A Fresh Look At Multi-Screen PC Gaming

crookedvulture writes "It has been quite a while since Slashdot last covered multi-monitor gaming. A lot has changed in the interim. Monitors prices continue to fall, and improved AMD Eyefinity and Nvidia Surround implementations make creating multi-display arrays incredibly easy. Graphics cards have gotten faster, allowing high-end models to handle the latest games at the ultra-high resolutions that multi-screen setups enable. Developers are doing a better job of supporting those resolutions, too, although HUD placement and single-screen cinematics are still problematic in some titles. Even in the games that do have niggling flaws, the wider perspective of a triple-screen config can offer a more engaging and immersive experience. As stereoscopic 3D implementations fail to catch on, multi-screen setups look like the best upgrade for PC gamers."

Comments

The last time i tried this

[icebike]

There were versions of some of the popular First Person Shooters back in the day that would handle multi screens.
They were great, for about 15 minutes, then vertigo set in, and even walking up the stairs out of the basement became a challenge.

I suspect it was something to do with Visual Simulation of Motion with no motor or balance system feedback that did me in, but it could have
been the pizza and jolt cola.

Re:The last time i tried this

[Riceballsan]

I would imagine to properly implement multi-screen, the best method would not be to treat it as 1 big ass monitor with a divider in the middle, but instead 2 screens with different designated uses. Look at the DS, even among games that didn't need touch screen (IE the hinderance of a finger blocking the view). The bottom screen was rarely a continuation for the top screen. I could see the same approach for more advanced PC games. FPS: Primary monitor shows the field of vision, Secondary monitor shows, multi-level more detailed radar, coms information, HP, weapons etc... in some co-op games if it fits the storyline's abilities, possibly field of vision for team mate etc... RPG: Move all of the party information, skill bars etc... off the primary screen. make them more detailed and easier to see the hotkeys or whatever has been associated etc... Basically instead of using the monitor to make one huge split function screen, take everything that somewhat clutters the field of vision, but is also critical, and move it to the second monitor.

Re:The last time i tried this

[interkin3tic]

Yeah, but the FPS for that platform all really suck.

Re:The last time i tried this

[ArcherB]

Yeah, but the FPS for that platform all really suck.

And getting it to respawn is a real bitch!

Force feedback is very realistic, however.

Re:The last time i tried this

[game kid]

I know it uses Pupil(tm) technology for high dynamic range. It's closed source and hard to crack but I'm pretty sure someone in Science already used it for wall hacks. Those guys are l33t.

Re:The last time i tried this

[PopeRatzo]

There were versions of some of the popular First Person Shooters back in the day that would handle multi screens.
They were great, for about 15 minutes, then vertigo set in, and even walking up the stairs out of the basement became a challenge.

That's why I had my gaming rig set up on the first floor. Problem solved.

It was damp down in the basement, anyway, and my mom's knees were beginning to give out, so I started having go get my own snacks. Who needs that kind of aggravation when you're capturing the flag?

On the down side, now I have less time to pull my pants up when I'm playing Bayonetta. Right?

Peripheral Vision

[wisebabo]

One benefit of multi-screen games is that they can provide, when angled inward, is peripheral vision.

Even an infinitely wide flat display can only provide 180 degrees of view. However, depending on the widths, position of the viewer and amount the panels are angled, a multi-screen system can do much better.

Anyway, are there any tweaks in the softawe to account for this? If you DO angle the displays, then you no longer have a flat "window" into the virtual 3D world. So the software should account for this (and ideally also the size of the bevels) and ask you the angles that you've set up your monitors. (I'm not a gamer so I don't know, maybe this is commonplace).

A really sophisticated setup would allow you to place arbitrarily sized monitors at arbitrary locations and angles, like portals onto an imaginary world. Would be best for flight/ship/tank simulators. Actually, if you're going to go this far, maybe it's just easier to use a virtual reality headset.

I don't understand

[humanrev]

Why would invest in such a setup when apparently PCs are dead, tablets are the future and so all this tech will be worthless in... (check's current technologist predictions)... about three months?

Now go away while I transfer all my personal data to the cloud. I hear we won't have a need for hard drives anymore soon either.

Multiscreen should not mean widescreen

[dinther]

Just about everyone that uses a multi screen setup uses 3 screens in order to avoid the bevel in the middle. Usually the left and right screens are angled inward as to for a viewing arc. That is actually not a bad idea. Especially if the angles are such that the optical axis of each screens intersect at the user viewing position.

BUT...

Eyefinity or Nvidia surround don't work that way. They simply fool the rendering engine in believing the aspect of the rendering context is much wider. The result is that the virtual camera in the game uses a wider angle lens (Not quite but it will do to make my point). This causes the edges of the left and right screen to look rather distorted. Adding more screens width wise is really not worthwhile.

What is needed is multiple 3D contexts like you can have in Microsoft Flight simulator where each camera looks at a slightly different heading. But, why bother to solve that at the game engine level. NVidia and ATI pay attention this tip is free!

It should be possible to build true multiscreen logic into graphics drivers. If NVidia can do stereo they ought to be able to render outputs at different angles. Not only that, each output should not even assume that the optical center is in the middle of the screen either. Enter head tracking logic.

I did lots of experiments with multiscreen and what it would take to have the ultimate multiscreen experience. I even wrote some demo software to prove the point in these old videos show that I made four years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBdtPz2V_vY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku76aHq3pps

(Sorry about the cheesy sound track)

And still we are stuck with dumb distorted multi monitor widescreens!