Widescreen Gaming Forum

I installed 32-bit Vista, the leaked "surround" betas from last month, and the Vista modded INF, only to find out that the drivers apparently don't do surround gaming unless you also have 3D monitors. It's either that, or the surround feature only works on Windows 7 32-bit (that is illogical, though).

I installed 32-bit Vista, the leaked "surround" betas from last month, and the Vista modded INF, only to find out that the drivers apparently don't do surround gaming unless you also have 3D monitors. It's either that, or the surround feature only works on Windows 7 32-bit (that is illogical, though).

Officially, Windows 7 is a requirement:

# Operating System

* Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3dv-system-requirements-surround-technology.html

No mention of Vista support, but I would find it odd if they don't support vista in their final drivers.

While that is true, it would make no sense that I could install Windows 7 drivers on Windows Vista only to lack one specific feature (the "spanning" option that apparently simultaneously controls Surround and Surround 3D).

Therefore, I conclude that the real problem is that, with those betas, you do actually need both Surround and 3D for the "spanning" option to appear.

While that is true, it would make no sense that I could install Windows 7 drivers on Windows Vista only to lack one specific feature (the "spanning" option that apparently simultaneously controls Surround and Surround 3D).

Therefore, I conclude that the real problem is that, with those betas, you do actually need both Surround and 3D for the "spanning" option to appear.

One of our insiders ran it on a 3X 60hz projector setup, so I don't think you need 3d for this. Only 3 screens. :)

Its soon ready I think though. Nvidia have updated their forum and added a surround section:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showforum=210

[quote]While that is true, it would make no sense that I could install Windows 7 drivers on Windows Vista only to lack one specific feature (the "spanning" option that apparently simultaneously controls Surround and Surround 3D).

Therefore, I conclude that the real problem is that, with those betas, you do actually need both Surround and 3D for the "spanning" option to appear.

One of our insiders ran it on a 3X 60hz projector setup, so I don't think you need 3d for this. Only 3 screens. :)

Its soon ready I think though. Nvidia have updated their forum and added a surround section:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showforum=210

That's just really weird, then. I installed 32-bit Vista on new HD, installed the drivers with the modded INF, and everything seemed fine...except that ONE option was missing - "span the displays." Why would they torture Vista users by removing the one feature that mattered from that beta!

But yes, Nvidia's new "deadline" is "end of June"...so here's hoping they (finally) deliver.

That's just really weird, then. I installed 32-bit Vista on new HD, installed the drivers with the modded INF, and everything seemed fine...except that ONE option was missing - "span the displays." Why would they torture Vista users by removing the one feature that mattered from that beta!

But yes, Nvidia's new "deadline" is "end of June"...so here's hoping they (finally) deliver.

Its weird, but not unlikely. The leaked beta (or alpha) might not have been ment for public and can be a W7 only driver. I have no doubt that within a week or two, there will be more official release (though probably beta first again), considering nvidia has opened the surround forum for posting. As far as I remember from their PR departement, we'll first see reviews of Nvidia surround before the drivers are released to public. :)

The reason these features would not work under vista is due to the Windows Display Driver Model.
Vista uses WDDM V1.0 which has a number of limitations like lack of support for multiple drivers if using ati and nvidia combined or even onboard gfx, lack of span mode and other multi monitor limitations unlike Win 7 which uses WDDM V1.1 which has added flexibility.

To update Vista with WDDM v1.1 it would require a rebuild of the OS itself essentialy turning it into win 7 as the WDDM operates as part of the System Kernal.

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That doesn't make sense. Are you saying that Surround gaming will not work under Vista? Eyefinity certainly does, and I can run all three monitors in desktop mode (and using screensavers). Or are you just saying it is easier to make the feature work in Windows 7?

That doesn't make sense. Are you saying that Surround gaming will not work under Vista? Eyefinity certainly does, and I can run all three monitors in desktop mode (and using screensavers). Or are you just saying it is easier to make the feature work in Windows 7?

Afaik Nvidia Surround will only work under W7.

Source : http://www.nvidia.com/object/3dv-system-requirements-surround-technology.html

That doesn't make sense. Are you saying that Surround gaming will not work under Vista? Eyefinity certainly does, and I can run all three monitors in desktop mode (and using screensavers). Or are you just saying it is easier to make the feature work in Windows 7?

As I understand it ATI's Eyefinity technology is a hardware based solution, and as such the hardware is able to pass to windows what appears as a single monitor at the hardware level, this is how the eyefinity tech is able to work around the WDDM 1.0 limitations, Nvidia's solution however is a software solution at the driver level, something of which WDDM 1.0 does not have the flexability to handle.

With the introduction of WDDM 1.1 in win 7, Nvidia's solution can work due to the addition of "Support multiple drivers in a multi-adapter, multi-monitor setup".

These are the features added in WDDM1.1
"Windows 7 supports major additions to WDDM tentatively known as WDDM 1.1; the details of this new version were unveiled at WinHEC 2008. New features include [5]:

* DXGI 1.1, which features return of 2D GUI hardware acceleration for use by GDI [13] and Direct2D/DirectWrite (but not GDI+)
o BitBlt, StretchBlt, TransparentBlt
o AlphaBlend, ColorFill
o ClearType font support
* Direct3D 11 Device Driver Interface (DDI)
* DXVA-HD DDI [14]
* Hardware video overlay DDI [15]
* Optional AES 128 encryption
* Optional decoding of encrypted video content
* Support multiple drivers in a multi-adapter, multi-monitor setup" - NOTE: this does not mean SPAN mode form the days of XP.

WDDM 1.1 also changes the way in which gfx and system RAM is used, no longer requireing a duplicate copy of data in the system RAM unlike WDDM1.0 which if you start spanning multiple displays you would find that the system RAM would also get ate up leading to poorer performance.


If there are any WDDM guru's out there that beleive im wrong then please speak up.

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| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |