Blurry Graphics in Windowed Mode

major^3 · #1 November 1st, 2004, 03:58 AM

i just reformatted my laptop, and now when i try to run Dom2 in windowed mode, alot of the graphics are blurred. This includes mostly the GUI. Before and after the reformat it ran fine, it is just recently is has been having this problem. It is fine in full screen mode (resolution at 1024 x 768)

I have a mobility radeon 7500 with omega drivers, and i have patched dom2 to 1.24

if i resize the window it helps since the resolution gets better.

any ideas of what might be causing it?

Arralen · #2 November 1st, 2004, 04:29 AM

Quote:

major^3 said:
i just reformatted my laptop,

Why? Still running Win95?
Did you installt the very same drivers as before, or did you use older/newer ones?

Quote:

and now when i try to run Dom2 in windowed mode, alot of the graphics are blurred. This includes mostly the GUI. Before and after the reformat it ran fine, it is just recently is has been having this problem. It is fine in full screen mode (resolution at 1024 x 768)

Did by chance any other 3D software any changes to the driver settings?
What is the native resolution of the TFT ?

Quote:

and i have patched dom2 to 1.24

What ?????!!!!

Quote:

if i resize the window it helps since the resolution gets better.

What do you mean?
You start up at the standard 800x600 in windowed mode, than you pull the window bigger, and graphics are getting unproportional better? Strange ...

Could you do a DxDiag and attach the txt file?

Chazar · #3 November 1st, 2004, 07:31 AM

Blurry graphics on LCDs/Laptops usually smell like the wrong resolution for the LCD. You wrote that fullscreen mode is ok, but have you checked that you are using the right resolution for windows desktop as well? I know that this is rather silly, but nevertheless its a straw to cling to, sorry...

Cainehill · #4 November 1st, 2004, 11:52 AM

Yep, that's probably it - after the Windows reinstall it probably didn't set the graphics resolution to the native resolution for the laptop's LCD. Because of this, it has to "blur" things in order to approximate the physical resolution. (For instance, if running 800x600, it has to expand every 4 pixels to 5 (800 vice 1024) in one direction, and every 6 pixels into 7.68 (600 vice 768) the other.

Arralen · #5 November 1st, 2004, 12:18 PM

That's why I asked him what the native resolution of his TFT is. Most likely it's not 800x600. Maybe 1024x768, as he reports Dom2 looks much better with this in fullscreen. But what did he set his desktop to? 1154x... or something??

major^3 · #6 November 1st, 2004, 12:47 PM

my desktp resolution is set to 1024 x 768
and thats the LCD resolution as well
Windows XP Pro
and dom2 used to run fine on it before, and even after the reformat. It is just recently it hasn't for some odd reason.

When i go into windowed mode, the game looks better the bigger the window is, so when i resize it to be bigger, it looks bigger.

It is just the GUI that is blurry, but sometimes the text on the right hand side (Options, Province Info, etc) looks fine but the text and unit grahics of mages and commanders on the left are really blurry.

i would think if i got the resolution wrong the whole thing would be blurry, but it is only the GUI of the game.

Cainehill · #7 November 1st, 2004, 01:44 PM

Ah. That's because Dominions graphics engine / library scales everything itself, while leaving the contents of the window the same. You can make the window as small as possible, and it still shows the same provinces and whatnot as at full size.

So, pixels are going to get blurred by the scaling - it's probably more readily apparent on the LCD with its lower resolution. Looking at it, I'm thinking that the text on the right is possibly done with a different font mechanism (vector vice bitmapped), or possibly as text while the text on the left is in graphics.

You have to be careful when resizing the window to keep the proportions as close to accurate as possible, or the graphics and text definately gets strange - try making the window full height but narrow to see what I mean.

And, in general, "upscaling" or enlarging graphics winds up looking better than shrinking them. So, you're best off being careful with the window dimensions, and making it as large as possible while leaving whatever other window real estate you need.

Johan K · #8 November 1st, 2004, 02:17 PM

You might try different filter settings in the graphics settings menu. Usually the highest setting will yield the best result.

major^3 · #9 November 1st, 2004, 06:46 PM

not sure.. im not sure if its normal, but it seems to glitch when i alt+enter to go into windowed mode. the icons that stand for a characters properties (holy, blessed, berserker, experience stars, etc) are blurred as well

it doesnt look like a pixel blur but rather like someone used a blur filter in photoshop.

iono maybe its just the new drivers im using? but i was under the impression that dom2 worked with them as well.

and the filter thing doesnt work either.