Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

[Effedup]

I'm going to be picking up a second monitor in the next day or two, and was wondering if anyone out there had any experience running FFXI with a dual-monitor setup? I'm not looking to spread FFXI over two monitors, but it'd be nice if I could have a web browser open on one monitor so I can look up quests and stuff and have FFXI running on my other one.

I know that FFXI can only run in full-screen without windower (I'm nervous about using something like that if it'll get me banned, don't need [GM]Dave on my ass) but didn't know if that would cause problems with a dual-monitor setup, since FFXI would be running full screen on my main monitor? Also, it'd be nice to have windows media player running on the second monitor playing music...nothing against S-E, but I'd rather listen to KoRn or Deftones personally ^^ Would prolly eat up CPU power, but I'm gonna upgrade that soon so hopefully that wouldn't be a big issue for too long

A LS friend has 2 towers set up KVM'd so he can just bounce back and forth between the two, and it works great for him, but putting together even an extremely bare-bones internet machine and KVMing them is gonna cost much more than my second monitor is.

Anyways, thanks for any help! ^^

PS-I read somewhere that it is possible to substitute different songs into the Playonline folder (provided they were converted to whatever the format of FFXI's music is), and have that play instead of the typical FFXI music. Any first hand experience? It'd be sweet if I could start a fight to KoRn's "Blind" ^^

[Jei]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

For the music, check the DAT list near the end of this page.

http://www.ffxidats.com/page.php?al=alias2845

what you can do is convert your music of choice into .WAV files. Then copy into the right folder and simply rename them to name.bgw.
I've heard the music will not loop if done this way, but they seem to loop fine for me.

[Liquidedust]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

I know that FFXI can only run in full-screen without windower (I'm nervous about using something like that if it'll get me banned, don't need [GM]Dave on my ass) but didn't know if that would cause problems with a dual-monitor setup, since FFXI would be running full screen on my main monitor? Also, it'd be nice to have windows media player running on the second monitor playing music...nothing against S-E, but I'd rather listen to KoRn or Deftones personally ^^ Would prolly eat up CPU power, but I'm gonna upgrade that soon so hopefully that wouldn't be a big issue for too long

The second the game looses focus it will kick you out, so a dual monitor seutp only works if you actually use windower how absurd it might sound.

Used dual monitor and no windower for a while, every time the pointer slipped outside the game I got the FFXI error and the game shut down. Vent so far I had to disable the second monitor while running the game since it shut down FFXI so often.

So without windower a dual monitor setup is doable, but not practical, however you cannot actually use the second monitor at all.

[Macht]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

The second the game looses focus it will kick you out, so a dual monitor seutp only works if you actually use windower how absurd it might sound.
Used dual monitor and no windower for a while, every time the pointer slipped outside the game I got the FFXI error and the game shut down. Vent so far I had to disable the second monitor while running the game since it shut down FFXI so often.
So without windower a dual monitor setup is doable, but not practical, however you cannot actually use the second monitor at all.

Actually that isn't 100% accurate. Windower is not the end all solution to get dual monitors to work. Another solution is if you know how is to multishell the GUI. In that way FFXI runs without a windower or anythng on Desktop 1 (Monitor 1) while you browse the internet and all in Desktop 2 (Monitor 2). In that way FFXI never actually looses focus, in fact the two shells for the most part don't interact with eachother at all. You can't even copy and paste between them.

In that fashion as far as the system is conserned it's treating it as if it's two computers in 1. There are modified explorer shells you can find that will do this, just be aware though that this does task your system a lot more. So if you were to do this method you better have a very good system.

It's like doing something I first saw done in Linux. Linux creates 4 unique GUI shells, you can run programs that go full screen on each desktop and the only way they interferre with eachother is in the jobs that the processor has to handle. Proof of the 4 desktops being separate is that you can actually crash a shell in of the desktops and it won't crash that same shell in the other 4 desktops. Like when Internet Explorer crashes and you end it's task then all IEs close, that only happens with the browsers of that type that are open on that single desktop.

