Accessing 4:3 aspect ratio (getting rid of "movie theater" bars on square monitors)

[Wespe]

I know this is discussed slightly in this thread -

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1767598

- but I am wondering if anybody has contemplated or found a fix for this. I've run every game I've played at 1280x1024 without a hitch. Only two games have been the exception: Front Mission Evolved and Bulletstorm. This time I care.

What's the word?

[schism84]

AFAIK the letterbox view is a stylistic choice. Or am I the only one with a 16/10 monitor and letterbox display? Actually so far I've been fine with it.

[Wespe]

I can see how it could be a stylistic choice. Makes everything feel cramped or small to me. Not as immersive, even.

[GrimCW]

AFAIK the letterbox view is a stylistic choice. Or am I the only one with a 16/10 monitor and letterbox display? Actually so far I've been fine with it.

your not the only one, my displays are 16:10 and have the bars.
tbh i hate them, but i tend to forget they're there when playing no less.
annoying, yet negligible :)
would be nice to have a fix though cause as with most other games i'm willing to half bet it is just a "stylistic choice" the devs threw in and is just black bars covering the top/bottom and not a real deal resolution thing.
much like the 85 FoV they've forced... blech.

[schism84]

The reason why I think it's a stylistic choice is because the bars I get are way too large to correspond to the excess vertical space compared to 16:9. Either my monitor doesn't scale like it should, or they went for a movie effect. It's hit or miss I guess, like the FOV they put in.

I prefer a 95 FOV personally, but I didn't mind the 85 as it was all that much either.

[YourOnlyFriend]

Doubt it's an style decision. They're probably paranoid people will cheat in the high score modes if they can see more of the screen.

Still a throughly stupid decision no less.

[schism84]

The cheating thing makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If it was a joke, sorry for being thick...

[GrimCW]

Doubt it's an style decision. They're probably paranoid people will cheat in the high score modes if they can see more of the screen.

Still a throughly stupid decision no less.

The cheating thing makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If it was a joke, sorry for being thick...



IW said this for MW2 and its locked perspective.
yep, they do actually believe that the FoV will lead to imbalances in the modes.. but given BS doesn't even do competitive modes..... yay for whiney score boards

[schism84]

Tweaking FOV makes sense in terms of imbalance. Obviously if you can see more in your peripheral vision you have an advantage. That's sort of a non-issue for BS even with leaderboards though, as it's not a game about having a twitchy trigger finger. I don't get how that relates to letterboxed format though, or it being a style decision or otherwise?

[Ranik]

FoV has nothing to do with black bars. Removing the black bars would not let you see anymore than you already can, it would just stretch the image. It is a stylistic choice to make the game seem more cinematic. Truth be told, I didn't even notice it until someone pointed it out to me.

[pyide]

Doubt it's an style decision. They're probably paranoid people will cheat in the high score modes if they can see more of the screen.

Still a throughly stupid decision no less.

I'd say it's neither of those reasons but because the game was designed with consoles in mind (where 16:9 1280x720 is the standard) and the PC version was basically an afterthought. There has been a few games this generation that don't support common PC ratios like 4:3, 5:4, and 16:10. Well in a way they do, but the game field itself is 16:9 letterboxed with those resolutions like Bulletstorm. Just a bare minimum of effort given to the port.

[schism84]

The gamefield is not 16:9 on my 16:10 screen. It letterboxes the picture in every resolution possible and always to the same proportions, the same proportions other games do when they transition into cutscenes with letterbox format.

[Omphofo-Bravo]

I was going to buy this game but as long as I can't use my entire screen because the developers didn't care to add proper 16:10 support, which should be standard protocol by now, I'll put my money elsewhere.

[THE Nakedgun]

Unreal Tournament 3 had widescreen issues when it first released so I expect it to be a bug.

[ben583]

I'd also like to know if getting rid of the black bars would be possible. I just can't stand them when I notice them.

[MADDOGGE]

It's not a bug it's there by design. The game was made for the console player and his widescreen TV. You are lucky there is even a PC version considering EPIC had it's hands in the game. I hate letter box since my native is only 1280X1024 and it sucks having the bars and everything smaller than it should be.

[Mike__]

Whats worse than failed console port? Failed console port that can't do 16:10.
It bothers me too. I hope somebody will mod it away or someting..

[THE Nakedgun]

Its a bug, if you use 16:9 ratio you get no letter boxes if you use anything other then you do, obvious bug.

16:9 1280x720
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/249d5182.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/35d0cf8b.jpg

16:10 1680x1050
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/39c790ac.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/61422d03.jpg

[Omphofo-Bravo]

Its a bug, if you use 16:9 ratio you get no letter boxes if you use anything other then you do, obvious bug.

