Widescreen display

[Deathtreader]

Hi all,

Just got a shiny new 24" widescreen monitor after years of the 4:3 variety. Amazing, but when I load COTA in any resolution other than 1920X1080 (my monitor's native resolution) the units all have a distinctly rectangular shape to them by being longer than they are high. So do the hex grids... any idea as to how this could be corrected?
I tried running the game at 1920X1080 and while it's wonderful to have most of the strat map display on the battle map eveything is a LOT smaller than 1024X768 on the old monitor.

Any suggestions??

Thanks!

Rob.

[Arjuna]

Rob,

Welcome to big widescreen viewing. If I understand you correctly you are running COTA on your widescreen monitor but using the 1024 x 768 resolution setting. If that is th case, then yest it will stretch the picture to fit the avialable screen size and this distorts the proportions of the units. I have a 24" widescreen monitor and I run my monitor at 1920 x 1200. Yes the unit icons won't appear as big as you have been used to, but they will not be "strectched". If you would like to have larger looking icons, then you can do one of two things.

• Change your monitor screen resolution to say 1600 x 1000 or something approximating that res. Your particular monitor will have resolutions that its optimised for. Check these out using the Display Settings dialog on your machine. The thing to remember is to keep the aspect ratio 1.6:1. This will effectively reduce your screen resolution, so less will fit. But it will mean the unit icons in COTA will look larger. By keeping the 1.6:1 aspect ratio they won't be stretched. Now this screen res will apply to whatever other program you run at the same time.
• Alternatively you can set a custom screen res for COTA by following the instructions on page 7 of the Reference manual. Again choose a 1.6:1 aspect ratio. This screen res will only apply while COTA is the foreground application. The screen res will change back to your default one when you switch to another application.

What you have highlighted though is the fact that we probably need to add some widescreen setting options to our Startup Options dialog for BFTB. Thanks.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

ORIGINAL: Deathtreader

Hi all,

Just got a shiny new 24" widescreen monitor after years of the 4:3 variety. Amazing, but when I load COTA in any resolution other than 1920X1080 (my monitor's native resolution) the units all have a distinctly rectangular shape to them by being longer than they are high. So do the hex grids... any idea as to how this could be corrected?
I tried running the game at 1920X1080 and while it's wonderful to have most of the strat map display on the battle map eveything is a LOT smaller than 1024X768 on the old monitor.

Any suggestions??

Thanks!

Rob.

Can you post a screenshot?

I only ask because I run the game at 1920x1200 and I love the extra real-estate.

I'm not seeing the skewing that you make reference to at all.

I can always zoom in to minimum resolution, 8m I think, for a better view.

Again, for me, the extra real estate offered at high-res is greatly appreciated.

I spend hours playing long scenarios and I can't imagine giving up the higher resolutions to run the game at a 4:3 aspect ratio.

[Arjuna]

PoE,

As I mentioned above, the reason why you don't see any skewing is because you are running the game in the same aspect ratio as your monitor - always a good thing. If you don't - eg like ROb is trying to run his in a 4:3 ratio on a 1.6:1 monitor - you get skewing as the image is stretched to fit.

[Deathtreader]

Hi all,

Thanks Arjuna!! Sage advice as always................at 1680X1050 everything is proportional again and the icons are once more big enough for me to be able to read the details on the counters.

PoE,

For that stretched effect just start the game in any of the specified resolutions (other than match current) available in the start-up screen and you'll see what I mean. You're absolutely right about the benefits of the extra estate..... sure is nice to be able to reduce scrolling about the map.
BTW, your scenarios look really good and I eagerly await their availability. [:)]

Arjuna,

There seems to be a lot of interest in N.African scenarios (me included), so maybe offering an expansion pack for that theatre post-BFTB but pre-Normandy might be a way to assuage that segment of your market. I believe it would sell very well. Just a thought....


Rob.

[Arjuna]

Rob,

I agree a North African expansion pack would be good, but we really need to handle minefield clearance to do it justice. It's a strong possibility. As I said on the BFTB forum we will be reviewing our options once BFTB is released. All cards will be on the table.