Battlefield 2 Stuck at 800x600 on my HDTV

[JesseM]

I recently bought a Gigabyte 9500GT (512MB) card with native HDMI out. The picture is amazing on my HDTV, in fact I have stopped using a computer monitor.

However, upon trying to play Battlefield 2 I was a little disappointed. The game no longer gives me resolution options besides the default 800x600, which you could imagine looks awful on such a large screen. Also, when I put the overall graphics quality' preset to 'High' the game crashes. Now, I know this is related to my switch to using an HDTV because when I play the game using my LCD computer monitor I get many different options regarding resolution and refresh rate.

The desktop resolution on my TV is at 1920x1080. Please help!

 

[LinkedKube]

How large is your hdtv. Are your drivers up to date for your card? What is your resolution set to in windows?

 

[JesseM]

Thanks for your response.

My HDTV is 26" and 720p. I assume my drivers are up to date, since I got the card and installed the drivers for it three days ago, but I will double-check just in case. And as I said before, my Windows resolution is 1920x1080.

 

[LNCPapa]

If your set is 720p then your resolution should only be set to 1280x720 if it's 16:9. Try dropping your game resolution to that and see if it works.

 

[JesseM]

I tried updating my drivers and setting my desktop resolution to 1280x720 both without any luck. Thank you both for your replies.

Again, the problem is not that my graphics card can't handle the higher resolutions, but that there are no other resolutions to choose from in the video options in BF2.

EDIT: I just noticed that when I set my desktop res to 1280x720 the only refresh rate options I get are 59Hz and 60Hz, but when I set the res to 1920x1080 I only get to choose between 29Hz and 30Hz. Could this have something to do with the problem?

 

[nazartp]

Kind of dumb question: do you start-up with TV as the primary monitor? I ran some games on my son's TV as a secondary monitor and the computer had trouble detecting the right resolution if you just plug the TV in. After reboot with only TV hooked-up as a monitor, it detected it correctly. No further problems after that.

I believe that 59/60 HZ vs 29/30 reflects the mode - first one is non-interlaced (i.e., your card sends the data to all lines on your TV once per cycle), the second one is interlaced (i.e., it sends information only to half the lines each cycle).

 

[JesseM]

@ nazartp: Yep, I only use the TV as the primary monitor.I appreciate the help!

 

[LNCPapa]

The frequency options also reflect that the TV is capable of handling a 1080i signal, just as nazartp hinted to. That's probably why you're able to have you desktop set to 1920x1080. Take a look at this link: http://www.tweakguides.com/BF2_7.html and try setting the custom resolution of 1280x720.

 

[JesseM]

Ah, that makes sense. That shouldn't have anything to do with the res problem in BF2 though, since I tried playing it when my desktop was set to 1080i and 720p.

 

[LinkedKube]

Maybe Bf2 doesnt have that specific resolution available. I know refresh rates for tv's are usually 60hz, unless you've recently bought one of those 120hz tv's. If I had BF2 installed I'd check it out, but frankly its a waste of my hardware.

 

[JesseM]

I've been playing BF2 since it came out years ago on many different monitors with different resolutions not available in the game, and I have never had this problem. My TV's refresh rate is at 60Hz now, which is what BF2 uses. Still no options other than 800x600.

BTW supersmashbrada I'm jealous of your hardware

 

[LinkedKube]

yeah but have you been using a lcd tv to play the game? I know current tv's dont have dvi ports. Which is the more current pc interface, before hdmi of course.

 

[JesseM]

I guess I fail to see the specific differences between playing on an LCD computer monitor and an LCD TV screen. I'm just going to assume that for some reason BF2 doesn't like being played on TV's, and that there's nothing I can really do to get a higher resolution while playing BF2 on my TV.

 

[14 of a hotdog]

I guess I fail to see the specific differences between playing on an LCD computer monitor and an LCD TV screen. I'm just going to assume that for some reason BF2 doesn't like being played on TV's, and that there's nothing I can really do to get a higher resolution while playing BF2 on my TV.

I see LNCPapa pointed out the page that said how to use a custom resolution but if you haven’t tried it yet here it is quoted from the page. Just follow the guide but use your TV’s native resolution.

If you used the default installation directory for the game you might be able to copy this if not just copy the end.

"C:\Program Files\EA Games\Battlefield 2\BF2.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +szx 1280 +szy 720

There are a range of commands - mainly designed for servers running BF2 - which can be activated via the BF2 command line. You can use these commands by going to your main Battlefield 2 shortcut you use to launch the game, right-click on it and select Properties. Then in the Target box, after the "C:\Program Files\EA Games\Battlefield 2\BF2.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 text, insert another space, then use any of the commands below. Each command must have a single space between it and the next command.



For example, one of the most commonly requested commands is to run BF2 in 1280x1024 resolution (or another custom resolution) - particularly for LCD displays which display the best image at their native resolution. To do this, change your command line to look like this:



"C:\Program Files\EA Games\Battlefield 2\BF2.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +szx 1280 +szy 1024



Note the addition of the +szx and +szy commands which respectively set the width and height of the resolution to be used. Substitute other values for other resolutions (e.g. +szx 1900 +szy 1200). Also note that as of the 1.03 Patch, 1280x1024 is now a supported resolution and can be selected within the in-game settings, so you don't need to use the +szx/+szy commands to force it anymore.

If you want the other commands than go here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

http://www.tweakguides.com/BF2_7.html

 

[JesseM]

Thank you, ¼ of a hotdog, that seemed to do the trick.

However, now I can't play the game. It crashes when loading a single player map. It loads just fine until it gets done loading Geometries (at 62%) and then it crashes the instant it starts loading Textures. It happens no matter the resolution, even at the default 800x600 (which worked just fine before...). Frustrating!

EDIT: I just found out that it is only the map "Road to Jalalabad" that this is happening. Hmmm.............. All other maps work fine. Again, thanks for your help!