Hey.
So, you have decided to use that second monitor you have sitting on your table (in closet, whatever) to play wow? Then this topic is for you.
Just to get you all excited and stuff here’s a screen of my current setup: http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5527/uitq9.jpg

If you have any questions/suggestions/findings feel free to post here.
Note that all of the below setups are for 2 screens, but they may work for 3 or more, as long as you can hook them up.

Content:

0) Introduction.
1) Game on one screen and other screen is used for other application.
2) Two screen setup with rendering on both screens. 3D picture on both screens, best for 2 LCD screens sitting right next to each other and small frame.
3) Two screen setup with rendering on one of them. 3D picture on one of the screen with other dedicated for UIs (chat frame, unit frames, etc).
4) Setting up ATI video card.
5) Setting up nVidia video card.
6) Appendix
7) FAQ




Introduction:

But what can you do with the second monitor you ask me? Quite a lot actually. Here are just some options you could do.
First you can have two monitors sitting next to each other one running your WoW and the other has some sort of Windows (or whatever) application. Some of the very useful applications I’ve found to have handy on second screen are Teamspeak/Ventrilo, browser with thottbot or allakhazam, WinAmp, etc. This option is described in part 1.
Second option is to have WoW run over both screens with rendered picture on both of them. That setup is very good if you have 2 slim border LCDs sitting right next to each other, other then that picture gets very confusing. Also you will probably need 2 identical screens for this setup. This setup is described in part 2.
Another possible setup will be to have WoW run on 2 screens, but only have rendering on one of the screens and have UIs set up on the second screen. This is my favorite setup. For this setup you can have monitors that are not identical, the only requirement is that they both run on the same resolution. This setup is described in part 3.

Before you attempt any of these make sure that: both your monitors are
hooked up to your PC and working and you have latest drivers for your video
card, those can be downloaded from manufacturers web sites (2 major v-card
manufacturers: www.ati.com , www.nvidia.com ). You may want to use older drivers that you know work, rather then the latest ones. Look at parts 4 and 5 to get more info about drivers and video card setup pointers.

Game on one screen and other screen is used for other application.


This is a very simple setup. With it you can have your game on one screen and some other application on another one.

Addons recommended for use with setup: none

Steps to set up:
- Set your vide drivers to extend desktop (see part 4 or 5).
- Start WoW.
- Go to Main menu/ Video options.
- Check windowed mode and maximize checkmarks.
- Click Ok.
Done.



Two screen setup with rendering on both screens.


This option will allow you to have game on both screens. Note: if you choose this option you will have your game screen split between two monitors, meaning your character, which is in the middle of the screen, will be split over two monitors as well. This option is better suit for 2 LCD right next to each other and with small frame.

Addons recommended for use with setup: none

Steps to set up:
- Set up stretch monitor in your video card settings (part 4 or 5).
- Start WoW.
- Go to Main menu/ Video options.
- Set the correct resolution (eg 2048x768 for 2x1024x768). <screenshot: http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4153/3fd4.jpg >
- Click Ok.
Done.

Two screen setup with rendering on one of them.


This is the most difficult, but also the most fun setup. And it is my favorite :).
This setup will allow you to have rendered 3D picture on one screen and various mods/UIs on the other. Now the difficulty with this setup comes from the fact that you need to restrict rendered zone and UI zone somehow. Resizing the rendered area is very simple and can easily be done with the CT_Viewport Addon, part of CT_Mod package. Resizing the UI portion of the screen is much more tricky though, and there are two ways you can make it work.


3a)

First one is with the script or Addon that will move/resize UIParent. UIParent is the frame that all the UIs are relative to, so basically if the Addon is displayed in the center of the screen, it is actually displayed in the middle of UIParent frame, it is just UIParent is usually the size of the screen. Thus resizing and moving this frame will move all of the Addon and restrict them to one screen instead of two. Now, Addon can still display stuff off the UIParent frame it just uses it as a reference to where display things. The script and Addon to resize UIParent are located in appendix (part 6). Now, this is fairly easy to do, but it introduces a very bad error. Originally WoW was not designed for the dual-screen and some of the functions that allow things that we are doing right now weren’t in. It would not be a bad thing if not for one little thing, before ability to use dual-screen was put in UIParent and the actual screen were one and the same (ie UIParent was always the size of the screen) and functions that Addons can use to get position of certain UI element returned position relative to the screen, not UIParent, which was not a bad thing, until now. Now, there was a fix put in by Blizzards UI team (thanks Slouken), but in order for it to work Addon authors need to use that function, which most don’t :(. Now, how is that a problem you would ask, that is if you understood the above :), the problem comes in when you want your UIs to be moved onto the right screen, thus you will need to move UIParent to the middle of the screen. Now if Addon uses old function to get position of the element it would get position relative to the screen, which is top-left corner, then when it tries to set the position of the element, it would set position relative to UIParent. So, if you have UIParent moved 1024 pixel to the right and Addon using the old functions tries to set position to 10 pixels right of the edge of the second (right) screen it will get it’s position as 1034 (relative to screen) and will set position to 1034 (relative to UIParent) which is shifted 1024 to the right. This will yield the position 2058 pixels from the left side (of your left monitor), which is clearly off the screen.
A lot of addons still use old functions (like ItemRack for instance) and will not work properly if you use this way to set up and you will wont to have rendered part on the right screen.
Now lets get to the actual setup.

