Main monitor problem

[Ugo_Ripley]

Hi all.
After installing my Lilliput (which works well in another game), I still have a major problem with IL-2 1946.

Whenever I launch it (with TB displayed on the Lilli) my main screen (Samsung Syncmaster 226BW) displays the game only on 1/3rd of the screen, and Windows desktop on the rest ! Never happened before.
It's as the monitor gets divided in 3 vertical areas, roughly the same size, and the game is displayed only on the rightmost one...the game menu works but it's quite useless...TB is still correctly displayed. This only affects the main screen.
Maybe it's some IL-2 settings I use for wide screen ??
If I deactivate the touchscreen from desktop properties, 1946 runs fine as usual.

I have XP SP3, ATI Radeon X1950XTX, 7.11 Cat drivers, latest Ati Tray Tools.

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Ugo,

Do you have your Samsung set as the 'Primary Monitor' in Windows? Here is an image from this help setup thread. Just above the bottom red circle you see a checkbox 'Use this device as the primary monitor.' You must select the Samsung monitor, and then you check this checkbox so that games and programs know you want this one monitor to be used.

It may depend on who wrote the program/game as well. If you do not have this checked, some programs may just pick one monitor and it worked for that game without this. But other games/programs don't pick just one monitor, and they ask Windows where you desktop is, and without this checked, Windows says that 'both' monitors are to be used.



Hope this helps..

WBK

[Ugo_Ripley]

Hi WBK.
It seems monitors are correctly ID'ed (see thumbnails).
If I press "Identify" button, a big "1" and a "2" are displayed on the correct monitors...

I was also thinking something like this, but it's not the case...
Are the graphics card output sockets "dedicated" ?
When I first plugged my main monitor, I just did it without thinking which one to choose. Maybe one is primary and the other secondary?
I'm afraid to mess things even more...

What confuses me is that Live For Speed works perfectly, as always.
IL-2 (with or without TouchBuddy loaded) works well only if I phisically unplug, or deactivate via software, the secondary monitor.

It's a mix between IL-2 and Win multi monitor problem, not TB.

......

[Ugo_Ripley]

I changed game resolution and now more screen area is used by the game, not 1/3rd like before, but still unusable...

Here's a screenshot of what I see...

Desktop and game @ 1680x1050
Lilliput @ 800x600

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Can you post your conf.ini file from the IL2 game folder? Look at the first section called [windows]. It might have the wrong resolution.

You can use the il2set.exe program from the game folder to also edit the game settings...

[Ugo_Ripley]

The program you mean is "il2setup.exe", but if I run it, it overwrites my settings...

Here is my conf.ini.
The game res is the native res of monitor.
Never had a problem before...
All the "unusual" parameters are for filling the widescreen, as explained on UBI forums in one of the stickies.

...Hey...thanks anyway.
I'm sure we'll find it out !! Must be something stupid...

[window]
width=1680
height=1050
ColourBits=32
DepthBits=24
StencilBits=8
ChangeScreenRes=1
FullScreen=1
DrawIfNotFocused=0
EnableResize=0
EnableClose=1
SaveAspect=0
Use3Renders=0

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Hmm.. Yea, I don't have a clue.

Good Luck.

[Ugo_Ripley]

Ok.
I'll try to change them one by one and report back the hopefully positive results!!

...Thinking that I got the touchscreen mainly for IL-2... ;-)

Edit:
YES !!
I knew it had to be something stupid, I said that, but this is reeeeeeally stupid !! Reasoning about the fact that Live For Speed was working flawlessly started the process...

IL-2 graphics engine is optimized for OpenGL, and in order to squeeze every bit of performance out of my pc I have been running IL-2 in that mode for years, since the very first IL-2 I bought, until I forgot about that. Setting IL-2 to OpenGL mode is just "default".
Guess what, I just switched it back to DirectX, and voilÃ* !!
That's a bit of a pity if I loose some performance, but I can live with it.

Maybe you could add this info in the "supported games" list ?

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

That is weird. There must be something wrong with your system since IL2 is designed to run on OpenGL.

I would add that info the our forum, except that you are the only one that has I have ever seen with that problem on any forum! LOL! You are one of a kind Ugo!

So, where do you live Ugo?? Are you in a online squad?

I live in the USA in Cincinnati, Ohio. And I am in a squad of old farts called the DangerDogz.

WBK

[Ugo_Ripley]

Hi again.
It can very well be a problem on my side (meaning my pc ehehehe).

IL-2 is optimized for OpenGL, but can run both in DirectX and OpenGL, I'm sure you know that.
If you run it in OpenGL you can set that "perfect" graphics setting which is not available in the other mode...and maybe get both some more eyecandy and FPS, I really never benchmarked the differences, but you know, on the web everyone (Oleg himself) just says IL-2 is optimized for OpenGL, so I must trust it.

Anyway, it's some days I'm thinking of restoring an image of my HD and restarting with a fresh OS again...so I guess it's about time!

Being "one of a kind" is, in a way, good news...you mean that a working TouchBuddy setup doesn't care if the game runs in DirectX or OpenGL ??

The BIG format could be the solution !!

I live in Rome, Italy, and I also loose mucho sleep time with some fellow nuts in an online squad, ITAF (tuttovola.org)
Our squad tag is _ITAF_ and we fly for Axis side, of course ;-) we are nearly every evening/night (GMT+1) on HyperLobby, and among us we proudly feature:
- a (real) WWII veteran pilot
- an ex-Alitalia Commander
- an Tornado Air Force pilot
- an AMX Air Force pilot
and a bunch of other aviation pros/amateurs/wannabes (where I belong).


I'll post my later findings...