[Updated - Turtorial] Non 2x Custom Hidpi Mode on Macs - Fixed mouse delay problem

[lcmazza]

What kind of Mac do you have?

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Wake me up when this finally works on AMD Radeons.

I'm sorry for you

I have the Retina Macbook Pro, with a NVIDIA card.

Why don't you try some utility to enable the HiDPI mode?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...-hidpi-mode-in-mac-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-on

Good luck

 

[macman34]

didn't work for me either on an 1080p monitor, what lc was trying to do 1600X900, on a mini with intel hd3000, even after reinstalling switchresx... I don't know what the problem might be.

 

[adnbek]

I'm sorry for you

I have the Retina Macbook Pro, with a NVIDIA card.

Why don't you try some utility to enable the HiDPI mode?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...-hidpi-mode-in-mac-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-on

Good luck

Oh, I've done that already and it works but only on resolutions lower than native (960x540, Hidpi), so everything is blown up and huge.

I want the opposite like you guys. :'(

 

[macman34]

Oh, I've done that already and it works but only on resolutions lower than native (960x540, Hidpi), so everything is blown up and huge.

I want the opposite like you guys. :'(

It's not on a resolution lower than your native one, it's actually your native resolution in half, due to pixel doubling. That's how hidpi works out of the box so far. That's why we are simulating double size both directions resolutions so we can get hidpi on the half of each direction.

 

[adnbek]

It's not on a resolution lower than your native one, it's actually your native resolution in half, due to pixel doubling. That's how hidpi works out of the box so far. That's why we are simulating double size both directions resolutions so we can get hidpi on the half of each direction.

Yeah, I got that. I worded it wrong but that's what I meant.

 

[lcmazza]

Yeah, I got that. I worded it wrong but that's what I meant.

If you want everything smaller, than you want big numbers for HiDPI or higher resolutions.
If you can run at least one HiDPI mode, than probably you can run all HiDPI modes.
Just make sure you have a scaled resolution set as Active after reboot. If you don't, then uninstalling following the instructions here are your only hope

 

[adnbek]

If you want everything smaller, than you want big numbers for HiDPI or higher resolutions.
If you can run at least one HiDPI mode, than probably you can run all HiDPI modes.
Just make sure you have a scaled resolution set as Active after reboot. If you don't, then uninstalling following the instructions here are your only hope

No, I tried. I followed the instructions to a tee, won't activate 1920x1080 hidpi mode. Could only turn on 960x540 and 800x450 with Quartz Debug.

EDIT: While trying a multitude of combinations, the max I could get was 1344x756. Anything beyond wouldn't activate. Guess it's just not supported with my mac.

 

[Chinaski73]

I am using NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX on my iMac 27, and since it comes with 2GB DDR5, Both 1920x1080 & 1600x900 Hidpi settings works perfect on this machine~~ you cant see any lagging when you are dragging and moving the windows, all the animations are really smooth~~

Are you getting any loud fan noise from increased vid processor usage?

 

[cenconq]

Are you getting any loud fan noise from increased vid processor usage?

I am running it as a hobby web server 24/7 with (1600 x 900 hidpi settings) for almost 2 months, but very surprisingly I never heard any fan spinning noise ~~

 

[cenconq]

No, I tried. I followed the instructions to a tee, won't activate 1920x1080 hidpi mode. Could only turn on 960x540 and 800x450 with Quartz Debug.

EDIT: While trying a multitude of combinations, the max I could get was 1344x756. Anything beyond wouldn't activate. Guess it's just not supported with my mac.

ASUS VE278 comes with 1920 x 1080 native resolution and that is why you can't activate 1920 x1080 hidpi mode. As hidpi resolution must be always smaller than the native resolution.

 

[adnbek]

ASUS VE278 comes with 1920 x 1080 native resolution and that is why you can't activate 1920 x1080 hidpi mode. As hidpi resolution must be always smaller than the native resolution.

Ah I see. So the scaled resolution MUST be below. No wonder. I thought I could go UP TO that resolution.

One thing though, I couldn't activate 1600x900 hidpi either and that is below my native. Any idea why?

 

[cenconq]

Ah I see. So the scaled resolution MUST be below. No wonder. I thought I could go UP TO that resolution.

