Best resolution

[Bargeral]

320*200 is the original resolution and anything higher is "cheating", but what resolution do most people play at? Is there a good higher resolution that won't break anything but is maybe a bit nicer to stare at? Call it a good compromise. Or would I be spoiling the game? For the record, I seem to recall "almost" finishing BG, but the damn thing crashed and killed my save. So I have not finished, nor ever done the expansions. So I'd like to keep it spoiler free to a certain degree, but I would like a higher res....

Suggestions:
Move video and audio setup out of the games into the general setup. (I really like to get all that sorted before I see any of the plot - spoils the mood to have to keep backing out. (AVatar! Know that...(tweak settings) Avatar! Kn.. (tweak settings) Avata.. (tweak settings) Ava... etc.
Limit the "scaling" based on the "scaler" selected (x3 defaults to 2x for some scalers, and under Scale2x became unusable for me at 3x)
Maybe add an "are you sure" dialog to the scaler changes so if you bunk it up you can back out on the fly?
Release a newer "official" version!
Maybe autodetect any .sfx files and give you a select dialog?

[olarin_who_isnt_logged_in]

if you want to play the game properly, i think most people would really suggest sticking to the original 320x200. that's what the game was designed for. not only do you risk seeing stuff you "shouldn't" at a higher resolution, but you also risk triggering certain known bugs because certain in-game mechanics don't anticipate certain things being on screen at certain points (some such bugs may be fixed now for all i know, but i don't believe it's a high priority for the exult team as it's way outside the design scope of the original). as for making it nicer to stare at, that's what the scalers are for.

[Bargeral]

Thanks. I'll play at the original res. I wasn't aware of the possibility of triggering events by having it on screen and that does sound "bad". I'm glad I asked and thanks for the reply.

I wonder if they could have an option to lock the play field to the original size, but have the game screen a bit bigger - using the extra area as a parking spot for open bags and such. I seem to remember OU doing something like that long after I was gone. Hmmm.

[PimpUigi]

I play at 320x200 stretched to 1920x1200 (scale 6) and then I switch my monitor to 4:3 to get the original aspect resolution.

Looks awesome IMO.

[alagner]

since v0.96 I've been always using 320x240 scaled 2x and it never triggered any errors, but sometimes (really rarely) too much is visible (it never ruined my game though).

[bobthecowboy]

I wonder how hard it would be to address the "too much is visible" problem. I'm really only a junior programmer, but could it perhaps be resolved by having a rough 'circle' around the Avatar, of about the proper size where everything outside of the circle is somehow hazier?

Kind of like a fog of war. Houses outside of this circle would display with their roof, caves with the mountaintops, etc. Or even just sort of having the viewable area "taper-out" as it gets further from the native resolution of the original?

Like I said, I would have no idea how to actually (in code) do this, but maybe applying some kind of mask to the surface?

[wjp]

That would probably work fairly well in BG, but in SI the world designers put large underground areas on the map just outside of the visible range (since there is no true underground level). These would become visible if you enlarge the resolution too much.

Large spoiler if you haven't played SI yet, but this is what the world map looks like: http://usecode.org/ultima/u7si/SImap.png (8Mb 3072x3072 image). This is even with all the roofs still in place.

[Petrell]

Haha. Now there's a worthy project for some ambitious modder(s) : Moving all those dungeons to separate map now that Exult supports multible maps :p. Not that there would be much benefit besides not seeing things you're not supposed to in higher resolutions, freeing those areas for future modder use and adding room for future dungeon expansion.

[marzo]

Moving all those dungeons to separate map now that Exult supports multible maps

That is actually on the to-do list of TFL

[alagner]

Ok, great idea, but what about those blank spaces left after moving the 'undergrounds'? I mean - what will be there? Water? Or just blackness?

[marzo]

Wizardry has plans to make boats in SI, so I'd guess water (and maybe a few goodies here and there).

[AnyOtherName]

*spoilers*
I assume you mean in some kind of mod, since boats would totally break the game mechanics of SI. Even after you've got the jawbone. I mean, claw isle... leaving Moonshade, isle of crypts...
As for resolution, I think I amped it up to 640x480 just for viewing ease. I never encountered anything too terrible happening at that resolution.

[Kensu]

Perhaps replacing the "on-screen" test with a "distance from Avatar" test like they have in NWN might do the trick. (that would have to be 2D distance, for obvious reasons.)