Fullscreen refresh on win32

[SDLBugzilla]

This bug report was migrated from our old Bugzilla tracker.

Reported in version: don't know
Reported for operating system, platform: Windows (All), x86

Comments on the original bug report:

On 2006-01-30 01:12:16 +0000, Sam Lantinga wrote:

Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 17:06:20 +0100
From: Per Inge Mathisen per.mathisen@gmail.com
Subject: [SDL] Fullscreen refresh on win32

Windows has a terrible default for fullscreen 3D apps of 60mhz refresh
rate. This can be fixed by the user by going into his driver's
control panel and forcing the refresh rate higher. However, this not a
very user friendly way about it, and in any case SDL contains no code
that could figure out this that condition has afflicted the user.

So the question is, could SDL fix this for the user? It is possible
under Windows to request a higher refresh rate. The danger is of
course that if the user has an old monitor, and you request a too high
refresh rate, the monitor could be damaged. However, I believe there
might be a way around that: Check before switching what refresh rate
the user's desktop runs in, and if our fullscreen dimensions are equal
or less than those of the desktop, use the higher refresh rate of 60
and the desktop rate.

Since most users run their desktops in the same or higher resolution
something sane, this should fix this problem for most users.

Thoughts?

An alternative is to add an SDL_GL_GetAttribute(SDL_GL_REFRESH_RATE)
option so that programs can bitch at their users at their own
convenience.

• Per

On 2006-01-30 01:14:05 +0000, Sam Lantinga wrote:

This is a really good idea, actually, and can be generally applied to all video drivers.

Of course, the first step is figuring out the current desktop refresh rate... :)

On 2006-01-30 01:56:34 +0000, Sam Lantinga wrote:

This is now implemented in CVS, thanks!