Widescreen Gaming Forum

People give me the strangest looks when they see my setup. After I start up a game, they just say "that's hax". For some games, yes it gives the advantage. Others, it just gives better immersion into the game. After going to my first real triple monitor setup with my matrox parhelia video card, I won't go back to single monitor unless they are broken, or being rma'ed for stuck pixels.(now)

Hi there, was about to post a question about the distortion at the NV Surround board when I found this thread.
I'm one of those that never realized this is also happening with single monitor setups but now that I got my 5760x1200 (6020x1200) setup it really started to irritate me. It's not only that objects at the sides are getting more and more distorted but also that they appear much closer. Both of those seem to be less pronounced in some games and much more in others (WoW, Portal2, Mirror's Edge).
Nevermind the fact that it is happening even with 4:3 monitors and you won't focus on your sidescreens as much, is this even acknowledged as a problem (even though it may be tolerated) or is it really considered "the way it's meant to be!"?
Is there a way I can decrease the effect somewhat?

^ are there any answers to this?

I have downloaded flawless widescreen...are there any apps out there or some setting in NV control panel that can decrease the stretching in the side screens?

Stretching can only be affected by changing the FOV of the game. The amount of stretching is engine dependent, it depends on how the game viewport is designed. Many of the console games go for a narrow FOV and large GUIs because they fit TV use better. This of course makes them bad for surround monitors.

Adjusting the FOV can help mitigate stretching, but usually this means you need to adjust the fov to a smaller value, i.e. giving a smaller area to render. It's still probably more than what a single screen would give, though according to common sense it would diminish the vertical fov to smaller than what it is with a single screen, presuming a landscape config. There's very few games (or mods to games) that can be x and y FOV adjusted, the rest are locked AFAIK to a proportional FOV. Something like that might be usable to improve things, but I personally haven't tested it much since mostly the option is not available. I believe FC2 had a fov fix with such adjustments possible.

In essence, there's not much to be done, outside adjusting the fov smaller for a bit less stretch. Otherwise it's up to the game engine designer to take surround configs into account.

I really need to do a video on this...

It's that the geometry of the in-game camera is expecting itself to be projected on a flat screen, so a flat slice is taken from the scene. If you draw a triangle from one eye to each horizontal edge of the screen, mark the angle of the corner connected to your eye, and ensure that the game shares the same FOV, there will be NO distortion at all.

The biggest issue with the "fisheye" effect comes from when you bring the sideways monitors inward. This causes the sides of the images to be much closer than the game expects it to be.

This effect was a motivator for going 5x1P, as I do prefer to wrap my monitors around me and it's way less extreme than a 3x1L setup when it comes to this issue.

The only games I've heard of that support multiple monitors that are bent inwards are iRacing and (I've heard) R Factor. Supposedly, it appears more like looking through a window with this. What I'd really really love to see is having the image move with your head such that it appears more like you're looking through a window than looking at a a set of screens. But that's only a pipe dream.


So, recap. If you want the fisheye effect to stop, follow these steps:
Flatten your monitors. They shouldn't be bent inward.
Measure the distance from one edge of your monitor array to the other. Mark this as dist1
Measure the distance from the center of the array to where your eyeballs are located. mark this as dist2
Calculate: 2invTAN((dist1/2)/dist2) to find your real-life FOV.
Adjust your in-game FOV to match your real life FOV.
If that's not an option, move your head back and forth until you match the in-game FOV. ;)

I promise you, the fisheye effect will stop existing once this is performed. Though, you may have to sit abnormally close to the monitors to get it all working fine. :P Have you considered 3x1-portrait?

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(imagination not allowed in signature)

Realy, your EYES DO THIS.

Its a combination of the domed lense on yer eyeball (physics) -and- being a preditor (functional).

This is a little tricky to explain but bare with me.

