DisplayMagician: Automate display/audio/app changes with a single desktop shortcut

Hi!

Do some of your games require that you use your triple monitors individually, yet other games require you use a single NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity screen? Do you get as frustrated as I do with having to modify your display settings when changing from one game to another?

Well I do! Or I did.

That's why I developed the free and open source DisplayMagician. I wanted to click a single desktop shortcut (or press a keyboard shortcut), and have DisplayMagician do the following for me:
  • Change my display settings to what the game needs (and change it back when done)
  • Change my audio speaker settings to what the game needs (and change it back when done)
  • Change my microphone settings to what the game needs (and change it back when done)
  • Pre-start a few applications BEFORE it starts the game (e.g. SimHub, CrewChief)
  • Wait patiently while I play my game
  • Revert everything back to the way it was automatically when I exit my game!
And that's what I built. I started with the incredible HeliosDisplayManagement software by Soroush Falahati, and then spent the next year or so developing new features and making something that would be easy to use, yet hide itself away when you didn't need it.

DOWNLOAD DISPLAY MAGICIAN NOW!
(It's free and open source code)

DisplayMagicianMainScreen.png


I've written this to scratch a programming itch I've had for a while, and to make my simracing life easier. I'm a big believer in letting software do the work for you, so I hope at least some of you find this useful!

Current features
DisplayMagician lets you set up the following information for each game or application:
  • Create and save a Display Profile to be used within future Desktop Shortcuts
  • Save a Game Shortcut that will automatically change to a different Display Profile and start your Game when you double-click on it.
  • Run your Game Shortcut using a keyboard shortcut (Hotkey).
  • Or start your games by right-clicking on the DisplayMagician Notification Tray icon.
  • Choose which Audio Device you want the shortcut to use. Like using the wireless headset when driving? This lets you with a single click.
  • Add one or more programs to pre-start before your game or application
  • Works with the following Game Launchers:
    • Steam
    • Ubisoft Uplay
    • Origin (Electronic Arts)
    • Epic Games
    • GOG.com
  • Optionally rollback to your previous Display profile once the game or application has closed.
  • Or maybe just create a Shortcut that permanently changes to a different Display Profile! The options are endless.
  • Also comes with a Shell Extension that allows you to change to a different Display Profile by right-clicking on the desktop background!
  • Supports NVIDIA Surround setups, AMD Eyefinity setups and standard Windows multi-desktop views.
  • Supports many different connection types including HDMI, DisplayPort, USB and Wireless.
  • Supports SuperDisplay and SpaceDesk android-tablet based monitors
To use:
  • Download and install ‘DisplayMagician’.
  • Run ‘DisplayMagician’, and click on the ‘Display Profiles’ button
  • Use ‘Windows Display Settings’ or ‘NVIDIA Control Panel’ to configure your display(s) exactly as you would like them (AMD EyeFinity is NOT currently supported).
  • ALT-TAB back to DisplayMagician, and you should see the new display configuration shown in the Display Profile window.
  • Click the ‘Save As/Rename’ button so that DisplayMagician will remember the current Display Profile so you can use it in your Shortcuts. You will need to do this for each different display configuration you want to use in any of your games or applications.
  • Click ‘Back’ button to go back to the Main DisplayMagician window.
  • Now that you have some Display Profiles set up, you can create some shortcuts that will use them!
  • Click on the ‘Game Shortcuts’ button.
  • You will be shown your Shortcut Library window. This is where all your Shortcuts live, and where you have to go if you every want to edit them. Click the ‘New’ button to create a new Shortcut
  • Choose the Display Profile you want to use with the Shortcut. Make sure it matches what the game expects :).
  • Click on the ‘2. Choose Audio’ tab and select any audio changes that you would like to set for this shortcut.
  • Click on the ‘3. Choose what happens before’ tab to choose as many applications as you'd like to start before the main game or application. Examples include SimHub or Crew Chief.
  • Click on the ‘4. Choose Game to start’ tab, to choose the main game or application that the Shortcut will start up and then monitor. DisplayMagician will then pause until you close the main game or application.
  • Choose the Game from the list shown, or if it’s not listed there then select the game or application executable. You can also choose to not start anything if you want to permanently change to a different display profile. NOTE: If your game isn't listed, then please launch the game at least once directly via game library (e.g. through Steam). DisplayMagician only detects games that have been run at least once.
  • Click on the ‘5. Chose what happens afterwards’ tab, and choose if you want to rollback any display changes you make while starting the game, or if you want to keep them. If the ‘auto-suggest name’ option is enabled then a Shortcut Name will be entered in automatically for you. Feel free to change the name if it's not quite right.
  • Once you're ready, click the ‘Save’ button to save the Shortcut to the Shortcut Library. If you can only see the outline of a button rather than the word Save, then the shortcut isn't valid yet. You probably have some missing fields you need to fill in. The Save button only shows if you have a valid Shortcut set up. The minimum requirement is to select a Display Profile, and select a main game or application.
  • Once you’ve saved the Shortcut, it should appear in the Shortcut Library.
  • To create a Desktop shortcut file from your Shortcut, select the Shortcut from the list in your Shortcut Library, and click the ‘Save to Desktop’ button. This will then write the Shortcut to your computer, ready to use!
DisplayMagicianShortcutOnDesktop.png

