Every time I start it from Steam, it automatically detects settings and despite what is a really good rig, and despite it setting itself for 'high' settings, the game runs in standard aspect ratio. This makes it a teeny tiny box on my widescreen.

Help, please!

Yep, I get that. Is weird. Here is a screen by screen of what I see:

It sounds like your settings aren't being saved correctly in the ini file which should be in your my documents folder. So the game tries to auto detect the settings every time it starts. Look in my documents\my games\skyrim and see if you have a Skyrim.ini and skyrimprefs.ini

Yeah, I checked those .ini files and they were at 1600x900. I was trying my native desktop, which is 1920x1080. I've tried 1600 x 900 too. I checked the show all resolutions and it has everything from 4:3 and 5:4 to the 1920x1080.

It's like it just defaults, even though the box says 1920x1080 on the preferences, to 800x600 or something similar. It is quite small (less than 1/4 of the screen, obviously).

Yeah, it's disabled already. I'm flummoxed.

Taking my daughter to the KU game in a bit and maybe I'll think of something in the interim. Please keep any ideas coming!

Okay. I think I know what is happening but don't know how to fix. When it autodetects for high it goes still stays at 4:3 and 800x600. Then, if I click "default" it runs the autodetect procedure again, and again says high. But after that, the resolution will read 1920x1080. I hit okay (there is not an apply button, it seems). If I hit play, it still plays in the tiny window of smaller resolution and 4:3 ratio.

If I click options again, it is back to showing 800x600 even though nothing has been changed. I think it is just not saving the resolution. I check the .ini files though and they read correctly.

Here's my specs:


Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
Mem_Capacity: 4096MB
Mem_BankLabel: DIMM #1
Mem_Type: DDR3
Mem_Bandwidth: PC3-10660 (1333 MHz)
Mem_Frequency: 1336MHz
Memory Module
Mem_Capacity: 4096MB
Mem_BankLabel: DIMM #2
Mem_Type: DDR3
Mem_Bandwidth: PC3-10660 (1333 MHz)
Mem_Frequency: 1336MHz
Memory Module
Mem_Capacity: 4096MB
Mem_BankLabel: DIMM #3
Mem_Type: DDR3
Mem_Bandwidth: PC3-10660 (1333 MHz)
Mem_Frequency: 1336MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580

Make sure the ini files are not write protected.

If that doesn't help, change the resolution in the ini files manually, then write protect the files so that the setup program doesn't screw anything up.

Make sure it is SkyrimPrefs.ini that is being changed.

Mine is

bFull Screen=1
iSize H=1050
iSize W=1680

Don't know if that helps or not.

Guys, thanks. I looked at those too. I registered over there and posted.

Here is a guy who has the exact same thing. It's a shame. I may end up buying the console one, I guess....

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1257063-resolution-problems/

Hang in there Airdrop a fix is bound to come up. With it being new it just may take a little longer for the troubleshooters to pinpoint it and come up with something.

How about trying a simple reinstall? And after it installs, restart the computer first before starting it. I know that nowadays you don't really have to do that but that's what I did for the heck of it before I started it.