You're welcome. I hope you can get it sorted!
Haha. My penis is not only analog, it's certainly not flat.

This issue nearly drove me crazy after getting my HP laptop (HP Pavilion g6-2109so). I gave up after trying more or less everything, but after reinstalling windows (for another reason) and simply installing the newest GPU drivers... I could maintain aspect ratio! So as a last resort you could try that, though it might not help you.

When I transferred from Windows Vista to 7 the maintain aspect ration became greyed out in the AMD drivers for some reason, it was because of that I went back to Vista on my old PC.

Isn't there some aspect ratio functionality built into your laptop, like some Fn key combination?
Maybe worth to glance through the manual.

Well, in less than 1 hour you could do what I told you and the problem will be solved by now. I guess you aren't a hardcore gamer; install/uninstall drivers is a common in gaming PC/Laptops.

Of course the official AMD drivers IS different; the one provided by HP and installed in your laptop is personalized so you will not found those option people is talking about, neither the ones instructed by AMD in their website. Once you install the official CCC several new options will appear, but still, it depends if you select the advance interface. You can notice it in the picture attached here.

Anyway, AMD APU's are MUCH better than a Intel + Intel graphics mix. It is a good option to get; I bet most problems your laptop have is related to HP crappy installed software. On the other hand you may go for a Intel + Nvidia laptop, but those are much much more higher price.

Not sure what the definition of a hardcore gamer is, but in any case I don't switch hardware often and I'm not that tech-savvy, no.

I've uninstalled the GPU drivers and CCC and installed the recommended version from AMD, and you're right, now there is an option "Maintain Aspect Ratio" (curiously in English, while everything else is translated into German). I can also switch between the options without having to lower resolution now, and the hotkey Spinorial mentioned works now, too.

But even if "Maintain Aspect Ratio" is selected and saved, the laptop seems to ignore it, always stretching the image to fill the whole screen. I experimented a bit by lowering the desktop resolution another time, and when I do that and then select "Maintain Aspect Ratio" and save, the CCC automatically resets the option to "Fullscreen". It doesn't do that in my native resolution, but the result is the same. And when I use Spinorial's hotkey solution, I can only switch between two modes, Fullscreen and Centered. So even though for a short moment the Aspect Ratio issue seemed resolved after the re-installation, it really isn't. :/

I have the same problem and I've given up on finding a solution. I just use a resolution lower than the native because I can't stand it when the aspect ratio is not the way I like it.

On newer drivers from AMD, I have to set the aspect choice, then use the checkbox to allow the GPU to handle the scaling. I was doing this prior to using a widescreen hack for Beyond Good and Evil. It really felt like an adventure game puzzle trying to stop the image stretch by working out the correct order of buttons and checkboxes to press.

With the older AMD drivers (including the old 13.2 version that windows update still installs as the latest 'catch all' driver) The options are always greyed out, no matter what I do. If I want GPU scaling I have to update to the newer Omega drivers from AMD's website.

Unfortunately 13.2 is the newest surviving driver that actually plays The Secret World MMO without serious graphical artifacts. So I'm kind of stuck on them. All of AMD's omega drivers have issues with the game that illicit shrugs from the TSW's support team. Hooray for publisher deals with specific video card manufacturers…. sorry for the digression.

Good. That's some progress and suggests the functionality is present in some form. Here's a question: when you flip between modes with the hotkey, do you flip every time or are there times when the hotkey doesn't seem to change the mode? In other words, does it take two or three presses to cycle through all the modes?

Hi again! Why do you not ask that before? I was waiting for your response.

Well, I did some search over here and over there and found several solutions to this issue; I'm glad to found this one cause I was issuing quite the contrary, black bars that does not disappear and I HATE those black bars. Anyway, this is what I found:




SOLUTION 1:
The AMD driver works with a registry value in order to scale or not scale the image is being loaded. That means, stretch or keep the aspect ratio. I found the key that hold that value and with a simple number modification we can set the auto stretch feature on/off. However, it seems AMD changes the values from driver version to next version, so I will assume you are using the actual latest version from AMD Website which should be: AMD Catalyst Omega 14.12

To change that Windows Registry value, I have created a Windows Batch that will help you. I have tested several times under Windows 7x64 at it works fine to me, so I hopes it does for you or for any other user with same problem. Can be downloaded from here:

AMD_KeepAspectRatioFix

NOTES: As stated before, older CCC versions use different numbers into the value. If you are using a old CCC version, try to modify the .cmd with any text editor, seek for the line
"ECHO "Scaling"=dword:00000004 >> "%REG_File%""
and place a 2 instead the 4.





SOLUTION 2: (This one worked for me, but was needed a easier one)
Erase ALL driver info installed in your machine. Sometimes a simple uninstall does not work, for that reason you may need to use a driver eraser tool. I just try one by my self and found it very nice and easy to use, it does restart ALL the video driver configurations I have stored so this option have to work for everybody.

