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Geek Culture / Screen Resoloution

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AlexI
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 22:13 Edited at: 10th Jan 2009 22:14
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Hi,
I am going to cap the minimum screen resolution on my game to 1024x768. Is anyone still using 800x600 for playing games?

Thanks,
Alex


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Uncle Sam
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 22:14
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If anyone still is they need to wake up to the real world.

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Benjamin
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 22:34 Edited at: 10th Jan 2009 22:52
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I run COD 4 in 640x480 (no I'm not joking, although I use a desktop resolution of 1280x1024).

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El Goorf
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 22:47
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heh, reminds me of playing the fear multiplayer game on lowest possible resolution and graphics detail, it actually looked as if i was playing doom XD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution

the statistics there say 9% of WEB USERS use 800*600 or less. remember that a web user isnt neccesarily a game player. and someone who plays games will probably have a higher spec machine and monitor to go with it.

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Accoun
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 22:49
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I'm not using in games anything higher than 1024x768, but I usually play on 800x600...

Make games, not war.

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AlexI
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 22:59
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I see, so people want 800x600 and less


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AndrewT
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 23:09
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Quote: "I see, so people want 800x600 and less"


Is there really any extra work involved in making a game compatible with lower resolutions? I mean I guess for your GUI/HUD you might have to make some smaller versions of some elements of it, but that's about it, right?


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draknir_
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 23:14
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You should always have an option for lower resolutions, especially since somebody might want to run your game on lower spec hardware.

The best way IMHO to support lots of resolutions is write code which places GUI elements according to a percentage of the screen. Scale everything by screen size, and voila, you have one aspect ratio completely supported. Then do the same for different aspect ratios.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 23:16
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And make sure you support non-standard resolutions, widescreen and such.

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AlexI
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 23:28 Edited at: 10th Jan 2009 23:29
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For large resolutions its easy because they can just have black space around the menu. But for low resolutions it gets messy The images in the menu will need to be repositioned as well as rescaled Any easy way to do that ?


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bitJericho
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Posted: 10th Jan 2009 23:52 Edited at: 10th Jan 2009 23:55
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you can do it with a function. In dbpro, it would look like this:



My math might be off, I wrote this off the top of my head. You would use a similar (or even the same) function to calculate stretching of the screen objects. What I'd do is get the x and y coords of both the top left and bottom right of the screen element. Then use a second function to calculate the amount of stretching on the x and y of the screen object.

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draknir_
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 00:10
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@AlexI: Use 3D planes instead of sprites.

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Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 00:18
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I've got a crappy ATI Radeon HD 3200, and at the moment I'm running Crysis on 800x600 with shaders on mainstream and motion blur on gamer.


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David R
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 00:40
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I second the idea of using planes rather than sprites. I chose to use a GUI in 3D space for my current project, and it turned out to the best decision possible: It works seamlessly from around 1024x768 up to 1900x1200 with no problems.

GUI (and game if you were planning to go 2D) in 3D space = Win


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Lazlazlaz 1
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 00:48
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I always use 3D plains as well. Plus then if you allow the camera to rotate a few degrees when the user moves their mouse, add a bit of fov change (to something like 110) and you have a very nice looking menu easily.

As with most people I jump around which projects I work on and which I drop for a while.
Currently I'm back working on Sioux, a Hollywood Western RTS.
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AlexI
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 00:57 Edited at: 11th Jan 2009 00:57
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Yea I am using 3D plains too, using this code:


But it still gives me the problem of position and sizing the plain on different resolutions


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David R
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 01:13
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Quote: "But it still gives me the problem of position and sizing the plain on different resolutions"


It shouldn't, because 3D space is completely independent of screen resolution


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AlexI
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 01:24
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That code positions the 3D plain relevant to the screen width & height. I guess if I did not do that it would work on different resolutions.


