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[Daigoro]

im not even sure how to describe this problem exactly. it seems to have started when i downloaded Outrun Coast 2 Coast.

my normal resolution is 1024x768. i bought Outrun and set up the options, it seemed to run fine at that resolution, for awhile...

then all of a sudden it started running at what i thought was a lower resolution (because there were black borders around the whole screen). but apparently this isnt the case, the graphics and text all apear to be running at the resolution that i want them to be, but still i have these thick black borders around the screen.

now i realize that several other games are doing this as well (Blue Shift, and Opposing Force), but not the newer Steam games like HL EP2, Portal etc. i couldnt figure out how to take a screen shot because Screen Hunter just takes a pic of the visible part of the game, not the borders.

its quite frustrating. any ideas? thanks.

 

[evlcookie]

You can try setting the resolution you want the game to run at inside the games launch properties wthin steam. Right click on the game > Properties > click on the set launch options... > put in "-width 1024 -height 768" without the " " . Then hit ok and launch the game. See what happends when you try that.

And did you upgrade videocard drivers or anything like that?

 

[Daigoro]

thanks, i just tried that but i still have the black borders. also as i mentioned they actually seem to be running at the proper resolution, but are just kind of shrunken down with borders around them. as far as i can tell...

havent done new drivers in a while, not since i downloaded Outrun anyways, which is wehn i first noticed this problem occuring.

all of the games ran fullscreen at one point. and most of my other games still run in fullscreen, just not some of these older wierd ones.

dammit.

 

[tidus9000]

By "normal resolution" do you mean the resolution you run windows at? if it's different from how you play your games then maybe your monitor has had something changed so that it doesn't auto adjust to fit the whole screen anymore.

 

[Daigoro]

yeah, both windows and games. i run everything at 1024x768.

im thinking that the games are running at that resolution because the size of text and the uh ratio of everything istn all big and blocky *like it would be if i was running the game at 800x600 or sometyhing). things looks "right", but the screen is shrunken and had borders around it.

probably sounds confusing. but like i said most of the newer Steam games im playing are filling up the whole screen and look fine in every way. these other games are running with black borders around them.

 

[Daigoro]

still looking for suggestions.

though i realize its a wierd problem probably specific to my set up here. thanks.

 

[madmook]

Sounds similar to the "screen size" options I remember from Quake 1 and other shooters of that time, where you could reduce the actual size of the rendered image in order to gain performance. Look in the options menu of the game or the keyboard config to see if there are any options/buttons pertaining to screen or image size.

 

[Daigoro]

ill double check that, thanks.

the odd thing is they all ran fine at one point and then decided to stop.

ill scour the options settings again though.

 

[M3d10n]

Is your monitor a CRT?

If it is, it's not the games running at a lower resolution. It's them running at a different refresh rate than your desktop. CRT monitors save separate geometry settings (scroll, size, rotation, etc) for each resolution+refresh combination.

You're probably using something higher than 60Hz for desktop, while the games are going into 60Hz mode. Just use your monitor's screen adjustment buttons to scale the screen so the borders disappear and it should save the settings for that refresh rate.

(I have no idea if this applies to LCDs as well).

 

[Daigoro]

Is your monitor a CRT?

If it is, it's not the games running at a lower resolution. It's them running at a different refresh rate than your desktop. CRT monitors save separate geometry settings (scroll, size, rotation, etc) for each resolution+refresh combination.

You're probably using something higher than 60Hz for desktop, while the games are going into 60Hz mode. Just use your monitor's screen adjustment buttons to scale the screen so the borders disappear and it should save the settings for that refresh rate.

interesting. i never saw this reply. i realize that its not the games running at a lower resolution (i posted as much above).

so i solved the problem for both Opposing Force and Blue Shift. in the video settings option there is an option for "Renderer". i switched it from OpenGL to Software and my problems were solved. dunno how or why these games seemed to work fine before and why i had to change this setting now, but it worked.

unfortunately Outrun 2006 had no such option menu in game and i cant switch the Renderer option anywhere. i can try changing the screen size like M3d10n posted above, but then it might change the settings for the two games i listed above. in theory. ill check.

i would have thought the Outrun 2006 would run at a higher refresh rate than those two old games, but maybe not?

what a fucking drag though.