How to make a game in full screen: several ways

Good day!

Quite often they "send" questions about various games (which is interesting: they often come across relatively old hits - which means that not only young people read my game notes ...).

Among them, a group of questions can be distinguished by the size of the picture on the screen: for example, not all games run in full-screen mode, black stripes may remain on the sides, not all games have graphics settings, etc., etc. 😢

Actually, in this post I decided to compose this group, and give several options on how to launch the game max. comfortable, so that the image stretches over the entire area of the screen (of course, this is the most problematic when trying to run an old game on a new PC / laptop with a 4K display).

And so ... 👌

How to expand the game to the "full"

Option 1: keyboard shortcuts

Perhaps the first thing I recommend is to try using the specials. keyboard shortcuts:

Alt+ Enter (the most popular option);
Shift+ Enter;
Alt+ Shift+ Enter;
F;
Alt + F;
Esc.

Note: in English. "full screen" is translated as "Full Screen".

Full Screen - press the Alt + Enter combination (the screen shows the Gens emulator)

By the way, quite often the required combination can be found in the parameters (menu) of a particular game (see my example 👆).

Option 2: game options

No matter how trite it may sound, but also pay attention to the graphics settings of a particular game. Most often, black stripes on the sides (top and bottom) occur due to permissions .

For example, if the native resolution of the monitor is 1920 by 1080, and the game is set to 1600 by 900, then there will be black bars at the top and bottom (see photo below).

Black stripes above and below (photo of the game CS 1.6)

Of course, if you set the resolution in the game based on the characteristics of your monitor, the image on the screen will become clearer and there will be no stripes (👇).

👉 Note!

The higher the resolution you set, the more load will be on the video card (which in turn can lead to a decrease in FPS). You always have to find a balance ...

Resolution in the game (photo of the game CS 1.6)

By the way, in addition to the permission, the setting in the parameters can have an effect. windowed mode (Windowed Mode 👇). Double-check this "thing" in the Video Options and uncheck this box if necessary.

Windowed Mode - run mode in a window (screen from Warcraft)

Option 3: shortcut properties

The next thing I recommend is to open properties a shortcut for the EXE executable file of the game you need (as a rule, it is enough to right-click on the game icon on the desktop).

Properties

Further in the tab "Label" specify that the program to run should be deployed in full screen (line "Window" 👇).

Properties - shortcut - window

By the way, if the previous setting doesn't work, you can also try in line "an object" manually set launch parameters:

-w 1920 -h 1080 (width and height in pixels, see screenshot below 👇);
-fullscreen (means that the game will be launched at the size of the screen, regardless of the resolution set).

Add the parameters we need to the line

👉 To help!

How to change the resolution in the game, including without even entering it (if an error crashes, or you do not see anything when you start it)

Option 4: monitor options

Once a friend of mine complained about the "black strip" at the bottom of the screen and said that he had already rechecked all the settings that I advised him to clarify (and things are still there ...).

As it turned out later, the reason was in the settings of the monitor itself: positioning vertically and horizontally have not been adjusted (by the way, in this case, this "strip" will be visible everywhere: both in games and on the desktop!).

Black bar in all games and on the desktop

In this case, as a rule, it is enough to reset the monitor settings to default and adjust the vertical / horizontal offset.It is done quickly enough using the buttons on the body of the device ... 👇

Monitor settings (AOC)

Note: see the operating instructions for your device (in principle, it is impossible to list all the features of different monitor models ...).

Option 5: configuring the graphics card driver

The next thing I would advise you to check is the settings of the video card driver. The fact is that in the section "Display" (usually) the scaling mode is set (in some driver versions, it can be specified for each specific game).

I advise you to try setting the scaling to mode "Stretch to full screen" (see screenshots below for AMD, nVidia cards 👇).

👉 Help!

How to open graphics card settings: AMD, nVidia, Intel (can't find the graphics control panel)

Scale Mode - AMD

AMD graphics - display settings (scaling)

Scaling / nVidia

Option 6: permission on Windows

If you cannot change the resolution in the game (or you simply cannot "get" to these parameters), as one of the options, you can try to change the resolution in Windows itself.

Yes, because of this it may become not entirely comfortable: for example, the icons on the desktop will increase (decrease), the text will become larger (smaller), etc. But if you spend most of your time in the game, then all this does not really matter, right ?! 👌

Changing the resolution in Windows 10 can be quite simple:

to push Win + i (to open the parameters);
go to tab "System / Display" ;
in line "Screen resolution" install what you want.

Display - selectable resolution and scaling

Universal way (suitable for most Windows):

to push Win + R (so that the run window appears);
enter commanddesk.cpl;
to push Enter.

desk.cpl - open display properties

👉 To help!

How to find out and change the screen resolution (the image is too large)

Option 7: utilities for adjusting the image in older games

There are specials for many old games. utilities and add-ons (often from fans) that make it easy to fit modern widescreen monitors (see Civilization III 👇).

In one of my notes, I once mentioned one of these 👉 Game WideScreener utilities. She has about a hundred old games on her list, which she can easily adapt to modern "realities". In general, I recommend it for use.

Before and after - compare the difference in the picture / example from the game "Civilization 3"

By the way, it is also very convenient to work with old games through a virtual machine (into which you can install some kind of Windows 2000 / XP). These OSs are more friendly with the hits of yesteryear ...

👉 To help!

How to start old Windows on a new operating system: setting up a VirtualBox virtual machine

Option 8: the radical way 👏

In order not to experience a bunch of "problems" for setting up and optimizing the OS on a modern PC / laptop for the games of the past, you can go the other way: buy an old laptop on Avito!

Such devices are now cheap, they will not take up much space (you can always put them on the far shelf if you get bored), and at the same time they will allow you to enjoy all the hits of 10-20 years ago! 👌

👉 To help!

I want to buy a used laptop: how to check it and what to look for