One thing though, I couldn't activate 1600x900 hidpi either and that is below my native. Any idea why?

That may be related to the max resolution of your display card, lets say if your graphic card can only output 2560x1440 as maximum, then you can only set Hidpi to 1280x720.

Besides, I don't know if the cable linking to the monitor may affect that as well, cuz cable did come with maximum resolution depends on their bandwidth.

 

[Chinaski73]

Scratch that, I should have read down the thread more first

 

[macman34]

That may be related to the max resolution of your display card, lets say if your graphic card can only output 2560x1440 as maximum, then you can only set Hidpi to 1280x720.

This is what's happening to me to, apparently the "stellar" hd3000 from intel in the mini can't output more than 2500x1600, hence no luck, as I found out a few days ago. What I don't get though is how come my white imac with the nvidia 7300gt which is also capped at the same resolution, does enable switchresx's 1600X1000 hipdi, that is 3200x2000 normal, running like a dog of course, but at least srx manages to enable it.

edit:
Can anyone please with a 2010, 2011 high res macbook pro run this hack and report back to us?

 

[stmad]

Just registered for this thread. Actually, I'm SwitchresX' developer, so maybe I can just give direct reply here.

On the HD3000, it's something that has been added on 10.8.3 only, before that the HD3000 could only create scaled resolutions below the native one. Now it can go above.

I have a MBP2011 with a HD screen. When using SRX, I can create and enable a resolution like 3840x2400 (and a 1920x1200 HiDPi), but only with the Intel card. It is enabled, but I can't use it: the display goes gray, and I can only reboot.
When it switches to the Radeon, it loses this resolution also. That means that this resolution is too high for getting enabled on the AMD card also (and then also too high to be displayed).

There seem to be a limit when using the Intel card for enabling a new scaled resolution, and an other one for using it; and again an other limit when using the AMD card.


(BTW I previously told 'adnbek' that it doesn't work on AMD. Obviously I was false - I forget myself which video chips I do have on all the Macs I am testing my software on...)

 

[stmad]

Just done some more tests:

On the Intel HD3000, I can have a 4094x4094 resolution enabled. This is the max. It is not useable at all (screen gray, reboot forced). I can have 2720x1700 (and thus 1360x850 HiDPi) active and useable. Above this, 2880x1800 makes the screen flicker.

On the AMD, the max I can get activated is 2528x1536, making 1264x768 (HiDPi) the max resolution useable without any limit on this Mac.

Seems that the NVidia cards can do better; the AMD less than the Intel ones.

 

[macman34]

Just registered for this thread. Actually, I'm SwitchresX' developer, so maybe I can just give direct reply here.

On the HD3000, it's something that has been added on 10.8.3 only, before that the HD3000 could only create scaled resolutions below the native one. Now it can go above.

I have a MBP2011 with a HD screen. When using SRX, I can create and enable a resolution like 3840x2400 (and a 1920x1200 HiDPi), but only with the Intel card. It is enabled, but I can't use it: the display goes gray, and I can only reboot.
When it switches to the Radeon, it loses this resolution also. That means that this resolution is too high for getting enabled on the AMD card also (and then also too high to be displayed).

There seem to be a limit when using the Intel card for enabling a new scaled resolution, and an other one for using it; and again an other limit when using the AMD card.


(BTW I previously told 'adnbek' that it doesn't work on AMD. Obviously I was false - I forget myself which video chips I do have on all the Macs I am testing my software on...)

Hi Stephan. Thanks for joining in, and many thanks for a great piece of software. Maximum kudos!

As far as I can understand apple enabled scaling on the hd3000 above the native one, so possibly this might be an indication that they might bring hidpi scaling with 10.9 themselves. Also, I think you are referring to macs, such as macbooks, that are not headless such as the mini because there isn't any inherent native resolution there.

Having said that I am on 10.8.3 and I can not enable 1600x800 hidpi, so maybe it's been enabled above the native resolution, but only up to 2500x1600 which is the reported limit of the gfx card.

I would also like to add why you think this hack is pointless and makes text blurry. Surely in notebooks with a decent ppi, 130 upwards, or in the 27" imac with its 109ppi which is not bad for a desktop, text should look fine, at a performance cost of course, which could be negligible and it more often than not will be considerable.

