Fullscreen Display, Dual Monitors Issue (Solved)

[Kemic]

So, I'm not sure how many other people are playing this game fullscreen with dual monitors, but I seem to keep running into a problem, especially in PvP.

 

Recently, I decided to switch my display from "Fullscreen (Windowed)" to strictly "Fullscreen" and it seems to have come with a drawback that I am sick of trying to deal with. Anytime I move my mouse two far, and I click off screen (this usually happens when I'm trying to access an ability that is not keybound on my left side quickbar) the game completely minimizes, and has to load back up. This has created a HUGE drawback for me in PvP. I had originally switched to this mode as a test, and it increased the framerates in PvP on my computer by about 10-15fps (pending the Warzone).

 

So, my question is, does anyone know of a way that I can lock my mouse to my screen, so that when I'm playing in Fullscreen mode, I cannot accidently click off window and leave myself unable to defend myself for about 10 seconds or so in a Warzone match?

 

Solution!!!!

 

As per this post:

 

http://download.cnet.com/Cursor-Lock/3000-2072_4-10767852.html

 

cursor lock.

 

 

done.

 

I installed it, and it's doing just the job I wanted. Thank you very much sir!

 

Also, I really hope BW adds some sort of native programming to the game that gives players running the game in Fullscreen the option to do just this, rather than suggesting to all of the people that they need to install 3rd party software to do such a job.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Kemic

[joohanse]

Tried Fullscreen (Windowed) ?

 

Works fine here..

Edited March 20, 2012 by joohanse

[Kindara]

Unless there's some hidden gem of a 3rd party program out there somewhere windows doesn't support a way to lock your mouse to a particular window.

[Kemic]

Tried Fullscreen (Windowed) ?

 

Works fine here..

 

Tried it, was using it since launch, didn't like to pvp at only 10-15fps.

[Kemic]

Unless there's some hidden gem of a 3rd party program out there somewhere windows doesn't support a way to lock your mouse to a particular window.

 

I have played other games that do lock the mouse to the window when your playing, League of Legends is a perfect example, only way to access other windows it to alt+tab out, and that minimizes the window at the same time, even on dual displays.

 

That's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

[Orizuru]

I've been having the same problem.

 

I think it may be related to SLI though and not multiple displays. I never had this problem using 2 monitors with a single GTX 265 video card in my old rig. I could have my game (WoW or SWTOR) on my main display and whatever I wanted on the second monitor. The only way to move the cursor off the main display was to ALT + TAB out of the game first.

 

Since I build my new rig with dual GTX 560 Ti cards in 2-way SLI, I've noticed that I can now drag the cursor off the main display without having to ALT + TAB out first. If I accidentally click on anything outside the the main display where the game is displayed, then the game loses focus and I got through a short loading screen when I click back into the game.

 

It took me a few warzones to figure out what was going on though. After I figured it out in SWTOR, I loaded into WoW and had the exact same thing going on there. WoW doesn't force a loading screen on a lost focus event though like SWTOR does.

 

The fact that it's doing this to me in both game now, whereas it wasn't before tells me it has something to do with the SLI configuration. If the OP could post again with more details about his rig it could help me identify the problem better though.

[AnariussX]

running fullscreen (windowed) will result in the ability to scroll across to both monitors without minimizing the game context. If you run the game in fullscreen, then clicking outside the bounds of the main screen playing the game will result in the game being minimized as the graphics context is returned to windows ( the OS ). To fix this issue, you must run fullscreen (windowed) as this allowed the context to be run simultaneously.

 

If this is confusing ill dumb it down.

 

fullscreen:

Causes an alt tab effect when clicking outside of the game

 

fullscreen (windowed):

 

will keep the game running but allow you to interact with your other monitor as well without minimizing the game.

 

in some cases, you will see an improvement in framerate in windowed mode, but 99% of the time this is not the case.

