Wide screen BETA test for winSPWW2 - for CD owners only

DRG · #1 January 3rd, 2011, 06:25 PM

Becasue the patches for both games will be delayed until the end of winter we have decided to release the widescreen support BETA for winSPWW2

Attached is a zip file containing the following 2 updated files for BETA testing.

- ww2GameOptions.exe
- WinSPWW2.exe (version 4.26)

1) Should you wish to ensure that you can revert to the normal Version 5.0 without having to reinstall from scratch then first copy the existing 2 files BEFORE applying the zip!

2) Now, unzip the files to your game root folder (\Program files\Shrapnel
Games\The Camo Workshop\WinSPMBT), and allow the overwriting of the 2 original files.

3) On launching the game options programme, you will now have the following extra screen option added to your CD owner's additional resolutions in GameOptions.exe : Desktop

Desktop mode works in full screen or windowed mode.
In both modes, it uses the current desktop resolution you have set up currently in windows as the desired screen resolution
Windowed mode - leaves the task bar visible at the bottom of the screen.
Full screen mode - uses the full screen in 256 colour palletised mode

This has already been alpha tested on Windows 98, XP and vista machines with both normal 4:3 aspect ratios and also wide screen (1920x1080) monitors.

The purpose of the beta test is to see if the new Microsoft Windows 7 causes any issues. In especial, it (and possibly Vista) apparently have problems with 256 colour full screen palette games, since these new operating systems use the 256 colour palette for their own purposes. It may well be that Vista/Windows 7 will mandate the use of windowed mode because of this.

Q) I want (insert one of my monitors modes) desktop. How do I do that?.

A) Clear any running applications down, then use the normal windows change desktop features to select the desired new screen resolution. Now launch the game in desktop mode and it will use the newly set windows desktop resolution.

Q) My icons are stretched!.

A) Some of the resolutions that Windows allows (especially on wide screen monitors) produce non-square icons, even for Windows' own desktop icons. If the Windows shortcut icons on your desktop are elongated then it is highly likely that the game will also be stretched. Solution - select a monitor mode that produces reasonably square icons.

Q) I get a DirectX error message

A) That means that your video card cannot drive the screen at that resolution. (Probably in full screen mode). One of our playtesters also received this at one particular resolution - higher and lower modes worked fine. Conclusion was that the video card in question was probably broken (otherwise higher resolutions would not have worked).

Q) I cannot set higher resolutions than 800 despite installing these files

A) This beta is for the CD version only. It will not work with the free version which only supports 640 and 800 4:3 mode.

gabeeg · #2 January 4th, 2011, 12:28 AM

Excellent! Thanks for bringing us WWII folks the love!
so far so good on Win XP sp.3

Oche · #3 January 4th, 2011, 10:39 AM

Thank you!. With this now even much more enjoyment of winspww2 gameplay await.

BluntForce · #4 January 5th, 2011, 01:13 PM

Just a heads up

I decided to try these Nvidia beta drivers this morning:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-wi...ta-driver.html

I have a GTS 450 and run Windows 7 64 bit

I loaded them and low and behold it auto widescreened my winSPWW2 on my 27 inch Samsung monitor

I am running the free version until my CD gets here and it was still 800x600 rez but these drivers made it wide screen.

Imp · #5 January 5th, 2011, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BluntForce

Just a heads up

I decided to try these Nvidia beta drivers this morning:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-wi...ta-driver.html

I have a GTS 450 and run Windows 7 64 bit

I loaded them and low and behold it auto widescreened my winSPWW2 on my 27 inch Samsung monitor

I am running the free version until my CD gets here and it was still 800x600 rez but these drivers made it wide screen.