I would urge other forum members to please try this hack in their own macs and report back on what their findings are, so maybe we can start getting some understanding as to what extent gfx cards support it and what the user experience is on any system.

 

[stmad]

Also, I think you are referring to macs, such as macbooks, that are not headless such as the mini because there isn't any inherent native resolution there.

Yep, indeed. I speak of the Macs with integrated displays. I have a mini also (with Intel HD), and was able to enable something like 2300x... (cannot check it at the moment), tried it on a HDTV. But no need for it.

I would also like to add why you think this hack is pointless and makes text blurry. Surely in notebooks with a decent ppi, 130 upwards, or in the 27" imac with its 109ppi which is not bad for a desktop, text should look fine, at a performance cost of course, which could be negligible and it more often than not will be considerable.

Of course if it's to enable HiDPI on the same resolution (screen space) than native one, you'll get the higher-dpi variants of the picture and the text.

If it's to be limited to a lower resolution (if the graphic card cannot activate the doubled resolution), you will lose screen space. That's what I find pointless, I think: sacrificing screen space to get sharper text and icons. But it's everyone's choice...

I use it in the other way: getting 1920x1080 on a MacBookPro 15" (even blurry) is sometimes cool to simulate a bigger screen.

 

[NMF]

Doesn't work for me... 2012 MBP 13" connected to Thunderbolt Display. I'm trying to enable 1080 HiDPI. I added a custom scaled resolution of 3840x2160, but after multiple restarts I still don't have it available to be selected. In SwitchResX it says "Not installed."

 

[macman34]

make sure you are on 10.8.3. Update from me, got it to "work" on the mini, after upgrading to 10.8.3, but it's really not usable as the image flickers constantly.

 

[diroussel]

I got this to work on my 2012 Mac Mini, with Intel HD 4000 grafix, and Mac OS 10.8.3.
This is with a 2560x1440 screen, a DELL U2713HM, connected via Display Port.

One thing that confused me was that the new HiDPI modes don't show up in the apple system display preferences, nor in "Display Menu.app". They only show up in SwitchResX, and I wasn't looking in there initially, as other posters showed screen shots of the new modes showing up it the regular Displays section of System Preferences. Also at one point I borked my system and had to zap my PRAM to get the screen working again.


I've added two new modes.

Defined size: 3200x1800, giving 1600x900 in HiDPI

and

Defined size: 3840x2160, giving 1920x1080 in HiDPI

Both of which are much nicer than the 720p HiDPI mode, which was the max I could do before.

 

[macman34]

I got this to work on my 2012 Mac Mini, with Intel HD 4000 grafix, and Mac OS 10.8.3.
This is with a 2560x1440 screen, a DELL U2713HM, connected via Display Port.

One thing that confused me was that the new HiDPI modes don't show up in the apple system display preferences, nor in "Display Menu.app". They only show up in SwitchResX, and I wasn't looking in there initially, as other posters showed screen shots of the new modes showing up it the regular Displays section of System Preferences. Also at one point I borked my system and had to zap my PRAM to get the screen working again.


I've added two new modes.

Defined size: 3200x1800, giving 1600x900 in HiDPI

and

Defined size: 3840x2160, giving 1920x1080 in HiDPI

Both of which are much nicer than the 720p HiDPI mode, which was the max I could do before.

Could you give us some feedback in terms of text clarity, ui stability and artifacts, speed, etc? We are trying to figure out if this is a viable option (for the macs where it actually works that is) to increase ui elements system wide and have a system that is up to scratch as well.


(they should show up in your display prefs pane btw as hidpi modes, that's were you select them from)

 

[lcmazza]

Looks like Apple is dropping support for custom HiDPI modes in Mavericks.

DAMN APPLE!

 

[ncrypt]

Looks like Apple is dropping support for custom HiDPI modes in Mavericks.

DAMN APPLE!

I thought the same but then reinstalling SwitchResX seemed to fix the problem.

 

[lcmazza]

I thought the same but then reinstalling SwitchResX seemed to fix the problem.

Really? Gonna try this NOW. thanks