I see that most triple screen users are using the triplehead 2 go or SoftTH approach when playing the game across three monitors, but I was wondering if there was any way to create a networked multi-monitor setup in the way that Forza 2 Motorsport does it.
On Forza each screen has a seperate 360 running only one display. In order to configure it, one 360 runs in Host mode and the rest connect as clients over a local network. Obviously this has a huge cost disadvantage overall, but this method has some huge advantages over the TripleHead approach.
1. Each screen has an independant view matrix into the world. In a triplehead setup, the side screens are actually viewing a pretty scewed edge of a single rectalinear view matrix. This is actually an incorrect setup unless all the monitors are on one flat plane. As a 3D artist, this skewing is quite noticiable to me (though it probably doesn't bother most people). In reality, each screen should have it's own independant view matrix, based on its position and angle relative to the main screen.
2. Flexibility. Say I wanted to have one large main screen, and one directly on each side of me to represent the side windows. This would be impossible using the TripleHead system. With the networked approach, I could even have a screen directly behind me if I wanted. The flexibility extends to resolutions and display settings too. Older machines could run the auxillary displays at a lower resolution or with some settings turned down. Screens could be of varying sizes and resolutions and it wouldn't really matter. Small screens could even be used as rear view mirrors.
I hope that if it's not already possible to accomplish this, that the developers will understand why it would be important to implement. I know a feature like this is probablly not important to a lot of you guys, but for me, it's the only way I can build the racing cockpit I've been designing. A triplehead system does not allow for the flexibility I need to place my monitors where I need them
Anyway, thanks for any information you guys can give me and thanks for listening to my rant.
On Forza each screen has a seperate 360 running only one display. In order to configure it, one 360 runs in Host mode and the rest connect as clients over a local network. Obviously this has a huge cost disadvantage overall, but this method has some huge advantages over the TripleHead approach.
1. Each screen has an independant view matrix into the world. In a triplehead setup, the side screens are actually viewing a pretty scewed edge of a single rectalinear view matrix. This is actually an incorrect setup unless all the monitors are on one flat plane. As a 3D artist, this skewing is quite noticiable to me (though it probably doesn't bother most people). In reality, each screen should have it's own independant view matrix, based on its position and angle relative to the main screen.
2. Flexibility. Say I wanted to have one large main screen, and one directly on each side of me to represent the side windows. This would be impossible using the TripleHead system. With the networked approach, I could even have a screen directly behind me if I wanted. The flexibility extends to resolutions and display settings too. Older machines could run the auxillary displays at a lower resolution or with some settings turned down. Screens could be of varying sizes and resolutions and it wouldn't really matter. Small screens could even be used as rear view mirrors.
I hope that if it's not already possible to accomplish this, that the developers will understand why it would be important to implement. I know a feature like this is probablly not important to a lot of you guys, but for me, it's the only way I can build the racing cockpit I've been designing. A triplehead system does not allow for the flexibility I need to place my monitors where I need them
Anyway, thanks for any information you guys can give me and thanks for listening to my rant.