Latest DisplayLink drivers and DirectX fullscreen errors - Page 6

Wim · 06-06-2014, 08:55 AM

This thread contains lots of issues on games now, some of which were bugs that have been fixed in more recent releases and some that still exist.

We are aware of problems with some games in full screen mode, but there is no easy fix for these. One of the main problems is that games tend to use the graphics hardware directly in full screen mode, bypassing Desktop Window Manager (DWM). However this means that they bypass the DisplayLink virtual graphics driver and get confused when they try to use the graphics hardware and find DisplayLink also using the primary graphics card to render additional screens.

This is only in full screen mode, as in windowed mode the game goes through DWM and should function correctly. This is why we recommend running games in windowed mode.

We'd be happy to work with game developers to find a solution to supporting games in full screen, but we cannot do this without the support of the game engine developers. If you are a developer who could help with this, please contact us through "Ask a Question" on our website, so we can start a dialogue.

Wim

valeryan · 06-06-2014, 01:54 PM

I am fine with your software causing games to have to run in windowed mode when the dock is hooked up. Its the fact that when I take my laptop home and set at my desk and try to launch a game I get the same error. Your software should not effect the normal operation of the system. I have tried stopping the service DisplayLinkManager and removing the processes for DisplayLinkUI.exe, and DisplayLinkuserAgent.exe from memory. But unless I uninstall your software, gaming is no dice. So maybe you can tell me what else I need to kill so I can build me a nice "I want to play games script" that kills everything I need to enjoy a nice game at home.

And as to any game studio developers trying to work with you... I am sorry I wish we could spare the time to help. We can't and most of the interaction with the system itself is handled by the engine. For example we used the unreal engine. It handles almost all hardware level access. You would need to talk with the engine developers to get anywhere with that line.

Thanks for the reply,

So, we would be mostly happy If we could play our other games at home without having to uninstall the software every night. We actually don't get to set around at work and play games all day.

Wim · 06-09-2014, 12:55 PM

OK. The problem is that to pull our driver out of the way, we need to restart the Windows graphics sub system. Normally Windows wants to reboot when the graphics sub system restarts. So you would still need to reboot before playing games.

Would this be OK? I think it gets more complex to find a way of pulling our driver out of the way without a reboot. At least you would not have to uninstall our software every time.

Wim

valeryan · 06-10-2014, 02:26 PM

I am ok with a reboot vs uninstalling and every night and re-installing in the morning. I can actually see incorporating the procedure to makes games playable into my work flow when I shutdown in the evening. I would find this to be a usable workaround. What would I need to do?

Trekari · 06-10-2014, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wim

OK. The problem is that to pull our driver out of the way, we need to restart the Windows graphics sub system. Normally Windows wants to reboot when the graphics sub system restarts. So you would still need to reboot before playing games.

Would this be OK? I think it gets more complex to find a way of pulling our driver out of the way without a reboot. At least you would not have to uninstall our software every time.

Wim

ANY solution would be better than having to completely uninstall your drivers to play games such as Skyrim.

R4wizard · 06-13-2014, 01:52 PM

Hey Guys,
Just made an account to report my findings after a friend who works in your IT department informed me that some of my issues may have been caused by my DL device.

I tried to start developing a game using the Unreal Engine 4, however the 'launcher' to download the engine wouldn't even open and just hung using massive amounts of CPU. I assumed this issue was something to do with my slightly older hardware or the fact im using an APU, so I dismissed it and moved on.

I have now tried the following things and managed to get it to work:

I stopped the DL service, still didn't work.
I removed the DL device from my USB port, still didn't work.
I uninstalled the DL drivers using the uninstall tool and now the launcher works fine!

I would be happy to see a fix for this, and/or a method for disabling the driver quickly as I quite enjoy using my USB monitor but I also enjoy playing and making games! Let me know if there is any further information I can provide.

You can download the unreal engine 4 launcher from: https://www.unrealengine.com (you do not need to pay to download the launcher, only to login, but you can't get as far as to login with a DL monitor attached, and the UE logs are useless for debugging)

All the best guys and good luck with the fix!

(P.S. I have reported this as a bug with UE4 too: https://answers.unrealengine.com/que...aunchshow.html)

N_Spaceman · 07-05-2014, 08:32 AM

I'm having exactly the same issue and thought I would add my $0.02, having just found this forum after dealing with this problem for the past month or two. I bought a Targus ACP71USZ for my Ivy Bridge laptop around May, and have been having problems w/ fullscreen gaming since then, but to be honest I didn't do much PC gaming previously (was mostly on PS3) and didn't put 2 and 2 together that it was the dock drivers causing the issue.

However, today I just happened to chuck a SSD into my laptop as well, and reinstalled the OS and all software from scratch. As it happened, the DisplayLink driver was just about the very last thing to go on. Steam, conversely, was put on this morning, and I checked each of my 12 games earlier, as I installed them, verifying that each and every one was working fine in full screen condition (I even made a sys restore point at that juncture as I was so tickled to have apparently resolved the problem). However, immediately following the install of the latest DL driver (7.6.5563), all of the games I'd had trouble with immediately broke again.

