How you can easily contribute to the WSGF
Often people want to contribute back to the WSGF site, but are unsure on how they can help. I've made this thread to show you how easily you can help us build our knowledge on games easily and without a huge investment of time.
It's very easy and is a way to give back to your community that spends alot of time to help you.
Myth 1: You need lots of technical knowledge to help.
Truth: it's as simple as playing a game! Seriously.
Myth 2: You need an expensive high-end surround-setup computer to help.
Truth: Many things that need testing can be tested on a simple widescreen, anyone can help.
Myth 3: You need to invest hours and hours of time to be of any help.
Truth: A quick check of a resolution can take less than half an hour!
Expected Time To Complete: This depends on how long it takes to complete a level or event in a game. On average I'd estimate half an hour blocks (can do one in a sitting or a few), but you get to play a game for most of that!
Even if you test just one thing before you start playing some games for the night, it helps the community and adds up fast.
1. Get a list of games that you own and are willing to test.
2. In the top menu on the website, hover your mouse of the Game menu, and choose
Master Game List.
3. Search for a game on your list.
4. Click on the game to open its Detailed Report.
Background Information:
- The Detailed Report (abbreviated as DR) will detail any fixes that are required to play a game in widescreen or multi-monitor, and show pictures of the gameplay with the fixes in place. It will also outline any problems that you may expect to find in the game, and list resolutions that the game has been successfully tested on.
- Some of the terms can be technical, leaving you confused about what is being said. This Visual Explanation thread is a good resource to look at if you would like an explanation on terms, but it's not required for this assistance.
- Each Detailed Report has a Forum Thread listed for you to ask any questions, if you have read the report and wish to discuss or ask something.
5. Check these 2 key areas to see if you can help by adding information. Don't feel overwhelmed by all the information if you have never seen a Detailed Report before! You are free to add as much as you like to any part of the DR, but these two are simple to do and very helpful. Even doing just one is a help!
1. At the bottom of the DR, expand the
Resolutions tab. In order for a game to be certified as Silver or Gold, it needs to be tested in a range of resolutions to ensure the game fully supports widescreen:
15:9: 1280x768
16:9: 1280x720, 1600x900, 1920x1080
16:10: 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1200
Background Information: You can check to see what resolution your computer supports by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing Screen Resolution (Windows 7) or Personalize>Display Settings (Vista), and slide the bar to see what resolutions are available, but the easiest way is usually just to open the game and see what options are available!
2. Write down any untested resolutions and start the game. Go the video options and see if any untested resolutions are available. If they are, choose one and try playing the game in that resolution! Try going through a whole level or event, test any inventory or in-game menus, and check out any summary screens at the end, looking for strange things such as items cut-off or the game crashing.
3a. If the game appears to run fine in the resolution (other than perhaps looking a little less crisp and clear than the normal resolution), click Edit on the Detailed Report, scroll down to Resolutions, and put a tick in the box.
3b. If the game crashes or freezes in the resolution you tested, click Edit on the Detailed Report, scroll down to Resolutions, and add the resolution as Unsupported / Broken.
Then go to Single Player or Multiplayer Anomalies and tell us that the game crashes or freezes at that resolution.
Background Information: Note that if a resolution is not available in your game, it does not make it unsupported, it just makes it untested, so don't mark it as unsupported.
3c. If the game displays in an abnormal way in the resolution you are testing, click Edit on the Detailed Report, scroll down to Resolutions, and add the resolution as Unsupported / Broken.
Then go to Single Player or Multiplayer Anomalies and tell us how the game displays abnormally at that resolution.
Capture a screenshot of the unusual behaviour and upload it to Additional Images. Once the image is uploaded, you can add a description to tell us what resolution you tested and what strange behaviour it exhibited that we can see in the screenshot.
4. Continue to Screenshots or go to Saving Your Information if you are done!
If the DR is missing any screenshots, help us by adding them!
Background Information
- Screenshots are slightly different to Resolutions. It doesn't matter what resolution the screenshot is taken, only the Aspect Ratio. In general, try to take screenshots in the highest resolution in an Aspect Ratio that your computer supports. If you are unsure what Aspect Ratio a resolution belongs to, go the Resolutions section in the DR and see which category it is in.
- If there are existing screenshots and you are adding the missing one, be sure to get the screenshot in the same place. This helps us make comparisons. Usually existing screenshots are taken at or near the start of games to make this easier for people.
- If you are adding a whole new set, feel free to take them wherever you want. Usually when a level finishes loading before you move anywhere is the easiest time, as this ensures you are in the same place as before.
- There are many good programs that you can use to save multiple screenshots in a game, rather than pressing PrtScn and quitting the game every time. If you are using Steam, you can take screenshots by pressing F12 (default assignment). The images will be located either in the game folder in Steam (example: C:Program FilesValveSteamSteamAppscounter-strikecstrike), or in My Games folders (example: My DocumentsMy GamesGas Powered GamesSupreme Commander 2screenshots). Another good program is Fraps.
1. Write down what screenshots are missing.
2. Start the game in the required Aspect Ratio and take the screenshots needed. Remember the match existing screenshots if adding one of an existing set that is missing one.
3. Upload the screenshots to the missing fields.
4. Feel free to add descriptions after the shots are uploaded if you feel it will help people, or leave blank.
5. Continue on to Saving Your Information.
1. Change the grade to
Needs Grading to let us know it has been updated.
2. Help us out by putting a short note in the Revision field to let us know what you updated.
3. Click save!
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Every time that you can do this, you're adding to the wealth of knowledge that this place contains. You don't have to get too involved in learning terms or grading, but it will allow us to assess your updates and grade the report accordingly.
Taking the time to help us out by checking and updating the Detailed Reports for the games you own is also a fast way to become an Insider!
If you want extra help or information, come join us in
IRC for a chat.
8)
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