Any solutions for 1080i displays?

[TimDroz]

Are there any solutions for resolving the various annoyances having to do with running the game on an HDTV running at 1080i (1920x1080@30Hz)? Mainly, I don't seem to be able to get the game to run in fullscreen mode (even by setting the "FullScreen" parameter in the GraphicsSettingsDX11 config file to 1), and the other curious thing is that when I go into the video settings menu, all of the dropdown fields are empty and non-responsive, so I can't change any settings.

The computer is a Dell Zino HD with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 which seems to run the game (in windowed mode with default graphics settings) quite well. Had previously had serious problems getting the game to run on an ATI 4330 in a similar system, but not sure whether that was because of an earlier version of the game that was subsequently patched or just a really crappy video card.

 

[timtofly]

What size is your HDTV? Have you correctly enabled the TV as a monitor? What are your computer specs? You may still have borderline recommended specs.

 

[TimDroz]

What size is your HDTV? Have you correctly enabled the TV as a monitor? What are your computer specs? You may still have borderline recommended specs.

I don't believe the problem is related to system configuration, and I'm not experiencing performance issues in the game. At launch, there were a number of problems that appeared to be related to running the game on HDTVs at 1080i, many of which may have been addressed since then - I haven't played since a day or two after launch. However, I'm still experiencing the problem that I can't get the game to run in full screen mode, and there are no options available in any of the video options screen fields - they're all blank, I'll see if I can get a screen shot of what I'm talking about later when I get home tonight. That problem existed at launch for me, just to be clear.

In any case, here's more info on my system:
Athlon II X2 dual core 2.2GHz processor
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 1GB
8GB DDR3 RAM
Win 7 Home Premium x64
Hitachi 42" 1080i (1920x1080@30Hz) HDTV using HDMI connections

 

[timtofly]

I asked a question under the sticky (official system requirements) about whether or not this game was in 4:3 or 16:9 aspect. The link above under monitor shows the ATI/AMD scaling setup. It seems that no one can display the game full screen under 16:9, but only under 4:3. That link may be the answer to get a 4:3 scaling that may help "see" the game full screen, but there still may be "borders".


Good luck, but if you have not played it since the last patch, do not patch the game, ie, go online. I have had random (every 5 minutes or so) when the "pan" rescans the grey areas, the game stops responding.

 

[Maniacal]

Somehow I doubt Civ5 was designed with TVs in mind. So it might not work that well...

 

[TimDroz]

Here's what the Video Options page looks like... none of the fields has any values, either displayed or in the drop-down selections.



I've already patched and have no problems playing the game, with the exception that I can't change any video settings, and can't play the game in full screen. It's in a window that is permanently sized to fill the screen, but with the window border around it. Changing graphics settings in the DX11 settings file doesn't seem to make a difference.

I tried tweaking the settings in the Catalyst control app that were mentioned above, no change in behavior.

 

[timtofly]

Somehow I doubt Civ5 was designed with TVs in mind. So it might not work that well...

You mean they did not want it to be thought of as a console game at any level?


I have always had problems though hooking up my HD laptop via HDMI. The only thing that ever looked right was the Fish Tank Screen Saver. Or playing a movie. I wonder if hooking it up via the Computer VGA port would make a difference.

@TimDroz
It sounds like the DX 11 is not recognizing it as a valid display. You may have to try reloading The DX setup.

 

[Maniacal]

You mean they did not want it to be thought of as a console game at any level?

No because its a PC game and most people play them with CRT or LCD monitors. Which I suspect have less programming in them then TVs (took my friend an hour to get his HD TV off of PC mode and into regular use, dunno why but his TV didn't like a PC being hooked up for some reason. Also despite changing the resolutions in the options, Civ4 colonization was cut off along the edges quite noticeably, so was HL2 albeit barely.

 

[TimDroz]

I tried running the game in DX9 mode, and all of the above issues disappeared, although game performance dropped by about half, which is not acceptable. I haven't tried changing the Windows resolution to something like 1280x720 before launching the game yet. But I did find a few things by googling that lead me to believe that DX11 just does not play well with 1080i/30Hz in general.

In reality, there should be no difference between my TV and an LCD monitor so long as the video card supports the native resolution. The display handles my computer output just fine at that resolution, it's only the game running DX11. I've played other games without problems, but Civ V is the only one that makes a big deal of choosing to start up in DX9 or DX10/11 modes.

 

[wolfigor]

I tried running the game in DX9 mode, and all of the above issues disappeared, although game performance dropped by about half, which is not acceptable. I haven't tried changing the Windows resolution to something like 1280x720 before launching the game yet. But I did find a few things by googling that lead me to believe that DX11 just does not play well with 1080i/30Hz in general.

In reality, there should be no difference between my TV and an LCD monitor so long as the video card supports the native resolution. The display handles my computer output just fine at that resolution, it's only the game running DX11. I've played other games without problems, but Civ V is the only one that makes a big deal of choosing to start up in DX9 or DX10/11 modes.

I was able to play Civ5 on 1080p/60Hz only using DX9 (with horrible performances) and failed with DX11.

 

[Furiey]

1080p/60Hz DX11 (ATI 5800 series) 1929x1080 on my Sony TV is absolutely fine for me. So I wouldn't say 1080p is a problem, maybe it is just 1080i that is the issue.
Have you tried running at the next resolution down that is not interpolated?

 

[player1 fanatic]

I'm also having this issue.

If running on native monitor resolution (LG M2362DP, HDMI, 1920x1080), then game runs in 1080i mode. No way to get it to run in 1080p, despite Windows desktop running in 1080p without issues.

Anyway, it's only PC game I know that forces interlaced mode on my monitor.


Any solutions?

 

[player1 fanatic]

Hmm...
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut is another game that shows this issue.

So there are total of two games that force 1080i on my HDMI monitor.

P.S.
If I reduce resolution to 1600x900, it's not interlaced (both games).
But that is not really a solution.