Widescreen Gaming Forum

Well, then. With that much press going around the 'net, you can be sure it's going to be seen. :)

I really dislike the wording going around, though. Everything makes it sound like 4:3 is the default. All the articles make it sound like we're losing viewing area, but it's actually 4:3 that's gaining area.

Now on Bit-Tech ... http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/10/23/far-cry-2-has-cropped-widescreen/1

When will they learn? It will be an outrage... lol.

When will everyone here come to terms with the fact that current generation console and cross-platform games are designed to target a 16:9 aspect ratio? Just like last generation such games were designed for 4:3 and proper 5:4 support was vert+ from that intended 4:3 aspect ratio, now these games are designed for 16:9 and 16:10, 4:3 and 5:4 are vert+ from the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. Surely, at least after taking a moment to understand the situation, you all can rap your heads around these facts?

Does anyone have a 16:9 screenshot? I'd like to see that overlaid on the current 4:3/16:10 comparison.

Regardless of how the game was designed (16:9), the vast majority of PC gamers have either a 4:3 or 16:10 screen. The 16:10 fov is clearly inferior to 4:3.

When will everyone here come to terms with the fact that current generation console and cross-platform games are designed to target a 16:9 aspect ratio? Just like last generation such games were designed for 4:3 and proper 5:4 support was vert+ from that intended 4:3 aspect ratio, now these games are designed for 16:9 and 16:10, 4:3 and 5:4 are vert+ from the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. Surely, at least after taking a moment to understand the situation, you all can rap your heads around these facts?

No one will ever convince me that this game was designed in 16:9 as the game has a FOV that is clearly too narrow for 16:9 ... it feels wrong ... and it feels perfect in 5:4.

When will everyone here come to terms with the fact that current generation console and cross-platform games are designed to target a 16:9 aspect ratio? Just like last generation such games were designed for 4:3 and proper 5:4 support was vert+ from that intended 4:3 aspect ratio, now these games are designed for 16:9 and 16:10, 4:3 and 5:4 are vert+ from the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. Surely, at least after taking a moment to understand the situation, you all can rap your heads around these facts?

Oh really. So you're sure that they didn't just chop off the top and bottom of the frame that they have been designing for years now? You're sure that they went out of their way to do it correctly because the console requires the game to be compatible with widescreen? I'll give you a hint, you're not sure of anything.

We would all like to be sure that developers actually design with widescreen in mind. But I don't think that's the case. I think that some developers see the widescreen requirement (because afaik the modern consoles require a widescreen mode) as more of a hurdle that they should only put forth the minimal effort to get over. Something to be taken care of after the game is made.

I wont accept "the developers intended it that way" argument until I see them being quoted saying "we want widescreen users to see less than people with standard screens".

[quote]When will everyone here come to terms with the fact that current generation console and cross-platform games are designed to target a 16:9 aspect ratio? Just like last generation such games were designed for 4:3 and proper 5:4 support was vert+ from that intended 4:3 aspect ratio, now these games are designed for 16:9 and 16:10, 4:3 and 5:4 are vert+ from the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. Surely, at least after taking a moment to understand the situation, you all can rap your heads around these facts?

No one will ever convince me that this game was designed in 16:9 as the game has a FOV that is clearly too narrow for 16:9 ... it feels wrong ... and it feels perfect in 5:4.

Amen, kyleb and dopefish, please go try playing the game in 16:9 or 16:10 and then tell us that it feels better than 4:3.

I'm currently using a 4:3 monitor, but I play most games in 16:10 window mode, but I got a headache after playing for 5 minutes.
It feels like your trying to walk down stairs looking through a camera, It just does not work well and you will fall and hurt yourself badly.

Edit: I want to agree with you guys slightly that its designed for 16:9, but really its so bad that I doubt the dozens of people that have worked on the game not a single one of them was like "You know what? This feels wrong."

I don't have the game, but is this a roughly accurate representation of 16:9, 16:10, and 4:3?

I would like to clarify something for everyone to avoid confusion. The Vert - vs. Vert + argument is primarily about terminology not behavior.

The vertical fov in games should be fixed with the horizontal fov changing based on aspect ratios. By changing the vertical fov in games only one aspect ratio is correctly supported.

The crux of the argument revolves around which aspect ratio is the "correct" one, 4:3 or 16:9.

A 5:4 game should lose some viewing area on the sides if it is supported properly.

