Solved ATI Radeon UNDER/OVER SCAN Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 10:01:00 +0000

Identifying the Problem

Ever since I connected my PC(with an ATI Radeon GPU) with an HDTV, I was getting these black borders around the screen,i.e., the picture never seemed to reach the edge of the screen. After a few Google searches, I found that ATI graphics card when connected to a HDTV, were more prone to show this problem.It happens because of a thing called Overscan.

I never installed the Catalyst Control Center(CCC). My HDTV was connected through a HDMI cable and it worked fine (albeit with borders) and for some reason, installing the ATI Drivers showed errors on my PC.

I hate disclaimers, but...

"DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.Some solutions listed here involve tinkering with the 'Registry' of your Windows PC. And the Registry is serious stuff. Very serious. If you are not careful, you might have to REINSTALL Windows and you might lose your data."

Possible Solutions

Before you try anything with your PC's registry, scroll down and read "Tweaking the TV" because the problem may not be PC related.

I found a few solutions from the various articles I read, which are listed below.

Through CCC: Under the "desktop and display" tab, right click on your main display and select "configure", you will see a "Scaling Options" Tab. Here set the Overcan to 0%. I didn't follow this because, some users reported that the problem returned when they restarted or set another resolution or started playing a game, in which case, the game changes the resolution as per the settings. Then the users had to set settings for each particular resolution and refresh rate.

Through Registry: Changing some REG D_WORD values in the Registry.
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Video\\). I used this because, I can set the registry values for once and not be bothered by the settings again.

My solution

I followed the 2nd one along with a small tweak with the TV itself. Because sometimes the problem may not be related to your GPU, but actually related to your TV. Again, please see "Tweaking the TV" part of this post, for settings on your TV. The steps listed below may look very difficult, but it's very easy. Look at the pictures and fire away any doubts in the comments. Let's begin...

Open Registry Editor: Tap the Start button and type "regedit" and hit Enter.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\
There will be some keys under "Video" named like this {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} but with different numbers and letters.
Rightclick on the Video key at the top of the tree and "Find" the resolution, that you want to change (e.g. 1920x1080,1440x900).
The keys which you will need are named this way DALR6 DFPXXXXxYYYYx0xFF, where
XXXX= Horizontal Resolution
YYYY= Vertical Resolution
FF= Frequency
WARNING!! - Take a backup of the original keys before you continue. Right-click {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}-type key and click "Export".
Right-Click on the key matching the screen resolution and frequency you want to remove the borders of and select "Modify".

Right-Click and select "Modify"
The window that opens next will show you bunch of "00" but also some non-zero bunches (like "04" "08"). Change all of these non-zero bunches to "00".

Change all of these non-zero bunches to "00"
Exit from "Registry Editor". Don't poke around in "Registry Editor" because it WILL bite you and your computer.
The effects will take place when you set your display resolution to the one you changed in the Registry.

Tweaking the TV

This tweaking was necessary because, when I followed the steps given above, some parts of my screen were cut off, like my Taskbar did not have the Start button anymore. If this happens to you, follow the steps given below. This tweaking is for Samsung HDTVs. But, of course you are free to try it on TVs of other brands.

Hit the "Source" button on the TV's remote.
Rename the source to "PC" or "DVI PC" by using the "Tools" button.

Hope this post helped you to solve your problem.

Play Subway Surfers on PC-Keyboard Controls!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 09:59:00 +0000

Now, assuming you have been socially active and not living in a cave for the past couple of months, you have probably heard of a game called Subway Surfers. It's available on Android and iOS platforms. And it's addictive and best of all, it's free.

I have played a lot of PC games over the years but this perhaps the first time that I have found a game originally developed for mobiles, to be so strangely addictive. Strange because I am more of a NFS, Crysis kind of guy and the graphics of this game are like mid-90s cartoons albeit, with Full HD.

I played this on a friend's phone(my phone doesn't support this) and I was hooked. I wanted it on my PC but later I discovered that it's not released for PC at all. So I loaded up the Subway Surfers .apk file on an Android emulator and finally got to play it. But I could only play it using a mouse and so I couldn't get good scores.

One day, I got to know of this program called AutoHotKey, which allowed me to bind keys and combinations from the keyboard and mouse to keys that I liked. Like, for example I could bind the VolumeUp function to Ctrl+Up key if I so desired. Finally, I found a way to port the mouse gestures for Subway Surfers control to specific keys. And here's how you can do it too:

For Keyboard Controls:

Download AutoHotKey and install it.

Open a text editor. (e.g. - Notepad )

Paste the following code:

Up::
{ Click down
MouseMove, 0, -300, 3, R
Click up
MouseMove, 0, 300, 0, R
}
return
Down::
{ Click down
MouseMove, 0, 300, 3, R
Click up
MouseMove, 0, -300, 0, R
}
return
Right::
{ Click down
MouseMove, 300, 0, 3, R
Click up
MouseMove, -300, 0, 0, R
}
return
Left::
{ Click down
MouseMove, -300, 0, 3, R
Click up
MouseMove, 300, 0, 0, R
}
return

Save the file as an .ahk file. Use All types "." (E,g,: "Subway Surfers code.ahk")

Run this file before you play the game.

To end the AutoHotKey script after playing the game - Look at the system tray (near the clock and date). There should be a big "H" icon. Right click on it and click "Exit".

Go ahead and enjoy the game.
P.S.: Playing on keyboard gives better scores than a touchscreen.