Vertical sync with monitor refresh

[jinxtengu]

Hello. Iv'e been testing a game made with Zgame editor on multiple machines.
Iv'e found on a SyncMaster monitor 1920x1080 resolution the monitor refresh isn't synced with the game, meaning the top half of the screen is refreshing faster than the bottom half of the screen causing a sort of subtle tearing.

Does anyone know how to set the vertical refresh rate to that of the monitor?
Iv'e tried a bunch of stuff but haven't been about to work this out yet.
if anyone can help i'd really appreciate it

[Kjell]

Hi jinxtengu,

This can be caused by a number of reasons. Could you answer the following questions?

- Which Windows version is the PC running?
- Which Windows theme is the PC using?
- Which GPU does the PC have?
- Which GPU drivers are installed?
- Which refresh rate is the GPU set to?

Does anyone know how to set the vertical refresh rate to that of the monitor?

This is usually done through the advanced settings of your GPU or Monitor in the Windows Control Panel.

Also, are you experiencing screen tearing in ZGE, standalone executables created with ZGE ( windowed or fullscreen ) or the ZGE Visualizer?

K

[jinxtengu]

to answer your questions about the system info, im running:
windows 7 professional
service pack 1
theme: windows classic
Gpu ASUS EAH6950 series
ATI display adapter (0x6719)
Internal DAC (400MHz)
DIsplay mode 1920x1080 (32bit) (60HZ)
main driver:aticfx64.dll
version 8.801.0.0
the monitor refresh rate is 60 hertz

I am noticing the screen tearing with a stand alone executable while running it on this machine. It's rather subtle, but having run the exe on other machines It is perceivable. Is there a way to improve this without changing the monitor settings in the windows control panel?
The reason I want to fix this is to increase compatibility with my game so it will run well on multiple PCs.

[Kjell]

Hi jinxtengu,

Windows Vista & 7 are a bit of a basket-case when it comes to v-sync. Microsoft introduced the DWM ( Desktop Window Manager ) in Vista, but it's disabled when you're using the classic theme in Vista or 7. Anyway, does the tearing of your standalone occur in windowed or full-screen mode? Also, does the screen-tear roll down ( or up ) the screen, or does it stay at the exact same spot over time? In any case i'd try to see if there are any updates for your Radeon card, the "ATI display adapter" driver name sounds rather generic which could mean it's a default driver provided by Windows.

The reason I want to fix this is to increase compatibility with my game so it will run well on multiple PCs.

There's not much you can do yourself, better compatibility is something that needs to be done at engine-level / in the source-code of ZGE.

K