2 Screens and splitting the UI/Game

[frag971]

Hello! My first post, im a big fan of GW2, etc...

I use two screens: a main wide screen and a secondary 4:3. I usually have a movie or a game on main screen and browser/music player on second screen. And i thought wouldnt it be awesome to have the UI on second screen (using a DirectX overlay?) with the game engine itself on the main screen.

It would be awesome to have the game map, mimimap, quest objectives and chats on second screen while having the actiobars+health together with game engine on main screen.

This would make the gaming experience alot more streamlined and clearer while keeping important UI elements displayed. The best UI is the one you least notice right? So keeping social and gameplay elements outside of the main screen. I know some people like to extend the screen into 2-4 monitors but thats not what i mean. What i mean is to keep the game engine on main screen like usual but using some sort of overlay to keep the noncombat-critical elements on the secondary screen. This may even be an Ipad or a TV connected to my PC.

What do you think?

PS: Think about it, i know GW2 doesnt use unit-frame healing but imagine having this on another typical MMO with healing frames on your ipad and you would use your fingers to actually cast spells on the frames you touch. Or managing your Inventory/character panel on it.

[Centaur]

First off, welcome to the forums.

Second, that sounds like something that is entirely doable... meaning I believe there is a high chance that you will be able to do this in GW2. In fact, it would almost be doable in GW1 already. There, using the F11 key, you can drag any component of the user interface to whatever position you want to have it at... within the game window. And that last restriction is exactly why I said 'almost', as this doesn't allow the game to actually run next to the rest of the interface. But that is a restriction that would be very easy to lift, and I would be surprised if GW2 doesn't already offer that possibility.
This would still require setting up those multiple screens as a multi-monitor solution on your PC, though, so I'm not too sure if sending part of the user interface to the iPad would be supported, but you never know what tools people can come up with...

[frag971]

Well im sure its not that hard, windows has the basic options: http://tothepc.com/img/2010/09/windo...l-settings.png

A system like that wich is very simple and easy to understand could work. Also throwing in alot of options in the config.ini files could do great justice.

[JohnnyV]

Welcome to the forums frag. And as a multi-screen user, I highly endorse your idea. It sounds so simple, it makes you wonder why this option hasn't been done before.

[Psyklone]

I can only see 2 possible scenarios
1) You have to extend the engine to the second screen (like the 3 monitor setup we saw at PAX East). I'm sure they'll allow some customisability in their UI, so you just drag the elements over there.
2) The engine isn't extended to the 2nd screen, but the application is. I have NO idea how this would be possible. I've never come across an application that used a 2nd screen as blank space (or was able to designate part of itself as blank space at all). Without somehow extending the application you won't be able to pull things off your main screen. Just like how I can't pull the menu bar from this website off onto my desktop. Outside the application things lose all meaning (to the computer at least).

[Winterbay]

I can only see 2 possible scenarios
1) You have to extend the engine to the second screen (like the 3 monitor setup we saw at PAX East). I'm sure they'll allow some customisability in their UI, so you just drag the elements over there.
2) The engine isn't extended to the 2nd screen, but the application is. I have NO idea how this would be possible. I've never come across an application that used a 2nd screen as blank space (or was able to designate part of itself as blank space at all). Without somehow extending the application you won't be able to pull things off your main screen. Just like how I can't pull the menu bar from this website off onto my desktop. Outside the application things lose all meaning (to the computer at least).

Some applications do it by having a modular approach to things. Winamp for example lets you run the media library, the main window and the playlist at three completely different posistions on your screen and it can be split over three different ones if you want to (nto sure why you'd want that though...)

[JohnnyV]

Some applications do it by having a modular approach to things. Winamp for example lets you run the media library, the main window and the playlist at three completely different posistions on your screen and it can be split over three different ones if you want to (nto sure why you'd want that though...)

If you could be allowed to have your map, quest log, or inventory always opened on a second screen and out of the way...I think most people would want that

[Winterbay]

If you could be allowed to have your map, quest log, or inventory always opened on a second screen and out of the way...I think most people would want that

Well, yes. But when it comes to Winamp the benefit is sligthly less obvious

[RJMazz]

To be honest I never thought or seen such thing as a multi-screen (Eh, except for NASA's system or other movies). Sounds like an interesting thing. I'd like the idea if I had multi-screen.s

[roshamjoe]

Bringing this thread back to life briefly. I recently started Rift up again as I was looking for something to pass the time until we're up and running with GW2. I have a three monitor setup so my resolution is 5760x1080 and it makes gaming pretty fun. Having the ability to move interface pieces around to separate screens really makes a big difference. GW2 will have a more simple UI than most MMOs to start but I would hope you would be able to resize, move, lock pieces etc to suit your style. In the picture, the space between the vertical column of skills and the mini-map to their right is my center screen, so All I normally see in a fight are me, my target and my pet. Group/raid bars are on the left screen with the large map and all bags open up on the right. Basically, I'm looking at pretty much all the time stays really clean.

2012-01-23_105001.jpg

I really liked in Gran Turismo 5 that they allowed you to take the UI off altogether and just drive based on the gauges on their dashboards, makes it more immersive. One huge thing for me though is to be able to transfer one UI setup to another toon like in Aion. If I spend a while to create the look I like I don't want to have to try and get it just right again, I'd rather just load from another toon. All in all we don't know what we'll be able to do, but it's fun to speculate.