Vapourware Multi-monitor games

[J1M]

At what point are you Fallout 4 lovers going to buy a second TV to put next to your TV? I want games to start taking advantage of multi-monitor setups and you console peasants are holding us back.

I'm not talking about a racing game that lets you have a slightly wider FOV. I want to see an RTS that puts meta-game info and other visual information on a separate monitor. I want to see a Deus Ex game that has a monitor dedicated to inventory, infolink, etc.

This has two advantages. First, if the second monitor is showing information instead of 4K polygons, you won't need double the GPU to run the game. Second, another monitor won't be a game prerequisite the way a headset is for VR.

Post games that make effective use of multi-monitor setups in this thread. And since not nearly enough of those exist, post your game ideas for people at Ubisoft to steal as well.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Supreme commander (the first one) had excellent multi-monitor use.

 

[Siveon]

A more modern example, Darius Burst on Steam:

 

[Hoplopfheil]

A more modern example, Darius Burst on Steam:

Well that's fucking incredible.

 

[CreamyBlood]

I was thinking of getting a third for exactly the reason you don't want to hear is for Dirt 2.

I use my second sometimes for looking up 'crafting' requirements or maps in the stupid shit games I play now like ARK or something but that's kind of rare because you still have to TAB out to unlock your mouse cursor. I guess I could move a steam chat window over to it while playing, but then again I don't want to chat with idiots in CDS while playing a game, usually. Right now it's not even turned on.

I do like the idea of having the inventory, map (if you have one) and stats screens shifted over there though. It could be useful to many people in the future but how many resources do you have to put into developing that compared to the amount of RPG players that have two screens? Interesting question.

 

[racofer]

I've been using two monitors for quite a while. It's the best setup in my opinion. I only game on one monitor, though, while the second I load system monitoring software (MSI Afterburner) or the eventual walkthrough.

This was one of the best setups for multi "monitors" I've seen so far:

So bezel = heaven. Some people also do similar setups using traditional displays by removing the bezels.

 

[Haba]

This was one of the best setups for multi "monitors" I've seen so far:

LOL, I can only imagine the noise and the heat from those buggers.

 

[Naraya]

For me it's hard to imagine not having 2 monitors at home (not more though, 3 is overkill IMO). I usually have twitch on the 2nd one streaming something whenever I use my PC.

Also regarding the above post, there already are no-bezel monitors available, IIRC.

 

[Wayward Son]

At the current time, I can only use a laptop, as ATM my house is far too small with far too much already in it for a desktop, let alone a multiple monitor setup. As soon as I can(so probably college) I'm gonna get a decent desktop.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

My desk is too small to put 24 and 27 inch monitors together Then again, the 24 inch one is depressing to look at when compared to the IPS screen

 

[PulsatingBrain]

I use a 27 inch 16:9 monitor in front of me and a 22 inch 4:3 monitor to the left of it. I'm fairly happy with the widescreen for games as it fits my field of vision quite nicely, and the 4:3 is great for browsing and music etc. Extended display over multiple monitors looks cool, but the fact that it's so rarely taken advantage of means that it kind of sits along with VR for me right now. Both interesting but just not worth all the money for what it gives in enjoyment. As with VR, it'll be utilised by devs more as the hardware becomes more affordable.

Any of you used one of those uber-wide single monitors for general use? I'm curious to know if they're annoying as fuck when you're just browsing the internet and shit

 

[Severian Silk]

I have a 3x3x3 27 monitor setup. I use it to play minesweeper.

 

[illuknisaa]

I've been using 3 monitor setup for 5-6 years now and when games work and run well enough it is a joy to behold. Lot of older games are really fun due good fps, gameplay and clear visuals (you aren't bombarded with lens flares which are sometimes worse on mult mon setups).

 

[J1M]

One area I have noticed that is improved of late is the "windowed fullscreen" display mode in AAA games. I assume this is simply part of the standard graphics API and not intentional, but it does make it easier to use a web browser or video player in another window.

 

[Zarniwoop]

I had a thread about this before and was told I'm a retard because no one wants this. I'm p. Sure there was a diablo-like game that showed the inventory on one screen for example

 

[illuknisaa]

I played Torchlight 2 with this and it was pretty fun. The game spans properly and I could have both inventory screens open at the same time without center monitor being obscured.

 

[Mark.L.Joy]

Bethesda games defaulting to 70 fov on triple monitor setups.

 

[Spectacle]

Battlefield 4 lets you display a tactical map of the battlefield on a secondary monitor. Sadly they didn't bring this feature forward to Battlefield 1

 

[Desert Fish]

Any of you used one of those uber-wide single monitors for general use? I'm curious to know if they're annoying as fuck when you're just browsing the internet and shit

Not at all. I treat it as two monitors joined together. In fact it's much nicer than the lowly peasants' 1920x1080 pixel format, which I often find not wide enough for two windows side by side, but has wasted space for a single window.

I consider 32" 2560x1440 the sweet spot for general use, though.

 

[Severian Silk]

Would a 3 monitor setup with 3 video cards perform better than a single monitor and video card that is 3 times as wide? I would prefer the latter due to lack of gaps between monitors. It would be cool to be able to hook up multiple video cards to the same monitor, each rendering a portion of the screen. I guess that's what SLI is for, but can you link 3 video cards in SLI mode?

 

[J1M]

Generally, if you can get the power you need in a single GPU it's better. Consider the resolution limits of the card you are interested in. Maximum resolution of a 1070 is 7680x4320, for example.

 

[illuknisaa]

Yeah I agree with J1M. Single gpu > SLI. SLI just seems to give inconsistent performace results with AAA games and you are lucky if smaller dev even knows what SLI is. Add in the mess that is multimonitor gaming and you are in for some fun times.
The gap between monitors really is a non-issue. When you are playing you are generally focused (the only game where a look at side monitors is ETS2) on the center screen and your brain kinda tunes out the gap so you don't even notice them.

If you are interested in multi monitor gaming just be aware that currently there is no pc that can run every game @ max graphics, and @ 60 fps @ 5760x1080 resolution. There are also lots of games that simply don't work and as far as I know there hasn't a been a true multimonitor game since Doom 1.

 

[J1M]

Bumping this 5 years later to see if any recent games have had dual-monitor support.

 

[curds]

I want games to start taking advantage of multi-monitor setups and you console peasants are holding us back.

Bloody consoles!!! Always getting in the way of progress.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I bought a second monitor to emulate 3ds games. And wii-u. And ds.