Pirates and RCT3 Display Probs

[mikewl]

Both these Sid Meier games have the same problem, my monitor can display upto 1280 x 1028 and all games can run in that display apart from these two.

In these games the highest option is 1280 x 960 which doesnt look quite right.

Anyone else getting this.

[csuzw]

I didn't find 1280x960 too bad in Pirates - in fact I didn't even notice that it looked weird. The main problem is that I played Pirates all yesterday and its got rather boring now - it was great while it lasted though. It is strange though that a modern game can't handle 1280x1024.

[Taurine]

It is strange though that a modern game can't handle 1280x1024.

Its because 1280x960 is a 4:3 ratio, just like all the other mainstream resolutions: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 & 1600x1200. I've only just started to look in to this so I can't say I fully understand it, but for some reason - probably marketting, 1280x1024 took off despite being 5:4 ratio - slightly widescreen.

The thing is, your monitor is almost certainly of 4:3 ratio, physically. People say that running things in 5:4 means that all the graphics are slightly widened out, things look slightly shorter and fatter. I'm not sure how true this all is, but apparently if you look very closely if you used an art program to draw a circle in a 5:4 ratio, it would appear to be oval. But only a little. So graphic artists etc use 4:3 ratio resolutions for accuracy.

I just started playing Half Life 2 and was initially surprised to see they don't offer a 1280x1024 mode either. I guess they are going for purity in their game's presentation

[Ersatz Nihilist]

I just started playing Half Life 2 and was initially surprised to see they don't offer a 1280x1024 mode either. I guess they are going for purity in their game's presentation

Odd. My copy of Half Life 2 happily sits in 1280x1024 mode.

I think that that resolution needs to be included in all software, though, simply because 17" TFT's will only display in that resolution without looking ****ty. Normally it's simple enough just to prod around in the .ini file and put the game into a custom resolution, but sometimes it's far more obfuscated.