Windowed resloution, not fitting laptop screen

[Golds]

Hello, I would like to reduce the size of the windowed box in FFXIV.
It does not fit my screen without having to auto hide my taskbar or play with other settings. I would like to make it very small on my screen. I would like to be able to better multi-task on my laptop monitor without having to add an external monitor. (like watch a video and play FFXIV at the same time).

my laptop can play the game very well (Nvida NVS 4200)
but the resolution maxes out at 1366x768
the lowest I can make FFXIV is 1024x720,
I would like to resize the game as small as I want, then resize when i need it bigger.



Please help.
Thanks!

[Garnatian]

Doesn't the custom resolution allow you to change it? I haven't personally tried it, so not entirely sure. I just tried and apparently 1024x720 is the lowest.

[TheFirstKel]

In Windowed mode, you can select the resolution as well, otherwise a customised resolution. Or use borderless fullscreen windowed mode (which is kinda like full screen but it's in windowed mode - in your case it will be in 1366x768 as it uses fullscreen.

[Raist]

you can always drag the corner of the window to resize it... it works just like any other windows app that way. The cursor blinks the arrow icon really fast when you try to hover over it... just click on the corner and it will grab it (might have to try a few imes). Just dragged mine to a window that only takes up about 1/4 my screen. Seems about as small as I can make it go down to though.

[Tsvai]

I had this problem when I started too, and I did NOT want to use borderless window mode (it seems to tax my laptop more than full screen, and cause minor lag). I don't remember exactly how I came to find this solution, but what I did was:

1) I believe I either left the program in borderless window mode or temporarily changed it to some funky fullscreen setting? I can't recall precisely. Really sorry. I'm not sure that it matters, really, so just give either one a shot.

2) Go to my documents > my games > final fantasy xiv - a realm reborn

3) In this folder there should be a file called ffxiv.cfg. Make a copy of this file and rename it ffxiv.cfg.bak (providing you have file extensions showing - if you don't, just move the copy to your desktop or somewhere). This is just in case this method doesn't work or it messes something up. It shouldn't, but I did this when I first tried it, so I'd advise it just to be safe.

4) Right click on the original ffxiv.cfg file, and click open. A dialogue box telling you it can't open the file should probably pop up - choose 'select a program from a list of installed programs' and click okay.

5) 'Open with' should pop up. A recommended program may or may not pop up - if it doesn't, open the section that says 'other programs' and find notepad. If it's not there, you will have to click browse and navigate to the program yourself. Notepad is generally located in c:\windows\system32. Once you've found it, select it, and before pressing okay, I highly advise unchecking 'always use the selected program to open this type of file'.

6) Once the file is open in notepad, find the section labeled <display settings>. Inside this section, there should be a number of values - among them are 'FullScreenWidth' and 'FullScreenHeight'. Change each of the values you find there to '1366' and '768' respectively.

7) Save the file (do not save as, just hit save or ctrl s), and close it.

8) Open FFXIV and load up the config. You SHOULD be able to choose from 1366 by 768 in the full screen section now. Provided this worked, you should be safe to delete the extra copy of ffxiv.cfg. If it really screwed something up, close the client, delete the modified file, and reinstate the copy (either by removing .bak from the extension or returning it to my documents > my games > final fantasy xiv - a realm reborn.

I hope this helps!

Edit: Jesus, I misread the original post as highest instead of lowest. I just wasted a lot of time - but I'll leave this here for anyone with the opposite problem. :P

[Raist]

all you have to do is load it in normal windowed mode with a low enough resolution so you can grab the corner and drag it to the size you want, just like any other windows application. It should remember the setting the next time you reload--it just did when I reloaded to get the server list showing again.

When I pull up the properties, it is showing as 1024/720 on my 1920/1080 screen after I loaded it as windowed 1600/900 and then dragged it to a smaller size.

Looks like the GUI is locked to a minimum of 1024 and 720 for the two settings (you can change the window size drop box to custom and set the X/Y size manually also). Clicking minus just makes them wrap around to the max size again.

[Tsvai]

all you have to do is load it in normal windowed mode with a low enough resolution so you can grab the corner and drag it to the size you want, just like any other windows application. It should remember the setting the next time you reload--it just did when I reloaded to get the server list showing again.

When I pull up the properties, it is showing as 1024/720 on my 1920/1080 screen after I loaded it as windowed 1600/900 and then dragged it to a smaller size.

Looks like the GUI is locked to a minimum of 1024 and 720 for the two settings (you can change the window size drop box to custom and set the X/Y size manually also). Clicking minus just makes them wrap around to the max size again.

Yeah, I read this, said - huh? And went back and reread the OP again. WHUPS. Reading comprehension fail on my part.
On that note though, the method I posted SEEMS to add resolution availability to the custom res section (I think?) so you may be able to make smaller window sizes too by changing other sections of <display settings>. You can also. Just. Drag. Probably. I haven't tried it because window mode for more intensive games usually causes performance issues on my laptop.

[Golds]

yea, dragging the window stops at 1024x720, I want it smaller than that. It does not fit my screen in 1024x720. I will try to edit the config to make it smaller. I'll let you know if it works.

Nope, editing the config wont let me make it smaller, it just reverts back to 720.
I hope a DEV sees this, does anyone else have this issue?