View Single Post
Old 09-30-15, 03:22 PM   #9
Funker
Nub
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3
Downloads: 9
Uploads: 0
Default

It should be possible to set your screen's scaling options to somethiing like "maintain aspect ratio" or "center image", whereas I would recommend the latter one for.. let's say... flat screens with resolutions like 1920x1200 (16:10), combined with ahnenerbe's gui, which is optimised for 1920x1080. Actually both options will work, hence another example: If you'd like to use the MaGUI (developed for 1366x768) and a flat screen like the one mentioned above, the "maintain aspect ratio" is the better choice, because it will stretch the 1366x768 pt to full display width (scales the displayed image up to 1920x1080(!)) but cuts off the height: 1200-1080= 120, resulting in 60pt-wide borders on top and below the displayed image. This will look much better in my opinion because the image remains in it's original aspect ratio.
Finally, if you'd like to run SH3 in widescreen resolution, you should follow the instructions mentioned in my first post. Additionally you could or maybe should do the following, especially if you've used many mods:

- uninstall sh3, clean the registry (ccleaner is recommended)
- clear your *\Documents\SH3-folder, which is located in "c:\users\yourusername\documents\sh3" in windows 10 (this should be the same location as it is in vista, 7 and 8)
- re-download sh3 via steam
- copy&paste the whole sh3-folder (usually located in "c:\pgrogram files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\silent hunter 3") to another location (like "c:\games\sh3") and rename the folder into something like "sh3", "SHIII" or "SilentHunter3" --> avoid blank characters (I've had issues with some mods while using spaces in my sh3-folder's name)

Some mods will change default directories or will modify config files, so these steps are highly recommended. Additionally, if you use mods like "Living Silent Hunter", the game will likely crash if you want to run it in high resolutions but your system lacks the according computing power. It *IS* possible to run Living-SH3 with Intel HD Graphics, because this graphics card allocates up to 1.7GB of vram, but since this will lower your available physical RAM, you'll need at least 8GB of RAM installed in your system. If you have this amount of RAM available, it is even possible (and my humble recommendation) to deactivate your swap file. This will prevent caching sh3's data to your harddisk and the result is a smooth gameplay. I tested this myself on my laptop using the integrated Haswell's i3-graphics, 8gb RAM together with 1TB of SSD-space available, and it runs flawlessly, but I recommend at least something like Intel's Pentium dual-core paired with a graphics adapter capable of allocating at least(!) 1GB of memory and at least 8GB physical memory (not virtual memory, which normally includes swap storage). And - of course - solid state storage makes sense if you'll use hughe super mods like LSH3 or maybe GWX.
Since I've got nothing else to do (hehe), I checked my usual "conflict-avoiding super-ultra-sh3-strategy" (... ) with several systems: Vista, 7, 8, 10, AMD's 7870 and 7850 APU, 8gb or 16gb RAM, several Intel CPUs from Sandy's i3 up to Broadwell's i5, and everything works perfectly - even with different graphics adapters (AMD's APU, Intel's integrated solutions, Radeon 5750, 7850, R9 Nano, nVidias 860M, or Broadwell's Iris Pro).

And, finally, another hint: If your graphics adapter is not the almighty Zeus, I recommend a limitation of framerate to 30fps (which is exactly one half of the usual flat screens refresh rate of 60 "fps" (Hz) and will most likely avoid tearing or flickering, since it's like vsync). This will spare you some computing power and it's possible that the game will run more smoothly. And it saves energy (laptop)...

By the way: Disabling swap storage is highly recommended for SSD-users: This will prevent caching like mentioned above, so your SSD will last longer; furthermore disabling hibernation mode is also highly recommended

Hehe, the last hint? Nope, there is another one for you: Play around with JSGME! Most widescreen GUIs/mods for SH3 will run without any other mod or anything else installed at all. So you're free to "trial and error" the issues you've got with your widescreen resolution. Just disable most (if not all) mods you're currently using, enable the widescreen mod you'd like to use and try! But, alas! There's even more I'd like to recommend... In *MY* case the game crashed when I enabled flakmonkey's new interrior mod AFTER ahnenerbe's gui - I suppose that there are issues regarding keyboard shortcuts or something like this.



Hope this helps,



EDIT: It *IS* possible that switching mods on and off will probably break your career save game, so the game *will* crash! But I suppose this won't happen if you activate one of those widescreen mods available... although... nah... whatever

Last edited by Funker; 09-30-15 at 03:31 PM.
Funker is offline   Reply With Quote