WinSPMBT + Radeon 9800 Pro = ?

[Crassus]

(Some of you may have seen this post in two other forums; it didn't even occur to me to post at the the forum for the actual game until after I did so elsewhere. )

Hey, folks. I'm at a loss as to why the following occurs: One of the games I'm playing these days is Windows Steel Panthers Main Battle Tank (WinSPMBT).

The free version can be played at either of two resolutions: 640 X 480 or 800 X 600, and either windowed or full screen.

Now, I play it at work (after the boss leaves for the day : ) and the PC's there are basic Dell set-ups, just enough to handle the proprietary hotel software with a VGA no better than 64mb, if that. On the computer I use, I've the resolution of the desktop at 1024 X 768. I can play the game at 800 X 600 and full screen. No problems.

But I also have the game installed on my rig at home. It's got a Radeon 9800 Pro, 128MB. I have the resolution of the desktop also set at 1024 X 768. Yet when I set the game options (800 X 600; full screen) the game is blurred and stretched way past the border of the monitor. I of course try to resize the screen, but it's already at "0".

What gives? Why is the crap rig at work displaying the game so much better than my one at home with the "better" graphics card?

[jvankessel]

My guess is that you are using an LCD monitor at home. The game's 800x600 is getting stretched to the monitor's ideal resolution of 1024x768.

[Mobhack]

jvankessel said:
My guess is that you are using an LCD monitor at home. The game's 800x600 is getting stretched to the monitor's ideal resolution of 1024x768.

My development machine is a Dell 5150 with a radeon se 300 128MB. And an LCD monitor 1280x1024 native mode.

800 mode full screen is blurred on the monitor precisely because LCD monitors "interpolate" 800 into 1280. So a pixel gets "spotted" into several surrounding pixels.

The answer is to get a proper CRT monitor, which will re-size its scan line size to the screen resolution (unlike an LCD) or to play in windowed mode.

The other option is to get the CD version . On the 1280 native mode LCD, I find that 1024 and 1152 modes are playable. (The 1600 mode gives a DirectX error, because LCD monitors have fits if you try a resolution >native ??. In windowed mode, it'll take up as much screen reolution as you have up to 1600, of course).

I still miss the CRT monitor, but the LCD is more practical ,apart from games, or if you want proper colour balance - use the Windows "Autumn" wallpaper for a reference if you are shopping for an LCD - get the shop assistant to put that one up, and see how washed-out the colours, which are normally a "warm" Autumnal brown basis, become. Then choose the least-bad LCD .

Cheers
Andy

[Crassus]

Thanks for the reply, guys. The solution was just to adjust the screen refresh rate. I upped it to 75Hz, and WinSPMBT looks great--uh, well, you know what I mean.

[JaM]

Another posibility is force LCD monitor to have fixed aspect ratio scaling. It will reduce your display a little, but your LCD will not interpolate, so it looks much better.