 

 

fullscreen mode will typically result in a better framerate but will cause the above mentioned issue of an alt tab effect when you click the second monitor (or outside the bounds of the game).

[joohanse]

Google for mouse jail (or a more advanced program called Ultramon) says it should work.

 

Try it!

Edited March 20, 2012 by joohanse

[Kemic]

K, this will be the third time I'm saying this, I USED FULLSCREEN (WINDOWED) AND STOPPED BECAUSE JUST FULLSCREEN GIVES ME MUCH BETTER FRAMERATES!

 

So, for those people who insist on constantly telling me Fullscreen (Windowed) will prevent that minimizing effect, I'm already perfectly aware of it, and even said in my original post how long I had been using that setting (since launch) and why I switched, quit suggesting iut, because that's not the information I'm looking for.

 

For the one who asked for more information on my system specs, this is it:

 

CPU: Core2Quad Extreme 3.0ghz

GPU: nVidia GTX460 (x2, SLI bridge installed, not enabled, each monitor is on a seperate card)

Ram: 8GB DDR2 Dual-channel with heatsinks, 1300mhz

MoBo: nVidia 780i

[Kemic]

Google for mouse jail (or a more advanced program called Ultramon) says it should work.

 

Try it!

 

Thank you, I will look for this and give it a shot.

 

UPDATE: Installed Mousejail as per the instructions on the website (used a Lifehacker article to find a download page) and it does not seem to work. As another poster further down pointed out, I think it may be because the launcher itself opens another window, but Mousejail requires you to edit the shortcut target for it to work.

 

Thank you for the idea though.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Kemic

[Taren]

I have the same problem. I prefer to use Fullscreen because I want the ability to use the gamma settings in game. (I find the gamma for any other screen selection to be way to dark and I do not want to use my vid card gamma correction.)

 

I took a look at Mouse Jail and the bottom it states:

 

'To the person saying it's not compatible with Steam games etc... You need to make sure you didn't add it to a launcher. IE, it will work on the menu for the game but not the game. Verify using task manger, what the exe of the game is while it's running. Make sure your short cut points to that, not the launcher.'

 

I assume this would be the same for SWTOR since it has a launcher. How does one get around this? It that even possible?

Edited March 20, 2012 by Taren

[SpazCats]

This issue has plagued me as well. Real pain in the butt, when in the middle of a battle, my screen loses focus and is minimized because I clicked slightly too far to the right.

 

I don't have SLI or Crossfire though... I just have the one video card running two monitors, so I don' think this is the issue.

 

This is not a problem for me in WoW (at least it wasn't 3 months ago when I last played. I'm unsubbed now so unfortunately I can't double check this). WoW just would not let me click off the screen. I would have to alt-tab to minimize if first. This is how I expect it to work.

 

And yeah, I don't want to run fullscreen (windowed), I want to run fullscreen for the reasons the OP already said a number of times.

[AnariussX]

http://download.cnet.com/Cursor-Lock/3000-2072_4-10767852.html

 

cursor lock.

 

 

done.

[Mandrath]

I have the same problem. I prefer to use Fullscreen because I want the ability to use the gamma settings in game. (I find the gamma for any other screen selection to be way to dark and I do not want to use my vid card gamma correction.)

 

I took a look at Mouse Jail and the bottom it states:

 

'To the person saying it's not compatible with Steam games etc... You need to make sure you didn't add it to a launcher. IE, it will work on the menu for the game but not the game. Verify using task manger, what the exe of the game is while it's running. Make sure your short cut points to that, not the launcher.'

 

I assume this would be the same for SWTOR since it has a launcher. How does one get around this? It that even possible?

 

In your SWTOR install directory is a SWTOR.exe and a Launcher.exe. What they are saying is make sure you're pointing to the SWTOR.exe with this application.

[SpazCats]

I'll have to give cursor lock a try. Thanks AnariussX.

