CnC-DDraw: optional or required?

[XTF 1]

The setup window makes it sound like CnC-DDraw is optional ("enables advanced options"), but without it, colors are kinda messed up. Is this a bug or is it basically required?

[Nyerguds 102]

CnC-DDraw is not the only method of fixing the colours problem. There's a DirectDraw compatibility mode in the registry which fixes it too, and which is enabled when the patch is installed. However, this compatibility system doesn't seem to take effect immediately on game launch, meaning that even with that enabled, the intro video will still always be messed up.

Though, with advances beyond Windows 7, it's perfectly possible that even with that compatibility mode it'll still mess up. I honestly wouldn't know. I tested all that stuff extensively in the TFD era, when I was still on WinXP :-\

I added the option to disable cnc-ddraw because apparently, it caused problems (mostly odd slowdowns/choppiness) on some systems. There are so many different hardware and software combinations out there that it's simply best to keep all options open. I believe cnc-ddraw has evolved since then, and those problems were fixed, but I chose to retain the option just to be on the safe side.

Meanwhile, I've already found out that the fact my tool disables win95 compatibility mode on the exe when cnc-ddraw is in use (which is the optimal way to run it in WinXP) is already obsolete on win7. On some Win7 systems (like my own, now) the game is seen as "not responding" by Windows and stops updating its graphics in some scenes without user input (like the globe animations) unless that compatibility mode is enabled.

Everything keeps evolving, so it's always best to at least give all available options.

So, to your topic question, "optional or required?", I'd say, "recommended".

[XTF 1]

Exactly what compat mode do you enable?

 

How do I set a game resolution of 640 x 400 (non-square pixels?) but a display resolution of 2560 x 1440 (for example) with correct aspect ratio?

There's only a stretch option but that messes up the aspect ratio.

 

Sometimes the mouse pointer gets stuck when the Options dialog is up.

Edited March 31, 2015 by XTF

[Nyerguds 102]

lol... I stupidly typed "C&C95 compatibility mode". when I meant "Win95 compatibility mode". I edited my post now

The controls freezing in the options dialog is indeed one of the things fixed by enabling that win95 compatibility mode.

As I said, though, my config tool currently acts as if cnc-ddraw and the compatibility mode are mutually exclusive, so it'll disable all compat modes every time you save stuff from the config tool. You'll have to re-enable it manually afterwards. I'll probably release a hotfix for that soon(ish)

As for 640x400, eh, the basic rule is that you see 640x400 as fullscreen on 640x480. This means you multiply the height by 6/5. If you want the correct aspect ratio... um, not THAT hard to calculate, is it? You just set the game resolution to 640x400, and stretch it to a multiple of 640x480. You should use pixel scaling ("nearest") then, though, or the whole thing will get blurred to hell.

If a resolution like that gets stretched to fullscreen instead of centered, this is purely due to your video card or monitor settings. Apparently, getting around that stuff not only depends on your video card, but also on the options they allow you to change. In that aspect... you're on your own, sorry. I didn't make cnc-ddraw; all I did was expose its internal options. You can just mess around with them manually in ddraw.ini too if you think that'll help you further.

If all else fails, you can always play in windowed mode, in a resolution close to your actual screen resolution.

[XTF 1]

Nyerguds, on 01 Apr 2015 - 15:14, said:

As for 640x400, eh, the basic rule is that you see 640x400 as fullscreen on 640x480. This means you multiply the height by 6/5. If you want the correct aspect ratio... um, not THAT hard to calculate, is it? You just set the game resolution to 640x400, and stretch it to a multiple of 640x480. You should use pixel scaling ("nearest") then, though, or the whole thing will get blurred to hell.

Scaling by 6/5 isn't ideal, even with nearest sampling, as some lines will be doubled while others won't, unless of course the output can be 3200 x 2400..

Quote

If a resolution like that gets stretched to fullscreen instead of centered, this is purely due to your video card or monitor settings. Apparently, getting around that stuff not only depends on your video card, but also on the options they allow you to change.In that aspect... you're on your own, sorry. I didn't make cnc-ddraw; all I did was expose its internal options. You can just mess around with them manually in ddraw.ini too if you think that'll help you further.

If the DD wrapper would take care of the centering / stretching it'd be independent of the GPU and display.

 

I noticed the config tool requires .net 2, would it make sense to update that to .net 4? .net 2 isn't installed by default on W8.

Perhaps a Launch Game button in the tool might be handy too.

[Nyerguds 102]

Scaling by 6/5 isn't ideal, even with nearest sampling, as some lines will be doubled while others won't, unless of course the output can be 3200 x 2400..

If that really bothers you, you might want to invest in an old CRT monitor

If the DD wrapper would take care of the centering / stretching it'd be independent of the GPU and display.

As I said, I didn't make cnc-ddraw. I just included it in my patch because it greatly enhances the possibilities of the game's graphics output. It was made by hifi, who more or less considers it a "dead project", so he's not planning on updating it further.

I noticed the config tool requires .net 2, would it make sense to update that to .net 4? .net 2 isn't installed by default on W8.

Then... people will just have to install it? Before Win8, no .net framework was installed by default, at all, anyway. The patch installer actually warns the user about it, and provides the official .net download link, so I'm honestly not too bothered.

[XTF 1]

I've got two CRT monitors already.

 

Not sure whether the GPU allows me to use 640 x 400 though.

[Nyerguds 102]

You can usually add those in the driver control panel.

[PimpUigi 0]

Don't suppose it'll be possible one day to add an option for scanlines? And maybe image stretching with aspect ratio correct?

(so I could have a 4:3 image, stretched from like, 640x480 to 1600x1200? or 1920x1200 with black bars on the sides?)

 

Scanlines are more important than the image stretching though.

[Nyerguds 102]

"add an option for scanlines"?

I honestly don't understand what you mean. Scanlines were an optical glitch that was the result of of old display methods. It just plain doesn't exist on non-crt.

If you mean the video stretching thing, you can re-enable the black lines in the videos instead of real vertical stretching in the config tool. But I honestly don't see any point in them, except "make the videos appear 50% darker in a really ugly way". DOS C&C never had 'em anyway.

The original aspect scaling is already an option. Just open the config tool; it's right there on it. All it does is stretch the display height to 6/5th of the game height, to emulate the original game's lack of square pixels. It's completely unrelated to the actual resolution you use, though.

Really wouldn't advise combining that with the scanlines option, though. That's bound to completely mess up the videos.

[Tore 33]

"Scanlines" don't really look that great on LCD monitors.

 

They can look good with games on old CRT monitors where as Nyerguds says they were the result of the display technology of the day.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Tore