topic Re: How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars? in Intel® Arc™ Discrete Graphics

How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars?

Awd — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 04:54:40 GMT

Hello, I want to play CS2 with black bars (photos attached) without -vulkan on the launch options. Because -vulkan is disabled by FACEIT anti cheat (third party competitive platform). Basically I want to play CS2 with 4:3 1024x768 black bars resolution on DX11. I tried changing my monitor settings to aspect ratio, windows resolution match the game resolution (1024x768), in IGS using Retro Scaling then integer works but it gives a vertical black bars, I can't get it working properly because the game force it to stretched. Is there any workaround to play black bars?

GPU: Arc B580

Current driver: 32.0.101.8425

Re: How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars?

Awd — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:32:31 GMT

So, there isn't any solution to this? Awesome, great, fantastic

Re:How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars?

JedG_Intel — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:02:26 GMT

Hello Awd,

Thank you for posting on Intel Community Forum.

I understand that you’d like to play Counter‑Strike 2 in a 4:3 resolution, but you’re currently experiencing issues. To help further troubleshoot the problem, please follow the steps outlined below.

1. Select in Windows display settings another resolution than the recommended one.

2. Go to Intel® Graphics Command Center and under the scale option select Maintain Aspect Ratio.

3. If the issue persists, contact the game developer.

In case you haven't come across it yet, we have a public article about this: Counter Strike 2* Does Not Display Black Borders When Using Aspect Ratio 4:3 in Intel® Arc™ Graphics

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Best regards

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re: How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars?

De_Marchi — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 20:43:55 GMT

Open intel graphics software click on "Display", set "Scaling Mode" to GPU Scaling, then set "Scaling Method" to Preserve Aspect Ratio. Game starts in black bars for me after doing this.

Re:How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars?

JedG_Intel — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 02:10:43 GMT

Hello Awd,

I wanted to check if you had the chance to review the information I posted. Please let me know at your earliest convenience so that we can determine the best course of action to resolve this matter.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:How to play Counter-Strike 2 with Black Bars?

JedG_Intel — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:25:53 GMT

Hello Awd,

I have not heard back from you so I will close this inquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Jed G.

Intel Customer Support Technician