Guild Wars 2

I’ve gotten two identical-sized (24") monitors which I’m running on my PC through Crossfired HD7870’s. Bear in mind I’m a total noob to running things on dual-screens so just follow me here.

I chose to make my left screen the main (with the task bar, etc.) and run GW2 off the right. Only problem is I can’t run it in anything better than windowed mode without it snapping back to the left screen and making me alt-tab between screens, completely defeating the purpose of my dual-screen solution.

I tried a search in these forums for my problem but didn’t come up with much that was related. What do I need to do to get my GW2 client running on the right screen in glorious 1920×1080 without it switching back over to the left screen? I already tried windowed-fullscreen but that did the same. I also tried dragging out the edges to the extremes of the screen but it keeps snapping back about 20 pixels from the top and bottom borders of the screen.

Please help.

right click on your desktop and set the screen resolution to your desire one, then change in game settings to full windowed mode simple… i currently have this setup and there is nothing wrong with it

I tried that before, both screens are on 1920×1080 and while the game client is on the right side screen, when I hit windowed fullscreen it auto snaps back to the left side screen. I want it to stay on the right side.

You can make your right screen the main one and still move your taskbar to the left one.

Valandil Dragonhart.2371:

What do I need to do to get my GW2 client running on the right screen in glorious 1920×1080 without it switching back over to the left screen? I already tried windowed-fullscreen but that did the same. I also tried dragging out the edges to the extremes of the screen but it keeps snapping back…

I’ll say it again…

I’m running my web browser and stuff on my left screen (where the task bar is atm) and GW2 on the right.

I want to run GW2 in either fullscreen or windowed FS without it snapping back over to the left screen. Right now it won’t stay on the right screen if I do either of these options. I can only run it on the right screen in windowed mode.

I tried moving the task bar over to the right screen, but the same thing happens. GW2 seems to want to be native to the left screen in fullscreen or windowed FS mode no matter what I try. Even switching over screens in the display properties section doesn’t help, the task bar and icons are still on the left screen.

Like I said I’m completely new to this so I need a bit more help please.

this is a problem I’ve always had on every game I ever played when I had 2 monitors. It’s half the reason I got rid of the second one.

I have no expertise so this might be naive of me, but could you just physically swap the monitors in place while leaving them hooked up as they are? You’d have some issues with the mouse cursor in sliding it between screens.

I use two monitors as well but I use the right hand one off to the side for keeping a browser, mumble, etc. My task bar’s on the left, and only visible when I click on the right monitor to toggle out of the game. A quick mouse swipe and click and there my task bar is. I play windowed full screen.

Mystic.5934:

this is a problem I’ve always had on every game I ever played when I had 2 monitors. It’s half the reason I got rid of the second one.

rofl

It’s probably because your primary is the one on the left, and all games run on the #1 slot.

Here’s what you can do. Make the screen on the right your Primary monitor (Right click, Screen Resolution, and check “make this my main display”). This will make GW2 run on that screen.

Now, you’ll notice that you don’t have a taskbar on your left screen. Windows is dumb like that, but I have a solution. Install this program:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dualmonitortb/

It’ll give you a taskbar on your secondary monitor, with start button, clock, and everything.

I found another program on the SourceForge site called Dual Swap which looked promising; it’s job is to swap individual windows to the other monitor(s) via an interface button <→ but even running windows fullscreen GW2 didn’t want to play ball.. it just stayed in the left screen no matter how many times I tried the shortcut or the interface button. Now I can’t get rid of it because it doesn’t have an uninstall function. >_<

Strictly speaking GW2 does not support windowed fullscreen, because the implementation is broken.

Why? Because the whole point of a window, is that you can move it (and resize it). If you can’t do that, then it isn’t a window (and it doesn’t matter if there’s no title bar or borders, because there are Windows APIs to manipulate windows that don’t have them).

If a game properly supports borderless fullscreen windowed mode, then third party programs will be able to change which screen the program is displaying on, without it resetting back to the primary monitor.

You can do this with WoW, EVE, RIFT, and every other game I have played in the last 5 years, that has an option for borderless fullscreen windowed mode.

GW2 is the only game I’ve come across that keeps putting itself back onto the primary monitor, after another program has moved it.

use the gamebooster software and set the program to run from desktop, increases performance and wont jump to desktop when switching screens, this worrked for me regarding the problem you have explained

polarity.8906:

Strictly speaking GW2 does not support windowed fullscreen, because the implementation is broken.

Why? Because the whole point of a window, is that you can move it (and resize it). If you can’t do that, then it isn’t a window (and it doesn’t matter if there’s no title bar or borders, because there are Windows APIs to manipulate windows that don’t have them).

If a game properly supports borderless fullscreen windowed mode, then third party programs will be able to change which screen the program is displaying on, without it resetting back to the primary monitor.

You can do this with WoW, EVE, RIFT, and every other game I have played in the last 5 years, that has an option for borderless fullscreen windowed mode.

GW2 is the only game I’ve come across that keeps putting itself back onto the primary monitor, after another program has moved it.

Please do not confuse window mode with fullscreen window mode there is a difference

Indeed, the reason to do windowed full screen is so that you can work with other windows on the other monitor without having to alt-tab. If you are in plain old full screen, your cursor won’t leave the game screen.

The best solution to your problem is to make your right screen the ‘main monitor’ like people have described how to do above, then use some multiple monitor taskbar software to give you everything you need on your left monitor to act like a normal main monitor.

I used to use ultramon until I found display fusion. I believe display fusion has a trial for 30 days or whatever, so I would try it out. Its a really nice piece of software.

