Any Widescreen tips

[Von Taticus]

Just got a wide screen... :up:

I know that the games is fixed resolution, however is there any hack out there to allow the game to be displayed with a aspect ratio of 1:1:hmm:

(The contrast is stunning compare to CRT. & the speed (5ms) is fine for fast stuff racing etc...)

[kylania]

Use the Display Resolution (http://www.communitymanuals.com/shiii/index.php?title=Display_Resolution) fix.

[Von Taticus]

Perfect, Many thanks . just what I was after.:up:

[kylania]

Glad to help, lots of great info at that wiki!

[tycho102]

Mine crashes out on me if I try a 16:10 resolution, so I play at 1600x1200.

I've never actually loaded the ACT (app compat toolkit), so I don't know if that would fix the issue or not.

[Justice_AA]

This "fix" scares me to be honest. Here are my questions:

1. Does this fix the aspect ratio for wide screen or just stretch the image to fit?

2. There are not resized textures for the maps and such, how do they look at higher resolutions?

3. I really like the soft look of the low resolutions with high AA and AF, is it worth it?

4. If I don't like it, can I go back?

:hmm:

[kylania]

I run mine on a 21" widescreen Samsung LCD at 1680x1050.

This "fix" scares me to be honest. Here are my questions:

1. Does this fix the aspect ratio for wide screen or just stretch the image to fit?

Fixes the aspect ratio, the screen looks just fine.

2. There are not resized textures for the maps and such, how do they look at higher resolutions?

Looks beautiful, you can look at some 1680x1050 screengrabs (http://www.kylania.com/sh3/patrol6/) for my 6th patrol to see.

3. I really like the soft look of the low resolutions with high AA and AF, is it worth it?

I've never been able to figure out what AF does, but AA looks freaking amazing, also makes a very very noticeable difference with persicion on the map screen. However, especially with Grey Wolves, AA really can kill your frame rates. Personally I've dropped from 6X down to 4X and it's been a bit better.

4. If I don't like it, can I go back?

Sure can, just rename or remove the three files, the d3d9.dll, the d3d9.cfg and the d3d9.db or whatever it is. To put it back, move the files back in.

Mine crashes out on me if I try a 16:10 resolution, so I play at 1600x1200.

I've never actually loaded the ACT (app compat toolkit), so I don't know if that would fix the issue or not.

As far as I'm aware the ACT is an absolutely vital part of getting this fix to work, you must load that and follow the instructions to inform Windows how to use the new DLL. But I've never tried it without it. heh

[Pudu]

Fixes the aspect ratio, the screen looks just fine.



AFAIK it doesn't fix the aspect ratio it just allows you to play whatever res you desire. If I have this wrong I'd love to know how to get SH3 to show up unstretched in 1920x1200.

Pudu

[Ilpalazzo]

I would like to know as well. Even if it is stretched though, I can't really tell. It looks fantastic for me at 1680x1050 with 4 or 6x aa. Sometimes I put some af to clear the textures. In particular I do not like seeing the subs ends all blurry when I am on bridge. Normally no af is fine for me because it kills my performance in a storm.

[Redwine]

2. There are not resized textures for the maps and such, how do they look at higher resolutions?

Looks beautiful, you can look at some 1680x1050 screengrabs (http://www.kylania.com/sh3/patrol6/) for my 6th patrol to see.

But your instruments are eliptical, not circular....

I think so is better to have two black strips one at each side to maintain the aspect ratio...

I an looking to buy a LCD an i cant decide if to buy or not a wide screen one....

[kylania]

But your instruments are eliptical, not circular....

I think so is better to have two black strips one at each side to maintain the aspect ratio...

I an looking to buy a LCD an i cant decide if to buy or not a wide screen one....

*blink* *squint*

Well, after using the Circle tool in Photoshop I can confirm you're right, they are eliptical! I hadn't noticed in a month of playing though. :)

Personally I love it. You can see tons more area even if it's a barely perciptable squish to things I guess?

I play EVE Online as well, and my monitor's picture in picture (http://www.eve-files.com/media/0606/eve-pip.jpg) feature is just great too! Just press a button and you can bring up your other PC, or a watch a movie for those long cruises!

[Redwine]

.... or a watch a movie for those long cruises!

I cant believe ! :D

Well some times i rise up volume and go to take dinner and when i hear some advice i run to the PC.... why dont watch a movie on long range cruises ?

:up:

[MobyGrape]

I use a ws lcd tv..I looked at the above pics of Kylanis..and they look 99percent round..It will look much rounder viewed on a widescreen monitor i believe.
To me the only big difference is in binocular view and uzi..buts its not a big deal.

[Justice_AA]

Based on the screens it looks like the widescreen is a compromise. The 2d overlays are stretched because the only other option would be to make new widescreen versions. The 3d screens are indeed the correct aspect ratio and the field of view is increased.

A trick that a lot of widescreen mods use is to cut of the top of the screen to make it look widescreen, when in reality it is keeping the horizontal FOV the same and reducing the vertical FOV.

This "fix" adds horizontal FOV which is the whole point of widescreen.

I think I am satisfied to give this a try. Thanks for everyone’s input.

[icekooldutton]

After trying this mod, I can tell you that the widescreen does not fix the aspect ratio in the 3D view, (the 3D gaugues in the sub compartment look eliptical), but it is subjective as to wheter one would prefer to play in 4:3 aspect with the correct ratio but black bars on the screen or a slightly stretched view for 16:10 ratio monitors.

Personally I like the widescreen and can learn to live with the aspect ratio, and if you dont you can always adjust the resolution in the patcher to a 4:3 ratio that is higher than the stock 1024x768, so long as the montior supports it, (the largest res my monitor will support at 4:3 res is 1280x1024)

As I say at the end of the day it is subjective, some will like it, and some won't but at least you can try and see for yourself.

Thanks

May the wind be always at your back

[Redwine]

Thanks for info.... :up:

[IronOutlaw]

Sehr Geehrt Kameraden!

I have just hooked up my 19" wide screen LCD, and have had to "squeeze" the screen shape to make the ials almost circular again. The remaining distortion is minimal and of no consequence.

Thankfully, the monitor does not need to be reconfigured for the rest of the programs.

Interestingly, Sub Command and Dangerous Waters also have no facility to reformat them for wide screen, so like SH III, they need to be squeezed as well. Two games from Europe, however, can be formatted to fit the new scree. They are Distant Guns, and Ship Sim.