 

I am curious though, can this not be programmed into the game itself, meaning can a program not be made so that the mouse can not leave the screen unless alt-tabbed? I'm sure WoW worked this way in full screen mode.

 

If so, then hopefully Bioware may consider fixing this... someday

[AnariussX]

i dont think you would want to override the native windows mouse control. what i fail to see is why anyone would want to lock their mouse to 1 monitor. If you use two monitors, why wouldn't you run windowed? If you cant interact with your second monitor without alt tabbing to it, why not simply disable it while gaming?

 

edit: before you flame me, i don't see the 15fps increase as a reason. i play windowed at 90fps.

 

pvp 30-40fps.

Edited March 20, 2012 by AnariussX

[SpazCats]

i dont think you would want to override the native windows mouse control. what i fail to see is why anyone would want to lock their mouse to 1 monitor. If you use two monitors, why wouldn't you run windowed? If you cant interact with your second monitor without alt tabbing to it, why not simply disable it while gaming?

 

I run a system temp monitor program on the 2nd monitor.

 

I also use it to display vent so I can see who is talking (helps me to put someone's voice to their character name).

[Kemic]

http://download.cnet.com/Cursor-Lock/3000-2072_4-10767852.html

 

cursor lock.

 

 

done.

 

This is working excellently, thank you very much ^_^.

[AnariussX]

so second monitor is used to show you information that you setup in advance. I suppose i could see that being useful. Perhaps i have simply grown accustomed to windowed mode.

[Kemic]

i dont think you would want to override the native windows mouse control. what i fail to see is why anyone would want to lock their mouse to 1 monitor. If you use two monitors, why wouldn't you run windowed? If you cant interact with your second monitor without alt tabbing to it, why not simply disable it while gaming?

 

edit: before you flame me, i don't see the 15fps increase as a reason. i play windowed at 90fps.

 

pvp 30-40fps.

 

That's the thing, your talking about getting a 15fps increase in Windowed mode from 90 FPs. I'm talking about a 15fps increase from 10-15fps. It's nearly doubling for me from near unplayable.

 

The reason for the override is that while the increased FPS rate is helping me to a great extent, when the game minimizes and I'm unable to see what's goign on or react to anything, this is a huge disadvantage.

 

I'm just trying to optimize things for myself.

 

As for why I don't just use 1 monitor and disable the second, I regularly have several different chat and monitoring programs running on my second monitor. Between seeing who's online on MSN, who is talking in vent, my system temperature monitor, and anything else I may have open, losing that second screen with all that useful information is just not something I want to give up.

[Derekloffin]

i dont think you would want to override the native windows mouse control. what i fail to see is why anyone would want to lock their mouse to 1 monitor. If you use two monitors, why wouldn't you run windowed? If you cant interact with your second monitor without alt tabbing to it, why not simply disable it while gaming?

 

edit: before you flame me, i don't see the 15fps increase as a reason. i play windowed at 90fps.

 

pvp 30-40fps.

 

Maybe he isn't getting 90fps... just saying...

I personally run in windowed full screen too, but only because my performance is acceptable for me in that mode. If it starts becoming a problem I would like to go full screen and have my mouse locked as well (the 2nd monitor at that point would simply be for looking at off screen stuff). Some games that don't do this can be particularly annoying as they can become nearly unplayable (ones with screen scrolling at the edge for instance).

[SpazCats]

Also, I really hope BW adds some sort of native programming to the game that gives players running the game in Fullscreen the option to do just this, rather than suggesting to all of the people that they need to install 3rd party software to do such a job.

 

This.

 

But at least in the meantime cursorlock does the job.

[Kemic]

I've found that the best way to use Cursorlock is to just set it up to run in User mode, with a keybind to enable/disable the screen lock that is away from the normal keys. Just start the program when you start the computer, and make sure it is enabled. That way, if you ever decide you need it off for some reason, you only need to hit a simple keybind to do that, rather than shut the software down or something.