Underscan (black bars) in fullscreen DirectX games with AMD cards (Fixed)

RadeonHTPCGamer

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I just about pulled my hair out for 6 months trying to get games like Bioshock and Battlefield to not display a black box around the picture, even when the games and desktop were set to the proper resolution. I could make the games act correctly using the borderless windowed mode, but of course there is a performance hit for using that option in lieu of fullscreen.

I tried adding the custom NTSC resolutions in CCC and also creating 1920x1076 resolutions but the games would never see those resolutions as possible options. Some people have recommended per game startup command line options to force certain resolutions, but those never worked for me.

But, I finally fixed it and have a fairly good grasp of why it isn't working.

I should note that this problem has been pretty well documented from a cursory google search. For reference, I am running crossfired HD7850 connected to an Onkyo HT-380 with HDMI passthrough to a Dynex 46" LCD 60hz 1080p screen. Something is wrong with the EDID information so 1080p60 is selectable as a desktop resolution but it is not presented to the games. Thus, DirectX games will fall back to 1080p59.94, which apparently is properly recognized. The problem arises because CCC will not allow you to edit 1080p59.94 settings while the desktop is at 60hz. You enter the game, it switches to 59hz, you exit the game and it goes back to 60hz for the desktop and the 59hz settings are not configurable.

Thus, you must first set the desktop resolution to 59hz to change its settings at this refresh rate. Exit any games and right-click desktop->screen resolution->Advanced settings->Monitor->select 59hz and apply changes. Your desktop will now have a ton of underscan and look like crap (just like how the games did). Your colors may also be off. At least on my TV, 1080p60 is recognized as PC output so the color pattern is set to accept full 4:4:4 RGB. Once it drops to 59hz, this setting is kept as the default even though my TV then expects YCbCr input. Change the color setting and underscan in CCC under My Digital Flat Panel so that the picture looks identical to how the monitor looks at the 60hz setting. Save the settings in CCC. Go back to right-click desktop->screen resolution->Advanced settings->Monitor->select 60hz and apply changes. Now try starting one of your games, voila!

There is no need for custom resolutions or any of that jazz. CCC just needs to be reprogrammed by AMD so that it will allow you to make changes to alternate refresh rates that you are not currently using. Alternatively, it should present 60hz as an option to directx games, not just 59.94. The reason borderless windowed mode works is because your refresh rate does not change from your desktop settings (60hz) and so your underscan/color settings are still correct.

This problem bothered me for the longest time so I hope this can help someone else who was in my same situation!
 
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Have had this problem in a very small number of games and used the custom resolution in ccc to get around it.
 
Oh sorry. I just found it on a web site when I was looking for underscan problems in ubisoft games. Works perfectly.
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I am having this exact same issue and cant figure out the instructions above to correct. Also I cant seem to download or find that program linked....
 
When I've had a similar problem to the one posted, I found I simply needed to switch the resolution from the current one to anything other than. Then, using CCC's Scaling option, simply slide the scale to where the game fits the screen.
 
Just make a custom resolution such as 1904x1076 and use that instead, problem solved for the few games this happens in. Do it under the ATI control panel under HDTV support.
 
1920x1200, Win8.1x64, the *game* (BioShock 1) plays completely full screen--no special resolution adjustments of any kind. Only thing I see with "black bars" is beginning animation sequences and cut scenes--which are deliberately setup for wide screen. Since the game itself plays without "black bars" I cannot see how the widescreen video/cut-scene res is a bother. 60Hz, too.
 
1920x1200, Win8.1x64, the *game* (BioShock 1) plays completely full screen--no special resolution adjustments of any kind. Only thing I see with "black bars" is beginning animation sequences and cut scenes--which are deliberately setup for wide screen. Since the game itself plays without "black bars" I cannot see how the widescreen video/cut-scene res is a bother. 60Hz, too.

What he is speaking of is something different then widescreen black bars. There is a 1" inch border around the whole screen that can not be fixed by just choosing a standard resolution unless you have some tweak file like stated above, the easiest way to get around this when it happens is to take a few pixels off the top and the bottom that can not even be seen and the bars magically disappear, when the 1" bar around the whole screen happens it also appears the monitor goes to an unbearable 30 hz refresh. This seems to be just a problem with using your TV as a standard monitor and at least in my experience happens in just certain games and not all that often.
 
What he is speaking of is something different then widescreen black bars. There is a 1" inch border around the whole screen that can not be fixed by just choosing a standard resolution unless you have some tweak file like stated above, the easiest way to get around this when it happens is to take a few pixels off the top and the bottom that can not even be seen and the bars magically disappear, when the 1" bar around the whole screen happens it also appears the monitor goes to an unbearable 30 hz refresh. This seems to be just a problem with using your TV as a standard monitor and at least in my experience happens in just certain games and not all that often.

OK, good deal...just a problem with certain TVs instead of actual rgb monitors, then...(As I don't use TVs I of course wouldn't have seen that occur.) I have seen, however, more than one post dealing with HDMI passthroughs affecting output in a similar manner, IIRC. That should not happen--but it seems to nevertheless if conditions are right...but it's not my area of experience, unfortunately.
 
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