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Extended desktop

VRoom
Honored Guest
Just started with the rift and would like to use extended desktop option. I read somewhere, it's better to setup rift as the "main display". Problem is, if I do that, I don't see desktop on my monitor (and in rift I only see a small portion of it, so I can't even run games, etc.).
What am I doing wrong?
Thank you for your help!
7 REPLIES 7

jherico
Adventurer
Setting the rift as your main display is not critical. It's useful for applications that can't be customized to render to a given display. Any application that has Rift support built in should be able to detect the Rift and target it in full screen.

If you're working with an app that absolutely refuses to render to anything but the main screen, your best bet is to use monitor cloning so that your normal monitor and the rift show the same image. You can either do it in your normal monitor's resolution or do it in the 1280x800 resolution of the Rift. Given the choice, I'd suggest targeting the rift resolution as it should provide the best image quality on the Rift.
Brad Davis - Developer for High Fidelity Co-author of Oculus Rift in Action

VRoom
Honored Guest
jherico, thank you for your help!
The thing is, the moment I set "extended desktop" option (I don't click "main display" option for Rift) I can only see empty desktop wallpaper (no icons, no opened windows, etc.) on monitor. In Rift I can see icons, but the portion of visible screen is so small that I can't use it.
What am I doing wrong?

jherico
Adventurer
"VRoom" wrote:
The thing is, the moment I set "extended desktop" option (I don't click "main display" option for Rift) I can only see empty desktop wallpaper (no icons, no opened windows, etc.) on monitor.


Even though you may not be clicking 'main display' for the Rift, it sounds like it's defaulting to the main display when you go to both monitors. Unfortunately Windows tends to require you to activate the set of monitors you're going to use before it allows you to do other things like change the geometry and resolution of the monitors and specify which one is your main monitor. All Windows wants to do is present the new monitors and ensure they work before letting you move further.

The core problem is that Windows and other OSs don't yet have a concept of a non-desktop monitor. As VR headsets like the Rift become more prevalent hopefully the OS manufacturers will incorporate some kind of 'Active this monitor but don't extend my desktop to it' setting, but that's going to be slow going.

To solve your current problem, you need to switch the primary monitor after you've enabled the extended desktop. I tend to use keyboard shortcuts to do this, but it can be tricky. An easier alternative would be to use a command line application to activate the Rift and set it as a secondary monitor all in one go.
Brad Davis - Developer for High Fidelity Co-author of Oculus Rift in Action

VRoom
Honored Guest
Thank you! Will try this one out.

martinjd
Honored Guest
Sorry to hijack this thread but I can't create new threads yet. I just got my Rift and was expecting to be able to display the same desktop on both my laptop LCD panel and the Rift otherwise I cannot see enough of the screen on the Rift to start applications. It would appear that I can only extend the desktop to the Rift or select to show the desktop on one or the other of the displays. Any help would be appreciated. The video card is an nVidia Quadro 3000M.

Thanks

martinjd
Honored Guest
I figured out my issue with not having the option to clone. I have a DELL Precision M6600 laptop with the nVidia Quadro 3000M. I was using the desktop drivers and so the LCD display panel did not show up in the nVidia control panel only the Rift. I removed the desktop drivers and installed the laptop driver version and then I could see both the LCD display panel and the Rift and was able to clone the displays using the nVidia control panel. I still did not have this option using the standard Windows screen resolution dialog which only gave me the option to extend or display on one or the other display. When using Deskope I had to change back to "Extend these displays" using the Windows screen resolution dialog and then switch back again when using Rift specific apps from the nVidia control panel. I hope this helps someone else.

Thanks
James M

RogEpicSquidx
Honored Guest
GL