Will Widescreen Aspect Ratio Work OK?

[Tigrone]

From the screenies I've seen both new wide-screen and old 3/4 aspect ratio screenies. Will widescreen work without distortion in SH4? If so, I think I'm buying a new monitor.

I do apologize if this in the posts somewhere, but I couldn't find anything specific on it.

[Boris]

I already have a widescreen. I do hope they implement a 16:10 mode.

But having SH3 at only 1024x768 was a very outdated move, even two years ago. I hope they've learned from this.

[AJ!]

yeah SH3 does look ugly on a Widescreen but theres no doubt it will benefit SH4. I think its been stated that SH4 will have a changeable res and widescreen support:up:

[flintlock]

I too would love to see widescreen support in SH4, though I'm not holding my breath. I'm hopeful they won't lock the resolution at an utterly archaic 1024x768 like they did with SH3--though I fear 4:3 aspect ratio will be all that's officially supported. If this is the case, the frustrating thing is, no matter how well your 16:9 widescreen scales--you're going to get a distorted result.

From the admittedly limited videos and pics I've seen of the dev's studio and presentation setups; SH4 appears to always be running on a 4:3 display, and when on a 16:9 widescreen--it was running in a windowed mode in what appeared to be a 4:3 res.

Standard disclaimer: I have absolutely no official knowledge of what resolution/apect ratio SH4 will ultimately support. I am simply stating what I believe from what I've seen. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about no official widescreen support, because this game would look wonderful in widescreen. Add to this that in this day and age, I'd be surprised no to see official 16:9 support, though I was equally astonished when SH3 shipped locked at an old XGA resolution.

[flintlock]

I think its been stated that SH4 will have a changeable res and widescreen supportSounds promising. Can you cite the source and/or provide a link? I've been keeping an eye out for this like a hawk, and aside from eager community speculations, I haven't seen anything about this from an official source who would actually know.

Not suggesting I don't believe, I'd just like to read this for myself. ;)

[Gizzmoe]

I think its been stated that SH4 will have a changeable res and widescreen supportSounds promising. Can you cite the source and/or provide a link? I've been keeping an eye out for this like a hawk, and aside from eager community speculations, I haven't seen anything about this from an official source who would actually know.

Not suggesting I don't believe, I'd just like to read this for myself. ;)

http://www.marinesims.de/site/silent-hunter-4/sh4-3.html

"The minimum resolution of this spectacle will be 1024 x 768. Players can change it according to the abilities of their graphics cards. Sadly that nobody could tell us the maximum resolution at that time. Widescreen users will have the possibility to experience SH 4 in widescreen."

[flintlock]

Thanks for that link, Gizzmoe. Much appreciated.

I'm a little more hopeful now. :up:

[Tigrone]

Thank you Gizzmoe, I had not seen that preview. The summary is very encouraging. It looks like I'm going to have to spring for that new monitor afterall.:up:

*The content of SH 4 jotted own in a few notes::*
-Animated crew members basing on „skeletons“.
-Sonar and Radar on all boats as in the real USN.
-Moving objects in the interior: if you raise the periscope you also see it in the interior.
-Menus are slideout menus now, similar to modifications of SH 3. Additionally displays are magnified if you move your mouse over them. The whole menu bar is freely adjustable.
-Nautical chart in high resolution, displaying depths and shallows (no metric values, just visual).
-Crew management with three shifts, no more „babysitting“. Experience and special abilities similar to SH 3, but improved (management screen).
-Time compression up to 4096.
-Higher amount of polygons of the water, resulting in a much more detailed and living surface (see dev-video part 2).
-Self-generating clounds, continously changing during the day and weather conditions.
-High-detailed ship models with high resolution textures, bumpmapping and new shaders.
**-Standard resolution 1024 x 768, higher resolutions are freely selectable, additionally a widescreen option has been implemented.**
-Water and waves are now much more detailed and extravagant.
-Harbors are equipped with traffic.
-The whole (!) world is navigable, even the Atlantic is available.
-In single missions there are introducing videos of the situation you are in, similar to Fighting Steel.
-Ships now have bullet holes (see screenshots). The damage model has been extended in a way that smaller ships need holes at the water line in only two sections for flooding and sinking.

