Dual Monitor help! (16:10 to 16:9)

[hpfreak]

Okay, I have an Asus G73jh.
It has the AMD Radeon 5870.
I have 2 monitors, the laptop monitor (primary monitor running at 16:9, 1600x900, 17.3").
And a secondary monitor that I got a couple of years back, I forget the size, it is between 19-21. But the thing that effects my situation is since it is 16:10, running at 1680x1050.
Now, I have games such as Burnout Paradise, that support multiple monitors, but, my issue is, that when I try to run games when my secondary monitor (Compaq W201q) is hooked up, the games don't play properly, they aren't distorted, but they go into a 4:3 mode, or like Burnout, it becomes 1/2 the regular size, and runs at the new aspect ratio on my laptop monitor. Basically, my laptop monitor becomes a virtual dual screen in-game.
Now, I want to figure out a solution for this, either find a solution for the game, (mainly burnout Paradise: the ultimate box). Or, if there is no problem game-wise, then find a way to change my external 16:10 monitor to a 16:9 aspect ratio, and then having the same resolution, because I'd be downgrading it from the higher resolution, higher aspect ration, to a lower resolution (1600x900) and lower aspect ratio.
I want there to be black bars, all possibilities can be checked, but I'd prefer having blackbars instead of distorting the screeen by stretching, or compressing the resolution to fit.

So, to summarize the above, I want to find a solution to be able to run dual monitor gaming, by cropping the resolution of my external monitor.

Thanks,

HPFREAK out~

 

[-Fran-]

Then you have to use the CCC to tell the computer you have 1 monitor at a certain resolution...

You have to "extend" the main desktop to the external monitor, merging them. You can adjust the resolution on the second one inside the CCC and move it around.

Don't have the screenshots here, but I bet it ain't hard to find. Look around for "desktop extend" on the big G.

Cheers!

 

[hpfreak]

Yes, I know, I've had them set for quiet a while in extended mode. But my problem is, that games don't allow me to use the extra monitor for some reason, and I'm 99% sure it is related to the resolution difference.
I get options to change the resolution, but I am not able to change it to a resolution that is not parallel to its native.
I can not downsize it from 1680x1050, to 1600x900... My next drop is down to 1440x900.
Which doesn't help, it just makes it look ugly... xD
So, any solutions to change from 16:10 to 16:9?
Thats probably my best bet. Maybe a 3rd party software might be able to do it. But I haven't searched enough for info. on that.

 

[-Fran-]

Oh, you're absolutely right; forgot that games handle resolutions by themselves...

Like you said, if the game doesn't support it, I guess there's nothing we can do about it... Maybe there's a program you could run in the background that tells the game you have a X, Y resolution display or something. More than that, I don't have any more suggestions I can think off, sorry.

I've never used 2 monitors to do different "screens" in games, it's either Clone mode or each display on it's own 8(

Cheers!

 

[hpfreak]

Yeah, but you can extend the displays, you know AMD Eyefinity set-up?
Well, thats what I'm trying to achieve, or something similar. I have the power, I have the supported product, I just need to find a way to change 16:10 to 16:9...
I really don't care if there are black bars or whatever on the sides of the screen, I want to be able to run the game using that extra screen.
Maybe there is a way to tweak the monitor? or change the resolution by changing the way Windows identifies the screen?

 

[hpfreak]

Best answer selected by hpfreak.