Game Resolution Switcher

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 27 May 2005, 08:33

I am developing a Windows program to deal with my constant switching of resolutions on my gaming laptop. I find I game at times on the built in 16:10 LCD, at other times on a 16:9 HDTV, and from time to time on a 5:4 LCD. I got tired of changing resolutions in game, and thus developed Game Resolution Switcher (GRS). It right now only supports 6 games, but I am expanding that list.

It is at an early stage right now (0.3) but enhancements are on their way. Right now, the only resolution it chanes games to is the one the windows desktop is set to, but in the future will allow manual settings as well.

One big feature of it is startup support. If told to startup at boot, it will change all supported games, allowing for native resoluion goodness every game launch without changing resolutions manually.

If your interested in this, head over to http://grs.miniinfo.net/ . And feel free to let me know any feedback you might have on it.

[Admin Edit: Stickied. Love to support folks helping with widescreen issues.]

Post by **skipclarke** » 02 Jun 2005, 05:57

Put a link to this on the new links page:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/links.php

If you ever need me to host this for you, let me know.

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 25 Jul 2005, 10:10

Development is still in full swing, and today sees the release of 0.4. Here's the changelog for the new version:

- Added support for Battlefield 2 (Only via the GUI launcher or --launchgame 9), Unreal Tournament 2004, and Doom 3.
- Added aspect ratio detection, for future correction of FOV settings in games
- Added a new status bar, showing the current resolution, aspect ratio, and number of games detected. The old status text area is gone.
- GRS now sizes the GUI based on how many games are detected. Games that aren't detected are not displayed.
- Added links to the Help menu for the product home page and an online manual. Manual will be added online later.
- Fixed a bug in resolution reading that would sometimes result in the resolution reading "x".
- Many internal code changes and additions to support current, and some future features.
- All alert dialogues now identify they are part of GRS, to prevent confusion if an error is generated when no GUI exists.

If anyone has any suggestions either on the existing program, or games you would like to see added, e-mail me at d_grs (at) thunderbiscuit.com

Post by **skipclarke** » 25 Jul 2005, 13:06

Could you post some screenshots of the program? That might help folks get a better idea of what it does and offer suggestions.

draxythe · Post by **draxythe** » 25 Jul 2005, 14:06

That URL to the links page gives me a 404 error.

Post by **skipclarke** » 25 Jul 2005, 17:20

Fixed, sorry.

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 25 Jul 2005, 19:32

As requested, a screenshot:

Keep in mind when it is set to startup automaticially, you see nothing. But, all your games will match the desktop resolution you booted at.

0.4.1 will also add a shortcut to the desktop for Battlefield 2, basicially elliminating the need to manually edit the -sdx and -sdy settings each time you change resolutions.

I'm debating what to do about the FOV right now for games like Doom 3 and such. It almost looks like the Doom 3 1.1 patch is adjusting for it already with the r_aspectratio set, but in game it still reports 90.

Post by **skipclarke** » 26 Jul 2005, 04:54

Very cool. Makes it much easier to understand what you're doing. I could see this coming in handy for someone who buys a big 24" panel and doesn't have enough horsepower to play at full res. Once you upgrade the video card, run this and change everything at once.

Could also come in handy if you have a laptop and play on an external panel at home, but didn't take the panel to a LAN party or Wi-Fi hotspot.

Could also help in getting screenshots for games, when trying to compare how they handle different resolutions.

Any other ideas where this might be useful?

nitro · Post by **nitro** » 31 Jul 2005, 16:05

OMG ! :shock:

this is THE idea ! thx dude 8)

nico · Post by **nico** » 08 Aug 2005, 20:20

The only thing which interests (a lot) to me is the possiblity to change the FOV.

World of Warcraft for exemple does not support widescreen (FOV is wrong)
http://wowide.myftp.org/widescreen.jpg

HLÃ‚Â² source does:
http://wowide.myftp.org/widescreen_source.jpg

Elu · Post by **Elu** » 20 Aug 2005, 20:11

I'm getting error when i run the software. My nootebook's specs:

AMD Athlon XP 3400+
Ati Radeon 9700 Mobility
512 MB ram

Windows XP Home Edition
Dotnet 1.1 installed

The error is below:

What can be the problem? Thanks.

