Is it possible to play SH3 in resolutions higher than 1024x740 ?

[Paul Riley]

I bought a new 20" (5ms) LCD monitor the other week and being able to play my games now in 1600x900 widescreen is fantastic,I was hoping the same could be done with SH3? Dont get me wrong 1024 is still good,but 1600x900 would be even better! :yeah:

Cheers guys.

[frau kaleun]

You can start here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1092

Happy hunting!

[Paul Riley]

Hope it doesnt require an essay's worth of editing :o
Thanks for the link,will give it a go :hmmm:

[Paul Riley]

I just had a look at the instructions for changing the res,quite easy it seems.Shame it cant alter the actual aspect ratio for widescreen monitors,but if it gives me the chance to use my monitor's native res then this is a godsend!
Thanks again! :yeah:

[frau kaleun]

You're welcome!

You might also want to do a search of the SH3 forums for "hi res" or by the name of the mod. There have been several discussions about using it and dealing with any problems that come up... don't know if O/S or other factors make any difference, I can't remember. I only skimmed those threads because it worked fine for me from the get-go.

However since it's not complicated to install/uninstall it's not really a big PITA to fiddle with it if problems do come up.

[Paul Riley]

frau kaleun,

Right,I carried out the simple procedure as instructed and to be honest (at the moment at least) I cant tell if its actually altered the res,although in areas (mainly around the dials in the control room) it does look a bit sharper.I will revert the res fix down to say 800x600 and see if it changes the res,at that level it should be obvious.There is a little bit of jagginess around the graphics but that is probably due to having no anti aliasing on,GWX3 is quite intensive as it is and slowdowns would probably ensue.
I will let you know what happens as soon as I am able :yep:

[Paul Riley]

Right,I reverted the res fix down to 800x600 and as soon as I went to the main menu screen I was unable to move the curser to the bottom of the screen and the quality was very poor!,confirming the fix DOES in fact alter the res.I think the difference between 1024x740 and 1600x900 can be hard to spot at times,but as I said the dials and some of the upper deck rails look sharper.
Good job! :up:

[Jimbuna]

Paul, I'm currently playing GWX3.0 on a 22" widescreen monitor at a resolution of 1680 x 1050 without any problems....and on a nVidia 7800GS card at that.

[frau kaleun]

TBH, I don't remember seeing that big a difference either, although the change in res wasn't so drastic for me... I think I just bumped it up to 1280x1024 which is what I have in display settings overall. And mostly because any time I load a game with a res lower than that, I get a popup in the middle of the screen telling me I should run the program at a higher res for best results. Which always annoys the heck out of me, lol. The res fix mod made that go away at least for SH3.

I think I've read in other threads that taking screenies at different res settings and comparing them is a good way to see the difference. I do like that this mod also lets me send those to a designated folder where it's easy to sort through them later.

[Paul Riley]

Jim,

Whats your personal opinion of widescreen monitors for gaming?.The overall viewing area is fantastic when being used to a 16" CRT monitor for too many years to remember,but in some areas do you get a stretched effect?,for example around the dials and scopes in SH3,it is slightly eliptical as opposed to perfectly round.This is hardly noticeable however and I soon got used to the widescreen format.
Just for the record my monitor is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2AEO68EII5YXA/ref=ya__26?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview
:yep:

[Paul Riley]

Oh and frau ,thanks again :O:

[frau kaleun]

No probs, Paul.

I don't have a widescreen monitor, obviously, but is it possible to set the resolution to a traditional non-widescreen aspect ratio and just have what I guess would be a bit of vertical letterboxing on either side? Or maybe set up the game to run in a window instead of full screen? If possible that might be a way to get the highest res possible without any "stretch" effect.

[Jimbuna]

Jim,

Whats your personal opinion of widescreen monitors for gaming?.The overall viewing area is fantastic when being used to a 16" CRT monitor for too many years to remember,but in some areas do you get a stretched effect?,for example around the dials and scopes in SH3,it is slightly eliptical as opposed to perfectly round.This is hardly noticeable however and I soon got used to the widescreen format.
Just for the record my monitor is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2AEO68EII5YXA/ref=ya__26?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview
:yep:

I think if I'm to be totally honest....yes, it is ever so slightly eliptical, but hardly noticeable.

