Dell Laptop with smaller screen during gameplay. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Albinho · 11-03-2004, 05:55 PM

A friend of mine has a Dell laptop that he uses for everything, including gaming. He likes to play but is really annoyed by the screensize when he is playing games. For some reason it shows the game centered on the screen with a black background around it. It isn't run in a window which I originally thought.

Has anybody else had this problem, and more importantly does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks in advanced.

JustDisGuy · 11-03-2004, 09:03 PM

I really don't play computer games much, but it sounds like your friend needs to adjust his screen resolution. I don't know for certain whether it needs to be changed in-game or in the O/S so that falls to a matter of testing.

It very probably is related to the 'native resolution' of the LCD panel on your friend's laptop. I'd start by setting the screen resolution to whatever that specification is.

Good luck.

spindles · 11-03-2004, 09:48 PM

This is actually a normal thing where the screen is native (for example) 800x600 and he is running the game at 640x480. Notebooks generally do not stretch the picture to fit the monitor by default. There is most probably a bios setting to get it to stretch - though in my experience the end result is pretty crappy. If possible, set the game to use the native resolution of the screen as justdisguy said...

Rawb · 11-03-2004, 11:22 PM

Typically stretching will happen on 2-d modes, but on a lot of 3d mobile chipsets they only have enough power to stretch 2d, or render 3d, but not stretch 3d while rendering it.

That's why you can probably use different resolutions for your OS without problems, but when you do 3d gaming, you get a smaller image on the screen.

To fix it, you need to run the game at the same resolution as the native machine. (or, learn to live with the black border, espically if the game can't run at the native resolution.)

bendsley · 11-04-2004, 06:17 AM

Not enough power? My Dell D800 does the same thing and I have a 128mb Nvidia card in there. Come on guys. Also, the BIOS isn't going to have anything to do with the screen not stretching. It's a software problem somewhere I'm sure, as my laptop does the same thing when loading games now.

It hasn't always happened as I used to be able to play FarCry just fine.

Albinho: Does the laptop have SP2 installed? Mine does, and this may be the problem.

We had an issue with Dual-monitors on a Dell desktop system the other day. Dual vga-out AGP card, onboard and pci, onboard and diff. pci, nothing worked. Desktop would give Explorer errors. Re-imaged the machine, didn't work. Tried it on a different model, same thing. Loaded XP from scratch and put SP1 on there, worked like a champ. That is leaving me to believe the issue is SP2 related.

Albinho · 11-04-2004, 02:07 PM

It doesn't have SP2 on it yet, and there are a few games that do run full screen, but he plays some very old games that are still shrunk down. Such as Lord of the Realms 2, which doesn't even require a 3D accelerator. I'm not sure what video card he has, but I will try some of the suggestions to see if any of those fix it.

spindles · 11-04-2004, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bendsley

Not enough power? My Dell D800 does the same thing and I have a 128mb Nvidia card in there. Come on guys. Also, the BIOS isn't going to have anything to do with the screen not stretching. It's a software problem somewhere I'm sure, as my laptop does the same thing when loading games now.

It can be a bios thing. A quick google search turned up many pages that discuss using the bios to stretch a laptop's screen when the res chosen is lower than the res of the screen. For example:
http://www.examnotes.net/article1043224.html

punx1325 · 11-04-2004, 03:17 PM

If all else fails call Dell, you pay for customer service for a reason, why not use it?

11-03-2004, 05:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
Albinho Upright	Dell Laptop with smaller screen during gameplay. A friend of mine has a Dell laptop that he uses for everything, including gaming. He likes to play but is really annoyed by the screensize when he is playing games. For some reason it shows the game centered on the screen with a black background around it. It isn't run in a window which I originally thought. Has anybody else had this problem, and more importantly does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? Thanks in advanced.

11-03-2004, 09:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
JustDisGuy Insane Location: Saskatchewan	I really don't play computer games much, but it sounds like your friend needs to adjust his screen resolution. I don't know for certain whether it needs to be changed in-game or in the O/S so that falls to a matter of testing. It very probably is related to the 'native resolution' of the LCD panel on your friend's laptop. I'd start by setting the screen resolution to whatever that specification is. Good luck. __________________ "Act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions make any difference."

11-03-2004, 09:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
spindles Mine is an evil laugh Location: Sydney, Australia	This is actually a normal thing where the screen is native (for example) 800x600 and he is running the game at 640x480. Notebooks generally do not stretch the picture to fit the monitor by default. There is most probably a bios setting to get it to stretch - though in my experience the end result is pretty crappy. If possible, set the game to use the native resolution of the screen as justdisguy said... __________________ who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

11-04-2004, 06:17 AM	#5 (permalink)
bendsley Professional Loafer Location: texas	Not enough power? My Dell D800 does the same thing and I have a 128mb Nvidia card in there. Come on guys. Also, the BIOS isn't going to have anything to do with the screen not stretching. It's a software problem somewhere I'm sure, as my laptop does the same thing when loading games now. It hasn't always happened as I used to be able to play FarCry just fine. Albinho: Does the laptop have SP2 installed? Mine does, and this may be the problem. We had an issue with Dual-monitors on a Dell desktop system the other day. Dual vga-out AGP card, onboard and pci, onboard and diff. pci, nothing worked. Desktop would give Explorer errors. Re-imaged the machine, didn't work. Tried it on a different model, same thing. Loaded XP from scratch and put SP1 on there, worked like a champ. That is leaving me to believe the issue is SP2 related. __________________ "You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

11-04-2004, 03:17 PM	#8 (permalink)
punx1325 Junkie Location: San Diego	If all else fails call Dell, you pay for customer service for a reason, why not use it? __________________ If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is....

11-03-2004, 11:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
Rawb Crazy Location: Salt Town, UT	Typically stretching will happen on 2-d modes, but on a lot of 3d mobile chipsets they only have enough power to stretch 2d, or render 3d, but not stretch 3d while rendering it. That's why you can probably use different resolutions for your OS without problems, but when you do 3d gaming, you get a smaller image on the screen. To fix it, you need to run the game at the same resolution as the native machine. (or, learn to live with the black border, espically if the game can't run at the native resolution.)

11-04-2004, 02:07 PM	#6 (permalink)
Albinho Upright	It doesn't have SP2 on it yet, and there are a few games that do run full screen, but he plays some very old games that are still shrunk down. Such as Lord of the Realms 2, which doesn't even require a 3D accelerator. I'm not sure what video card he has, but I will try some of the suggestions to see if any of those fix it.