Comments on: Support My Res! http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/ Random babblings from a few digitally inclined people Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:39:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Plagiarize http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1846 Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:35:57 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1846 I'll be writing a more indepth post on all this, but I just recently picked up a 50" HDTV 1080p set (doesn't take a 1080p signal, but that's unlikely to be an issue for years, believe it or not as HDTV and Blu Ray are counter to popular belief going to launch at 1080i 60, which is more than enough for a 1080p set to turn into something practically indistinguishable to 1080p 24 with a bit of 3:2 pulldown, upscaling and deinterlacing... ps3 games aren't likely to hit 1080p 60 any time soon either...) and I've been toying around with playing PC games in widescreen. I think the feeling on 5:4 sets though, is that they're not going to be around for long. I know most 17" and 19" gaming LCDs run at that res, but the problem with it isn't just games that don't run at 1280 x 1024, but the lack of lower 5:4 resolutions for when your PC can't run titles at that resolution anymore. Then you're looking at 4:3 distorted to 5:4. In time (it's not far off as Vista scales) you'll be seeing more and more 1600 x 1200 17" and 19" monitors, and when that happens I think that 5:4 resolutions will die out. It's always been a bit of a funky aspect ratio. We don't want to be getting squarer after all. 1600 x 1200 of course has the benefit of 800 x 600 scaling really nicely to it, not to mention that monitors are if anything getting better and better at scaling. Garnet, thanks for posting that list! I'm going to have to read up on which PC games I have that do support widescreen to see if any of my absolute favourites will be worth a replay. Adding another aspect ratio takes more testing than adding another resolution, but why they can't at least put it in the menus with a disclaimer saying 'warning, graphical artifacts may occur at this resolution' or something, I don't know. I'd like 5:4 and 16:9 to see better support than they do, but 5:4 is a dead end. I’ll be writing a more indepth post on all this, but I just recently picked up a 50″ HDTV 1080p set (doesn’t take a 1080p signal, but that’s unlikely to be an issue for years, believe it or not as HDTV and Blu Ray are counter to popular belief going to launch at 1080i 60, which is more than enough for a 1080p set to turn into something practically indistinguishable to 1080p 24 with a bit of 3:2 pulldown, upscaling and deinterlacing… ps3 games aren’t likely to hit 1080p 60 any time soon either…) and I’ve been toying around with playing PC games in widescreen.

I think the feeling on 5:4 sets though, is that they’re not going to be around for long. I know most 17″ and 19″ gaming LCDs run at that res, but the problem with it isn’t just games that don’t run at 1280 x 1024, but the lack of lower 5:4 resolutions for when your PC can’t run titles at that resolution anymore. Then you’re looking at 4:3 distorted to 5:4.

In time (it’s not far off as Vista scales) you’ll be seeing more and more 1600 x 1200 17″ and 19″ monitors, and when that happens I think that 5:4 resolutions will die out. It’s always been a bit of a funky aspect ratio. We don’t want to be getting squarer after all. 1600 x 1200 of course has the benefit of 800 x 600 scaling really nicely to it, not to mention that monitors are if anything getting better and better at scaling.

Garnet, thanks for posting that list! I’m going to have to read up on which PC games I have that do support widescreen to see if any of my absolute favourites will be worth a replay.

Adding another aspect ratio takes more testing than adding another resolution, but why they can’t at least put it in the menus with a disclaimer saying ‘warning, graphical artifacts may occur at this resolution’ or something, I don’t know. I’d like 5:4 and 16:9 to see better support than they do, but 5:4 is a dead end.

]]> by: Cyrris http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1844 Sat, 25 Mar 2006 02:15:26 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1844 BF2 does now? Either I'm going nuts or they just didn't have that in the demo. BF2 does now? Either I’m going nuts or they just didn’t have that in the demo.

]]> by: Alex Hopkinson http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1843 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:42:41 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1843 Erm, you can set BF2 to 1280x1024 from the menu, no need for config wizardry. :-) But yes, I wasn't particularly impressed that the, otherwise excellent, Sands Of Time only supported resolutions up to 1024x768, which isn't ideal on a 17 inch LCD at all. Erm, you can set BF2 to 1280×1024 from the menu, no need for config wizardry. :-)

But yes, I wasn’t particularly impressed that the, otherwise excellent, Sands Of Time only supported resolutions up to 1024×768, which isn’t ideal on a 17 inch LCD at all.

]]> by: Thornhillboy http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1842 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:09:59 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1842 I still live with 800x600 because i'm old school... I find that any higher hurts my eyes for some reason, like I am straining to see the screen. This may be to do with the size of the monitor (I couldnt actually tell you how big it is as I do not know..and the measuring tape is all the way over the other side of the room). I still live with 800×600 because i’m old school…

I find that any higher hurts my eyes for some reason, like I am straining to see the screen. This may be to do with the size of the monitor (I couldnt actually tell you how big it is as I do not know..and the measuring tape is all the way over the other side of the room).

]]> by: Garnet http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1841 Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:22:25 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2006/03/support-my-res/#comment-1841 Well, I've had my laptop with widescreen display for about six months now and I haven't really had a problem with any newer games supporting 1440x900 (or 1260x768 if I go Windowed). The only ones I can remember being a pain were <em>Enemy Territory</em> and <em>UT2k4</em>, but that was because you had to go and fiddle with config files (more of a pain in concept, my cfg-fu is still strong, if rusty). Still, a lot of the games I've tried have had pretty semless or near semless support for widescreen. If anyone has any questions (or to find out of their favorite game works in Widescreen before buying a new moniter), Widescreen Gaming Forum has this awesome <a href="http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/masterlist.php" rel="nofollow">master list</a> of how to get it working (it at all possible). Well, I’ve had my laptop with widescreen display for about six months now and I haven’t really had a problem with any newer games supporting 1440×900 (or 1260×768 if I go Windowed). The only ones I can remember being a pain were Enemy Territory and UT2k4, but that was because you had to go and fiddle with config files (more of a pain in concept, my cfg-fu is still strong, if rusty). Still, a lot of the games I’ve tried have had pretty semless or near semless support for widescreen.

If anyone has any questions (or to find out of their favorite game works in Widescreen before buying a new moniter), Widescreen Gaming Forum has this awesome master list of how to get it working (it at all possible).

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