Changing BC's Resolution Settings

[Glenn]

Hi folks. 

I've just bought a new PC and I've been re-installing my old programs for the past few days. BC itself works fine on vista, but I'm having a problem adjusting BC's resolution.

I have a 22" widescreen monitor which displays 1680x1050 resolution, my question is can I force BC to operate at this resolution or will I have to settle for 1280x1024 and have flat looking starships!?.  :?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[MLeo]

Open your options.cfg (make a backup first) in something, hopefully not, like notepad (not Word or Wordpad, a plain text editor which can handle "null" characters would be best) and find your way to (in the next section, ignore the "", they are just to denote key markers): "[Graphics Options]".
Then, under that section, find "Fullscreen Mode|" make sure it's set to 0
Then you can change "Display Height|" and "Display Width|" to your liking.

But be sure to run in -TestMode (I would suggest a more permanent -TestMode, since it means you can't mess up your BC options if you accidently forget to run in -TestMode).

TBH, I would actually suggest to run in Windowed Mode ( Fullscreen Mode set to 0) and use one of the standard, highest, possible resolutions, since the GUI won't look so good. In fact, BC will think that you are running 640x480 resolution since you aren't using any standard resolution (to BC anyway).
I have been looking into this issue, but sofar I haven't really found a satisfying sollution to it.
Maybe in my BC:Foundation.

[JimmyB76]

Open your options.cfg (make a backup first) in something, hopefully not, like notepad (not Word or Wordpad, a plain text editor which can handle "null" characters would be best)

forgive me - i am a little confused here...  what would be the best thing to use to open the options.cfg?  notepad?  i have tried using wordpad before...  should i try changing the values using notepad? 
i have never been successful forcing BC to run in 1440x900 resolution, no matter what i try to change in the options.cfg...
and windowed mode is ok, but i hate how it is put in the upper left corner of the monitor (rather than, say, centered)...  but im assuming there is no way to change where windowed mode is placed?



(edit)
ive just tried changing the resolution in notepad, and when i change it to 1440x900, BC doesnt even load  
(not even an error message, it just doesnt load lol)
ive put in the values:

[Graphics Options]
Texture Detail|2
Number of Lights|2
MipMaps|1
Display Depth|32
Display Height|900
LOD Skip|0
Visible Damage|3
Display Device=Direct3D T&L HAL on NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500
Display Width|1440
Fullscreen Mode|0
Effect Detail|1

could it be the gfx card or something?  surely, theres gotta be a way to make the game run at widescreen settings?  granted, 6 years ago when the game was made, those resolutions werent very common im sure...

[MLeo]

Preferably not notepad, notepad2 (and I suppose notepad++) and PFE are known to work correctly.

I suppose any beyond basic editor is workable (more programmer oriented), as long as they don't try to take over line endings and such like.
I've just tried notepad, and I don't think I can quite recommend it.


And I'm afraid I haven't found anything that suggests you can position it, though that would be very nice indeed.
I suppose you also shouldn't visit the graphics area.

If you want, you can attach your options.cfg and I try to set the values.

[JimmyB76]

hmmm okee ive tried using PFE, but to no avail
ill upload my options.cfg, maybe youll have better luck than me lol

(sorry glenn i didnt mean to hijack your thread like this lol  this issue is one that has always bugged me since i got this widescreen monitor a year ago...)


ok this is weird - BCC wont let me upload a cfg file lol

[MLeo]

Open PFE and drag the file onto it.

Or zip it and try attaching it again.

[JimmyB76]

okee - ill zip it

ive always just assumed that BC wouldnt be able to run in widescreen resolutions... 
tho i always hoped there could be a way to force it to, i had always figured we'd be stuck with how it is...

even with the flat ships and "stretched" GUI, i always just guessed we'd have to deal with it, or play in windowed mode and deal with the fact that is placed in the upper left side of the monitor lol

[MLeo]

Well, I only know of one case where it worked (the things I mentioned in my initial post were based from that), but that was way back at BCU.

