Widescreen Gaming Forum

So is anyone else getting the problem where after you've gone to the world map part of the world map shows up in the black area in the bottom right side of the main screen?


Or is it just me?

Is this normal?

Is there any one to fix it?

It's normal

It "should" be possible to fix if Jackfuste revisits the pharaoh/zeus fixes at some point. But it really isn't a critical issue - the game just isn't built to stretch out like that as you can easily tell from the "world" map and the mission screens.

But it beats having to play the game at 1024 ^^

New guy question... how do the Widescreen tweaks for games like Emperor get distributed?

I assume that the folks who work on the patches don't just distribute an edited .exe do they? Is it a file containing a script of hex edit locations to apply ourselves?

They do actually - a compressed archive with an executable for each resolution.

I suppose it solves the problem of "I followed your instructions (sort of) and it doesn't work!".

I presume that the version of the .exe will be something like Emperor (Sierra) 1.0.1.0 English with localised versions appearing at the modder's whim?

Pharaoh and Zeus uses the GOG (Good old Games) releases, which have had their copy protection removed and have the latest official patch. (So yeah that'd be 1.10)

As for emperor, I believe (hope really) that an unofficial copy protection removed executable is used as I don't have a DVD drive anymore. :bigsmile:

Given how popular these City Builder games still are, I wonder if anyone has approached Overhaul Games to see if they could officially pick up the titles? They have just done Baldur's Gate and re-engineered it for modern monitors after all.

Doubtful - Given how hard it has been for GOG to even get two of four games on their store, I doubt it. The rights holders are a stubborn and greedy bunch.

It'd be much easier to just develop a new franchise from scratch.

Having had a look inside Emperor.exe myself with a hex editor, I have the greatest respect for folks like Jackfuste who can make these games jump through widescreen hoops!

I would have absolutely no idea how to identify the anchor points for the UI elements, let alone sorting issues like the World Map Scroll problem.

Hats off to you, guys!

Jackfuste - are you in the position of needing testers for any of the Emperor widescreen resolutions yet?

While I am 16:9 myself at 2560x1440, I would be more interested in playing the game slightly stretched, say at the 1080p level of zoom. Part of the charm of Emperor for me is the slightly chunky figures rather than pixel-sharp tiny ones.

Hello,

I am looking at the Caesar 3 exe file.
Jackfuste can you tell me what to do, where to look and what to change, to get desired results (Caesar 3 in widescreen)?

Thanks.


Regards

I registered so I could post this. I have the GOG version of Zeus/Poseidon. I have 1366x768 res and the option in the folder is 1360x768. I tried both version 1 and 2 of this. I placed the exe in the folder and put the contents of the data folder into the data folder of the installed game. The game launches but it's not in widescreen. It's still in the boxed 1024x768. What am i doing wrong?

Hello,
I am looking at the Caesar 3 exe file.
Jackfuste can you tell me what to do, where to look and what to change, to get desired results (Caesar 3 in widescreen)?
Thanks.
Regards

Caesar 3 requires correction values ​​in many places, and a new code to fix the interface. This is possible only using a debugger, you must examine the code to find resolution values and screen interface.
To learn how to use a debugger, I recommend to explore - http://ricardonarvaja.info/
These guides are specific to cracking programs, but they provide a good knowledge base that is needed to create a widescreen fixes.

I registered so I could post this. I have the GOG version of Zeus/Poseidon. I have 1366x768 res and the option in the folder is 1360x768. I tried both version 1 and 2 of this. I placed the exe in the folder and put the contents of the data folder into the data folder of the installed game. The game launches but it's not in widescreen. It's still in the boxed 1024x768. What am i doing wrong?

Are you sure that game runs at resolution 1360x768?
Take a screenshot and look at it resolution.
If its 1360x768 resolution and you still have black bars, then check display scaling settings.
If its resolution 800x600, then in game menu select resolution 1024x768, it will be replaced on 1360x768.

I tried changing the resolution to 1024 and the screen just went black. I'll mess around with it more on my wifes computer as that's who I bought the game for anyway :) Am I doing it correct though? you add the contents of the data folder to the data folder and replace the exe?

Hello, first of all: Thanks a lot for your work on a widescreen solution for "Zeus and Poseidon" - one of my all time favorite games. It's great to be able to play this game widescreen!

I own a monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200 and I have a small problem with the graphics after installing your ws-workaround: There's a little black block on top of the screen (right side) - see screenshot.
BTW: This problem does not occur, if I install the 1680x1050 files. Strange... Another problem: The ambient sound get's corrupted: You can only hear several sound files from time to time after installing the patch-files.

Maybe you can solve this? It would be great!

Game-Version: Zeus + Poseidon by Gog.com, Screen-Res: 1920x1200, Card: GTX 560, Drivers: Nvidia 301.42

(Yes, In-Game-Resolution was set to 1024x768 and all files were installed correctly...)

It looks damned good on widescreen I have to admit... though personally I am still waiting for news on the Emperor work that Jackfuste was doing a while ago.

I own a monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200 and I have a small problem with the graphics after installing your ws-workaround: There's a little black block on top of the screen (right side) - see screenshot.

I will try to remake widescreen fix for Zeus and Poseidon and resolve interface problems.

It looks damned good on widescreen I have to admit... though personally I am still waiting for news on the Emperor work that Jackfuste was doing a while ago.

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom - Detailed Report

I own a monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200 and I have a small problem with the graphics after installing your ws-workaround: There's a little black block on top of the screen (right side) - see screenshot.

I fixed interface for 1920x1200 resolution - Files available from https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files (search there)

Caesar 3 requires correction values ​​in many places, and a new code to fix the interface. This is possible only using a debugger, you must examine the code to find resolution values and screen interface.
To learn how to use a debugger, I recommend to explore - http://ricardonarvaja.info/
These guides are specific to cracking programs, but they provide a good knowledge base that is needed to create a widescreen fixes.

Was about to ask about the possibility of a fix for Caesar 3 but I guess you already tried. Would be great if a fix for Caesar 3 was possible, its the game that started it, the line of Impressions' awesome 2D City Building series, too bad I guess but regardless thank you jackfuste so much for taking the time to work on the rest of the games in the series, when no one else would because its so old and not that popular like regular RTS games like AOE etc. Hats off to you. :twothumb

I've got a problem with displaying my native polish font. When I overwrite your .exe the resolution works fine, but I occur weird symbols such as %(@*#& etc. Looks like your resolution fix changes the Pharaoh_MM .eng format file. I made a backup and pasted it after your fix, still it changes a coding of the whole text. It's strange, because the Zeus fix works perfectly - even in polish. There's a screenshot with my issue below. And one more thing. I can't use your Cleopatra's fix, I guess you have a game 2in1 type with one .exe (Pharaoh.exe), right? I've got Cleopatra.exe, so it doesn't work. Any ideas? Cheers!