nView ALT-TAB problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

On my FX5200U i have 2 CRT screens attached, one thru a dvi-vga adapter (not
sure if thats relevant though), and the other thru the vga port.

I can run a fullscreen game on monitor #1 and still see desktop on monitor
#2, no problems so far..

But when i alt-tab over to a program running on monitor #2, monitor #1
minimizes to desktop!

I want to keep running the game on fullscreen at monitor #1, while i just
move focus to the app. at monitor #2.

I have looked in the nView section of the 66.93 driver, but cant find the
magic trick there.

Any suggestions how to fix this ?
Running xp pro.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Sune Storgaard" <nospam@strueradsl.dk> wrote in message
news:41ade364$0$66400$14726298@news.sunsite.dk...
>
> On my FX5200U i have 2 CRT screens attached, one thru a dvi-vga adapter
> (not sure if thats relevant though), and the other thru the vga port.
>
> I can run a fullscreen game on monitor #1 and still see desktop on monitor
> #2, no problems so far..
>
> But when i alt-tab over to a program running on monitor #2, monitor #1
> minimizes to desktop!
>
> I want to keep running the game on fullscreen at monitor #1, while i just
> move focus to the app. at monitor #2.
>
> I have looked in the nView section of the 66.93 driver, but cant find the
> magic trick there.
>
> Any suggestions how to fix this ?
> Running xp pro.
>

Runing Game / Benchmark on monitor #1 [FullScreen] and open up like Internet
Explorer or any other thing on monitor #2 will minimize on monitor #1.

CapFusion,...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

CapFusion wrote:
> "Sune Storgaard" <nospam@strueradsl.dk> wrote in message
> news:41ade364$0$66400$14726298@news.sunsite.dk...

>> Any suggestions how to fix this ?
>
> Runing Game / Benchmark on monitor #1 [FullScreen] and open up like
> Internet Explorer or any other thing on monitor #2 will minimize on
> monitor #1.

Thanks.. i noticed that.. infact thats what i want to avoid.

Its no fun to have to monitors attached and not being able to utilize both
when fullscreen apps are involved.

There must be a way to circumvent this?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Sune Storgaard" <nospam@strueradsl.dk> wrote in message
news:41ae2782$0$66410$14726298@news.sunsite.dk...
> CapFusion wrote:
>> "Sune Storgaard" <nospam@strueradsl.dk> wrote in message
>> news:41ade364$0$66400$14726298@news.sunsite.dk...
>
>>> Any suggestions how to fix this ?
>>
>> Runing Game / Benchmark on monitor #1 [FullScreen] and open up like
>> Internet Explorer or any other thing on monitor #2 will minimize on
>> monitor #1.
>
> Thanks.. i noticed that.. infact thats what i want to avoid.
>
> Its no fun to have to monitors attached and not being able to utilize both
> when fullscreen apps are involved.
>
> There must be a way to circumvent this?

In general, I don't think there is. Programmers seem to err on the side of
caution and have D3D games minimise when you Alt-Tab as it's not possible
for windows to be drawn on top of a D3D device, so the only way you could
see the app you're switching to on a single monitor system is if the D3D
program is minimised. As most games are not multi-monitor aware, this is
common practice. Some games (well, I found 1 so far, Homeworld, but it's
possible a few other games have a similar feature) have command line options
to override this, but in general you won't find any way to do it. You could
try running the games in windowed mode if that's an option (I've done this
before with Battlefield 1942 so I could tab out to IRC from time to time),
but performance may suffer.

Dan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Spack wrote:

> In general, I don't think there is. Programmers seem to err on the
> side of caution and have D3D games minimise when you Alt-Tab as it's
> not possible for windows to be drawn on top of a D3D device, so the
> only way you could see the app you're switching to on a single
> monitor system is if the D3D program is minimised.

Sounds reasonable. I hoped nvidia somehow hooked that, so the game didnt
minimize if the focus was moved to the other monitor. The game on monitor #1
doesnt need to know that focus has been moved, might cause some small
trouble with input devices, but i guess there arent a perfect solution to
this.

>As most games are
> not multi-monitor aware, this is common practice. Some games (well, I
> found 1 so far, Homeworld, but it's possible a few other games have a
> similar feature) have command line options to override this, but in
> general you won't find any way to do it.

Your rights about that, i didnt expect each game to particularly take this
into consideration, but i hoped there was a way to do it at driver level.
Hope this changes in future, i believe it becomes more and more common to
have multiple monitors attached.

>You could try running the
> games in windowed mode if that's an option (I've done this before
> with Battlefield 1942 so I could tab out to IRC from time to time),
> but performance may suffer.

That was my work-around so far, but not all games support that either as you
write, but better than nothing..

Thanks for your input Spack.