Problems with dual Monitors

[Robbyroy]

I started a new game, played it for a while then went to work. After resuming the game is almost unplayable. My left monitor, which is just running windows, goes dark and tries to blink on . While the right monitor lags in time with the blinking of the other monitor.
When I originally set the game up I opted for the 1 monitor that came up rather than the PNP choice. it turned to be the left monitor which is the wrong monitor I use for gaming. So i went back to the PNP setting. The game ran fine earlier. Don't know if that is causing the conflict or not. Reinstalling will not fix.

[Azure]

We've had a few reports of this nature, and are investigating! Hoping we can get this bug fixed right away. Sorry for the frustration

[Baronaster]

Confirming same problem with a 2080 RTX on driver version 430.86.

Funnily enough starting the game after the update it was fine, in windowed mode but very small, when I switched it to borderless the problem occured, another restart switching back to windowed and the problem persisted. Tried on both displays which are connected to the card.

Map shows normally, foreground object sprites are simply black squares this time, problem before patch showed the sprites as normal with some border artifacts.

Other display that game is not active on black background as last time. Display with active window intermittantly flashes black on each refresh at a low framerate.

[Glycerin]

Well, after the update the game is no longer playable.

Although fullscreen is set, the game starts in a window. If I change the resolution in the game from "automatic" to Full-HD, it always crashes. Every time on my main monitor.

Very bad work.

[Baronaster]

Updated driver to 436.30, issue alleviated but I have not restarted yet.

Previous time I had this problem and did a driver update the problem returned however so while hopeful I ain't fully optimistic.

[LeafCaliber]

If i set it to windowed, it still locks the resolution of my left monitor, and i can't even run it full screen on my right monitor which is the one i use for gaming, really makes the game unplayable for me when i can't get it on the right screen either way...

[LeafCaliber]

Originally posted by Baron:

Updated driver to 436.30, issue alleviated but I have not restarted yet.

Previous time I had this problem and did a driver update the problem returned however so while hopeful I ain't fully optimistic.

I was having a ton of issues but this fixed it for me too, thanks for the advice! (I did a clean install so not sure if that helped but I'd recomend it just incase)

[BigMeatSwang'n]

Just adding my issues so far.

Triple screen each at different resolutions. Game starts on monitor 2 in small window. Game settings say its on monitor 1, in full screen , at 2560x1440 (monitor 1s resolution is 2560x1440 / monitor 2 is 1920x1080)

if i try to change the resolution the game crashes and it says could not set a reasonable resolution.
if i click window the game goes fullscreen on monitor 1 but also shows in fullscreen on monitor 2. if i click on PA on monitor 1 it disappears. However if i click on the frozen PA on monitor 2 it registers on the live PA on monitor 1. This happens no matter which monitor i select.
Crazy

*Update-SOLVED

Deleted everything but my mods and saves folders and then reinstalled PA. It was on the wrong screen again but this time i selected screen 3 and it went to my Monitor 1 , which is the primary screen, and everything worked out.

**Final Update-

Upon restarting PA it reverted to the wrong monitor. However if you go into the >Users>your username>AppData>Local>Introversion>Prison Architect, and locate the Text File "preferences". Find the value, "ScreenMonitor" and set the number to the number that works in PA. I restarted and it works.

[BWheatley]

Yea same for me, the same is set to load on my right monitor, it loads on my left monitor, when i try to change the resolution it crashes to desktop.

[BigMeatSwang'n]

Originally posted by BWheatley:

Yea same for me, the same is set to load on my right monitor, it loads on my left monitor, when i try to change the resolution it crashes to desktop.

Uninstall PA go into the documents folders and clear out everything but the mods and saves folder if you wan to keep that. Reinstall PA. In game go to the graphics settings and try the different numbers for screen monitor till you find the right one.
The screen number in PA is not the number the monitors are assigned in windows, try the other number(s) till you find the right one. Note the number, then go into C:>Users>your username>AppData>Local>Introversion>Prison Architect, and locate the Text File "preferences". Find the value, "ScreenMonitor" and set the number to the number you noted in game. That should sort it out for you

[The Stranger]

Same here. It starts on the wrong monitor and then just crashes out.

Was excited to play...but guess not.

[Vain]

Originally posted by Azure:

We've had a few reports of this nature, and are investigating! Hoping we can get this bug fixed right away. Sorry for the frustration

I have figgured it out, C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Introversion\Prison Architect there are 2 files that affect monitor selection, settings.txt and preferences.txt. I assume that settings is from the newly added launcher and judging by other topics, preferences was already there before . It looks to me that the way the monitor index is handeled between the launcher and the game is different. When in game i got the option to go from monitor 1 to 2, which swaps between my monitors correctly. When i modify the value in the launcher, it goes from 0 to 1 ( 0 not existing to the game hench why it goes back to 1 i assume) Seems to me like an easy bug to fix, just allign how monitor index are handeled.

[Hot Single Terminids Near You]

Edit as fixed: Turns out PA doesn't use the same monitor ID as Windows, my first and second monitors are the wrong way round in PA 1 is 2 and vice versa so I was actually trying to put too high a res on my second monitor. Fixed the issue by going into the graphics options and selecting monitor 2 and it's fixed the issue. Maybe the devs can fix this bug?

Original bug:
Having the same issue, game starts on the wrong monitor in a tiny window. Try switching to my main monitor and fullscreen and it just crashes with an error message about not being able to set a suitable resolution.

[Baronaster]

Can verify my problem is fixed, just doing an update of the drivers did it for me weirdly enough.

[Dhari]

Having the same issue. I don't seem to have a preferences txt, but I do have a "launcher-ingame-settings" txt but no luck at picking the monitor. My vid card drivers are all updated too....

edited: SOLVED
I'm an idiot, I realised while clicking around on the launcher that you can select the monitor you want it to display to (which is different then the windows settings for monitor) and then it launches properly and seems to save the setting.

[ColorlessBlueJay]

I have a 2080RTX card as well, confirming the same problem still exists. All of my interactivity is in one window but shows up in the other window. I tried with all combinations of the settings and I haven't gotten it to work. If I click in the area that has the interactivity on it, I click whatever app is open behind that window. This build is broken please fix soon.