[Effedup]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

In that fashion as far as the system is conserned it's treating it as if it's two computers in 1. There are modified explorer shells you can find that will do this, just be aware though that this does task your system a lot more. So if you were to do this method you better have a very good system.

It's like doing something I first saw done in Linux. Linux creates 4 unique GUI shells, you can run programs that go full screen on each desktop and the only way they interferre with eachother is in the jobs that the processor has to handle. Proof of the 4 desktops being separate is that you can actually crash a shell in of the desktops and it won't crash that same shell in the other 4 desktops. Like when Internet Explorer crashes and you end it's task then all IEs close, that only happens with the browsers of that type that are open on that single desktop.

How does one go about setting that up? Is that a command line edit or registry hack? I assume you're talking about windows explorer and not internet explorer. For that matter, is there a registry edit I could do that say binds FFXI to my main monitor so that I can have internet explorer running while not crashing out FFXI?

I was screwing around with it yesterday, and I opened I.E. before hand and drug it to my 2nd monitor, then ran FFXI, and it worked somewhat. I was able to drag my mouse off of FFXI onto the second monitor, but as soon as I tried to actually do something with IE it crashed out. So for right now I guess I can bring up a page thats important and leave that up, I just can't actually navigate with it.

My system specs are AMD Athalon 64 3500+, 1 GB PC3200, with a Radeon x800 Pro. Do you think I have the power to do something like this effectively? If not, I'll worry about it when I upgrade...

Thanks for the help! ^^

[Macht]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

How does one go about setting that up? Is that a command line edit or registry hack? I assume you're talking about windows explorer and not internet explorer. For that matter, is there a registry edit I could do that say binds FFXI to my main monitor so that I can have internet explorer running while not crashing out FFXI?
I was screwing around with it yesterday, and I opened I.E. before hand and drug it to my 2nd monitor, then ran FFXI, and it worked somewhat. I was able to drag my mouse off of FFXI onto the second monitor, but as soon as I tried to actually do something with IE it crashed out. So for right now I guess I can bring up a page thats important and leave that up, I just can't actually navigate with it.
My system specs are AMD Athalon 64 3500+, 1 GB PC3200, with a Radeon x800 Pro. Do you think I have the power to do something like this effectively? If not, I'll worry about it when I upgrade...
Thanks for the help! ^^

No, not really anything that fancy. You should be able to browse the internet for alternate windows explorer shells and find one that does this. There is a wide variety of shell replacements to explorer.exe.

For example BleemBoost is a Playstation Shell, instead of running an emulator of the PS console you can have it run the Bleem.exe shell and your system basically becomes a PS1 system. I mean it becomes very much like a PS1 console, not much use unless you want to play your PS1 games on your computer. That's about all it does though.

Then you got ones like Desktop Manager, Desktop X, LiteStep, DarkStep, and so on that create virtual desktops. These might be the ones you'd look for to try what you want.

You've got shells that will mimic a Macs look and feel, ones that Mimic a Linux, ones that Mimic a BeOS. There are even ones that give more advanced monitoring functions that feeds data back to a single system, Boss can monitor multiple Emplyees at once (It's like a remote control ability but much more advanced).

There are quite a large range of shells you can find out there. Some shells are nothing more then just a glofiried Theme ability, were you not only can Theme the desktop wallpaper, but also change those dreary square windows edged to have more flare and design to them. Along with also changing the start button, open windows, and taskbar to something else (For example detach them from the edge and have as floating bubbles or something on the screen.

The thing about the shells though is they usually write a new Boot.c file in your boot sector. This isn't a sector you can easily get to in Windows, so if something goes wrong you may have a hard time getting the system to boot up normally. That is the drawback to using these. This is kind of why if you are do this I'd kind of suggest doing with like Windows XP, 2000, or NT. At least with these versions the bootable CDs do allow you to fix the boot.c file more easily.

