Is it possible to make 4:3 game NOT stretch to fit on 16:10 LCD?

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PHOBOS-82

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 21, 2003
Messages
157
Hi all.

I recently built a new PC with a 22" Wide LCD.
The Samsung 226BW connected to a 8800GTS 320MB.

Some of my older games and even some not so old games only have 4:3 resolutions.
So when I play on my 16:10 LCD they look stretched. And for some games it looks terrible.

My LCD's res is 1680x1050. The games end up running in 1024x768 or 1280x960.

Is there any way that I can make it so the games don't stretch? What i need is them to scale up to fit but not stretch leaving black bars down the sides.

I'm sure I'm not the 1st person who's asked this but i can find any info.

PHOBOS

P.S: 1280x1024 (5:4) is the worst.
 
It's easy to do with an Nvidia card. Simply open the control panel and find the Change flat panel scaling section and chose the option you want.
 
I found an option for flat pannel scalling.
Thanks.

There are 4 options.
Can't remeber what they all called but I'll describe it.

1) The default LCD mode. Stretch to fit.
2) nVidia's stretch to fit.
3) no resizing at all so 640x480 would be this small square.
4) scalled to fit with no stretching (keeps the programs defaulf aspect ratio)

Number 4 is the option i want.

BUT it doesnt work.
I select it and click apply but all it does is go back to what it had before.
The only ones that work are the 2 that stretch (number 1 and 2).
I have the latest 162.18 drivers on a freshly installed PC.

Any ideas?
 
Those are the latest off nVidias website that I got.
I'll wait till they put new ones.
Hopefully soon.

I hope they update often.
 
it doesn't matter if the monitor has specific support for this or not, its all controlled by the video card in this case as long as the monitor is on DVI cable.
 
H-street said:
does your monitor have the option?

seems most good monitors will have the option for fixed/stretched/normal scaling..

if not it seems there is something broken with the scaling in Nvidia's drivers (or at least your not the only one)

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=40200&pid=225168&mode=threaded&show=&st=&
Click to expand...



He is not the only one, in fact, on my pc, the NO SCALING option DOESNT work on XP and IT DOES WORK on VISTA using latest v163.67 BETA drivers. Its a problem that nvidia has in xp for a lot time (the last time it worked was with 91.xx drivers I think...)
 
After forceware 97.44, nvidia correct aspect scaling does NOT work.

Nvidia claims it was fixes in 158.22, coupled with their eneable overscan utility, but for most people it still doesn't work. And Nvidia claims it is already fixed...

Good luck.

I have almost have up on it.

What I do is play at the highest available resolution (my native is 1920x1200( and then from my monitor's OSD I pick 1:1.
 
it does not work for me in xp but work in vista BUT I WANT TO USE XP
 
SuperKeijo said:
XP is old. Vista is the future. Just use Vista.
Click to expand...

get back to grazing you goddamn sheep!

to many of us (including myself) vista has nothing to offer over xp that we care about. pretty graphics don't cut it for me. neither does increased memory usage. i like speed, simplicity and stability. vista doesn't have any advantage over xp in those areas.
 
THRESHIN said:
get back to grazing you goddamn sheep!

to many of us (including myself) vista has nothing to offer over xp that we care about. pretty graphics don't cut it for me. neither does increased memory usage. i like speed, simplicity and stability. vista doesn't have any advantage over xp in those areas.
Click to expand...

Win98 SE for life yo!

But:

SuperKeijo said:
XP is old. Vista is the future. Just use Vista.
Click to expand...

Is a little silly too...
 
Thank you guys for posting here.

I thought my new PC was "broken"

So nVidia is too blame.

I'm not ready to got to Vista yet.
I'm thinking of getting a trial version to see how it goes but for the moment i hope nVidia fixes this problem in XP drivers.

Thanks for link to nVidia forums. I can follow the coments there as well.

I will need to try that widescreengamingforum at a friends house as it's blocked here at work, and i don't have internet at home.

Thanks again guys.
 
SuperKeijo said:
XP is old. Vista is the future. Just use Vista.
Click to expand...

Steam survey stats as of 9/11/07:

Windows version:

Windows XP 986,985 90.33 %
Windows Vista 87,269 7.99 %
Windows 2000 9,342 0.85 %
Windows 2003 64 bit 8,074 0.74 %

Guess a lot of us are living in the past!! :rolleyes:
 
I'm using vista and the latest beta 163.62 or something like that and fixed aspect is still BROKEN...
 
Slade said:
I'm using vista and the latest beta 163.62 or something like that and fixed aspect is still BROKEN...
Click to expand...

Very interesting. While my XP is broken since January or something, my Vista fixed aspect scaling works fine.
I wonder what is causing some installations to work and others not.
 
lopoetve said:
So trade one problem for 10?
Click to expand...

