Problems Gaming at 3200x1800 (New Razer Blade 14)

I got my New 2014 Razer Blade 14 yesterday and I'm having some issues maybe some of you may have encountered and perhaps there is a solution to. All of them deal with scaling around the 3200x1800 display.

Currently, I have it set up in the default - native res 3200x1800 with windows scaling at 200%. This works fine for the desktop environment, with the exception of a few launchers that do not scale and so are very tiny (origin, battle.net), and a few that look terribly jagged (steam).

I was playing Diablo 3 cranked to 3200x1800 at max settings and it was running beautifully with acceptable fps. I then launched origin and got SimCity 5 up and running, and I hit my first snag - when I change the resolution in SimCity to native 3200x1800, it doesn't scale. Thus the toolbar around the outside is very, very tiny (similar to the origin launcher itself). Anyone hear of this happening before or know how to fix it?

It got worse...then, I loaded up Civilization V and for whatever reason, it seems its running at 1280x800 in the middle of the screen, with a big black box around the rest of it (think crazy letterbox). I changed the resolution to default, tried windowed mode, changed the resolution to 900p and 1080p with no joy. All of them launch with the black box and won't go full screen. I tried launching Civ V in DX10/11 mode and Windows 8/Touch mode. I don't know what to do - I can't find anything similar happening on the ol' Google except for some rMBP posts (with no solutions).

I'm currently installing Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands 2, and Skyrim to see if any of those give me trouble, as other forum members have already played a couple of those games without issue so far.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling this isn't going to be just me. Those of you with your Blade 14's in hand already - maybe see what Civ and SimCity do for you?

 

Not all games work well with Windows's DPI scaling, especially at the highest settings (150%-200%). However 125% seems to work. You should try using just 125% and see if it works.

Search for "make text and other items larger or smaller" in that windows 8.1 menu bar on the right of the screen, the charms bar. A windows with "Change the size of all items should open. If you check the box that says "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays" you will see the 100%, 125%, 150% and 200% options. If you do not check the box then the options are 100% on the left, 125% in the middle and 150% on the right. Try 125% and if it doesn't work then try 100% (remember to close applications and log out of your account and then sign in when changing DPI-scalling settings). If 125% works, try 150%. Try checking the box "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays". See what works for you. Unfortunately not everything gets larger on a high DPI display:Civ 5 still has a very small top bar (the one with science, gold, culture, ...) and other programs have very small menu bars.

Enjoy your Blade 14

 

i have the same problems even with Crysis, cant downgrade the Resolution only with that stupid box around...
anybody have any idea?

 

downgrade the system resolution first

Sent from my Xperia Z Ultra using Tapatalk

 

Thank YOU worked well!

 

Changing the system resolution to match that of your game does work, but lets be honest, having to change your resolution every time you start a game that doesnt run 3200x1800 is quite laborious and unnecessary, surely somewhere there is a feature that allows automatic scaling for lower resolutions. ive scoured the internet and both my nvidia and intel graphics control panels but to no avail. to be honest the features of the nvidia control panel are quite limited, i cant seem to access any of the advanced options. does anyone have a REAL solution to this problem?

 

Supposedly, Razer is supposed to be developing a solution to this issue. But, AFAIK, they have not yet done so.

 

Also interesting to note, games from paradox such as Europa universalis 4 manages to change the screen resolution to match the game resolution setting for you.

 

With how terrible Windows scaling is at the moment, I'd recommend just running the system at 1600x900. Since the horizontal and vertical pixels are half of the native res 3200x1800, there are no stretched pixels making the UI look fuzzy, so everything will be as sharp as it would be on a native 1600x900 panel. And that resolution on a 14" display is fine anyways. At least until Windows sorts it out.

 

Is this really the case? Does it really look that clear?

On my macbook retina, If I reduce the resolution by exactly half, (from 2880 x 1800 to 1440 x 900) it is obviously lacking the sharpness of a native 1440 x 900 panel.

 

windows yes, OSX no. it is because the OS's use entirely different font rendering etc and has been an OSX issue since OSX 10.0. the doubled resolution was made to improve the sharpness and clairity to catch up with windows and Linux in this aspect.

it has almost casued me to put a 15" rMBP through a wall because it can not downscale like my M3800

we have been debating the font handling since 2000 and still refer everyone back to an old ZDnet article from 2007
Vista puts Mac OS X font rendering to shame | ZDNet

 

I read that this would happen before I bought my blade but can confirm that this is not the case. The blade ui does appear fuzzy at 1600x900.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

Sorry I should have been more clear. Even in bootcamp, text and the gui appears fuzzy at 1440 x 900 on my macbook retina.

This is my experience too.

 

Has anyone found a fix for playing Civ 5 at a resolution other than native without the black borders? It used to work by lowering the system resolution to the desired settings (e.g. 1080p) through the Intel control panel, but since the GPU driver update that isn't working for me anymore

 

I'm not sure if this will work since I don't have an Optimus setup, just switchable graphics with an NVIDIA GPU, but what you can try is opening up the NVIDIA control panel, going to "Adjust desktop size and position", set Scaling mode to "Aspect ratio" and Perform scaling on to "GPU". You can also experiment with checking/unchecking "Override the scaling mode set by programs and games".

This *should* make the NVIDIA GPU do the scaling correctly for non-native resolutions, and also let you leave your desktop at native res.

 

Problem is, with an Intel GPU, the NVIDIA Control Panel gets extremely gimped. You can adjust 3D settings and that's about it.

 

I hope RAZER fixes this soon with an update, I mean it's not hard to switch back and forth but gets old quick.

