Multi -Monitor Support Request (Again)

[Badwater]

Sooo...been watching WWW and hoping that I would see Johan and Daniel springing on us dual monitors use, but sadly no . I know it's probably too late in production, but is there any possibility this ability will make release or would it even be considered after launch?

Waiting patiently in my war room ready to plaster monitors on the walls!

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[TheOrangeGuy]

It would be really nice, but I doubt it. They cling on to 32bit because some people still use that, and they don't want to leave anyone behind. So developing a feature not everyone can use is probably not a priority. But here is for hoping!

 

[Wyrm]

Could you run two clients and play multiplayer with yourself with one side on each monitor? That would be... different

 

[Loke]

Oculus rift...? ...

 

[Wyrm]

Oculus rift...? ...

Awesme!

And we would be able to look around and see our entire war cabinet standing around the map...

 

[Raptor83]

Could you run two clients and play multiplayer with yourself with one side on each monitor? That would be... different

If it works the same way as HoI3, you would need 2 PCs for that.

 

[Number 7]

they have excellent wide screen support. i use a 21:9 3440x1440p monitor, and even HOI3 supports it without a hiccup. Never had to worry once about paradox games not working with my monitor (as an example, the Dota 2 UI gets really wonky when you play on 21:9, kind of unpleasant).

I really hope they expand this to multi monitor support. its a luxury, but its a really nice luxury to have. especially in a game where you might want to be keeping your eye on a lot of things so a sprawling view is quite nice. Doesn't really affect me since i only use the one monitor, but i think everyone who uses multi monitors deserves it

Hopefully they make the jump to 64 bit too. as someone above mentioned still being on 32 bit.

 

[nAssailant]

Hopefully they make the jump to 64 bit too. as someone above mentioned still being on 32 bit.

Oh man, this would be nice. According to the Steam Hardware Survey, at least 87% of all Windows users and (obviously) 100% of all Mac/Linux users have a 64-bit operating system. Since we can assume that the Paradox audience aligns at least relatively symmetrically with the overall population of Steam users, that means that approximately 12% of all users still have a 32-bit operating system (and that's a very generous estimate. I would place it somewhere around 5%-6%, more likely).

That's such a small portion of the user base that it is bound to cause Paradox more problems than it is worth. Developing and optimizing these games - which are notoriously CPU, RAM, and large-number heavy - would no doubt be a lot easier to do with more than 4GB of RAM at their disposal, among other things.

 

[jpd]

what you ask for is not possible, given the fact that it runs on DirectX 9

Hearts of Iron IV system specs

DirectX 9 allows only one full screen display context, on one monitor only.

PS. This has nothing to do with 32 bits vs. 64 bits. An application in 64 bit mode can make use of more memory (virtual or otherwise) than an application in 32 bit mode. But this only becomes an issue if said application has trouble keeping all of it's data within the 4 GB memory space allotted to it. If you write an application that only uses 100 MB of RAM, then there are no benefits of generating it as a 64 bit application.

In theory, if your application does heavy number crunching, and it uses 64 bit integers (note: this does not require an application in 64 bit mode. Borland Delphi 3/CppBuilder 3, introduced in the mid 1990's could already use 64 bit integer in code, even if the app itself is in 32 bit mode), then 64 bit code provides a slight increase in speed, as you can shave off a couple of machine code instructions for each calculation. And 64 bit mode helps when your application needs to access files on disk that are greater than 4 GB in size.

But if all of the above not applies, then there is no issue for the app being merely 32 bit mode.

 

[potski]

Oh man, this would be nice. According to the Steam Hardware Survey, at least 87% of all Windows users and (obviously) 100% of all Mac/Linux users have a 64-bit operating system. Since we can assume that the Paradox audience aligns at least relatively symmetrically with the overall population of Steam users, that means that approximately 12% of all users still have a 32-bit operating system (and that's a very generous estimate. I would place it somewhere around 5%-6%, more likely).

That's such a small portion of the user base that it is bound to cause Paradox more problems than it is worth. Developing and optimizing these games - which are notoriously CPU, RAM, and large-number heavy - would no doubt be a lot easier to do with more than 4GB of RAM at their disposal, among other things.

Not true, the game doesn't require 4GB RAM available to it. And as far as I know everyone writes 32-bit games.

The version of OS has nothing to do with multiple monitors. You have been able to span your desktop over multiple monitors since Win XP with 32-bit. So there is no reason why you can't have HOI4 on one screen while other programs run on another screen, or extend HOI4 to cover both screens.

What more do you require that that?

Or is this just another one of those threads, "Hey, look at me, I got my mummy to buy $1500 of hardware for me for Xmas."

 

[goliard20]

A second monitor is no useless gimmick, i use one two for youtube and all those stuff, games normally use two much ressources in 2 screen games, but probably would help to have the shore in france always in view

 

[Bennyy]

Would be great if both monitors could move independently. So you could have one constantly fixed on say, the eastern front and then use the other to look around the world.

A girl can dream...

