple GPU:s can then be used to obtain really good frame-rates. Naturally it also gives the software a competitive edge and since LFS2 is such a superb simulator allowing for integration with many different hardwares etc, supporting Vista and multiple monitors would be a good feather in the programs' hat.

Cheers!
/Mats
#4 - MatsB
Framerate is very low but it does run...
Hi again!
Well frame-rate is only 16 to 17 fps when using the SoftTH utility compared to 123 fps without it (all settings the same except just one monitor), so I must admit I am hoping the LFS2 team will implement their own solution to support multiple viewports since then all 4 graphic ports (monitors) should be able to provide at least 60 fps each. Having said this, 16 fps is still playable so I am most grateful for your advice anyhow Maxim since the actual experience with the game is still much better on 3 monitors despite the appalling drop in framerate.

Cheers!
/Mats
Have you tried messing with the SoftTH settings at all? Setting the side monitors to 16-bit mode resulted in a pretty big performance increase for me. I'm pretty sure its 16-bit mode, or something similar in the .cfg file.
#6 - MatsB
Quote from UncleBenny :Have you tried messing with the SoftTH settings at all? Setting the side monitors to 16-bit mode resulted in a pretty big performance increase for me. I'm pretty sure its 16-bit mode, or something similar in the .cfg file.

Not yet but I sure will! Thanks!

Still hoping LFS2 will get native support for multiple monitors though since it will be beneficial to an already great game.

/Mats
#7 - MatsB
Still hoping multiple viewports will get on to the ToDo list of the LFS2 team. The game really would soar with an immersive view and high framerate.

With the SoftTH option the framerate gets too slow so everything is just blurred when driving fast. Thus even simple things like the slalom training course becomes "silly".

On a single monitor however it is absolutely brilliant so native support for multiple monitors would be a tremendous boost.

Cheers!
/Mats B.

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG