Will Elemental use my second monitor someday?

from Elemental Forums

When I run Elemental in fullscreen mode, it uses my first monitor and ignores the second one, which continues showing the desktop background.  Even if it's not possible for the initial release, are there any plans to add multi-monitor support to Elemental?  This is another area where PCs can do something that consoles can't, and a good chance for this game to shine.

 

I could go on and on with ideas, but frankly, I would be happy if I could just pull up the kingdom reports on the second screen while continuing to play on the first screen. Anything that doesn't waste a good 40% of my screen real estate.

 

7,429 views 12 replies
Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Would be sweet. Would sway me in favor of someday getting a second monitor.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Agreed! Doesn't need to be a launch feature but something to add in an early patch...

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I too would love to see dual screen implementation, ala Supreme Commander 2, with it built right in. Maybe a map of the visible land seen so far, so you can explore on the main screen and see what's going on over on the 2nd monitor, in a big picture scene.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I can't really find a compelling reason to have dual monitor support. Other than a "world view" display, there's nothing that would belong on the second screen. It was half-useful in SupCom because action was fast and you had  to constantly keep glued to The Big Picture, but this is hardly going to be the case in Elemental I think.

I don't see it adding enough real value to the game/gameplay, it would just be a "Hey, dual monitor support!" gimmick with little practical function.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 5
I can't really find a compelling reason to have dual monitor support. Other than a "world view" display, there's nothing that would belong on the second screen. It was half-useful in SupCom because action was fast and you had  to constantly keep glued to The Big Picture, but this is hardly going to be the case in Elemental I think.

I don't see it adding enough real value to the game/gameplay, it would just be a "Hey, dual monitor support!" gimmick with little practical function.
End of Annatar11's quote

 

Having an overview of the kingdom/your spells on one screen and the world map on the other would be convenient.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Showing the global map on the second monitor would be nice. Or you could have game engine on one side and cloth map on the other.

Whether it is necessary or not isn't the question. It would certainly be fun to have!

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Having an overview of the kingdom/your spells on one screen and the world map on the other would be convenient.
End of quote

Spells with the current spell selection system - maybe. But that's changing. Kingdom info never needs to constantly be displayed.

Whether it is necessary or not isn't the question. It would certainly be fun to have!
End of quote

Of course it is. Developing support for 2nd monitor display inevitably takes development time off something else, so it's very much a question of necessity. It might be "handy" to have in a few cases, but none of those are compelling enough to say "Yes, we need dev time on this feature".

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

You could have Elementalopedia entries automatically open on the second screen when you click on something that has one.

Or you could leaving the unit design screen open on the second screen so you can interact with the game at the same time.  Or diplomacy.  I'm thinking more multiplayer focused here.

Later,
LAR 

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 8

Having an overview of the kingdom/your spells on one screen and the world map on the other would be convenient.

Spells with the current spell selection system - maybe. But that's changing. Kingdom info never needs to constantly be displayed.
End of Annatar11's quote

 

I have yet to play a 4X game where there wasn't some important informational screen that I wanted to cross-reference either with another report or with the world map (except maybe ones where useful reports just weren't there at all).  Maybe Elemental will be the exception -- I don't think I can say for sure until we see a more complete version.

Whether it is necessary or not isn't the question. It would certainly be fun to have!

Of course it is. Developing support for 2nd monitor display inevitably takes development time off something else, so it's very much a question of necessity. It might be "handy" to have in a few cases, but none of those are compelling enough to say "Yes, we need dev time on this feature".
End of quote

 

I agree that the amount of effort it'll take to support a second screen should be the main consideration.  I haven't worked with DirectX -- depending on how it handles multiple screens and on how the Elemental engine is constructed, my guess is that it could be anything from a couple hours of work (to use the second screen very minimally) to multiple months of development.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 8

Whether it is necessary or not isn't the question. It would certainly be fun to have!

Of course it is. Developing support for 2nd monitor display inevitably takes development time off something else, so it's very much a question of necessity. It might be "handy" to have in a few cases, but none of those are compelling enough to say "Yes, we need dev time on this feature".
End of Annatar11's quote

 

Well, at no point did I think they would be able to just make this pop into existence before the game went gold. So that negates the development time related issue if it is something that is a quality of life/gameplay enhancement. This is a general related "Wish List" wouldn't it be nice to have and utilize.

Something that you don't get with consoles. Something that is PC specific. Again that said, depending on the actual difficulty to make this happen would be entirely up for them to decide. They are the professionals and know what it would take to achieve this or that result.

But I'm going to disagree in general with your premise that in the future we should ignore this idea due to a perceived value being taken away from other areas of enhancement. My predication though is simply based upon interest, and for them to determine feasibility compared to value and quality of game enhancements.

Hence the suggestions, for future ideas, even if they are not always, "ideal". More along the lines of, utilizing a feature that in this modern day, is not far fetched for people having multiple monitors.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree that this would be a great feature and should be standard in any game that has a mini-map or world map, or any type of reports. Supcom did it pretty alright, but i think it really would make turn-based games like this shine - there is a natural split between the active (playing the game) and the passive (reports). I am new to Elemental, but not Stardock's brand of 4X games, yet I still find myself overwhelmed by the interface at times. Give me the option to have all interesting info open on my second screen!

-tim