Borderless windowed for older games, without stretching them

Borderless windowed makes alt-tab instant and lets your other monitors stay useful. Older games often do not offer it - and forcing it can stretch a 4:3 picture across a wide screen. Here is how to get it right.

Why borderless at all

In exclusive fullscreen a game owns the display: switching away takes a second, the screen flashes black, and windows on your other monitors can jump around when the resolution changes. In a borderless window the game looks the same, but alt-tab is instant and the rest of your desk stays where it is - which matters most when you play with a second monitor.

When the game has no borderless option

Most recent games offer Borderless or Windowed fullscreen in their video settings, and then you are set. Many older games only have Windowed - a window with a frame, a title bar and the taskbar showing. That is where this page comes in.

Borderless, keeping the game's shape

Set the game to Windowed in its own settings.
In Stillward Display, make a preset for it and turn on borderless.
Choose how it fills the screen: stretch to cover the whole monitor, or keep shape.

Keep shape scales the window to the largest size of its own proportions that fits the monitor, centres it, and fills the rest with plain black. A 4:3 game stays 4:3 on a 16:9 or ultrawide monitor instead of being pulled sideways. The black fill sits behind the game, not over your desk, and disappears the moment you switch to another window.

The game's original window style is written down before anything changes, and put back when the game closes - even if something crashes on the way.

Good to know

Set the game to windowed mode in its own settings first - the preset editor reminds you. Stillward Display changes the window from the outside and never touches the game's graphics, so there is nothing for an anti-cheat system to object to.

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