Without more words, the program is called Display Driver Uninstaller and claims to removal all kind of video drivers installed and any leftovers. Latest stable version can be downloaded in the main website:
Display Driver Uninstaller

Or, Guru 3D mirror:
Display Driver Uninstaller MIRROR

Instructions, use and discussion thread can be found in the Guru 3D forums, here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=379505




GENERAL NOTES: A email is provided with the batch file in case further help is needed. If any questions, don't be shy and ask.

You have to do it for EVERY single resolution.
Game runs in 1024x768? Change your desktop res to 1024x768, go to CCC, enable maintaining AR.
Game runs in AxB resolution? Again, change your dekstop res to the AxB resolution, and again go to CC and enable AR maintaining.

Two presses only.

I tried that but unfortunately it didn't work.

What are you refering to, specifically? I have to say sorry, because I'm doing this on the side although I don't really have time for it, so I only checked replies two times a day or so and couldn't always react promptly. Now I feel really bad for wasting everyone else's time with this thread, because I think I will try and return the laptop anyway.

The thing is that most other issues I have with this laptop are not software related but to do with the quality and state of the keyboard, touchpad and monitor, and they're bad enough that I wouldn't be happy with it anyway, regardless of whether I'd be able to resolve the aspect ratio issue or not. It just adds to the general frustration, and even though I understand that the tradeoff for powerful and freely customizable PCs are complications like this, I just don't like it that a new computer would force me to mess with registry entries or re-install windows or all drivers just for fixing the aspect ratio. I didn't have these issues with past computers I bought, so I'm hopeful I will be able to find one that works like I want it to right from the start.

If not, all your suggestions might still prove helpful for the next laptop. I don't know how to make it up to you and everyone else who invested time trying to help me, but I want you to know that it's much appreciated nevertheless, thanks a lot, and please accept my apologies!

To the aspect ratio it self! You have been gifted with at least 3 solutions by other forum members so I don't understand why it does not work for you.

Anyway, you are right since if you don't feel comfortable with that product will be better to change it for one makes you feel good. However, be advice: Every hardware will need Windows / Registry tweaks if we wants it to function another way it was intended for so don't be scared of make some changes in the future.

As a personal statement, change the laptop by a same tech one, not lower. At the the moment I get my current laptop (Late 2011) there was at least 2 people changing the same laptop (For reasons I don't understand yet); seller man offer them a SAME PRICE Dell laptop, but lower capacity. Mine includes an A8 APU, Dell laptop was built an Intel i3 + intel HD graphics, lower HDD, and no USB 3.0 ports ... And here I am 3 years later, playing the few AAA games I could get at nice FPS rate. I don't really understand why people prefer low ended Intel hardware than AMD. I really don't.

To give a little context, I mostly need the laptop for office work when I'm on the road, which isn't all that often, a few times a year for one or two weeks. I also have a desktop PC with a good graphic card that so far still allows me to play recent AAA games at normal or high settings. I want to be able to play some games on the laptop, too, but nothing too demanding, just a few oldies like Fallout 1&2 or indies like Shadowrun Returns, mostly 2D RPGs, point-and-click adventures and the occasional platformer or casual game that are comfortable to play with a touchpad or keyboard only. It's basically meant as a (slightly improved) replacement for my old Samsung netbook, which wasn't fit for gaming either and still allowed me to play a lot of freeware, oldies and indies. That's why the aspect ratio thing is much more important to me than the best GPU.

Actually, I'm that kind of weird that I already miss my netbook for playing low resolution games that look much better on it than on the big screen. It's just that the few netbooks that are still available today don't seem powerful enough to me to deal with Win 8, Office 2010, multi-tasking and internet surfing with firewall and anti-vir in the background, and I don't have the money for ultrabooks, so I decided to go for a (less mobile) laptop.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your patience and understanding! :)

I'll say it again, absolutely nothing worked for me either until I completely reinstalled windows and then the newest GPU driver at the time (amd-catalyst-14-9-win7-win8.1-64bit-dd-ccc-whql). I have a HP laptop as well (HP Pavilion g6-2109so), so I REALLY know your pain of not being able to maintain aspect ratio.

ATI GPU scaling fix didn't work, setting res to one smaller than native allowed me to check "maintain aspect ratio" but after pressing apply it'd just go back to stretch or centered and "maintain aspect ratio" returning to being grayed out . Also complete gpu driver uninstall + driver sweeper in safe mode while trying various gpu driver versions made no difference. Seriously, if possible, try reinstalling. Even if it sounds like your default #1 pc problem fixing advice.

I'm not even sure if I would be able to do it, let alone how, as it was pre-installed on the laptop along with the whole HP setup and I don't have a Windows install disc, I can only reset Windows but that will re-install the HP stuff, too.

But like I said, I'm going to return the laptop anyway, for different reasons, so it's not worth investing any more time and effort into this issue at the moment. Thanks all the same! :)