Distorted display for MSTS

I have just bought a new monitor following the demise of my previous one. It is wide screen and for the life of me I can't remember how I get MSTS to display in its 4:3 view. I would be extremely grateful if someone could remind me as driving trains looking like broad gauge is definitely annoying me. For some reason I can't get trains to move in Open Rails which is also extremely frustrating. I had thought that my age was only affecting me physically but perhaps it's also affecting my mental capacity!

Hello Alec, I don't know anything official, so to speak but I find 9 times out of 10 release the brakes as usual and then press Shift and / together works. Roger.

Hi Alec,
Good to hear from you - hope you're keeping OK

To get MSTS to display in its (correct!) 4:3 format on a widescreen monitor, the procedure differs according to which brand of graphics card you are running.  I know it's unlikely that you're using an AMD card, so this is the procedure for NVIDIA cards.

1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel
2. In the menu, down the left hand side of the screen, click on  "Adjust Desktop size and position"
3. In the main panel, under "Apply the following settings", click the 'Scaling' tab
4. Under "Select a scaling mode" click on 'Aspect ratio'
5. Under  "Perform scaling on", select 'GPU' from the drop-down list
6. Click the "Apply" button in the bottom right of the screen.
That should be it!!

Please come back if you ARE running an AMD card and I'll see if I can remember/recover the appropriate instructions. Unfortunately, if you're using an Intel graphics system, I don't have an answer

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Roger
Thanks for the suggestion and I'll try it later.

Hi Ged
All things being equal so to speak I'm not too bad although the aches and pains seem to increase daily. I've been double jabbed and touch wood I believe I've been covid free, although I did seem to have some - but not all - of the symptoms back in March 2020!
Over these last few months I've definitely been stir crazy and it's been difficult to stimulate myself to do much. However I'm making a distinct effort to get going. Hence trying to run trains. I've also started to make plastic kits - 1/35 armour - which is a real throwback bearing in mind it must be 50-60 years since I did my last Airfix one. (I have to admit to making Parkside wagon kits.)
OK with respect to the MSTS display my graphics card is an ASUS EAH6670. I can't find a "NVIDIA Control Panel", but I do have a Catalyst Control Panel but the only reference to scaling in that appears to be greyed out!
I opted for MSTS rather than OR as it's what I thought I could remember, and when I couldn't get any trains to move in OR I decided to seriously try MSTS.
Regards, Alec

Hi Alec,
That EAH6670 graphics card is from AMD so you won't have an NVIDIA Control Panel, but a Catalyst Control Panel instead!

I don't know if the 6670 has a VGA (blue) socket, but if so, and you're using it, or if you are using a VGA/DVI adapter in a DVI socket, I believe that will cause the Aspect Ratio option to be greyed out. If you're using a modern monitor, you should be using a straight digital connection, either DVI/DVI or DVI/HDMI.

Talking about plastic kits, do you remember Kitmaster?  Unfortunately, they went bust and some of their dies were taken over by Airfix (and, I think Dapol) who re-released some, but not all, of the models.  Those were the days!!

Cheers,
Ged

Ged
The monitor is new and a Samsung. The connection to the computer is via an HDMI lead. I did manage to get an engine to move in OR using Roger's suggestion but the engine was very sluggish!
Yes I do remember Kitmaster and I built several of their BR ex LMS Stanier coach kits. You are quite right in that Dapol now produce the old Airfix OO kits, although the quality is not brilliant as the tools are somewhat old! They're produced in their Chirk facility.
Well it's off to bed in the hope of recharging the batteries.
Regards, Alec

Hi Alec,
If you're using a digital connection on your graphics card, I can't offer any suggestions as to why you can't set the aspect ratio - Sorry

I do have an old PC with a 6670 - I'll have to crank it up to see if I can find an answer!

I'm assuming you're either using very old drivers for the card or have applied the fix otherwise MSTS wouldn't be working, if you're using a post-2015 Win 7 or Win 10.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged
Thanks for the reply, and I'll see what I can do.
Regards, Alec

Hi Ged
I'm not sure why this didn't work before but this is what I did to get MSTS to display at 4:3.
1. Went to Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display\Screen Resolution
2. Clicked on Advanced Settings
3. Clicked on Catalyst Control Center
4. Went to Desktop and Displays and then My Digital Flat-panels and then Scaling Options (Digital Flat-panel)
5. Ticked the box besides the writing at the bottom starting "Use the scaling values instead of . . . . . "
It's surprising what you can do by being methodical! Not sure how this will affect other programmes?
Regards, Alec

Hi Alec,
I'm pleased you seem to have got it sorted. I'm just concerned that your setting might affect all programs.  You can soon check that by running Open Rails in Full Screen mode (ie NOT Windowed). If it is displayed in 4:3 format, you know you've got some more work to do

I got my old PC out. It triple-booted into Win 7, Win 8.1 and Win 10.  Win 7 was correctly set up and MSTS displayed as 4:3.  Although the same drivers appear to have been installed in Win 8.1, the 'Maintain Aspect Ratio' was greyed out, as you reported.  I removed the device using Device Manager then after a reboot, re-installed the drivers. I was now able to set the Aspect Ratio. For Win 10, I had trouble installing the Win 10 version of the same drivers but, after quite a bit of 'fiddling', I was able to get it installed and to set the Aspect Ratio.

In all cases, I went to 'My Digital-Panels' > 'Image Scaling Preferences' and set it to 'Enable GPU Scaling'. Under 'Preferred Scaling Mode' I set it to 'Maintain Aspect Ratio'. I was not able to physically check MSTS under Win 8.1 and Win 10 because its not installed but have every confidence that if it ever is, it will display in 4:3 format!

Cheers,
Ged

Hello Alec, I have to agree the Trains are a bit Sluggish, makes time keeping very hard.But it's great to see the old girl up and running....