Widescreen Display Issue

[Kagan D'Argo]

Hello there.

 

I have installed and set up the widescreen mod to try and get it to a 1600x900 but the results are not great. The game now runs in a small section on the top left hand corner of my monitor. I tried setting it to a lower setting of 1280x800 but the result is the same.

 

I am quite new to the whole modding thing but am not sure what I have done wrong as I followed all the instructions as far as I could see.

 

Any advice would be most appreciated.

 

Regards.

[Isaya]

Please clarifiy the game you're trying to play with Widescreen.

 

With Baldur's Gate and Planescape:Torment, as explained in the readme, most screens except for the one where you move the team are indeed left in 640x480 and in the upper left corner of the screen. This is normal behaviour, as explained. There are mods to improve the GUI and center the alternate screens (inventory, spell book, ...) if you want to improve the game interface.

 

For all other games, the alternate screens should be centered, possibly with black borders around depending on your resolution settings.

[Kindo]

I have the same problem. I'm running BG1 (The Original Saga - gog.com) with nothing but the Widescreen mod installed. It installs without any errors, and the game runs only in a small section in the top-left corner of the screen (I chose 800x480 in order to stay close to the original resolution, but I've tried higher resolutions as well). As the readme says, this is expected for certain screens, but the main game screen - i.e. running around Candlekeep - remains displayed in that little corner, as well.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[neriana]

Something similar happened to me today, though with a higher resolution (1280 X 800). This happened after months of it working perfectly, for no reason I can figure out. Possibly a Windows update? Or something I inadvertantly set poking around my new computer? Anyway, uninstalling the mod and re-installing both it and TWM_GUI fixed the problem.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, the obvious fact is, if you install the Widescreen mod with a large resolution and then try and install the TWM_GUI mod with only has a limited resolution cabability, your Graphical User Interface will be a portion of the actual game play screen. Dah.

 

It the same in BG2, in there it's just centered, but the game screen then shreads... if you install a GUI mod on top of the the Widescreen mod. Of course the BG1's and BG2's GUI mods have the difference that the BG1's GUI needs the Widescreen mod to be installed first for the larger GUIs to work, while the BG2's GUIs are auto extended by the Widescreen mod. Yeah, the auto extension is not always perfect by the way, but it's far better than no GUI.

[Kindo]

Anyway, uninstalling the mod and re-installing both it and TWM_GUI fixed the problem.

Countless re-installations have been made. :/

 

Well, the obvious fact is, if you install the Widescreen mod with a large resolution and then try and install the TWM_GUI mod with only has a limited resolution cabability, your Graphical User Interface will be a portion of the actual game play screen. Dah.

 

It the same in BG2, in there it's just centered, but the game screen then shreads... if you install a GUI mod on top of the the Widescreen mod. Of course the BG1's and BG2's GUI mods have the difference that the BG1's GUI needs the Widescreen mod to be installed first for the larger GUIs to work, while the BG2's GUIs are auto extended by the Widescreen mod. Yeah, the auto extension is not always perfect by the way, but it's far better than no GUI.

I'm not sure I understand. The screenshot I attached shows what the game looks like when it's booted up; the entire screen is black, with only a corner of the monitor reserved for the game area. I thought the Widescreen Mod would stretch the game to fit the monitor, while displaying in the chosen resolution. If this is not the case - and I've thus misunderstood something - I'm sorry for wasting anyone's time. Hmm...

[Jarno Mikkola]

I'm not sure I understand. The screenshot I attached shows what the game looks like when it's booted up; the entire screen is black, with only a corner of the monitor reserved for the game area. I thought the Widescreen Mod would stretch the game to fit the monitor, while displaying in the chosen resolution. If this is not the case - and I've thus misunderstood something - I'm sorry for wasting anyone's time. Hmm...

Yes, it does extend the game area... but I wonder if you installed it correctly.

Install the game to non-Program Files -folder, nor anywhere near there either(so the C:\Games\Baldur's Gate\ -is a good place to install it to for example). Install the game update, start the game to make a first configuration etc(edit:uuh you have the GoG version, never mind this then: This is the assumed start position for all the currently up to date Baldur's Gate mods).

Then install the other mods, then the widescreen mod with one of the set resolutions in the TWM_GUI thread linked above, aka: 800x480, 800x600, 1024x600, 1024x768, 1280x768, 1280x800. You then might want to see that it works.... And then install the TWM_GUI mod, and play the game.

[Kindo]

Yes, it does extend the game area... but I wonder if you installed it correctly.

Install the game to non-Program Files -folder, nor anywhere near there either(so the C:\Games\Baldur's Gate\ -is a good place to install it to for example). Install the game update, start the game to make a first configuration etc(edit:uuh you have the GoG version, never mind this then: This is the assumed start position for all the currently up to date Baldur's Gate mods).

Then install the other mods, then the widescreen mod with one of the set resolutions in the TWM_GUI thread linked above, aka: 800x480, 800x600, 1024x600, 1024x768, 1280x768, 1280x800. You then might want to see that it works.... And then install the TWM_GUI mod, and play the game.

Every re-install has been on an untouched game; no mods whatsoever installed beforehand, and in a folder other than Program Files. While testing it after also installing TWM_GUI (base TWM installed first, GUI mod after), I've one-at-a-time tried every supported resolution (like I said, my wanted resolution is 800x480), and not until I get to 1280x768 or 1280x800 does it start to look like it's working as it should (i.e. it's stretching the game screen to fit the monitor, while displaying at the installed resolution - I have an LCD with native 1920x1080 resolution). This resolution is higher than I would wish it to be, however, at almost double the vanilla resolution. It's therefore not really to my liking, and I still don't know why the Widescreen Mod is not working on lower resolutions.

