Forcing 2560x1440 on a ZR30w

C

Crest

Limp Gawd
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Oct 7, 2009
Messages
433
***Xeth solved this problem: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038203822&postcount=8***

Hopefully you all know of some methods to do this.

I have a ZR30w which is a 30" IPS which runs at 2560x1600. I want to run it at 2560x1440. Reasons being. I produce loads of video game content for my youtube channel so I normally upload 720p and 1080p videos regularly. But some games aren't too demanding on my system and I want to play them at higher resolutions and capture to lower resolutions. With DXtory (alternative to FRAPS) it can scale the video real time before encoding to disk.

Normally I would be fine running 2560x1600 and then telling it to scale 50% to 1280x800 and then I would scale it to 720p during editing, however it does make the video feel off with the UI and some movements, so I'd rather not change the aspect ratio. Secondly, even a small amount of scaling slows down the rendering process in my editing software, so doing it real time in the capture software would be ideal as it uses the GPU to do the scaling. My current software does not use the GPU for scaling, though the next iteration does, but I'm not ready to spend the money on it.

I've tried adding a custom resolution in the Nvidia control panel but it's done nothing for me. I set it to 2560x1440 and the screen goes black for 15 seconds roughly before coming back with test failed. I've tried all the timing standard options but no luck.

Any ideas guys? Cropping isn't a cure because some titles don't work too well with part of the image cut off, and black bars on the sides is not something I am willing to do. I currently just run the game at 1080p right now but would prefer the higher resolution I'm capable of and it the scaling ads a small AA effect to the output from what I've noticed so that's a plus.
 
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The ZR30W can only display 2560x1600 and 1280x800. Most GPUs offer the option of supporting arbitrary rendering resolution to output resolution rescaling. I.e. you can set the game resolution to 1080p, and then internally the GPU will render a 1080p image, and then rescale that to 1600p to send to the monitor. I know ATI and NVIDIA have both supported GPU scaling for most of the last 10 years. So I'm guessing you've already tried turning GPU scaling on?

I can imagine video recording software having issues with GPU based rescaling. If that's the case, your only options are:
Find better software.
Buy a 1440p or 1080p monitor.
Buy a 30" 1600p display with a full fledged scaler, such as the Dell U3011h.
 
This is just one problem that you run into if you look at cirrent standards while buying electronics. I suggest you buy something more mainstream next time.
 
Oled said:
This is just one problem that you run into if you look at cirrent standards while buying electronics. I suggest you buy something more mainstream next time.
Click to expand...

If they made a larger 1440p monitor, I would have. But I wanted 30"

stewartjm said:
The ZR30W can only display 2560x1600 and 1280x800. Most GPUs offer the option of supporting arbitrary rendering resolution to output resolution rescaling. I.e. you can set the game resolution to 1080p, and then internally the GPU will render a 1080p image, and then rescale that to 1600p to send to the monitor. I know ATI and NVIDIA have both supported GPU scaling for most of the last 10 years. So I'm guessing you've already tried turning GPU scaling on?

I can imagine video recording software having issues with GPU based rescaling. If that's the case, your only options are:
Find better software.
Buy a 1440p or 1080p monitor.
Buy a 30" 1600p display with a full fledged scaler, such as the Dell U3011h.
Click to expand...
I guess I didn't cover this in the original post.

I know the ZR30w natively only does 2560x1600 and 1280x800. I record 1080p most times directly, which I have the GPU set to aspect only and it scales just fine. That's what I've been doing for months now.

The software I use does not seem to have any problems at all if I play at 1080p and scale to 720p during play. It's working just fine. My issue is aspect ratio. DXtory is so much better than Fraps at video recording options and Fraps is already seen as the best pretty much.

I'm not going to buy a separate monitor, let alone a 1080p screen when that's not my problem. I can run games at 1080p just fine. There is no way in hell I'm going back to a U3011. Can't stand the lag.

Again, what I'm looking to do is to have my GPU render a 1440p image and scale to 1600p like it does for all the other resolutions:
2560x1600
2048x1536
1920x1440
1920x1200
1920x1080
1680x1050
1600x1200
1600x1024
1600x900
1366x768
1360x768
1280x1024
1280x960
1280x800
1280x768
1280x720
1152x864
1024x768
800x600

All of those resolutions work just fine, I'm merely looking to add 2560x1440 to that list so that I can play in 1440p and have my recording software scale to 1080p.