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 01 Sep 2005, 09:11

Elu, not sure what is causing that, the crash there really doesn't tell me much. Try hitting Cancel and see what info you get. E-mail that to d_grs (at) thunderbiscuit.com so I can work with you to see what the problem is.

And as a general update, I had planned a quick 0.4.1 release, but got sucked into adding a few more features. I'm going to go back, add what I promised (battlefield 2 shortcut support) and port the extra features ahead into 0.5.0.

I tested 0.4.1 out quite a bit at Quakecon, and got the FOV code down pat. Unreal Tournament 2004, and Quake 3 were both displaying the right FOV no matter what resolution I tossed at it. I for fun even did 1050x1680, and the program set the FOV around 55.

0.5 is going to be a big shift, and unfortunately won't be coming soonish. It's going to bring a redesign of the UI (as it is getting unwieldy with a ton of games), and also will have full FOV support for the games that can be changed. This includes the ability to say you normally go to an FOV of 100 on a 4:3 resolution, and GRS will calculate the proper change to the FOV at 16:10. My targeted release for 0.5 is likely by the end of October.

b4GM4N · Post by **b4GM4N** » 07 Sep 2005, 13:39

I also get the same error Elu is getting. My machine is a desktop with:

Athlon 64 3400+
Radeon 9800 Pro
1GB Ram

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 07 Sep 2005, 21:11

I also get the same error Elu is getting.

Unfortunatly I was never e-mailed any extra details from Elu about the crash and still have no idea what might be causing it. If you arewilling to work with me on debugging it, I might be able to fix it. None of my test machines cause this error, so I can not fix it alone.

Please e-mail me if it gives any more details if you hit cancel on that screen. Also, e-mailme what version of .Net you have installed, what games you have installed, and what directory you were running the program from.

d_grs (at) thunderbiscuit.com is the e-mail address I use to keep track of bug reports.

Thanks.

b4GM4N · Post by **b4GM4N** » 12 Sep 2005, 15:37

drak,

I've sent you an email.

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 22 Sep 2005, 23:02

0.4.1 is out today, mostly to extend the timebomb, but also support was added for Quake III Arena. Hopefully I'll have more time to work on this in the coming weeks.

Oh, Dawn of War resolution changing is disabled if 1.40 is detected due to the widescreen bugs the patch introduced.

For those that have e-mailed me, expect some responses soon, I've also been behind on that aspect of the project as well.

Post by **skipclarke** » 26 Sep 2005, 05:39

Maybe I'm slow (no comments please), but I just realized another great use for this (I think).

It would allow you to set res based on what your system can handle. Maybe you put Q3 at 1920x1200, but you can only put Doom3 at 1680x1050. This would allow you to set each game based on your current system spec. I guess you could do them each in game, but this would be one central place.

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 26 Sep 2005, 08:14

One feature I am planning to add is allowing the selection of a specific resolution to set as well as matching the desktop resolution. Not sure if that will make the 0.50 milestone or not, but I still have a lot planned for what this utility will do. It mostly started out as just a way to end a personal annoyance when switching monitors, and is turning out to be a possibility for a great gaming tool for many different uses.

dropbear · Post by **dropbear** » 02 Nov 2005, 04:09

any news on an update for world war 2 online?

many thanks

DropBear

drakino · Post by **drakino** » 02 Nov 2005, 11:51

any news on an update for world war 2 online?

World War II Online does not support widescreen properly. When it is set to a widescreen resolution, the game is stretched. Right now, I am not going to implement support for games that stretch and distort the view.

With that said, I do plan on supporting a method down the row of running games at the largest 4:3 resolution when you have a widescreen monitor. What this means is that if your monitor is 1680:1050 (20 inch widescreen LCD), then the game will be set to 1440:1050 and will result in black bars on the left and right sides. This way the game is not distorted.

Once I code in support for that, I will also consider a "Stretch" option for those people who don't mind fat characters in game when the view is stretched.

This feature will not be in 0.5 (to be released in the next few hours if I can hammer out just one more bit of code). Will it make 0.6? Also doubtful as I already have 0.6 feature locked as well. I will however aim for it in 0.7. Don't hold me to this, but 0.6 may be done as early as two weeks from now, so 0.7 work will begin after that.

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