How to get a FOV above 90

In this guide I will show you how to get a higher field of view in TF2.

Introduction

Most of you probably already know what FOV is, but for the few that don't know let me explain it real quick. Your field of view is how much you see of your environment ingame.

TF2's default FOV is 70 I believe and you can change it up to 90 via the advanced options and console commands.

What we're going to discuss in this guide is how to get your FOV beyond 90 on official Valve servers.

Disclaimer

This will require you to use a different aspect ratio. If you don't want black bars and sacrifice your normal aspect ratio for a higher FOV this guide won't help you.

sv_restrict_aspect_ratio 1

Before I tell you how to actually get a higher FOV, let's talk about what exactly makes it kinda difficult to achieve a higher FOV in TF2.

There is this little convar called "sv_restrict_aspect_ratio" which restricts your aspect ratio's field of view. It has 3 different values. 0 which means it's off and won't restrict you in either fullscreen or windowed mode, 1 which means it will restrict any aspect ratio above 16:9 for windowed-only and lasty 2 which means it restricts both windowed and fullscreen.
You can run TF2 in for example 1920x700 in windowed via the launch parameters, but your horizontal FOV won't increase at all plus your vertical FOV will actually be smaller.

Currently all Valve servers run "sv_restrict_aspect_ratio 1" which means only windowed mode is restricted.
Usually in Valve games you can just use the "mat_setvideomode height width 1" command to change your game to an ultra wide ratio (to get a higher FOV) and have your FOV scale alongside it.
But that command doesn't work natively for TF2 nor would it help since it's windowed only.

If you want to have a higher aspect ratio such as 21:9 on a 16:9 monitor fullscreen you're out of luck since most games won't allow it or support that.

Let's talk about the fix.

Nvidia Control Panel

It's actually pretty simply to let the game run a different, higher aspect ratio in fullscreen mode. All you need to do is set a custom resolution via the nvidia control panel.

Oh also if you're not using a nvidia graphics card you'll have to use other methods of changing your resolution, I'll link them at the bottom of this guide.


First off, go to your desktop and right click. Bring up the nvidia control panel from the list.

　
　
Click "customize".

　
　
Then go to "create custom resolution".

　
　
Change vertical lines to whatever you like and leave everything else be. I personally play at 1920x700 which is around 24:9 and gives me a FOV of 130. Side note, TF2 doesn't seem to like anything lower than 1920x600. Never got anything below 600 to work. Anyways after setting the vertical lines click on "test" and then confirm. After that it should show up in your custom resolution list. Back out to the main control panel after that.

　
　
Now in the main control panel you can see your new custom resolution at the top. You don't have to change your resolution right now, just leave it there and launch TF2.

TF2's Video Options

Now at the main menu go to the options and then to the video tab.

After opening the list of available resolution you should be able to find your custom resolution. Now just select and apply it.

　
　
Congrats, now you have a wider aspect ratio and correctly scaled higher FOV.

FAQ

Q: Can I get banned for this?
A: No.

Q: Why not just use windowed mode and not fullscreen?
A: I explained that in the guide, a convar restricts windowed mode at the moment and only fullscreen users can take advantage of aspect ratios above 16:9.

Q: Why even use an ultra wide aspect ratio?
A: It's the only way to increase your FOV in a legitimate way since for fullscreen users the FOV scales with the aspect ratio itself.

Q: Does this make you a better player?
A: Yes and no. For example some professional players on CS:GO still play in 4:3 stretched. They have a lower FOV than players who play at a 16:9 ratio. You need more things than a high FOV to be good at a game, but for certain people having a higher FOV sure helps a lot.

Q: Having those letter boxes isn't nice to look at.
A: Black letter boxes aren't for everyone, but I personally prefer a 16:9 monitor with letter boxes over an actual ultra wide monitor anytime. For my normal desktop activity I stick to 16:9 of course.

