[Badger]

Is there any word on whether Jumpgate Evolution will support multiple screens, and what, if any, benefit there would be to having them (increased visibility, more instrumentation, etc). I love playing games with multi-screen mode because it feels more immersive, but it can be a real pain if the game isn't natively set up for it, or if there's not really a benefit.

[ELPIRATA]

Ive been a stong supporter of multiwindows, but quite honestly, since the showing of TrackIR video for Jumpgate Classic... I dont think you need to spend money on additional monitors/cards when all you have to do is tilt your head a bit to see to wherever you want to see.

I admit that at $180 is a bit high for my budget but if I were to look for a 2nd monitor (or 3)... I'd spend a lot more than that, so is not as unreasonable as I thought it was. I simply can't afford it now. My priority atm is the projector which is still some months away too.

ELP

[Badger]

I guess I'm just still very skeptical about TrackIR...it sounds really gimicky. Besides, having a second monitor is good for productivity, not just for gaming.

[netburnr]

I don't really see the reason for a second monitor. I've run them in the past, and just about every game I've had would either turn it black, or screw up the resolution on it so whatever windows application or website was showing would get messed up.

I used to run my game on the big monitor and monitor my torrents on the 2nd monitor, except I would have to keep the window small and in the right spot or the resize would cause the torrent window to go offscreen.

[Jump]

If I had a second monitor I would rather have it to view non game things, like my websites, so I can monitor things while playing. But then, I am someone who always has a zillion windows open on my desktop.

[netburnr]

Yep, thats what I was doing jump, either using it to watch a website or my torrents. Multiple monitors are great to have, but more likely than not, unusable when playing a game. The only exception I've seen is when the game allows you to run in a "windowed" mode, otherwise when you click something on the right screen the game minimzes and shows the desktop instead.

[Jump]

Even with a separate video card not used in SLI mode?

[netburnr]

Yes, this is before PCI-E.

Simply stated, most games do not even think about computers with a second monitor. And none that I have seen actually let you use that 2nd monitor either in the game, or in windows, it always kicks you out of the game if you try to use it.

[Jump]

I would have to check but I think Bioshock asked me if I had a second monitor and which one wanted to display on. I'm pretty sure all the games that have the "Games for Windows" logo have lot's of stuff the average game does not.

[Badger]

Yeah, I've had the same problems you're describing. Even if I could see things on the second monitor (rss feeds, browser sessions, etc), interacting with them would minimize the game I was playing. Running the game in wondowed mode solves that problem, but I've found it always makes my temps jump; I guess it must be more resource intensive to run in windowed mode.

[kakee]

Try a search of "Matrox Parhelia" ; 3 monitors in stretch mode, it's amazing.
I have one, no good for the more recent games tho, using x1950 atmo :-)

[Jump]

Actually, they have a new one out that works fairly well from what I have read.

[Scorch]

It should just work on a multiple monitor system, they just tell DirectX the screen size and we render to that. I don't think the game would even know there was multiple monitors. The game should deal w