Windowed mode doesn't fill the entire screen. Please help!

[Kaiji]

I started this thread on Reddit because after months of searching, I haven't been able to find a way to get CK2 to fill the entire screen. It leaves a gap of a few pixels at the bottom of the screen.

I've used every third-party "borderless fullscreen" solution I can find but they all either stretch the contents of the window, making the mouse disalign, or they just don't work at all.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing my CK2 window to not fill the entire screen?

I hope someone can help me with this as I need to be able to alt-tab in and out of the game instantly. I play CK2 probably about 5% as much as I'd like to because of this issue.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Here's a screenshot. You can see my wallpaper at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Kaiji]

Thanks for the reply, Wezqu but the issue isn't related to my monitor. The CK2 window just doesn't fill the whole screen.

I've attached a screenshot to the OP.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

Edit settings.txt until it fits, maybe ?

From the stickied thread:

Custom resolutions

CK2's engine allows you to create a custom resolution, which for example would be useful if you want to emulate a borderless window mode (not directly supported) or double the text size without making everything look too blurry. This can be simply done by opening the settings.txt file (see above for where to find it) and changing the "x" and "y" variables near the top of the file. "x" is the width and "y" is the height. Note that the smallest supported values are 1024 (for "x") and 768 (for "y")...

So for a desktop screen resolution of 1920x1080, i changed the resolution for CK2 to 1910x1070. Nearly borderless.
Don't alt-tab. Use any other feature (windows key) but this. Just my humble recommendation.


edit: Though reading your reddit post, i believe noone understands your issue. So what is it ? Simply edit it back to fullscreen again ?

 

[Kaiji]

Edit settings.txt until it fits, maybe ?

I tried changing the "y" parameter from 1080 to 1095 in an attempt to fill the screen gap (see screenshot in OP). No change whatsoever. The gap is still there, the same size.

Though reading your reddit post, i believe noone understands your issue. So what is it ? Simply edit it back to fullscreen again ?

I need the game to be windowed so I can alt-tab freely without the game having to unload and reload, so fullscreen mode isn't an option.

 

[AndrewT]

Can I ask why you care about a few blank pixels are the bottom of the screen? Does that affect actual gameplay in some way, or is this a purely aesthetic issue for you?

But no, there is no official guaranteed way of ensuring it utterly fills the screen in Windowed mode. You'll just have to keep experimenting with various desktop and game resolutions.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

I tried changing the "y" parameter from 1080 to 1095 in an attempt to fill the screen gap (see screenshot in OP). No change whatsoever. The gap is still there, the same size.
.......

You did restart the game after editing your setttings.txt i assume ?
Hmm, maybe change the base resolution to something higher and than edit it accordingly ? It works for me, but on single screen.

Not sure, but might have to do with your two screens. Well.....maybe someone from TechSupport will have an idea later.

edit: ninja'd

 

[Kaiji]

Can I ask why you care about a few blank pixels are the bottom of the screen? Does that affect actual gameplay in some way, or is this a purely aesthetic issue for you?

I just find it extremely irritating. When I play CK2 I play for a long time, and having part of the screen missing makes it feel cheap and crappy. This forces me to play in fullscreen mode which causes delays every single time I alt-tab in and out of the game, which is why I want to play in windowed mode.

I appreciate that not everyone might be bothered about a game leaving a gap at the bottom of the screen (especially when the problem doesn't affect them personally), but I'm mainly concerned about how I feel.

But no, there is no official guaranteed way of ensuring it utterly fills the screen in Windowed mode. You'll just have to keep experimenting with various desktop and game resolutions.

I've experimented for months. This was my last hope at getting the issue fixed, but oh well.

 

[Kaiji]

You did restart the game after editing your setttings.txt i assume ?
Hmm, maybe change the base resolution to something higher and than edit it accordingly ? It works for me, but on single screen.

Not sure, but might have to do with your two screens. Well.....maybe someone from TechSupport will have an idea later.

edit: ninja'd

Yeah I restarted. I think you're right about it being a dual monitor issue. I'd definitely be glad if someone at Paradox could help me find a solution.

 

[Losthief]

Yeah I restarted. I think you're right about it being a dual monitor issue. I'd definitely be glad if someone at Paradox could help me find a solution.

do you have the steam version or the gamersgate one?

steam: go to your actual ck2.exe and create a new shortcut to it (its in steamapps)

gamersgate (i don't have) but should be just the basic shortcut.

Right click, select properties, and under run where is says normal window, change that to maximized.

also, if your start bar is on the border between your two screens (aka, between the two 'virtually speaking') it can cause issue with windows for games.

 

[Kaiji]

Thanks for your reply, Losthief.

do you have the steam version or the gamersgate one?

steam: go to your actual ck2.exe and create a new shortcut to it (its in steamapps)

gamersgate (i don't have) but should be just the basic shortcut.

Right click, select properties, and under run where is says normal window, change that to maximized.

This made no difference.

also, if your start bar is on the border between your two screens (aka, between the two 'virtually speaking') it can cause issue with windows for games.

My taskbar is on the right side of my second monitor (not in the gap between monitors), but the same issue occurs regardless of where I place it.

It also happens when I disable my other monitor.

Still hoping someone from Paradox can help me with this, as much as I don't realistically see that being very likely.