Addons recommended for use with setup: CT_Viewport, DSSetup

Steps to set up:
- Set up stretch monitor in your video card settings (part 4 or 5).
- Start WoW.
- If you are using DSSetup Addon, make sure it is disabled.
- Go to Main menu/ Video options.
- Set the correct resolution (eg 2048x768 for 2x1024x768). <Screenshot: http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4153/3fd4.jpg >
- Click Ok.
- Open ViewPort window (Tips on how to use Viewport can be found in appendix).
- Set the rendered area to your liking, usually just restrict it to one monitor by halving the horizontal size. This will shrink the rendered area. <screenshot: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2909/4po8.jpg >
- If you chose to use macro, run it (macro can be found in appendix). If you chose to use DSSetup, log out from WoW and enable the Addon. Note that if you are using macro, you will need to run it each time you start WoW.

3b)


Second option is much more tedious and meticulous work, but it will yield better results then part 3a and will only need to set up once.
For this option you instead of moving UIParent will move every UI relatively to it. Best trick for this is to get as many Addons as possible that replace standard interface and have an option to move them (like custom unit frames, action bar, casting bar, etc), because the rest of the UI elements you will have to move manually, and that is not always easy. Now, in addition to the Addons that will replace your standard UI you will want something to move any element on the screen, because lets face it, there some things in standard UI that you cannot go without (main menu is a good example). For this purpose I know 2 Addons: MoveAnything and DiscordFrameMover. Both of them do pretty much the same thing and fairly easy to work with, however I prefer MoveAnything, because it is more intuitive and seems to have fewer bugs then DFM, but it is not actively developed, so at some point it may become obsolete. There is info on how to get and use these Addons in the appendix.

Addons recommended for use with setup: CT_Viewport, MoveAnything, DiscordFrameMover.

Steps to set up:
- Set up stretch monitor in your video card settings (part 4 or 5).
- Start WoW.
- Go to Main menu/ Video options.
- Set the correct resolution (eg 2048x768 for 2x1024x768). <Screenshot: http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4153/3fd4.jpg >
- Click Ok.
- Open ViewPort window (Tips on how to use Viewport can be found in appendix).
- Set the rendered area to your liking, usually just restrict it to one monitor by halving the horizontal size. This will shrink the rendered area. <screenshot: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2909/4po8.jpg >
- Move the UI elements to the places you want them to be using MoveAnything or DFM (instruction and names of most commonly used frames are in appendix).
- Reload your UI to save the positions (/console reloadui, or just log out and back in)

Setting up ATI video card:


The following steps are for Catalyst 6.4 for win XP, can be downloaded from
www.ati.com (still works with 7.2 for XP)


Setting up extended desktop:
- Open ATI Control Panel.
- Make sure it is in Advanced mode.
- Go to Display Management. You should see two monitor pictures on the right-hand side. If you do not make sure both monitors are connected to the video card and reboot. <screenshot: http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/8468/1ui2.jpg >
- Right-click on second monitor (not the one that is on right now) and select option Extend main from the pop-up menu. <screenshot: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4586/2jq1.jpg >
- If you need to change position of the pictures (ie left to become right and vice versa) right click on the second monitor and select Swap display mapping option from the popup menu.
Done.
How to know that it worked: you should have picture on both screens. On your
main one you should see all that you had before (icons, bottom bar, windows,
etc) and on the second one you should see only the background, but you
should be able to drag windows/icons/etc on it by moving the mouse over
right (or left) edge of the main screen.


