Is there anyway to override Optimus settings?

I recently got a laptop with an i7-4702MQ and a Geforce 840M. Most games properly switch to the discrete graphics, but I am having an issue with Diablo 3. It defaulted to the integrated graphics and in the Nvidia Control Panel the Preferred Graphics Card is grayed out and stuck on Integrated when Diablo 3 is selected. Even setting the Global option to the discrete card does not allow me to use the Geforce card in Diablo 3. From a little bit of Googling it seems like this is a common problem, but the only proposed solution (rename the executable and set the graphics settings that way) does not work. It allows me to choose the discrete card for the new executable, but when I launch it it still uses the integrated card.

So, my question is if there's any way to manually override those settings, possibly in a configuration file somewhere?

 

Try running Steam in the background. It should by default enable the dedicated graphic card.

Strange that you couldnt enable settings within Nvidia Control panel that allowed D3 to run with dGPU.

 

Hm, I don't think Steam switches over to the Geforce by default but I will try setting Steam to prefer the Geforce and see what happens.

 

Hmm maybe I`m remembering it wrong. Could you go in to Control Panel and choose Steam.exe to go dGPU then?
I don`t use Optimus. I have manual switchable graphics in my AW18. A hotkey press and a reboot and I can choose dGPU or IGP.

 

I think I can but I will need to check. Not in front of my laptop ATM. Didn't expect a response that quickly honestly.

I never ran into any issues with my time with an MSI X460DX with a GT 540m that used optimus. I'm surprised things have gotten worse instead of better.

Well, apparently Steam won't run with the Nvidia GPU either. Even though it is set to use the Nvidia GPU the GPU activity monitor shows nothing while it is running.

 

Try running it as administrator? Are you on latest drivers? (337.50)

 

this thread seems to be the big goto thread for tryng to resolve this.

Stuck using integrated graphics. >< - Forums - Diablo III

 

I am on 337.50 beta. It's actually the only version that Nvidia shows as compatible with the 840m when you search on their driver site. And are you saying to run the game as an administrator or the Nvidia app?

Yeah, I have been following that thread but it seems as though none of the workarounds have actually worked for anyone but the person that posted it.

It's irritating but not a huge issue, as the HD 4600 can run the game in 1366x768 without issue. But I'd like to get the 1080p that my laptop should be able to handle.

 

After catching some other threads, it looks like it is a big diablo 3 issue. They are aware of it but no idea how close they are to solving it. After all the problem has been around for quite some time now.

 

You buy an alienware and switch it or you buy an msi and plug in an external monitor.

 

I had this happen on my brand new 2014 blade pro. I *HAD* to clean uninstall and install the stock drivers from Razer to get the switchable graphics working again. I don't know if it's the Drivers or the updated version of GeForce Experience, but I didn't take any chances, refused to install either.

As of update 2.04 you *HAVE* to run D3 through battle.net, as such the old workaround no longer works.