Screen resolution poll

Mobhack · #1 January 6th, 2008, 01:35 PM

For a wide screen, set the resolution to one above one of the dimensions, in windowed mode. The window will then use the available desktop real estate (minus the windows task bar, which must be at the normal position at the bottom of the screen, and not set to auto-hide).

So - for a 1280 by 800 laptop, set it to windowed mode, 1280 by 1024 and off you go. (You may need to tweak the scroll activation pixels on the game options programme).

There will be no multi-monitor support. It uses a DirectX 5(?) third-party graphics library (WinVFX - the windows version of the original VFX DOS library used by SSI), written in about 1998. Source code for that library is available - but most of it is written in Microsoft Assembler for a version of MASM long gone now. I tried feeding it into Borlands assembler, and some other ones, but they all barfed on the thing

. But that library is why fixed windows have to be used - if you use a resizeable widow, the WinVFX library will let you resize the borders, but leave the plotted area the same as the original size requested. And a close-down of the VFX system with a new resize and restart again in the same programme session, leaves it in exactly the same size too - so the only way to resize is a complete programme shut-down and restart. It's also (I think - been some time since the DOS->Windows conversion work!) why the game only uses the "standard" Windows resolutions, as it was from an era from long before widescreen laptops appeared.

Cheers
Andy

Artur · #2 January 6th, 2008, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Mobhack said:
So - for a 1280 by 800 laptop, set it to windowed mode, 1280 by 1024 and off you go.

This is how it works on my laptop.

When I am at home I use 1280X1024.

Artur.

Paladin42 · #3 January 8th, 2008, 05:45 PM

I run a dual monitor rig--a wide screen LCD at 1680x1050 and a normal LCD at 1280x1024. I have my XP desktop spread across both monitors. I run the game in 1600x1280 windowed on the w/s to have access to everything like Don suggests. It is nice to have the game guide or other tool up on the other monitor. My normal monitor also has a TV tuner so I can watch Fox news in a PIP window. Way too much going on at the same time. Paladin