Aspect Ratio - Hex Fix Using Cheat Engine

[Batguano]

Since I was unable to get the Hex Edit to work, I thought I'd try the old girl, Cheat Engine.

Using CE I was able to edit the values and enable the wide screen.

I've uploaded it to my Dropbox (this will not be permanent, so get it now).

If you don't have it you'll need to download Cheat Engine
http://www.cheatengine.org/

When you dload CE, you can use their installer (which downloads the components) and if you do, make sure you pick Custom Install and turn off all the ad junk.

Or you can download a standalone installer.

Once it is installaed, download the CheatTable from my Dropbox:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43021579/ysf_win_dx9.rar

I had to compress it so it would hotlink easier. Extract it to you Ys folder, or somewhere you can access it.

Start the Cheat Engine then run Ys like you would normal. When it gets to the Main Menu, you need to Alt-Tab out.

Open the CE window and hit the Process Icon (It is the little green glowing outline computer in the upper left).

It will pop-up the Process List. Find the Ysf_win_dx9.exe and highlight it and then select Open.

At the top of the screen you'll see the text Ysf_win_dx9.exe showing that is the process CE is monitoring.

Then hit the Open Folder and find the ysf_win_dxp.ct you downloaded. Select it and open.

After you do that, in the bottom half of the screen you'll see a entry called Aspect Ratio HexAddress with a address, Type, and Value.

You can edit the value now to be 16:10 or 16:9 if you want.

Alternatively, I have assigned two hotkeys to this value.
Ctrl-F1 will set it to the 1.7777777 of a 16:9
Ctrl-F2 will set it to the 1.33333 of a 4:3

The last step is to activate it. Just highlight and hit Space, or double-click the little square, or right-click and select Toggle Entries.

Leave CE running and Alt-Tab back into Ys.

Here are two screenshots of it in action:

Ctrl-F2 (4:3)
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Col_Batguano/screenshot/576699622619384830

Ctrl-F1 (16:9)
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Col_Batguano/screenshot/576699622619395142/?

You can remove the hotkeys and pretty much do this yourself without downloading my cruddy table. You will need the Cheat Engine though to modify the hex values.

Ohhh, and any props and reps should be sent to Underking for pointing out this hex edit in the first place.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2609468

Bats

[Rumtruffle]

id like to know if editing critical game files could result in a vac ban?

[Hi2u! Tw1TcH]

id like to know if editing critical game files could result in a vac ban?

Not unless the game uses VAC, which means it would need to be an online multiplayer title.

TF2, CSS, CoD, etc., those are the type of titles that use VAC. Single player RPGs have nothing to do with VAC.

[TheDarkChaplain]

I took a few minutes and turned the table into a stand-alone trainer - for the lazies =)

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nb94qy300qzlmc8

Thanks @ OP, good work!

[Binarynova]

Very cool! Since it doesn't seem to be too difficult maybe we can hope for this in an official patch pretty soon. :)

(I don't have anything against unofficial methods like this, I just figure since XSEED is still actively working on it and all...)

[Rumtruffle]

well the people from xeed said that its very difficult to do without recoding large parts of the game engine.... and then someone comes along and simply hex edits a small string and its done.

i dont understand whats so difficult about that, unless something bad is going to happen 20hrs into the game or something.

[Wyrdwad]

What's difficult to do without recoding large parts of the game engine is offering true widescreen support that doesn't stretch character portraits, the UI or movie files.

This hack still does all of that. AND still has the issue where players are sometimes able to see "backstage" characters during story scenes.

It's not any different from what we may be offering in a future patch. The reason we haven't patched it in yet is because we're looking for a better solution -- one that hides backstage characters, or doesn't stretch character portraits. Because for a lot of people, those will be absolute game-breakers.

We may ultimately just patch something very much akin to this into the game as a togglable option, but it's not very professional-looking as it stands, so we're hoping we can improve upon it at least a little before we "make it official," as it were.

If not... well, then I guess this'll be it!

Still cool to see you guys taking the initiative to do this yourself, though, and shows just how much some of you want this, even with all its imperfections. We will definitely keep that in mind.

-Tom

[Binarynova]

The reason we haven't patched it in yet is because we're looking for a better solution -- one that hides backstage characters, or doesn't stretch character portraits. Because for a lot of people, those will be absolute game-breakers.

Count me in as one of those who hopes you can manage to find a way to offer true widescreen with absolutely no stretching. If not, no problem, as someone who's been playing PC games forever, 4:3 doesn't bother me, not even with vertical black bars. :)

Related sidenote: I remember while playing Final Fantasy XIII I hated looking at the minimap. It's not circular, it's an oval stretched horizontally. And while it may have been done on purpose (maybe they actually wanted it to be oval?) it was just the right shape that every time I looked at it all I could think was that they stretched it to fit widescreen and it looked terrible. :( Such a silly thing really, but after a hundred hours things like that stick with you.

