Virtual Display Driver 24.10.16: The Beta Update I Was Excited to Share

This was one of those updates I was really excited to talk about. In October 2024, Virtual Display Driver had a group of changes coming together that we had wanted for a long time.

This article follows that 24.10.16 beta announcement. It is a historical release discussion, not installation instructions for the current driver.

Cursor behavior and display identity

I start with the hardware-cursor toggle, including the duplicate-cursor problem that could show up with Parsec. Being able to enable or disable that behavior gave people another setting to try for their particular setup.

I also discuss bit-depth options and custom EDID support. The distinction I make about EDID is important: I describe using display identity and related device information, rather than importing a resolution list from the file.

Fractional refresh rates in the XML

I give paperman5 credit for an earlier working approach to fractional refresh rates, then explain the move toward entering floating-point refresh-rate values directly in the XML.

The announcement also covers naming and path changes away from the sample-driver identity. Those details belong to this release transition; paths and controls may differ in later versions.

ARM64 and a big thank-you

I report that ARM64 support had been added and tested by a contributor. That is what I am announcing in the video, not a fresh ARM device test performed for this article.

The original description thanks Bud and Jocke for the pull requests, and I spend much of the recording recognizing the work that made the update possible. The exact beta release link from that description is below if you want the historical release context.