Q: Will Valve fix this?
A: Nothing to fix here and I also doubt that Valve will do anything about this. All they can really do is somehow force TF2 to always use your monitor's native resolution upon detecting a custom resolution or just restrict wider aspect ratios for everyony including people with actual ultra wide monitors and multi monitor setups.

Q: I heard that this is kinda cheating since you can see through walls at the edge of your screen.
A: Having a higher FOV isn't cheating. Even 180 which isn't possible (in TF2) nor feasible wouldn't be a huge advantage. Having a high FOV is about having some sort of peripheral vision (like in real life) plus having better spacial awareness in the game.
Hang on there is more coming.
Also TF2 is actually optimized for higher FOVs unlike other source games like L4D2. In L4D2 it's very easy to see a good bit through walls if you're right next to them while in TF2 that will basically never happen in first person. It does happen in third person in TF2 (while taunting for example), but the way how maps and players are rendered in source games this is completely useless. You won't be able to see players across the whole map since they aren't rendered. You can potentially see enemies who are in a room/area right next to you, but at that point you can already hear them. Plus TF2 already has a shadow wallhack bug, which is much more severe.
Here check my video out and see for yourself.

Time mark is 9:02

Alternative for AMD and Intel Users

I personally only used Custom Resolution Utility once myself and don't know much about it, but it should work pretty much the same way. Also AMD might have some sort of control panel similar to nvidia, so you could also use that if you have an AMD card. So CRU would only really be for Intel users.

https://www.monitortests.com/forum/thread-custom-resolution-utility-cru

3kliksphilip also used CRU in one of his videos as seen here.

I think he also actually managed to stretch the game to 16:9 during gameplay (as in stretch for example 1920x700 over 1920x1080), the one time I used CRU I didn't figure out how to do that. Also any FOV above 110 looks kinda weird on 16:9. I'd recommend you use an actual different aspect ratio if you wanna have a very high FOV.

If you enjoyed this guide or found it useful please consider rating it.

　
　

[Sophia]

What resolution should I use for 1440p?

[mariofan99]

i just want a higher fov because of how tunnelvisiony the normal fov looks but i also dont even have a ultrawide monitor 😭😭😭

[linkman]

This also works on Linux, on hyprland or, I would assume, sway, by changing your monitor settings to whatever resolution

[BEEvil]

Thanks! This principle also works on Linux with X11 by using applications `cvt` and `xrandr`.

1. Use cvt to got a compatible xrandr modesetting for your display, like so:
$ cvt [height] [width] [fps]

- - -
$ cvt 1920 700 120
# 1920x700 119.92 Hz (CVT) hsync: 90.30 kHz; pclk: 235.50 MHz
Modeline "1920x700_120.00" 235.50 1920 2064 2264 2608 700 703 713 753 -hsync +vsync
- - -

2. Take the text after "Modeline" and add it as a new mode:
$ xrandr --newmode "1920x700_120.00" 235.50 1920 2064 2264 2608 700 703 713 753 -hsync +vsync

3. Add it to your current output display, DisplayPort-1 in my case:
$ xrandr --addmode DisplayPort-1 "1920x700_120.00"

After this, you should be able to select the new resolution in your display configuration program of choice. I find TF2 might crash if you set the resolution in-game, but works flawlessly if the resolution is set before launching the game.

[Viktor]

nice one i liked it but i will not be using it cause its kinda strange looking and beats of your muscle memory

[DJ L3G3ND]

wait no that wouldnt even help would it
ugh I just need higher fov so bad but I dont wanna make the game look so awful and small

[DJ L3G3ND]

thanks, this really helped my aiming, but Im wondering if there are any methods to zoom in the game to remove the bars, and then centralise the hud? Im sure theres gotta be some way

[Jake]

managed to get it to work with CRU easily with a RX 6600.

[nomorevideos]

Late reply, didn't see your comment, sorry. If you have an Intel iGPU you'd be using CRU.

[Pablo]

how do I do It on laptop because laptops don't have the display settings in the Nvidia Control Panel