1024x768 stretched on 4:3

[Sughly]

I suppose this is potentially a beginner's type query, but has anyone else had experience with 1024x768 projects on 4:3 monitors? I have both a 4:3 and a widescreen, and the game runs fine on the widescreen but becomes stretched vertically on the 4:3 since it's native resolution is 1280x1024, which is a slightly different aspect ratio to the game's 1024x768. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how I might go about fixing this issue...

[keisari]

Actually, 1024x768 is 4:3. 1280x1024 is 5:4, which is not really a standard aspect ratio and not widely supported. For some inconceivable reason they made/make monitors in this ratio though.

I don't think AGS supports 5:4 at all, so pretty much everything (4:3 or widescreen) is gonna look stretched. Some display drivers have options to display everything in it's native aspect (with black bars) so maybe you could check that out.

[Kweepa]

A 1280x1024 monitor screen is physically 4:3, so full screen it would look right. Displaying it natively with black bars would stretch the image.

[Gilbert]

Not quite. It was the case with CRT monitors, but not LCD panels, since most LCD panels tend to have square pixels (so, 1280x960 is 4:3 but not 1280x1024).

For example this LCD panel I am using at work is 1280x1024 and it's 5:4.

[Sughly]

Yeah Iceboty is right. I've spent some time looking into display drivers and fixed-aspect ratios but it doesn't seem to make any difference. These settings seem to help the obvious problem of 4:3 on widescreen, but 1024x768 on 1280x1024 still comes out stretched vertically. At a bit of a loss as how to fix this one, and it isn't something I want to overlook since monitors with 1280x1024 as their native res are quite widely used. Surely other people have developed 1024x768 and come across this problem before... but did anyone find a solution?

EDIT: Actually come to think of it, it's not a problem isolated to 1024x768... it applies to all the 4:3 resolutions (derrr). So I did a quick peek at a couple of games... Gemini Rue seems to add borders on the top and bottom to preserve aspect ratio on full screen, while Blackwell Legacy doesn't and (from what I can tell) does seem to stretch the image vertically in full screen. Again, these are tested on a monitor with native res 1280x1024. Maybe JBurger can answer me!

EDIT 2: Ok, so JBurger informs me he had an option for letterboxing that seems to only be available for certain resolutions. Well, this is the extract:

'The "Force alternate letterbox resolution" option is only available for 320x200 and 640x400 modes, and tells AGS to actually run at 320x240 or 640x480 instead, with black 'letterbox' borders at the top and bottom of the screen. This is useful because some computers no longer support the 320x200 or 640x400 resolutions, but do support the letterboxed versions.'

So it doesn't help for my problem with a 1024x768 project. Sorry for the long post but I'm just trying to detail all I can in the hope someone has something to suggest.

[Khris]

At a bit of a loss as how to fix this one, and it isn't something I want to overlook since monitors with 1280x1024 as their native res are quite widely used.

Even by gamers? Do games usually support 5:4 solutions? I could be wrong but when I set the resolution of a standard commercial game, I'm pretty sure that for a width of 1280, 960 is usually the maximum value.

The only solution I can see is changing AGS' engine to support 5:4 resolutions, until then you're stuck with a squished picture.

[Sughly]

The only solution I can see is changing AGS' engine to support 5:4 resolutions, until then you're stuck with a squished picture.

I see... I was more or less questioning the feasibility of somehow adding borders to the top and bottom to preserve the aspect ratio the same way it does with side borders on widescreen monitors. But it seems as far as I can tell it's not