Virtual Displays not working

[mfn]

Hello,

looking for some assistance here as I'm trying out Apollo after using Sunshine/Moonlight.

For me the appeal is the virtual display as I've 3 host monitors and even the primary one (1920x1200) does not match the clients resolution (4k TV). I don't need 4k in fact, 1920x1080 but by default the display is centered and has black bars left/right.

After setting up Apollo, everything how I used to use sunshine worked.

At this point I had not yet enabled virtual displays, which I tried next on the client level to basically always force it.

It "kinda" works: I get a 1920x1080x60 (auto-detected) connection, but I only see my background wallpaper and the mouse pointer, nothing else. No windows menu nor any application when I try to start one. Right click I can e.g. open "Display settings", but they don't appear: all of them are always starting on the primary screen.

I also tried the headless mode (though I don't fully understand what I would really use it for), without luck.

I read through the FAQ and other Wikis but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong (also no clue as of yet why Playnite doesn't want to start properly, I used the same settings which sunshine).

thank you!

Edit: removed the part about playnite not working, was entire a PEBCAK

[ClassicOldSong]

Have you tried following this guide?

https://youtu.be/H0jmqVIhwIA