007 First Light is another impressive globetrotting adventure from IO Interactive, making excellent use of the studio’s proprietary Glacier Engine. However, ultrawide users may notice a frustrating limitation: cutscenes are displayed with black bars on all four sides, even though gameplay itself supports ultrawide resolutions properly.
Thankfully, a mod created by Nexus Mods user MarvelousMod fixes this issue for both 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios, covering most common ultrawide resolutions.
Here’s how you can install the mod:
- First, make sure 007 First Light is not running.
- Next, download the mod zip file from Nexus Mods. A free Nexus Mods account is required.
- After downloading the file, navigate to the game’s installation folder:
- Right-click on 007 First Light in your Steam Library
- Select Manage
- Click Browse local files
- Open the Retail folder and extract the mod files into it.
Once installed, all in-game cutscenes should now display correctly in ultrawide resolutions. However, pre-rendered FMVs will still appear in their original format because they are video files and cannot be adjusted through the mod.
According to the mod author, the modification works by replacing the executable with a hex-edited version that properly supports ultrawide cutscenes. Because of this, future game updates may require the mod to be reapplied. Similarly, verifying the game files through Steam will restore the original executable, meaning you’ll need to reinstall the mod afterward.
Since 007 First Light is a more cinematic experience compared to IO Interactive’s Hitman series, the large number of cutscenes makes the default black bars especially distracting for ultrawide players.
At the moment, the mod only supports 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios, which should still cover the majority of ultrawide monitor users.
How to Remove the Mod
If you want to uninstall the mod and restore the original game files, follow these steps:
- Delete the FirstLight.exe file located inside the Retail folder.
- Open Steam and go to your Library.
- Right-click on 007 First Light and select Properties.
- Open the Installed Files tab.
- Click Verify integrity of game files.
Steam will then redownload the original executable automatically.
Hopefully, IO Interactive eventually adds native ultrawide support for cutscenes in an official update. Until then, this mod—or manually hex-editing the executable—remains the best solution for a consistent ultrawide experience in 007 First Light.