Not that it really matters, obviously a ton of people are having exactly this issue, but here's my set up:

Windows 7 Home Premium (newly installed, fully updated)
Sony SVS151190X
Newest Intel HD4000 driver (10.18.10.3621)
Newest nVidia GeForce GT 640M LE driver (9.18.13.4043)
Newest Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible HC driver (1.0.10.255)
Newest Intel 7 Series/C216 Chipset HC driver (10.0.13.0)
Newest version of GeForce experience, etc., etc., etc.

And the score as to the games:
Unaffected games:
Awesomenauts
Dota 2

Affected games:
Borderlands 2 (not a big deal, can be set to run 1080p borderless window)
Left 4 Dead (ditto)
Left 4 Dead 2 (ditto)
Crusader Kings II (will run FS, but only at greatly reduced refresh rate of 25Hz)
Dungeon Defenders (will NOT run FS no matter the setup, and there is NO option to run borderless window, nor does any 3rd party full-screen wrapping software I can find work with this game; in otherwords, you will be absolutely stuck running it in a standard window if you load DL drivers)
Civ V (like CK2, has refresh rate problems w/ DL drivers installed but can be made to limp along)
The Witcher 1 + 2 (appear to have 1 working for now; 2 will only run after alt-tabbing over to close the Direct3D error message, and this will leave the taskbar on the screen over the bottom of your game for the rest of the session).

As with everyone else, this happens regardless of whether the machine is plugged into the dock or if a monitor is attached directly via HDMI or VGA, or even if the laptop is just outputting to its own built-in 1080p screen.

It's not the end of the world, the dock is still pretty useful to me (though not as useful as Sony simple separating the HDMI and VGA ports by another half-inch so I could plug in both outputs simultaneously might have been) and the -window -noborder switch is a great workaround for those games where it can be implemented, but it IS a drag not to be able to properly play one game (Dungeon Defenders) at all, and have to have to use obnoxious settings w/ three others (CK2, Civ 5, Witcher 2).

Trekari · 07-29-2014, 03:20 PM

Over a month again with no progress...

Cyric · 07-30-2014, 03:23 PM

Football Manager 2014 from EA

Divinity Original Sin - which may be a general Steam Problem or not.

This really sucks. It makes the docking station kind of redundant.

Wim · 08-05-2014, 08:59 AM

Hi All

We have created a tool that will enable you to disable the DisplayLink graphics drivers, which should work around the problems with games. You will need to reboot after an enable or disable, but should be better than having to install/uninstall.

The tool is linked off this knowledgebase article:

http://kb.displaylink.com/368

Thanks

Wim

06-13-2014, 01:52 PM	#56
R4wizard Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 1	Hey Guys, Just made an account to report my findings after a friend who works in your IT department informed me that some of my issues may have been caused by my DL device. I tried to start developing a game using the Unreal Engine 4, however the 'launcher' to download the engine wouldn't even open and just hung using massive amounts of CPU. I assumed this issue was something to do with my slightly older hardware or the fact im using an APU, so I dismissed it and moved on. I have now tried the following things and managed to get it to work: I stopped the DL service, still didn't work. I removed the DL device from my USB port, still didn't work. I uninstalled the DL drivers using the uninstall tool and now the launcher works fine! I would be happy to see a fix for this, and/or a method for disabling the driver quickly as I quite enjoy using my USB monitor but I also enjoy playing and making games! Let me know if there is any further information I can provide. You can download the unreal engine 4 launcher from: https://www.unrealengine.com (you do not need to pay to download the launcher, only to login, but you can't get as far as to login with a DL monitor attached, and the UE logs are useless for debugging) All the best guys and good luck with the fix! (P.S. I have reported this as a bug with UE4 too: https://answers.unrealengine.com/que...aunchshow.html) Last edited by R4wizard; 06-13-2014 at 03:03 PM.

07-30-2014, 03:23 PM	#59
Cyric Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 1	More Games Football Manager 2014 from EA Divinity Original Sin - which may be a general Steam Problem or not. This really sucks. It makes the docking station kind of redundant.

06-06-2014, 08:55 AM	#51
Wim Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,561	This thread contains lots of issues on games now, some of which were bugs that have been fixed in more recent releases and some that still exist. We are aware of problems with some games in full screen mode, but there is no easy fix for these. One of the main problems is that games tend to use the graphics hardware directly in full screen mode, bypassing Desktop Window Manager (DWM). However this means that they bypass the DisplayLink virtual graphics driver and get confused when they try to use the graphics hardware and find DisplayLink also using the primary graphics card to render additional screens. This is only in full screen mode, as in windowed mode the game goes through DWM and should function correctly. This is why we recommend running games in windowed mode. We'd be happy to work with game developers to find a solution to supporting games in full screen, but we cannot do this without the support of the game engine developers. If you are a developer who could help with this, please contact us through "Ask a Question" on our website, so we can start a dialogue. Wim

