Blank screen on external monitor when running a Vizard script with Oculus DK2

[mstan]

We are experiencing a very strange issue, when we are using an Oculus DK2 to display a virtual environment in Vizard 5. A standard HP Z24i monitor is also connected to the PC.

Normally, as soon as we start our vizard script, the virtual environment is displayed in the Oculus, and in parallel, it is also shown in a window on the HP monitor. Sometimes this works fine.
But sometimes, in about 50% of the cases when we start the script, it works differently: As soon as we start the script, the monitor is automatically „turned off“ (displays just a black screen, only the oculus displays correctly).
We have no idea, what could explain why it sometimes works normally and sometimes not. This effect is absolutely not related to any settings or changes in the script or the system.

For example:
I start the script -> display works. I stop the script. I start the script again -> display gets black. I stop the script. I start the script again -> display gets black. I stop the script. I start the script again -> display works.

We do nothing else in between the steps described above - no changes in the script, settings, hardware etc., we do not even touch the Oculus… It seems just totally random whether the display works or not.

Also, in the cases when the display gets black as soon as we run the script, the script seems to have some other issues: Some functions in the script do not work normally, sometimes key presses are not „recognized“ and sometimes one has to press Escape multiple times to stop the script. We do not have an explanation for this.

More technical info:
The PC works with Windows 7 Enterprise 64bit, its a Intel Core i7-2600 CPU @3.4GHz, 8GB Ram. The Graphic Card is an AMD Radeon HD 6570 (1024 MB DDR3).

We hope that someone has an explanation and a potential solution.

[Jeff]

Does this happen when you use the oculusExample.py (File > Quick Open > type: oculusExample) included with Vizard. Are you running in direct HMD or extended mode? Which version of the oculus runtime are you using? This could be related to graphics drivers. You might try updating or rolling back the driver version to see if that helps.

[mstan]

Hey again, sorry for the delay, I couldn't test your suggestions until today.

- The same problem occurs when I run the vizard example
- I run the HMD in extended mode
- The oculus runtime is version 0.4.4 Rev1
- Just for your information: The same problem occurs also when I use a different monitor...

I haven't changed the driver yet, and I would rather want to avoid that, but if nothing else can solve the problem, then I would try it as a last attempt.

Do you have any further ideas/suggestions?

Best,
Matthias

[mstan]

I just updated both the graphic card drivers and the oculus runtime to the latest version. Still the same effect, no changes.

Can anyone help?

[willpower2727]

I may not be the best person to try and help you with this, since I use DK2 with Vizard 4, but I've noticed similar (but different) oddities in how the displays work with monitors. What I do, and you might want to give it a try, is to extend the desktop to the HMD, as if it were a monitor to Windows (do this from the Windows control panel). In this usage, I don't think it matters whether the Oculusconfigutility is set to extend or direct to HMD. Then I use a vizcore.cfg file to automatically display the vizard window on the second monitor, in this case, it's the hmd. In my script, this is how I setup the DK2:

import viz
import oculus
view = viz.addView
hmd = oculus.Rift()
hmd.getSensor()

#do not use this command!
#viz.link(hmd.getSensor(),viz.MainView)

Basically I ignore Vizard's built-in tools for setting-up/connecting the HMD. All I do is create the second view, and then display the vizard window fullscreen on the second monitor, which in this case is the HMD. So it's a little red-neck, but I avoid several display issues. And it sill looks the same.

Now, I have not tried to duplicate the vizard window on the HMD and the monitor at the same time.

I hope this helps, if not oh well. Let me know if you have any questions, or if it works or not.