EDIT:

To think of this I do recall a shell that would give a PC system the performance power for playing games that a console system gives. No matter what you do a PC system with the standard explorer.exe shell will always perform slightly slower then a game console. However there was a shell that boasts to conquer that, shell was called GameOS GE. It's a shell designed specifically to give a PC system the playing power comparible to that of a console. Combine that with a system with specs better then that particular console and you'd easily beat it in performance.

Lol, there is even a shell designed specific for children. It builds in safety functions for children going around on the Internet as well as preventing functions so the child can't destroy the system. It also gives statistics so the parent knows which programs the child used or tried to use and for how long.

[Effedup]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm gonna do some research and give it a shot. I've seen different explorer shells while surfing around the net, but I always was a little leary of screwing with it because I'm lazy about backups. Guess now I've got a little more motivation to get my important stuff backed up and give this a whirl...
On a side note, my family saw me hook my 2nd monitor up and they are convinced I'm turning into JP from "Grandma's Boy". My brother wanted to know when I'm getting the jack installed into the back of my head so I could log into ffxi directly. What a jerk ^^

[Darkages]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

I used to use 2 monitures the way yall are talking about but it drained my processer to much so i just used 1 and also since im a whm less ppl die less blacklisted and such lol but that was the fun part tho!

[Macht]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm gonna do some research and give it a shot. I've seen different explorer shells while surfing around the net, but I always was a little leary of screwing with it because I'm lazy about backups. Guess now I've got a little more motivation to get my important stuff backed up and give this a whirl...
On a side note, my family saw me hook my 2nd monitor up and they are convinced I'm turning into JP from "Grandma's Boy". My brother wanted to know when I'm getting the jack installed into the back of my head so I could log into ffxi directly. What a jerk ^^

Planning to have mine in a few week when they finally release those cars with a jack too that I can just plug in and control hands free. >.>

Lol, does your brother watch "Ghost in the Shell" or is that jack idea just some wild dream he'd like to see. Sorry I like the cyberpunk genre of Anime and "Ghost in the Shell" is a very cool cyberpunk one. I mean prosthetic bodies with the jacks so you can control a vehicle (even remotely too), along with nano tech embedded on the nerve system of the eye feeding in info to make your brain think there is an object with a data display just a bit off to the peripheral vision (No need for a monitor, you get a portal computer with a screen that can be as big or bigger then your range of vision).

Sorry but it seems kind of cool to me. The surprising part of it though is we are probably not that far away from it, a guy in europe has been working on integrating control of machines by use of a person's nervous system. He successfully implanted a device in his wrist and controled a robotic hand with it. His next step was trying to implant something like that at the base of the neck and try to surf around the internet through that.

Yeah, I could use two monitors and my TV if I wanted. I just don't have a second monitor so it's my monitor and TV right now. I haven't had a lag issue from it, I popped in a DVD had the system do the data feed to the TV and played FFXI at the same time once with it. The Movie and the Game never skipped once with how my system's setup, So want to get another GeForce 7800 and do SLI. Still debating though if I want to just uprade to two GeForce 8 Series and do SLI there or just get that one and do SLI..

[Effedup]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

Planning to have mine in a few week when they finally release those cars with a jack too that I can just plug in and control hands free. >.>

Lol, does your brother watch "Ghost in the Shell" or is that jack idea just some wild dream he'd like to see. Sorry I like the cyberpunk genre of Anime and "Ghost in the Shell" is a very cool cyberpunk one. I mean prosthetic bodies with the jacks so you can control a vehicle (even remotely too), along with nano tech embedded on the nerve system of the eye feeding in info to make your brain think there is an object with a data display just a bit off to the peripheral vision (No need for a monitor, you get a portal computer with a screen that can be as big or bigger then your range of vision).

Sorry but it seems kind of cool to me. The surprising part of it though is we are probably not that far away from it, a guy in europe has been working on integrating control of machines by use of a person's nervous system. He successfully implanted a device in his wrist and controled a robotic hand with it. His next step was trying to implant something like that at the base of the neck and try to surf around the internet through that.

