Gaming World Forums
General Category => Technology and Programming => Topic started by: Bondo on January 01, 2008, 01:12:42 pm
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I have a very nice Samsung 932bw widescreen monitor. This mutha has an optimum response time of 2ms, and a contrast ratio of 3000:1. It's native resolution is 1440x900, which is awesome for all things widescreen. I have it plugged into a GeForce 8600GTS via DVI, so it looks fantastic.
My problem lies in displaying resolutions that are not widescreen. (RM2K3, and really old games, for example.) The monitor just stretches everything to fit, so RPG Maker games appear stretched in fullscreen mode.
I want the monitor to display 4:3 scaled resolutions in pillarboxes (Black bars on the left and right.) There appear to be no scaling options on the monitor itself (Autoadjust and image moving simply says "not available.")
Nvidia control panel has options for flat panel scaling. It's set to "use my display's built-in scaling", which looks fine, but won't adjust for aspect ratio, as mentioned above. "Use NVidia scaling" makes everything look blurry. "Use Nvidia scaling with fixed aspect ratio" makes everything blurry, and adds letterboxes, even though it's widescreen. "Do not scale" letterboxes the image, and makes it extend past the edges of the screen, so the mouse scrolls it around.
Basically, none of those work. Anybody run into a similar problem with their LCD displays?
Edit:
UPDATE
I updated my video card drivers. Now, All the scale settings do the same thing, with the exception of "Do not scale", which makes RPG maker games very small in fullscreen, and stretched to widescreen still. Even "fixed aspect ratio" stretches 4:3 resolutions to full widescreen.
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What operating system are you using? This is one thing that annoys the hell out of me too and I have been blaming it on Windows Vista so far. Apparently older drivers allow the pillarboxing but I have not yet had any success.
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You can configure this from the nvidia control panel. its called LCD scaling I believe.
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I thought the native aspect ratio option or whatever is in the monitor. On my monitor, I just changed the settings.
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I thought the native aspect ratio option or whatever is in the monitor. On my monitor, I just changed the settings.
It can actually be on both, some monitors don't have an option to change it in their control panel though.
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I remember reading that Nvidia cards have some problems with pillar boxing. I couldn't get it work with my GF 7600 GT but it works flawlessly with my new Radeon X1950 GT. Also, I think pillarboxing doesn't work with VGA connection, so make sure you are using DVI connection.
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I'm running Windows XP Home with the Beta SP3.
Playing with the scaling options in Nvidia control panel does pretty much nothing. On the previous driver, it made things look blurry and stretched.
I am using the DVI connection.
The monitor has no options for scaling adjustment.
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'Fixed aspect ratio' is definitely the setting that is supposed to do exactly what you are wanting here (At least, it's always done a fine job for me), but I have no idea why it's not working for you...
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I can't find it in my control panel though! I have seen screenshots of the checkbox etc but I don't get it on mine.
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It's odd, I know.
Here's a screen of the setting:
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/23029/scalingnvidia.jpg)
What it describes is exactly what I want, and it looks fine at 1440x900 (It didn't with previous drivers. It was blurry, ugly, and letterboxed.) Lower 4:3 resolutions are still stretched though.
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Are you trying 4:3 ratio resolution for those games? (640x480,800x600,1024x768)
Or 1440x900/other widescreen resolution?
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I want anything that runs in 4:3 ratio resolutions (320x240, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768) to run pillarboxed. 1440x900 or other widescreen resolutions I want to fill the screen, as they currently do.
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Try a program like powerstrip that will allow you to customize each resolution.
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My PC detects my LCD flat panel as a CRT monitor. Which is kinda worrying considering...
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Try going to your manufacturer's site to see if they have drivers for that particular model.
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Hey there, I just want to ask similar questions about scaling and stuff. I just changed my laptop last year and it has vista as the OS (which I also blames for the problems).
First of, I experienced a similar problem in fullscreen mode, which makes the game stretched, and I have tried NVidia setting (the two pillars at the left and right side looks weird). I want it be surrounded by black bars instead of just stretching it to the max. Is there a way around it ?
Secondly, I have an issue with the display, especially in RPGmaker. My monitor is widescreen and I use 1680x1050 resolution (any lower, the words look stretched). The major problem is that when using RPGmaker, the boxes and fonts looks really small to me. Furthermore, the database "tab" (which appears small as well) can't be maximized to fit the screen. This cause strains to my eyes while editing stuff (especially animations). I tried using lower resolution and all, but as mentioned above, it made it looks stretched and blurry. Is there a way around it ?
Sorry if this question is actually a different topic altogether.
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If you can access "Nvidia Scaling" in the same set of options there's one for no scaling at all.
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Try going to your manufacturer's site to see if they have drivers for that particular model.
I have it installed and it still thinks it's a CRT :sad: My monitor is a Hanns.G HW191D
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Are you using a DVI cable? It won't let you access LCD options until you use a DVI cable
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I have it installed and it still thinks it's a CRT :sad: My monitor is a Hanns.G HW191D
Did you update the driver in device manager?
Bondo: Everything will be blurry, you cannot fix this except for turning scaling off (and you'll have to turn off virtual desktop so it won't scroll the screen like that). LCD's have a set number of pixels, and anything below that will be less sharp and more interpolated the further you go down.
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If you can access "Nvidia Scaling" in the same set of options there's one for no scaling at all.
Sorry for the late reply.
I tried that but it becomes very small in full screen mode. I guess there is no way around it. As for editing the RM database (which is more important), it's still pretty small. I guess there is no way around it.
Thanks anyway for the help !
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Are you using a DVI cable? It won't let you access LCD options until you use a DVI cable
Strangely enough my DVI screen only came with a cable for the VGA input. :sad:
That solves that one though :D
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If you have DVI port on the monitor, (Most larger ones do, I have 15 inch that doesn't for some reason) I'd like to suggest to you http://www.monoprice.com if you live in the united states. You can get a DVI cable for about $8, which beats the living snot out of what you'll get charged at circuit city or best buy
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One possible solution to this problem which has worked for many NVidia users including myself, is to set fixed-aspect scaling on (don't worry if it resets to another setting), then turn your computer off. when you start it back up, keep your monitor turned off until Windows is fully booted. If you don't go back into the NVidia control panel fixed-aspect should be turned on for real, although this seems to work for only a few resolution changes until it arbitrarily turns itself back off. Hope this helps.