Setting up Stretch monitor:
- Open ATI Control Panel.
- Make sure it is in Advanced mode.
- Go to Display Management. You should see two monitor pictures on the right-hand side. If you do not make sure both monitors are connected to the video card and reboot. <screenshot: http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/8468/1ui2.jpg >
- Right-click on second monitor (not the one that is on right now) and select option Stretch main horizontally from the pop-up menu. <screenshot: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4586/2jq1.jpg >
- If you need to change position of the pictures (ie left to become right and vice versa) right click on the second monitor and select Swap display mapping option from the popup menu.
How to know that it worked: you should have picture on both screens. On your main one you should see all that you had before (icons, bottom bar, windows, etc) and on the second one you should see the background and the extension of the bottom bar <screenshot: http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7512/5hw6.jpg >. Also all windows should act as if two monitors were just one big monitor (ie appearing in the middle of the two screens, partially appearing on both
screens, etc).


Using profiles to automatically switch monitor settings before playing:

These instructions will tell you how to set up your computer so it will switch to different monitor settings to play wow automatically. Originally these instructions were written by Rumblebub.

- Open you ATI Catalyst Control Center.
- Make sure all your settings are those that you want to be in game.
- Open the ATI Profiles Manager. Click on the Profiles tab up top and select Profiles Manager. <screenshot: http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3759/7zh1.jpg >
- In profiles Manager window enter the name for your setup, select “all CATALYST Control Center settings” on the bottom.
- Go to “Activation” tab and put checkmark in front of “Desktop shortcut”
- Hit “Save” button on the top part.
- Make sure there is a link to WoW on your desktop and it is called WoW.
- Start notepad (Start>All Programs>Accessories>Notepad)
- Put the following text into the text file:

start dual.lnk
start wow.lnk

replace “dual” with the name of your profile (the one you entered in Profiles Manager name field) and “wow” with the name of the link to WoW

- Hit File>Save As in the name field put <name>.bat where <name is any name you want and save this file onto the Desktop.


This should create 2 files on your desktop <name>.bat and a link file with ATi icon. Make sure that you do not delete those files in the future. Now if you will run <name>.bat file it will switch your monitor mode into whatever you set it to and will run WoW for you. Note that this will not switch the screen mode back when you exit WoW, you will have to do that manually.

Setting up nVidia video card:

Huge thanks to Linkzor for putting the following guide togather.

After hours of searching and messing with options I figured out the most common problem that's happening with NVIDIA users.
( This is for all versions of Windows XP only )

1. Horizontal Span.
Like me, and most people im reading about. our NVIDIA control panel doesnt have an option for horizontal span in the display options.. this is because our control panel is outdated.

Go here http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_93.81.html for an updated new NVIDIA control panel

only download this Forceware Release 90 if you have the following Video Card in that huge list if u scroll down on that site.

Steps to install.
before you install this new driver. please do the following.
1. Click Start
2. Control Panel
3. Add or Remove Programs
4. Remove any NVIDIA Drivers you see on that list http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1714/addorremovewj0.jpg
5. Restart computer if required ( dont be upset if your display settings look horrible or different )
6. Run the program and install the new drivers. ( Restart comp if required )
7. Run the setup wizard for Dual Monitoring
8. Once complete, Right click on desktop and click on NVIDIA Control Panel
9. Click on the Display Icon
10. Click on Change Display Configuration
11. Check the box that says "As one large horizontal desktop" ( Horizontal Span ) http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7543/untitledjy9.jpg
12. select the displays you would like to use and click OK. ( order of the monitors )

After this. you should be pretty much good to go.

Start up WoW, and mess with the video resolutions until wow looks normal.
Make sure to use CT_Viewport to compress the screen.

( As for saving the video settings with a NVIDIA profile...its so terribly confusing that im still trying to figure out how to to do it, when I get it ill post a step by step..)

ADD ONS you need. CT_Viewport and Move Anything

My Setup http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/2029/dualwc5.jpg


And here are some helpfull tips and pointers on nVidea setup:

---

Q u o t e:
Did this with my nvidia setup. Same procedure as what you say with
exception that you have to click advanced settings from the display and than
choose your GeForce card from the tab. Than nView display mode and set it to
Horizontal Span.

---

by Hiznor.

---

Q u o t e:
Im using a 6600 GT in 2056x1024 with the 84.56 drivers from this site:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=10 and it detects it correctly
for me. Hope the drivers help!

---

by Elorissa

Appendix:


Macro to resize UIParent:

/script UIParent:ClearAllPoints();UIParent:SetPoint("TOPLEFT",1070,0);UIParent:SetPoint("BOTTOMRIGHT",0,0);

Note that number 1070 is hard-coded, that number represents how far should UIParent be moved in x dirrection. 1070 is perfect for 1280x1024x2 (2560x1024) experement with it to get numbers for you.

