Screen goes black when launching a game

[ULEE]

Hello,

I just purchased a Dell 27" tft to use it with my 2.5 ghz mbp and tried to play warcraft 3 on it but as soon as I launch the game the external screen goes black and sometimes shows the ingame screen for a second or so before going black again while the macbook pro screen shows the game on the native screen just fine. I used to have an external 19" screens and never had any trouble playing warcraft on it. What could be the reason for this kind of problem?

Julian

 

[jeffuwee]

maybe your connection is off? or the moniter is just dead?

 

[ULEE]

I dont think its the connection because the monitor works perfect with everything else. Unfortunately Warcraft 3 is the only game I have installed right now so I cant check if the same problem occurs with other games. Any other thoughts?

The game is also displayed perfectly when I run it in window mode.

 

[imassents]

From reading what you have written, it sounds as though you are running multiple monitors in spanned (extended desktop) mode. Warcraft cannot do this and will defaultly turn off the other monitor and display on the primary monitor. The only way to have Warcraft display on the external monitor is to run the Mac in clamshell or closed lid mode (need an external keyboard/mouse to wake it up), in clone mode where it displays the same picture on both monitors or to set the primary monitor as the external one.

Check in the Display preference pane to swap between the modes. You may find that you have to swap the mode before launching Warcraft each time.

 

[ULEE]

The mbp lid is closed when I launch the game(I just opened it to see what happens when its open). I can also see the entry screen of warcraft but the screen is flickering back to black all the time for a period of a few seconds before showing the ingame screen for a second or so.

 

[imassents]

Load up Warcraft on your builtin display and lower Warcraft's screen resolution (Options->Video->Resolution). Quit out of Warcraft and then load it up using the external monitor. I'd try 800x600 and gradually increase it if it manages to display.

Also, while this most likely isn't the issue, what cable are you using to connect the display? I'm aware it'll be DVI of some sort, however there are two types - single and dual link. Have a look at the connector, does it have a full 3 rows of 8 pins (plus the 4 analogue pins and the divider) or is it missing a bunch in the middle? For a monitor the size of yours it would more than likely need a dual link cable (it has all the pins - 3x8). This will only become an issue at higher resolutions.

 

[ULEE]

The monitor came with a single link dvi cable. I changed the ingame resolution to 1900x1200 at 32 bit and this seems to have resolved the issue, I can play the game now perfectly. Thank you for your help.

 

[imassents]

Just for your information, 1920x1200 is the maximum your monitor can handle and it also is the limit for single-link DVI. A higher resolution needs the dual-link DVI, however you will not need it for your monitor as it will not display anything higher.

At that resolution, your Macbook Pro may have troubles displaying it now (unless you have a fully decked out 17" MBP). At least you are aware of the issue now and can easily fix it up =)

 

[rokr424]

im having a similar problem.
except instead of having the game on the 2nd screen i want to get iTunes or something else but it blacks the screen and there's nothing i can do. is there some way to override it?