Personally, I haven't had any problems with Vista other than Creative's drivers not supporting DVD-A playback and my school's VPN software not running on Vista so I can't map a network drive from off-campus. What kind of problems were you referring to?
 
PHOBOS-82 said:
I found an option for flat pannel scalling.
1) The default LCD mode. Stretch to fit.
2) nVidia's stretch to fit.
3) no resizing at all so 640x480 would be this small square.
4) scalled to fit with no stretching (keeps the programs defaulf aspect ratio)

Number 4 is the option i want.

BUT it doesnt work.
I have the latest 162.18 drivers on a freshly installed PC.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I just upgraded to 162.18 drivers, and it works exactly like it should. I experimented with each mode. I have no idea why it doesn't work for some people.

Nvidia Control Panel->Display->Change Flat Panel Scaling.

I set it to following (then launch game after I change it):

#1: Use Nvidia Scaling.
Scaled and Stretched.
(display reports receiving 1280x1024)

#2: Use Nvidia Scaling with fixed aspect.
Full screen but proper aspect.
(display reports receiving 1280x1024)

#3: Use my displays built in scaling.
Scaled and Stretched. (what the internal scaler does)
(display reports receiving 640x480 to 1024x768 shows card not altering signal)

#4: Do not scale
Smaller centered on screen with black all around.
(display reports receiving 1280x1024)

EDIT: I am running Windows XP SP2
 
arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

WTF I've experimented with drivers from 154->163xaeqweqwe and it doesn't work in Vista Ultimate 64 with a 8800GTX.

Now if you can get it to stick with that combo, would you be kind to tell me which drivers and what not as I've had this issue since a fresh install...
 
-=Antimatter=- said:
Personally, I haven't had any problems with Vista other than Creative's drivers not supporting DVD-A playback and my school's VPN software not running on Vista so I can't map a network drive from off-campus. What kind of problems were you referring to?
Click to expand...

I'll just refer yuo to the list of ones people report in general. VPN issues, cygwin issues, memory footprint, etc. UAC is a PITA, backwards compatibility, etc. Vista may be the way after SP1, but for now, I'll pass.
 
Hi All

I got a work-around-of-sorts.
I power up my PC with the LCD off.
Once I'm sure it's at the logon screen i switch on the LCD.
Then logon.
Then i go to nVidia's setting window and all the options work.

The one i use is "#2: Use Nvidia Scaling with fixed aspect.
Full screen but proper aspect. "

What a stupid work around.
I got a feeling this problem is more with the 8800 series from what I read on that nVidia forum that someone mentioned earlier.

BUT once i do get it working i can play any videos.
So I change it back to "#3: Use my displays built in scaling.
Scaled and Stretched. (what the internal scaler does)" and the videos play fine again.

BUT then i cant switch it back to "#2: Use Nvidia Scaling with fixed aspect.
Full screen but proper aspect. ".
Only a restart with the LCD off will work.

They (nVidia) need to fix this.
 
I had a similar problem. I have the 8800gts(640mb) hooked to a Westy 37". Every time I boot up 1inch of the left side of the screen is missing, and I get an extra 1inch of black bar in the right side of the screen. I fix it by moving my mouse all the way to the left, so that the mouse disappears, leave it there, switch input from DVI to VIDEO and back to DVI, and when the screen comes back BANG! Is fixed.
So yeah, pretty creepy. I only started having this issue with the 8800. everything was perfect with my 6800gs before.
 
PHOBOS-82 said:
Hi All

BUT once i do get it working i can play any videos.
So I change it back to "#3: Use my displays built in scaling.
Scaled and Stretched. (what the internal scaler does)" and the videos play fine again.
.
Click to expand...


I don't see why videos have an issue. Are you setting your normal desktop resolution to something other than the native resolution of the Panel?
 
Snowdog said:
I don't see why videos have an issue. Are you setting your normal desktop resolution to something other than the native resolution of the Panel?
Click to expand...

My Samsung 226BW (22" Wide LCD) is at its native res. 1680x1050.
Its such a stupid problem.

All i get is black when i play a video. Video is playing. There's sound and the time is going in the video. Just no picture.

Set the drivers back to "#3: Use my displays built in scaling.
Scaled and Stretched. (what the internal scaler does)" and all if fine.

Stuppid drivers. 162.18 btw.

BlueMak said:
I have tried the above, but it still doesn't work for me.
Click to expand...
I been reading that it works for some and doesn't for others.
But I feel your pain when 4:3 games are stretched. My friends just don't get it.
They keep playing the games stretched on their PC's
But it really puts me off.

Will update if anything changes.
 
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