 

Yeah I was just reading about that. Sounds tacky. This and other silly things like battery downclocking are why I'm not looking forward to having to replace my Vaio Z. I'm able to overclock my GPU by like 50%, even on battery and not throttle lol

 

It really does suck. It is the largest of my 3 gripes with this machine. I pretty much leave the resolution at 2048x1152 and use Windows scaling at medium to combat this. It is really frustrating having such a gorgeous display and not using it because I don't want to login/out every time I want to play a game.

Unfortunately there isn't another machine that Razer (in my opinion) in build quality, battery, form factor, and performance. Not to mention it is sexy as hell... However, I really hope they fix this soon.

 

I haven't seen a misbehaving game that didn't work properly if I just changed the desktop resolution first. It's a nuisance but it literally takes 5 seconds.

I'll install Civ 5 and test tonight if I get a chance.

 

It's 1/4th the resolution, meaning every 1 pixel is being displayed over 4 pixels on the display.
Do you have a similar PPI display to actually check side by side with? It might be just as fine and sharp as it should be, you could just be used to high resolution and think the lower resolution looks like now.

The Macbook is regular 220 PPI, at 1440x900 its 110 PPI, which you would be able to make out blocky pixels from regular viewing distances. Try setting it to a resolution slightly above and below 1440x900 and compare the fuzzyness that way, and you should see a big difference.

 

The 1/4th resolution math makes sense in theory, but it does not work in practice. I have a 15.4" macbook retina configured in Windows (bootcamp) to display a resolution of 1440x900. When I put the retina immediately next to my 2011 15.4" Macbook Pro (which has a native 1440x900 panel), the retina is, WITHOUT DOUBT, more blurry. I would hypothesize this to also be the case if a 2014 Blade owner put his machine in 1600x900 and then compared it to a 2013 Blade with a native 1600x900 screen.

This has gotten to the point I actually prefer to use the older Macbook pro in bootcamp (as well as other laptops without high resolution displays) because so many of my applications don't know what to do with windows DPI scaling and anything but native resolution is blurry. This is admittedly a fault of the individual software manufactures, (I'm looking at you ArcGIS and Stata) but Microsoft is far from blameless. I would have otherwise loved the 2014 blade, but went with a Blade Pro to avoid the scaling mess (I admit, this more of an issue for me given the software I use...but trying to use ArcGlobe with a 3200x1800 display is a nightmare.)

hfm: I'm curious how Civ 5 worked out for you if you were able to try it. On my retina, I have been able to drop screen resolution in Windows before starting the game and it doesn't have a problem with scaling.

 

Did Razer ever fix this?

 

For CIV5 downscale system resolution, run Civ in windowed mode - no black border.

 

Seems like manufacturer nonsense, chasing extreme resolutions for marketing purposes. In my opinion at least.

 

This problem is due to Nvidia/Intel, Intel driver doesnt scale properly, and Nvidia driver doesnt have the settings options to fix that like the desktop driver does.
See this video from LinusTechTips on the Lenovo Y50 4K Laptop, it shows and explains this problem, its NOT RAZERS FAULT.

Lenovo Y50 - 4K Performance All-around Notebook - YouTube

 

Ok thanks. I was just going by reports that Razer had stated they were going to release a fix

 

Do you maybe know when's the release date?

 

Considering they've never formally said they were working on it, I'm going to say don't hold your breath for it being anytime soon. All we can pretty much hope for is that Microsoft finds a way to better support higher resolution displays and makes it easier for developers to code their applications for it.

 

Both of the following Blade '14 reviews state Razer and/or nvidia is working on a fix:
Razer Blade (2014) review: laptop gaming never looked so good | The Verge
"That could pose a problem with future games too. While you can turn down games like BioShock and Crysis 3 to 1080p and use the laptop's extra headroom to crank up the level of detail, not all games will properly fill the screen unless you also switch your Windows desktop resolution to 1080p. That’s a bug: Razer says a fix is underway"

Razer Blade Review (2014) - IGN
"There's also a known bug that causes games set to a lower resolution than the native 3200x1800 resolution to appear as a box at the center of the screen, rather than scaling to span the entire display. Razer and Nvidia claim a driver update is in the works, but in the meantime, Blade users must scale the entire system down to the desired resolution."

 

Hello all,

i got the Razer Blade 2014 512 GB and im playing metro: last light on 1080p resolution, its starts nice 50 to 60 FPS but after 3 min. it drops to 20 to 28 FPS!!!

is there something wrong with my rig? its brand new.

i tried to change the resolution to 1600@900 and still it drops after 3 min to 28 FPS..

Please help, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

thanx

 

This sounds like a game bug, or possibly an issue with a GPU malfunction.

Even on 1080 - Metro is crazy demanding and tends to give problems to mobile cards.

 

It could be that CPU and/or GPU overheats and throttles. Try setting your max CPU to 99% in the power profile settings and see if it changes anything.

Mine is always set to 99% -- keeps CPU temps in 80's instead of 90's and the performance drop due to disabled turbo is hardly noticeable in most games.

 

Hey AlexNT, I did what you said and now its running the game on 30 FPS steady is that normal? I mean if u have the game will you run it and tell me if u get the same results?

Thanks!!!

 

Hey all. New Razer Blade owner here.

I'd like to play BF4 at 1920x1080. I know that manually switching the resolution is required to run the game at Fullscreen at that resolution. Is there a way to have the desktop resolution switch automagically when I start a game? Just curious?

Otherwise I'm enjoying this new machine!

 

Well the game could switch on its own if developers would take the time. Skyrim is good example of game that changes rig resolution on its own and then back when if closes

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Soooooooo fast forward to 2015, did razer/nvidia/intel ever fix this? or is everyone still manually changing their desktop resolution first? This would suck if after all this time nothing was done.

 

I'm going to say yes it was fixed because I can set different resolutions and it scales to full screen.

 

Its not doing it on mine, I have to manually do it first.