Widescreen Monitor Letterboxing
Q: I bought a Viewsonic reccently 2255wmb. I was wondering if there is a way to get black bars on the sides rather than stretching the image when playing older games that do not support widescreen. I do not have an Options in the entertainment field through the settings on the monitor. Are there settings on my video card drivers for this? Otherwise there are 22 “monitors that will allow me to doing this.
One more question, should I install drivers for the monitor is a wastage of time?
Thanks.
Best Answer: WIDESCREEN is the best for gaming in my view. But others will differ,matter of taste really. As for resolution….. if you have a good Vid card native res should be ok….or a newer computer. But you might have to experiment with resolutions to find what works for each game. It's all on user taste and computer power.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
OK, I tried to use the "Use NVIDIA scaling with fixed aspect ratio" option as that seems to be what I'm looking for. Unfortunatly it gave me a completly scrambled image on screen. Any adivice?
In the NVIDIA control panel try "Do not scale" instead. This should give you the game's image at its native resolution in the center of the screen surrounded by black space. Your monitor supports 1680×1050, so try running the game at 1280×1024.
Re:I followed Aequitas instructions from another thread
"Hmmm, spent enough time digging to find a solution that works well enough.
Got to the nvidia control panel (the new one, although I'm sure you can do it in classic view as well, it's easier to go through the directions with the new view).
Select "Advanced View", then select the "Display" button.
Go to "Manage Custom Timings", select your monitor (if applicable)
Select "Create…"
In the popup box, make sure the res and refresh rate match up with your monitor's native resolution, then select the "Advanced >>" button
Under "Back-end parameters", select "GTF", and make sure the desired refresh rate is that of your monitor's refresh rate (mine was 60)
Hit "Test"
Follow up by going to Display > Change flat panel scaling > [Select whichever you prefer...I prefer fixed aspect]
This should work, works for me anyways, however I notice that while it works, the settings don't seem to stick if you go back to the control panel, and I haven't tested it upon restart either. "
However, when I play older games they are still being stretched. I don't understand.
Re:OK, I tried to use the "Use NVIDIA scaling with fixed aspect ratio" option as that seems to be what I'm looking for. Unfortunatly it gave me a completly scrambled image on screen. Any adivice?
Re:using bars on the sides is not letterboxing, it is pillarboxing.
Re:Can't speak to Nvidia drivers, but ATI Catalyst Control Center has an "attributes" option that lets you select "centered timings" (i.e. letterboxing).
Re:Drizzle in the Nvidia options turn off or untick "treat as HDTV" then you should have an option for "flat panel Scaling" set it to let "Nvidia control scaling" or somthing like that.
Re:I'm running XP sp2 with a 6600gt. I'll check the driver version when I get home.
Re:If you have the drivers, install them…I don't think they're critical, but why not? Also, what GPU and OS do you have, as flat panel scaling is still broken in Vista for some NVidia cards, so if your monitor (like mine) doesn't have the capability to do it natively, then you're out of luck until (re: if) Nvida fixes it. If you're on XP, I detailed the work around in one of my previous posts…I believe it's a problem with refresh rates, although others (re: most) here are more knowledgeable than me.