Ugh bet it looks horrible & stretched
Might be worth you taking a screenshot as is now & what it looks like after you have the bought version & posting here as a comparison.
Where you really notice the diffrence if i remember is zoomed out loking for arty smoke etc

BluntForce · #6 January 5th, 2011, 08:20 PM

Roger just tried it, you are right

Got my CD today and there is a huge resolution difference. By the way the Wide Screen Beta Patch worked. I used desktop resolution in windowed mode and it fit my screen like a charm. Now if only there was a way to run the game widescreened in a resolution LESS than my desktop, but i guess i can just change my desktop size before I launch it

Windows 7, 64 bit, Nvidia GTS 450

Going FULL screen I still have to use the Nightcrawler fix to launch the game but the patch worked there also it fit my entire 27" screen

AndyOneill · #7 January 13th, 2011, 11:26 AM

I have win 7 ultimate 64bit on this machine.
The graphics card is a dual port ATI 5850 and I have two Benq 22 inch monitors.
The Beta seems fine for me so long as use the win 7 workround.
Without it I get the pallette issue.
Be nice if the full release solved that but the command file workround works for me.

ERISS · #8 January 19th, 2011, 06:32 PM

There are still 2 problems:
_ There was already a bug with the last patch, when displaying with resolution under desktop one in full screen (that's ok in a window). See attached picture.
_ Fonts are still small, please at least double their height (but not usefull in combat screen).

So, that's not new problems with this beta (and I didn't find new ones, but I didn't test well).

I use WinXP Pro32b, ATI Radeon HD4770 with very last Catalyst driver.

(Screenshot: Here is a test with 1024x768, my desktop is 1280x1024)

Mobhack · #9 February 8th, 2011, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERISS

There are still 2 problems:
_ There was already a bug with the last patch, when displaying with resolution under desktop one in full screen (that's ok in a window). See attached picture.
_ Fonts are still small, please at least double their height (but not usefull in combat screen).

So, that's not new problems with this beta (and I didn't find new ones, but I didn't test well).

I use WinXP Pro32b, ATI Radeon HD4770 with very last Catalyst driver.

(Screenshot: Here is a test with 1024x768, my desktop is 1280x1024)

Neither of these are wide-screen resolutions, but are traditional 4:3 aspect ratios.

XP can show the psychedelic palette on alt-tabbing in and out of the full screen modes, as described in the Game Guide, it's not just a Vista/Windows 7 problem.

My XP system will do it about 1 time in 100. other drivers just may not like alt-tabbing at all.

Also - you are using a game resolution that is not the same as the monitors desktop, which seems to compound the problem for any video driver that has problems with the 256 colour palettes. It seems that the psychedelic palette problem is more noticeable when the resolution used for full-screen game differs from the desktop resolution. This is certainly the case with my XP development system - it plays 1280 full screen rock steadily as its native mode and the windows desktop are 1280. Only when I try to drive other resolutions (e.g 1152) at full screen and ALT-TAB in and out do I get the 1 in 100 or so duff screen.

So I would suggest that if you want 1024 by 768 that you should try setting up your windows desktop to 1024x768 first and see if it is happier with alt-tabbing in that case. If not, then you should simply refrain from alt-tabbing in and out of full screen games, as described in the Game Guide*, or play the game in windowed mode 1024 wide on a 1024x768 windows desktop since you seem to be wanting to have the texts larger.

Cheers
Andy

* Game Guide->Tuning Your Machine

user38 · #10 February 25th, 2011, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BluntForce

Now if only there was a way to run the game widescreened in a resolution LESS than my desktop, but i guess i can just change my desktop size before I launch it

You could use PowerStrip: http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm. PowerStrip is a small application that can be set to run on startup. You can use it to set up display profiles (to change your desktop resolution) and colour profiles (to change other display properties such as colour temperature, gamma, etc). Once you have set these profiles you can create an application profile to associate a particular application with one of your set colour and display profiles. So, if your desktop is set to 1920x1080 and you want to play SPWW2 at 1360 x 768 you can create a 1360x768 display profile and create an application profile (by selecting a shortcut link and chosing the 1360x768 display profile). Henceforth, while powerstrip is running starting SPWW2 will automatically change your desktop resolution to 1360x768 while the application is running and change it back when the application is terminated.

For me it is one of those "can't live without programs".

Off topic
Other "can't live without" programs:
Task killer which will terminate hung programs with one click: http://www.tucows.com/preview/516579
WinPatrol which will alert you if any program tries to install startup programs http://www.winpatrol.com/