Game Forced out of Full Screen on Second Display

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Epos7

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Aug 31, 2015
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I have my 4K TV set up as a second display. 4K monitor is primary display.

I have custom resolutions set for both in nVidia control panel.

Running Witcher 3 at one of these custom resolutions is fine on primary display.

On secondary display, no matter if I extend desktop or use secondary display only, game always gets forced into a window at the custom resolution.

I had this working before, but I've since reinstalled Windows and can't remember what I had to change to get it working.
 
You have to go into the manual scaling where the arrows pop up in the corners and you move the sliders til the screen fits perfect.

I have to do that to my second screen whether its hooked up to laptop or main rig.
 
DrLobotomy said:
You have to go into the manual scaling where the arrows pop up in the corners and you move the sliders til the screen fits perfect.

I have to do that to my second screen whether its hooked up to laptop or main rig.
Click to expand...

I think we may be having a different issue. On my second display, it's always filled perfectly. But when I start a game at a custom resolution, it launches, then gets forced into a window at the custom resolution with my 4k desktop filling out the rest of the display.

A workaround is to set the display to the resolution I want to play the game at in display settings. This isn't ideal as I have to change display settings each time I want to play a different game.
 
Here's a picture to illustrate what happens.
20190817_144942.jpg
 
Hmmmmm. Now it's just losing signal when I launch the game.

Maybe it's a bug with the nVidia drivers I'm using.

PC gaming on a TV is such a hassle.
 
I think its the dual setup being the hassle. my single tv(52" plasma) setup has always worked perfect. how does it act if the tv is the only display or set as primary?
 
pendragon1 said:
I think its the dual setup being the hassle. my single tv(52" plasma) setup has always worked perfect. how does it act if the tv is the only display or set as primary?
Click to expand...

I think you're right. Somewhere along the way trying to fix it I must have changed something. Now if the TV is the only display, I can set the resolution to my custom resolution, and it works fine. When I try to launch a game however, it loses the signal. Still no issues with my other display (monitor). It's gotta be some setting specific to the TV, likely either in Windows settings or nVidia control panel.

I had it working last year, just can't remember how I did it.
 
To add another wrinkle, it works in the following scenario:

-Both my monitor and TV are connected
-Only the secondary display (TV) is in use (primary monitor has no signal)
-TV is set to custom resolution in Windows display settings
-Game is set to custom resolution
 
what is the custom res youre using? maybe its out of spec for the tv. is there a "PC" setting on the tv?
 
3456 x 1944

It works if I set the TV resolution to that in Windows display settings, so I don't think the issue is with the TV.
 
that's an odd res. why that? try editing the games ini file to use that res. or try a normal res like 4k or 1440. see how it acts
 
I don't get 60fps at 4K, but would like to run the game at higher than 1440p.

I think I'll just resort to setting my TV resolution to 3456 x 1944 in Windows settings. I'll have to adjust it any time I'm connected to my PC and not playing this particular game, but at least it works.

Think this must just be a bug in Windows or nVidia drivers. If the TV can output that resolution, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to switch to that resolution when a game launches.
 
maybe check the games ini file and make sure that that res is set correctly.
 
I don't see any resolutions in the Witcher 3 ini file. I've set these custom resolutions through nVidia control panel. I don't believe it's an issue with the resolution, as the issue only happens on my 4K TV, not my 4K monitor.

I just tried 1440p and have the same issue on the TV as my custom resolution - it switches to borderless window mode.

The only way around it seems to be to set the resolution of the TV in Windows display settings to match the resolution the game is set to. Something I don't have to do on my 4K monitor.
 
Tried changing a setting in nVidia control panel to use GPU scaling rather than display scaling, but the problem persists.

It seems to manifest in two ways - either the game is forced into borderless windows mode, or the TV loses signal. Appears to be random as to which result.

Still no issues when setting the TV to match the game resolution. This tells me the resolution isn't the issue, it's either a bug or setting in Windows or nVidia control panel.
 
a tv is not a monitor and they dont always play nice with out of the norm resolutions. I guess use it the way it works or keep plugin away. maybe talk to NV since you think it my be that.
 
