black bars left and right side of the screen when playing games

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Level 1

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black bars left and right side of the screen when playing games

everytime i open up a game on my imac on the left and right side black bars appear. for example quake 4 i have tried changing the video settings to widescreen but the bars are still there.

is there any settings i could trying modifying on my mac. ive tried my best to fix it but i cant figure it out so any help will be well appreiciated thankyou!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Jul 22, 2008 6:24 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 22, 2008 8:05 PM in response to Skitt

i have tried changing the video settings to widescreen

Do you mean you changed the resolution setting IN the game, or the general settings in System Preferences Displays pane?

Some games (especially those that are a few years old) may not be able to display in widescreen mode. Therefore, they use a standard 4x3 aspect ratio output and display in the center portion of a widescreen. "Black bars" take of the remaining space.

If you want to stretch the game output to fill the entire screen, it may work if you first use System Preferences Displays pane to select a standard 4x3 resolution with (stretched) in the name, before playing the game. For example, try using +1024x768 (stretched)+ and then running the game.

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Answer 2

Skitt Author

Level 1

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Jul 23, 2008 4:18 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

yes i changed the resolution settings in the game that didnt work. when i change system preferences to 1024x640 (stretched) it makes my screen blurry.
Im sure the last time i played them on my mac before downgrading to tiger they didnt have bars on left an right side.

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Answer 3

musashi88

Level 2

456 points

Jul 23, 2008 4:52 AM in response to Skitt

Hi Skitt, if your games are like mine, I had to change the preferences of the game not my computer screen. For example Civ 4 needs you to change the resolution otherwise you will have the bars on both sides. Try holding down shift or command while the game loads that might prompt the game to ask what your resolution/sreen prefs are. Good luck.

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