Scaling to fit resolution with different aspect ratio than game without blurring

Started by foxmulderthesecond, Tue 19/06/2018 10:58:48

Previous topic - Next topic

foxmulderthesecond

Hello,

I couldn't find a sub-forum specifically for technical support of this type, so I hope I am somewhat in the right place.

I am currently trying to play a game created with AGS with a native resolution of 640x400 and therefore aspect ratio of 16:10 (Technobabylon, if it matters). I have a display with an aspect ratio of 16:9, resolution 1920x1080. So, the game obviously cannot fit my display perfectly.
What I would like to see, is the game scaled to a resolution of 1728x1080, so I'd have black bars on the sides but otherwise a fullscreen experience. This is easily done by allowing only sidebars in the configuration menu. Unfortunately, the result is a blurry mess. The chosen filter doesn't affect this in any way either.
My guess is, that since the game has a native resolution of 640x400, only multiples of said resolution are scaled perfectly. For instance, when choosing the "Max nearest-neighbour filter" setting or one with a very high resulting resolution, my display's resolution of 1920x1080 is detected and the biggest scaled resolution found that still fits: 1280x800. 1920x1200 (which would be the original game scaled 3x), doesn't fit anymore and isn't scaled down either.
I can then enable both sidebars and top-and-bottom bars and play the game without blur, but of course only within a 1280x800 big window on my 1920x1080 big display. In other words, massive black bars on every side.

So, my question is: did I miss any setting that would allow me to access a different scaling method, or is there none? Am I forced to play the game in this small window or suffer the blur in the fullscreen mode?

Thanks and have a nice week.

Crimson Wizard

Hmm, yes, it does not look like we have a distinct subforum for "game player support" here.

Anyway, regarding the issue, mentioning "top bars" and "side bars" probably means the game is made with older version of AGS, which had pretty limited display mode selection.

I may suggest trying to run the game using contemporary engine.
- download latest stable version of AGS, for example here: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=56054.0
(unless you have AGS installed)
- if you do not use AGS, don't pick installer, download ZIP version instead.
- all you need from the package is engine runtime called "acwin.exe".
- copy acwin.exe to the game's folder.
- right-click on the acwin.exe and choose "Create shortcut". Open shortcut's properties, and where it has "Target" field add "--setup" to the path\acwin.exe, to make it look like "some path\acwin.exe --setup". Call this shortcut like "setup new engine" or something.
The latest step is necessary, because winsetup.exe will run original game's setup, and you need new engine's one.

Now run the setup shortcut you created, and choose something like "Stretch, preserving aspect ratio" for the "Fullscreen scale" and "Windowed scale".

To run the game simply run acwin.exe.

Please tell if that improved the visuals for you.

foxmulderthesecond

Thank you, that worked.

You were right, the version of the AGS engine packaged with the game was a few years old. With the latest version the scaling works fine.

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk