Display Issues

Article
06/02/2010

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Vista

There are several known display issues addressed by the Compatibility Administrator through compatibility fixes and compatibility modes.

Fix Name	Symptom	Fix Description
Force640x480	The application starts in a 640x480-pixel window and does not switch to full screen.	Sets the screen display to 640x480 pixels when the process starts.
Force640x480x16	The application starts up in a 640x480-pixel window and does not switch to full screen.	Sets the screen display to 640x480 pixels with 16-bit color when the process starts.
Force640x480x8	The application starts up in a 640x480-pixel window and does not switch to full screen.	Sets the screen display to 640x480 pixels with 8-bit color when the process starts.
Force8BitColor	You receive an error message stating that the display is corrupted.	Forces the color depth of the display to 8-bit color (256 colors) when the process starts.
Force8BitColor	You receive a message stating that the application requires 256 colors.	Forces the color depth of the display to 8-bit color (256 colors) when the process starts.
LazyReleaseDC	Most of the application window runs off the desktop.	Delays the release of a device context, released by the `ReleaseDC` function. This is only necessary for applications running on the Microsoft Windows®°95 operating system and the Microsoft Windows®°98 operating system.
ForceDirectDrawEmulation	There are corrupted graphics in full-screen mode.	Forces the `DirectDraw` function into emulation mode, where the pitch is directly scaled to width. This fix is required because some applications do not handle certain aspects of hardware acceleration correctly. For example, an application might assume that the pitch is always double the width in 16-bit-per-pixel displays.
ForceDirectDrawEmulation	You cannot play introductory videos.	Forces the `DirectDraw` function into emulation mode, where the pitch is directly scaled to width. This fix is required because some applications do not handle certain aspects of hardware acceleration correctly. For example, an application might assume that the pitch is always double the width in 16-bit-per-pixel displays.
ForceDisplayMode	You receive a message stating that the application requires 256-color mode.	Uses a command prompt to specify the resolution for applications that require a specific resolution to function properly. The command-line options must include the width (in pixels), the height (in pixels), and the color depth (in bits). If you omit the resolution, the application uses the current system resolution. For example, if you specify a setting of 1024,768,16, the application uses a setting of 1024X768 with 16-bit color depth. If you specify a setting of ,,16, the application uses the current system resolution with 16-bit color depth.
HideTaskBar	The taskbar is visible when the application is in full-screen mode.	Hides the taskbar when applications are in full-screen mode for Windows XP Professional.
IgnoreNoModeChange	When an application switches modes, the screen becomes blank. Pressing ALT+TAB restores the video display.	Causes Windows XP Professional to ignore irrelevant mode change requests from the application. This prevents the mode uniqueness value from changing. If the mode uniqueness value does change, the `DirectDraw` function resets all of its objects, even if the new mode is identical to the preceding mode.
ForceTemporaryModeChange	The system display mode changes when the application closes.	Ensures that any mode changes made by the application are temporary. Resets all mode changes when the application closes.
EmulateUSER	The display mode is not restored when the application closes.	Modifies the `SetWindowsHookEx`, `SetWindowLong`, `RegisterClass`, `ChangeDisplaySettings`, `ChangeDisplaySettingsEx`, `ToAscii`, `ToAsciiEx`, `GetMessage`, `PeekMessage`, and `ShowWindow` functions to emulate Windows 95 and Windows 98. In addition, this compatibility fix causes the palette state to remain unchanged during a mode change.

See Also

Concepts

Known Compatibility Fixes, Compatibility Modes, and AppHelp Messages
Internet Explorer Compatibility Test Tool