Widescreen Gaming Forum :: View topic

Widescreen Gaming Forum http://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/

Grand Theft Auto IV http://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=16698	Page 1 of 2

Author:	g00seberry [ 09 Dec 2008, 14:03 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
Widescreen Grade: A Ultra-Widescreen Grade: Incomplete Multi-monitor Grade: B 4k Grade: Incomplete Read Full Detailed Report - Grand Theft Auto IV The fourth installment of the popular series by Rockstar features improved graphics, new features, and new gameplay. Players take on the role of Niko Bellic, a rough-around-the-edge chap from Eastern Europe. Niko has arrived in America, in Liberty City -- a land full of promise and opportunity. His cousin convinced him to emigrate, to join him in his mansion and life of luxury, but as soon as he steps off the boat, Niko discovers the truth about the American way. Still, the wealth, the comfort, the bliss of the good life, it all really is here ... And it's all for the taking. 4:3 16:10 16:9 3x1 Read More

Author:	g00seberry [ 09 Dec 2008, 14:12 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
Some notes I'd like to make : - The game is huge. I could have easily missed so much, but most if not all of it is rendered in-game. If there's anything major I've missed, please let me know, I could use the help. - The keybinding annotations changing from 360 to keyboard controls and looking slightly misplaced appears to be a bug. This is inherent to all resolutions, not just wide ones. - If I can have suggestions for better wording for the cut-scene behaviour, that would be good if it isn't already adequate. - The menu text for 4:3 and 5:4 ARs seems to be stretched vertically. - The internet screen is a bit odd. It appears that parts of the screen are stretching, while the whole display is pillarboxed/hor+. It would seem that 4:3 is the intended AR if looking at the picture. Ideas on this would be appreciated too. - There may be some texture discrepancies because ATI drivers are piss poor. Ta.

Author:	Abram [ 09 Dec 2008, 16:08 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
Lovely. Pretty glad this has proper support, I was a little nervous about it. I can confirm it runs 1920x1200 with same properties as other 16:10 resolutions. It too, raises the required resources - and -norestrictions may be needed to access it. Not really needed for the report, but I've noticed setting the Aspect Ratio option to 'Auto' doesn't always give AR to correctly match selected resolution. Odd to see 15:9 support built-in. I think it's the first time I've seen it explictly supported.

Author:	skeeder [ 09 Dec 2008, 16:20 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
Odd to see 15:9 support built-in. I think it's the first time I've seen it explictly supported. Its the one thing we can thank the console scene for. Despite its half done sometimes.

Author:

g00seberry [ 09 Dec 2008, 17:22 ]

Post subject:

Grand Theft Auto IV

I can confirm it runs 1920x1200

Thanks :) Updated.

Not really needed for the report, but I've noticed setting the Aspect Ratio option to 'Auto' doesn't always give AR to correctly match selected resolution.

I believe "Auto" just matches whatever AR your desktop is in.

Author:	The_cranky_hermit [ 10 Dec 2008, 03:27 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
==Method== A question - given enough VRAM, will any resolution work even without this flag? ==HUD stretch== I'd put the stretching pictures under SP anomalies. Anyway, assuming that all resolutions are supported natively provided your system is up to snuff, I think the game will get a B+ due to two miscellaneous blemishes - the inconsistent WS handling of computer screens, and the cut-scene cropping in 16:10.

Author:	yogibbear [ 10 Dec 2008, 06:09 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
==Method== A question - given enough VRAM, will any resolution work even without this flag? Yes

Author:	Rescator [ 10 Dec 2008, 11:18 ]
Post subject:	Grand Theft Auto IV
There are a few more cases of stretching. -The compass map, when it rotates as you move around you can see that a square is stretched, it looks like the bitmap used/or the resizing was designed for 4:3? Not sure what's going on there. Noticeable under 16:10, I have not checked other aspects or resolutions though. -When you watch TV in your safehouse the video image is stretched. Not sure if this is under 16.10 only, as I did not test other aspect ratios. None of these two ruin gameplay though, but still it would have been nice if these was aspect aware or agnostic too. But they should be mentioned in the report just so the devs (as well as the users) are aware that there is some work still left to be done. Maybe Rockstar has a chance to tweak these minor annoyances in a future update. I have not noticed any other aspect related annoyances after having played through to the end of the main story, so if there are any others they are hopefully far and few between. I can't recall if the police computer (press E when in a police or FBI car) has proper aspect on mugshot searches or not though, anyone know?

Author:

g00seberry [ 10 Dec 2008, 13:44 ]

Post subject:

Grand Theft Auto IV

==HUD stretch==

I'd put the stretching pictures under SP anomalies.

OK.
Will add the police ones as well.

It seems that they are designed for 16:9 and squished for lower AR's. Check DR for update.

-The compass map, when it rotates as you move around you can see that a square is stretched, it looks like the bitmap used/or the resizing was designed for 4:3? Not sure what's going on there. Noticeable under 16:10, I have not checked other aspects or resolutions though.

I haven't noticed this at all. There is a bug though which you may be speaking about, which after tabbing out ( and maybe other things ) the minimap will distort ..... you have to pause and unpause the game to get it back to normal.

After tabbing back in ...

After pausing, and unpausing, it's back to normal ....

-When you watch TV in your safehouse the video image is stretched. Not sure if this is under 16.10 only, as I did not test other aspect ratios.

I also haven't noticed an issue with this. It seems the view is hor+ ...

4:3

16:10

16:9

Author:

dopefish [ 10 Dec 2008, 15:00 ]

Post subject:

Grand Theft Auto IV

- The menu text for 4:3 and 5:4 ARs seems to be stretched vertically.

If I set the game to a 4:3 or 5:4 resolution and set the in-game aspect-ratio to 4:3 or 5:4 accordingly, then the text looks the same to me as in the widescreen resolutions. The text doesn't stretch, but it does scale awkwardly at times. If I use 1280x720 for 16:9, the text is considerably smaller and does not fill the top of the menu out, where it does in 16:10 at 1280x800. This is very different from 1280x720 on the Xbox 360.

- The internet screen is a bit odd. It appears that parts of the screen are stretching, while the whole display is pillarboxed/hor+. It would seem that 4:3 is the intended AR if looking at the picture. Ideas on this would be appreciated too.

It's weird. It's not actually stretched vertically, and 16:9 is the intended view. It's kind of difficult to explain. I put screenshots below to compare. The reason it may seem like they stretch vertically is because of the different resolutions used. If you resize them so they all have the same height, the true nature of the images stand out, which is stretching horizontally.

4:3 and 16:9 look stretched outward horizontally, but they are identical in their content (16:9 has some extra on the sides, though)..
5:4 is squished inward.
16:10 looks the most correct. I came to this conclusion by zooming in on the eyeglass icon. In 5:4, there was some additional stepping along the edges that you only get from stretching an image.