[Jarno Mikkola]

LCD with native 1920x1080 resolution

Can your monitors resolution be adjusted to your wanted resolution? (800x480, Windows resolution control)

[neriana]

People have been reporting a similar issue with The Sims 2 since the last Windows 7 update. This only applies if you have Windows 7, of course. Shot in the dark, but I wonder if running the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP would work.

 

Also, did you re-install the Widescreen mod, or did you completely uninstall it before installing it again? It didn't work for me when I simply re-installed; I had to choose uninstall, rather than re-install, in the Weidu setup.

[Mike1072]

(like I said, my wanted resolution is 800x480)

 

Any resolution is supported, provided that its X axis is greater or equal than 800 and the Y axis is greater or equal to 600.

[Kindo]

LCD with native 1920x1080 resolution

Can your monitors resolution be adjusted to your wanted resolution? (800x480, Windows resolution control)

This could be where the problem lies, but that makes me wonder why the game's original resolution (640x480) works, then. My monitor's resolution options go down to 800x600 at least, from what I can tell.

 

People have been reporting a similar issue with The Sims 2 since the last Windows 7 update. This only applies if you have Windows 7, of course. Shot in the dark, but I wonder if running the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP would work.

 

Also, did you re-install the Widescreen mod, or did you completely uninstall it before installing it again? It didn't work for me when I simply re-installed; I had to choose uninstall, rather than re-install, in the Weidu setup.

I'll give this a try tomorrow, so thanks in advance for the tip.

 

Any resolution is supported, provided that its X axis is greater or equal than 800 and the Y axis is greater or equal to 600.

Where did you read that? The readme I'm reading says any resolution that is greater than or equal to 640X and 480Y, is supported, which is the same information I get when installing the mod. Either way, I've tested the following resolutions: 800x480, 800x600, 1024x600, and 1024x768 without either of them working (i.e. they are not stretching to fit the monitor), while resolutions 1280x768 and 1280x800 do work, but like I said, neither of these are to my liking - they go way too far out.

[Mike1072]

Any resolution is supported, provided that its X axis is greater or equal than 800 and the Y axis is greater or equal to 600.

Where did you read that?

On the mod homepage. http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/

 

But I'd guess the mod readme would be more up to date.

[Jarno Mikkola]

LCD with native 1920x1080 resolution

Can your monitors resolution be adjusted to your wanted resolution? (800x480, Windows resolution control)

This could be where the problem lies, but that makes me wonder why the game's original resolution (640x480) works, then. My monitor's resolution options go down to 800x600 at least, from what I can tell.

Yeah, if the Windows itself cannot adjust the monitor's display to the 800x480 ... it's going to be hard for the video adaption program in the game to do so, yeah, the 640x480 might work because it goes back to the old style manual interface/code_whatever ... which different monitors display differently, as some types strech it to the corners while others keep it with the black side bars, as it goes from the 16x9 to the 4x3 aspect ration.

Anyways, I would also adviced that you need to set your Windows background resolution to the set resolution while you play the game, that is unless you play in a Windowed mode.

 

Edit: Ups, the 800x480 option is said to work only with the BG1 GemRP game, which you need to install the game via the GemRP installer, which is hard to do as you have to build the engine from the ground up(with the help of other nerds, yep, I say that cause I exclude myself from that group, as I haven't and probably will never try it).

 

So the 1024x768 is the smallest option you actually have.

[Kindo]

On the mod homepage. http://www.gibberlin...net/widescreen/

 

But I'd guess the mod readme would be more up to date.

Hmm... okay. Well, either way, 800x600 doesn't work either.

 

Yeah, if the Windows itself cannot adjust the monitor's display to the 800x480 ... it's going to be hard for the video adaption program in the game to do so, yeah, the 640x480 might work because it goes back to the old style manual interface/code_whatever ... which different monitors display differently, as some types strech it to the corners while others keep it with the black side bars, as it goes from the 16x9 to the 4x3 aspect ration.

Anyways, I would also adviced that you need to set your Windows background resolution to the set resolution while you play the game, that is unless you play in a Windowed mode.

 

Edit: Ups, the 800x480 option is said to work only with the BG1 GemRP game, which you need to install the game via the GemRP installer, which is hard to do as you have to build the engine from the ground up(with the help of other nerds, yep, I say that cause I exclude myself from that group, as I haven't and probably will never try it).

 

So the 1024x768 is the smallest option you actually have.

 

There's probably some technical issues behind it all, then. I'm a novice when it comes to this, I admit, and I simply assumed that if the un-modded game could display properly (stretched 640x480), a modded version would be able to do the same with other resolutions. I mean, the game is displayed in the selected resolution (even 800x480), but there's no stretching being applied, which is what struck me as odd. I figured that if my monitor couldn't handle it, the game would crash on startup or something.

 

I understand if that's not the case, though, so I'm ready to write this off as a lost cause. When I want to change my monitor's resolution, it does give me options all the way down to 800x600, but apparently that's not reliable information in this regard. Fact remains: Any version lower than 1280x768 does not work on my monitor, for whatever technical reasons, and there's no use struggling with this any more. I want to play, after all, so even if it's not optimal, I'll have to go with 1280x800. Thank you all for your time. I really appreciate it, nevertheless.