Widescreen monitor stretching

[jmarso]

I've got an AGON 3440x1440 curved monitor, and no matter what I've tried, I cannot get the game to either 1) have a normal (non-stretched) look in widescreen, or 2) launch in a lower resolution without automatically reverting to full widescreen and being stretchy. 

 

Things I've tried:

1. Changing the monitor resolution and setting the game option settings to match

2. Changing the game option settings by themselves

3. Editing the .ini file in the options folder in concert with 1 and 2 above, manually trying different aspect ratios, including 2.370370. (Game menu doesn't offer 21:9 on its own, only 16:9 and 16:10)

4. Editing the properties of the .exe file for 'run as admin', 'disable fullscreen optimizations', 'Windows 7 compatibility mode'. 

5. Various combinations of the above 4 things.

 

No matter which I try, when I start the game, it comes up in full widescreen, stretched out, even if the options say it should be in a different resolution. Something somewhere is getting overridden when the game boots, and I don't know what. Anyone have any experience with this any success at making it work? Thanks.

Edited February 29, 2024 by jmarso

[Nyghtfall]

Type in your resolution and the correct aspect ratio in the "options.ini" (C:\User\<Username>\Saved Games\Thirdwire\...) and make it read-only after editing. For me it only works with a refresh rate of 60Hz. Everything else leads to a distorted picture.

Thats from my options.ini

...

[GraphicsOptions]
DisplayDeviceID=0
DisplayWidth=3840   <----3440 for your monitor
DisplayHeight=1080   <----1440 for your monitor
DisplayDepth=32
AspectRatio=3.555556   <----2.388889 for your monitor

...

Edited February 29, 2024 by Nyghtfall
typo

[jmarso]

Tried the above- no joy. Anything particular in the properties of your executeable?

[Nyghtfall]

Nothing. Just the above. Going into graphics settings after it is set up the way I described, tends to f**k things up also.

So for me, setting it up and don't touch it again works.

I'm on Win10, btw.

[jmarso]

WIN10 here also. 

[jmarso]

Think I might have got it working. 

By turning off compatibility mode and keeping 'disable fullscreen optimizations' turned on, coupled with Nyghtfall's fix. 

 

The loading screens and so on are still stretched, but the graphics in game seem normal. If I change a control setting or what not it goes back to being stretched, but I can fix that by exiting the game and reloading after making my changes. I'll have to play around with it some more to see if it is well and truly working correctly, but I think it may be. I was starting to think I was just going to have to give this game up entirely. 

[DoctorQuest]

Yes, I think the "menu" screens are displayed differently than the actual simulation world screens. I've seen the same thing.

Glad you got it working!

[MarkEAW]

I know this isn't where I usually post, but Stretching of the game screen is fixed with adjusting your video driver/monitor settings (like nvidia control panel) to keep the lower res from stretching the game window to the entire screen.

I know this with EAW and running natively on Win10.

Try to set scaling by your monitor if it has the ability by itself. If not have the GPU handle the scaling.

Sorry I'm not much help, not much time right now. I do have extensive Troubleshoot help for scaling and stretching issues on my web site. (which is the EAW Help Site)
https://eaw.neocities.org/troubleshoot.html

Look for 'Stretched Game Screens' instructions on the above page.

[jmarso]

That was one of the first things I tried. I've used that method to make other older games run 'unstretched' with black bars to either side of my screen. Oddly enough, with SF2, the game causes the reduced screen res to vanish and go back to full stretched widescreen. However, I do appear to have a 'fix' by the method I described above. I haven't played around with it that much since messing with it a week or so ago, but I'll probably do more in the next few days.