You now have 4 different ways you can start your shortcut:

  • You can double-click on the Desktop shortcut you just saved to the Desktop to start your game; or
  • You can right mouse click on the desktop background, and select the Game Shortcut from the DisplayMagician pop-up menu to start your game; or
  • You can right mouse click on the DisplayMagician notification tray icon, and select the Game Shortcut from the DisplayMagician pop-up menu to start your game; or
  • (optionally) If you've set a Hotkey for your Game Shortcut, you can press the Hotkey keyboard shortcut whenever DisplayMagician is running and your Game Shortcut will run.

The Desktop Background menu that allows you to change your display profiles with a single click is shown here:

DisplayMagicianShellExtension.png


If you find this useful, let me know. I'd love to hear what you think of it, or if there are any features I can improve or add to make your lives easier!

Thanks
Terry



More screenshots:

DisplayMagicianDisplayProfiles.png


DisplayMagicianShortcutLibrary.png








Enjoy!
 

Attachments

  • DisplayMagicianConfigureShortcut1.png
    DisplayMagicianConfigureShortcut1.png
    227.3 KB · Views: 486
Last edited:
Awesome software.

Should make it easier to donate lol

Sent you 5, which is less than it deserves, but a small thank you :)
Thank you @Panda-Ra! I very much appreciate that.

I'll add the donation link into the next release notes that I paste here. Which is today! New version just released which now handles multiple display adapters, USB display adapters and even the SuperDisplay Android Tablet based display software :). Lot's of work has been done, and lots of help from my awesome users.

Thanks
Terry
 
Upvote 0
DisplayMagician v2.1.2

WINDOWS 11: DisplayMagician v2.1 works with Windows 11. _Just remember that you will need to recreate your Display Profiles when you move from Windows 10 to Windows 11_! This is REALLY important, as Windows 11 has different display settings to Windows 10, and your old Windows 10 Display Profiles won't work. You must delete the old Display Profiles and create new ones for DisplayMagician to run properly.

DisplayMagician v2.1 is a new major release. It brings about three completely new, scratch-built video manipulation libraries, over 5 months in the making. These new video libraries are designed to record ALL of the display settings available within NVIDIA, AMD and Windows setups, fixing a whole slew of issues that earlier versions of DisplayMagician had.

You can download DisplayMagician v2.1.2 here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/releases/tag/v2.1.2

DisplayMagician v2.1.2 Changelog
* Supports multiple display adapters
* Supports SuperDisplay (Android Tablets as a locally attached display)
* Supports USB displays
* All windows are now resizeable
* Robustness fixes for various display driver parsing
* Fixed some WinLibrary bugs
* Improved cloned screen reliability with older displays
* Added cancel button to UI form and to Windows Toast
* Rewrote process detection logic to improve reliability

If you're upgrading from DisplayMagician v1.1.4

Display Profiles from DisplayMagician v1.1.4 will not work with DisplayMagician v2.1. The new Display Profiles record about 10x the amount of information as the old Display Profiles, and use a completely new format. This unfortunately also means that you have two tasks you’ll have to do before this version of DisplayMagician v2.1 will work:

**1. You will need to create new Display Profiles
2. You will need to update your Game Shortcuts to use one of the new Display Profiles**

Once you do the two tasks listed above, DisplayMagician will work as it always has, but now it will allow you to get your Displays exactly as you want them!

Thank you for using DisplayMagician

DisplayMagician v2.1 has been about 6 months solid work, and that’s why it’s taken a while to get it out the door. I really do love adding features and hearing about how the software has helped you, so feel free to post messages in the [RaceDepartment Forum Thread](https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/displaymagician-automate-display-audio-app-changes-with-a-single-desktop-shortcut.199994/). And if you feel like DisplayMagician v2.1 is worth it, I’d always [appreciate a donation](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/displaymagician)!

