Civilization IV

[Tanuki]

Widescreen Grade: B
Ultra-Widescreen Grade: Incomplete
Multi-monitor Grade: B
4k Grade: Incomplete

Read Full Detailed Report - Civilization IV

Civilization IV is a historical-simulation game where players develop factions throughout the known history of mankind. Players build cities which produce the structures and units of the game and are the source of income and technological growth. As time progresses factions will discover new technologies which allow them to improve their cities and build more things. Each faction is led by at least one historical figure famous in history. Diplomatic relations between different factions are represented by interactions between these historical avatars. Everything is cool until someone gets stupid and destroys my work boats.

4:3

16:10

16:9

3x1

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[The_cranky_hermit]

C+, 100%

[skipclarke]

Did you try the .ini hack listed here - http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/Civilization_IV

[Tanuki]

Yes. Camera distance. Not zoom. Good for triplehead.

[whismerhill]

there is a parameter, which could be interesting to correct the vert- aspect without changing zoom levels

Code: Select all

; A non-zero value overrides the FIELD_OF_VIEW parameter from GlobalDefines.xml

   FIELD_OF_VIEW = 0

it's in the file "My DocumentsMy GamesBeyond the SwordCivilizationIV.ini"

default value in GlobalDefines.xml seems to be 42°
which should mean about 49° for 16/10 as calculated by the FOV Calc website tool

Did anyone try this already ?

I did a small test and it seems to work, although maybe fov49 is a bit too wide since it seems we gain a bit too much vertical view over 1280x1024@defaultfov

1680x1050@defaultfov


1280x1024@defaultfov


1680x1050@fov49



link to album : http://img22.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=civ41280x1024.jpg

[The_cranky_hermit]

This is a great find. If we assume that 42 degrees is correct for 4:3 (not 5:4), do you think you could find proper values for 16:10 and 16:9? There's also a tutorial I wrote on how to get more accurate FOV results, using Google Calculator, though based on your shots, Civ4 may be a bit funky.

[whismerhill]

ok here's the result : 49.4650776°

marginally wider than the value I used (probably quite difficult to notice )
and it needs testing to check if floats are supported as a fov value ...

however as a comparison screenshot it dawns on me that I probably should have chosen a 4:3 resolution
I chose 1280x1024 because it's near 1680x1050 and allows to easily see differences between screenshots

edit: according to this : http://civ4.wikia.com/wiki/XML/Documentation/GlobalDefines.xml
field of view is a float so there should be no problem on this front.

[The_cranky_hermit]

I think I figured out the formula for this one. The FOV value is actually HALF the angle. So, the formula for calculating the FOV in this game would be this:
atan(( new AR )/( default AR ) * tan( default FOV degrees)) in degrees

I'm going to get the demo and test this.

[whismerhill]

hum that gives : 47.2154182 for 16/10
it seems like it should work out

plus it would make sense that the default "real fov" be 84° since 42° seemed a bit narrow

[The_cranky_hermit]

Just tried the demo. That formula works pretty well... until you go past 16:9. At 1920x768, which is the widest it will let me go, the formula returns 59.3606095 degrees, but that's too small. 63 degrees looks about right.

I'm stumped for the time being.

[Tanuki]

Just tried the demo. That formula works pretty well... until you go past 16:9. At 1920x768, which is the widest it will let me go, the formula returns 59.3606095 degrees, but that's too small. 63 degrees looks about right.

I'm stumped for the time being

Pardon me for stating the obvious but are you taking into account the fact that the game is a mix of hor + and vert -?

[The_cranky_hermit]

Without any way to quantify just how much is hor + vs. vert -, it's very hard to devise a formula that takes it into account.

I did come up with a hypothesis - that the angle determines a "cone" of FOV, and that what you see is a rectangle inside the circle. Like this:


The circle is the base of the cone, and the rectangle inside is your actual FOV. The triangle is a side cross-section of the cone.

y is one half of the linear vertical span of the FOV. If true hor + is maintained, this will be constant.

x is one half of the linear horizontal span of the FOV. This should increase with the FOV angle.

r is the radius of the circle.

z is the height of the cone, and is constant.

Theta is half the angle of the cone, and corresponds directly to the FOV setting.

And let's call the aspect ratio "w."

So,
tan(Theta) = r/z
z*tan(Theta) = r

x*x + y*y = r*r
w = x/y
x = w/y

(w*w)/(y*y) + y*y = r*r

(w*w)/(y*y) = z*z*tan(Theta)*tan(Theta)

(w*w)/(tan(Theta)*tan(Theta)) = z*z*y*y

So I've been trying to find out the values of "z" and "y" when hor + behavior is maintained by finding multiple w and Theta values that result in hor +'ness. But I need a break now - I'm just frustrating myself. Plus I'm not entirely sure I did the math right (and I have absolutely no clue if this hypothesis is even remotely correct in the first place).

[Zizy]

Civ 4 does support some other widescreen multi monitor formats (I use 5760x1200, 6k x 1200 is also possible)... but FOV for these is totally wrong by default. Setting it to around 65 works OK, tho.

[Bluesilentpro]

Was anyone able to get CiV IV running with SoftTH? I tried but was not successful...

[Bluesilentpro]

Got it up and running now with Soft TH 1.06. Last problem is the mouse ingame. the cursor and the current position of it on the game map differ by 1920 pixels. Any ideas?

[MisterM]

Just tried the demo. That formula works pretty well... until you go past 16:9. At 1920x768, which is the widest it will let me go, the formula returns 59.3606095 degrees, but that's too small. 63 degrees looks about right.

I'm stumped for the time being.

You can't stump the Trump.


(Thanks for the tips btw)
Happy civving