[Bug: Unconfirmed] Dual Monitor - Flashing Screen

[philosopher]

Jim,

I'm using the screensaver with a dual monitor setup on a Windows 7 Machine with an NVidia Quadro FX1700 graphics card and the latest Nvidia driver - 190.38

There seems to be some type of a strange timing issue going on. If I allow my system to idle until the normal screensaver timeout triggers (mine's set to 30 minutes), then the screensaver comes up just fine sometimes.

But more often than not the logo for the screensaver only appears on the second screen and then the second screen starts flashing between the logo and the screensaver itself. The first screen is just blank. During the flashing the screensaver's background is black and the fish don't move. The flashing continues until I right click the mouse and bring up the menu you built. If I click "Settings" in that menu and then click the settings window's "OK" button then the screensaver comes back up and runs perfectly on both screens. It also runs perfectly if I start the screensaver manually with the "Preview" button.

This behaviour occurs whether I set any combination of "Render same image on all monitors" and/or "Wait for vertical sync".

It does not occur if I set the screensaver to only appear on my first display. And as I write this I just realized that I haven't checked to see if the problem happens when I set the screensaver to only display on my secondary screen. Of course I'd really like it to start properly on it's own on both.

[philosopher]

Jim,

If I set either monitor to not display the screensaver then it alway starts properly. The problem only occurs if both monitors are running the screensaver.

[Jim Sachs]

Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

[cjmaddy]

No.... But!.....
I can only guess that it may be a Windows 7 problem.
If it was any other OS, I would suggest drivers and/or a DirectX re-install, followed by a reboot.
If the fish are not moving though,... perhaps philosopher can check out and glean something from one of these two threads ?...
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ead.php?t=4701
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ead.php?t=4388
ie. Which monitor have you got designated as 'Primary'?

[philosopher]

cjmaddy,

It probably is related to Windows 7. I didn't have this problem on the same machine when it was running windows vista. Of course NVidia makes a different driver for Windows 7. So it could be the driver too.

I did a little more digging and realized that I didn't fully describe what the screensaver is doing. It's not just that the fish don't move. It's that they never even get started. The background is black, nothing moves, only one screen has any images, and on that screen the screensaver flashes between the logo and the screensaver flipping between each every second. I can always gets the screensaver running properly by right clicking, clicking settings, clicking display, and then clicking ok and ok again. It would seem that some piece of code that is run within the "Display" area of the settings starts up the screen saver differently, or makes some change to recognize a monitor, or something.

Jim, I don't know if you want to worry about Windows 7 yet and I understand if you don't, but I am running the release version. Soon many people will be purchasing computers that are running Windows 7. However I'd much rather see some new fish movement than have this bug fixed. I'd absolutely say it's secondary. Especially since I'm probably the only person running Windows 7 and experiencing this problem. I have plenty of other machines I can use to see your fantastic work with.

Oh, something else I noticed in a different thread. Someone had mentioned that they were waiting to run the new version until it was complete. And you questioned how it could ever be complete when you will constantly be adding to it. I think it's just a matter of semantics. I think they are waiting for you to take the "Beta" label off of it. I think you should remove Beta from the Serene Screen site.

[Dale]

Just for the record - are you running the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Windows 7?

Footnote: Windows 7, and dual monitors and Nvidia hardware/drivers. Not minimizing the priority of this fix - and Windows 7 is certainly going to start increasing very soon.

[vdirjohn]

I agree. I think MA3 is stable enough now to remove the "BETA" designation. Those that are waiting for the "Final Release" should be willing to purchase MA3 instead of MA3 BETA. Future enhancements can be considered MA3.1 or even MA4.0

[feldon34]

Originally posted by philosopher:

The background is black, nothing moves, only one screen has any images, and on that screen the screensaver flashes between the logo and the screensaver flipping between each every second. I can always gets the screensaver running properly by right clicking, clicking settings, clicking display, and then clicking ok and ok again. It would seem that some piece of code that is run within the "Display" area of the settings starts up the screen saver differently, or makes some change to recognize a monitor, or something.  

How strange. I would think drivers if it weren't for this method to reset it.

Originally posted by philosopher:

Oh, something else I noticed in a different thread. Someone had mentioned that they were waiting to run the new version until it was complete. And you questioned how it could ever be complete when you will constantly be adding to it.  

That might be 2012 if not later. Google Mail was beta for 4 years and people used it no problem.

