Optimum Resolutions

[Palmeraz]

Hi guys,

Just found this amazing forum.

I was wondering if anyone could help me with a few issues I'm having around optimum resolutions for KeeperFX.


I am trying to find a good resolution to play DK1 in, I've just downloaded the latest version of FX; 0.4.6.

But for whatever reason I can't seem to be able to get the zoom out that people like this get;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTGWuYNDni0


In an earlier version of FX I was able to press something like "ALT-R" to improve the resolution as well, I've tried tinkering with the launcher settings but it doesn't seem to look as good.


I'm probably missing something immediately obvious, I've also been hunting for answers but to no avail.


Can someone help me out?

Thanks,

Josh

[YourMaster]

I think what you mean is the small sidebar. In the original game you could not go over 640x400 as the resolution. When KeeperFX increased the resolution, at first the sidebar failed to scale up with the increased resolution and became extremely tiny on very high resolutions. However, many people do prefer the smaller sidebar that mid-sized resolutions provided. This is what you see in that video.

At some point the scaling of the sidebar was also implemented, and now whatever resolution you play at, the sidebar is always the same size. You can't change that, unless you go back to an old version of the game. You can still hide and show the sidebar by pressing the Tab key.

Changing the resolution is also still done by pressing Alt+R while ingame (not paused, not in a menu, but playing an actual level). And unless you have a 4K monitor or something, I suggest configuring it to your native resolution.

Edit: Looking at the video again, I see that person is playing in 'cluedo mode'. I think it's ugly, but some people prefer it. It can be enabled through the settings menu ingame. If you want to use that, it's best to keep it at 640x480 or 640x400 resolution, because that mode has never been implemented properly for high resolutions. You'll get clipping issues.

[AdamP]

I think what you mean is the small sidebar. In the original game you could not go over 640x400 as the resolution. When KeeperFX increased the resolution, at first the sidebar failed to scale up with the increased resolution and became extremely tiny on very high resolutions. However, many people do prefer the smaller sidebar that mid-sized resolutions provided.

If we can't get the sidebar to scale up on the higher resolutions, perhaps instead we could fill the black bit below the sidebar with something? (like Dungeon Keeper Direct3D, which has a logo there) Having the interface like DK Direct3D would make 640x480 more bearable for me at least. There being no black bit is the main reason I use 640x400.

[YourMaster]

In a perfect world the menu bar would simply be higher and fill the entire screen. This would be great as it allows for more creatures to be visible. Or all the spells in first person mode.
But I tried and can't get it to work properly. So I'd be happy to accept contributions for improved sidebars, or scalable sidebars, but I can't do it.

[Palmeraz]

Thanks for the answers, I'll give these a go

[ribald_om]

I've got a couple resolution-related questions:

1. I'm assuming all widescreen resolutions are inherently vert- ? 1920x1080 looks nice but I can't see as much of the playfield, which makes it a little suboptimal.

2. Assuming that's true, can anyone recommend the biggest 4:3 or similar resolution they use? I've farted around with some custom resolutions but a lot of them seem to fail, and entering them and then checking the log file is a lot of trial and error.

thanks!

[YourMaster]

It's certainly not optimal, it would of course be nice if with higher resolutions you could simply zoom out more and get more vision in return. A common resolution is 1280x1024, which you could also try in windowed mode (1280x1024w32).

[ribald_om]

Ended up messing with this again, FX looks good at 1440×1080 on my 1080 monitor. For some reason the game is aligned with the left side of my screen instead of being centered like you would normally expect with a 4:3 image on a 1080 monitor, but that's not a big deal.

[YourMaster]

You could try the 0.4.9 test build, there's a good chance it works better for you.