Credits

I’m so very thankful for the help of the following people, who made DisplayMagician v2.1 possible:

* Sean at SimCraft (Thank you so much for your generous donation!)
* Panda-Ray (Thank you for your donation)
* NudeNull (Thank you for your donation)
* 20vmki (Thank you for your donation)
* Lazerwolf22 (Thank you for your sponsorship)
* Spmac (Thank you for your sponsorship)
* Mcdbergh (thanks for the bug report)
* JSchoonbrood (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and SuperDisplay Android Tablet support)
* Outerspacejunky16 (Thanks for testing AMD support)
* Matthex (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and 7 different screens!)
* Dev1981 (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and DisplayLink USB)
* Domenic (Thanks for the solid month of troubleshooting help and the sponsorship!)
* Gretzer (thanks for the cool idea)
* Erbkaiser (One of the most impressive testers with an amazing eye for detail)
* SneakingJ (Major props for the help getting cloned display profiles to work)
* Scowling (Again, without you, AMD support wouldn’t exist AT ALL! )
* Slippery-silvia (Again, thanks for the testing help for Mosaic cards with v2.1)
* Mobeeuz (Your thorough testing logs really helped!)
* S4b0tage (Thanks for the testing help and the donation!)
* Gpo123 (thanks for the bug report)
* Whitestar127 (thanks for the bug report)
* Frcooper (thanks for the sponsoring)
* Stringfieldmark (thanks for continued sponsoring and the testing help)
* Bossebossebosse (thanks for the donation)
* Sk666 (thanks for the donation)
* FormelLMS (thanks for the continued sponsoring and the testing help)
* RBZL (thanks for the donation)
* Neilperson (thanks for the cool idea)
* DragRedSim (thanks for the bug report)

There have been some absolute rock stars who have helped do a lot of troubleshooting for me in order to iron out a large collection of bugs with the new video libraries, and I’m forever indebted to you. DisplayMagician is only as good as it is thanks to your help!

Terry
 
Upvote 0
DisplayMagician v2.1.3

WINDOWS 11: DisplayMagician v2.1 works with Windows 11. _Just remember that you will need to recreate your Display Profiles when you move from Windows 10 to Windows 11_! This is REALLY important, as Windows 11 has different display settings to Windows 10, and your old Windows 10 Display Profiles won't work. You must delete the old Display Profiles and create new ones for DisplayMagician to run properly.

You can download DisplayMagician v2.1.3 here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/releases/tag/v2.1.3

DisplayMagician v2.1.3 Changelog
* UI Bugfix for Start Programs
* Improved Shortcut Repository initialisation code robustness

If you're upgrading from DisplayMagician v1.1.4

Display Profiles from DisplayMagician v1.1.4 will not work with DisplayMagician v2.1. The new Display Profiles record about 10x the amount of information as the old Display Profiles, and use a completely new format. This unfortunately also means that you have two tasks you’ll have to do before this version of DisplayMagician v2.1 will work:

**1. You will need to create new Display Profiles
2. You will need to update your Game Shortcuts to use one of the new Display Profiles**

Once you do the two tasks listed above, DisplayMagician will work as it always has, but now it will allow you to get your Displays exactly as you want them!

Thank you for using DisplayMagician

DisplayMagician v2.1 has been about 6 months solid work, and that’s why it’s taken a while to get it out the door. I really do love adding features and hearing about how the software has helped you, so feel free to post messages in the [RaceDepartment Forum Thread](https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/displaymagician-automate-display-audio-app-changes-with-a-single-desktop-shortcut.199994/). And if you feel like DisplayMagician v2.1 is worth it, I’d always [appreciate a donation](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/displaymagician)!

Credits

I’m so very thankful for the help of the following people, who made DisplayMagician v2.1 possible:

* Sean at SimCraft (Thank you so much for your generous donation!)
* Panda-Ray (Thank you for your donation)
* JabberJon (Thank you for your donation)
* Sikhalv (Thank you for your donation)
* Friedobaer (Thank you for your donation)
* PanthaRhei (Thank you for your donation)
* Matthex (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and 7 different screens! And for your donation!)
* NudeNull (Thank you for your donation)
* 20vmki (Thank you for your donation)
* Lazerwolf22 (Thank you for your sponsorship)
* Spmac (Thank you for your sponsorship)
* Mcdbergh (thanks for the bug report)
* JSchoonbrood (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and SuperDisplay Android Tablet support)
* Outerspacejunky16 (Thanks for testing AMD support)
* Dev1981 (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and DisplayLink USB)
* Domenic (Thanks for the solid month of troubleshooting help and the sponsorship!)
* Gretzer (thanks for the cool idea)
* Erbkaiser (One of the most impressive testers with an amazing eye for detail)
* SneakingJ (Major props for the help getting cloned display profiles to work)
* Scowling (Again, without you, AMD support wouldn’t exist AT ALL! )
* Slippery-silvia (Again, thanks for the testing help for Mosaic cards with v2.1)
* Mobeeuz (Your thorough testing logs really helped!)
* S4b0tage (Thanks for the testing help and the donation!)
* Gpo123 (thanks for the bug report)
* Whitestar127 (thanks for the bug report)
* Frcooper (thanks for the sponsoring)
* Stringfieldmark (thanks for continued sponsoring and the testing help)
* Bossebossebosse (thanks for the donation)
* Sk666 (thanks for the donation)
* FormelLMS (thanks for the continued sponsoring and the testing help)
* RBZL (thanks for the donation)
* Neilperson (thanks for the cool idea)
* DragRedSim (thanks for the bug report)

