[SOLVED] New PC/New Screen, games look pixely in fullscreen

[Ulti]

Im guessing this is most likely to the fact that im using a 1920 x 1080 monitor now and theres something going on with window stretching or whatever.  Playing games in Windowed mode looks just fine though.
 Before i used a 1600 x 900 monitor and the graphics looked great and crisp, but now it looks deformed and lower quality. Ofc the easiest fix for this would be to use the other monitor, but is there anything i can do so that the games look good on this one?

[Romantique Tp]

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your GPU (graphics card) installed. If this is a bigger monitor, it's to be expected the older games will look pixelated since they run at a low resolution. You may be able to make things look slightly better by changing the way your computer scales the image. If you're using a nvidia gpu, try these settings (AMD and Intel gpu drivers should have similar settings):

http://i.imgur.com/XNyLp8t.png

If this still looks bad, try changing the "Perform scaling on:" option to "GPU" instead of "Display".
Your monitor may also have options and presets that can greatly affect the image quality. Make sure to read the manual.

If you still can't get it to look better, you should tell us what monitor and GPU you're using. If you don't know, download Speccy and copy and paste your computer specs here.

[shockdude]

Can you be more specific when describing  "great and crisp" vs "deformed and lower quality"? I have a 900p monitor and a 1080p laptop; Touhou games look fine on both.
On your 900p monitor, did the games occupy the entire vertical space of the monitor, or just a small square in the middle?
On your 1080p monitor, is the image badly sharpened (some pixels 2px wide, other pixels 1px wide), or is the image stretched to widescreen instead of retaining the correct 4:3 ratio? Is it something else?

[Drake]

Probably like this: http://i.imgur.com/kjDQOTq.png

[ILikeBulletZ]

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your GPU (graphics card) installed. If this is a bigger monitor, it's to be expected the older games will look pixelated since they run at a low resolution. You may be able to make things look slightly better by changing the way your computer scales the image. If you're using a nvidia gpu, try these settings (AMD and Intel gpu drivers should have similar settings):

http://i.imgur.com/XNyLp8t.png

If this still looks bad, try changing the "Perform scaling on:" option to "GPU" instead of "Display".
Your monitor may also have options and presets that can greatly affect the image quality. Make sure to read the manual.

If you still can't get it to look better, you should tell us what monitor and GPU you're using. If you don't know, download Speccy and copy and paste your computer specs here.

I have the same problem, except I am using an ATI...


How can I find these options then?

I dont mind black bars on the side, I want it to looks as it should in the first place, and I refuse to play on windowed mode!

[Romantique Tp]

I've not used anything ATI in like 8 years, but looking at catalyst screenshots you should be able to find the scaling options by clicking "My VGA Displays" (or similar), then clicking Image Scaling and picking "Use centered timings".

[Kappa]

I've not used anything ATI in like 8 years, but looking at catalyst screenshots you should be able to find the scaling options by clicking "My VGA Displays" (or similar), then clicking Image Scaling and picking "Use centered timings".

Interestingly enough, I pulled up Catalyst and found this setting under "My Digital Flat-Panels > Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)".  However, while "Enable GPU scaling" is toggleable, the options for [maintain aspect ratio / scale image to screen / use centered timings] are grayed out.  Odd.

@IlikeBulletZ, try checking there.  Maybe the Gray-out Gods will pity you unlike they do me.

[ILikeBulletZ]

Interestingly enough, I pulled up Catalyst and found this setting under "My Digital Flat-Panels > Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)".  However, while "Enable GPU scaling" is toggleable, the options for [maintain aspect ratio / scale image to screen / use centered timings] are grayed out.  Odd.

@IlikeBulletZ, try checking there.  Maybe the Gray-out Gods will pity you unlike they do me.

Nope, I also tried this out before and its also grayed out for me!


I Gotta Google this crap, I cant stand this forced widescreen anymore! (Although I admit it has occasionally helped me in a few spellcards involving lasers...) It ALSO makes the game shutter at times when it did not do that before!

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

When it comes to screen stretching there's an easy way to fix that:

Your monitor probably has a status menu that shows what resolution is fed into it. If you know how to, get that up and see if it differs when you are in Windows versus a game. If it differs, it's your monitor that stretches it. If not, it's your graphics processor that's doing it.

If the resolution does differ, look in your monitor's onscreen menu and see if there is a setting like "aspect ratio" , "panel fill" , or something to the likenesses of that. Because wording depends on the particular monitor, just fiddle with the options until the image looks right. A 4:3 signal should have black bars on either side, and a 16:9 signal should obviously fill the whole screen.

If the resolutions don't differ, check your gpu settings. Since there are so many different configuration programs, it would be best to do a Google search on how to change that. If you don't know what gpu you have, open the device manager and look under the "display adapters" node. You should see the type of gpu your computer has. Put that, along with "aspect ratio", in a Google search, and you should find out how to set it properly.

However, while "Enable GPU scaling" is toggleable, the options for [maintain aspect ratio / scale image to screen / use centered timings] are grayed out.

It will do that if the resolution is set to the maximum size of your monitor. Switch the resolution to the lowest it gets and you'll see that the settings aren't grayed out anymore. Now select "maintain aspect ratio" and set the resolution back to the maximum.

[ILikeBulletZ]

When it comes to screen stretching there's an easy way to fix that:

Your monitor probably has a status menu that shows what resolution is fed into it. If you know how to, get that up and see if it differs when you are in Windows versus a game. If it differs, it's your monitor that stretches it. If not, it's your graphics processor that's doing it.

If the resolution does differ, look in your monitor's onscreen menu and see if there is a setting like "aspect ratio" , "panel fill" , or something to the likenesses of that. Because wording depends on the particular monitor, just fiddle with the options until the image looks right. A 4:3 signal should have black bars on either side, and a 16:9 signal should obviously fill the whole screen.

If the resolutions don't differ, check your gpu settings. Since there are so many different configuration programs, it would be best to do a Google search on how to change that. If you don't know what gpu you have, open the device manager and look under the "display adapters" node. You should see the type of gpu your computer has. Put that, along with "aspect ratio", in a Google search, and you should find out how to set it properly.
It will do that if the resolution is set to the maximum size of your monitor. Switch the resolution to the lowest it gets and you'll see that the settings aren't grayed out anymore. Now select "maintain aspect ratio" and set the resolution back to the maximum.

I tried the last method you said...

It worked.

I just finished testing it and I just practiced PCB Stage 4 Lunatic... with the black bars. The game looks like it originally did!...

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I wanted to do this for QUITE some time!!!!!!!!  :] I didn't really liked the stretched screen thing...


Although I am not used to play like this anymore (Died like 5 times when I usually can get by just bombing once or twice LOL), nothing a little time wont fix, and there is ZERO lag/shutter now as well! Once again THANK YOU!!!

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

I tried the last method you said...

It worked.

Well, glad I can be of help

And yes, I hate it when manufacturers default to the "fill screen" mode. The black bars may look annoying, but I absolutely HATE it when the aspect ratio is ruined. It should be a sin to run a 4:3 image in 16:9 mode...