Plugins Placed on Disconnected Display

[ltjost]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I have plugins that pop up their windows on a 2nd display even when that display is no longer connected (MixBus 9, Windows 11).  [/font]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]If I open the plugin with a 2nd display and move them to my main display they will open correctly until I restart mixbus.  [/font]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]This may be a hint to the problem: Once I move a plugin from display 2 to display 1, the window header flashes on display 2 before the whole plugin GUI appears in its new position on display 1.  Also note that I cannot use the Windows Move feature when these do not appear when 2nd display is disconnected because the window does not exist in the taskbar view display window...it seems to fail creation instead of just being in the wrong place.  This happened to my MIXER view once as well...I had to get a 2nd display to even use MixBus.[/font]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]So whenever I need to use MixBus, I now need to tote around a 2nd display because I cannot get these plugins to open on the primary display and at times even the MIXER window is stuck in a non-existent display. [/font]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Has anyone else encountered such a problem, or know of a way to get the plugins to display correctly?  [/font]

[font="Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I have tried many thing already: with and without Windows saving positions and with each quirk option in MixBus.  I have tried changing screen resolution to try to force a recalculation in MixBus and saving the info.  My PC uses an NVIDIA graphics card controlling both displays.  I have tried opening the plugin with generic controls and moving that to the main display and then opining the normal GUI, still did not work.  I have tried changing screen resolution. I have tried opening the project with the control key pressed to bypass plugins and then saved and reopened normally and still the same problem.  I have plugin windows that just will not relocate.  Other instances of the same plugins are fine. [/font]

[PBuryk]

@ltjost -

Try this:
- Completely close down Mixbus.
- Go into your Windows Settings and configure your system for only (1) monitor. Disconnect any additional monitors from your computer.
- Reboot your computer. Verify that it thinks it only has (1) monitor
- Startup Mixbus. All Mixbus related windows, and plugins should display on your single monitor.
- Save and close down Mixbus.
- Reconnect any additional monitors to Windows verify that you can drag a Windows related process to them.
- Startup Mixbus. Be sure your mouse is in the display area of your main monitor.
All Mixbus and plugin related windows should still only display on your original single monitor even though you also have an additional monitor.
There is nothing in Mixbus that I know of that will cause it to take advantage of any other monitor you have available.
However, if your startup Mixbus, when your mouse in in another monitor's display area, Mixbus WILL try to start up in that monitor.

Cheers!
Patrick

[ltjost]

Thank you for the suggestion. That did not, however, work. Some plugin windows still pop up on the non-attached display (or at least try to and fail). I even removed all other displays from my device manager, including hidden devices. Mixbus itself starts in the right display, it is just some plugin windows...many of them actually. They will only open when a 2nd display is connected. It seems mixbus is holding on to some display geometry to try to open things where it thinks they last were opened...even if that place is invalid....and does not reset that position appropriately...or is just miscalculating screen geometry.

[johne53]

does not reset that position appropriately...or is just miscalculating screen geometry.

My guess would be that when you did have 2 x monitors connected, maybe your primary one was set as the RH monitor rather than the LH?

I don't have a solution (and I only have Windows 10 available here...) but if I right-click on my Windows taskbar, it shows various options like Show windows stacked and Cascade windows. It's a long shot but maybe one of those would be a quick way to make everything visible again?

[PBuryk]

It still seems like a Windows issue... I had a work (non-Mixbus) related application do the same thing to me a couple years ago; drove me nutz!
I finally got rid of it by performing a similar procedure to what I suggested, above.
Some more suggestions:
- Are the misbehaving plugins all one creator type? Waves, for example?
If so, then maybe there is a config file for that creator type sitting in your Appdata area that you can either edit or delete/reinstall.
- Does your computer have a third-party display manager app? Some computer integrators (eg, HP or IBM) include additional "helper apps".
If so, does it have a concept that your entire display area is beyond the boundaries of your single monitor?
If so, re-size that area down to the resolution area of your single monitor.

Cheers!
Patrick

[johne53]

In an emergency, Mixbus offers an option called Safe Mode whereby a session can be opened with its plugins disabled. Maybe there should be something similar, whereby opening a session will reposition plugins such that they're guaranteed to be visible when opened? 

or alternatively...

Right-clicking on a plugin's tab (on the channel or group) brings up a popup menu with options for plugin connections / deleting the plugin etc. Maybe that menu could have a new option to re-position the plugin to the centre of the main monitor screen?