There have been some absolute rock stars who have helped do a lot of troubleshooting for me in order to iron out a large collection of bugs with the new video libraries, and I’m forever indebted to you. DisplayMagician is only as good as it is thanks to your help!

Terry
 
Upvote 0
DisplayMagician v2.1.5

WINDOWS 11: DisplayMagician v2.1 works with Windows 11. _Just remember that you will need to recreate your Display Profiles when you move from Windows 10 to Windows 11_! This is REALLY important, as Windows 11 has different display settings to Windows 10, and your old Windows 10 Display Profiles won't work. You must delete the old Display Profiles and create new ones for DisplayMagician to run properly.

You can download DisplayMagician v2.1.5 here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/releases/tag/v2.1.5

DisplayMagician v2.1.5 Changelog
  • Can run Applications as an administrator (UAC)
  • Can run Start Programs as an administrator (UAC)
  • Can run a program afterwards as administrator (UAC)
  • UI Bugfix for Start Programs
  • Improved Shortcut Repository initialisation code robustness

Thank you for using DisplayMagician

DisplayMagician v2.1 has been about 6 months solid work, and that’s why it’s taken a while to get it out the door. I really do love adding features and hearing about how the software has helped you, so feel free to post messages in the RaceDepartment Forum Thread. And if you feel like DisplayMagician v2.1 is worth it, I’d always appreciate a donation!

Credits

I’m so very thankful for the help of the following people, who made DisplayMagician v2.1 possible:
  • Sean at SimCraft (Thank you so much for your generous donation!)
  • JabberJon (Thank you for your donation)
  • Sikhalv (Thank you for your donation)
  • Friedobaer (Thank you for your donation)
  • PanthaRhei (Thank you for your donation)
  • Matthex (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and 7 different screens! And for your donation!)
  • NudeNull (Thank you for your donation)
  • 20vmki (Thank you for your donation)
  • Lazerwolf22 (Thank you for your donation)
  • Spmac (Thank you for your donation)
  • Mcdbergh (thanks for the bug report)
  • JSchoonbrood (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and SuperDisplay Android Tablet support)
  • Outerspacejunky16 (Thanks for testing AMD support)
  • Dev1981 (Great help testing multiple display adapter bugs and DisplayLink USB)
  • Domenic (Thanks for the solid month of troubleshooting help and the sponsorship!)
  • Gretzer (thanks for the cool idea)
  • Erbkaiser (One of the most impressive testers with an amazing eye for detail)
  • SneakingJ (Major props for the help getting cloned display profiles to work)
  • Scowling (Again, without you, AMD support wouldn’t exist AT ALL! )
  • Slippery-silvia (Again, thanks for the testing help for Mosaic cards with v2.1)
  • Mobeeuz (Your thorough testing logs really helped!)
  • S4b0tage (Thanks for the testing help and the donation!)
  • Gpo123 (thanks for the bug report)
  • Whitestar127 (thanks for the bug report)
  • Frcooper (thanks for the sponsoring)
  • Stringfieldmark (thanks for continued sponsoring and the testing help)
  • Bossebossebosse (thanks for the donation)
  • Sk666 (thanks for the donation)
  • FormelLMS (thanks for the continued sponsoring and the testing help)
  • RBZL (thanks for the donation)
  • Neilperson (thanks for the cool idea)
  • DragRedSim (thanks for the bug report)

There have been some absolute rock stars who have helped do a lot of troubleshooting for me in order to iron out a large collection of bugs with the new video libraries, and I’m forever indebted to you. DisplayMagician is only as good as it is thanks to your help!

Terry
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Sorry for asking as not tried the software yet and just a query, If I was running triple monitors but in the form of a central Samsung G9 49" Ultrawide, then flanked either side with Samsung G7 monitors. Can this software offer ways for forming the configuration of bezels when all screens are not identical?

