SH3 with 3440x1440 UW Monitor

[embraceentropy]

I'm interested in purchasing SH3 in steam and applying the popular supermods. However, I use a 21:9 UW monitor at 3440x1440 and am concerned about stretching and/or the usable area being cut-off, even if I run windowed (based on experience with trying to play other older titles).

Before I make the purchase and go through the effort of getting it working and mods I want to make sure I know what to expect and am willing to accept the compromises when it comes to using an UW monitor.

[diego_gut]

You would have to use a 1920x1080 GUI and use it in a window so that it does not get stretched. There are no higher resolution GUIs at this time.


Regards

[Aktungbby]

embraceentropy!:Kaleun_Salute:

[CassiousClay]

I play on a 90" UHDTV sitting about 9 feet (3 meters) away from it. The vanilla game was a bit unplayable for me because even though the default game without any mods' resolution is 1024x800 some text was microscopic and un-readable. I attempted to change the resolution trying to fix it and that caused the game to crash before it launched.

Using the 1920x1080 mod didn't fix the small text issue. It was still too small for me, personally, to read. This might not be the case for you if you sit close enough to your monitor and have good eyesight. I have decent eyesight it's the distance I sit from my screen.

I installed the Gray Wolves ("GWX") expansion mod and it's a completely different, beautiful game I'm very happy with now. I'm not sure what GWX defaults the resolution to but it made it a lot better. I can read all the text!

I got the Gold version of that mod. I'm not sure the GWX3 version here on this site is the same (Gold) version. I got it directly from The Grey Wolves site.

http://www.thegreywolves.com/gwx3/

I encourage supporting this wonderful site. There's a lot here that isn't anywhere else including the members of sub sim gamers community.

I have the Steam version of SH3. Before I found the link above I found another site that insisted going through a bunch of steps to install it was required but I found that not to be factual and un-necessary. I directed the installer to my Steam installation folder and it installed and worked just fine. I had to start a new campaign but that was ok with me because I wasn't far in to it.

Do also install the Commander utility, that's very helpful as well.

[embraceentropy]

Thank you, all. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it and install GWX3 right away.



Reading through the forums & steam discussion I was worried. However, I picked up SH4 from steam and it worked right out of the box. I installed OTC & TMO and have had no issues after tweaking the config file for resolution (based on a post found here).


I've already jumped on the donor train after seeing the amount of mods and information available here.

[CassiousClay]

If you haven't found out for yourself yet the vanilla version of SH3 works very well, too. SH5 is the one that has some issues because it was released on a different engine then previous sequels of the series.

Awesome you supported the site! Thanks!

GWX3 Gold made a significant difference in my opinion of the game for me.

[blackswan40]

I wonder if this video from youtube getting older games to run in full screen on a laptop would have the same effect on a big screen monitor video link below


https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=247406

[CassiousClay]

I wonder if this this video from youtube getting older games to run in full screen on a laptop would have the same effect on a big screen monitor video link below


https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=247406

I've been messing with computers since 1980 so I tend to believe I'm pretty knowledgeable with them but I do not know exactly what that registry key does.

That key may only be on that persons computer and do what it did for them due to their specific system and hardware and operating system version etc (tons of variables they didn't mention or include).

Messing with the registry keys with the registry editor can be risky. Changing or deleting the wrong key can cause a heaping stinky pile of mess. I suggest against messing with regedit. I'm very familiar with it and know what I'm doing in most cases and I avoid editing registry keys unless I've run out of ideas of anything else to try and even then most of the time I choose to leave the registry alone not taking the risk of turning the computer in to a boat anchor. Sometimes even if you do enter the right values it might produce the result we're after but cause multiple issues somewhere else. Or worse.

What I think what they did does is the same thing adjusting the DPI Scaling options does which can also be done (more safely IMO) through the properties of any executable file (.exe) and that can help in scenarios like your situation.

How to:
1. Right-Click on the .exe and select Properties
2. Go in the Compatibility tab and click on the "Change High DPI Settings" button near the bottom. An additional [name].exe Properties window appears.
3. At the bottom place a check mark in the box next to "Override High DPI Scaling behavior. Scaling performed by:"
4. This is where it can be tricky and needs trial and error testing.
Most of the time leaving it on Application works best and produces the result we're after. Other times one of the other options is the result we're after. Sometimes doing these steps doesn't do anything at all.

