Widescreen ?

[McGlu]

Yeah, I tried the -r switch and it is still stretched. Basically it looks the same as running 1600x1200.

[GrobRIM]

I have the same problem on my laptop.
The issue is that in Dom3 (was the same in Dom2), the layout is based on a screen ratio of 4:3, which is fine for display on screen with a 4:3 resolution, eg 1024*768 or 1600*1200.
If you use a screen with another ratio (for example 16:9), then the base screen layout with ratio 4:3 is going to be mapped to 16:9, effectively stretching it horizontally.
I guess this issue is non-trivial to address, and is not a mere video-driver issue, because it requires from the developpers to change the layout of the frames (top-province frame, left-commanders frame, right-menu frame, etc) from their virtual 4:3 screen to adapt to all other possible screen ratios that exist on the market (16:9, 14:9, etc)

[Olive]

UP. A little late , but my wide monitor was sent back because it had a dead pixel, and the seller had nothing more in his stock, so he refunded me. Just got a brand new one yesterday.

GrobRIM said:
I guess this issue is non-trivial to address, and is not a mere video-driver issue, because it requires from the developpers to change the layout of the frames (top-province frame, left-commanders frame, right-menu frame, etc) from their virtual 4:3 screen to adapt to all other possible screen ratios that exist on the market (16:9, 14:9, etc)

Depends on how the game is coded. If the ratio is by luck stored in a global variable, you have a way to easily change it .

Otherwise, too bad.

[GrobRIM]

Even having the ratio stored in a "global" won't help -- the point is, how to adapt the layout when the ratio changes.

For example, at the top of the screen, there are two "windows": the the "province" window in the top-left corner, and the "nation" window in the top-right corner.
With the current 4:3 ratio, their top edges are aligned on the top edge of the screen, and the province window's right edge touches the nation window's left edge.
Now imagine that we widen the screen by going to ratio 16:9; we now must decide how to adapt these two windows:
- either we don't change anything, and as the screen gets wider, a gap appears between the province window and the nation windows, which will look "funny" at best;
- or we make the top windows bigger to fill up the gap, but then, if the windows get wider, they'll also get taller (unless we want their content to be stretched), and so they'll cover more of the map underneath, leaving less useful space on the strategic map.

But whatever design choice is made, widescreen can/should be implemented for battle replay, where it will be of great added value (can see more of the battle without scrolling left/right)

[Caduceus]

I would say most folks don't have widescreen *yet*, but that is likely to change in the next 3-4 years (the tentative, conservative lifespan of this game on my PC). So this should probably be asked of the developers as a "future fix" to keep the longevity of Dominions 3 going.

[Olive]

GrobRIM said:
Even having the ratio stored in a "global" won't help -- the point is, how to adapt the layout when the ratio changes.

For example, at the top of the screen, there are two "windows": the the "province" window in the top-left corner, and the "nation" window in the top-right corner.
With the current 4:3 ratio, their top edges are aligned on the top edge of the screen, and the province window's right edge touches the nation window's left edge.
Now imagine that we widen the screen by going to ratio 16:9; we now must decide how to adapt these two windows:
- either we don't change anything, and as the screen gets wider, a gap appears between the province window and the nation windows, which will look "funny" at best;
- or we make the top windows bigger to fill up the gap, but then, if the windows get wider, they'll also get taller (unless we want their content to be stretched), and so they'll cover more of the map underneath, leaving less useful space on the strategic map.

But whatever design choice is made, widescreen can/should be implemented for battle replay, where it will be of great added value (can see more of the battle without scrolling left/right)

I think it's possible for the map view too. If the left informations panels position is calculated from the upper left corner and the right informations panels position is calculated from the upper right corner of the screen, we should have correct display for several ratios. The widest the screen, the largest the part of the map displayed, and icons remains the same.

4/3 :


16/10 :


Don't know the amount of work to add such an option. It depends of the already existing code I guess.

[Gandalf Parker]

I dont think the librarys for linux and mac support the same settings as windows does. So it would be awhile before we see it in this game.

[alexti]

I don't think it has anything to do with the libraries. It's just a matter of how Dominions calculate size/position of panels: from 2 dimensions (width and height) or from one dimension (width or height) and aspect ratio.

[Ygorl]

That's funny, I always just thought the game's font had wide characters and commanders were supposed to show up in squares...

[Gandalf Parker]

alexti said:
I don't think it has anything to do with the libraries. It's just a matter of how Dominions calculate size/position of panels: from 2 dimensions (width and height) or from one dimension (width or height) and aspect ratio.

Does it do it that way? I thought that it used a library and accepted settings from a set of standard screen sizes.