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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 11th Jan 2009 01:40
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People will play at a resolution that their hardware can handle...including their monitor. The highest non Widescreen resolution my laptop will handle is 1024x768 (the highest resolution is 1366x768), I've seen monitors that are the same. Anybody who can't handle that resolution are a little too behind. Though I have fun poorly optimised/more powerful games in 800x600 because it gives me an FPS boost.

Anything higher than 1024x768 will probably not grove unless you're willing to let the player decide. A lot of people have widescreen as well, and running a standard screen resolution in widescreen can look ugly (unless like in Tomb Raider: Underwolrd, where they are able to scale 1024x768 effectively for widescreen). But you can't accommodate for everyone unless you're willing to code those options.

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El Goorf
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 19:02
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they way i see it is to care not for people with low spec/small resolutions. If people stopped catering for them, they'd be forced to upgrade, then we'd stop needing to worry...

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 19:09
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Well nothing higher than 1024x768 as standard, given even brand new laptops will still only have a maximum height of 768.

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draknir_
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 20:47
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Quote: "they way i see it is to care not for people with low spec/small resolutions. If people stopped catering for them, they'd be forced to upgrade, then we'd stop needing to worry..."


Or maybe they just won't play your game.

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AlexI
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 20:51
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I just need to figure out a way to make the menu work and look good on any screen resoloution. I used 3D plains but the images doesn't look sharp. Even when I disable mip-mapping


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JoelJ
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 21:13
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Quote: "Well nothing higher than 1024x768 as standard, given even brand new laptops will still only have a maximum height of 768."

So I suppose I'm luck with my 1920 x 1200 resolution on my laptop here, eh?

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 21:33
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Yes you are. Mine's a fairly new 16" and it only goes up to 1366x768.

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AlexI
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 21:35 Edited at: 12th Jan 2009 21:35
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Mines 1440x900

Any ideas about the menu?


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Alucard94
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 22:02
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Quote: "Yes you are. Mine's a fairly new 16" and it only goes up to 1366x768.
"

Mine's 1440x900, although I have seen these really high res 1920x1080 17" displays on laptops, they're more or less orgasmic.


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kaedroho
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Posted: 12th Jan 2009 22:16
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i use 640x480 in games and 1280x1024 on desktop.

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AlexI
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 00:20
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640x480 is bad


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Benjamin
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 00:26
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I personally prefer a lower screen resolution over lower texture detail or mesh detail.

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El Goorf
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 00:26
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yeh this raises a valid point, aspect ratios are just as important as typical sizes. im SO fed up of playing with stretched games because they dont have a widescreen option >.<

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 00:48 Edited at: 13th Jan 2009 00:49
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El Goorf, do you have an nVidia card and nVidia control panel? In the nVidia control panel you can turn the stretching off - though you will have 2 black panel on either side of the game screen, but it's better than having it stretched.

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kBessa
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 08:43
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The Catalyst drivers from AMD/ATI also have a similar option, "Maintain Aspect Ratio".

Fortunately my LCD monitor allows me to select between 16:10 and 4:3 (with black bars) aspect ratios, so I can decide if I want the streched images or not, based on the game I'm playing. Some of them do get ugly, but some others don't look like they were streched. It's just a button on the remote control

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El Goorf
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 15:52
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seppuku, nop, but my pc's monitor has that feature anyway.

my laptop however, doesnt >.<

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 13th Jan 2009 19:26 Edited at: 13th Jan 2009 19:28
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If you're using your laptop for gaming, then it may be worth plugging it into your monitor, I sometimes do it with my old CRT monitor, as I use a controller for my gaming, that set-up for me is more comfortable. Though of course, if you're a bit mobile, then it may not always be a luxury.

Or even, if you have HDMI output, a HDMI cable and a HDTV, it might be fun plugging into your TV (if like my TV, you can set the aspect ratio)

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AlexI
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Posted: 14th Jan 2009 09:18
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My PC has an HDMI and so does my TV


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