A New Hope: Professional SoftTH Style Application w/ GUI for PLP-like Setups

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darkphyber

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Gents,

In a thread on RSI discussing how to have multi-monitor support with different configurations, like PLP 20/30/20, in games, it was concluded that NVIDIA and AMD are not likely to support it any time soon. However, a software company called Immersaview would be receptive to the idea of building a professional application for PLP support as well as multi-monitors of different types. We have to show a list of interested petitioners that might buy something like it as a $20-30 utility to make it worth their time to develop and support it. We're talking a nice and easy GUI to point and click your way to multi-monitor gaming that's otherwise unsupported by NVIDIA and AMD. While the open source world may end up coming up with something eventually, I would certainly be willing to pay what would be a tiny amount compared to the total cost of my setup for a professional app with real support.

Please sign the petition here to help make this a reality and, most importantly, spread the word:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ue&formkey=dDJVT2RIZ250TDNkYTVxU0VDdFo4c3c6MQ




Don't know what I'm talking about when I say PLP? Well let me explain... For total immersion, the traditional route is 3x 23" 1080p monitors in NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity. Well let me tell you, this setup sucks. It is far too narrow for games and far too narrow for productivity. I did a lot, an unnecessary amount, of research into what would be the best monitor setup for both games and productivity and found that a PLP setup, that's 3 monitors in a Portrait Landscape Portrait configuration, 20/30/20, is far superior. See pic and video below.

I'm running a Dell U3011, bought off craigslist for $700, flanked by two Dell 2007FPs, bought off ebay for a total of $180. That's $880 invested and let me tell you, it is absolutely amazing.

For productivity, it's perfect. Websites, like this one, are designed to be displayed in a narrow portrait style. As are ebooks, command consoles, web chats, logs, ect. ect. Everything except for movies are designed to be displayed in portrait which is terrible on a 1080p screen, long and thin. Having two 20" screens in portrait mode on both sides of a 30" screen means I have tons of space to work in a console, read a pdf, write a word doc, all while having the main 30" screen completely free for tons of windows.

For games, it's perfect. NVIDIA and AMD don't support it but SoftTH, a simple dll written by some guy in his free time, does support it. It transforms games from the HDTV ratio of 16:9 to the full cinema ratio of 2.40:1 across the 3 monitors, completely filling your vision but without making it ultra skinny like 3x1080p monitors would do. Once you go PLP, you cannot go back, ever. Bill Gates even has a PLP monitor setup.

SoftTH is very dated and is increasingly unable to support the latest games, leaving me to give up on it entirely. The only hope of the PLP community, which is quite large, may just be this petition.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6sXcoZj7fwU

plp8.jpg


photofly.jpg
 
I don't have a PLP setup, but I have to think they have been around long enough, that if it was remotely easy to do, easy enough that the cost would that low. Someone would have done it by now, be it AMD/Nvidia or someone else.
 
SoftTH did it some years ago and just in his free time, so it is possible and easy enough for one person. He just didn't have time to invest in it anymore so there haven't been any real changes within the last 3 years and so it only supports direct x 9, no SLI, and is difficult to get working with modern games.
 
I simply avoided buying monitors for a PLP configuration. In doing my research before hand I learned it wouldn't work and probably never would.
 
Dan_D said:
I simply avoided buying monitors for a PLP configuration. In doing my research before hand I learned it wouldn't work and probably never would.
Click to expand...

Same here. While I would love to have a 30" and 2 20's, the idea of waiting and hoping for someone to create a workaround just spoiled it. I have 3 24's, and while it's not perfect, it works right now.
 
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PLP is still excellent for work productivity. I work with logs and consoles and couldn't think of a better setup. For wide-screen gaming though, I only have a few games working with SoftTH and the rest are single 30". Thus, this petition. If it goes well, I could be wide screen gaming on my PLP setup sometime this year. So please, sign the petition and spread the word.
 
I don't disagree that it's great for productivity. But as a gaming solution I avoid it because I know it doesn't work and there were issues with SoftTH in general. Performance issues, etc.
 
I'm kinda against immersiview as a company, but if they would really make a softth like utility that worked on modern games with dx 9/10/11 support, id buy into it at $25.
 
I'm going to start the dialog with Immersaview tomorrow on what the program should be like. What do you guys want? I'm thinking something like the current display manager where you can click and drag your different displays to different locations and set how many inches or cm the bezels are. Then some options for forcing the resolution for games that don't have that resolution option, maybe a few other options. It doesn't need to be a whole lot of front-end, imo, just take my monitors and tell the game it's one big monitor, just like nvidia surround, and don't render the blank spaces (bezels). All back-end magic and a little front-end management i think.
 
