My nearly nine-year-old monitor has recently started showing screen tearing while playing War Thunder. Oddly, pressing Win+Shift+S to open the Windows screen capture tool makes the tearing disappear. It usually returns after I alt-tab out of the game a few times. Is this a normal behavior, and could it point to a V-Sync, graphics-driver, or Windows gaming-setting issue?
2 Answers
This sounds like the game or Windows temporarily changing how the display is being handled when the capture overlay opens. Check Windows Game Mode and try toggling it off, then restart the game. It may not be prioritizing or presenting the game correctly, although that setting alone may not solve it.
The video appears consistent with ordinary V-Sync tearing. Check the NVIDIA app or NVIDIA Control Panel and make sure V-Sync is enabled for the game, or enable it in the game itself. The default setting may leave V-Sync under the game’s control, and some games handle that poorly. Also check that the game is using the monitor’s correct refresh rate.
Game Mode was already enabled, but I turned it off and the tearing still happened, so I’ll focus on checking V-Sync and the display settings.