OIption 1
1440x2560 (bezel) 1440x5120 (bezel) 1440x5120

Or if I used the G9 in P&P mode as dual monitors (with no bezels)

Option 2
1440x2560 (bezel) 1440x2560 + 1440x2560 (bezel) 1440x2560
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Sorry for asking as not tried the software yet and just a query, If I was running triple monitors but in the form of a central Samsung G9 49" Ultrawide, then flanked either side with Samsung G7 monitors. Can this software offer ways for forming the configuration of bezels when all screens are not identical?

OIption 1
1440x2560 (bezel) 1440x5120 (bezel) 1440x5120

Or if I used the G9 in P&P mode as dual monitors (with no bezels)

Option 2
1440x2560 (bezel) 1440x2560 + 1440x2560 (bezel) 1440x2560

Hi @Mr Latte,

DisplayMagician doesn't create any configuration. It only stores the display config and then sets the configuration as it was stored when you created it when you need it in the future.

In your case, if the configuration is settable within Windows Display Settings or NVIDIA Control Panel, then DisplayMagician should be able to detect it and save it as a display profile. The settings you describe should be detected by DisplayMagician when you set them up.

If you want to know more about how to set up DisplayMagician I've created a helpful 'Initial DisplayMagician Setup' page here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/wiki/Initial-DisplayMagician-Setup

Hope that helps!

Terry
 
Upvote 0
Awesome product!
I am trying to set a shortcut for AMS2 in Steam VR (Index)
Anyone have an example to make this work?
Thanks All!
What's not working? Will it launch but not I in VR mode? I'd that's the issue then I just found this page that says you can right click on the game and select the launch options to make it VR. Then it will always launch VR for that game: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/steamvr/settings

You could try simply putting 'vr' in the game arguments field, and check the 'pass arguments to game' check box. Any arguments added to a stream game are added to the end of the game launch URL, meaning that your 'vr' argument actually becomes steam://launch/1066890/vr that DisplayMagician tries to launch.

What this means is that you can test the launching options directly from the command line without using DisplayMagician until you get it right. Here's the closest forum post I could find:

if you do find the answer please post here it create a GitHub issue, and I'll add it to the game examples page here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/wiki/Main-Game-and-Application-Examples. Then in the future when people click the 'show me examples' button within DisplayMagician they will know how to set things up correctly!

Thanks
Terry
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Launching in NON-VR mode just fine, The issue as I see it, Is Steam VR needs to launch before (Running an Index)
I have tried -VR in the argument, but only launches NON-VR. I am trying to setup two versions, obviously VR and NON-VR options. Thanks for your help! Will did more though
 
Upvote 0
@terrymacdonald

This is fantastic, and it was working great for a bit but I have encountered a fatal error and I need help.

Screenshot 2021-12-28 154606.png


Basically in the middle of setting up a game profile I got a BSOD and windows had to reboot. No idea what happened, but upon restart I am met with this error and the program fails to get past the above loading screen at all.

I have tried deleting the app entirely(Win 11), but upon a fresh reinstall I am met with the same error.

I also notice it still saved my profiles and monitor setups as the right click menu still shows my created display profiles even after a fresh install. Is there somewhere in windows where all that is saved that I can delete and start anew? I can't find any other files to remove even upon uninstalling.

If this can't get resolved I fear I will be unable to use the program at all. It was working great for a bit too.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
@terrymacdonald

This is fantastic, and it was working great for a bit but I have encountered a fatal error and I need help.

View attachment 528377

Basically in the middle of setting up a game profile I got a BSOD and windows had to reboot. No idea what happened, but upon restart I am met with this error and the program fails to get past the above loading screen at all.

I have tried deleting the app entirely(Win 11), but upon a fresh reinstall I am met with the same error.

I also notice it still saved my profiles and monitor setups as the right click menu still shows my created display profiles even after a fresh install. Is there somewhere in windows where all that is saved that I can delete and start anew? I can't find any other files to remove even upon uninstalling.

If this can't get resolved I fear I will be unable to use the program at all. It was working great for a bit too.
Hi @No Depth

Are you able to log an issue at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose please? This is going to need some investigation to trouble sort why you're getting this problem.

Can you please attach the following files from your computer to the issue:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DisplayMagician\Logs\DisplayMagician.log
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DisplayMagician\Profiles\DisplayProfiles_2.1.json
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\DisplayMagician\Shortcuts\Shortcuts-2.0.json

With those 3 files I should be able to see what's going on.

Once you've copied those files and uploaded them into the new GitHub issue, you can delete the whole C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DisplayMagician folder, and when you next restart DisplayMagician, it will start again from the beginning.

