DreamScene and Vista Ultimate: Not so Ultimate after all

Dual monitors (with two video cards) apparently is TOO Ultimate...

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 by SovereignGFC | Discussion: Animated Wallpapers

I have a rather high-end system.  Specs are below.
CPU: Q6600 @ 3.2GHz (Intel, obviously)
RAM: 8GB DDR2-800MHz 5-6-6-18 OCZ Vista Upgrade
GPU1: NVIDIA 9800GX2 in Dual-GPU mode
GPU2: NVIDIA 7900GTX
HDD1: Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10k RPM
HDD2: Western Digital Caviar 750GB
HDD3: Western Digital Caviar 750GB
HDD4: Western Digital Caviar 120GB PATA
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 w/lastest Windows Updates
MON1: Acer AL2216BW 22" @ 1680x1050
MON2: ViewSonic VA721 17" @ 1280x1024

Latest graphics drivers are installed.  Apperently, there is some stupid rule with DreamScene which states that only operation with one graphics card is supported.  Now, I have two graphics cards for a reason.  Specifically, in order to use multiple displays, the 9800GX2 must be switched from Multi-GPU to Multi-Display and back again to play games.  This is annoying.  My motherboard supports more than one PCI-E videocard, so when I upgraded to my 9800GX2 I kept my old 7900GTX in to drive my second monitor.

When I ran DreamScene on both monitors with the 7900GTX, it was fine.  Both monitors were hooked to one card.  Now that I have two separate cards, this ugly limitation (which is only software, my hardware laughs at DreamScene, bring on Crysis!) rears its head.  Anyone know if there is a workaround or whether DeskScapes 2.0 will allow use of multiple display adapters?

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Astyanax
Reply #1 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:51 PM
Sounds like it could be a driver related issue? I've heard people having tons of problems with the 9800GX2, mostly driver related issues. It was rushed to release before nVidia had a chance to really polish the driver support for it.

SovereignGFC
Reply #2 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:16 PM
With the 9800GX2 in Multi-GPU mode (showing up as a single GPU as far as rendering tasks go) and the 7900GTX disabled, DreamScene/DeskScapes works fine. My point is that there is a Windows error because DreamScene does not support multiple video adapters, SLI or not. I was looking for a workaround.

DorkCoffeez
Reply #3 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:22 PM
I will report that as a issue/feature request. I can say that in the support department there might be one machine we could hook another video card in to test this out. This pretty much means that we will have to build something to try it out. In the mean time I will drop the line to the developers and QA to see what is possible.

SovereignGFC
Reply #4 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:28 PM
Thanks! Remember, the 9800GX2 works fine by itself when it is in Multi-GPU mode ("SLI on a stick") and SLI videocards (when I had 7900GTX SLI) work fine with DreamScene/Deskscapes. You can have two videocards physically present in the system (two 7900GTX, two 9800GX2 GPUs in one slot) but DreamScene only cooperates when the GPUs are presentings themselves in a teamed fashion.

However, when GPU teaming (I can't speak for CrossFire but I imagine the same rule/logic applies) is employed and there is an addiional videocard present to drive another monitor or two, DreamScene will not run. The exact error message is this:
"Windows DreamScene can't run as your desktop is now configured. WIndows DreamScene cannot run because teh computer is currently using more than one video adapter."

Apparently this was not a limitation in the preview builds of DreamScene (based on my Googling).

DorkCoffeez
Reply #5 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:00 PM
I know a great deal has changed in Desksacpes since the first concept thanks to SP1 and multiple other factors. Which brings me to the next question. Which OS version, Bit speed, and just because I cam curious what processor? Also are you on SP1 yet?

SovereignGFC
Reply #6 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:06 PM
I am running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1. The processor is an Intel Q6600 (quad core CPU) overclocked to 3.2GHz (no way instability from overclocking is causing the problem, I tried DreamScene with one monitor, one adapter etc. etc.)

Excalpius
Reply #7 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:47 PM
I have seen the same behaviour. Dreamscene will work on my primary and secondary monitor (mirroring, which is lame, but another issue), which is attached to one display adapter, but not play on monitor 3 which is hooked up to another display adapter in the same scene.

If the programmers are looking for way to "hook" to the different monitors so one can pick which Dreamscene plays on what, you might want to check the Milkdrop visualization source code (released at v1.04 I believe) for Winamp (free) which lets you choose which monitor is used for their "plays on desktop" feature - which does what Dreamscene does, only with music driven Winamp visualizations.

