GTA IV works on my TV, but not on my laptop!

[Magikpeople]

I recently purchased Grand Theft Auto IV to play on my new laptop. However, when I first started the game, I realized that something was up.

 

First, there were some huge black borders on each side of the screen, and the game was squeezed between them in a small square area.

 

Then comes the biggest problem. When the game actually started, there were no textures at all. All the walls/buildings were transparent. And I could see the cars and people in the distance.

 

Now when I went into the graphics menu, all the settings were the lowest as possible and I could not change them. It said 59MB/258MB (not sure about the actual number, but it was close to that I think) and that" the graphics settings are near or exceed the suggested ressource limits for my system."

 

Now,I looked it up a bit on Internet and saw that it was probably because my graphics card that was to weak and so I kinda left the game where it was for a while.

 

But that's when the weird stuff comes in. I, for some reason, decided to try to play it when I was using my HDTV as an external screen for my laptop with an HDMI cable. And, much to my surprise, the game ran perfectly! Without any missing textures or whatsoever. I was even able to change the settings to high! It now said that I had 900 something MB available out of [whatever that number was, around 400 I believe], instead of 59!

 

Now this has got me wondering if the reason I wasn't able to play it on my laptop wasn't simply because of a screen resolution issue?

 

Here are my laptop's specs. Any ideas?

 

Intel Core i5-2410M 2.30GHz (with turbo boost)

NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1Gb

6gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM

Screen: 15.6 inches (1366 x 769)

 

And my TV is a 42 inches tv (1920/1080)

 

I tried changing my laptop's screen resolution to a resolution with the same ratio as my tv but.

1. It looked ugly because it was too small

2. It didn't change a thing for the game

 

Oh, and I checked my display drivers and they are all up to date. I have also downloaded and installed the latest patch for the game.

 

Now I would really use some help! This is driving me nuts!!

[mkey82]

Usually, you'll want the scaling option in Nvidia control panel set to fullscreen.

[Magikpeople]

Usually, you'll want the scaling option in Nvidia control panel set to fullscreen.

Hmm... now that's kinda annoying. I cannot seem to find the Flat Panel Scaling option anywhere in the Nvidia control panel.

I'm using Windows 7... Anyone else ever had this issue?

[mkey82]

http://techedze.com/Thread-faq-on-running-...en-in-windows-7

[Magikpeople]

Well, that is what I was trying to do. The thing is that I don't even have the "Change Flat Panel Settings" option at all! I honestly really don't know what's up with that.

There must be a way to change the scaling somehow..

[mkey82]

Are your drivers up to date?

[Magikpeople]

I thought they were...

Anyway, I tried the norestriction thing I saw on another forum and it worked. I was able to change the resolution in game and it works fine now!

Thanks for the help man!

[GTA3Freak-2001]

Just a thought but its possible you have switchable graphics like many core i3/5/7 notebooks where you have the option of using your CPU's built in graphics chip or a more dedicated in your case, GT525 M card. That would be why the game ran poorly if you had the Intel HD Graphics selected.

[JimmySwag]

Try updating your graphic drivers. And to Open NVIDIA CP in windows 7, right click at an empty area and from the pop up you will find a list in which there is an option to open graphic properties.