Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (FOV)

rockymaru · Post by **rockymaru** » 02 Jul 2009, 22:02

While CoJ:BiB supports widescreen resolutions out of the box, unfortunately, the FOV is one of the worst I've ever seen. If you look under the "Data0.pak" file, in "ChromEdOptions.scr," you'll notice the "DefaultFOV" value is 57!! I've tried changing it to 80 and re-adding it to the Data0.pak file and nothing changed, much to my dismay. The "Video.scr" file under "My Documents" doesn't have any info pertaining to FOV, either.

This game uses an updates version of the "Chrome Engine," similar to what was used in CoJ1. I'm wondering if anyone out there knows how to change the FOV and, even better, also knows how to get rid of the nasty looking bloom (read "blur") effects all over the place!!

capable heart · Post by **capable heart** » 03 Jul 2009, 20:00

Does it handle widescreen as proper Hor+ ?

Post by **dopefish** » 03 Jul 2009, 20:17

Yes, just look around the forum. Someone even made a video showing off triplehead.

rockymaru · Post by **rockymaru** » 04 Jul 2009, 01:48

Yes, just look around the forum. Someone even made a video showing off triplehead.

Yes, I saw that post/video. It's completely worthless and uninformative. The default FOV is horrible and AFAIK, there's still no fix. If you thought the default FOV on BioShock or CoD4 was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet!

And as a bump/update to this thread, if you want to get rid of bloom, too, you merely have to set "Post Process" to "Simple" (in your Video.scr file). Unfortunately, this also disables HDR lighting. Would be nice to just rid of the ridic and gratuitous blurring.

Burning Fish · Post by **Burning Fish** » 04 Jul 2009, 10:18

I played only a part of the first level and yes, the FOV is simply claustrophobic!

Post by **dopefish** » 04 Jul 2009, 14:46

Rocky, my reply was to capable heart -- not you. ;)

LeeNux · Post by **LeeNux** » 04 Jul 2009, 15:19

i had it running in both 1440x900 and 4320x900 and it looks very much vert- to me; at least the ingame scene at the beginning does, before the game freezes ... gotta wait for a patch >.<

capable heart · Post by **capable heart** » 04 Jul 2009, 15:56

Yes, just look around the forum. Someone even made a video showing off triplehead.

Oh, yes, I should have clarified. I saw the Triple Head video, but still I was not sure. In a particular cutscene, people's heads were being cropped off the top of the frame most of the time, even when they were just standing there and talking to each other. Now I have to figure whether that was an in-engine cutscene or an FMV.I was going to ask about that irregularity but only Mods can reply in the Confirmed Solutions forum. If gameplay is Hor+ but cutscenes are Vert- in Triple Head, what could be the cause?

Edit: Well, I have purchased the game since then, so here we go. For my single display setup:

- 2D menus are stretched to fit for 4:3, 16:9 AND 16:10 -- all three look stretched differently.
- Gameplay is Hor+
- In-engine cutscenes are anamorphic and 16:9

2D Menus are stretched / squished to fit?

Gameplay is Hor+

In-engine cutscenes are anamorphic and 16:9.

The game doesn't let you change resolutions in the middle of gameplay, so it's time-consuming to get to certain cutscenes for comparison. There is an in-engine cutscene with the brothers, a woman and a preacher in the beginning. The scene where the brothers both point their guns at the higher-ranking officer (seen in Robbaz's TH video) appears to be near the end of the first level.

rockymaru · Post by **rockymaru** » 04 Jul 2009, 19:56

Edit: Well, I have purchased the game since then, so here we go. For my single display setup:

- 2D menus are stretched to fit for 4:3, 16:9 AND 16:10 -- all three look stretched differently.
- Gameplay is Hor+
- In-engine cutscenes are anamorphic and 16:9

Nice. Thanks for the screenshots and analysis, capable heart! Nice to see this game is "Hor+" and the screenshots to confirm this.

As far as FOV goes, I'm still in the midst of trying to figure this one out. So far I've tried adding "DefaultFOVf( 80.000000 )" to DebugConf.scr and Video.scr to no avail. Nothing seems to be working. I'm chatting w/ another dude on another forum who seems to know more about the Data files in this game than me. So, hopefully, we'll have a working solution. Otherwise, I have a bad feeling the FOV is locked :(

ChainSOV · Post by **ChainSOV** » 06 Jul 2009, 16:02

the anamorphic ingame cutsceens become vert- in tripplewide.

also, the duel quickdraw events are vert-, I just see my hip with the holstered gun and the body of the opponent.
its still playable but kind of kills the atmosphere not seeing the head of your enemy.

as mentioned, normal ingame is hor+ which is nice :D

edit : added some screenys

rockymaru · Post by **rockymaru** » 06 Jul 2009, 19:45

Update on FOV: Still no go! I've tried adding "DefaultFOV( 80.000000 )" (without the small "f" after "FOV") to Video.scr and DebugConf.scr. I've also tried adding BOTH lines DefaultFOV and DefaultFOVf to Video.scr and DebugConf.scr one at a time, and both at the same time.....nothing. Alternatively, the guy on the other forum helping me, JonasBeckman, tried adding the DefaultFOV as a STRING extension to the shortcut to no avail.