Hope that helps
Terry
 
Upvote 0
Hi @No Depth

Are you able to log an issue at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose please? This is going to need some investigation to trouble sort why you're getting this problem.

Can you please attach the following files from your computer to the issue:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DisplayMagician\Logs\DisplayMagician.log
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DisplayMagician\Profiles\DisplayProfiles_2.1.json
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\DisplayMagician\Shortcuts\Shortcuts-2.0.json

With those 3 files I should be able to see what's going on.

Once you've copied those files and uploaded them into the new GitHub issue, you can delete the whole C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\DisplayMagician folder, and when you next restart DisplayMagician, it will start again from the beginning.

Hope that helps
Terry

Great Thanks! I just submitted a bug report with the attachments(.json files are zipped since they can't be attached directly).

I am guessing it is due to me trying to get the Windows Store version of Forza executable attached. Must have accidentally pasted something wrong because that is when I had the crash happen during creation. But I didn't even get far enough to attempt to launch.

Anyway, if you know how to get the Windows Game apps to work(or are they unsupported?)

Regardless, I was able to get ACC with all my apps(Simhub, Motion, Fanalab) all set prior on my LG TV with my headphones without issue with a single button click! Such a huge convenience! Just gonna stay away from trying with the Windows Store games unless you know how to manage?
 
Upvote 0
Great Thanks! I just submitted a bug report with the attachments(.json files are zipped since they can't be attached directly).

I am guessing it is due to me trying to get the Windows Store version of Forza executable attached. Must have accidentally pasted something wrong because that is when I had the crash happen during creation. But I didn't even get far enough to attempt to launch.

Anyway, if you know how to get the Windows Game apps to work(or are they unsupported?)

Regardless, I was able to get ACC with all my apps(Simhub, Motion, Fanalab) all set prior on my LG TV with my headphones without issue with a single button click! Such a huge convenience! Just gonna stay away from trying with the Windows Store games unless you know how to manage?
Windows store games aren't directly supported at present, but you could load them directly using the application section rather than the game launchers section. That should work.... You would need to find the game exe to load, and then choose that.

I'll take a look over the next couple of days to see what is the issue

I completely forgot about the windows store! I'll have to add that to the list of things to do. Send obvious now.

Thanks Terry
 
Upvote 0
Thank you for this program.
After testing this program pretty much intensively during 2 week I think I have some feedback. The concept is very good but there are few things to improve imho. 1.the start up is extremely slow, it seems scanning games or something, i'm still wondering if the software needs to do that for it's main task as display profile manager. When creating shortcuts most of people will have to browse to their game anyway as this soft doesn't detect all games

2. The shorcut to launch games in eyefinity don't work all the time, it change the display to eyefinity then revert back to basic profile then launch de game in single screen mode, not counting the long period the shortcut takes to launch. For example mine won't work with ACC

Opposed to Display Magician AMD setting is very fast for launching game in selective eyefinity mode , the only issues is that time on time it forgets to revert back the profile after the game is finished. So Display magic is useful for reverting back the profile , just pray it's not still loading something so still somewhat freezed.

Reading all feedbacks here please allow me to give some functionality proposal
1- ability to disable game scanning to make start up quicker. I think that even if you remove the automatic game listing and only leave here the manual game selector, people will enjoy it anyway.
2-ability to enable a function that force revert eyefinity or surround to base profile after we leave any game . This will compensate AMD softwares issues
3. There is a selector "what type of logging" , may be you should also add shortcut to open log files quickly.

Thank you
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Thank you for this program.
After testing this program pretty much intensively during 2 week I think I have some feedback. The concept is very good but there are few things to improve imho. 1.the start up is extremely slow, it seems scanning games or something, i'm still wondering if the software needs to do that for it's main task as display profile manager. When creating shortcuts most of people will have to browse to their game anyway as this soft doesn't detect all games

You're welcome for the program :). This is something I primarily made for myself, but then I realised if it was useful for me, then it will be useful for others too.

DisplayMagician was actually primarily designed as a game setup and launcher. My main focus was to make it easy and simple to run a game - hence why there are four ways to start a game (desktop shortcut, system tray menu, desktop background menu, windows hotkey. The fact it can also do display layout changes is actually a secondary function. The primary function is to launch games.

As such it's important that it knows what games are installed so that it can be sure it's fine to try and start the games. It needs to cope with the fact that someone may uninstall a game since the It only reads installed games, but some of the different library formats are a little slow to parse (looking at you Uplay!). If you have lots of installed games (or installed them then deleted them) then it can be slow to start.

