Widescreen Gaming Forum

when i play starcraft in the scaled aspect ratio mode for ati it destroys starcraft. so here is my complaint, the first part can be found in the forums, the second part i have yet to find anywhere.
part I
the game w/o scaling stretches out, and something in the code makes the game lag when loading new maps, units, critters, ect.

part II
the game with scaling is surrounded, yes thats right, surrounded by black bars. (on the top and bottom) and is with respect to my MAX resolution, which means the game is completely unplayable since its like playing doom with the zoom feature on full negative!!! the units are almost invisible in size!!!

now my question is for part II
how do i make it so the 640x480 stretches to match the vertical of the screen? (i dont care about horizontal because that would defeat the purpose of making it native to the scaling. :P)

runs slow, stretched, and generally hates me. :/
normal (unscaled)
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s202/dunpealslyr/StarCraftunscaled.jpg

runs perfect, unplayable due to size
ati ( scaled )
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s202/dunpealslyr/StarCraftatiscaled.jpg

(edited by photoshop to scale), would be playable if it existed. :/
ideal ( scaled )
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s202/dunpealslyr/StarCraftpreferedscaled.jpg

What monitor do you have?

If it has hardware scaling, use that. If not, I'm afraid you're out of luck - ATi has never done Fixed Aspect Ratio Scaling very well (if at all) and while nVidia used to, they broke it in the 90 series drivers, and it's remained broken ever since. :(

Actually, there is a program you can use to play StarCraft in a window AND stretch the image to a custom resolution.

I have a very basic page set up for the files and instructions:

http://diabloonvista.uw.hu/

Actually, there is a program you can use to play StarCraft in a window AND stretch the image to a custom resolution.

I have a very basic page set up for the files and instructions:

http://diabloonvista.uw.hu/

This works like wonders for me. reply to this post if the link doesn't work for those who view this in the future. i will post the files online to a free public server in that case.

p.s.
make sure you copy the dll files to your game directory.

*edit*
i said earlier i had to capitalize on of the files. well i was mistaken. :P

What monitor do you have?

If it has hardware scaling, use that. If not, I'm afraid you're out of luck - ATi has never done Fixed Aspect Ratio Scaling very well (if at all) and while nVidia used to, they broke it in the 90 series drivers, and it's remained broken ever since. :(

thanks for the info, i will keep an eye on this when buying desktop parts next time. my monitor is labeled as generic under driver settings, but it does belong to the compaq v2000 something series. it has full scaling ability, but ati takes complete control over it and over-rides the monitors properties instantly... (THEY SMELL LIKE TOENAILS!!! 'american dbz reference to nappa')

This works like wonders for me. reply to this post if the link doesn't work for those who view this in the future. i will post the files online to a free public server in that case.

p.s.
make sure you copy the dll files to your game directory, and rename it to whatever windows is saying it cant find. i had to capitalize my file name in order for it to work! :P

I'm glad it worked out for you as well! Thank you for the feedback, I had the instructions and the actual .zip file edited (took the directory out for easier use) so it tells people to extract all the data into the StarCraft folder. I didn't know that this was necessary because I have those .dll files all over the place :D

Can you please tell me which filenames you had to capitalize to make it work?

I'll keep that site up and running and maybe make it a bit fancier if I have the time to do it...

Actually, there is a program you can use to play StarCraft in a window AND stretch the image to a custom resolution.

I have a very basic page set up for the files and instructions:

http://diabloonvista.uw.hu/

here is my review of these programs.
1.) starcraft-in-a-window.rar
pros
-works great.
-as soon as the gameplay starts, mouse is locked in window (good thing)
cons
-have to set desktop resolution to increase window size.

overall i give it 9/10

2.)D3DWindower-English.rar
pros
-has huge array of controls in emulation, all of which run great.
-very fast emulation
cons
-not very user friendly for noobs.
(took me a good minute to figure out that DD was over writing D3D)
-window control mode does not support D3D(8-9)
(look at the control panel, it says only for 1-7)
-D3D has no option controls

overall i give it 6/10

It's easy to rate them, both have their limitations.

But we should be glad that a solution exists. What I can say personally is that I was overjoyed when I've found these two programs.
And I had other probelms as well, couldn't install any of these games on Vista for some reason.
Everything has been put together as it is as I gathered the information from the internet.

Both work and that's what matters. Shame that only a few people know about these programs. The latter (D3DWindower) is capable of running almost all of the d3d applications in a window (e.g Fallout).

It's easy to rate them, both have their limitations.

But we should be glad that a solution exists. What I can say personally is that I was overjoyed when I've found these two programs.
And I had other probelms as well, couldn't install any of these games on Vista for some reason.
Everything has been put together as it is as I gathered the information from the internet.

Both work and that's what matters. Shame that only a few people know about these programs. The latter (D3DWindower) is capable of running almost all of the d3d applications in a window (e.g Fallout).

can you run fallout in D3D mode with it in a window? or is it emulated in DDraw like starcraft is? i might install Fallout again if i can do that. :)
p.s.
FALLOUT I & II ROCKS
i like to pretend that the one for xbox never came out. :P