GPU Scaling works just fine for the resolutions listed above. I want to add 2560x1440 to that list.

Is that understandable? I'm trying not to sound annoyed, but I keep getting the same responses and it sounds like responses don't understand what I'm looking to do.
 
In the Nvidia Control Panel add the resolution in the Change Resolution menu, click Customise.
Does that make it show up in the scaling list? It will be listed under PC, you may have to check the "Show 8bit and 16bit resolutions" box.

Edit: Just added 640x480 and it added it to the scaling list seems to work.
My monitor only goes to 19x12 so can't test it at 2560x1440 . Hope this helps.
 
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That's the first thing I did but when it goes to test it, it goes black. I think that might be an issue of GPU scaling. I'd wish I could bypass it.
 
nVidia's custom resolution feature is constantly broken / fixed / rebroken again. Seems every other release they fix it and then re-break it on the next one. It's hilarious how often this happens.

Anyway there is a way to add a custom resolution by editing the registry directly. Here's some purposefully vague instructions. I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS UP.

Open regedit and find this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

This is where all video card drivers store their registry data. There are subkeys named 0000, 0001 etc for each card. Use Find and search for the "NV_Modes" string value. It's a sort-of encoded list of all monitor resolutions allowed by the driver. You can add whatever resolution you want to it. Here is the document on how you can manipulate the list:

ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/43.45/NV_Compress_Modes_Users_Guide_2.1.pdf

I know it's old but it's still the format used by nVidia drivers today.

After you edit the Modes string reboot (or just force a driver reload) and you should be able to select the new resolution via the windows Screen Resolution panel.

This method works great for my 30" Gateway XHD3000.
 
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Xeth said:
nVidia's custom resolution feature is constantly broken / fixed / rebroken again. Seems every other release they fix it and then re-break it on the next one. It's hilarious how often this happens.

Anyway there is a way to add a custom resolution by editing the registry directly. Here's some purposefully vague instructions. I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS UP.

Open regedit and find this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

This is where all video card drivers store their registry data. There are subkeys named 0000, 0001 etc for each card. Use Find and search for the "NV_Modes" string value. It's a sort-of encoded list of all monitor resolutions allowed by the driver. You can add whatever resolution you want to it. Here is the document on how you can manipulate the list:

ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/43.45/NV_Compress_Modes_Users_Guide_2.1.pdf

I know it's old but it's still the format used by nVidia drivers today.

After you edit the Modes string reboot (or just force a driver reload) and you should be able to select the new resolution via the windows Screen Resolution panel.

This method works great for my 30" Gateway XHD3000.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I will give this a try right now.

This is going to take awhile to understand :p The list under the modes string is rather confusing.
 
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Your problem is you are trying to paint a 2560x1440 image on a 2560x1600 canvas because that's the timing your monitor supports. This used to be easy on nVidia, not so much any more. It seems to smart/dumb to support resolutions it doesn't "understand".

Xeth's solution should work, but if not try this.

Here's what I tried that worked. It crashed for me, but on re-boot the resolution was selected and my monitor's OSD reported 2560x1600 as the signal it received, but it was letterboxed:

1) Under Display > Adjust desktop size and position, make sure that the scaling mode is "no scaling" and Perform scaling is set to GPU.

2) Also check "Override the scaling mode set by games and programs.

3) Under Display > Change resolution you want to go into "Customize" and put the following info in the image in, and hit "test" . It will likely crash.

Or at least it did crash for me. My monitor showed it was receiving a 2560x1440 resolution and it went black.

On reboot it was fine and this new resolution was now something I could select from Skyrim's resolution box on start properly letterboxed.

DON'T SELECT the resolution again in the "customize resolutions" area or it will screw up and you will have to repeat it. You can go back to 2560x1600 for desktop use though from Windows' control panel.

Good luck.

6598248711_139e5d4491_z_d.jpg
 
Crest said:
This is going to take awhile to understand :p The list under the modes string is rather confusing.
Click to expand...

Post what you have in there now and I can help you edit it. I'd post mine but there may be slight differences between our monitors that would screw things up.
 