 

[nAssailant]

Not true, the game doesn't require 4GB RAM available to it. And as far as I know everyone writes 32-bit games.

The version of OS has nothing to do with multiple monitors. You have been able to span your desktop over multiple monitors since Win XP with 32-bit. So there is no reason why you can't have HOI4 on one screen while other programs run on another screen, or extend HOI4 to cover both screens.

What more do you require that that?

You're right, the game doesn't require 4GB of RAM available, because it is a 32-bit application. I'm saying that a 64-bit application would be able to do more and do it well if it was able to use 4GB or more of RAM. As it stands, a 32-bit process can realistically use 2GB of RAM maximum, which isn't all that much.

It doesn't have much of anything to do with multiple monitors, either, but the topic was broached and I gave my 2-cents on the matter. As far as I know, HOI4 and any paradox game doesn't actively support resolutions higher than the standard 1920x1080, so no: you can't just "extend HOI4 to cover both screens". You can run it in border-less windowed mode to be able to use a second screen effectively for other things, but that isn't what OP is talking about.

Or is this just another one of those threads, "Hey, look at me, I got my mummy to buy $1500 of hardware for me for Xmas."

What the hell is this about? You realize that the cost difference between 64-bit and 32-bit is virtually zero? In fact, almost all (more than 95%) of all new computers in 2015 were 64-bit, and they were no more expensive than you would expect for a new laptop or pre-built desktop. A 64-bit Windows OS also costs nothing more than a 32-bit version, and the only reason Microsoft even produces a 32-bit version of Windows 10 is because of that small fraction of users.

Some people work really hard for their leisure time, and if they spend $1500 on computer hardware then who are you to disparage them? It's absolutely not surprising that someone might want to be able to take full advantage of that hardware when playing the games they enjoy.

 

[vector1]

Could you run two clients and play multiplayer with yourself with one side on each monitor? That would be... different

If it works the same way as HoI3, you would need 2 PCs for that.

I'd like to point out it's entirely possible to run multiple HOI3 clients on one computer (given enough RAM and CPU power). I personally have ran anywhere between 2-8 clients at once for testing multiplayer setups. Granted, you'll need at least 1.5-2gb RAM per client, and likely more of if it's a mod like BICE. Take for example this 4 window multiplayer start with HPP.

It's also particularly useful to set the affinity of each window to a fixed physical core (with intel setup) such that they don't attempt to load the same core with two clients. Note how the loading is only on every alternate core since I set the affinities to each core per window, the actual physical one rather than the hyperthread secondary core.

My computer isn't particularly new either, being bought in 2011. It's a W520 with 2720qm processor (quad-core mobile at that time), 16gb RAM, and quadro 1000m (worse than some integrated graphics now).

Edit: The drop in RAM was me closing my chrome windows to give a better view of the overall usage.

 

[vector1]

It's also too late in the development cycle to ask for this, but detachable windows for battles similar to notifications that we can drag off to a side to keep a permanent eye on would be lovely. Multi-monitor/screen for a separate "notification/battle/production/research" window(s) would be amazing, but unlikely to happen with the current engine. Still, good to dream!

 

[Starisc]

they have excellent wide screen support. i use a 21:9 3440x1440p monitor, and even HOI3 supports it without a hiccup. Never had to worry once about paradox games not working with my monitor (as an example, the Dota 2 UI gets really wonky when you play on 21:9, kind of unpleasant).

I really hope they expand this to multi monitor support. its a luxury, but its a really nice luxury to have. especially in a game where you might want to be keeping your eye on a lot of things so a sprawling view is quite nice. Doesn't really affect me since i only use the one monitor, but i think everyone who uses multi monitors deserves it

Hopefully they make the jump to 64 bit too. as someone above mentioned still being on 32 bit.

Thank you and damn you for this info! I had just convinced myself that I don't need a 21:9 because I play mostly strategy games. Oh well, guess I have further expanses in 2016

 

[RMS Gigantic]

Would be great if both monitors could move independently. So you could have one constantly fixed on say, the eastern front and then use the other to look around the world.

A girl can dream...

I suppose this might be possible if you use two computers to run the game, especially on a LAN network, since multiplayer will let two players play the same country.

 

[vector1]

The other problem is the stability of the game as you run more and more clients. While that's a good idea for a single player game, basically with pauses moving your map and making decisions isn't really an issue. It's multiplayer, without pauses that really benefits from extra screens/clients for taking in more information, or keeping an eye on things without necessarily moving around too much and missing stuff (like Daniel missing the 10204390th landing by the Allies around the world)

A good example would be similar to the Wargame series, where the final layer of zoom turns the map into a 2D, simplified diagram with everything clearly marked out. Having the ability to conjure up extra screens of info locked to regions of interest would certainly help.

I also have a feeling modders are going to need to increase the color opacity of the provinces overlay to spot invasions/threats more easily. I noticed while the terrain and effects look lovely, it also makes it far harder to distinguish between small blobs of territory held, as opposed to the older solid color overlays which are far easier to spot from a distance.