5:4


4:3


16:10


15:9


16:9

The crux of the argument revolves around which aspect ratio is the "correct" one, 4:3 or 16:9.

I'm not saying 4:3 is the 'correct' AR, It is just the standard to compare it to.

The vertical fov in games should be fixed with the horizontal fov changing based on aspect ratios. By changing the vertical fov in games only one aspect ratio is correctly supported.

Maybe we should put an emphasis on this for developers.

I too am going to do terrible things to people if this is not fixed. Seriously Devs, how can you make a great new engine and produce lovely looking games like Far Cry 2, and not support the proper FOV for widescreen users? Wide FOV = good.

I don't have the game, but is this a roughly accurate representation of 16:9, 16:10, and 4:3?

I'm not looking at the screen right now, but I was running 1600 x 900 on a 16:10 monitor (with black bars on the top and bottom) and that looks right as far as how much of the gun I could see.

At first I thought this was the reason everything felt so cramped, and it wasn't until I googled "far cry 2 fov" that I found out the problem. I'm probably just going to play in a 4:3 resolution until this gets fixed.

No one will ever convince me that this game was designed in 16:9 as the game has a FOV that is clearly too narrow for 16:9 ... it feels wrong ... and it feels perfect in 5:4.

And what about all those FPS games from the last console generation which are 4:3 only an have an equivically narrow FOV for that aspect ratio. Surely you won't argue that those were designed for a narrower aspect ratio than the 4:3 they exclusively support?

Amen, kyleb and dopefish, please go try playing the game in 16:9 or 16:10 and then tell us that it feels better than 4:3.

I am playing it on a 16:9 plasma, as I have done nearly all my gameing on for about 4 years now. The thing is, haven't been talking about feelings. As for my feelings, I'd like a wider FOV, just like I'd like a wider FOV on pretty much every console based FPS around. That goes for the games designed to target 16:9 this generation just the same as it does the ones designed to target 4:3 last generation.

The narrow FOVs of such console games do feel wrong to those of us who are accustomed to the wider FOVs of PC games. However, for console gamers who have generally played such narrow FOV games, and who sit respectively further from their TVs than PC gamers sit from monitors, such narrower FOVs feel perfectly natural.


And, GeneralAdmission, the image you edited is an accurate representation. To clarify the situation, imagine that screnshot is of a cutscene where you talk to two people, one on the left edge of that 16:9 view and one on the right edge. Now imagine if narrower aspect ratios didn't add to the top and bottom of the image, but instead cut off the sides; that would leave 4:3 users not being able to see the charachters talking to them.

There is a lot of debate about the correct implementation of widescreen but shouldn't the view get wider the wider your screen gets no matter what the aspect ratio the game was designed in ... Far Cry 2 doesn't.


btw ... click the image to see the full res 5040x1050 version of that screenshot without the lines etc. ... :D

Checking the Gamerprofile under Docs/My Games/Farcry2.

I saw these two options.. I havnt seen them brought up in this thread yet. Does anyone know if they have any impact on this issue?


ForceWidescreen="0" AspectRatio="0"

"0" being the default value

this is bad. I was wondering why this game was giving me headaches.

I thought that devs had wised up to this... guess not. The games too addicting to stop, IMO... So i'll just tough it out until there's a FOV hack.... hopefully its soon cause i'd really hate to play all the way through this game like this.

There is a lot of debate about the correct implementation of widescreen but shouldn't the view get wider the wider your screen gets no matter what the aspect ratio the game was designed in ... Far Cry 2 doesn't.

It should get wider when you go to wider aspect ratio, and it should get taller when you go to a narrower aspect ratio. Far Cry 2 unfortunately doesn't do the former to properly support wider aspect ratios than it's intended 16:9 view. However, it does do the latter, which allows it to preserve intended view when using narrower displays.

Far Cry 2 needs some serious widescreen support, incase none of you knew this is what happens when you set ForceWidescreen="1" from your GameProfile.xml in "X":Documents and Settings"username"My DocumentsMy GamesFar Cry 2



You get the black bars. Has anyone else messed around with the settings? Cant seem to work the AspectRatio="0" setting. Doesnt seem to do anything.

... and it should get taller when you go to a narrower aspect ratio.

The screens get wider or narrower ... the height doesn't change so the vertical FOV shouldn't change.

Which is why I posted this to explain ...

The narrower aspect ratios are no taller ... so their vertical FOV does not change.