MacBook Pro Notch May Be Able To Make Your Game Buram

JAKARTA - If you play games on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, a bug first reported in 2023 may cause the game's display to fade.

According to developer Colin Cornaby, the problem lies in the macOS' way of reporting MacBook's built-in screen resolution to the game. The Mac provides information on its screen resolution to the game whenever the game launches to prevent the use of inappropriate resolutions.

Unfortunately, the resolution given to the game does not always consider pixels replaced by a notch (tactics) at the top of the screen. As a result, games effectively draw pixels that are not actually displayed.

This problem is exacerbated when macOS displays a game in full screen mode. Usually, the MacBook shifts the image down to avoid notchs, which cause a mismatch of resolution.

"The problem with Apple's laptop is the existence of a notch at the top of the screen," the developer explained in a blog post. "The full screen area where the game runs doesn't have the same resolution as the screen itself. Most games don't consider this problem."

Players who use screens with notchs will see images that, in terms of pixels, are bigger than the physical area available. This results in blurry images.

It is clear that compression only occurs vertically, and it is not clear how much impact it has on daily use. In for example, developers use the MacBook Pro with a resolution of 3456 x 2234 pixels, which is already a notch.

However, games only have access to areas under the notch in this case, areas measuring 3456 x 2160 pixels. A total of 74 pixels are not counted, so the image is vertically compressed.

Players who use external monitors are not affected, only those who use MacBook's built-in screen are experiencing this problem.

Players in window mode are also not affected. This problem only appears when the game is played in full screen mode.

Why Did This Happen?

The cause is quite complicated, but it seems macOS gave two different resolutions to the game when it launched.

When games require available resolution information, macOS also provides full-screen resolutions including the area behind the notch. Which resolutions the game uses can be inconsistent, and currently there is no way for developers to determine which resolutions to choose or ignore.

One of the transient solutions for players is to make sure they choose a resolution in a game with a ratio of 16:10. Unfortunately, this option is not always available, depending on how the game handles the display information provided by macOS.

In the end, it is not clear whether the loss of 74 pixels is quite disturbing for most people, especially when the vertical resolution exceeds 2,100 pixels. However, this is a bug that should be fixed.

Cornaby said he had reported the bug to Apple in September 2023, but has yet to be handled.