Games launching on wrong screen (dual monitor setup)

[Thumbtack D4llas]

2 monitors, both 1920x1080 (left one with DVI and the center/main monitor using HDMI). I'd like to use the one directly in front of me, and some games launch just fine. Unfortunately, a few other games launch on the monitor to my left.

I went to System Settings > Display , and then set the launch bar to the monitor directly in front of me, made sure the screens were set in the right order, and then applied the changes.

The two games doing this (off the top of my head, there might have been a few others) are Gratuitous Space Battles, and Red Orchestra Osfront.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
TJ

EDIT: Also, when I launch GSB (EDIT: same goes for RO1, and Killing Floor), not only does it launch on the wrong screen, it disables my front/center monitor as my primary, and changes the resolution of the left one to 1024x768. So I have to go back into the display settings, activate the center/main monitor, and raise the resolution of the left. In the case of Red Orchestra and Killing Floor, everything completely locks up when I try to change the in-game resolution, and I have to ctrl+alt+f1 then ctrl+alt+del to restart. Half-Life 2 and LEgend of Grimrock work just fine. Not sure what's going on, will try out more games though.

EDIT: I tried editing the .ini directly with 'gedit ./.killingfloor/System/KillingFloor.ini' and setting my resolution, but it still launched in the wrong resolution and on the wrong screen.

EDIT: Using Ubuntu 13.04 x64, and a GTX 680 and the 313 driver.

EDIT: Killing Floor works fine (I can change resolution and everything) so long as I launch it in windowed mode with -windowed.

EDIT: TF2 works as well. So at this point I can only assume that it's not an issue with Steam, but with the specific games themselves. I haven't tried completely unhooking my second monitor from my GPU, restarting, then trying to launch a game, nor am I going to. That's far too much of a hassle (IMHO) to do every time I decide I want to play something.

Edit: Went into 'Nvidia X Server Settings' and set the monitor I'd like to use as my main, as primary. Didn't work. I launched GSP, and it still reset my left monitor to my main and disabled my center monitor. It's doing this with with several games, and now that I've tried everything I can think of, I'm done fiddling with it. It's got to the point where it's just pissing me off more than anything. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, throw them at me. Thanks.

[Thumbtack D4llas]

Okay. So I THINK I found some sort of solution/workaround.

What I did was this:

I turned off my computer.
Unplugged the HDMI cord from my main monitor and my GPU.
I moved the DVI cord for Monitor2 from DVI port 1 (top) to DVI port 2 (bottom) on my GPU.
I then ran a second DVI cord from my main monitor to my GPU and plugged it into port 1 (top).
Turned my computer back on.
Made sure my main monitor was set to primary, and made sure my left monitor was set to be on the left side in the display settings.
Opened Nvidia X Server Settings and made sure all the settings matched up.
Launched GSB. It launched on my primary screen.

This works, HOWEVER, it DOES disable my secondary (left) monitor while I play. But when I close out of the game, it reenables the monitor.

So far this has worked for Killing Floor, Red Orchestra 1, and Awesomenauts. The only issues I've had was on KF and RO1. When I changed the resolution on these games, it gave me some very bad graphical distortions on the screen. I had to open the command console (with ` ) and use the 'quit' command to close the game because I couldn't see to exit. After relaunching the game however, it was in my desired resolution.

I'll keep fiddling around with different titles, and hopefully things should work fine.

[The Wounded]

multimonitor support is somewhat frustrating indeed, i had to physically switch cables to get it working properly. a few games however refuse to run on just 1 screen so i have to run those in windowed mode.

[lλmbdλ]

I have also set up 2 monitors with Debian testing and a NVidia GTX 560 Ti (Driver : 304.88), one with 1280x1024 (secondary) and one with 1980x1200 (primary).
What I did was the following :

1. I went into the Nvidia X Server Settings and set everything as I wanted, just like you.

Then, after i recognized that the apply button was primarily only temporary (settings gone after restart) and secondarily, didnt work properly (white spaces, glitches, etc.) [Can you even say it like that ? Bad english i think :D]

2. Chose the point below "Save to X Configuration File" and replaced the original /etc/X11 /xorg.conf with the newly generated X Configuration File.