It's not going to hurt anything to try that. The worst that will happen with this is the game or program will display worse and you'll need to manually shut it down through ending it's task in Task Manager or right clicking on it's listing in the task bar and choosing 'close window' then undoing the DPI settings we just did. Unchecking the override check box disables any DPI scaling settings.

If you choose to you surely can try that registry edit despite my insight and suggestion(s). It could be the solution, or it could not do anything at all, or it could cause a ton of problems up to and including turning the computer into nothing more than a weapon to beat the kids and dog with. That's the risk we take editing registry keys. If it does turn the computer in to a brick reinstalling windows should fix that.
These days most people don't have a windows disk. The computer I use most of the time doesn't have a CD/DVD rom at all. If my system goes down, windows stops working, I have the option of hacking a USB drive to reinstall windows or tie a rope to it for an extra stopper on my boat when I go fishing.

Most of the time if we do edit a key and change it back to what it was before restarting the computer there's no harm done. Sometimes it causes chaos immediately, sometimes the change doesn't take effect until the computer's restarted. It depends on what the key that was changed was for. That one in that video is a video driver, the change should be immediate if there's any change at all.

There's no change apparent in the video so....who knows what it does. They don't show the difference in a game running before and after they do it and it doesn't change the desktop display in any way. That's why I lean toward suggesting you don't trust that info.

[embraceentropy]

I took a couple of stabs at getting this to work. In the meantime I was able to get SH4 to display in 16:9 with black bars and it is great.



I applied the ARB 1920x1080 mod along with GWX and some others. I've tried all combinations of the DPI settings in the compatibility tab. In full screen mode it stretches to 21:9, which is terrible. If I select windowed mode in the game settings it just gives me a small window and only shows me a small corner of the game inside of it, definitely not usable as I can only see about 25% of the screen it's trying to show. There is a combination of DPI settings that has the window display in 16:9, but it puts it at the top left corner of the monitor and it is very uncomfortable. If I click the window bar to move it, the window immediately resizes itself to the small 25% size. I then tried reducing the resolution in my display settings to 1920x1080. My desktop is scaled correctly with the black bars on the sides. However, no matter how I start the game it stretches to 21:9. I've messed around with the nvidia settings to no avail.



What else could I try? I'm perfectly fine with having black bars on either side of the screen. I just want it to be in the correct 16:9 aspect.

[embraceentropy]

Success! In the Nvidia Control panel, Setting "Perform Scaling on:" to GPU from display solved it. Now I can keep my monitor set at full resolution "3440x1440" and when I launch the game it automatically changes the resolution to 1920x1080 and properly scales the game in the center of the screen.

Now...on to learning...

[CassiousClay]

Success! In the Nvid ia Control panel, Setting "Perform Scaling on:" to GPU from display solved it. Now I can keep my monitor set at full resolution "3440x1440" and when I launch the game it automatically changes the resolution to 1920x1080 and properly scales the game in the center of the screen.

Now...on to learning...

:Kaleun_Applaud::Kaleun_Salute:

Will you please share your mod list? There are export options if you click on Tasks in jsgme that allow us to easily save and share a list of the activated mods.

I went back to just using magUi. I'd like to try what you did to see if it works for me too.

[embraceentropy]

Good luck!

GWX Gold
SH3 Commander

Thomsen's Sound Pack V3.2cg
Rbs1_SH4_Effects_GWX_21_204f
Rapt0r's Uniforms V2.0 [Grey]
Rapt0r's Uniforms V2.0 [Grey - All Leather] Patch
Rubini´s Underwater dust&plancton v1
M.E.P v6
Optional - ShipVanishingHull for MEP v6
Optional - FSF for MEP v6
TKSS18 German U-Boats Compilation
FixAllSubGWX
ARB WideGui 1920x1080
ARB WideGui 1920x1080 v0.3.1
English & Deutsch
Sh3_volumetric_clouds&fog_V2.2
Ricks_GWX_Rec_Man_Final
M.E.P v6 - VisualSensors for GWX3 with Anvart's FUMO mod