White screen on docking station's monitors

[tyurru 0]

Hi there

 

I have a weird problem with Wurm Unlimited. 

It works great on my HP EliteBook x360. But when I use the HP USB-C Dock to use monitors, the game will only display a white screen. It doesn't crash, it just won't render. As soon as I move the window to the Laptop screen, it renders fine, I can play. When I move it back to the monitor, the game "freezes" and I can't interact with it anymore, but it doesn't crash. Moving it back to the laptop again will make it work again, without restarting it or anything.

 

The Dock works over USB-C, one plug for everything (power, network, kb+m, monitors). DxDiag shows the Laptop's display as "Intel HD Graphics 620" and the 2 docked screens as "DisplayLink USB device". 

I guess my question is, does the game work via DisplayLink devices? I've already tried the compatibility options VBO and FBO, but setting them to "disabled" didn't change anything.

 

Thank you

 

Tyurru

[tyurru 0]

Quick update after a bit more research.
Apparently, the DisplayLink dock has a simple graphics chip in there which can do basic desktop work, but no 3D acceleration like a real graphics chip.

If that is correct, games just won't work with it. I've tried another game and that, too, did not render on the monitors connected with the DisplayLink Dock.

 

My laptop still has a HDMI Port, so my next step will be to try to get my hands on a HDMI -> DVI cable and see if it works with that. Connecting one of the monitors directly to the laptop using that cable should make it possible to use the laptop's integrated graphics chip which can render Wurm. I'll report back if it works once I get such a cable.

 

If anyone has an idea of how to make it work with a DisplayLink dock that would still be appreciated.

 

 

Tyurru

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

This seems to suggest the docks are as you found, simply not meant for gaming, they said you still need to plug the gaming monitor direct into the laptop :

 

http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-1766086/gaming-usb-dock-port-replicator.html

 

They said:

 

if you mean a dock with displaylink they are only really meant for desktop use, it would be perfectly fine to plug your ancillary monitor into (one for itunes etc) but you will still need to plug your gaming monitor into the laptop to make use of its graphics card, would be best by hdmi.

Has anyone actually tried playing a demanding game through a DisplayLink dock?
you just cant do it, the displaylink chip has no 3d acceleration capability beyond basic desktop elements.
displaylink was made purely as a way of adding extra monitors without use of an expensive graphics card for more desktop space etc.

 

 

[tyurru 0]

Hey Brash, thanks for your reply.

Apparently that's the case, since most games don't work on it. Funny enough, Warframe works fine.

I've worked around the problem with the HMDI to DVI adapter cable plugged directly into the laptop, which I'll just carry with me from now. 


Tyurru

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

Warframe actually has pretty low system requirements (winXP, 2G ram, and 10 year old gpu/cpu) so that might be why it is the exception to the rule: 

 

 

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP SP 3 or higher.
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo e6400 or AMD Athlon x64 4000+ (~2.2Ghz dual core CPU)
• Memory: 2 GB RAM.
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT or ATI Radeon HD 3600.
• DirectX: 9.0c.
• Hard Drive: 5 GB free HD space.

 

 

Anyway, I am glad your were able to work out the cables to plug the monitor directly to the laptop graphics, and finally get it working!

Edited November 21, 2017 by Brash_Endeavors