This 22" is my monitor:

http://www.iiyama.com/en_GB/Home

[Paul Riley]

@ frau,
I am not sure at the moment,I will have to look into it in more depth.One thing I DO know is as far as LCD monitors are concerned as opposed to CRT it is very recommended to run applications in their native resolution ie,in my case 1600x900 (which is widescreen),all other resolutions are either too small or too large on the desktop.End of the day the slight stretching is not that bad as the clarity is far superior to old CRT monitors,and the contrast ratio too...it just takes some getting used to thats all.One advantage however that CRT monitors have (at the moment) is refresh rates,or the monitor's ability to move graphics around without any slowdown,or ghosting in LCD terms.A good LCD monitor of around 6ms (the human eyeball cannot detect changes in the screen apparently from about 6ms or lower,this is the optimal point as far as speed is concerned) or less is ideal for gaming with no visible ghosting whatsoever,and 2ms is SUPER fast!.
It is interesting to note that other games that fully support 1600x900 res and higher do not display stretching to my knowledge,or at least I cant notice it and the sharpness of the image is even more profound at that res.Maybe its because SH3 doesnt actually support these higher res's we tend to get a slight stretching of the screen.
I will try and post some screens of how my game looks sometime.Still looks great mind you! :yeah:

@ Jim,
Nice monitor mate :up:

[frau kaleun]

Oh, I have an LCD, just not a widescreen one.

I was just wondering if there would be a way to run the game on a widescreen at a traditional 4:3 (or close to it) resolution, because if/when I upgrade my monitor I know the stretchiness on a widescreen might be an issue for me with programs that run fullscreen but weren't formatted for a widescreen aspect ratio.

Lol, it already bothers me when a TV show or movie that's not in widescreen format is played on a widescreen TV and the picture is stretched out to fill the whole screen. I've had people try to convince me that the difference is "not noticeable" but to my eye that's definitely not the case.

[Paul Riley]

Frau,

Of course,you can notice a bit of stretching,but just around the rim of the scopes,but its not bad :yep:
On the up side,I can now sleep in my bunk and see almost ALL of the interior at the same time now,so anyone that tries to take a quick nap while on the hydros when they should be awake?,its not gonna happen now,there is almost 3-4 inches extra screen as opposed to a square view.I am slowly getting used to the panoramic view when on the deck now,looks great.
That guy you call Bernard doesnt stand a chance!I will be able to keep my eye on him all the time :rotfl2:

[frau kaleun]

That guy you call Bernard doesnt stand a chance!I will be able to keep my eye on him all the time :rotfl2:

There's no setup foolproof enough to outwit a fool like Bernard. Even a kaleun has to sleep sometime!

BTW you might also want to keep an eye on this thread

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=160861

in the mods forum, where they're discussing the possibility of creating a widescreen interface.

[Paul Riley]

I wish to resurrect an old thread of mine if thats ok.
Having clean installed the game,patched it,installed GWX3,commander 3.2 + config files I have now come round to installing the res fix,but cant seem to get the game to work now,I get the message 'sorry windows has f####d up again! sorry for the BLEEDING inconvenience!'
...any ideas...please? *sigh* :yawn:

Thanks (goes off to sulk in the corner)

[Paul Riley]

Got it sorted,I forgot to set the resolution in the config file that comes with the 'fix' ,sorry ;)
Thats what happens when you rush into things,so be warned chaps.

[Jimbuna]

Got it sorted,I forgot to set the resolution in the config file that comes with the 'fix' ,sorry ;)
Thats what happens when you rush into things,so be warned chaps.

Keep an eye out for one or two more potential glitches that can be brought about by the res fix Paul.

[Paul Riley]

Hate to bring some of these old threads up,but it can be useful at times.
I forgot how to take screenshots after applying the res fix as I remember it changed the default screenshots button.Cant remember if its F11,PRINT SCREEN etc.Afraid I cant check through the readme as i'm downloading a few mods and reading other stuff here at the moment ;)
I will be doing some great screenshots hopefully over this weekend :arrgh!:

(must really try and make notes of all this and print it,then attach it to my forehead)

Cheers guys.

[frau kaleun]

Use the PrintScreen key for screenshots with the ResFix.