Code: 
{*}S 720x480x8,16,32,64=1; 720x576x8,16,32,64=8032;SHV 1280x720x8,16,32,64 1680x1050x8,16,32,64 1920x1080x8,16,32,64 2048x1536x8,16,32,64=1; 1920x1440x8,16,32,64=1F; 640x480x8,16,32,64 800x600x8,16,32,64 1024x768x8,16,32,64=1FFF; 1920x1200x8,16,32,64=3F; 1600x900x8,16,32,64=3FF; 1600x1024x8,16,32,64 1600x1200x8,16,32,64=7F; 1280x768x8,16,32,64 1280x800x8,16,32,64 1280x960x8,16,32,64 1280x1024x8,16,32,64 1360x768x8,16,32,64 1366x768x8,16,32,64=7FF; 1152x864x8,16,32,64=FFF;

I read over that document but I don't understand how my particular resolution would fit in. I applied it to the end of the list using 2560x1440x8,16,32=1 but it didn't seem to work.

Edit: 10e, thank you very much for posting that. I'll be bookmarking this topic to send to people who might also have this same problem.
 
Code: 
{*}S 720x480x8,16,32,64=1; 720x576x8,16,32,64=8032;SHV 1280x720x8,16,32,64 1680x1050x8,16,32,64 1920x1080x8,16,32,64 2048x1536x8,16,32,64 2560x1440x8,16,32,64=1; 1920x1440x8,16,32,64=1F; 640x480x8,16,32,64 800x600x8,16,32,64 1024x768x8,16,32,64=1FFF; 1920x1200x8,16,32,64=3F; 1600x900x8,16,32,64=3FF; 1600x1024x8,16,32,64 1600x1200x8,16,32,64=7F; 1280x768x8,16,32,64 1280x800x8,16,32,64 1280x960x8,16,32,64 1280x1024x8,16,32,64 1360x768x8,16,32,64 1366x768x8,16,32,64=7FF; 1152x864x8,16,32,64=FFF;

Try this. Make sure you reboot or reset your driver (by disabling the video card in Device Manager and then re-enabling it).

Also you may have multiple entries for your video card if you installed it in different PCIe slots before. Edit all instances of NV_Modes to make sure.
 
Putting it in both of the options got it to work.

Oh lord, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. This is wonderful. Looks fantastic and it was relatively painless. I spent weeks looking for this solution.

Thank you so much sir. 10e you as well for providing another indepth solution.
 
NP, I spent quite a few hours trying to figure out a solution myself, I know the frustration all too well :)
 
Xeth, it would be possible to insert something like 5120x2880 resolution next to it and have my GPU scale it for 2x2 SSAA right? Or for really high resolution screenshots for posters?

Since it's always going through the GPU it shouldn't be a problem, right? I've wanted to take some really high res screenshots in skyrim for posters.

Edit: I have two 3GB 580's so I should be safe-ish. Mainly though I'd make specific saves in those games and then load into that resolution to take the shot.
 
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I do this all the time. All you need to do is create a custom resolution.
You should be able to do this through nVidia Control Panel.
 
Suiken, not sure if you caught it but the control panel was the main problem I was needing an alternative for. When I hit test it merely goes black for 15 seconds and comes back to the same screen. My guess is that it's the issue of GPU only scaling. It tries outputting that custom resolution
 
Crest said:
Suiken, not sure if you caught it but the control panel was the main problem I was needing an alternative for. When I hit test it merely goes black for 15 seconds and comes back to the same screen. My guess is that it's the issue of GPU only scaling. It tries outputting that custom resolution
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry. Didn't read the whole post. Try this:

Open nvidia control panel
Go to the "Display" section.
Go to the "Adjust desktop size and position" subsection.
In the section about scaling select the "Do Not Scale" option.

Then:

Open nvidia control panel
Go to the "Display" section.
Go to the "Change resolution" subsection.
In the main window click "Customize".
Click "Create custom resolution..." and enter the desired resolution.
Test the custom resolution and if it all checks out click OK.

The first step should make it so that the custom resolution is is centered on your screen with black bars.
 
@suiken_2mieu:

I tried that as well at first, but it didn't work. This used to work. It just stretches 2560x1440 vertically to full screen.