DSSetup Addon:

This addon will allow you to run macro to set UIParent's size on load. Copy the following into respective files in WoW/Interface/AddOns/DSSetup/ folder:

DSSetup.toc:

## Interface: 20000

## Title: DSSetup

## Notes: Sets UIParent coordinates.

## Version : 0.1a

## Dependencies: CT_Viewport

## DefaultState: disabled

DSSetup.xml

DSSetup.xml:

<Ui xmlns="http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ui/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ui/">	

	<Frame name="DSSetup_General">

		<Scripts>

			<OnLoad>

				this:RegisterEvent("VARIABLES_LOADED");

			</OnLoad>

			<OnEvent>

				UIParent:ClearAllPoints();UIParent:SetPoint("TOPLEFT",1070,0);UIParent:SetPoint("BOTTOMRIGHT",0,0); 

			</OnEvent>

		</Scripts>

	</Frame>

</Ui>

Note that bolded out line is exactelly the macro, so you will need to change it exactly as you would macro to fit your resolution.

List of the frames to move for setup 3b:

I have edited MA! to include all the frames you need to move by default. I have contacted author (or whoever is watching over MA!) about adding this change to destribution, but have not received the answer yet. In order to apply those changes you will need to download the following file: http://www.geocities.com/mods_rte/MAPredefinedFrames.zip inside the archive there is a MAPredefinedFrames.lua, place it inside MoveAnything folder in Interface/AddOns/, you will need to replace existing file.

After you done that you will see all the frames you need to move in your MA! (note that most of the frames are already there).
Here's the list:
Player
Target
Party Member 1 (Party Member 2-4 are attached to #1)
Bottom Bar
Extra Action Bars (that is an entire list, just move those that you are using from it)
Flag Frame
Dice Roll Frame 1-4 (note that those cannot be moved unless you have the actual dice roll frame up)
Static Popup Frame
UI Errors Frame
Casting Bar
Tooltip
Durability Damage Portrait
Breath/Fatigue Bar
Info Panel 1,2 (this is where your character, bank, trade and other screen appears, if you want some particular one to apper elsewhere you can move that frame directelly)
----------After this point are the frames that are only available if you update MA! (see above)-----------
Script Errors Window
Tutorial Frame Window
Game Menu Window
Video Options Menu Window
Sound Options Menu Window
Keybindings Options Menu Window
Zone Zoning Text
Subzone Zoning Text

FAQ:

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Q u o t e:
Why am I not seeing resolutions like 2048x768 as an option?

---

Make sure you have set up your video card to the Stretch mode. (see part 4 or 5)

---

Q u o t e:
Can I use TV as the monitor?

---

Yes you could, but keep in mind that most of the TVs can only support resolution of 1024x768 or even 800x600. Also TV has much bigger grain then any monitor, so fine things may be very hard to see (like text).

---

Q u o t e:
How can I move the world map in setup 2 or 3?

---

It is not possible to move the actual world map, however there is an Addon called MetaMap that can be used to replace original map. It’s quite nice.

---

Q u o t e:
How can I make Titan Bar size for setup 3?

---

Unfortunatelly you can't, at least I copuld not figure it out, so I switched to alternative, FuBar and it seems to be even better then Titan and has all of the modules I used for Titan

---

Q u o t e:
I have 2 monitors of different size, can I still do this?

---

It's not the size that metters, it's the resolution. They both need to be able to run under the same resolution, now the problem with LCD screens is that they have "native" resolution, ie when every pixel is represented by exactelly one light. When using LCD on non-native resolution you get distortion. So, if your both screens are LCD they will need to be of the same size, if you have 1 LCD and 1 CRT, CRT will need to be able to hold the "native" resolution of LCD, if you have 2 CRTs, then they just both need to be able to hold some resolution.

---

Q u o t e:
I have moved Flag Frame (score in BGs etc) frame using MA! and now it is screwed up, wazzup?