However taking screenshots with the ResFix mod in use has been known to cause game freezes and CTDs for some people so I would suggest trying it out in the Academy tutorials or a single mission first before risking a crash during a career patrol.

[max-peck]

However taking screenshots with the ResFix mod in use has been known to cause game freezes and CTDs for some people

Seconded.
I'm one of these people. Using the PRTSCN button just locks up the game for me.

I got around it by using a third party screenshot app.
Here's a free one that works quite well
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Capture/Howie-s-Quick-Screen-Capture.shtml

[Paul Riley]

Use the PrintScreen key for screenshots with the ResFix.

However taking screenshots with the ResFix mod in use has been known to cause game freezes and CTDs for some people so I would suggest trying it out in the Academy tutorials or a single mission first before risking a crash during a career patrol.

Hope I never experience that,thanks for the warning :yep:

[frau kaleun]

Seconded.
I'm one of these people. Using the PRTSCN button just locks up the game for me.

I got around it by using a third party screenshot app.
Here's a free one that works quite well
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Capture/Howie-s-Quick-Screen-Capture.shtml

Are you on Win7? I ask because I never had the problem until I switched from XP to 7.

I tried a couple of different third party apps but still got freezes. Nothing I do seems to help, including shutting down Aero and themes and a ton of other stuff while the game is running. The freezes/CTDs are erratic depending on in-game situation, but sooner or later the game will always freeze up if I keep snapping pics.

Haven't tried that app yet, though... thanks for the link. Will keep it in mind for future experimentation. :yeah:

[max-peck]

Are you on Win7? I ask because I never had the problem until I switched from XP to 7.


I'm on Vista.

Haven't tried that app yet, though... thanks for the link. Will keep it in mind for future experimentation. :yeah:

My pleasure. :DL

[frau kaleun]

Hmm... Vista has some of the same "visual" effects as Win7, though.

See, I've always wondered if there's something about Vista and/or Win7 that is a part of the problem. There always seem to be some people who have it, and some who never have it, and I don't think anyone ever really looked into whether or not there was one common factor for everyone that did. I didn't really think about it until I switched to Win7 and suddenly I couldn't take screenshots any more without risking a game freeze. And the OS was the *only* thing that changed.

[Sailor Steve]

I wish to resurrect an old thread of mine if thats ok.

Hate to bring some of these old threads up,but it can be useful at times.
You have nothing to apologize for. Bringing up an old thread is sometimes the best way to find out what you need to know. Mostly when you see someone (me) complain it's because someone gave no warning, and then responded to a several-years-old post as if it were made five minutes ago, which of course is very jarring, confusing and irritating.

I personally tried the Res-Fix and didn't like it. I only get a slight stretching at 1440x900, and it doesn't bother me at all.

[Jimbuna]

I've a 22" widescreen running @1680x1050 and the game looks fine.

[Paul Riley]

Dont get me wrong,my game looks great with the res fix (currently in 1600 x 900),the only bit of stretching is on the scope screens,other than that its all good.
Could never go back to 1024 x 768 now i'm used to my 20" widescreen :nope:

[maillemaker]

Two issues that I found running in high-res on Win 7 64 are:

1) clicking out of the uzo/periscope will land the mouse on the torpedo button, launching a torpedo. Fix was to install a different uzo/scope gui that moved the fire button.

2) I can no longer take screen captures without CTD. No known fix.

[frau kaleun]

Two issues that I found running in high-res on Win 7 64 are:

1) clicking out of the uzo/periscope will land the mouse on the torpedo button, launching a torpedo. Fix was to install a different uzo/scope gui that moved the fire button.

2) I can no longer take screen captures without CTD. No known fix.

I haven't experienced problem #1, but then I make the game run in a 4:3 ratio. It may still depend on your chosen resolution in WS mode, but I'm not sure.

Problem #2 is the real killer, ain't it? I've tried everything I can think of, turning off most of the fancy graphical stuff in Win7, telling it to run the game in comp mode for earlier versions of the OS, even using AMD Fusion to create a "gaming profile" that shuts down just about everything I don't need as soon as the game .exe launches. Nothing works with any consistency or for very long. I can take a screenshot here and there if the 3D action isn't too intense, but those aren't the times when you really *want* a picture. I think I managed 4-5 inside Wili harbor once before it froze up but that's about the limit.