issues playing 3D games with Viewsonic monitor

[nikko]

I just got a hand me down Viewsonic 19" flat screen CRT. I decided to use it
to replace the 19" NEC I already had cause that one doesn't have a flat
screen. Anyway, in 2D, the Viewsonic looks great. But whenever I fire up a
3D game, it looks obviously worse than the NEC did. Not just a little worse,
but a lot. It's so bad that in-game text is illegible.

By the way, Viewsonic's monitor has a feature called Viewmeter. I checked it
when I was on my desktop and it said I was running at 1280x1024, which is
accurate. But in BF:1942, for example, it says I'm running at 800 x 600,
even though I have it set to a higher resolution. Do you guys have any idea
what's going on or how to fix it? I'm flummoxed. I've never had video issues
just from swapping out monitors. Everything else about my system is exactly
the same.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Perhaps your video card should be replaced with a
more powerful one.

Windows Game Advisor
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/gameadvisor/default.mspx

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I just got a hand me down Viewsonic 19" flat screen CRT. I decided to use it
| to replace the 19" NEC I already had cause that one doesn't have a flat
| screen. Anyway, in 2D, the Viewsonic looks great. But whenever I fire up a
| 3D game, it looks obviously worse than the NEC did. Not just a little worse,
| but a lot. It's so bad that in-game text is illegible.
|
| By the way, Viewsonic's monitor has a feature called Viewmeter. I checked it
| when I was on my desktop and it said I was running at 1280x1024, which is
| accurate. But in BF:1942, for example, it says I'm running at 800 x 600,
| even though I have it set to a higher resolution. Do you guys have any idea
| what's going on or how to fix it? I'm flummoxed. I've never had video issues
| just from swapping out monitors. Everything else about my system is exactly
| the same.
|
| Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[nikko]

Perhaps your video card should be replaced with a
more powerful one.

Windows Game Advisor
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/gameadvisor/default.mspx

Thanks, but I don't see how this could be a video card issue. I was able to
play the games fine with my previous monitor and I'm still using the same
video card, a BFG 6800 GT.

Any other ideas?

 

[Plato]

Perhaps your video card should be replaced with a more powerful one.

Grin. My son is asking for a more powerful video card. About $400.00
dollars worth. He may ask all he wants, it's even too much for a
birthday present. Too bad he's ignored my advice for some years now to
get a friggen lawn business going like I did years ago so he could
afford to buy one on his own.

He aint gonna work up a sweat, he aint gonna get the card I guess.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Your video adapter drivers probably need to be reinstalled.
Visit the support web site of the manufacturer of your video
card adapter and download the latest drivers.

Latest NVIDIA Drivers
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.98.html

Before installing them, uninstall the old drivers. In your
Control Panel, open the Add or Remove Programs applet
and look for your video drivers to uninstall.

After installing a fresh set of drivers, right-click on your
desktop and select Properties > Settings, change the Color
Quality to "Highest (32 bit), then adjust your Screen Resolution
to your liking, then click on Apply.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Thanks, but I don't see how this could be a video card issue. I was able to
| play the games fine with my previous monitor and I'm still using the same
| video card, a BFG 6800 GT.
|
| Any other ideas?

 

[djs0302]

I just got a hand me down Viewsonic 19" flat screen CRT. I decided to use it
to replace the 19" NEC I already had cause that one doesn't have a flat
screen. Anyway, in 2D, the Viewsonic looks great. But whenever I fire up a
3D game, it looks obviously worse than the NEC did. Not just a little worse,
but a lot. It's so bad that in-game text is illegible.

By the way, Viewsonic's monitor has a feature called Viewmeter. I checked it
when I was on my desktop and it said I was running at 1280x1024, which is
accurate. But in BF:1942, for example, it says I'm running at 800 x 600,
even though I have it set to a higher resolution. Do you guys have any idea
what's going on or how to fix it? I'm flummoxed. I've never had video issues
just from swapping out monitors. Everything else about my system is exactly
the same.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Just to clarify, is it a flat screen CRT or LCD monitor? LCD monitors
have what is known as a native resolution and can look blurry if not
set to that resolution. Also, the resolution in games is often
different from the normal desktop resolution. I'm not familiar with
Battlefield 1942 but there's probably a graphics setting within the
game that lets you change the resolution. Did the monitor come with a
disk with a set of drivers on it? I have a 17" Viewsonic CRT monitor
and it came with a driver disk.

 

[Malke]

I just got a hand me down Viewsonic 19" flat screen CRT. I decided to
use it to replace the 19" NEC I already had cause that one doesn't
have a flat screen. Anyway, in 2D, the Viewsonic looks great. But
whenever I fire up a 3D game, it looks obviously worse than the NEC
did. Not just a little worse, but a lot. It's so bad that in-game text
is illegible.

By the way, Viewsonic's monitor has a feature called Viewmeter. I
checked it when I was on my desktop and it said I was running at
1280x1024, which is accurate. But in BF:1942, for example, it says I'm
running at 800 x 600, even though I have it set to a higher
resolution. Do you guys have any idea what's going on or how to fix
it? I'm flummoxed. I've never had video issues just from swapping out
monitors. Everything else about my system is exactly the same.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

The operative words here are "hand-me-down". There is nothing wrong with
your video card. The Viewsonic is faulty. While I do like Viewsonics,
monitors do not last forever and the blurriness you mention is a
symptom of old age. I replaced a 19" Viewsonic with those symptoms
(with a flat panel) recently. The one you have just can't handle the
higher demands of the games.

BTW, I've replaced the boys' CRTs with 19" Samsung 930B flat panels
which are great monitors for 3D gaming. The kids are heavy-duty gamers
and those monitors are reasonably priced and can handle Doom3, World of
Warcraft, Battlefield 42, etc.

Malke