I will try and have another look to see if I can speed things up, but unfortunately it does take some time.

2. The shorcut to launch games in eyefinity don't work all the time, it change the display to eyefinity then revert back to basic profile then launch de game in single screen mode, not counting the long period the shortcut takes to launch. For example mine won't work with ACC

This sounds more like a limitation of the game detection logic. Unfortunately some games (ACC being one of them) actually start a game loader that then starts the main game exe before closing. DisplayMagician does it's best to try and detect game loaders, but in some cases it needs manual help. ACC is one of those games.

I have started a wiki page to try and track some of those games, and to explain how to detect this fact happening. You can view this here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/wiki/Main-Game-and-Application-Examples. You can also get to the same page by clicking the 'Show me examples' button within DisplayMagician itself.

You can visit that wiki page and look at the ACC settings to see how to set that up.

If you are still having problems at the end of it, then feel free to log an issue at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose.

Please note I don't have an AMD Eyefinity capable card to hand at the moment so I won't be able to troubleshoot that if it's a problem. I developed the custom AMD Eyefinity code myself with testing help from Domenic and Scowling over multiple months, and we got it to a point that it was working for them. So hopefully it's just an issue with the ACC game launcher.

Opposed to Display Magician AMD setting is very fast for launching game in selective eyefinity mode , the only issues is that time on time it forgets to revert back the profile after the game is finished. So Display magic is useful for reverting back the profile , just pray it's not still loading something so still somewhat freezed.

If DisplayMagician isn't able to detect the main game exe, then when the game launcher finishes then DisplayMagician will revert the display back at that point. If DisplayMagician finds the game exe ok, and yet doesn't revert the AMD display profile after the

Reading all feedbacks here please allow me to give some functionality proposal
1- ability to disable game scanning to make start up quicker. I think that even if you remove the automatic game listing and only leave here the manual game selector, people will enjoy it anyway.
I won't be able to do this as it is core functionality and the main purpose of DisplayMagician. I really like the game launcher functionality and I think it makes it easier to use.

I might consider a setting to disable the 'game launcher' feature though. Feel free to log a 'feature request' at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose describing what you would like to see if you think it would help. There are no guarantees that I'll do it, but I'll have a quick look to see if how much work it would be. I'm doing this development work for fun in my spare time, so I have to decide what I want to spend time doing.

2-ability to enable a function that force revert eyefinity or surround to base profile after we leave any game . This will compensate AMD softwares issues
I would much rather troubleshoot and fix any AMD software issues and have it work correctly in the first place. I strongly disagree with adding patches and leaving the underlying issue unfixed. It only causes issues in the future.

Feel free to log a new bug issue at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose if you would like to help with troubleshooting the AMD issue you see. Please perform the following tasks too to provide me with some initial information to start this process:
  • Run DisplayMagician
  • Run the game shortcut or display profile that is giving you the issue so that the issue occurs
  • Go back to the main page, and click on the Settings button
  • Click on the Create Support ZIP File button to create a support ZIP file.
  • Upload the support ZIP file to the GitHub issue you created earlier (you can click and drag it there)
That will give me the first bit of information I need to start an invesitigation.

3. There is a selector "what type of logging" , may be you should also add shortcut to open log files quickly.
It's too much work describing this all to everyone when it's time to troubleshoot. For this reason DisplayMagician currently always logs TRACE-level log files, and there is a nice simple button that grabs all the files I need and shoves them into a support ZIP file. Easy.

So, feel free to log those issues, and if you do I'll take a look at both of them.

Thanks
Terry
 
Upvote 0
You're welcome for the program :). This is something I primarily made for myself, but then I realised if it was useful for me, then it will be useful for others too.

DisplayMagician was actually primarily designed as a game setup and launcher. My main focus was to make it easy and simple to run a game - hence why there are four ways to start a game (desktop shortcut, system tray menu, desktop background menu, windows hotkey. The fact it can also do display layout changes is actually a secondary function. The primary function is to launch games.

As such it's important that it knows what games are installed so that it can be sure it's fine to try and start the games. It needs to cope with the fact that someone may uninstall a game since the It only reads installed games, but some of the different library formats are a little slow to parse (looking at you Uplay!). If you have lots of installed games (or installed them then deleted them) then it can be slow to start.

I will try and have another look to see if I can speed things up, but unfortunately it does take some time.



This sounds more like a limitation of the game detection logic. Unfortunately some games (ACC being one of them) actually start a game loader that then starts the main game exe before closing. DisplayMagician does it's best to try and detect game loaders, but in some cases it needs manual help. ACC is one of those games.

