All: How to fix the pixelated look in Win7 (with NVIDIA)

cyrogenic · 05-10-2010, 04:56 PM

I too had the pixelated look in windows 7. I tried a whole bunch of settings in the nvidia control panel and I finally came up with two ways that worked. Here is a repost of the answer I posted a few days ago. Feel free to propagate this around the internets.

The following two ways DO work (second is prefered).
1) Run without 3d settings. This is inferior (especially on fog levels)

2) First, open up the nvidia control panel. Then open up Win7 screen resolution menu. Drop the resolution to 800x600. Then in the Nvidia control panel, select "Change flat panel scaling." Click "Use Nvidia scaling with fixed-aspect ratio". Click apply. Now start PvZ. Works great. When you're done, up your resolution. (note that the nvidia control panel step has to be done only the first time. After that, simply change your resolution and the settings automatically kick in)

Basically, what's happening is: Your monitor is doing nearest neighbor interpolation, and the Nvidia driver isn't overriding this when it's at your native resolution. At a non-native resolution, you can set the Nvidia control panel to override the monitor scaling.

Unfortunately, for me, selecting the nvidia setting (when at native resolution) does nothing. As soon as I accept and acknowledge the message, it reverts the setting on me.

Good luck.

Coincidentally, if you have widescreen and don't like the black bars, select "use NVIDIA scaling" as opposed to the fixed-aspect ratio one.

McMasterGold · 05-11-2010, 12:58 PM

Nice workaround. By the way, do you know if the scaling in ATi cards is bilinear?

cyrogenic · 05-12-2010, 06:26 AM

Unfortunately, I don't. I've actually never had an ATI card, because every time I get around to upgrading my computer, NVIDIA is on top (kind of like Intel).

However, I can tell you that ATI has support for bilinear, or even cubic interpolation (aka: trilinear. I did research in college on interpolation to correct drift in microscopy images, so sadly, I know too much about this). To not support these algorithms would mean ATI was not a viable option.

However, I don't know if the ATI driver in Win7 has the same problems that the NVIDIA driver has. In the NVIDIA driver case, it's not letting you override the monitor's scaling to native resolution, unless you put WINDOWS in a non-native resolution.

How they could overlook games that used non-native resolution, I have no idea. Anything that goes fullscreen with a non-native resolution should have the option to use the settings in the driver, but for some reason the settings are keyed to Windows.

I don't know the ATI driver software (Catalyst Control Center, I believe), but there should be a similar setting in there to control LCD panel scaling algorithms. If you find it, please let us know :-).

Efreak · 07-04-2011, 03:29 PM

Followed these instructions, saw no such option (flat panel scaling). Will try without 3d acceleration next time.

Jorpho · 07-18-2011, 04:03 PM

This is the same thing I've posted about a few times before. Some notes:

-This same problem afflicts most slightly-older PopCap games. See http://forum.fischeronline.de/index.php?topic=5859.0 .
-This problem only seems to result with 64-bit NVIDIA drivers and not the 32-bit drivers.
-Any 4:3 ratio (such as 1024x768) will do, not just 800x600.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Efreak

Followed these instructions, saw no such option (flat panel scaling). Will try without 3d acceleration next time.

NVidia's scaling options only appear if you're using the DVI port on your video card. It's not available if you're using the VGA/analog port. (I have no idea if this scaling issue still applies in that situation.)

xbp13x · 08-02-2011, 03:16 PM

Even easier would be to use this batch file after you install multires. Just paste this in notepad and save it as pvz.bat and put it in the PVZ dir and make a shortcut and launch with that.

Code:

"C:\Program Files\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /800,600,32 /exit
start /w PlantsVsZombies.exe
"C:\Program Files\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /restore /exit
exit

Also this issue also affects 32bit.

Efreak · 10-27-2011, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorpho

NVidia's scaling options only appear if you're using the DVI port on your video card. It's not available if you're using the VGA/analog port. (I have no idea if this scaling issue still applies in that situation.)

Does using the DVI port with an adapter count? I have DVI and VGA input and output, but no DVI cables. I do, however, have a DVI/VGA adapter around somewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xbp13x

Even easier would be to use this batch file after you install multires.

Alternatively, setres, a portable CLI-ish (it only opens a help window, creates no registry entries AFAIK) application that does not need to be installed, made by Bayden Systems (they made slickrun).