I think DisplayFusion offers a hotkey to change resolutions....

If not, check out "ChangeScreenResolution" and you can write custom .bat files to switch res/refresh per display etc. (I keep several shortcuts to said .bats on my desktop)

- I know it's not a "fix" but it'll cut down on the hassle..
 
horrorshow said:
I think DisplayFusion offers a hotkey to change resolutions....

If not, check out "ChangeScreenResolution" and you can write custom .bat files to switch res/refresh per display etc. (I keep several shortcuts to said .bats on my desktop)

- I know it's not a "fix" but it'll cut down on the hassle..
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
what settings are you using in the game? something may not play nice from within the game.
 
you never answered if it works correctly with a normal res. just try 1080 or 1440 and see how it acts. I know you dont want to game that way but try it. if it works correctly your tv doesn't like the custom res and you have to finagle it.
 
pendragon1 said:
you never answered if it works correctly with a normal res. just try 1080 or 1440 and see how it acts. I know you dont want to game that way but try it. if it works correctly your tv doesn't like the custom res and you have to finagle it.
Click to expand...

I did a few posts back:

I just tried 1440p and have the same issue on the TV as my custom resolution - it switches to borderless window mode.
Click to expand...

Seems to be a driver or setting issue somewhere.
 
"Nuke" the driver with DDU then try again.

If that doesn't work, please restate your exact issue clearly and concisely. (I've been running multi-display since Geforce2 so I've seen almost everything, I imagine)
 
Thanks for the suggetsion. I gave DDU a shot but no luck.

I had tested at 1440p previously and found that it didn't work either. Yesterday I tried 1080p and it does work in full screen mode. My TV supports 1080p and 4K, but perhaps not resolutions in between.

It does work when the TV resolution is set to the same as the game. It's possible it works because Windows knows it needs to use GPU scaling. It may break when the TV doesn't match the game resolution, because the game tries to use display scaling. However, turning on GPU scaling in nVidia control panel doesn't seem to help.
 
To summarize, using the resolution 3200 x 1800 as an example:

TV set to 3200 x 1800 in Windows display settings, game set to 3200 x 1800
Game works in full screen mode

TV set to 4K in Windows display settings, game set to 3200 x 1800
TV loses display signal or game launches in borderless window.
 
Couple updates.

I can run Witcher 3 at my custom resolutions if I set the game to that resolution within GeForce experience and launch from there. This is a win.

I seem to be locked at 30fps at these custom resolutions, which is a limitation of the TV when the TV is doing the scaling. I have GPU scaling turned on in nVidia control panel, so the graphics card should be taking the 32001800 signal from the game and upscaling it to 4K before outputting it to the TV. The TV can't tell the difference between a signal that's been upscaled to 4K and one that's native 4K, so it should work at 60 fps. The fact that it doesn't tells me GPU scaling is broken in nVidia's drivers.

Nonetheless, I found a way around this. In my LG OLED TV's picture settings, if I turn on HDMI Deep Color for the input my PC is using, the TV magically allows 60fps at resolutions other than 4K and 1080p. This can be seen in the nVidia control panel, as once change the setting in the TV, custom resolutions in the scaling tab change from 30Hz maximum to 60Hz maximum.

To summarize:
  • On my LG OLED, Witcher 3 set to 1080p or 4K "just works".
  • In order for Witcher 3 to run full screen at a custom resolution on my LG OLED TV, it must be set to that resolution in geForce Experience and launched from there.
  • GPU scaling in nVidia control panel appears to be broken.
  • Resolutions outside of 1080p and 4K will be capped at 30Hz by my TV unless I turn on HDMI Deep Color.
I'm finally able to play Witcher 3 on my TV at a custom resolution and smooth 60fps!
 
Last edited:
.... So a two part solution, GFE custom rez launch and HDMI Deep Color....

*nods with a smirk

Sounds about right man heh

You slayed the multi-display beast....!! Good job sir.
 
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