I have started a wiki page to try and track some of those games, and to explain how to detect this fact happening. You can view this here: https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/wiki/Main-Game-and-Application-Examples. You can also get to the same page by clicking the 'Show me examples' button within DisplayMagician itself.

You can visit that wiki page and look at the ACC settings to see how to set that up.

If you are still having problems at the end of it, then feel free to log an issue at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose.

Please note I don't have an AMD Eyefinity capable card to hand at the moment so I won't be able to troubleshoot that if it's a problem. I developed the custom AMD Eyefinity code myself with testing help from Domenic and Scowling over multiple months, and we got it to a point that it was working for them. So hopefully it's just an issue with the ACC game launcher.



If DisplayMagician isn't able to detect the main game exe, then when the game launcher finishes then DisplayMagician will revert the display back at that point. If DisplayMagician finds the game exe ok, and yet doesn't revert the AMD display profile after the


I won't be able to do this as it is core functionality and the main purpose of DisplayMagician. I really like the game launcher functionality and I think it makes it easier to use.

I might consider a setting to disable the 'game launcher' feature though. Feel free to log a 'feature request' at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose describing what you would like to see if you think it would help. There are no guarantees that I'll do it, but I'll have a quick look to see if how much work it would be. I'm doing this development work for fun in my spare time, so I have to decide what I want to spend time doing.


I would much rather troubleshoot and fix any AMD software issues and have it work correctly in the first place. I strongly disagree with adding patches and leaving the underlying issue unfixed. It only causes issues in the future.

Feel free to log a new bug issue at https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/issues/new/choose if you would like to help with troubleshooting the AMD issue you see. Please perform the following tasks too to provide me with some initial information to start this process:
  • Run DisplayMagician
  • Run the game shortcut or display profile that is giving you the issue so that the issue occurs
  • Go back to the main page, and click on the Settings button
  • Click on the Create Support ZIP File button to create a support ZIP file.
  • Upload the support ZIP file to the GitHub issue you created earlier (you can click and drag it there)
That will give me the first bit of information I need to start an invesitigation.


It's too much work describing this all to everyone when it's time to troubleshoot. For this reason DisplayMagician currently always logs TRACE-level log files, and there is a nice simple button that grabs all the files I need and shoves them into a support ZIP file. Easy.

So, feel free to log those issues, and if you do I'll take a look at both of them.

Thanks
Terry
Thank you for your answers. As you said it's more practical to fix my issues with AMD first, i'll wait 1 or 2 AMD setting software updates to see if the eyefinity not reverting back issues are fixed. If not i will focus on Display Magician.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Thank you for your answers. As you said it's more practical to fix my issues with AMD first, i'll wait 1 or 2 AMD setting software updates to see if the eyefinity not reverting back issues are fixed. If not i will focus on Display Magician.
Oh sorry, I was meaning that there may be an issue in the AMD display library that I wrote. DisplayMagician has 3 custom display libraries that I created to grab all the settings. The AMDLibrary uses the AMD video card driver (AMD ADL) to get settings and save then for later. The NVIDIALibrary uses the NVIDIA videos card driver (NvAPI) to get settings and save then for later. And the WinLibrary uses the windows API to get settings for any other video card.

It could be that the AMDLibrary has a bug. There aren't many people with AMD video cards, so there's not that many people to test DisplayMagician with AMD. It could be that there is an issue with my AMDLibrary code. This is why I wanted you to log an issue if you think it is a bug.

The NVIDIALibrary is pretty reliable now, but the AMDLibrary hasn't had as many people testing it so it could still have some bugs in the codebase.

Thanks
Terry
 
Upvote 0
Another quick question, While I do have ChewChief launching correctly and calling up the correct sim, Is there a way to make CrewCheif "Start" using arguments? (So I do not have to hit start after it launches)
 
Upvote 0
Another quick question, While I do have ChewChief launching correctly and calling up the correct sim, Is there a way to make CrewCheif "Start" using arguments? (So I do not have to hit start after it launches)
Click on the 'show me examples' button within the start program page in DisplayMagician, and it will take you to a webpage that shows you the settings for many common start programs. I've tried to complete a list of the common ones. Crewchief is on there, but I think my examples still show a popup menu if there is an update.

Thanks
Terry
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Latest News

What does easier access mean to you?

  • Free access

    Votes: 108 69.2%
  • Better structured events

    Votes: 41 26.3%
  • Better structured forum

    Votes: 31 19.9%
  • Standard game content

    Votes: 33 21.2%
  • No 3pa registration pages

    Votes: 33 21.2%
  • Too casual

    Votes: 12 7.7%
  • Other, please post

    Votes: 8 5.1%
Back
Top