Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

[Paddy the Wak]

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

Read Full Detailed Report - Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Discover a new breed of Action-RPG game powered by an enhanced version of the Source™ Engine by Valve. Set in the Might & Magic® universe, players will experience ferocious combat in a dark and immersive fantasy environment. Swords, Stealth, Sorcery. Choose your way to kill.

Cutting-edge technology: Experience an enhanced version of the famous Source™ Engine created by Valve. Discover the fresh perspective of a view with complete body awareness, realistic movements, physics rendering, and a complete first-person melee combat system in a fantasy setting.
Never-ending action: Challenge the forces of evil in 12 huge levels and learn to master over 30 weapons and an arsenal of devastating spells.
Evolve your character: Extend your gameplay experience without being limited to a single discipline. Learn powerful new spells and attacks using Dark Messiah's unique Skill Evolution System as you progress through the game.
Revolutionary multiplayer mode: Get ready to battle with up to 32 players in the revolutionary Crusade mode, which will enable players to gain experience and new skills across dynamic online campaigns. Enlist with the humans or the undead and choose among five complementary character classes.

4:3

16:10

16:9

3x1

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[kotmfu]

==Game Information==
(Pulled from a random website)
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic puts players in a first-person perspective, allowing them to immerse themselves in the legendary Might and Magic universe as never before. It is also the world's first fantasy action game to feature a complete first-person combat system.

In Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, players will be introduced to the world of Ashan, the new setting for all future Might & Magic games. Ashan is a dark and unforgiving world, scarred by a bloody history and threatened by an apocalyptic prophecy: the Dark Messiah.

Players will embody the young hero Sareth, who has been trained in the arts of magic and war in order to battle the prophetic Dark Messiah. Players will have the choice to become expert warriors, mages or assassins, each with their own cache of devastating weapons and spells to use in battling huge and vicious enemies. Through combat, players will unlock new skills and equipment, advancing Sareth's experience and improving his performance, battle combos, hits, spells and techniques and setting his course for his destiny.

==Version==

Box Version (Non Steam) Fresh install

==Method==

Game is fully widescreen native (for 16:9 and 16:10)

==Screen change==

Game is Horizontal +

4:3 gameplay screenshot: 1600*1200

widescreen gameplay screenshot: 1920*1200


==Supported resolutions==

List of widescreen resolutions the game successfully ran at: 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200

==Singleplayer anomalies==

Everything in game is scaled correctly when the resolution/aspect ratio is changed. (as you can see by the in game photos above)

==Multiplayer support==

The box version does not have a multiplayer mission, as i think the steam version does.

==Aspect ratio support==
16:9 and 16:10 are both fully supported

16:9 gameplay screenshot: 1920*1080

16:10 gameplay screenshot: 1920*1200



==HUD stretch==

Hud position and size all stay to what they are meant to look like as you can see by above photos

==Cut-scenes==

The game has all in-game rendered movies that scale properly and have black bars added to the top and bottom to add a cinema effect.

4:3 ingame-rendered cut-scene screenshot:1600*1200

widescreen ingame-rendered cut-scene screenshot:1920*1200


==Grading==
Calculated grade: Certified

[Tanuki]

Hate to do this but...

There are also pre-rendered cut-scenes. The following are taken from the intro that plays on game load but there are some that play throughout the game. It appears that 16:10 has stretching. The binks are 1280x720 source FYI.











There are also some border lines in the 4:3 and 16:10 shot at the bottom of the viewable FMV. Not sure what that is about. If you need FMVs in-game just let me now. I seem to have deleted all my savegames so I am going to have to work through it again. The in-game ones do not have the pillarboxes.

These I felt were important to include.

[The_cranky_hermit]

Yoink! De-certified.

These I felt were important to include.

I don't understand what sort of behavioral anomaly you're demonstrating here.

[Tanuki]

I don't understand what sort of behavioral anomaly you're demonstrating here.

None. I just wanted some pics up because the inventory/character screen is integeral to the game.

[The_cranky_hermit]

So, does that mean you're demonstrating *correct* behavior?

[Tanuki]

So, does that mean you're demonstrating *correct* behavior?

Yes boss.

Just trying to contribute to the DR.

[The_cranky_hermit]

Thanks.

Grade is B+, coverage is 100%.

[scavvenjahh]

==Surround Gaming Support==

Native.
As a Source game, the method is similar to that of Half Life 2:

This game supports widescreen out of the box. Just go to the video options menu, select widescreen 16:9 or widescreen 16:10, and select your resolution. That's it.

Hotkey for TH2G Bezel Management is fully functional in game.

==Multiplayer support==

The box version does not have a multiplayer mission, as i think the steam version does.

Not quite.

The game (SP + MP) is available on DVD and through Valve's Steam platform. With the DVD version you can choose whether to install the SP or MP mode only, or both; the Steam version always downloads and installs both (I think).
-the single player campaign (SP) was developped by Arkane Studios and does not require a Steam account to install or play.
-the multiplayer mode (MP) was developped by Kuju and is strictly Steam-powered, i.e you need a Steam account to play even on a LAN.

Given the double nature of the game, it'd be interesting to have widescreen/surround reports for the multiplayer part too...

[Sweetz]

the Steam version always downloads and installs both (I think).

Nope, I've got it on Steam and they're separate entries in the Steam games list. You can download/launch them individually.

Given the double nature of the game, it'd be interesting to have widescreen/surround reports for the multiplayer part too...

It may be a different executable, but the graphics engine is the exact same. I can guarantee that it's hor+ just like SP. It'd probably be a bit redundant to do a whole report for the MP client.

[The_cranky_hermit]

If you can't buy one without getting the other, then a separate DR isn't necessary. A pair of screenshots for the MP mode demonstrating hor + behavior will suffice.

[scavvenjahh]

Right. Though I doubt we'll ever see that now...

[Voodooman]

Maybe im a bit late but MP have issues with Widescreen that SP doesnt have.

When SP includes loading arts and other 2d elements for widescreen and normal screen, multiplayer only includes 4:3 backgrounds and hud is aslo designed for 4:3.

Guess what result we have in MP?

Hud and bgs are hor stretched.
and its not all folks!

Worst thing that join buttons like selection of team they dont stretched and remains in 4:3 but aligned to left edge of screen, this lead to very annoying displacement of right side buttons which appears covered by centered and stretched 4:3 menu. thats look so ugly and makes impossible to press covered button so i have no choice but to play 4:3.

However 3d geometry is hor+ just like in any source game.

I would like anyone to provide fix for screwed MP hud in widescreen, i want to do it myself but im not familiar with source gui file modification.

[DaemonXHUN]

• It supports 21:9 natively
• HUD elements are in the right positions without any stretch
• FOV looks good (I think it automatically changes to the right value with the aspect ratio)
• Pre-rendered cutscenes are 16:9, but they show up without any stretch (black bars on each side)

In order to select a 21:9 aspect ratio (such as 2560x1080, or 3440x1440), switch to 16:9 in the options first, because 21:9 resolutions are listed there.