Resolutions

this might be a dumb question. which are valid fullscreen resolutions?

I am a bit confused about 1280: is it 1280*960 or 1280*1024?!?!?!

Ok, what I know is:

320*240
512*384
640*480
800*600
1024*768
1280* ?
1600*1200

THX!

1280x1024 I believe is the valid.

1280*960 is also valid, but is not the typical 4:3 ratio. works on my machine :) looks funny tho, cause it's not 4:3 ratio :)

{edited}

1280 x 1024 is a pretty common LCD screen resolution these days. It's mildly annoying as it breaks the 4:3 ratio that all the other sizes follow.

My display set-up will allow the following selections:

1280 x 720 - 1280 x 768 - 1280 x 960 - 1280 x 1024

These are all 4:3 so following that analogy 1280*? = 1280*960. But like said here, LCDs use quite often 1280*1024. Both are valid, sort of. If you're making a game you can let the user to choose what he wants to use?

Thanks a lot! yes I want to let the user choose, but first I need to check a list of resolutions if they are supported by the hardware. So I'll check both, 1280*1024 and 1280*960. Although I would like to force the player to use something at least near 4:3. Again, thank you!

Yup... Once you get above 1024 there are a lot of different resolutions for each horizontal choice. My laptop is 1920x1200 for instance. WUXGA (wide aspect XGA). My desktop has at least 3 choices per mode above 1024.

Kanati

I almost always use 1024 by 768
but next I have 1152 by 864
then odd ratios 1280 by 768 and 1280 by 800
1280 by 1024
no mention of 1280 by 960 though.
most systems I have seen use
1024 x 768
1280 x 1024
1600 x 1200
never seen a 1280 x 960 yet.

I believe the non 4:3 rations are for monitors that aren't quite 4:3, such as widescreen displays or those on laptops. Although I do use 1280x1024 on my own CRT monitor so that I can see that little bit more of my code or any document I am working on.

A lot of the new laptops I've seen aren't 4:3. There's a HP one where the wide screen gives it enough horizontal room on the base that it actually has a full keypad next to the keyboard! And it has a GeForce4Go, and Harman/Kardon speakers, and 802.11g, and... *drool* ...what was I saying?

Oh yeah. Don't expect everyone to have 4:3. Wider resolutions could become much more popular in the future, since they fit our natural field of vision better. I like to test my games in 848 x 480, a strange resolution that my gfx card supports, and my monitor displays with black areas at the top and bottom like a widescreen DVD.

huh. I'm usually in 1152 by 864 but I shouyld probably go up to 1600x1200. Allows more space etc. I can still read text fine aswell.

You can filter out 'odd' graphics modes with a simple check:

If GraphicsWidth() * 0.75 = GraphicsHeight()
  ;This is a valid mode
Else
  ;This is NOT a valid mode
EndIf

Hey Al... I just got this:

Dell Inspiron 8600
Pentium-M 1.7 (clocked around 3Ghz on 2 diff 3D benchmarks)
1 gig DDR 333 RAM
80 gig HD (primary)
40 gig HD (secondary)
4x DVD +R/+RW burner
1920 x 1200 WUXGA 15.4" Screen
128 meg GeForce FX 5650 Go Video card
Bluetooth
802.11a/b/g
USB2
Firewire
SVideo out

Can I get you to drool just a bit more please. :)

Kanati

You should set up a drawing window that is explicitly 4:3 so that any odd resolutions will simply have black space at the top/bottom or sides.

Nice idea Anthony, that might actually work quite nicely... so to use 1280*1024 "correctly" (4:3) you'd just use CameraViewport command to use only 1280*960 area of it.

http://www.blitzbasic.com/b3ddocs/command.php?name=CameraViewport&ref=3d_cat

Here's some code taken from my game engine's graphics options menu which may be of use to you.

It's used to allow the user to sequence backwards or forwards through the valid screen modes based on the true/false value of the 'the_right_side_of_the_screen' variable. The currently selected width, height, and color depth are stored in 'saved_g_width', 'saved_g_height', and 'saved_color_depth', respectively.

I don't think it's a good idea to make assumptions about the screen modes that the users hardware will support, BTW. Better to sequence the valid available screen modes using the Blitz commands I use in the code below.

; Get the number of valid graphics modes.
num_gfx_modes = CountGfxModes ()

;------

If the_right_side_of_the_screen Then
	current_gfx_mode = current_gfx_mode + 1
	If current_gfx_mode > num_gfx_modes Then current_gfx_mode = 1
Else
	current_gfx_mode = current_gfx_mode - 1
	If current_gfx_mode < 1 Then current_gfx_mode = num_gfx_modes
EndIf
saved_g_width = GfxModeWidth ( current_gfx_mode )
saved_g_height = GfxModeHeight ( current_gfx_mode )
saved_color_depth = GfxModeDepth ( current_gfx_mode )