[LAPTOP] Can't lower resolution

[imrazor]

My 15" laptop panel has a resolution of 1920x1080, which is fine for most things. However, some games tax my hardware too much at this resolution, so I'd like to lower it in some instances. Problem is, the Kubuntu System Settings Display module won't let me choose anything lower than Full HD resolution (1080p). nvidia-settings will let me choose "1366x768 (scaled)", and displays the desktop at 1366x768, but will let me *pan* past that resolution to other desktops. Games still see this "fake" 1366x768 resolution as 1920x1080. Anyone have a solution or workaround?

Hardware specs:

Asus G53SX-XN1
Nvidia GTX 560M 2GB VRAM
i7-2630QM @ 2 Ghz
8GB DDR3 1333MHz
Seagate 1TB SSHD (dual boot w/Win7 Pro)

NVidia driver version 331.13 (from the ubuntu repository)

[Simon]

1. Go into Konsole (terminal) you can find it under Application -> System in the Launch Menu
2. type at the prompt $ xrandr
You should see code such as this;

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1360 x 768, maximum 2720 x 1536
DFP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DFP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
CRT1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
[B]CRT2 connected 1360x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 16mm x 9mm[/B]
   1360x768       60.0*+
   1280x768       60.0  
   1280x720       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3  
   640x480        59.9

3. Copy and paste this code into your next reply to the topic.

Meanwhile you can experiment with xrandr like so;
xrandr --output CRT2 --mode 1280x768 --scale 1.0x1.0 --panning 1280x768
Note CRT2 is the name of my output you will need to replace it with your system name.

If for some reason you don't have xrandr just install it with;
sudo apt-get install xrandr

[imrazor]

xrandr output:

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS-0 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Seems xrandr can only see 1920x1080. Which is odd, since I get a variety of resolutions under Win7.

Found more information here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=145671. Apparently this has something to do with NVidia drivers failing to expose non-native resolutions to xrandr 1.2. Sure enough, if I enter:

$ xrandr --q1
 SZ:    Pixels          Physical       Refresh
*0   1920 x 1080   ( 341mm x 190mm )  *50  
 1   1366 x 768    ( 242mm x 135mm )   51  
 2   1680 x 1050   ( 298mm x 185mm )   52  
 3   1440 x 900    ( 255mm x 158mm )   53  
 4   1280 x 1024   ( 227mm x 180mm )   54  
 5   1280 x 800    ( 227mm x 141mm )   55  
 6   1280 x 720    ( 227mm x 127mm )   56  
 7   1024 x 768    ( 181mm x 135mm )   57  
 8    800 x 600    ( 142mm x 105mm )   58  
 9    640 x 480    ( 113mm x  84mm )   59  
Current rotation - normal
Current reflection - none
Rotations possible - normal left inverted right 
Reflections possible - X Axis Y Axis

However, if I try to force xrandr to 1.1 mode and change the resolution, I get this:

$ xrandr --q1 --output LVDS-0 --mode 1366x768
xrandr: cannot find mode 1366x768

[SecretCode]

I have an Asus ... if necessary I will look up the specs ... with Nvidia nvidia-331 v 331.113-0ubuntu0.0.4 (did you mean 113 not 13?)

xrandr shows

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1848, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-0 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 269mm
   1920x1080      59.9*+   60.0  
   1680x1050      60.0  
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1280x960       75.0  
   1280x720       75.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.0     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     59.9  
LVDS-0 connected 1366x768+277+1080 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
   1366x768       60.0*+
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

But my laptop panel although only showing 1366x768 in xrandr can be resized in nvidia-settings to smaller sizes including 1024x768 and 800x600 (plus a couple of others listed that I didn't try).
Which is the same as you've found, but I don't know what you mean by "pan past it to other desktops".

I suspect nvidia is not sharing the available resolutions in a way xrandr can see - and perhaps your game is using the same api as xrandr.

[imrazor]

See my updated post above. What mean by "pan past" is apparently there are four virtual desktops set up by default in KDE. When I look at my 1366x768 (scaled) desktop and move my mouse past the right or bottom edge, the screen scrolls right/down to view another virtual desktop adjacent/below the main desktop. I hope I explained that in an understandable way.

Yes, you're right about the driver versions. It's 331.113. There is an "nvidia-331-updates" driver available but the KDE driver manager just puts me in a loop when I try to install it. Should I download the latest drivers from Nvidia?

[SecretCode]

Interestingly my 14.04 installation has just 1 virtual desktop by default.

Do you have any "Screen Edges" actions set up? in system settings > Workspace Behaviour > Screen Edges, Other Settings, Switch on desktop edge
- That is a KDE way to get the behaviour you've described.

I don't think it's likely that nvidia-..-updates will make your situation better.
The following aren't very likely either, but might be worth a try:
- use the save to the X configuration file button in nvidia settings
- mess around with application profiles in nvidia settings (I never have but I think I've read something suggesting this)
- mess around with power and other settings in nvidia settings

[imrazor]

Interestingly my 14.04 installation has just 1 virtual desktop by default.

Do you have any "Screen Edges" actions set up? in system settings > Workspace Behaviour > Screen Edges, Other Settings, Switch on desktop edge
- That is a KDE way to get the behaviour you've described.

I don't think it's likely that nvidia-..-updates will make your situation better.
The following aren't very likely either, but might be worth a try:
- use the save to the X configuration file button in nvidia settings
- mess around with application profiles in nvidia settings (I never have but I think I've read something suggesting this)
- mess around with power and other settings in nvidia settings

No, no screen edges set up. You're right about nvidia-331-updates - it didn't help at all. Saving the configuration to xorg.conf didn't do any good either. I'll try playing with the application profiles, but I'm not hopeful. Any other suggestions?

[SecretCode]

You could try with the nouveau driver. Might make this or other things worse, of course.

[imrazor]

I could. But if I'm trying to run games, won't the nouveau driver offer subpar performance?

[SecretCode]

I don't think it will be the long term solution, no - but if the game recognises the lower resolutions with nouveau it would show there's an issue with the nvidia driver. Which might be fixable with configuration, not necessarily waiting for a new version.

[imrazor]

I finally succeeded in getting the game to a lower resolution. I tried experimenting with

$ xrandr --q1 -s 1366x768

, which actually changed the resolution without the virtual desktop nonsense. The problem is, the game would only display the upper left hand quadrant of the game display, as if the game were playing out on a larger screen, and I could only see a small portion of it. However, when I switched back to

$ xrandr --q1 -s 1920x1080

and restarted the game, it was displaying at some 4:3 resolution. However, performance was acceptable at this resolution. Not an ideal solution, but I suppose it's the best I'll get.