Wide Screen Mode problem?

[cjmaddy]

Now that this is on public beta, is anyone else having problems with the wide screen mode - [Ctrl]+[W] ?

For those not familiar with this feature, - this is how it should work:-

In the SS 'Settings' choose a wide format resolution, (I use 1280x720) then click OK.
The view of the SS should now show a reduced amount of foreground, and a little less headroom, - but still occupy the whole of your monitor screen. - (It will be stretched!)
Now using your monitor's settings for vertical size, reduce the picture height to the correct proportion, (on my Sony there is a slider which has to be moved down to 0 [zero]). - All this must be done whilst the Sharks SS is on screen!
On pressing [Esc] to exit the SS, your monitor should have remembered your normal 'Default System Resolution'. - Everything should appear normal, with no distortions.
When the SS is re-started again, the wide screen proportions will have been remembered, and there will be black bars top and bottom. (All modern monitors I am told, will do this, - but don't blame me if yours doesn't ..... mine does!)

All the other wide versions work this way, (example, - SSA 1.1wide), - but I have not yet had complete success with the Sharks SS! ..... The following is what happens:-

Ctrl+W does not change the resolution when in full screen mode.
Everything works fine whilst in Windowed mode, - ie, - correct proportions with no distortions, in both wide and normal formats, at any window size!
But on returning to Full screen mode, one or other of wide or normal, is shown stretched or compressed to fill which ever format/resolution, was in use when returning from the Windowed mode.

If you have followed all that, - give yourself a pat on the back!

AMD K6-II 500MHz
Windows 2000 Pro
TMC AI5VG+ 100Mz (VIA MVP3)
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (Driver nVidia 52.16)
Sound Blaster AWE-32 (Driver 4.38.16)
DirectX Version 9.0b

[Edgar]

cjmaddy,

The way you explain it is actually an experiment on MA2-MD version. The current method in Sharks is the original design for Sharks but it will change.

We will fix this so you won't need to adjust your monitor to create the wide letterbox look.

[cjmaddy]

Edgar,

Thanks for the reply. - Glad to hear you will be fixing this!

But forgive me, it's probably a language thing! - But what do you mean by:-

"The way you explain it is actually an experiment on MA2-MD version." ?

....... that's got me baffled!

[cjmaddy]

Am I the only one that has checked out [Ctrl]+[W] in full screen mode?

Come on gang! - this is a beta! - let's have some comments!

We will fix this so you won't need to adjust your monitor to create the wide letterbox look.

Edgar,

I think you will find that you will still need to go through that "adjusting your monitor to create the wide letterbox look". ....... that is if you have never done it before!
At least you will have to do it for the full screen mode. - Otherwise your monitor will not know what it is, that it should have remembered! - yes?


There should be enough gurus on this forum to know if that statement of mine is right or wrong!

[Edgar]

To let the program know what type of monitor you have, you adjust a number that tells the program the monitor ratio. I am currently runnning Widescreen in a letterbox on my notebook LCD and the second monitor connected to it. I did not have to adjust the monitor directly.

When I mentioned

The way you explain it is actually an experiment on MA2-MD version.

I thought you were comparing it to the Beta version of Marine Aquarium 2 with multimonitor support.

[cjmaddy]

The example I gave was, - SSA 1.1wide, - which DOES require the procedure I outlined.

Jim (Sachs), put it rather nicely in another thread, ........

As for myself, I'm currently using the wide version in the way that has been discussed here before. Namely, I set the Aquarium resolution to a setting that is never used for anything else (1600x900 in my case), then adjust the vertical height of the monitor for an accurate letterbox display. The monitor remembers this setting without affecting the settings for any other resolutions, so the Aquarium pops up in its proper widescreen aspect ratio.

That's the same procedure that I've used, only my settings are 1280x720.

Many thanks though, for your clarification Edgar. - I look forward to trying the amended version!

[Jim Sachs]

What Edgar is attempting is a valiant effort to make this procedure obsolete. If his scheme works, the program would sense the type of monitor you have, and (if widescreen is selected and monitor is 4:3) display the image in its proper aspect ratio with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

The effect wouldn't be EXACTLY the same, because when Cliff and I adjust the monitor to only fill part of the screen, all the power of the electron gun is concentrated in that smaller image, resulting in a brighter, more dense picture.

Remember that at the moment all this only applies to MA2 MD, as that is the platform for widescreen code experiments.

[Edgar]

You can still do the procedure that you mentioned above on the next version so if you want it to run it in a better resolution.