Games won't run if not in Native TV Resolution

[Bearguins]

I tried to connect my laptop to my 4K TV to play casual games on a bigger screen, but the game will only run if I set the resolution to 4K where my laptop can only run at 24hz. And for some odd reason, games can no longer even run on my laptop's own screen when I run them without using HDMI, even if I set it to a lower resolution via GeForce Experience (or in-game settings after I boot it up on 4K), for example.

Well, the games "run" because I can hear the game volume but there is no display whatsoever. I've tried forcing windowed [borderless] as well as any iteration of fullscreen with different forced resolutions via Steam launch options or GeForce Experience to no avail.

Can't find anything like this on the Internet. So now everything is virtually unplayable. No idea what to do at this point and would appreciate any help!

[Callahan420]

Have you tried changing the resolution from the desktop screen?

right click on the desktop select screen resolution and set the resolution in there.

[Bearguins]

Yes, I've changed the resolution on both the display settings and via the Intel Graphics Settings control panel. Nothing runs unless it's on 4K resolution on my TV.

[Callahan420]

That is odd. When you change the settings with the tv connected and on it should change the resolution on the tv as well.

With my new pc I had something similar. when I turned it on It would not display on my 1080p monitor and I had to hook it up to my 4k tv and set the resolution to 1080p.

It seems yours is doing the opposite and switching to 4k.

Changing the resolution of the tv connected should have worked.

Last thing I know to try is to make sure your laptop display is the primary display.

[Bearguins]

I can change the resolution of the TV down to 1080p no problem. But the issue is that games themselves will not display at all if I do so. I have to scale it back up to 4K for any game to show up.

I've tried setting my laptop as the primary display, duplicate display, and extended display, and nothing. Even if I simply use my laptop and take the TV completely out of the situation, the game still won't display anything, regardless of whether or not it's in safe mode, forced in-game low resolution settings, etc. Same thing if I hook it up to a regular HD TV. Anything below 4K is just nada. Strange problem isn't it? I'm just completely dumbfounded by this problem.

[Callahan420]

Strange indeed. I don't know what else to tell you. Hopefully someone else can help you out.

[Callahan420]

One last ditch effort lol

Disable Fullscreen Optimizations in Windows 10

Open Settings.
Go to System - Display
Advanced graphics settings link
Uncheck Enable fullscreen optimizations

[Bearguins]

Tried this. Nothing working unfortunately. Thanks for your help, though!

[Callahan420]

Your welcome and read this it may help or get you started in the right direction.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/1080p-pc-on-4k-tv-help.3510860/

[xarvn]

Some TVs have dedicated, though perhaps unlabeled as such, ports for gaming. Consult your TV manual or you can try testing each of the ports. In the past, some TVs will not activate the gaming features without renaming the port via the TV menu to "PC" or "Game," though this might be rare in more recent TVs.

Your TV manual or User's Guide should have a full list of supported resolutions, refresh rates, and which ports they are restricted to if applicable.

[Bearguins]

I understand your point, but it does not make sense why I can't simply play on my own laptop screen anymore either. It also does not work on other full-HD TVs and monitors I've tried, all of which have worked in the past.

It's like, for some reason, my Steam games absolutely demand that I play at 4K now, regardless of which display device my laptop is using (including its own screen). Anything lower, even the next highest resolution, just doesn't work. It's the weirdest thing.

[xarvn]

That is indeed quite strange. Here are some things you might try:

1. Try a different HDMI cable
2. Update or reinstall the Nvidia drivers with the "clean install" option.
3. If your problem persists then you might try deleting the display cache. Since doing this requires a registry hack, I recommend you do so only if you have done something like this before and know that care should be exercised as you can mess things up very quickly otherwise. The following site has a detailed procedure for doing this but you can use instead an already configured registry file that they link to toward the bottom of the page. See:
https://winaero.com/blog/clear-reset-external-display-cache-windows-10/

[Bearguins]

I've tried everything and nothing's working. At this point I've given up even involving an external display and am simply trying to get things working on the laptop itself.

I have no idea what to do anymore, and it is very frustrating. All drivers are updated, and I am tempted to just do a complete reinstall of Windows at this point. :/

[xarvn]

Forgot to mention that if you tried the registry hack, you need to reboot for it to take effect.
Uninstalling and then reinstalling the Nvidia driver with "clean install" option didn't work? Does the change display screen appear when you type the Windows key + p shortcut? How about rolling back the Nvidia driver via the Device Manager? System Restore to a point before the problems started? Sorry, can't think of anything else.

[Bearguins]

I have an update, and was finally able to fix the problem!

You were on the right train of thought. It seemed to be a driver problem, but on the side of the Intel Graphics integrated GPU (which is the GPU that handles the display of laptops). It seems that my drivers could only understand that 4K was the optimal resolution on my TV, and so it would force programs to remember to only run at this resolution even when not connected to the TV.

I had to do a complete uninstall of the Intel Graphics display adapter using the device manager, do a reboot, and download the latest drivers straight off the Intel website and manually install them via the device manager again.

For now it seems this painstakingly awful problem has gone away :) the new drivers even replaced the old Intel Graphics Control Panel with an updated 'Command Center' which I hope is more optimized for newer displays.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help!

[MancSoulja]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Barack Mo'Bamba:

I have an update, and was finally able to fix the problem!

You were on the right train of thought. It seemed to be a driver problem, but on the side of the Intel Graphics integrated GPU (which is the GPU that handles the display of laptops). It seems that my drivers could only understand that 4K was the optimal resolution on my TV, and so it would force programs to remember to only run at this resolution even when not connected to the TV.

I had to do a complete uninstall of the Intel Graphics display adapter using the device manager, do a reboot, and download the latest drivers straight off the Intel website and manually install them via the device manager again.

For now it seems this painstakingly awful problem has gone away :) the new drivers even replaced the old Intel Graphics Control Panel with an updated 'Command Center' which I hope is more optimized for newer displays.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help!

As you found out, with Optimus Laptops, IGPU handles all display output, not just the laptop screen.