D3 on widescreen - old question ...

[dissent]

... I'm sure.

Can someone point me to the \"for Dummies\"-version of how to set up D3 to display properly on a widescreen monitor? I've been poking around and I can't seem to find what I'm looking for. I've got a 16:9 display.

When D3 fires up, I get a bunch diagonal lines in the textures, and if I Tab in and out of the automap, the textures get even screwier. Very Timothy Leary, but a crappy gaming experience.

Thx for hold my hand.

signed,
dazed and confused

[Aus-RED-5]

Have a look though this thread.

http://www.descentbb.com/viewtopic.php?t=3867

[Krom]

Use the -aspect -width and -height command line options to match the native resolution of your monitor.

So if your monitor is 1920x1080 (16:9) then you would use: -aspect 1.78 -width 1920 height 1080.

Or if your monitor is 1920x1200 (16:10) then you would use: -aspect 1.6 -width 1920 -height 1200.

[dissent]

Aus - thanks for the link. yeah, I went through that discussion a while back - it didn't seem to come to a conclusion, then I just put off getting back to it and forgot about it.

Use the -aspect -width and -height command line options to match the native resolution of your monitor.

So if your monitor is 1920x1080 (16:9) then you would use: -aspect 1.78 -width 1920 height 1080.

Yeah, I did this. But the surfaces still don't render properly - colors are wrong and I have diagonal bars running through them. Tabbing in and out of the automap makes it worse.

Do I need to adjust something in the ATI card's display properties? Had no issues when the 17-inch crt was dialed in.

[dissent]

Interesting.

If I set the line in the D3 launcher to read

-width 1440 -height 1080 -aspect 1.33

then all the textures render fine. Go figure.
Now I just need to learn how to play the game.

[Duper]

Dissent, what hardware do you have and what are you running D3 in? D3d or OGL?

Also, how old are the vid drivers?
If there have been several version of vid drivers installed on top of each other, I recommend getting driver sweeper and blowing all vestages of you vid drivers away (use CCleaner too) Reboot and reinstall the newest rev. (10.4 if you have an ATI)

[dissent]

It's a Dell 8600 (if memory serves) w/2GB ram. Vid is a Radeon 9600 128MB AGP card. I checked the driver version as I was running out to go to work today - it's 7.10. Haven't tried to update drivers longtime; hasn't been necessary - everything works fine.

[Foil]

Here's what I do on my rig (ATI) for a 1920x1080 monitor:

To fill the screen (note that you lose some top/bottom field of view):
\"-width 1920 -height 1080 -aspect 1.78\"

To get maximum field of view (w/ bars on the sides):
\"-width 1440 -height 1080 -aspect 1.33\"
[+ check the \"Enable GPU Scaling\" option in the CCC to prevent stretching.]

[dissent]

Thx, Foil.

I still find it interesting that with the command line switches set in my earlier post, that I can still get an image across the entire widescreen. I don't get any bars along the sides at all.

[Duper]

well done Foil.

I agree Dissent about the drivers. With an older card like that, if it's not \"broken\", don't fix it.

[Foil]

I still find it interesting that with the command line switches set in my earlier post, that I can still get an image across the entire widescreen. I don't get any bars along the sides at all.

That's because even if you have a 4:3 resolution specified in the command-line, the monitor will stretch it to the wider aspect.

The way to prevent the stretching is the "Enable GPU Scaling" option, which will put bars on the sides to keep it a 4:3 resolution. (This is what I do.)

[dissent]

Here's what I do on my rig (ATI) for a 1920x1080 monitor:

To get maximum field of view (w/ bars on the sides):
"-width 1440 -height 1080 -aspect 1.33"
[+ check the "Enable GPU Scaling" option in the CCC to prevent stretching.]

Alright, I didn't have the Enable GPU scaling option on my old Catalyst version (7.10), so I went ahead and updated to Catalyst 10.2 for the Radeon 9600. Now, when I check the scaling option, there is a "maintain aspect ratio" selection there, but when I click it and click apply, the enable scaling check disappears and it reverts back to the "scale image to full panel size option". Have to see if I can figure out what's going on there.

[fliptw]

you only get the scaling option when you are not running at your panel's native resolution.

[dissent]

you only get the scaling option when you are not running at your panel's native resolution.

Ahhhhh ..............

[BUBBALOU]

you can use CCC 10.2 to create a Desktop Program shortcut to configure the video options and then launch the application/game... If you need that 3.0 degrees of vertical view so desperately in a horizontal view game.

Unless of course you fly every level sideways

ENJOY

[dissent]

Thanks Bubba. Is this the same info in the \"D3 on newer machines\" sticky? I'll have to start trying some of those settings.


As to the GPU scaling option, I have the same problem of not being able to set it, whether I set the monitor to 1920 x 1080 or anything else.

[BUBBALOU]

make a custom profile under the 'options' section on right of CCC panel. First set your resolution to a 4:3 type , that enables the scaling option in the display options section(other than your native res) . You can save the profile and then while you still have the profile loaded create a shortcut from the ccc panel in which points to descent3.exe add the '-launched' variable afterwards..

I would suggest before you save your 1st profile or alter it, make one named default

[dissent]

Well, I tried and tried, but I couldn't get the 4:3 res to display on my screen. Turns out that my Syncmaster 2333sw panel has an option setting for Auto and Wide - it was set on Wide that forced all input to the monitor to widescreen display. When set to auto, now I get the black bars on the sides of my 4:3 display.

However, I'm still getting some issues. For example, when D3 finishes one level and transitions to the next, the display just stays black. It's active (I can hear what's going on) but i can't see squat. What might I be missing?

[Krom]

However, I'm still getting some issues. For example, when D3 finishes one level and transitions to the next, the display just stays black. It's active (I can hear what's going on) but i can't see squat. What might I be missing?

Bug in modern driver sets, happens on both Nvidia and ATI hardware, even in Windows XP. I don't know of any work-around for it currently (other than perhaps trying it in Direct 3D mode, which comes with its own set of glitches).