Can I force Steam to use a certain monitor for any game?

[Ghosttown]

Hi there!

I'm using a setup with two monitors, one is 21:9 widescreen and the other one 4K 16:9. I would like to know, if I can tell Steam which monitor is about being used. Some games feature a selection and I could simply switch the monitor-not-to-use off, but I'd like to keep it simple.

[Electric Cupcake]

That's the operating system's video settings' responsibility. Not Steam's

[Cathulhu]

Steam has no control over which display is used by a game.

[Ghosttown]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Cathulhu:

Steam has no control over which display is used by a game.

Thank you.

[Ghosttown]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Hugsie Muffinball:

That's the operating system's video settings' responsibility. Not Steam's

Thanks. Since a few games feature a monitor selection, I was just wondering.

[Washell]

Games that don't offer a selection will default to the primary screen, which is an OS setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nnKztRZXsw

You may also like the "windows key + p" option to turn either screen off, and have the game run automatically on the one left on.

[Satoru]

Games will br and large render the game on the “primary” window. Steam can’t control which window the game renders on. Some games have monitor choosing options but they’re the exception

[Darren]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Satoru:

Games will br and large render the game on the “primary” window. Steam can’t control which window the game renders on. Some games have monitor choosing options but they’re the exception

Or any Unity games where the dialog exists as part of the engine (and can be brought back up with a command-line argument even if disabled).

[Ghosttown]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Washell:

Games that don't offer a selection will default to the primary screen, which is an OS setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nnKztRZXsw

You may also like the "windows key + p" option to turn either screen off, and have the game run automatically on the one left on.

Yep right, I was using the projection menu indeed, but I also like to use the second monitor in order to control the core temperature.

[Ghosttown]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Satoru:

Games will br and large render the game on the “primary” window. Steam can’t control which window the game renders on. Some games have monitor choosing options but they’re the exception

Very sad, it's just an exception. It would be very handy to have a simple switch for the primary monitor.

[Washell]

Can't bother to Google right now, but wouldn't surprise me if there's a tool that lets you easily switch or even hotkey switching the primary monitor.

[rei]

On Linux you can use -sdl_displayindex # launch option, dunno if it works on windows. Primary monitor is 0, and so on

[ReBoot]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von rei:

On Linux you can use -sdl_displayindex # launch option, dunno if it works on windows. Primary monitor is 0, and so on

Does it work with game not using SDL?

[Chadocan]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Crosseyed Mie:

That's the operating system's video settings' responsibility. Not Steam's

Steam has the fu****ing responsability in that :

Why ?
Simply because it used to launch the game on the correct screen, I have updated steam and now it doesn't. So it is steam.
If i change main monitor, it changes nothing, if I alt enter or shift enter, it changes nothing. This sucks. If this is the way I see no reason not go on Epic now. Bye

[Reggaejunkiedrew]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Ghosttown:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Satoru:

Games will br and large render the game on the “primary” window. Steam can’t control which window the game renders on. Some games have monitor choosing options but they’re the exception

Very sad, it's just an exception. It would be very handy to have a simple switch for the primary monitor.

Displayfusion can do this. set hotkey A to change monitor A to primary, hotkey B to change monitor B to primary. etc. Little pricey off sale though
https://store.steampowered.com/app/227260/DisplayFusion/

[ReBoot]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Chadocan:

This sucks. If this is the way I see no reason not go on Epic now. Bye

The EGS does the exactly same thing Steam does, but sure, go ahead...