Dark Sector

[flim]

I found a less painful way to get the correct wide-screen aspect ratio.
I am using nVidia card, open nVidia control panel, add a custom resolution, my screen native resolution is 1920x1200, add a custom resolution 1800x1200.
Now launch darksector and you can choose 1800x1200, the game now run in correct wide-screen aspect ratio.
I think the reason because the game developer is stupidly fix the aspect to 4:3 and 3:2, screen resolution not fit the aspect ratio will stretched.
So for wide-screen any 3:2 aspect ratio will work, use your monitor native vertical dimension, like 1050, and multiply 1.5, horizontal dimension is 1575, I tried 1575x1050 and work perfectly.

[Odjavel]

Hi,

I registered this forum just to say thanks !

I was searching for a week, and the last solution from flim saved me !

I play Dark Sector on a laptop with a 1920x1080 native resolution, and I started to play the game in 1365x780 to avoid the stretch effect that I don't like. But I losed a part of informations on the screen and the game wasn't very beautiful.

Now I play in 1620x1080 and I restarted the game from the beginning, because it is very beautiful and I discovered some details I missed the first time. With this resolution, I have 2 dark strips on the sides of my screen, but I prefer that and play with the right ratio aspect.

[scavvenjahh]

So for wide-screen any 3:2 aspect ratio will work, use your monitor native vertical dimension, like 1050, and multiply 1.5, horizontal dimension is 1575, I tried 1575x1050 and work perfectly.

flim's method is actually a workaround to minimize damage in all Vert- games, but in my experience Dark Sector is still Vert-/stretched in fullscreen 3:2, so this is hardly a solution. :?

Anyway, big thanks to Voodooman and everyone who contributed to shed some light upon this mess !
Here are updates for various sections of the DR, hope StingingVelvet and The_cranky_hermit can put these to good use.

==Method==
.ini
Native support results in a vertically stretched picture in fullscreen. To get a properly scaled game, you need to enable windowed mode, as explained by Voodooman:

1) Enabe hidden windowed mode

C:Program FilesND GamesDark SectorConfigsDS.cfg
[Windows_Config,/Types/Config]
Add this line:
Graphics.FullScreen=0

2) Set resolution

C:Program FilesND GamesDark SectorConfigsEditor.cfg
[MainGameWindowed,/Editor/WinRect]
SizeX=
SizeY=

==Screen change==
Vert-

4:3, fullscreen


16:10, windowed


16:9, windowed


==Supported resolutions==
The game fails to run at any resolution wider than 2048 pixels (all you get is a black screen with piled up menu items even during gameplay).

==Aspect ratio support==
16:10, 15:9, 16:9, tallscreen and faux TripleHead are all supported in windowed mode. The horizontal FOV is fixed, the vertical FOV changes with the AR.

==Multiplayer Support==
Not tested. Method relying on user config shouldn't be a problem...?

==HUD Stretch==
None. The HUD does not scale at all, so 2D elements look the same but are closer to the top and bottom of the screen in 16:9 than in lower ARs.

==Cut-scenes==
Rendered in-engine in real-time and Vert-.

4:3, fullscreen


16:10, windowed


16:9, windowed


==Surround Gaming support==
None for the reasons mentioned above: Vert- gameplay and limited max width.

1920x400, windowed

[StingingVelvet]

Good update Scav, thanks. This is a good little game, so people who avoided it before might want to play it now, of course then you're paying for such a crap port job.

I'll move that to the bottom of the OP for now, as I don't have time to reformat the whole DR.

[The_cranky_hermit]

Could you make a new solution and DR thread? It's better if the de facto DR starts with the best solution and doesn't have a discussion about the old one.

[scavvenjahh]

Ok, will do.

[Voodooman]

Its me again, remember my long and boring method of how to make desktop look like fullscreen?
Forget it!
Few months ago i found much better solution at http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42956 - programm called Game Companion 1.3 - Fake fullscreen.
It removes all borders, controls gamma, sets window as topmost and renders black background behind game window, so everything looks like a fullscreen.

To make this program automatically fix Dead Sector, open its config and add DS.exe or ds.exe (make sure that case is correct, since this program is case sensitive) int [AutoFFMode] section of ini.

Now you're done, each time you will start DS in windowed mode, this program would hook it and make it look like fullscreen.

Add this update to solution please.

Copy of GC 1.3 attached

Attached files

GameCompanion_1_3-42956-1-3.7z (426.4 KB)

[scavvenjahh]

Done ! Thanks for the heads-up.

[drpsycho]

Hi , I tried GameCompanion but it didn't work for me. I set Graphics.FullScreen=0 and SizeX/SizeY to 1920/1080 (my tv resolution) and added DS.exe to the ini, but when I start the game it starts in windowed then after 3s it auto switches to fullscreen (the true fullscreen, not the game companion's fake).

[Thircase]

I have encountered the same issue as drpsycho.

So, the best option for me is:

- Select 1680x1050 in-game resolution .
- Close the game.
- Enable GPU Scaling at driver settings.
- Open the game and Enjoy. ^^

I'm using an AMD graphic card. To activate GPU scaling, follow [AMD] Set GPU Scaling

Screenshots:

[Postwar]

I've encountered this solution while browsing the Steam forums (http://steamcommunity.com/app/29900/discussions/0/864946671947928615/#c792924411950815780). Props go to deathbuffer.

It reads as follows:

Just for reference, here's the simplest solution for playing fullscreen in 16:9 with vsync support, without any external tools except for a text editor:

• Open

  Code: Select all

  SteamApps\common\Dark Sector\Configs\DS.cfg

  in a text editor (notepad.exe will do)
  
• Insert the following line under the

  Code: Select all

  [Windows_Config,/Types/Config]

  section:
  

  Code: Select all

  Graphics.DisplayAspectRatio=FullScreen4x3
  

  
  Apparently they mixed up the aspect ratio calculation and you need to force 4:3 to get 16:9.
  
  Here's the full config file for 1920x1080 for copy/paste happiness:
  

  Code: Select all

  +version=3
  
  
  [PS3_Config,/Configs/DS.cfg/Windows_Config]
  
  [Windows_Config,/Types/Config]
  App.DefaultCmdLine="-nop -client -silent"
  Client.KeyBindings=Windows_KeyBindings
  Graphics.Brightness=1.06
  Graphics.DisplayAspectRatio=FullScreen4x3
  Graphics.FullScreenSizeX=1920
  Graphics.FullScreenSizeY=1080
  Sound.EnableEAX=0
  
  [Windows_KeyBindings,/Types/Input/KeyBindings]
  
  [Xbox360_Config,/Configs/DS.cfg/Windows_Config]
  

  
  
• Optional: make the DS.cfg file write-protected, in case the game should attempt to rewrite it.

[Postwar]

You can also set a custom FOV via a CFG file. The info has been on PCGW for a while.

1) Go to <path-to-game>\Configs
2) Open DS.cfg
3) Find [Windows_Config,/Types/Config]
4) Add this line: Graphics.FOV=XX underneath it, where XX is your desired field of view (e.g. Graphics.FOV=90).

No issues with the fix so far.