[MLeo]

You actually seem to already have the needed changes.

Ok, have you tried setting it closer to the predefined settings?
Say, 1280x<<whatever the size you get>> (sorry, don't know the real size).

[JimmyB76]

ya those settings i zipped were the ones i tried, but then BC wouldnt load...
i can run BC at 1280x1024, or lesser resolutions (1024x768, etc) full screen - i have seen people being able to run it at 1600x1200, but i cant seem to be able to do that on my install...

i guess BC just doesnt like widescreen settings at all (1440x900, 1280x800, etc)  i have always wished it could be somehow possible to force it to play at widescreen resolutions, but i guess it's just not possible...  those are just two of the things i always wished could be changed about BC (widescreen res and putting windowed mode at the center instead of upper left)
ah well lol 


searching thru BCU, it seems at least one person managed to get BC to run at 1280x800, but it just doesnt seem to work for me lol

[AndrewJ]

Bain of my life also 1680 by 1050 here.  :arms:

[Aeries]

dual-monitors, 2560 x 1024 screen resolution (span-mode).
I know I can get TES:IV Oblivion to work with that res easy enough... haven't tried BC, though. It would probably scream and cry.

[Glenn]

(sorry glenn i didnt mean to hijack your thread like this lol  this issue is one that has always bugged me since i got this widescreen monitor a year ago...)

No probs Jimmy, it's a problem that needs sorting out lol.

Ok I've done as Mleo suggested and downloaded Notepad++ and editted the options.cfg file. So far I've managed to get BC running in 1600x1200 (fully playable) and 1680x1050 I get past the main menu and click on quick battle, combat loading screen comes up and the music plays but then BC doesn't seem to do anything more. As Jimmy said it seems BC isn't user friendly when it comes to widescreen resolutions!!. 

[Shadowknight1]

I know your pain Glenn, but if you check your graphics card settings, there may be a way to force BC to come up in the standard format rather than stretchy ships.  On my computer, it's ctrl+alt+F11, it switches between the resolution of the game, fitting the game to the height of the screen, and then the stretched screen.

[MLeo]

It would appear this is something worth spending time on.

I'll take this into account!
Although I fear some parts might just be unfixable (such as moving the window).
And I somewhat fear that you may have to, more or less, frequently change your own options.cfg. But I'll have to see that when I cross that bridge.


Does anyone know how many variants of widescreen there are?

[JimmyB76]

It would appear this is something worth spending time on.

I'll take this into account!

sweet!! 

Although I fear some parts might just be unfixable (such as moving the window).
And I somewhat fear that you may have to, more or less, frequently change your own options.cfg. But I'll have to see that when I cross that bridge.

i personally wouldnt mind having to change the options.cfg often, if it means i can play BC with proper resolution settings, instead of the "stretched" ships and GUI...
and if the windowed mode is indeed unfixable, that would be fine with me personally also...

Does anyone know how many variants of widescreen there are?

well, we do know of 1680x1050 and 1440x900 so far...
i think 1280x800 is another one?  im not too sure which other widescreen settings people may be using tho...

[MLeo]

Maybe I just ought to make both width and height selectable, instead of just height (this is how BC views it!).

[MLeo]

I just realised something for this thread:
http://bc-central.net/forums/index.php?topic=3236.0

If you have the anti-aliassing mod (you know, where it sets your graphics card to use the not TnL mode) it might just reset your resolution, since, in fact, it does change your resolution.

[EDIT] It's called the "3rd Era Jaggie Fix" and is found in the Startup options of UMM.

[Picard_1]

Does anyone know how many variants of widescreen there are?

I think 1280x1024 is another variant.

[JimmyB76]

actually - thats a fullscreen setting... it is the one between 1024x768 and 1600x1200 (another resolution i can't seem to be able to use)...

[EDIT] It's called the "3rd Era Jaggie Fix" and is found in the Startup options of UMM.

i have that, and it is always on...  but how does that change any resolutions?  im not sure i understand?