06-06-2014, 01:54 PM	#52
valeryan Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 3	I am fine with your software causing games to have to run in windowed mode when the dock is hooked up. Its the fact that when I take my laptop home and set at my desk and try to launch a game I get the same error. Your software should not effect the normal operation of the system. I have tried stopping the service DisplayLinkManager and removing the processes for DisplayLinkUI.exe, and DisplayLinkuserAgent.exe from memory. But unless I uninstall your software, gaming is no dice. So maybe you can tell me what else I need to kill so I can build me a nice "I want to play games script" that kills everything I need to enjoy a nice game at home. And as to any game studio developers trying to work with you... I am sorry I wish we could spare the time to help. We can't and most of the interaction with the system itself is handled by the engine. For example we used the unreal engine. It handles almost all hardware level access. You would need to talk with the engine developers to get anywhere with that line. Thanks for the reply, So, we would be mostly happy If we could play our other games at home without having to uninstall the software every night. We actually don't get to set around at work and play games all day.

06-09-2014, 12:55 PM	#53
Wim Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,561	OK. The problem is that to pull our driver out of the way, we need to restart the Windows graphics sub system. Normally Windows wants to reboot when the graphics sub system restarts. So you would still need to reboot before playing games. Would this be OK? I think it gets more complex to find a way of pulling our driver out of the way without a reboot. At least you would not have to uninstall our software every time. Wim

06-10-2014, 02:26 PM	#54
valeryan Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 3	I am ok with a reboot vs uninstalling and every night and re-installing in the morning. I can actually see incorporating the procedure to makes games playable into my work flow when I shutdown in the evening. I would find this to be a usable workaround. What would I need to do?

07-05-2014, 08:32 AM	#57
N_Spaceman Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 1	I'm having exactly the same issue and thought I would add my $0.02, having just found this forum after dealing with this problem for the past month or two. I bought a Targus ACP71USZ for my Ivy Bridge laptop around May, and have been having problems w/ fullscreen gaming since then, but to be honest I didn't do much PC gaming previously (was mostly on PS3) and didn't put 2 and 2 together that it was the dock drivers causing the issue. However, today I just happened to chuck a SSD into my laptop as well, and reinstalled the OS and all software from scratch. As it happened, the DisplayLink driver was just about the very last thing to go on. Steam, conversely, was put on this morning, and I checked each of my 12 games earlier, as I installed them, verifying that each and every one was working fine in full screen condition (I even made a sys restore point at that juncture as I was so tickled to have apparently resolved the problem). However, immediately following the install of the latest DL driver (7.6.5563), all of the games I'd had trouble with immediately broke again. Not that it really matters, obviously a ton of people are having exactly this issue, but here's my set up: Windows 7 Home Premium (newly installed, fully updated) Sony SVS151190X Newest Intel HD4000 driver (10.18.10.3621) Newest nVidia GeForce GT 640M LE driver (9.18.13.4043) Newest Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible HC driver (1.0.10.255) Newest Intel 7 Series/C216 Chipset HC driver (10.0.13.0) Newest version of GeForce experience, etc., etc., etc. And the score as to the games: Unaffected games: Awesomenauts Dota 2 Affected games: Borderlands 2 (not a big deal, can be set to run 1080p borderless window) Left 4 Dead (ditto) Left 4 Dead 2 (ditto) Crusader Kings II (will run FS, but only at greatly reduced refresh rate of 25Hz) Dungeon Defenders (will NOT run FS no matter the setup, and there is NO option to run borderless window, nor does any 3rd party full-screen wrapping software I can find work with this game; in otherwords, you will be absolutely stuck running it in a standard window if you load DL drivers) Civ V (like CK2, has refresh rate problems w/ DL drivers installed but can be made to limp along) The Witcher 1 + 2 (appear to have 1 working for now; 2 will only run after alt-tabbing over to close the Direct3D error message, and this will leave the taskbar on the screen over the bottom of your game for the rest of the session). As with everyone else, this happens regardless of whether the machine is plugged into the dock or if a monitor is attached directly via HDMI or VGA, or even if the laptop is just outputting to its own built-in 1080p screen. It's not the end of the world, the dock is still pretty useful to me (though not as useful as Sony simple separating the HDMI and VGA ports by another half-inch so I could plug in both outputs simultaneously might have been) and the -window -noborder switch is a great workaround for those games where it can be implemented, but it IS a drag not to be able to properly play one game (Dungeon Defenders) at all, and have to have to use obnoxious settings w/ three others (CK2, Civ 5, Witcher 2).

07-29-2014, 03:20 PM	#58
Trekari Junior Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 22	Over a month again with no progress...

08-05-2014, 08:59 AM	#60
Wim Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,561	Hi All We have created a tool that will enable you to disable the DisplayLink graphics drivers, which should work around the problems with games. You will need to reboot after an enable or disable, but should be better than having to install/uninstall. The tool is linked off this knowledgebase article: http://kb.displaylink.com/368 Thanks Wim