Create the Perfectly Sized Virtual Monitor for Sunshine

This guide helps you set up a virtual monitor to use with Sunshine, particularly if you have a non-standard monitor configuration that isn't working well with Sunshine. The solution involves creating a virtual monitor that matches your laptop's resolution and using Nirsoft's MultiMonitorTool.exe to toggle between your real monitors and the virtual monitor when connecting and disconnecting from Sunshine.

Scenario

• Desktop Monitor: Ultra-wide monitor (5120 x 2160).
• Laptop Monitor: Windows Laptop with a resolution of 2496 x 1644 (non-standard resolution).

Solution Overview

1. Create a Virtual Monitor: Set up a virtual monitor that matches the resolution of your laptop screen.
2. Use MultiMonitorTool: Enable the virtual monitor and disable the main monitors when connecting to Sunshine. Reverse this process when disconnecting to make the desktop usable again.

Usage Example

Preparing for Sunshine

Use MultiMonitorTool.exe to identify the numbers of your displays. You will disable your real monitors and enable the virtual monitor.

Note: Use RDP or TeamViewer to test these settings, as disabling your monitors without a remote session might make it difficult to control your computer.

• Real Monitors: Let's assume the real monitors are 1, 2, 3.
• Virtual Monitor: The virtual monitor is 5.

After completing the setup instructions, open your Sunshine Panel and go to Applications > Desktop > Edit.

In the "Command Preparations" section, add the following:

Command to Connect:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\IddSampleDriver\SetMonitors.ps1" -EnableMonitorNumbers 5 -DisableMonitorNumbers 1,2,3

Command to Disconnect:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\IddSampleDriver\SetMonitors.ps1" -EnableMonitorNumbers 1,2,3 -DisableMonitorNumbers 5

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Virtual Display Installation

To create the virtual display, use the IddSampleDriver:

1. Download the Driver: Get the latest version from the IddSampleDriver repository releases page and extract the contents to a folder.

(Included the version I used in this repo as their license allows it)

2. Copy Configuration File: Copy option.txt to C:\IddSampleDriver\option.txt before installing the driver. This step is important.
3. Install the Driver Certificate: Right-click on the *.bat file and run it as an Administrator to add the driver certificate as a trusted root certificate.
4. Skip INF File Installation: Do not install the inf file directly.
5. Open Device Manager:
   • Click on any device, then go to the "Action" menu and select Add Legacy Hardware.
6. Install Legacy Hardware:
   • Select Add hardware from a list (Advanced), then choose Display adapters.
   • Click Have Disk..., then Browse... to navigate to the extracted files and select the inf file.
7. Finalize Setup:
   • You are done! Go to Display Settings to customize the resolution of the additional displays. The virtual displays should now appear in Sunshine, Oculus, or VR settings and be streamable.
8. Toggle Monitors:
   • You can enable or disable the display adapter to manage the monitors.

2. Install MultiMonitorTool

Download MultiMonitorTool.exe and extract the files to C:\IddSampleDriver.

3. Download and Save SetMonitors.ps1

1. Download SetMonitors.ps1 from this repository.
2. Save it to C:\IddSampleDriver.

This script ensures that monitor switching is handled gracefully, avoiding issues like leaving the desktop in an unusable state.