Valorant, the immensely popular tactical shooter, offers a thrilling competitive experience. However, a frustrating technical hurdle continues to plague a segment of its player base: the inability to consistently launch or maintain the game in true fullscreen mode.
This isn’t just a minor annoyance; it can significantly impact gameplay, leading to undesirable input lag, performance drops, and a diminished immersive experience during critical in-game moments.
The Symptoms: What Players Are Reporting
Players encountering this issue often describe a range of symptoms, including:
- The game consistently launching in windowed or borderless fullscreen modes, even when settings are explicitly changed to “Fullscreen.”
- Selecting “Fullscreen” within the in-game settings resulting in a frozen or blacked-out display, while the game audibly continues to run in the background.
- Unexpected minimization or window state changes when pressing common keys like Enter or Alt + Enter.
- A noticeable decrease in Frames Per Second (FPS) or an increase in input delay when forced to play in non-exclusive fullscreen modes.
The Underlying Causes: A Multifaceted Problem
There isn’t a single, straightforward reason behind Valorant’s fullscreen woes. The problem often stems from a combination of factors:
- Outdated or Misconfigured Graphics Drivers: Incompatibilities between Riot’s Vanguard anti-cheat system, Windows, and graphics processing unit (GPU) drivers are a frequent culprit, preventing stable fullscreen behavior.
- Conflicting Overlays: Programs designed to provide in-game overlays, such as Discord, NVIDIA GeForce Experience, or Xbox Game Bar, can interfere with fullscreen mode, especially if their hotkeys or overlay windows become active during gameplay.
- Windows Accessibility Features: Windows accessibility options like Sticky Keys or Narrator can sometimes “hijack” key combinations or window focus, leading to unpredictable behavior when the game attempts to enter fullscreen.
- Corrupted Game or Configuration Files: Issues stemming from failed updates, interrupted installations, or corrupted game settings files can disrupt the game’s ability to properly recall and apply its display mode.
- Compatibility Settings: Running Valorant with certain legacy Windows compatibility toggles enabled, such as “Disable Fullscreen Optimization,” can inadvertently prevent the game from achieving true exclusive fullscreen.
- Monitor or Multi-Display Conflicts: Incorrectly configured primary displays, mismatched refresh rates, or conflicting resolutions across multiple monitors can force Valorant into a less stable windowed state.
Solutions: Reclaiming Your Fullscreen Experience
Fortunately, most of these issues can be resolved with systematic troubleshooting. Here’s what gaming experts and the community recommend:
- Check In-Game Display Settings:
- Go to Settings > Video > General.
- Ensure “Display Mode” is set to Fullscreen, and not “Windowed” or “Windowed Fullscreen.”
- Apply changes and restart the game for the settings to take full effect.
- Update Graphics Drivers and Windows:
- Visit the official website of your graphics card manufacturer (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel) and download the latest stable drivers for your GPU. Perform a clean installation if possible.
- Run Windows Update to ensure your operating system has the most recent patches. Display-related bugs are frequently addressed in these updates.
- Disable Overlays and Accessibility Tools:
- Access the settings for programs like Discord, Xbox Game Bar, and any GPU-specific utilities (e.g., GeForce Experience Overlay, AMD Radeon Overlay) and turn off their in-game overlay features.
- In Windows, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard and disable features like Sticky Keys, Filter Keys, and any other related accessibility options that might interfere with key inputs or window focus.
- Adjust Compatibility Settings:
- Locate the Valorant executable file (usually VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe) in your game’s installation directory.
- Right-click the executable and go to Properties > Compatibility.
- Uncheck both “Disable fullscreen optimizations” and “Run this program in compatibility mode for.”
- Verify or Repair Game Files:
- Open the Riot Client.
- Click on Settings (gear icon) and then select the Repair function located under the Valorant section. This will check for and attempt to repair any corrupted game files.
- If problems persist, consider a complete uninstallation and reinstallation of Valorant to ensure all files are fresh and correctly installed.
- Monitor and Display Troubleshooting:
- Verify that your primary monitor is correctly set in Windows Display Settings, especially if you have a multi-monitor setup.
- Ensure that the refresh rate of your monitor in Windows Display Settings matches the refresh rate selected within Valorant’s video settings to prevent display conflicts.
- Unbind Problematic Keys:
- Within Valorant’s control settings, check if keys commonly associated with window management (like the Enter key) are inadvertently bound to functions that might toggle display modes, chat, or menus. Adjust or clear these bindings as necessary.
What If Nothing Works?
If you’ve systematically worked through all these troubleshooting steps and the fullscreen issue remains unresolved, it’s advisable to contact Riot Games support directly.
Occasionally, bugs may stem from rare hardware or software conflicts that require a case-by-case solution from the developers. In the interim, playing in “Windowed Fullscreen” mode can serve as a viable, though imperfect, workaround.
The Takeaway
The inability of Valorant to consistently go fullscreen is often a complex interaction of system configurations, overlay interference, and occasional software bugs.
By diligently working through the recommended troubleshooting steps, players can significantly increase their chances of restoring smooth, uninterrupted gameplay and enjoying the truly immersive competitive edge that only a stable fullscreen experience can provide.
For persistent issues, the active Valorant community and Riot Games support remain valuable resources as the game continues to evolve.
Written by:
Christian