Horizontal scanlines in windowed mode games

[Randalmcdaniel]

Does the newest version of dxwrapper handle windowed mode differently? Im now noticing borders around games in windowed mode that never had them before.

I noticed that forcing windowed mode through dxwrapper now behaves as if i enabled windowed mode through the games options. Which sucks. The reason i use dxwrapper is to OVERRIDE stuff

The reason im talking about this is because i am seeing horizontal lines in windowed mode games. Its not a vsync issue either. Its different. I've fixed this issue in the past by simply removing the border of the window itself. (by making the game fullscreen, then enabling windowed=1 in dxwrapper resulted in a windowed mode without any border. And no issues of horizontal scan lines.

Im starting to suspect that ANY sort of border around a window crams the pixels together. But i could be wrong.

i prefer to play old games in windowed mode. because i want the pixels and fov to be PURE.

if you watch this video i just made (playing FEAR with the newest version of dxwrapper) you can see about 75% of the way through the video i am looking at a wall with bricks and there are noticable horizontal scanlines occuring. Vsync on or off has no effect on these lines

[Randalmcdaniel]

Ok this is definately a real thing, heres another game with the same exact issue. And i show how to fix it with dxwrapper. Anyone have any ideas or theories of why this occurs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lorzIy1dJQg

[elishacloud]

I suspect it may be this check-in that caused the issue: efe58fd

It is because I am adding a border to the window. Are you using DXVK? Can you try removing it? It only adds a border when it detects vulkan.

[elishacloud]

Thanks for the YouTube video. Try this update: dxwrapper.zip

[Wemino]

@elishacloud For F.E.A.R., a workaround seems to reduce the height of PresentParameters.BackBufferHeight.

The crosshair at 1920x1080: (Windowed + border)

The crosshair at 1600x1024: (Windowed + border)

I also notice the scanlines when playing in windowed mode with borders at 1280x720, those issues are not present when changing the style of the window to remove the border.

Hijacking the in-game parameter used for BackBufferHeight seems to fix the issue:

Changing it from 1080 to 1070 fixed the scanlines issue, and the crosshair will look correct at 1920x1080.
Using the WS_POPUP window style will fix the crosshair at 1920x1080, but the scalines will remain.

I wouldn't see this as a proper fix, but maybe it can help you with this issue.

[elishacloud]

Interesting. Try this update: dxwrapper.zip

Edit: updated build.

[elishacloud]

I think this should be fixed in the latest dev build. You can download it under the Actions tab.

[Wemino]

Sorry for the delay, I can still notice the scanlines and the horizontal line of the crosshair missing.

With the attached build and the latest dev build.

[elishacloud]

Can you test with this build and send me the logs: dxwrapper.zip

This build has extra logging to help me see what is happening in your case.

[Wemino]

The output: dxwrapper-fear.exe.log

m_IDirect3D9Ex::AdjustWindow Final window size: {0,0,1930,1071} window location: {0,0,1936,1100}

I believe the issue is that the BackBufferHeight set by the game doesn't match the size (1071) of the window.

[elishacloud]

Thanks for the logs. They don't really make sense to me. I don't know why it is doing what it is doing. However, I did find some issues.

Here is a new update. Please try this one and send me the logs: dxwrapper.zip

[Wemino]

dxwrapper-fear.exe.log

[elishacloud]

It looks like there is a border on the window and dxwrapper isn't removing the border.

1. What settings do you have enabled in dxwrapper.ini?
2. Is the game set for fullscreen or windowed mode?

[elishacloud]

Maybe enabling FullscreenWindowMode will solve this issue?

Im starting to suspect that ANY sort of border around a window crams the pixels together. But i could be wrong.

Your correct. I'm pretty sure this is what is happening.

[Wemino]

What settings do you have enabled in dxwrapper.ini?

None, I got everything to default.

Is the game set for fullscreen or windowed mode?

Windowed mode.

Maybe enabling FullscreenWindowMode will solve this issue?

I still notice the issue, the game doesn't match my monitor's resolution even when both are set to the same setting: (bottom right text)

Logs:
dxwrapper-fear.exe.log

This issue occurs when setting the game to windowed mode. Otherwise, everything works fine.
I'm sharing this in case it's not the intended behavior.

[elishacloud]

Ok, try this one. I found one more issue with the function: dxwrapper.zip

[Wemino]

This version fixed the issue with FullscreenWindowMode, the game now appears in fullscreen mode without any issues.

[elishacloud]

Great! Thanks for the confirmation.