RedCobra.7693:

Please do not confuse window mode with fullscreen window mode there is a difference

I own a system with 3 monitors, and I’ve multiboxed several different games, (or run different games at the same time on separate monitors). I know full well the difference between windowed, fullscreen windowed, and fullscreen. You clearly don’t, because you can’t make the distinction between them, to see that I’m talking about different things.

Windowed is where Windows (the OS) displays the game in a typical window, with a title bar with buttons, and borders that can be dragged to resize the window.

Windowed fullscreen is essentially the same thing, without the borders and title bar, and the game sets the ‘window’ to take up the whole of one screen. However, it can be manipulated so that it does not take up a whole screen, by third part apps, through the API calls available through the Windows OS. That includes moving the window to any position, on any of the available monitors, and even scaling it (although the game will still be rendering at the same resolution, even if the window is resized much smaller).

In both those cases, because it is windowed, the mouse can freely be moved outside of the window, without alt-tabbing.

Fullscreen is where the game displays on an entire screen, the mouse cannot leave that screen without alt-tabbing, and there is no way to move or scale the display area, other than changing which screen it is displayed on.

You don’t need any programs to move your taskbar, you just need to unlock it and drag it to another monitor.

youre arguing with an IT technician -_- the full screen windowed mode (yes is practically the same but full screen) has the script to set is resolution to the native of YOUR desktop, so using a 3rd party to alter whethter the program (windowed mode or not) runs Physically ON the desktop will resolve the issue, as i said before the free option is GAME BOOSTER.

im speaking for the Desktop in IT terms not the thing you SEE with your eyes

I’ve got 3 screens. I don’t have this problem because I play on the main screen. No idea why you’d force a square through a triangle.

Had the same problem. Just choose to play guild wars 2 in window mode. Not normal window, but the window edgeless or whatever. Its just like fullscreen, but you can still drag your cursor over to the other screen

Valandil,

You didn’t say what operating system you’re using, so I’ll give answers for both XP and W7 (I’m not using a tablet so I have no use for W8).

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If you have XP, then your only option is to set the screen you want GW2 to show on in Windowed Fullscreen mode to be Primary Monitor, because that’s the only place the game will run.

To do that right click on the desktop, and select ‘Properties’ from the popup menu to get the Display Properties panel. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.

In the area where it show how your monitors are arranged, click the one you’d like GW2 to run on, and check the box labelled ‘Use this device as the primary monitor’.

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If you have Windows 7, select ‘Screen resolution’ after right clicking on the desktop, and check ‘Make this my main display’ after clicking on the monitor you want the game to run on.

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Using either of these methods will make all programs start on the primary monitor/main display, but at least then you can move everything but GW2 to the other one, and put your taskbar on it too.

The DisplayFusion program people have been recommending can give you a taskbar on all of the monitors, and you can set which monitor you’d like programs to start on, to save moving them every time you start them (it doesn’t work on GW2).

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With Windows 7 I’ve found a way to get GW2 to display on the whole of a display other than your main display, without it having a title bar or borders.

To do this you’ll need a copy of HotkeyNet (hotkeynet.com). It’s intended to be used for multiboxing, but can be used to reposition windows, and get rid of their title bars, so you can run GW2 in window mode, and make it look like Windowed Fullscreen on the monitor of your choice.

You’ll also need a script file to set the hotkeys. This is mine:

//# Modifier    Key             Function
//#-------------------------------------------------------------
//#             Scroll Lock     enable/disable hotkeys
//# 			F11			    mouseover focus on
//# Shift 		F11 		    mouseover focus off
//#				F1			    Move to left monitor
//#				F2			    Move to center monitor
//#      	    F3			    Move to right monitor

//### Additional hotkeys to handle windowed GW2.  Maximise the window by dragging the title bar to the top of the desired window,
//### then press the appropriate key twice to remove the border and correctly position the window.
//### The GW2 window can then be moved to other monitors using these 3 hotkeys, with just a single press.
//#      	    F4			left screen
//#      	    F5			center screen
//#      	    F6			right screen


//#### Turn off hotkeys, so that only scroll lock gets passed to HKN
<hotkey ScrollLock>
	<sendpc local>
		<ToggleHotkeys>

//####  Give windows focus on mouseover
<Hotkey F11>
		<SetActiveWindowTracking On>
<Hotkey Shift F11>
		<SetActiveWindowTracking Off>

//###################################################
<Hotkey F1>
	<SendFocusWin>
		<SetWinRect -2560 0 2560 1440>				

<Hotkey F2>
	<SendFocusWin>
		<SetWinRect 0 0 2560 1440>				

<Hotkey F3>
	<SendFocusWin>
		<SetWinRect 2560 0 2560 1440>
        
<Hotkey F4>
	<SendFocusWin>
        <RemoveWinFrame>
		<SetWinRect -2552 32 2560 1440>

<Hotkey F5>
	<SendFocusWin>
        <RemoveWinFrame>
		<SetWinRect 8 32 2560 1440>
        
<Hotkey F6>
	<SendFocusWin>
        <RemoveWinFrame>
		<SetWinRect 2568 32 2560 1440>  

              

It should be pretty self explanatory. The numbers after the SetWinRect commands are the window position then size. Position is relative to the top left of the primary monitor. In this case the center one.

This allows me to have EVE on my center, primary monitor, with GW2 on the right and a web browser on the left, then if I want I can swap EVE and GW2 around.

You’ll have to use Alt+F4 to close the GW2 window, because without the title bar there’s no minimise/maximise/close buttons.