I've had PLP for years and while I liked it a *MAJOR* part of the appeal was that it was a heck of a lot cheaper to setup PLP than 3x30" landscape/portrait. Nowadays with $400 27" IPS monitors available it is actually cheaper to make a 3x27" landscape than a 20-30-20 PLP new (used is another story). I'm not sure there would be enough PLP setups out there to make this viable and my own experiences with SoftTH has made me leery about how well it will perform.
 
rtangwai said:
I've had PLP for years and while I liked it a *MAJOR* part of the appeal was that it was a heck of a lot cheaper to setup PLP than 3x30" landscape/portrait. Nowadays with $400 27" IPS monitors available it is actually cheaper to make a 3x27" landscape than a 20-30-20 PLP new (used is another story). I'm not sure there would be enough PLP setups out there to make this viable and my own experiences with SoftTH has made me leery about how well it will perform.
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27" at 1920x1080? Maybe it's because I'm young and my eyes still work but those just look terrible to me. The 27" that do 2560x1440 start at $700 (newegg) and yes, that's quite a bit cheaper than the top of the line 30" like the Dell U3011, somewhere around $1,200. But I got mine off craigslist for $700. The reason why I went PLP was personally, I don't want to game with 3x 16:9 monitors, the aspect ratio is just too thin.
 
Signed.
I'd like it to be able to use any configuration of monitors (like SoftTH). I'd like to be able to choose which ones I want to render to and support custom render and output resolutions. Also the ability to have multiple profiles would help a lot. Being able to use his program with one logical monitor would be helpful. (I personally cant run 5760x1200 on my 7680x1600 setup without breaking my eyefinity group and making them extended. Otherwise my next usable resolution is 5040x1050 which is too small)
 
darkphyber said:
27" at 1920x1080? Maybe it's because I'm young and my eyes still work but those just look terrible to me. The 27" that do 2560x1440 start at $700 (newegg) and yes, that's quite a bit cheaper than the top of the line 30" like the Dell U3011, somewhere around $1,200. But I got mine off craigslist for $700. The reason why I went PLP was personally, I don't want to game with 3x 16:9 monitors, the aspect ratio is just too thin.
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22" is getting out of hand for 1920x1080 in my opinion. My girlfriend is happy with a 24" at that resolution but I can't stand it. 27" at 1920x1080? Puke.
 
In talking to the programmer, he said supporting DirectX 7-9 is pretty easy. But almost the entire codebase would need to be rewritten to support 10-11+. OpenGL would need its own code as well but would be fairly easy. SLI and Crossfire support is the real challenge.

It's all possible but is it worth the investment for them? Keep signing the petition and spread the word!
 
I signed it and 50 bux would be cheap if it would work with any game 9/10/11dx and custom res and bezel correction. I got 25.5 and 2 20in in plp but if this program works I will be getting a 30in to replace the 25.5. Thanks for the Thread. Hope we get some traction.
 
darkphyber said:
27" at 1920x1080? Maybe it's because I'm young and my eyes still work but those just look terrible to me. The 27" that do 2560x1440 start at $700 (newegg) and yes, that's quite a bit cheaper than the top of the line 30" like the Dell U3011, somewhere around $1,200. But I got mine off craigslist for $700. The reason why I went PLP was personally, I don't want to game with 3x 16:9 monitors, the aspect ratio is just too thin.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of the Korean 27" 2560x1440 monitors on eBay, they are in the $400 range.
 
Does anyone know of any forums that hardcore race sims and flight sims use? They use SoftTH not for PLP but crazy monitor configurations and this would work great for them as well.
 
I would easily pay $100+ for something like this.

The monitors cost over $1000 together and with games costing $60 a pop now, I don't mind paying for software to bring it all together. Of course it'd be great if AMD/Nvidia would support their customers, but no matter how you peg it, PLP is a luxury and fits a pretty small niche. That being said, I would 100% support anyone that's willing to take on the task of making this a reality and I'm sure there are many others who would be thrilled to have the option.
 
So, did this ever go anywhere? I was hoping it would, but I haven't heard anything, so I am assuming no...
 
Not quite as good as it is 3400 vs 4960 pixels wide (although no bezels is nice).
 
contagous said:
Apparently this never went anywhere? Shame, PLP is awesome :(
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Well, keep your eyes on the next generation of AMD GPU's.

The new Omega drivers are supposed to support PLP natively (but only on the r9 285, thus far) but a bug in them is apparently currently preventing it from working.

It has been suggested that all new AMD GPU's will also support "mixed orientation and resolution Eyefinity" starting next year will also support the feature.

We will see what happens. I have my fingers crossed. If they do support it and it works well, I can guarantee I'm switching to AMD for the next generation.
 
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