# [PC] Multi-Monitor Gaming



## Lenny (Dec 24, 2010)

Does anyone indulge?

I've had two monitors for a few years now (I've got a third, but it doesn't work completely), but I've never really bothered with multi-monitor gaming.

Apart from the odd session on *Guild Wars* every now and then, I used to be a console gamer. However, Steam, in its quest to bankrupt me, has forced me into buying a number of PC games which, at low, low prices, were almost unavoidable (luckily, I've found a way to use a PS3 controller with games on my PC, so everything works out fine).

Booting up one of these games yesterday (*Burnout Paradise*), I discovered that it supports up to three monitors, so I duly set it to use both of mine and proceeded to be disappointed.

You see, in XP, there was a mode called "horizontal span" which treated your multiple monitors as one, very wide monitor (so two 1920x1200 monitors effectively became one 3840x1200 monitor). In Vista and Windows 7, however, this option doesn't exist, and instead we make do with "Extend desktop", which treats your second monitor as an extra, separate monitor. Now as multi-monitor games require horizontal span (or, at least, 3rd party hardware that supports it), you can't game with multiple monitors in Vista or Windows 7.

However, there is a software workaround: SoftTH. It tricks the game into using a multi-monitor resolution (3840x1200, in my case) and then renders the extended picture on the graphics card and splits it into n slices (one for each monitor).

The results, whilst varied, are not at all bad. For games like Burnout, which support multiple monitors, it works incredibly well. For games without multiple monitor support, it's hit and miss.

A few that I've tried (the picture quality isn't great, but you get the idea):

*Guild Wars*






*Burnout: Paradise*





*Dead Space*





*Half Life: Source*





*Left 4 Dead*





Sure, the crosshair is caught on either side of the outrageous bezels, but at least I know where it is at all times!

Anyway, it's incredibly easy to achieve, so I thought I'd share it with people.

Some games refuse to work (*Mass Effect* and *BioShock* are two that I've tried that didn't work), but for alpha software, that's to be expected.


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