Basically, everything we've tried doesn't work. It seems apparent that the FOV is either locked, we're using the wrong command, or it would have to be changed in the console editor (assuming there is one, seeing as how hitting the ~ key in-game does nothing...).

If ANYONE out there knows anything to changing the FOV, PLEASE, PLEASE save us!

Post by **thales100** » 06 Jul 2009, 21:25

If ANYONE out there knows anything to changing the FOV, PLEASE, PLEASE save us!

lol x2, ill wait for this fov solution to finally buy this game :wink:

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 06 Jul 2009, 22:34

The Chrome Engine is a b!tch when it comes to dealing with the FOV. Tanuki appears to have spent a fair amount of time trying to figure it out for Xpand Rally, and his conclusion was that there's much more than meets the eye : FOV settings are scattered here and there, buried in java files - see this thread. I tried fixing a number of Chrome Engine-based racing games myself, and there's even less stuff actually affected by manual edits in recent titles than in older ones. I'm afraid that might be the case for CoJ BiB, too : the obvious settings may be little more than dummies, while the real ones affecting the FOV are hidden, with no easy way out. So, well... good luck :(

BTW, is the FOV really too narrow or are you just annoyed at the sight of such a low value as 57 :?: (just asking)

basilis20 · Post by **basilis20** » 13 Jul 2009, 16:45

Well the FOV is a little narrow.Not like Halo 2 or Stranglehold that made me act like i was a boomer from L4D.But it still makes me uncomfortable and a little dizzy after playing for 15 minutes.A fix or a work-around would be nice though.Cheers!

Destroy · Post by **Destroy** » 15 Jul 2009, 16:06

Any word on a FOV fix yet? I hate zoomed in crap. Stupid developers. :roll:

rockymaru · Post by **rockymaru** » 25 Jul 2009, 10:19

The Chrome Engine is a b!tch when it comes to dealing with the FOV. Tanuki appears to have spent a fair amount of time trying to figure it out for Xpand Rally, and his conclusion was that there's much more than meets the eye : FOV settings are scattered here and there, buried in java files - see this thread. I tried fixing a number of Chrome Engine-based racing games myself, and there's even less stuff actually affected by manual edits in recent titles than in older ones. I'm afraid that might be the case for CoJ BiB, too : the obvious settings may be little more than dummies, while the real ones affecting the FOV are hidden, with no easy way out. So, well... good luck :(

BTW, is the FOV really too narrow or are you just annoyed at the sight of such a low value as 57 :?: (just asking)

Thanks for the info Scav. It's sad to hear about that. The dev's (or maybe the publisher, LUBIsoft, should be blamed!) really dropped the ball on this prequel. Instead of IMPROVING upon the first one, and adding upon it, they seemed to have taken a step BACK by REMOVING certain things (FOV, graphic tweaks, gameplay, MP features, admin control, etc.). Needless to say, I've about given up trying to find a tweak. That link you have there, Scav, is dead I'm afraid. But even then I don't think I'd waste anymore time on this game.

For the record, to answer your final question, it's both. The FOV is REALLY narrow, almost liked you're ZOOMED in constantly. It's, literally, like running around looking through binoculars.

^ Bump if anyone hacks this thing to pieces and gets FOV for TRUE widescreen support!

Destroy · Post by **Destroy** » 04 Aug 2009, 02:23

Looks like this game is dead in the water with no FOV fix. :(

rockymaru · Post by **rockymaru** » 04 Aug 2009, 03:59

Looks like this game is dead in the water with no FOV fix. :(

More like dead on ARRIVAL! This game was doomed from the time it hit store shelves! Actually, it was doomed the second LUBIsoft took on the role of "producer"/"publisher."

It should also be noted that after a full month of release, this game still has no patch and no dedicated server support, w/ none in the foreseeable future. Big damn shame as this game has (er, had) such immense, untaped potential.

StingingVelvet · Post by **StingingVelvet** » 08 Aug 2009, 10:08

While the FOV is a little confined, it's not as bad as some titles (Turok and Halo 2 come to mind) and is very playable, at least for me.

Also, the game is amazing, in my opinion... a true winner.

Dyre Straits · Post by **Dyre Straits** » 24 Jun 2010, 03:18

I just picked up this game this evening after getting "tired" of seeing my son and d-i-l playing "Red Dead Redemption" night after night. :D I needed a good Western game for my own enjoyment...not having my own 360 .... as yet. ;)

The game plays well on my Eyefinity setup. But, like others have posted, the cut scenes do "chop off the tops of peoples' heads."

But, on a positive note, the subtitles work well across all the screens. That is, instead of being rendered behind the bezels, the words actually break up so that I can see all the letters in the subtitles instead of parts being hidden/disappearing behind the bezels.

I never realized until tonight that the start of this game takes place in Atlanta, GA....where I have lived since 1983. Having references to the Chattahoochee River and the Civil War embankments really got my interest fast! I live very near Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, too. There's a lot of US History here in our area.

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