Yeah, I could use two monitors and my TV if I wanted. I just don't have a second monitor so it's my monitor and TV right now. I haven't had a lag issue from it, I popped in a DVD had the system do the data feed to the TV and played FFXI at the same time once with it. The Movie and the Game never skipped once with how my system's setup, So want to get another GeForce 7800 and do SLI. Still debating though if I want to just uprade to two GeForce 8 Series and do SLI there or just get that one and do SLI..

Oh, I've got no doubt that we aren't too far off from being able to interface human nerve cells and computers. I read somewhere that scientists have succeeded already with making extremely basic processors from human nerve cells in the lab. Given how small nerve cells are, a bio-processor the same size as modern-day CPU would be enormously more powerful. Then, of course, they achieve self-awareness and launch all our nuclear weapons at targets in Russia and proceed to take control of the entire globe. Guess I'd better start building my stockpile of weapons to fight off the cyborg invaders ^^

On the SLI topic, I've heard from a few techs at work that there really isn't a big benefit to going SLI unless you're planning on pushing a very large monitor at high resolutions while gaming. I'm pricing out components for a new tower now (I am dreaming of running 2 GeForce 8800 gtx cards in sli) and they told me not to waste the money unless I upgrade to at least a 22" monitor, and even then the improvement isn't going to be mind-blowing. I personally haven't seen any real-world benchmarks comparing framerates of a single 8800 vs. 2 8800's so I can't comment on the validity of their claims. However, they do diagnose and debug computers all day so I tend to trust their word. Oh well, I'm gonna wait a little bit anyways because I want to make sure whatever card I go with is fully DX10 and vista compatible before I sink 1000+ on video cards.

When I get my media center PC built (I'm so lazy, all the components have been laying around for weeks) it'll almost be a moot point, as I'll be able to surf the net on my TV if need be. But I'd rather have an all in one solution if possible. Guess I'll just keep messing with it...

[Macht]

Re: Running FFXI with dual-monitors?

Oh, I've got no doubt that we aren't too far off from being able to interface human nerve cells and computers. I read somewhere that scientists have succeeded already with making extremely basic processors from human nerve cells in the lab. Given how small nerve cells are, a bio-processor the same size as modern-day CPU would be enormously more powerful. Then, of course, they achieve self-awareness and launch all our nuclear weapons at targets in Russia and proceed to take control of the entire globe. Guess I'd better start building my stockpile of weapons to fight off the cyborg invaders ^^
On the SLI topic, I've heard from a few techs at work that there really isn't a big benefit to going SLI unless you're planning on pushing a very large monitor at high resolutions while gaming. I'm pricing out components for a new tower now (I am dreaming of running 2 GeForce 8800 gtx cards in sli) and they told me not to waste the money unless I upgrade to at least a 22" monitor, and even then the improvement isn't going to be mind-blowing. I personally haven't seen any real-world benchmarks comparing framerates of a single 8800 vs. 2 8800's so I can't comment on the validity of their claims. However, they do diagnose and debug computers all day so I tend to trust their word. Oh well, I'm gonna wait a little bit anyways because I want to make sure whatever card I go with is fully DX10 and vista compatible before I sink 1000+ on video cards.
When I get my media center PC built (I'm so lazy, all the components have been laying around for weeks) it'll almost be a moot point, as I'll be able to surf the net on my TV if need be. But I'd rather have an all in one solution if possible. Guess I'll just keep messing with it...

Sounds like they are thinking to 1 dimensional. Yes, if you only considering 1 monitor at a high resolution then performance doesn't mean much. But if you are considering 2 monitors or more to really expand your desktop that SLI will be worth it then. Had plans of a 4 monitor setup to individualize a desktop on each one. It'll be intresting to see how it goes with 1 running FFXI, 1 running EQ, and other two monitors used for other trivial stuff.

Don't have much worry about the video handling that, am a bit worried though if the CPU will be able to keep up.