BrainOfSweden · 10-30-2011, 11:49 AM

On my laptop, I couldn't find the correct settings on the Nvidia control panel. However, it was unnecessary, as the game looks great with 3D acceleration just by doing the first step and change to 4:3 resolution.

puschmannn · 12-18-2011, 09:03 PM

hi guys!! anyone solved this problem in the meantime? got win7 64 bit, and my girlfriend likes to paly the game too, cant explain her how to change resolution. why cant this game just run ???
thanks guys, cu

05-10-2010, 04:56 PM	#1
cyrogenic Join Date: Dec 2009 Reputation: 3 Posts: 47	All: How to fix the pixelated look in Win7 (with NVIDIA) I too had the pixelated look in windows 7. I tried a whole bunch of settings in the nvidia control panel and I finally came up with two ways that worked. Here is a repost of the answer I posted a few days ago. Feel free to propagate this around the internets. The following two ways DO work (second is prefered). 1) Run without 3d settings. This is inferior (especially on fog levels) 2) First, open up the nvidia control panel. Then open up Win7 screen resolution menu. Drop the resolution to 800x600. Then in the Nvidia control panel, select "Change flat panel scaling." Click "Use Nvidia scaling with fixed-aspect ratio". Click apply. Now start PvZ. Works great. When you're done, up your resolution. (note that the nvidia control panel step has to be done only the first time. After that, simply change your resolution and the settings automatically kick in) Basically, what's happening is: Your monitor is doing nearest neighbor interpolation, and the Nvidia driver isn't overriding this when it's at your native resolution. At a non-native resolution, you can set the Nvidia control panel to override the monitor scaling. Unfortunately, for me, selecting the nvidia setting (when at native resolution) does nothing. As soon as I accept and acknowledge the message, it reverts the setting on me. Good luck. Coincidentally, if you have widescreen and don't like the black bars, select "use NVIDIA scaling" as opposed to the fixed-aspect ratio one.

08-02-2011, 03:16 PM	#6
xbp13x Join Date: Jul 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 12	Even easier would be to use this batch file after you install multires. Just paste this in notepad and save it as pvz.bat and put it in the PVZ dir and make a shortcut and launch with that. Code: "C:\Program Files\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /800,600,32 /exit start /w PlantsVsZombies.exe "C:\Program Files\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /restore /exit exit Also this issue also affects 32bit. Last edited by xbp13x: 08-02-2011 at 04:04 PM.

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05-11-2010, 12:58 PM	#2
McMasterGold Join Date: May 2009 Reputation: 142 Posts: 3,650	Nice workaround. By the way, do you know if the scaling in ATi cards is bilinear?

05-12-2010, 06:26 AM	#3
cyrogenic Join Date: Dec 2009 Reputation: 3 Posts: 47	Unfortunately, I don't. I've actually never had an ATI card, because every time I get around to upgrading my computer, NVIDIA is on top (kind of like Intel). However, I can tell you that ATI has support for bilinear, or even cubic interpolation (aka: trilinear. I did research in college on interpolation to correct drift in microscopy images, so sadly, I know too much about this). To not support these algorithms would mean ATI was not a viable option. However, I don't know if the ATI driver in Win7 has the same problems that the NVIDIA driver has. In the NVIDIA driver case, it's not letting you override the monitor's scaling to native resolution, unless you put WINDOWS in a non-native resolution. How they could overlook games that used non-native resolution, I have no idea. Anything that goes fullscreen with a non-native resolution should have the option to use the settings in the driver, but for some reason the settings are keyed to Windows. I don't know the ATI driver software (Catalyst Control Center, I believe), but there should be a similar setting in there to control LCD panel scaling algorithms. If you find it, please let us know :-).

07-04-2011, 03:29 PM	#4
Efreak Join Date: Jan 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 11	Followed these instructions, saw no such option (flat panel scaling). Will try without 3d acceleration next time.

10-30-2011, 11:49 AM	#8
BrainOfSweden Join Date: Jan 2011 Reputation: 5 Posts: 67	On my laptop, I couldn't find the correct settings on the Nvidia control panel. However, it was unnecessary, as the game looks great with 3D acceleration just by doing the first step and change to 4:3 resolution.

12-18-2011, 09:03 PM	#9
puschmannn Join Date: Nov 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 3	hi guys!! anyone solved this problem in the meantime? got win7 64 bit, and my girlfriend likes to paly the game too, cant explain her how to change resolution. why cant this game just run ??? thanks guys, cu