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Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234451] Mon, 05 October 2009 12:14 Go to next message
hal900x is currently offline hal900x

 
Messages:64
Registered:August 2009
Nvidia drivers used to have an option to force scaling to a fixed aspect ratio on the GPU, overriding the scaler in your widescreen monitor and letting you play your 4:3 games in their original aspect, with black bars on either side in fullscreen mode. This option was buggy as hell, rarely worked, and was finally removed in an acknowledgment of failure by Nvidia.

I searched and searched for tricks to make this driver option work, and failed miserably until now. I just found a set of strings, to be entered into the "Run" box on your Start Menu, which correspond to the four scaling options that used to exist. Now, I don't know if you need to run an older Nvidia driver (one that shows the aforementioned option) for this to work. Mine did have them, and I believe it's 182.08.

In the absence of a widescreen patch, I am overjoyed at finally playing Jagged Alliance 2 unstretched on my widescreen monitor. Here's the strings if you want to try it. I forget which string corresponds to which of the 4 scaling options, but I believe the last one (DA 5) worked for me. They are: Nvidia Scaling, Nvidia Scaling with Fixed Aspect (the one you want), Display Scaling, No Scaling.

rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll,dtcfg setscaling 0 DA 1
rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll,dtcfg setscaling 0 DA 2
rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll,dtcfg setscaling 0 DA 3
rundll32.exe NvCpl.dll,dtcfg setscaling 0 DA 5

I'd be interested to know if anyone else is able to get this to work.

[Updated on: Mon, 05 October 2009 12:40] by Moderator

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Corporal
Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234488] Mon, 05 October 2009 23:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
hal900x is currently offline hal900x

 
Messages:64
Registered:August 2009
I guess after a heated discussion elsewhere, it appears that many people have no trouble at all with this option in their Nvidia driver. But from many forum posts around the web, some do. What matters is: I can play my JA2 in 4:3! Whoo.

However, I am not pleased that NIV is unavailable in 640x480. Is this really necessary? I got bad eyes, and sit far away from my monitor out of necessity on top of it. I mean, so what if it's a large EDB window and it obscures some of the action? It's a turn based game; it's not like someone is going to shoot me while I'm studying my gun stats.

I'm going to assume it's a coding issue that I'm too ignorant to understand. Better be! Sad

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Corporal
Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234502] Tue, 06 October 2009 02:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Larynx

 
Messages:183
Registered:April 2003
Hal900x
Nvidia drivers used to have an option to force scaling to a fixed aspect ratio on the GPU, overriding the scaler in your widescreen monitor and letting you play your 4:3 games in their original aspect, with black bars on either side in fullscreen mode. This option was buggy as hell, rarely worked, and was finally removed in an acknowledgment of failure by Nvidia.


There is a registry patch here which will give you that option again. I use it even with a 4:3 LCD monitor because the game gets stretched a bit vertically without it.

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Staff Sergeant
Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234508] Tue, 06 October 2009 03:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
hal900x is currently offline hal900x

 
Messages:64
Registered:August 2009
Nocturnal
Hal900x
Nvidia drivers used to have an option to force scaling to a fixed aspect ratio on the GPU, overriding the scaler in your widescreen monitor and letting you play your 4:3 games in their original aspect, with black bars on either side in fullscreen mode. This option was buggy as hell, rarely worked, and was finally removed in an acknowledgment of failure by Nvidia.


There is a registry patch here which will give you that option again. I use it even with a 4:3 LCD monitor because the game gets stretched a bit vertically without it.


Yeah, I tried that first but it never worked for me.

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Corporal
Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234519] Tue, 06 October 2009 09:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Starwalker is currently offline Starwalker

 
Messages:759
Registered:October 2005
Location: Hannover, Germany
Hal900x
However, I am not pleased that NIV is unavailable in 640x480. Is this really necessary?

The resolution is too low at 640x480 to display all of the stuff that NIV needs to be displayed. It would need more than half of the tactical screen, and in the strategic screen there's not enough room left. So it was clear from the start that NIV would never be able to support 640x480.

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First Sergeant

Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234523] Tue, 06 October 2009 10:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
hal900x is currently offline hal900x

 
Messages:64
Registered:August 2009
Starwalker
Hal900x
However, I am not pleased that NIV is unavailable in 640x480. Is this really necessary?

The resolution is too low at 640x480 to display all of the stuff that NIV needs to be displayed. It would need more than half of the tactical screen, and in the strategic screen there's not enough room left. So it was clear from the start that NIV would never be able to support 640x480.


So what if it covers everything up? It's not like you need to see anything else while you are viewing it. I can see if it overwrites the portrait area, IF that causes some kind of buffer overflow or whatever, then sure that's a hard limit. Otherwise, why not?

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Corporal
Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234530] Tue, 06 October 2009 12:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Starwalker is currently offline Starwalker

 
Messages:759
Registered:October 2005
Location: Hannover, Germany
Hal900x
Starwalker
Hal900x
However, I am not pleased that NIV is unavailable in 640x480. Is this really necessary?

The resolution is too low at 640x480 to display all of the stuff that NIV needs to be displayed. It would need more than half of the tactical screen, and in the strategic screen there's not enough room left. So it was clear from the start that NIV would never be able to support 640x480.


So what if it covers everything up? It's not like you need to see anything else while you are viewing it. I can see if it overwrites the portrait area, IF that causes some kind of buffer overflow or whatever, then sure that's a hard limit. Otherwise, why not?

Back then, during the brainstorming phase, Headrock drew up lots of tactical interfaces, and people needed to get used to the fact that NIV already took that much space in 800x600. No one wanted their tactical screen cluttered with an inventory.
Basically, we were surprised how many people play on the tactical screen with the inventory /open/.

We could not do anything in 640x480 that would have pleased the community.

You will have to ask Headrock and ChrisL whether they want to make a 640x480 interface especially for you.
But if they do, and anyone else besides you sees what they have done, we'd get comments on how stupid it is to fill up the tactical screen so much! Sad

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First Sergeant

Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #234531] Tue, 06 October 2009 12:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Logisteric

 
Messages:3199
Registered:December 2008
Location: B
Starwalker
But if they do, and anyone else besides you sees what they have done, we'd get comments on how stupid it is to fill up the tactical screen so much! Sad


where to queue up for that :diabolical: ?

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Captain
Re: Nvidia 4:3 tweak for widescreen monitors[message #235332] Sat, 17 October 2009 11:29 Go to previous message
hal900x is currently offline hal900x

 
Messages:64
Registered:August 2009
I don't think I could bring myself to ask anyone who has done that much work to create an interface just for me. It's just that I play on an HDTV, that I am far away enough (and have crappy enough vision) that 640x480 is my resolution.

It is kind of annoying that it's all down to other's play styles, tho. I mean, I have it open fairly often, I suppose. But I would be perfectly happy needing to toggle it back and forth.

[Updated on: Sat, 17 October 2009 11:34] by Moderator

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Corporal
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