---

If by screwed up you mean it uses bigger font and sometimes it is truncated (end of the line is missing) here's what you can do:
- Open SV.lua for MA! (<WoW>/WTF/Account/<Your account>/SavedVariables/MoveAnything.lua)
-Search for the "WorldStateAlwaysUpFrame", you should find something like:

		["WorldStateAlwaysUpFrame"] = {

			["originalLeft"] = 1056.66682253496,

			["scale"] = 1.599999958914454,

			["originalBottom"] = 812.3333758311959,

			["hidden"] = false,

			["y"] = 504.0626010206934,

			["x"] = 992.1883484727155,

			["movable"] = true,

			["name"] = "WorldStateAlwaysUpFrame",

			["originalScale"] = 1,

		},

- Change ["scale"] = 1.55555, (or something similar) to say:
["scale"] = 1.0,
- Save changes

---

Q u o t e:
I have setup dual screen, but now nameplates and my demage done is just HUGE.

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Unfortunatelly there is nothing that can be done about it.

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Q u o t e:
Is there a way to move loading screens?

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Unfortunatelly no.

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Q u o t e:
I've tried to setup stretch mode in windows Vista, but faild, is there a way?

---

Apparently Windows Vista (even Ultimate) does not support stretch mode at all. More info: http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=26771 (thanks Kahooli)

Great job Rte! I was preparing to post this thread, if I didn't see you do so by the end of the day.

I have a few questions though, some of which were likely answered in the (now lost) old thread:

1) Does anyone know what needs to be edited with CTRA and/or CT_BossMods in order to reposition the Raid Alerts to where wish them (the center of my left monitor)?

I used to have this working, but after installing the lestest version of these CT mods, I lost the edits I had made, and I've forgotten what they are or where hey go.


2) I've just gotten a new video card; a GeForce 7800 GS (it's great BTW). Because of this, I am now using nVidia's ForceWare drivers (with nView). As Rte posted above, I had previously created a BAT file that would launch an ATI Catalyst profile before launching WoW. However with nView, I am unable to launch profiles simply by executing them (the .TVP files).

Does anyone know of a command line code, or another way in which a user can have an Horizontal Span nView profile load before WoW is launched?


Bump and reported for Sticky

1 I can answer, I used to manually move the frame through editing their xml file, but later I got tired of it and simply used MoveAnything to move it. I do not remember for sure the names of the frames but I beleive that these are them CT_RAMessageFrame, CT_RA_WarningFrame
2 - sorry no idea, don't have anything better then 640gt as nVidea (and thats a 64mb piece of junk lol)

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Q u o t e:
1 I can answer, I used to manually move the frame through editing their xml file, but later I got tired of it and simply used MoveAnything to move it. I do not remember for sure the names of the frames but I beleive that these are them CT_RAMessageFrame, CT_RA_WarningFrame

---

Thanks, I'll give those a try!

---

Q u o t e:
2 - sorry no idea, don't have anything better then 640gt as nVidea (and thats a 64mb piece of junk lol)

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Check eBay if you're interested in a deal on a replacement. That's where I got my 7800 GS.

If you're looking for AGP, I'd suggest an Radeon X800 or X850 (stay away from any "Pro" models of the X-series), or a GeForce 6800 or 7900 GS.

...

Oh... and BUMP for exposure and sticky! ;p

---

Q u o t e:


Check eBay if you're interested in a deal on a replacement. That's where I got my 7800 GS.

If you're looking for AGP, I'd suggest an Radeon X800 or X850 (stay away from any "Pro" models of the X-series), or a GeForce 6800 or 7900 GS.

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I've got x850xt, I think I'm good :)

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Q u o t e:
1 I can answer, I used to manually move the frame through editing their xml file, but later I got tired of it and simply used MoveAnything to move it. I do not remember for sure the names of the frames but I beleive that these are them CT_RAMessageFrame, CT_RA_WarningFrame

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Seems to have worked! Much thanks... might also be worth noting in your initial posts (maybe under a Tips heading).

Bump and reported for sticky!

Bump and reported for sticky!

da bump

I'm completely surprised by the apparent lack of interest in this thread. The thread on the old forum had plenty of responses and questions.

Let's build some interest in dual-screen WoWing - Here are some screenshots of my dual-screen WoW setup:

http://www.darksideprod.com/temporary/WoW/WoW-DualScreen01.jpg
http://www.darksideprod.com/temporary/WoW/WoW-DualScreen02.jpg
http://www.darksideprod.com/temporary/WoW/WoW-DualScreen03.jpg

Ok, so i got this set up going - http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e395/freekshow02/1.jpg

After a little bit of play time i went back to WoW on the left moniter and my desktop on teh right moniter. My problem is that my left moniter is a 20" widescreen while my right moniter is a 17" non widescreen. So my left moniter was out of proportion while my right one was clear. And it drove me crazy after about 20 minutes of looking at it. Is there any way to set it up so that they are both clear and not one distorted, or do i need 2 of teh same size screens?