[Aemony]

I believe a lot of people would prefer a true widescreen option but I fully understand why such an option might not be a viable investment. The game is, after all, fully playable with the current stretching and all.

That said, what I dream of is a whole new engine utilizing more advanced effects and have a higher visual fidelity to both character models and terrain. Aaah, I'm a sucker for having unachievable dreams.

[Sepioth]

Pretty cool .. nice work guys ..

Any chance of enabling a quick save/load feature :)

[eagleFMJ]

What I don't understand is, how can a developer make a game without wide screen support in mind from the very start?

Who the ♥♥♥♥ doesn't own a widescreen monitor now days?

eagle

[Aemony]

What I don't understand is, how can a developer make a game without wide screen support in mind from the very start?

Who the ♥♥♥♥ doesn't own a widescreen monitor now days?

eagle

The game was released 7 years ago, back in 2005 when 1024x768 (or lower) (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp) was still very much the norm (http://www.webknowhow.net/news/news/060626ScreenResolution.html). In fact, practically all the most popular resolutions at that time was in the 4:3 format, while the second most common was 5:4 (1280x1024). 16:9 and 16:10 didn't become popular until a few years after, especially after the HDTV boom a few years back.

Just sayin'...

[Batguano]

The game was released 7 years ago, back in 2005 when 1024x768 (or lower) (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp) was still very much the norm (http://www.webknowhow.net/news/news/060626ScreenResolution.html). In fact, practically all the most popular resolutions at that time was in the 4:3 format, while the second most common was 5:4 (1280x1024). 16:9 and 16:10 didn't become popular until a few years after, especially after the HDTV boom a few years back.

Just sayin'...

Yep, dead on. And just to add: This is a hack. Read what what Tom said above. In order for the game to look professional and proper at widescreen is much more involved.

The fact that the game plays so well on both my crappy laptop and uber-desktop, along with the excellent configuration tool is more then a reason to get this game.

Xseed has done a bang up job IMHO with this release. Bring on more Ys games to Steam and any other Xseed ports. Day one purchase for me :)

Bats

[Aemony]

I tried to change the Aspect Ratio now and I really must say that playing the game became much easier and less nauseating (4:3 format on a 2560x1440 27'' stretched to 16:9 is kinda awkward), so thanks everyone for this.

---

@Wyrdwad
Wouldn't the easiest solution merely to do the interface resolution independent? What I mean is that instead of having percentages to work with, the interface is designed to have a specific size regardless of what resolution you might have.

Though this is obviously a matter with two sides, some prefers interfaces which scales to the resolution while others prefers that it doesn't. Personally, I've never understood the notion of why the UI scales by default to the resolution in most games. The whole point of having a higher resolution is to have more screen estate available, so you can show more at the same time. If a player wants a supersized UI he can just play at a lower resolution instead.

Ah well, this developed into quite the rant. I'd hope more games followed BF3 and DX:HR in regards to having the UI independent from the resolution. It is the best solution for both parties (as there's always the option of playing at a lower resolution, an option "we on the other side" of the discussion don't have).

[Wyrdwad]

Oh, I very much agree with you. But the problem is, we didn't develop this game -- Falcom did, in 2005! We're just adapting it to play in English, on Steam. And once a game's been set up for scaling to the screen resolution you've selected, it's pretty hard to change that after the fact -- especially when the code is not your own!

-Tom

[Motoki]

I wouldn't mind the option to have black bars on the left and right sides in 16:9 resolutions. I think it would be preferable to the current default of stretching. Even Blu Rays have to resort to that sometimes like recent Star Trek: The Next Generation one.

Maybe you could even put some artwork or design or something on those sides to make it look like a frame. I remember the old Ys games on had this sort of ornate frame design around them. (ex http://hardcoregaming101.net/ys/ys2eternal5.jpg )

I know I can run at a 4:3 resolution but the only ones my video driver supports are (what I consider) low res ones like 1280x960 and below. Also since my monitor was designed to be 16:9 there's stretching in 4:3 modes to pull the image out to fill the monitor.

[Wyrdwad]

Maybe you could even put some artwork or design or something on those sides to make it look like a frame. I remember the old Ys games on had this sort of ornate frame design around them

Both that option and the option of adding actual black bars to the side of the screen are logistically unfeasible. They'd require a lot more programming support than we could possibly handle with our current resources.

Also since my monitor was designed to be 16:9 there's stretching in 4:3 modes to pull the image out to fill the monitor.

That can be disabled in your video card settings, actually. And is what I would personally recommend for getting the best experience out of the game.

-Tom