"mat_letterbox" autoexec commands disabled, can't play fullscreen on 4:3 monitor [ Edited ]

[ShearersHedge]

Product: Apex Legends
Platform:PC
Please specify your platform model. PC
AMD or Nvidia Model Number radeon 5700xt
Enter RAM memory size in GB 16gb
What is your gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name? ShearersHedge
Please provide your squad mates' gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name if possible.
Are you using any software with an overlay? No
Which Legend were you playing (if applicable)?
Which Legends were your squad mates using (if applicable)?
Where did the issue occur? In a match
Which part of the map or menu were you in? If you don't remember the exact name, please describe the area or what you were trying to do in the menu. everywhere
What were you doing when the issue occurred? E.g. respawning a squad mate at a beacon, using an ability, a squad mate left the game. everything
Did your squad mates also experience the issue? I don't know
How many matches had you played in a row before the issue occurred? 1
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm)
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
How severe is your issue? Major impacts to gameplay
What happens when the bug occurs? letterboxing
What should be happening instead? no letterboxing
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? use the "mat_letterbox_aspect_goal 1.33" and "mat_letterbox_aspect_threshold 1.33" in autoexec.cfg, with "+exec autoexec" in the launch options for Apex, then alt+enter twice once you're loaded in lobby. This used to remove letterboxing to no longer does after 3/3 patch.

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I've been playing Apex Legends since launch on my 4:3 CRT thanks to the "mat_letterbox" autoexec commands that allow me to use all of my screen's real estate. Suddenly those commands have been disabled.

Or since this game's pretty popular now, maybe you guys could remove letterboxing the game's code so we don't need the autoexec commands?

[ShearersHedge]

Product: Apex Legends
Platform:PC
Please specify your platform model. PC
AMD or Nvidia Model Number gtx 1080
Enter RAM memory size in GB 16gb
What is your gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name? ShearersHedge
Please provide your squad mates' gamertag/PSN ID/EA Account name if possible.
Which Legend were you playing (if applicable)?
Which Legends were your squad mates using (if applicable)?
Where did the issue occur? In a match
Which part of the map or menu were you in? If you don't remember the exact name, please describe the area or what you were trying to do in the menu. the whole game
What were you doing when the issue occurred? E.g. respawning a squad mate at a beacon, using an ability, a squad mate left the game. everything
Did your squad mates also experience the issue? I don't know
How many matches had you played in a row before the issue occurred? Up until the 6-4 patch, which disabled autoexecs, which was the only way I could enable fullscreen 4:3
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm)
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
How severe is your issue? Major impacts to gameplay
What happens when the bug occurs? I can't use my screen space
What should be happening instead? I should be able to use all my screen space
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Just try to play in 4:3

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I have a 4:3 monitor and have been enjoying fullscreen Apex via the "mat_letterbox" commands up until today. Now I'm back to a letterboxed image, which is pretty disappointing, considering every other shooter I've played:  Battlefield V, Doom 2016, Rainbox 6 Siege, Fortnite, all support 4:3 aspect ratios.

[EA_David]

@ShearersHedge Thank you for the post. I think this is due to some commands being locked down since they were used to gain an unfair advantage, ofc removing the letterboxing in 4:3 mode doesn't fall under this. 

[Cyphsen]

Why do u remove autoexec for people ? u will loose so many players now. And all the 4:3 resolutions are with black bars now. Wtf is going on ? 

i really hope this is a short term problem or else im gone along with many other players.

[SneedGaming515]

i can see them removing autoexec and stuff, but removing launch options that limit FPS, without adding FPS caps to the settings is terrible. Please optimize the game better, or at least let us cap FPS in the settings

[LoreMasterGER]

Dear EA!

Well since the last Apex Legends update it's not possible anymore to play on the resolution of 4:3 Stretched I am wondering how I can play on the res again. I would love to play on it again cause I am just confident with that and it's boosting my fps. I hope I am getting a response.

Love Lore

[ShearersHedge]

I think basically all commands are being blocked now. Perhaps they could implement a whitelist for useful commands that don't change gameplay?

I understand that they don't want to support 4:3 officially, since its rarely used nowadays and it would be hard to justify the extra bug testing and UI work, so I think having it enabled via a custom config is a good compromise.

I hope this issue can be escalated, the two commands to remove letterboxing are:

mat_letterbox_aspect_goal 1.33

mat_letterbox_aspect_threshold 1.33

[EA_David]

@ShearersHedge Thanks for calling out your specific commands for letterboxing.

Respawn have an update on this at https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion/Known-Issues-Post-Patch-1-2/m-p/7923585

Changing game configs.

• The intent of the change was to remove the ability to modify the game to get a competitive advantage. We hear the feedback that some commands are now gone for players that used them to make their game more stable or performant. We’ll follow up more on this next week.

[cheatercheater00]

Yeah that's unfair advantage.

[Kluster1990]

Please make the cfg file to work again