What I do for now, while waiting for a more robust Dreamscene is that I play one Dreamscene on the primary and secondary and then let Winamp play the Milkdrop visualization on the desktop on monitor 3.

It's a shame "horizontal span" (treating two monitors as one wide one) graphics card desktop modes don't work in Vista AND Dreamscene doesn't work in XP (which still supports horizontal spanning). That's what we call a "no win" in these parts.

SovereignGFC
Reply #8 Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:56 PM
I can't even play DreamScene at all because multiple display adapters are detected... How are you getting DreamScene to play with two display adapters?

Excalpius
Reply #9 Thursday, May 22, 2008 4:05 PM
I'm doing this on Vista 64. One primary card is an 8800gt the other is an 8600 gt (it may help that they are both 8 series cards). Dreamscene defaults to the two monitors on the primary. I'm using the latest 175+ series Nvidia drivers. I hope this information helps in some way.

SovereignGFC
Reply #10 Friday, May 23, 2008 1:50 PM
It's probably me having a 7900GTX and a 9-series. Somehow, despite Vista's ban on loading different drivers (i.e. ATI and NVIDIA) you can load drivers from the same manufacturer that are completely different as long as they are wrapped up in the same package.

I can play DreamScene with the 7900GTX shut off though.

DorkCoffeez
Reply #11 Friday, May 23, 2008 6:06 PM
I spoke with the developers on this question and they thought it would be possible. However when we went to try it on a test machine the machine died horribly and we had to reimage it back today.

I just wanted you to know that I was still looking into this but that the furture was a little bit brighter!

Bob
Reply #12 Friday, May 23, 2008 9:05 PM
Hi Seabass,

I would like to say there are many people in this situation and your effort to get it addressed is greatly appreciated!

I have dual ati cards (3870's with latest drivers) with 4 monitors (and fyi: q9450 w/ vista 64bit 4gb) and have yet to see a dreamscene/deskscape

For other with this problem, many people have used WUD to download the pre-release that apparently didnt have this limitation (I havent tried this, so just putting it out there!).

SovereignGFC
Reply #13 Saturday, May 24, 2008 9:34 PM
Thanks for looking into this. I can say though that your app isn't the only one that does not work correctly with dual monitors/graphics cards. Microsoft Flight Simulator X (with Acceleration expansion) will not launch if more than one monitor is detected. It claims that the graphics hardware is insufficient (even though it will run on either a 9800GX2 or a 7900GTX, but unlike its vanilla cousin, it is not smart enough to just blank out the second monitor and stop complaining).

dxm765
Reply #14 Friday, June 6, 2008 3:26 PM
Ok, i own crossfire WWW Link <--my rig

on my crossfire i have 2 monitors for multitasking and gaming/media works great with deskscapes no problems my friend has Nvidia with SLI, running x2 8800GTS's and he has problems all the time with the drivers, i dont know of any fix but i know he complains about it alot

SovereignGFC
Reply #15 Friday, June 13, 2008 10:32 PM
Any news on this?

DorkCoffeez
Reply #16 Saturday, June 21, 2008 12:51 AM

We did try it out on one of our systems here for testing. However with the new releases this test got pushed back. The QA department is helping with this effort so the moment I know something I will post about it. My apologies for the delay however please note how many massive releases have been going on. I only bring it up so you know we are not ignoring the problem simply trying to find time.

 


SovereignGFC
Reply #17 Sunday, June 22, 2008 7:30 PM
I'd rather have a quality solution that requires waiting than a rush-job or see the issue dropped entirely. Does this have something to do with DeskScapes 2.0 being developed right now?

DorkCoffeez
Reply #18 Tuesday, June 24, 2008 1:43 AM

Yes I believe that some of it dose yes. Please know that multiple updates to current software are circling the QA department but like all releases they have to be tested. We never want to release anything incomplete.

 


SovereignGFC
Reply #19 Friday, July 4, 2008 1:24 PM
That's fine, I'll wait. I know I have a very unusual setup (Rhino 3D also acts funny with it). If only multiple monitors and SLI were not mutually exclusive...

SovereignGFC
Reply #20 Monday, July 28, 2008 2:01 PM
Sorry to nag, any updates on this?

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