[cjmaddy]

philosopher, - I'm sorry you are still having no luck with your dual-monitor Windows 7 setup. - I do think it may be worth your while checking the connections from your video card to the two monitors. - Whilst I was running the checks described here... https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...99&#post107999, I discovered that it can be really important to have the "Primary" monitor, (the one in Jim's MA3's stats display marked "#0"), to be connected to the correct socket on the video card's spine, (usually the one nearest the motherboard). The "Secondary" monitor, the right-hand one, marked "#1", can then be connected to the other socket.

Whatever others may say about it not mattering which is "Primary", is not true! - It can and does make a difference, - at least on my system. - I have no experience of Windows 7, and from what I remember reading somewhere the implementation of DirectX is different, - But if it is possible to reinstall DirectX into Windows 7, then I would strongly recommend it. - It so often solves graphic problems on some systems, when all else fails!... Good luck!

[Nicki]

Originally posted by philosopher:

cjmaddy,


Oh, something else I noticed in a different thread. Someone had mentioned that they were waiting to run the new version until it was complete. And you questioned how it could ever be complete when you will constantly be adding to it. I think it's just a matter of semantics. I think they are waiting for you to take the "Beta" label off of it. I think you should remove Beta from the Serene Screen site.  

We had a thread a while ago about when would the Beta be ready for release , which things should be in place . I wonder if it's worthy of a new thread to discuss when the beta should no longer be 'officially' referred to as a Beta . Not to be confused with the BetaBeta for the cogniscenti . This is only my 2 cents , and should carry appropriate value , but I think that when the fish models and behaviour are in place , and maybe a few of the detail items reported by Dale , then the program will be at a point when it could be described to the GP as 'finished' . All things added after that would be extras . Either free or to be optionally purchased .

[Ralph]

It seems this is really a matter of semantics.. the reality is all software is forever in some degree of "beta"...until abandoned. Witness the weekly updates / security fixes for every bit of software you have on your computer. If... it was not a "beta" there would be no need for the updates.

[philosopher]

Dale, thanks for reminding me to give a complete system spec. It's Windows 7 64 bit. I've been running 64 bit everything for about 3 years now.

cjmaddy, I tried switching around which monitor is the primary and the problem remains.

Feldon, I'm researching re-installing / repairing Direct X on Windows 7 but as of yet I still haven't found the necessary information to give it a try.

Thanks for the various ideas everyone. Jim, again, please keep working on the fish and ignore this problem for now at least. At some point I might find more information but so far I have no idea what the cause could be and I'm sure I'm one of very few with this particular setup.

[Liquidmantis]

I'm also seeing the same issue. I just downloaded the demo to try out, experienced the same issue, and came here to see if it was a known problem.

Win7 x64 RTM
Triple Monitor
--Nvidia 260 - Primary display
--Nvidia 8800 - 2nd and 3rd display
--190.62 WHQL driver
--All displays at 1680x1050

Screensaver runs fine if set to just display on one monitor. When running on all three only Mon1 and Mon3 display anything. The splash logo shows fine on both, then starts flickering. The aquarium will load with fish but very dark and flashing between the black screen with logo and the aquarium. The fish move with the flickering, probably about 2FPS. Setting SS to display same image on all displays is no help.

[Jim Sachs]

Try switching to 16-bit.

[Liquidmantis]

I set MA3 to display in 16 bit, that didn't help. I also tried lowering the resolution all the way down to 640x480 and the problem persisted. Disabling Aero also didn't help.

[cjmaddy]

Have you also tried re-installing DirectX and then re-booting?

https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...65&#post115365

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Agreed, reinstalling DirectX and rebooting should be standard procedure.  

[philosopher]

I just reinstalled my direct x drivers and restarted my system. Unfortunately the problem still persists.

[flipper]

philosopher, would you be willing to download and install the package found at http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/download_beta.asp, and then run the Moire screen saver contained within it?

That screen saver was built from a sample DirectX SDK multi-monitor screen saver app, and running it might be able to tell you whether the problem is specific to your system or possibly specific to MA3.

EDIT: I just found a direct link to the Moire screen saver itself at http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon...p#ScreenSavers .

[philosopher]

Here's something interesting:

If if leave the screensaver running in the "flashing state" described above, in about 10 - 15 minutes it fixes itself.

Flipper, I haven't had a chance to try the screensaver experiment you've suggested yet, but will try to do so in the near future.

[Liquidmantis]

I installed the moire screensaver and it runs great across all three monitors.