CS2 4:3 – If you’re an OG CS Fan like me, you’d probably know how much people have loved playing on the 4:3 or Stretched resolution since the beginning of time. CS2 has just made it a little difficult for us to achieve the same. However, it’s doable! Here’s how you could play CS2 at 4:3 Stretched without Black Bars:
How to play CS2 at 4:3 Stretched without Black Bars
Before I get into the main part, there are a few things that you need to make sure of, that is, that the game’s set at Fullscreen mode and not Fullscreen Windowed (default). You can do this by opening up CS2, heading into the settings menu from the top left, clicking “Video” on the top bar and “Video” again on the bottom. Here, you’ll find “Display Mode.” if you’re doing this for the first time, it’ll probably be set to Fullscreen Windowed mode. Just click on it and ensure it’s set to Fullscreen. That’ll unlock all the other video-related controls for you.
As the controls have unlocked for you, click “Aspect Ratio” as we begin the process and select 4:3 and the resolution to the one you’re looking for. In my preference, you should try 1280×1024! The number you select here also depends on your monitor’s output or native resolution. For instance, I have a standard 1920×1080 resolution output; hence, selecting the number closest to the latter number (1080p in my case) will ensure the game’s as clear as possible. With that being said, you could, of course, play around for a bit to get to your preferred resolution!
Hit the “Apply Changes” option on the bottom right, and don’t worry if you see black bars. We’ve got a fix for that, too-
Now, to ensure you’ve removed those black bars, you only need to save those changes and exit the game. If you’ve got an NVIDIA graphics card, follow these steps to enable stretched resolution from your graphics card settings-
- From your PC’s main menu, right-click and open up “NVIDIA Control Panel”
- From the prompt, look for the Display tab on the left, and in the display tab, click on “Adjust Desktop size and position.”
- If you’ve got multiple displays, make sure that you select the one that your PC is displaying CS2 to. If you’ve got a single one, skip this step.
- Under “Scaling,” the very first option must be to “select a scaling mode,” and here, make sure that you select “Full Screen” and don’t forget to hit apply from the bottom right.
If this process doesn’t work for you, select either “scale for GPU or Display” from the same menu, as is required, and try again!
Another thing that isn’t necessary, but in some cases might be, is to select the resolution as default for your desktop that you’re looking to run in CS2. To do this, change your main desktop resolution in your NVIDIA menu. You can always add a customized resolution from NVIDIA’s Menu if you do not see your custom resolution from the presets menu. To do this, head to “Change Resolution” under the “Display” tab on the left and then click on the “Customize” option on the bottom left.
Finally, hit the “Enable Custom Resolutions not exposed by the Display” checkbox and then “Create Custom Resolution.” Fill in the custom numbers, and while you do so, make sure that you’ve selected the right “Hertz” output as per your display and that you’ve filled out the “Vertical” and “Horizontal” tabs with your preferred resolution correctly.
Once done, click on test and then “Ok.” Moving on, you’ll see the resolution you’ve just added in the drop-down menu for setting your desktop’s default resolution. Select it from the main prompt and hit apply!
The remaining is to open up CS2 and test your custom resolution; the black bars should now be removed!
That’s everything there is to know about how you could play CS2 at 4:3 Stretched without black bars. Stay connected to Frondtech for more such guides on CS2!
If you think this guide has helped you, then let us know in the comment section below. And for more Counter-Strike 2 guides, keep an eye on Frondtech. Good luck.
That’s all, folks!
Last Updated on October 3, 2023
Abhinav, 19, Writer/Editor at Frondtech and out-and-out a gamer until time lasts. From spending a whole day performing LAN parties playing cs 1.6 since he was 12, to playing rust and all kinds of other games, all day long. He does it all. At times, you can find him fixing his mining rigs and staying up to date with the latest crypto news.