An article that didn’t make it in time for the Advent event.

Gaming monitors are touted for reducing latency and smoothing movement.
The advent of gaming monitors has made it possible to operate monitors at high refresh rates. While a
high refresh rate is said to improve smoothness and provide an advantage in games like FPS,
most games do not support high refresh rates, so the ability to adjust the refresh rate is limited to certain games.

This function allows you to set the refresh rate in some BMS players such as LR2, which makes scrolling smoother to some extent.
I will write down the method here.

[Operating conditions]

• Gaming monitors that support 120hz or higher (double speed interpolation monitors are not included)
• Dual Link DVI or DP connection required　(DVI-I and VGA are not supported)
  • HDMI version 2.0 or higher is required. The mainstream HDMI version on the market cannot run on 1.4,
    and 120Hz operation via HDMI connection is not recommended as the monitor may not support it or may not function properly.
• A video card equipped with the required connectors (3DVision compatible Geforce or recent RADEON)
  • Apparently, even built-in video cards (Intel HD Graphics) from Haswell onwards can go up to 120hz, but this has not been verified.

Here we will use LR2 as an example of software.
LR2 does not have a function to set 120hz within the software, but it can operate at 120hz or higher by overriding the refresh rate in
the system, i.e., DirectX. In windowed mode, this can be solved by simply setting the refresh rate of the selected resolution to 120hz or higher, but in full screen mode, a slightly more complicated setting is required.

To do this, start up the Registry Editor and tweak the registry settings.
This is a bit tedious and involves various risks, so make sure to back up your registry beforehand.

How to run LR2 at 120Hz refresh rate on Vista, 7 and later (for both GeForce and RADEON)

Please refer to this article and enter the DWORD value as shown below.

For 32-bit (and for native 64-bit apps for 64-bit)
create ForceRefreshRate (DWORD) in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw with the value set to the desired refresh rate.

For 32-bit applications in 64-bit (for LR2, see here)
Create ForceRefreshRate (DWORD) in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw. Ditto.

Set the DWORD value to match the monitor you are using.
The DWORD value is calculated in hexadecimal, so set the value as shown below according to your monitor.
(You can also switch to decimal.)

If you want to fix it to 60hz: 3C (60 in decimal)
If you want to fix it to 120hz: 78 (120 in decimal)
If you want to fix it to 144hz: 90 (144 in decimal)

There is no need to reboot after setting this.

Now you’re ready to go.
However, if you have a GeForce, you’ll need to do one more setting.

The operating resolution of LR2 is 640×480, but for some reason Geforce does not have a setting to operate this resolution at 120(144)hz.
Even if you start LR2 in full screen mode, it will operate at 60hz.

You can work around this issue by setting a custom resolution.

• Right-click on the desktop to open the menu and select “NVIDIA Control Panel”
• Select “Change resolution” from the “Display” item in the list on the left and press the “Customize” button
• When the customization window appears, click the “Create Custom Resolution” button.
  
• When the “Generate Custom Resolution” window appears, set it as follows:
  

Horizontal pixels: 640
Vertical lines: 480
Refresh rate: 120 if you want to run at 120hz, 144 if you want to run at 144hz

After setting the settings, press the Test button.
This test screen will switch the desktop to 640×480, so
if you have other applications running, close the windows before pressing the Test button (this will cause a lot of trouble).
If the screen displays at 640×480, the setup was successful. Then, press the “Yes” button in the test display confirmation dialog to complete the setup.
Once complete, check that 640×480 120hz (144hz) has been added to the list of custom resolutions.

All you have to do is start LR2. Make sure to turn off vertical sync when starting up , otherwise you won’t get any effect.
If you start it at 120hz or higher, you should be able to clearly see the difference, mainly in terms of scrolling.

By the way, this technique is effective for most games that run on the old 2D DirectX engine called DirectDraw.
It also works for older BMS players such as MixWaver and nazobmplay.
(I haven’t checked whether this technique is effective for recent BMS players.)

One thing to note is that “changing the refresh rate may actually cause some games to malfunction.”
Because the refresh rate is fixed at the system level, it will affect all games.

It does not work properly with apps that use vertical synchronization to manage game speed.
Examples include beatmania IIDX INFNITAS and KOF13
. The former is out of sync and scrolling is jerky, while the latter runs at double the speed due to the increased refresh rate based on 60hz.

These solutions are solved by deleting the registry value of the fixed refresh rate.
Naturally, when you start LR2 after deleting the registry, it will run at 60hz.

It’s a hassle to change the refresh rate every time you start a game, so
to avoid this hassle, create a reg file so you can switch it at any time.

The fixed refresh rate was originally a technique used in the days of CRT monitors, but because
most LCD monitors before gaming monitors only supported a maximum of 60-75Hz, it
fell out of use as they became more common and became a legacy feature.
It’s quite moving to see old wisdom being used in this way, and it’s surprising in many ways that an OS like Windows can still run old features if you want to.

By the way, if you don’t mind the specs, a gaming monitor with 120hz or higher can be purchased for around 20,000 to 30,000 yen.
Please refer to another blog post for reference materials.

Comparison of 120Hz and 144Hz monitors recommended for FPS

【supplement】

• Operation in conjunction with G-SYNC or AMD FreeSync has not been verified.
• I haven’t tested it on monitors with 160hz or higher because I don’t own one.
• Tested to work on Windows 10. By the way, if you want to change the refresh rate on Windows Vista or later, this method will usually work.
• Up until Windows XP, changing the refresh rate was possible via software, but now it seems to be possible only via the registry.
• It normally supports high-resolution games like LR2HD, so it works without having to create a custom resolution.
• Whether smoother gameplay will improve your gameplay skills is up to the individual.