The XP and Win 7 Widescreen Dillemma

Hi all.

Have an weird issue with Win 7 in the sense of Widescreen support.
I have an 22inch screen and run my games at the native rez of 1680 X 1050

Now the thing is older games like Project Snowblind and NFS:Most Wanted for example doesent support Widescreen as such, obviously. But in XP it seems to stretch the image and run fullscreen without any black edges on screen.
Where as in Win 7 it runs like in unstreched with Black Edges cause of the rez.

In XP even though not in Widescreen res , NFS for example I run 1280 X 1024 it runs full screen stretched, but in Win 7 it runs with the same rez and settings. But doesen't stretch image to rez.

Anyone else experience the same problem or know of a solution. I didin't do anything strange in XP, or change any settings or tweak GFX card drivers.

I tried running in XP Compatibility mode with Win 7, still the same.
I have a Nvidia GeForce 9800GTX card.

Any help will greatly be appreciated

So you have black borders around the screen?

It sounds like an aspect ratio/scaling setting that needs to be adjusted. Have a look through your options in the Nvidia control panel.

You need to specify the resolution in the nvidia control center, then the screen will be stretched. Works very well, I tested it with Need for Speed Pro Street.

Install latest Nvidia drivers from Welcome to NVIDIA - World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies , Download driver> Choose Geforce 9 series> OS: win 7 32 bit or 64 bit (depends which 1 you have) then dl and install the driver... Then go Nvidia Control Panel as 'Faxe' and 'smarteyeball' suggested... Sorry I don't use Nvidia cards so I don't know how to continue from here on...

hii everyone
i hv upgraded from windows vista home basic to win 7 ultimate.
i have same issue,nfs mw doesn't run in full screen in win7 ultimate (it runs perfectly in vista) & i get black borders around screen.i hv ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 256mb with dedicated memory installed though.i also updated the drivers for ATI but it didn't help.
Any help plzzz.
Thanx in advance

Hey people try the XP sp2 compatibility, it works perfect for me.

Hey people,i finaly Found the answer!!
Now this method worked for me.i don't say that its foolproof solution but its worth trying & befor trying this method update your ATI driver to the latest version(one which is compatible with windows 7).So here we go:

1. set your screen resolution to 1024*768 (lower than highest).to do this simply right click on your desktop,choose screen resolution and change resolution in resolution box.

2.now go to ur ATI catalyst control centre.to do this,right click on desktop and the top most choice is ATI catalyst control centre.

3.choose advanced settings.

4.choose "desktop and display".click on "graphics" on top left corner.

5.now right click on laptop picture in lower bar(in my case there is only on laptop picture in lower bar having "1" in circle on its left top corner)

6. choose "configure..."

7. Now select "Full Screen" from three options.

8. Click "Apply" & then "Ok".

9. Now change back your Screen resolution to original.

p.s:if you are unable to choose "Full Screen" in ATI catalyst control centre then change your screen resolution(first try with decreasing it,if it doesn't help try increasing it) and then try again with ATI catalyst control centre.

Bingo ,we are done!!!

Now try to run your game,it should run in full screen.atleat it did for me.

Dont forget to say thanx if this method worked for you.

Coolbuddy has it

Thanks for the help, worked like a charm!

Wouldn't it be better to play it with the black edges then to have a distorted image?

jim84 said:

Wouldn't it be better to play it with the black edges then to have a distorted image?

Click to expand...

I would think so myself...

Same, I would think the pixel mapping would be a good thing.

Some monitors have this ability built in as well. to keep aspect ratios correct.

coolbuddy: Thank you very much. I was a bit sceptic, but it really works. I was becoming desperate, but you solved my problem
Thank you very much again.

i have the same problem i cant run widescrren need for speed most wanted
i have windows 7 starter intel graphics x4500

please help

thnks alot coolbuddy....thankewwww

i was looking for the solution to this problem for months,i tried every thing but it dint worked....thanks to u buddy...finally solved...thnkssss....!!!