dim3 Forum

Thanks to a tip-off from Alex, I've been playing with widescreen resolutions in the new mesh-based version.

While playing, widescreen resolutions works correctly by adding additional left + right to the FOV.

The interface elements are a different story -- they get messed up. I'm working on making them retain their aspect ratio so that won't be a problem.

I've also got it so the "widescreen" (for me, anything under 0.625 height/width ratio) resolutions are marked as such. I'm also thinking of parsing the list to remove a couple odd resolutions (like ones above 0.75).

... but ... there's a problem ... and it's dealing with static screen artwork. How do you guys want me to fix this? There are three possible solutions that I can think of:

1) stretch it -- this is what I do now and it looks awful
2) put up black bars -- this is probably also undesirable and will force all the interface to be squished when there's room to display it
3) Allow multiple artwork (a 0.75 and 0.625 ratio resolutions, and pick the closest ones for the odd resolutions.)

#3 is probably the best solution, but it would take more work on your part. What do you guys think?

[>] Brian

Are you talking about the HUD art? Or the UI (Main Screen, Loading Screen .ect) ?

If you are talking about the UI art (main screen, loading screen .ect) then:

I vote #3 all the way!!!

Dr. Infested Wrote:Are you talking about the HUD art? Or the UI (Main Screen, Loading Screen .ect) ?

If you are talking about the UI art (main screen, loading screen .ect) then:

I vote #3 all the way!!!

Yes -- the HUD and bitmaps I need to make sure they retain their aspect ratio regardless what the ratio of the screen is. That's a fix for me, but there's nothing I can do about loading screens, main screens, etc, that wouldn't be nasty.

That said, this makes more work for you guys, which is why I bring it up.

[>] Brian

Well that's perfect then. I'd be happy with making widescreen and non-widescreen graphics. I'm very glad you asked us about it, if you had just made black bars, or stretching, that wouldn't have been good at all!

Have it automatically do #3 if there's 2 images and if not do #2, atleast I would like that . That way if I have a black screen with text in the middle I don't have to make 2 of them just to add black space....

I don't understand why one cannot just set up difference iface position values for the different aspect ratios? Wouldn't that be best? Cases for each aspect ratio?

teh1ghool Wrote:I don't understand why one cannot just set up difference iface position values for the different aspect ratios? Wouldn't that be best? Cases for each aspect ratio?

You won't even have to bother with that, I'll handle it properly. The trick is to keep the aspect ratio of the bitmap itself.

I've got most of this done (it was a side diversion from doing the mesh stuff.) Widescreen formats are now noted as such, none of the controls or buttons or interface elements look 'stretched' in widescreen modes, and the FOV behaves as expected.

[>] Brian

YAY! Widescreen was ruining my main screen and loading screen, and so this is just great. Proper postions for the HUD is good too.

Teh1ghool might be right here -- I can get all the interface screens right, but maintaining the aspect ratio on widescreen HUDs can sometimes cause them to act odd (it's long and complicated.) I might have to require a second set of coordinates in the interface.xml for the widescreen version; if they are missing I automatically use the non-widescreen one. There will also be a different scaling factor for widescreens.

[>] Brian

You could fix the UI elements by defining which corner(s) they are drawn from/to.