is refresh forcing still necessary?

[Xarick]

I havent used reforce in a long time, but with the installation of my new graphics card I was wondering is it still necessary?

 

[Painman]

With a CRT, probably.

With an LCD, most seem to use 60 HZ and forcing higher isn't advisable. They don't flicker though.

 

[akshayt]

I wouldn't go with a monitor which doesn't support atleast 72-85Hz

 

[Auric]

It never was necessary.

Desktop and full-screen apps have always been configured seperately. When the latter failed to include a frequency setting, Windows own DirectDraw override could be used. OpenGL could likewise be manipulated via graphics drivers.

Such third-party utilities had the advantage of being able to set independently per resolution though. So yeah, most useful with a combination of poorly developed games and a CRT (if run at a variety of setttings due to performance limitations).

 

[Captante]

If you are using an ATI card, then yes theres a chance you'll need to use somthing like Refreshlock to force higher the 60hz vertical refresh rates in many games because ATI's built in override utility often doesn't work.

If you are using an Nvidia card, it'll have an effective utility built into the driver control panel that does the same thing which can be unlocked using Coolbits 2 in older driver versions or a utility called NHancer in the newer ones that have disabled the classic control panel.

 

[CP5670]

The easiest way to do this is to modify your monitor driver (inf) file with all the low refresh modes filtered out. Windows thinks that your monitor is not capable of displaying those modes and never outputs them. This is more reliable than any of the refresh forcing programs I have used. Rivatuner can make the file for you, but it's very easy to do manually.

 

[BFG10K]

It never was necessary.

Of course it was necesssary and I still do it today.

 

[Auric]

ATI's DDO is simply an alternate third interface to the Windows setting (in dxdiag and also properties cpl). So if it didn't work then there's some other problem with a combination of the DX/OS/graphics install and trying to "work around" it with a third-party utility is a bad idea -indeed I've seen them be the cause of the problem in the first place. ATI also added OGL functionality to their interface years ago.

Anyhoo, the relevance is severely on the wane since the popularity of LCD, increase in properly developed games (oh look the user can actually choose the resolution and frequency ooh aah, welcome to the new millennium), and finally if absotootly necessary for dodgy old games then the functionality has been included in driver control panels as said, in addition to comprehensive tweakers such as ATI Tray Tools.

 

[Jeff7]

Old thread resurrection. I've installed Homeworld2, and forgot all about the fact that it sucks with refresh rates. I've tried Reforce and Rivatuner's refresh forcing features, and HW2 still insists on 60Hz regardless of resolution.

Originally posted by: Captante
If you are using an ATI card, then yes theres a chance you'll need to use somthing like Refreshlock to force higher the 60hz vertical refresh rates in many games because ATI's built in override utility often doesn't work.

If you are using an Nvidia card, it'll have an effective utility built into the driver control panel that does the same thing which can be unlocked using Coolbits 2 in older driver versions or a utility called NHancer in the newer ones that have disabled the classic control panel.

I downloaded this NHancer, but I don't see anything in there for refresh rates.

 

[BFG10K]

If you're using an ATi card you must disable DDC for refresh forcing to work.

 

[Jeff7]

Oops. Forgot that part.

Card is a PCI-e nVidia 7600GT

 

[Captante]

I don't have a CRT with an Nvidia card powering it anymore so I don't know if Nvidia still includes their refresh-rate override in the new control panel & I don't thing NHancer offers that feature, however the program I listed in my last post here called Refreshlock works well with ATI & Nvidia drivers... I suggest you give it a try.

 

[xtknight]

It shouldn't be necessary ever if your monitor EDID is in the proper format. I can't imagine an EDID bug would still linger around today. I did have one problem when I went from win9x->win2k and quake2 always ran at 60 Hz, but hey it's Quake 2. I don't think any modern game would have the problem. Quake3 had a refresh rate variable inside it but I digress...