16:9 1280x720
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/249d5182.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/35d0cf8b.jpg

16:10 1680x1050
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/39c790ac.jpg
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc324/k33fy/61422d03.jpgHow is it obvious? I think that if it were a bug then the picture would be stretched. Black bars don't just pop up by themselves, they're put there by someone for a reason. The only thing that's obvious to me is that this game is a lazy console port, through and through.

[THE Nakedgun]

It doesnt display correctly.

[YourOnlyFriend]

How is it obvious? I think that if it were a bug then the picture would be stretched. Black bars don't just pop up by themselves, they're put there by someone for a reason. The only thing that's obvious to me is that this game is a lazy console port, through and through.

you don't get it man it's a stylistic choice!!!!!1

[GrimCW]

Its a bug, if you use 16:9 ratio you get no letter boxes if you use anything other then you do, obvious bug.


its not a bug, it was a choice to stylize the game and prevent "(Dis)advantages" based on hardware.

How is it obvious? I think that if it were a bug then the picture would be stretched. Black bars don't just pop up by themselves, they're put there by someone for a reason. The only thing that's obvious to me is that this game is a lazy console port, through and through.

it was put there for a reason, it was put there to cover up a higher FoV than what is allowed, much like the encrypted ini files.
a 16:10 screen would have a slightly larger view, as would a 4:3, when compared to the 16:9 which would lose out on a small margin against the two in a top/bottom view. though admittedly 4:3 if done correctly would also miss a lot on either side, so they letter boxed a 16:9 resolution into the 4:3 settings.

this is my belief given the developers comments on the encryption of the ini files to prevent FoV changes and such.

[YourOnlyFriend]

It's not a stylistic choice. It's just another example of a video game developer being paranoid about some players having advantages and wanting to release a quick port. The fact that the framerate dramatically drops at 16:10 resolutions for no reason whatsoever is a good example of this.

The game is great and one of the funnest first shooters I've played in a very long time, but the port is utter trash and it shows they didn't put much effort in it. CliffyB himself said people who play PC gamers are pirates and has made various snide remarks against PC gamers, it's really not a surprise Bulletstorm is a mediocre port. Don't defend something like the terrible aspect ratio as "it's a stylistic choice!" It's not.

[Hi2u! Tw1TcH]

The FoV is adjustable, proof: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=22278&sid=1d87567ed1ddc8bba36735d302ee95f8

Letter boxing has nothing to do with preventing cheating. Eyefinity works and the FoV is exceptionally customizable.

This is simple lack of support based off of minimizing the cost of porting it to the PC.

[THE Nakedgun]

If it was a stlye choice then even 16:9 resolutions would also have the letter boxing effect, think befoe posting such poppycock.

[schism84]

It seems the game just displays in 16:9 for one and all. So if it's not your natural res, you get letterboxed. That has absolutely nothing to do with horizontal FOV btw, which is the only balancing issue one could think of in this game really. It's just that nobody implemented other aspect ratios.

[festa_freak]

port from 16:9 for consoles?

[GirlPower23]

The letter bars are not a stylistic choice, it's poor support for 16:10 PC monitors. Epic however has given PC Gamers the finger so often it's no surprise.

[greatgreybeast]

It's not about style, or cheaters, or any of that. It's because the game was designed for HDTVs. Period. All HDTVs are 16:9, so that is the only format the devs implemented. If you aren't playing it on an HDTV, then either you still have a tube TV and Epic thinks you should upgrade already, or you're playing the PC version. Which is a port. And just like any port - say DOOM on iPhone or Angry Birds on PS3 - you'll just have to accept some bizarreness here and there because you aren't playing it on the platform the game was designed for.

[Omphofo-Bravo]

port from 16:9 for consoles?
This and nothing else.

It's not a bug. The letterboxing is simply the cheapo route if you're too lazy to add support for more than just one single aspect ratio.

It's not a design choice or (lol-->) "stylistic choice". If eyefinity works then the whole argument about unfair, competitive advantages is pointless.

Denial is a powerful thing.

[LordGurciullo]

I can only pray that this is able to be fixed at some point. I mean I've seen locked configs, mouse smoothing that can't be turned off, no dedicated servers, a game easy enough to fall asleep, and black bars.

But I've never seen them ALL in 1 game that I can think of, and certainly not one that I cared about.

Black bars = totally unacceptable for me. They certainly should patch this.

Fear 2 had the same problem and it wasn't cool. Luckily it was fixed.

btw, "style choice" or "competitive unfairness" for things like black bars and fov is total bs.