There seems to be an issue where the nVidia Control Panel needs to understand the difference in aspect ratio difference between the custom resolution versus the native resolution of the monitor, and this is why it doesn't work because it doesn't understand 2560x1440 compared to 2560x1600 (ie. 16:9 versus 16:10).

This is why you have to trick it, and why xeth's solution works. My way works as well, but because it crashes and you have to reboot, is not nearly as elegant as xeth's solution.
 
Either way works, I suggest using 10e's method if you're not comfortable with editing the registry.

The cool thing about this trick is you can define a crazy resolution like 2560x1080 and it will work. I used that for TF2 which gave me a huge FOV without needing Eyefinity.
 
Xeth said:
Either way works, I suggest using 10e's method if you're not comfortable with editing the registry.

The cool thing about this trick is you can define a crazy resolution like 2560x1080 and it will work. I used that for TF2 which gave me a huge FOV without needing Eyefinity.
Click to expand...

Damn I can't wait to try this with BF3 2560x1080 should be the nuts and help my performance.
 
Given that everything is being scaled through the GPU, I don't see why it imposes that limit.
 
Well, adding 7680x2560 didn't work, it doesn't show up in my resolutions options. I placed it right next to the 1440p resolution.

Was hoping to take some really nice screenshots for posters :(

This is the code I used:
Code: 
{*}S 720x480x8,16,32,64=1; 720x576x8,16,32,64=8032;SHV 1280x720x8,16,32,64 1680x1050x8,16,32,64 1920x1080x8,16,32,64 2048x1536x8,16,32,64 2560x1440x8,16,32,64=1 7680x2560x8,16,32,64=1; 1920x1440x8,16,32,64=1F; 640x480x8,16,32,64 800x600x8,16,32,64 1024x768x8,16,32,64=1FFF; 1920x1200x8,16,32,64=3F; 1600x900x8,16,32,64=3FF; 1600x1024x8,16,32,64 1600x1200x8,16,32,64=7F; 1280x768x8,16,32,64 1280x800x8,16,32,64 1280x960x8,16,32,64 1280x1024x8,16,32,64 1360x768x8,16,32,64 1366x768x8,16,32,64=7FF; 1152x864x8,16,32,64=FFF;
 
2650 x 1080 worked like a charm. Also bumped my performance up about an average of 5 FPS in BF3 while keeping pretty much the same field of view.
 
stevedave said:
2650 x 1080 worked like a charm. Also bumped my performance up about an average of 5 FPS in BF3 while keeping pretty much the same field of view.
Click to expand...

Well actually that's an ar closer to 21:9 whereas you came from 16:10. But I think battlefield plays well in movie aspect.
 
suiken_2mieu said:
Well actually that's an ar closer to 21:9 whereas you came from 16:10. But I think battlefield plays well in movie aspect.
Click to expand...

Also tried 2650x1440 for 16:9 but performance wise it was about the same as 2650x1600 I think it just stretches it from 16:9 to 16:10 anyways.
 
stevedave said:
Also tried 2650x1440 for 16:9 but performance wise it was about the same as 2650x1600 I think it just stretches it from 16:9 to 16:10 anyways.
Click to expand...
Well fewer pixels but wider fov so it contains more geometry and shading I'd expect.
 
Bumping because with Skyrim I am wanting to make some really high res high AA smooth panorama's to have printed as posters.

I guess I mentioned it, but the 2560x1440 hack works great, but I wanted to do something like 7680x2560, yet when I add it in just like the 2560x1440, it does not show up. Is this because it's larger than my monitors stated max res? I don't see why this matters, all the images are getting scaled via GPU anyways.
 
Just in case,

Did you look within the game itself to see whether or not you can run 16:9 windowed? With your capture software, you can then force it to capture only the active window rather than your entire view.

I know this works in TF2, but I have not play BF3 yet. In that, you could've just chosen 16:9 mode within the game, capture that weirdly skewed video, then reencode to the proper output resolution of 1080p after?
 
Well that doesn't matter much anymore. The 2560x1440 thing is done.

Also to answer you, many times games only can read what resolutions are currently supported. And most games I find now don't allow brute force custom resolutions.
 
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