Why do Nvidia custom resolutions not work?

[duragezic]

I've had this problem for quite a while now. I don't update my drivers often and actually don't even need to update much since my 7800GT in XP is probably not cared about anymore. And so I get pissed when I change drivers and the new one doesn't have custom resolutions working, and worst when they dropped the classic control panel. What in the hell are they thinking? The new one is complete trash! For all this time and how large Nvidia is, this is the best they can do??

Anyway, I can't run a lot of new games at 1680x1050 because it is too slow. So my last option is to drop the resolution down to a lower 16:10 one, like 1440x900 or 1280x800.

As I understand, these resolutions need to be shown in Windows display screen to be available in games or be forced in games. I know these games will support these resolutions but I can't get them entered in Windows even. No matter what I try, when I hit Test in Nvidia Add Custom Resolution, the test fails right away. I've tried different scaling options (even though I want to keep monitor scaling). I'm using DVI. This has happened for a while, so I'm not sure of any driver version that works but is somewhat recent.

Anyone have a workaround or a driver revision known to work?

 

[CP5670]

You should be able to add the resolutions to your monitor inf file manually and load that into Windows.

 

[BernardP]

My wife had the exact same problem at work with her new Samsung 226BW and a GeForce 6600 card. I found the fix, but is is very hard to explain in words. I will try anyway:

In the panel where you set the custom resolution, there is an Advanced button. If you look in there, you will find a list of settings, two of which are supposed to be the native H and V resolutions of the monitor, although they are not exactly labeled that way. The problem is that this native resolution is wrong by default, as if the driver can't read it correctly. If you change it to 1680x1050, the test of the custom resolution will succeed instead of failing and you will be able to add that resolution to available resolutions.

I hope these explanations are clear enough.

 

[BFG10K]

Use Riva Tuner or Refresh Force to add the resolution.

 

[duragezic]

I still haven't been able to get any custom resolutions added.

I got RefreshForce and added a few valid custom resolutions under the [ACTIVE] profile (there is 7 listed as Dell 2005FPW (Digital) which is what I have, and two Plug and Play Monitors, which may be Dell or the dual monitor I used for a while but not anymore, but only one is [ACTIVE], probably due to everytime I upgraded drivers), then restarted, but they still aren't usable in Windows. I tried 'Hide modes that this monitor cannot support' both checked and unchecked and it made no difference. My custom resolutions are still shown in RefreshForce under profile #7/ACTIVE, but I don't see them outside of Reforce.

So I tried RivaTuner and added a few then restarted but they aren't there. When I loaded RivaTuner after the restart, the three custom resolutions I added aren't there anymore.

One thing is when I load RivaTuner, then Low-Level Refresh rate settings, then the Monitor Driver Wizard tab, a dialog comes up saying the maximum resolution supported by this driver does not match the EDID info. Do you want to ignore EDID info? When I ignore it, the maximum resolution changes to 1680x1050, which is correct. So if I don't ignore EDID info, and instead use it, it says the maximum resolution is only 1280x1024, which is not right. So the EDID info must be screwed up, although I don't know why my custom resolutions don't work.

I used custom resolutions for games a long while ago, but I guess that was with my 9800 Pro since I recall it was 1280x800, which I wanted for BF2, and I certainly wouldn't need 1280x800 for BF2 with my 7800GT. So again, something with the Nvidia driver prevents custom resolutions from working.

I tried your suggestion, BernardP, but custom resolutions still failed.

CP5670: I'm not too sure what you mean, but according to windows, the only file associated with the monitor driver is a .icm file, which isn't a text file. There is no 2005fpw.inf file in the inf/ directory, although I do have one saved, its just Windows doesn't appear to use it once it installs the drivers for the monitor.

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: duragezic
One thing is when I load RivaTuner, then Low-Level Refresh rate settings, then the Monitor Driver Wizard tab, a dialog comes up saying the maximum resolution supported by this driver does not match the EDID info. Do you want to ignore EDID info? When I ignore it, the maximum resolution changes to 1680x1050, which is correct. So if I don't ignore EDID info, and instead use it, it says the maximum resolution is only 1280x1024, which is not right. So the EDID info must be screwed up, although I don't know why my custom resolutions don't work.

Use moninfo to check the EDID, and Powerstripshould work for adding custom resolutions in XP.

 

[ArchAngel777]

I have done quite a bit of research on this with Vista x64. I was never able to create custom resolutions through third party applications. I just gave up... But this was about 3-4 months ago, so maybe you can do it now. I think I even asked the question on this forum with no luck... Vista x64 is a good OS, but it sure seems to have a lot of 'broken' features. I suppose it will just take time.

 

[kylebisme]

Yeah, I run Vista64 as well, and for that I edit the drivers nv_disp.inf to add resolutions, but Powerstrip is a much nicer option in XP.

 

[CP5670]

CP5670: I'm not too sure what you mean, but according to windows, the only file associated with the monitor driver is a .icm file, which isn't a text file. There is no 2005fpw.inf file in the inf/ directory, although I do have one saved, its just Windows doesn't appear to use it once it installs the drivers for the monitor.

You should try installing that then (through the update driver button in the device manager, not the right click option). The inf file is not strictly required but it contains information on what resolution/refresh modes the monitor supports.

Although I've seen at least one person here saying that Vista doesn't use these files properly. XP uses the inf to determine what display modes programs should be allowed to use, but maybe this is not possible on Vista.

 

[jonks]

Try this, worked for me:

(Ripped from another forum)
1. NVIDIA Control Panel > Display > Manage custom timings.
2. Click both "Treat as HDTV" and "Allow modes not exposed by the display"
3. Click [Create...]
4. Under Custom display mode values:
Horizontal desktop pixels: 1440
Vertical desktop lines: 900
GDI Refresh rate: 60
Bits per pixel: 32
(don't have "Interlaced" checked)
5. Click [Advanced >>] (by the way this is where I didn't go when NVIDIA emailed me)
6. Under "Back-end parameters":
Timing standard: DMT
Desired refresh rate: 60
(the rest of the fields are grayed out)
7. Under "Front-end paramers"
Scaling type: Display (none)
8. Click [Test]
9. Click [OK]

 

[Rockymaru]

Hi Sirjonk, I'm stuck too as I've just upgraded from a 7800GT to an 8800GT and PowerStrip is no longer an option (the 8 series is not supported for some strange reason). So I figure this is my last and only alternative.

I'm using the newest ForceWare drivers 169.21 and do not see "Manage custom timings" for step #1. The closest to what you posted above, I see, is: "Advanced Timing" under: GeForce 8800 GT -> Screen Resolutions & Refresh Rates -> "Custom resolutions and refresh rates." Unfortunately, I do not see "Treat as HDTV" or "Allow modes not exposed by the display."

Am I looking in the wrong place? Are you using the new or classic display? What FW drivers are you running? Help!