Refresh rate refuses to change

I recently changed the refresh rate of my monitor to 85 Hz in the Windows desktop, where both Guild Wars and the desktop were set to 100 Hz previously. When I opened Guild Wars and when I minimised and maximised it, the screen went black while switching refresh rates, as expected.

However, when I tried to use the options menu to change the refresh rate to 85Hz, the refresh rate remained the same. It came up with the dialogue saying "Do you wish to keep this setting?" as if it had changed, but there was not a black flash associated with changing refresh rate. However, there was one when minimising Guild Wars, despite the fact that both the desktop and the program were set to 85 Hz. This black flash was not present when both were set to 100 Hz, and when I changed the desktop back to 100 Hz there was none between minimising or maximising Guild Wars, showing that the refresh rate had stayed at 100 Hz despite it saying 85 Hz in the options. There's also the fact that there should be a noticeable difference between 60 Hz and 100 Hz, at least to my eyes, and there was none.

I have tried this in many different resolutions with lots of different refresh rates, and the problem is not isolated to any. I have also reinstalled the game with no success. Can anyone else quickly change refresh rates and see if they have the same problem I've described? I'd like to know if this is just on my end.

If other people have the same problem it would look like a bug. Otherwise I'm not sure what could be wrong.

Ok, I presume you are running a CRT monitor?

If so, this black flash you get is the card resetting itself to the lower or higher refresh rates and also affects the CRT which also adapts itself to the different refresh rate.

This isn't so common on LCD screens as there highest refresh rate as far as i know off, is either 75 or 85hz as they don't work the same way a CRT does in displaying refresh rates and as such, don't really benefit from a refresh rate change.

With regards to what you just said about going from 100-85 while Guild Wars was windowed and you had already set Windows to 85hz, that automatically sets Guild Wars to be running at 85hz as the desktop is running at 85hz and Guild Wars is running in a Window in that Desktop setting.
It's perfectly normal for refresh rates to do that with screen settings.

Have you tried it this way.
Set Guild Wars to full screen mode with a rate of 100hz and set your desktop to 85hz. Load up Guild Wars, get into the game and then flip it back to the window view and see what happens.

With regards to what you expect to see with a refresh rate change, what in your eyes is supposed to happen?

Also, I would check that under Display Properties/Settings your monitor is either set to Plug and Play Monitor or displays your monitor name itself. If it only says Default Monitor and you still have problems with the refresh rate, then you need to reinstall the Plug and Play Monitor option.

In the display settings, click advanced and then monitor, properties, Driver, update driver and then follow the instructions to change the option to Plug and Play. Hope this helps.

Yes, I am. Sorry, should have made that clear. I should also have said that I always run the game in full screen mode.

Don't worry, I know why it's doing it and that it's normal. I was just using it as an obvious visual sign to show when the refresh rate changed.

When I said I minimised or maximised the game, I meant from or to full screen mode to or from the task bar. I actually did change Guild Wars to the windowed mode at one point when experimenting with different settings, and it went into a window using the desktop refresh rate like it should have done (as you say).

As above, it became a window after the refresh rate was changed down to the desktop setting (and vice versa when maximising back up to full screen mode).

Why would I want to do this, you mean? Text displayed on my monitor is slightly fuzzy at a refresh rate of 100 Hz. 85 Hz gives me the clearest view (and flickering isn't an issue at 85 Hz).

The monitor name itself is shown in Display Properties/Settings, so that can't be the problem, unfortunately. Thanks though.

Only 1 point to make on the Fuzzy Text. If you are getting Fuzzy text, then either your Monitor is on it's way out if the monitor is able to support that refresh rate at the screen size you have, or you have the refresh rate too high for the screen size you are running?

What size screen do you have and what make and model is it?

Another thing you can try. Completely uninstall your Graphics Drivers, run driver cleaner, obtained from www.guru3d.com and then install the latest drivers again. This will help get rid of any corrupt files if there are any.

I don't think it's a game problem, but more to do with the abilities of your screen and GPU, and possible file corruption. It does happen. Has a few times with my screen I mentioned below.

I have a DiamondTron Pro CRT by Mitsubishi which is one of the best you can buy, and it's flat screen. However, it's on it's way out as I have had it quite some years now and it's had a lot of work, but I think it's more of a power problem than a screen problem, as I get power flicking, where the screen keeps glitching.
I can still show good Refresh at high Res, but with a 19inch, the best I can get that looks good compared to a good LCD screen, is 1280x1024 at 85hz. Any higher and the picture starts to go a little fuzzy, but even at 85hz at that res, my LCD running through DVI is a way better and clearer picture.
Just the only thing I really like about the CRT is the ability to see all the details a lot clearer when gaming. Sounds strange, but it's to do with the back lighting on LCD's and reflections. Can be a pain in day light.

I have a 19" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SB running at 1280x960, and my graphics card is a Radeon 9800 Pro. I've had a look for info on the monitor before using Google, and it seems that slightly fuzzy text while at high refresh rates is fairly common. Note that it's not too bad at all: I've been running at 100 Hz for several months without even noticing. I doubt it's on it's way out because it's only about a year old, but then again it was a refurbished one that I got as a replacement because the first one I received had a lot of pixels burned out on arrival.

It's unlikely to have to do with the game, but I'd still like someone with a CRT to test changing the refresh rate to be sure.

I'll give it a shot on my other PC that I'm currently rebuilding as I have another Diamond Pro hooked up to that one too. I'll let you know what happens. Won't be for a while though.