3. I restarted the computer (you could also just restart the x server)

Since i did it like this, the configs never reset themselves again and all games i tried except Killing Floor (same problem like you,resolution downgrade even with a single monitor) worked fine on the correct monitor.
Games that worked fine for me : CSS , TF2 , L4D2 -> I admit : same engine, same problems and vice-versa, therefore, no surprise :D
The problem with xsettings could be because if you start the Nvidia X Server Settings, it runs only with the rights of your user. To modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf, you need to be root, so I conclude Nvidia X Server Settings tries to overwrite the file but fails due to its lack of rights.
If this is also the case with ubuntu, or even fixed in newer versions than mine, i cant say.

I hope this can help you and probably other linux-gamers out there, have a nice day :)

[everforest]

if nvidia-settings and/or xorg.conf configurations are not executing correctly, check your .xml configuration for your display and correct the primary display option where necessary.

its case sensitive so use lower case.

[Gingerw00ki3]

I know that this is a very old thread... but its the first one so it must be of interest to other people. I was running into this problem... and there's probably something steam can do to integrate this into the launch of the game, but after you start into the game. Alt+Tab out of it, right click the app tab in the launchbar, and select "move to screen 1" or whatever shows up. Tested on Linux Mint 14. Happy Hunting

[Blackfurball]

This problem still exists and is somewhat frustrating.

Same with: Ark: Survival evolved, Pay Day 2.

My easiest workaround so far is moving my primary "in front of me" monitor to the most left position in the X position settings. All problematic games then recognised the correct resolution and any mouse-positional problems vanished.

[Glorioso]

FM 16 is the very very game

[farc]

I do know this post is really old but i found a solution.

If you are a windows 10 user like me just follow these steps:

1. Right click your desktop and select "monitor settings" or something alike.

2. Your monitors should be marked with numbers in the correct order, press the one you want to use as your "main screen".

3. Click make this monitor my primary monitor.

4. Press save or whatever it's called (my settings are in swedish)

5. Test by opening any game!

[Catboy Connoisseur]

Originally posted by Farkmir:

I do know this post is really old but i found a solution.

If you are a windows 10 user like me just follow these steps:

Dude, you gotta be kidding, right?
I guess props for adding your solution to a 3 year old thread, but it's still the wrong board.

[Hans CakeStealer]

Originally posted by pb115:

Originally posted by Farkmir:

I do know this post is really old but i found a solution.

If you are a windows 10 user like me just follow these steps:

Dude, you gotta be kidding, right?
I guess props for adding your solution to a 3 year old thread, but it's still the wrong board.

ARISE THREAD BE REBORN MUAHAHAHAHA

[waldovonerich]

i am having this problem on Crawl and Mother Russia Bleeds but i only have one monitor hooked up?? using the -windowed command doesn´t work and when i check using the xrandr command it says I have a disconnected vga monitor which is weird. I guess I should maybe trying going into the graphics card settings. Thanks for the info here guys.

[shbouwhuis]

I have the same problem with Doom and Klocki. Doom has a setting in the menu for this, but Klocki doesn't.
Does anyone know of a way to change this?

[SPC-Rhino]

I found a workaround...
Hope it helps...
I did not disable the drivers. I disabled the secondary monitor like shown in the image linked below. I did not have this issue ever again. And the secondary monitor still functions normally.
https://i.imgur.com/k7pgxYY.png

[oddbolt]

Originally posted by PFC 508th_PIR Rhino:

I found a workaround...
Hope it helps...
I did not disable the drivers. I disabled the secondary monitor like shown in the image linked below. I did not have this issue ever again. And the secondary monitor still functions normally.
https://i.imgur.com/k7pgxYY.png

Thanks, this fixed it for me too. It has been doing my head in for a year. Is there a downside to doing this? Seems like a really weird solution.

[SPC-Rhino]

Originally posted by Oddbolt:

Originally posted by PFC 508th_PIR Rhino:

I found a workaround...
Hope it helps...
I did not disable the drivers. I disabled the secondary monitor like shown in the image linked below. I did not have this issue ever again. And the secondary monitor still functions normally.
https://i.imgur.com/k7pgxYY.png

Thanks, this fixed it for me too. It has been doing my head in for a year. Is there a downside to doing this? Seems like a really weird solution.

I haven't seen any downside yet. I hope there is not any. You are welcome. :)