Games without widescreen resolutions... what can I do?

MarkMHD · Post by **MarkMHD** » 10 Mar 2007, 02:48

Hello. My level of knowledge is limited regarding monitors, so please be patient with me. I recently purchased an Acer 19" widescreen LCD monitor (Model: AL1916W to be exact). It works wonderfully with games like Call Of Duty 2 that have support for widescreen pixel resolutions, but with games like Battlefield 2, the image is all stretched. I can adjust the resolution to 1440 by 900 pixels in Call Of Duty 2, but in Battlefield 2 I am stuck with fullscreen resolutions like 1280 by 1024 pixels. :cry: When I watched WIDESCREEN DVDs on my old FULLSCREEN monitor, it would create a black strip on the bottom and on the top of the video, instead of stretching it. Is it possible to do this with my new widescreen monitor for fullscreen games, so that it will not stretch everything? I already tried messing with the settings in my monitor menu (using the buttons on the monitor itself). Thanks in advance for your responses.

Dem Pyros · Post by **Dem Pyros** » 10 Mar 2007, 04:59

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Master_Games_List_-_A

Read up for each game, otherwise look at pillarboxing in powerstrip.

Sweetz · Post by **Sweetz** » 10 Mar 2007, 05:26

No unfortunately many (if not most) dedicated PC monitors to not allow you to set the aspect ratio.

However, I know that nVidia video cards supposedly have a utility where it will allow you to choose a resolution under your screen's native resolution and display it a 1:1 pixel ratio on an LCD adding black borders as appropriate. E.g. if you set your res to 1024x768 it would add 208 black pixels on either side and 66 on the top and bottom so that it's still outputing 1440x900 to your monitor, but the actual image is in a 1024x768 "window" in the middle. Unfortunately, this means you'd be looking a smaller image area.

Some ATI cards are supposed to have this functionality as well, but I don't think it's ever worked correctly, and I heard that the nVidia implementation isn't that hot either. Though I must mention I've never used this personally so don't quote me on any of that.

This is the one reason I'm very happy I went with an HDTV as my widescreen display. Pretty much all HDTVs will allow you to set the aspect ratio so if you're running a 4:3 resolution the TV will scale it to fill the display without stretching it (so you just get black bars on either side). Also while the typical LCD HDTV resolution of 1360x768 might not give you the most room or sharpness in work apps, it's fine for gaming and it's also a perfect for running 1024x768 at 1:1. Sorry, I know that doesn't help much.

MarkMHD · Post by **MarkMHD** » 10 Mar 2007, 06:41

So basically the best action for me to take right now is this?:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/5724

Thanks for the responses.

MarkMHD · Post by **MarkMHD** » 11 Mar 2007, 06:51

Ignore this post :oops:

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