Convincing Win 7 of higher resolutions

[scaryjim]

After a little heartache and frustration I finally got my lovely 22" CRT monitor a couple of weeks ago, and am very happy with it....

BUT! (you knew it was coming, right?)

I've found a driver for it, but I can't get it to install under Win 7 Pro x64, and as such Win 7 thinks its highest supported resolution is 1600x1200. This is wrong. I can force the desktop to 2048x1536 through the graphics driver (and it looks good), but in games I can't select any res higher than 1600x1200.

Is there an easy way to persuade Win 7 that my monitor can cope with that? Is there a hard way? Can I somehow modify the monitor's inf file to be acceptable to Win 7 x64? And if not, will I be able to manual edit game configuration files to get higher resolutions in game, or am I stuck at 16x12 forever (which would be a waste of the second 8800GTX I've just bought... )?

[Terbinator]

I had problems like this with my old monitor where i couldn't select 1440*900 but could select 1600*1200 - i got a new monitor and changed my interface too DVI from VGA and it seems to of sorted itself out.

[scaryjim]

... i got a new monitor ...

Having only just got a "new" monitor, that's not really an option for me

[Terbinator]

Ahh sorry, I meant that by connecting via DVI (on the new monitor) seemed to be the only way it would work in games.

[Pob255]

AFAIK, Nope.

Win7 no longer uses .inf files it's supposed to quiery the monitor as to what it can do, You do get .ICC files that can work the same way as .inf ie telling windows what it can do.
You need to check the manufactures website as see if there is any thing, but if this is old it may well be unsupported and your stuck.

[scaryjim]

I've got an ICC file but I believe they are just colour profiles rather than having full capabilities. Unusually for a CRT monitor this one does have DVI (although I believe it's just DVI-A), but I'd been thinking about getting a DVI cable for it anyway, so I might give that a go. Otherwise I assume it's trying to find out if / how to manually alter each game config... *sigh*

[jim]

You might have to hack the EDID.

I had to do that for my monitor at work, it's a royal PITA to do but it worked in the end.

[Pob255]

You might have to hack the EDID.

I had to do that for my monitor at work, it's a royal PITA to do but it worked in the end.

EDID that was the term I was looking for, the bit about the OS talking to the monitor to find out what it can do, this might be the issue.


oh an a major DOH!

vga at 2048x1536 res I think you have to use the dvi as that's beound what vga can do.
if I'm remembering correctly
edit:sorry it's not the limit of the connector, but the cable that is the issue with vga.

[scaryjim]

Nono, I'm running my desktop quite happily @ 2048x1536, 24bit colour @ 75Hz via VGA. Like I said, I can set the resolution via the graphics drivers without issue, it's just not available to select by default in Windows Control Panel or in games.

If the best res I can manage in games is 1600x1200, I'm thinking that SLI 8800GTXes might be overkill Tempting to sell one of them instead...

[jim]

Out of interest, do the graphics drivers show some ridiculous resolution that your monitor could never hope to display?

Like 2560x1440 for example.

[Pob255]

Most likely the EDID, if it is it might be worth tring a dvi cable, just to see if it works.

or the games just not supporting that res

I'm using 9800gtx sli for 1680x1050 and for the last two day's I've dug out homeworld to play that again and it will only let me set it to 1280x1024, now that's Overkill

[scaryjim]

No, they top out at 2048x1536 I think - although iirc they do show refresh rates that the monitor can't support... But mostly they options look sensible...

[GoNz0]

ffs if you posted this yesterday i could have thrown a dvi cable in the box

[scaryjim]

lol, don't worry about it mate, I'm still considering options. And you've sent me more than enough for next to nothing already!

[GoNz0]

7kg of brass and copper on its way with a bit of pcb lol

[scaryjim]

Just think of the scrap value

New PSU with enough 6-pin PCIe connectors landed today, so I think it's going to be overkill graphics subsystem regardless of whether I end up playing all my games at 16x12 or not...