Ever notice those little tiny LED lights in cars that flash? Not the signal lights, they are part of theft/alarm systems. (some are phoneys too) You notice them mostly at night. Usualy by the rearview mirror, sometimes on the dash. A slow flash that basicaly says "this car has an alarm, stay away!" (You have 20 seconds to comply. heh)

From 10 to 30 feet away these are tiny at night. Now turn yer head so the light goes to the corner of your eye. Only one eye will "see" it, the other blocked by yer nose. That tiny little LED blip will turn into a rather large FLASH. Hold the position once you do get it. It may take some paitience, it will work. Its the same reason -why- we turn to look at "flashing" signs and the like. As a preditor we react to large things that come from the sides.
Our minds compensate for the lense distortion, but right at the edge the preditor kicks in. (Grrr)

You won't believe it untill you "see" it for yourself. A little bit of life's magic.

Any flashing light in the distance will do. The further away/smaller ..the more obvious the effect. A car's flashers from 100-200(maybe more) feet away, just look across the street or next door or 3-4 doors up. Just turn slowly to set it in the edge of your eye. Its magic.

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- AMD 965 @3.8 - Gigabyte 790fx ud5 - AMD 7970 Ghz - OCZ Reaper 4GB - OCZ Vetex - Eyefinity 3x Asus vw266h - Samsung t260hd + 226ux - (soundcard) - Sony 5.1 ~700w - PC P&C 750w - Corsair K60 -

Is that write up confusing?

Do you guys/gals get that ok?

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- AMD 965 @3.8 - Gigabyte 790fx ud5 - AMD 7970 Ghz - OCZ Reaper 4GB - OCZ Vetex - Eyefinity 3x Asus vw266h - Samsung t260hd + 226ux - (soundcard) - Sony 5.1 ~700w - PC P&C 750w - Corsair K60 -

Nevermind the fact that it is happening even with 4:3 monitors and you won't focus on your sidescreens as much, is this even acknowledged as a problem (even though it may be tolerated) or is it really considered "the way it's meant to be!"?
Is there a way I can decrease the effect somewhat?

It is the way of it. The eye does this natuarly, the mind compensates and you don't "see" it.

..and it does look odd when we see it for real in the side monitors. BUT yer not supposed to "look" directly at them, so quit peekin. heh

Periferal(sp?) vision. Is just as tough to descibe as the "blind spot", low and off center, in our eyes. Our nerves run ON TOP of the light sensors in our eyes. And there is this one spot they all come together and head into the brain in a big bundle. There are -no- light sensors there. The -mind- fills it in with what it "thinks should be there". Some years ago I came across a vid' on youtube that showed it as an optical illusion. (A quick peek to see if I can find it..)

Vanishing head illusion hahah.. its simple and brilliant!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS3L4t1RCDM

..wonders of the internet, eh!
You need to get pretty close, a foot or less depending glasses ..etc.

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- AMD 965 @3.8 - Gigabyte 790fx ud5 - AMD 7970 Ghz - OCZ Reaper 4GB - OCZ Vetex - Eyefinity 3x Asus vw266h - Samsung t260hd + 226ux - (soundcard) - Sony 5.1 ~700w - PC P&C 750w - Corsair K60 -

Interesting Chainmail, for sure. I think most gamers complaints are the 100 degree field of view in front of them, and not the extreme periphery you are talking about.
It's a simple case of the standard camera frustum mathematics not being "true to life". If you know your program is going to run in a surround environment then you would render a cylinder or sphere projection, rather than a standard, linear, central vanishing point algorithm, which is the fastest. Until the market for wide screen gaming grows, those camera options won't be available in main stream titles.

I've had my local gamer friends respond two ways to seeing triple-wide gaming. They either immediately point out the bezels and stretching/distortion on the side screens and are turned off by it or they think it's really cool. The biggest difference in reaction seems to be between people who have seen it for the first time from over my shoulder and people who tried it out for themselves first.

Get your friends in front of it and let them play a few rounds on a properly supported game rather than demonstrating it to them and they'll likely be converted!