[flintlock]

It looks like I'm going to have to spring for that new monitor afterall.I can safely say that once you use a widescreen display, sitting in front of a 4:3 monitor will never be the same, trust me.

[Boris]

Too true. I have a 22 incher, anything else looks tiny now. I'm glad SH4 will support widescreen. :up:

[Stryker412]

Dual screen support would be amazing. Think about it, you can have the game on one monitor and your crew management screen and/or TDC in another. :huh:

[Konovalov]

I consider this as motivation to get myself a TFT widescreen in 2007 to complete my new system build. :up:

[Captain Krunch]

There is a picture from the Hamburg press event showing SH4 on a widescreen monitor without any apparant stretching of the image, so it seems that it'll work fine with our widescreen monitors.

http://marinesims.schumo-kits.de/screens/sh4/sh4eventhh_17.jpg

[Boris]

Yep, very good thing indeed.

[flintlock]

Thanks for that image. I'm more hopeful than ever that 16:10 aspect ratio resolutions will in fact be natively supported. After seeing all the recent screenshots, if ever there was a title made to be enjoyed on a widescreen, SH4 is definitely it.

[trenken]

Isn't widescreen 16:9?

[Boris]

I think PC widescreen, ie 1680x1050 and all that is 16:10

[flintlock]

Yes, 16:9 aspect ratios are what you find on widescreen TVs. Although you can find the odd laptop/desktop LCD with a 16:9 resolution, they're the exception, not the norm.

[geetrue]

Here's a whole bunch of widescreen's ... I like the one on the bottom left. :yep:

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Category.asp?Category=19&name=Monitors

$299.00 after rebate

SCEPTRE x22wg-Gamer Black 22" 5ms Widescreen HDMI LCD Monitor Built in ... - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112005)

[Ark]

Want a nice looking widescreen, check out the 27 inch (I think that's the size) Gateway. What a picture! It certainly isn't cheap...but not much is nowadays (relatively speaking, of course). lol

I wonder that the response time is.

[Guido]

gawd, now I have a pickle.:hmm:

Play SH4 on a 40" widescreen sony bravia using DX9 graphics, or on my Dx10 clad pc with a 4:3 19" monitor..............arrrgggjjjj.
I need to get at least a 22" monitor I think............ more hardware expenditure.

[Ark]

gawd, now I have a pickle.:hmm:

Play SH4 on a 40" widescreen sony bravia using DX9 graphics, or on my Dx10 clad pc with a 4:3 19" monitor..............arrrgggjjjj.
I need to get at least a 22" monitor I think............ more hardware expenditure.

I'd go with the PC. Fast PC with smooth FPS > Big screen with slower hardware. :)

[Guido]

do i detect some anti console in your sentence? ;)

my pc is certainly slower than my 360, its a 3000 sempron, however it does have support for SSE3 I will have you know :rotfl:

[AJ!]

Do we know yet if the Res will go up to 1920x1200?

[flintlock]

If SH4 supports widescreen resolutions natively, I'd image it would allow for 2560x1600, including everything lower (1920x1200, 1680x1050 and smaller).

[flintlock]

I just noticed this on Ubi's site under the Interface Dev Diary section.

Here's an excerpt on widescreen support:

The interface is very scalable and can run in any resolution greater than 1024*768. Basically, the available screen resolutions reported by DirectX are only a restriction to the game. This means the game can run at any aspect ratio, on any monitor: 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, 16:10 etc. So, go ahead and buy the HD monitor you want, Silent Hunter 4 will make full use of it. We tested the game and looks great on 37" HD monitors.
Note: Emphasis is mine.


Fantastic news indeed! :rock: