How To: Game With Black Bars (non-widescreen)?

richstant · Post by **richstant** » 29 Oct 2003, 15:29

Hi,

When I got my laptop (ATI 9600) I thought I could game in normal aspect with black bars down the edges, however I've seen no option to do this. Anyone know where I could find it?

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 29 Oct 2003, 18:52

What laptop do you have? The ATi drivers provided with mine have that option, but it isn't half buried:

1) Right click desktop, select 'properties'.

2) Click 'settings', then 'advanced'.

3) Click tab 'display' then 'panel'

4) Untick the 'scale image to panel size' checkbox.

Click OK to get out of each menu.

Hope this helps. :)

richstant · Post by **richstant** » 30 Oct 2003, 15:48

Thanks for the reply - it's a Rock laptop - I'll try it later & let you know if the option's there :)

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 06 Nov 2003, 03:34

hi,
im havning the exact same problem....
but when i uncheck that scale image to panel size....everything is a little messed up...
what happens is that the screen becomes smaller for each game based on its resolution...it doesnt stretch..but it becomes really small and that isnt cool
anyone know how to solve this problem so that it does scale the image but without losing the aspect ratio??
thanks

Post by **skipclarke** » 06 Nov 2003, 06:44

What model of machine do you have, what video card is in it?

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 06 Nov 2003, 16:59

its an alienware area 51 m....the graphics card is a ati 9600 pro w/ 128 Mb ram....
the problem is associated with this particular graphics card....before this i had a geforce fx 5600go and that card had the option of scaling the image to full screen without losing the aspect ratio
anyone know how to do something similar on the ati's??
thanks
Kushal

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 06 Nov 2003, 19:27

Um... if the method shown above doesn't work, it might be an idea to try the Omega drivers...

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 07 Nov 2003, 06:40

lol
tried that...doesnt work
does anyone else here have any other suggestions?? im desparate here!!
thanks :lol:

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 07 Nov 2003, 17:44

What drivers are you using? Exactly, please. It's under Display->Settings->Options :wink:

Version Information

Catalyst Version: Omega 3.6
2D Version: 6.14.10.6374
Packaging Version: 7.92-030708a-009815E, ATI

Because the stretch setting should be exactly where we said it is.

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 07 Nov 2003, 18:06

hi
thanks for the reply
i dont think i explained correctly...the setting that u described is there as it should be....just that if i turn it off...games that play at 1024 x 678 are display by 1024 by 768 pixels (or whatever)....this means that since my screen maxs out at 1680 x 1050, the game becomes visible in only a tiny window...and thats not cool
also, if i enable the setting, the game stretches / scales to widescreen and thus makes the game look crappy...
what i wanted ot know is that is there a way to scale the display while still preserving the aspect ratio??
thanks

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 07 Nov 2003, 18:23

Ah... you meant the resolution issue. In games? Some support 1680x1050 automatically, so all you have to do is select it, others, (like the Quake 3 Arena engine games), require hacking to get them to work.

Check out the threads here:

Out of the Box

Hacks/Mods

For information (as we find it) about which games work. When they require specific things done, we try to tell you in an easy, friendly, no-computing-PhD required way. :wink:

As is happens, I've just discovered how to get Warcraft 3 working in 1680x1050. Go me! :lol:

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 08 Nov 2003, 13:15

na....i think im not ery good at getting the problem across
i wanna be able to LOCK the aspect ratio on the screen so i dont have to get a stretch display when i play games. I actually WANT the black vertical bars to show up as without them the games look crappy and distorted...
is there any way to lock the aspect ratio of any given resolution?
i know its possible on geforce cards....
thanks
Kushal

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 08 Nov 2003, 14:46

OK. I apologize for being dense. :oops: So you want to maintain 4:3 aspect but still have it stretched to fit at the top? You could do it via some fancy footwork in the driver .inf, I would imagine. If this still isn't what your after, does nVidia explain anywhere what it does?

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 08 Nov 2003, 19:29

yeah..thats what i want to do...
is there anyway i can accomplish this with driver editing or summin??
please lemme know what i could do or if there is anyone i might be able to ask how to go about this...
honestly i just need something like this for my 1024x768 resolution
so i want it to have a 4:3 aspect ratio and at teh same time scale itself so its as big as my screen!
lemme know if u have any information as to how i could do this
thanks
Kushal

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 08 Nov 2003, 23:28

I'll look into it. :)

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 09 Nov 2003, 01:15

thanks man!! the card im using is radeon mobility 9600
thanks again!

Post by **skipclarke** » 09 Nov 2003, 03:54

Just to clarify, what I think you're wanting to do is:

1) play a game in 1024x768, and have it run in native resolution and give you black bars on the sides

and possibly

2)play a game at 800x600 (say Diablo II) and have it stretch to 1024x768, leaving the aspect ratio and black bars, but filing the vertical height of the screen.

Is this right?

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 09 Nov 2003, 07:08

kinda
expect for me when i play at 1024 x 768...the screens max resolution is 1680 x 1050 so it becomes very small....actually i will and do get black bars on both sides when i play a game at 1400 x 1050....
so i want games that run at 1024 x 768 and other resolutions (800x 600 also) to take up the same screen size as games that i play in 1400 x 1050.
ie.....the aspect ratio is preserved but the picture is scaled to the max size possible
thanks again guys!!

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 10 Nov 2003, 21:38

Update:

Still hunting, no success. nVidia and ATi are being about as helpful as...... a very unhelpful thing.

kushalc · Post by **kushalc** » 12 Nov 2003, 03:15

i know
i already tried to talk to them....

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