hey guys, I'm new to this forum, but I thought I might shed some light on the Field of View issue in BF1942.
I have made an animated gif show the following 4 frames:
1)1024x760 resolution, FOV setting is 1
2)1680x1050 resolution, FOV seeting is 1
3)1680x1050 resolution, FOV setting is 1.1
4)1680x1050 resolution, FOV setting is 1.2
I have a Dell 2005FPW which is a 16:10 ratio monitor, btw
path to FOV setting I used for this is:
bf1942Modsbf1942SettingsVideoDefault.con
your bf1942 home directory may be different as I have changed mine.
The first two frames demonstrate the fact that forcing BF1942 to use a widescreen resolution does not provide a wider field of view alone. As you can see, the building on the left is the same distance from the edge of the screen despite the increase in screen width. Thus, everything is just getting stretched.
However, changing both the resolution to 1680x1050 and changing the FOV to a setting of 1.1 yields a wider field of view.
Keeping the resolution at 1680x1050 and increasing the FOV value to 1.2 yields an even wider field of view.
Deciding on the correct FOV value
The physical measurement of usuable screen height on my monitor is about 10.75 inches. This means if my monitor were a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor, it would physically be about 14.26 inches wide.
This means, in order to find the most suitable FOV value for my widescreen, measure 7.13 inches (half of 14.26 inches) from the center of my screen to the side of the screen. Where the 7.13 inches ends up is the border of my virtual 4:3 screen.
At a FOV = 1.1, the building is in about the same place relative to my virtual 4:3 screen as it is in the 1024x768 resolution screenshot. This means the remaining distance to the edge of the screen is the data I could not see before, and is therefore gravy!!! This is the extra view you don't get with a regular 4:3 monitor.
Mess around with the values and see what works for you. Increase the value too much and the screen will begin to distort and look fish-eyed.
I cannot host this file for too long as it is my school's server, so if someone would like to rehost it then repost it, that would be appreciated. Hope this all helps.