Widescreens and gaming

[Desslok]

How do games handle widescreen monitors? Do they take up the whole monitor or are there black bars like on widescreen TVs?

Thanks,
Desslok

 

[Nikamichi]

Run the game on a monitors native resolution = no black bars or stretched picture.

 

[raystorm]

If the game has no widescreen resolutions (in game or not able to have any through cfg hacks) the image will be stretched. Some monitors will allow you to have non-widescreen resolutions displayed as they should with the black bars instead of a stretched image. As Nikamichi says, if the game supports your monitor's native res then its all good and you'll get no stretched image or black bars.

Go here for more info:
Widescreen Gaming Forum

 

[Desslok]

Thanks for the info guys.

Desslok

 

[BassBomb]

It is heavily game dependant, then GPU + Monitor

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
It is heavily game dependant, then GPU + Monitor

Yeah, but any game in the last two years (if not 3-4) is formatted for widescreen.

 

[Ika]

Heroes of Might and Magic 5 has a widescreen resolution, but stretches the image (and I don't think they've fixed it or done anything about it). I believe FEAR did not have widescreen support when it came out, either (it was later added in a patch).

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Google "widescreen gaming wiki"

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: angry hampster

Originally posted by: BassBomb
It is heavily game dependant, then GPU + Monitor

Yeah, but any game in the last two years (if not 3-4) is formatted for widescreen.

Not entirely. Some may let you set WS res natively, but when they chop the top and bottom of the screen off, it alters the experience negatively. One of the recent games that just doesn't support WS is the Sam & Max series, the reason I had to get an NVIDIA card because of the fixed aspect ratio scaling absent from ATI desktop cards.

 

[tigersty1e]

My 8800 GT 512 MB with 169.25 drivers are able to use the fixed-aspect ratio...

My monitor is not able to put up black bars, but the video card is able to do this through the software...

Finally no more fighting fat enemies in BF2.

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
My 8800 GT 512 MB with 169.25 drivers are able to use the fixed-aspect ratio...

My monitor is not able to put up black bars, but the video card is able to do this through the software...

Finally no more fighting fat enemies in BF2.

Exactly! Working perfectly here. Along with the unsightly stretching, it helps with the varying sensitivity disparity between vertical and horizontal movement caused by the stretching. Although, you might not have to use square aspect in BF2

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: angry hampster

Originally posted by: BassBomb
It is heavily game dependant, then GPU + Monitor

Yeah, but any game in the last two years (if not 3-4) is formatted for widescreen.

Tell that to EA and the Battlefield series...

 

[Eeezee]

WidescreenGamingForum.com helped me when I first moved to a widescreen monitor (32" LCD TV actually)

Most recent games will have widescreen resolutions available that you can just select. It will default to some ugly resolution.

In rare cases (EA games are notorious at this actually) you won't be able to navigate the menus on a widescreen monitor with the default resolution. You have to either change the resolution outside of the game (editing a file) or connect a standard monitor, change the resolution, reconnect widescreen monitor.

In much older games (Evil Genius for example) you're just screwed; all you can do is put it in window mode, but in window mode it's stuck at 1024x768 resolution. The game is unplayable unless it's in window mode.

Enjoy your widescreen

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
My 8800 GT 512 MB with 169.25 drivers are able to use the fixed-aspect ratio...

My monitor is not able to put up black bars, but the video card is able to do this through the software...

Finally no more fighting fat enemies in BF2.

You can run BF2 in widescreen mode. Did you not Google?

http://www.rage3d.com/board/ar...ex.php?t-33820626.html


"C:\Program Files\EA Games\Battlefield 2\BF2.exe" +menu 1 +widescreen 1 +szx 1920 +szy 1200

 

[Ichigo]

But the top and bottom of the picture are cut to achieve a wide-aspect ratio, which means you are at a disadvantage compared to someone who stays with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
But the top and bottom of the picture are cut to achieve a wide-aspect ratio, which means you are at a disadvantage compared to someone who stays with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Not in any of the non-widescreen games I've played

Usually the image just stretches so that it touches the sides of the monitor.

Or are you talking specifically about BF2? I don't have any experience with it so I dunno.

 

[duragezic]

+widescreen 1 doesn't do anything for BF2. +fullscreen 1 is just there for full screen vs. windowed mode


As far as what games support it and how well, WidescreenGamingForum has all of that. Some games have no support, some have crappy support that cut off the top and bottom, and some have good support. Almost all of the games in the past couple of years at least have some sort of WS support. The only one that I play now that doesn't is Joint Operations. And WSGF lists it as 'Native', but it is totally broken and only 16:9 resolutions are available anyway. So in cases like that, I use Aspect scaling and run 1024x768, 1280x1024, or 1280x960.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
But the top and bottom of the picture are cut to achieve a wide-aspect ratio, which means you are at a disadvantage compared to someone who stays with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

It's a negligible disadvantage, and it's made up for if you think about it-- your view is slightly zoomed in.

 

[mindcycle]

Maybe you guys can answer this question for me. I have a WS LCD, native rez of 1680 x 1050 with a 16:9 aspect ratio. So, for example, in COD4 you can set the resolution to 1650 x 1050 but you can also select an aspect ratio, 16:9, 4:3, etc...

So do I want to set the resolution to 1650 x 1050 AND set the aspect ratio to 16:9, or leave it on the default?

 

[Throckmorton]

You want 1680x1050 and 16:10 not 16:9

 

[mindcycle]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
You want 1680x1050 and 16:10 not 16:9

Thanks for the reply. If you don't mind explaining, why do I want to set it to 16:10?

 

[Nikamichi]

Originally posted by: mindcycle

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
You want 1680x1050 and 16:10 not 16:9

Thanks for the reply. If you don't mind explaining, why do I want to set it to 16:10?

Here's a hint:

1680x1050

16:10

 

[AdamK47]

I have a Samsung 32" LCD TV as my main monitor. If a game doesn't support 16:9, I have the ability to switch to 4:3 with black bars on the side. I'd rather have the black bars than put up with stretching. Plus, games may run in the widescreen resolution, but may stretch everything anyway. A good way to see what works and what doesn't is this website.

 

[mindcycle]

Ok thanks guys. Just trying to wrap my head around this, I realize it was somewhat of a noob question. For some reason I was under the impression that my monitor had a 16:9 aspect ratio, when in fact it's 16:10. Reading through the faq on widescreengamingforum.com helped me understand this.

If you do a google search for "BenQ FP202W aspect ratio", the first link listed mistakenly lists the aspect ratio as 16:9, when clearly it's 16:10 since it's native resolution is 1680x1050. This was why I was getting confused.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: mindcycle
Ok thanks guys. Just trying to wrap my head around this, I realize it was somewhat of a noob question. For some reason I was under the impression that my monitor had a 16:9 aspect ratio, when in fact it's 16:10. Reading through the faq on widescreengamingforum.com helped me understand this.

If you do a google search for "BenQ FP202W aspect ratio", the first link listed mistakenly lists the aspect ratio as 16:9, when clearly it's 16:10 since it's native resolution is 1680x1050. This was why I was getting confused.

Yup, that would be correct. In general, wide screen monitors designed for computer use tend to be 16:10. Wide screen HD-TVs tend to be 16:9 which is the HD-TV format. While there may be exceptions to this rule, it generally is correct.