2870 replies to this topic

[Ignalis]

Hey, I just found out about your mod and only recently started playing it. I'm pretty impressed. But I have one problem with it, when I set it to full native resolution (1920 X 1080) everything becomes extremely small. I completely understand why this happens, a game this old was never meant to play at such a high resolution. That being said there is something called "pixel doubling" which you could implement that would retain the resolution but also keep everything a respectable size. I don't know if this is possible on the RA2 engine or if you're already working on it either way I hope this is something that could be included in the 3.3 release. 

[Solais]

This actually reminds me how most of the official screenshots and videos looks a whole lot bigger than the game on my screen. Are they recorded with a low resolution setting, or something like that? Or there really is a feature like pixel doubling in the new version.

 

For one, I just tried out the new release of Dawn of the Tiberium Age, and even when I tried setting a smaller resolution, everything just looked so tiny, I couldn't see the units properly. Setting a low resolution with full screen works, I think that's also how I played Mental Omega, but it really screws up my desktop setup.

 

Edit: Then again, on second thought, I think many of the MO footage looks "zoomed in" to hide the side bar.

Edited by Solais, 25 September 2016 - 08:13 PM.

[Speeder]

Nothing was zoomed in for screenshots like the unit/building previews on the website or the videos.

 

From what I know RA2 had no useful pixel doubling.

[Graion Dilach]

Pixel doubling is an OpenRA feature (which is why some screenshots with seemingly classic C&Cs might appear implying that feature exists), doubt it can be implemented with Ares.

Edited by Graion Dilach, 25 September 2016 - 10:40 PM.

[Solais]

Yes, after checking out the videos, it seems they are played on 720p resolution (which also explains why the videos only go that far up in quality). To those who play on 1080p native resolution, the game appears half the size than "what it should be".

 

Here's a comparison:

 

720p - https://i.imgur.com/0puz4dV.jpg

1080p - https://i.imgur.com/UwgRq8n.jpg

 

The fun in these screens that if you view them in 1080p resolution, the game view looks the same size; however, the sidebar and the screen itself is smaller. Since the resolution is smaller on a monitor that can take larger resolutions, it appears "zoomed in" if you play in 720p or when you watch a video recorded in 720p.

 

It is not the fault of MO though; unfortunately, it's the fault of an old engine. I kinda hope that the new launcher will make it better somewhat. I managed to make Dawn of a Tiberium Age resize its resolution without messing up my settings. 720p seems to be the key resolution with that as well, so I suggest using that, in fullscreen mode.

 

Edit: Maybe the launcher could have a message that says "Best played in 720p resolutions!" or something like that.

Edited by Solais, 25 September 2016 - 11:47 PM.

[Oktavia]

It's not the "fault" of old engine either, all 2D games can't "just" resize to whatever resolution without changing the amount of pixels rendered.

As to how it is rendered on your particular rig is dependent on your monitor and GPU driver settings.

[Solais]

Well yes, obviously, but that's why newer 2D games have pixel doubling.

 

Though I do wonder how Emulators for old consoles work. Because when you resize their windows, the games are also resized, getting smaller and bigger. So, I wonder what's the tech behind that. Maybe there could be an "emulator" created for Red Alert 2, or something.

 

Edit: Tried to find some sort of software that would force upscale the game, but it seems it is very resistant to such tampering, even in windowed mode.

Edited by Solais, 26 September 2016 - 02:18 PM.

[Graion Dilach]

Emulators usually create a framebuffer which can be resized at will before putting it onscreen.

Honestly though, I've no idea what you're complaining about. I play RA2 in 1366x768 on my 1920x1080 (and for a decade, I played RA2 in 800x600 even if my monitor back then ended up to have 1680x1050 native). It's just a personal preference really. And fullscreen with a smaller resolution is the best you can get here as zoom.

The main reason I got used to the bigger res was that I employed 800x600 promopics after AS reached a certain stage, pretty much. Nowadays I play RA2 in windowed 1366x768 even, but again, I fail to see your problem.

Edited by Graion Dilach, 26 September 2016 - 09:52 PM.

[Solais]

Well, aside from windowed mode running slower for some reason, my problem mostly comes from the fact that playing fullscreen low-resolution games screw up my desktop settings, including resetting its colors and flushing everything to the secondary monitor. Since my home PC is also my work PC, and my work includes visual design, this can be quite bothersome.

 

However, mind you, I'm not complaining, but it seems to be a problem that some people might be running into, and I ran into it as well. So it was more about trying to find a permanent solution to the problem, or at least, suggesting that "Best played in 720p resolutions!" message put on the launcher somewhere, so people can be warned of that and avoid them having a potential subpar experience that looks different from the released promotion material.

 

(Also, there's barely any activity here in the forums and news-wise, so there's little else to talk about than the minor problems.)

Edited by Solais, 26 September 2016 - 11:22 PM.

[DoMiNaNt_HuNtEr]

I've always had a problem with Red Alert 2 and Tiberian Sun for my Windows 7 computer: Screen tearing. So I got Aqrit's DDraw helper thing, and that seems to do the trick. Only thing is, playing MO with this on CnCNet 4, sometimes the match will fuck up, my screen freezes, but the game is still going. I can hear the battle raging on, but my screen is stuck, and I cant do anything, except alt tab out and kill the game.

[Schottkey 7th Path]

The Opus tank's "Quirk" is that it gains a second cannon when crewed by a passenger. honestly it feels kinda lame. it trying to pretend it's a Qilin Tank. someone suggested that it's Quirk be changed to a Bio-Reactor that boosts it's speed. i love that idea and really fits the Epsilon theme, but apparently someone said the engine logic cannot handle a passenger based speed boost. how about instead it's passenger gun is replaced with a Missile Launcher (or a heavy ARO weapon)? This adds more uniqueness to the Opus but if allowed to attack aircraft, more versatility. of course a Gatling tank would be more cheaper and quicker to field then a crewed Opus. The Headquarters are meant to be a "Defense Force" of sorts, so they would need the ability to defend against anything with their tank. also This gives them a way of attacking halved Coronian Draco tanks (as long it has a passenger). the Missile is inspired from the Scorpion Rocket upgrade from generals. though it only fires one missile then reloads, so it wont be as effective against air targets like the double missiles used by the Allies' IFV's. but on ground targets, it gives the Opus the extra kick.

[Speeder]

Not only it gets more firepower but it can also act as a more reliable and resistant transport compared to standard T1 transports like Stinger or Halftrack. Have you tried doing an Engineer rush using three Opus Tanks? Even if one dies you can deal enough damage with the tanks to make a capture through two or one Engineers safely.

 

Opus' quirk won't be modified, the only thing that might change is the firepower of the main and buffed weapon.

[Death_Kitty]

Hey, so I've been playing a lot of DTA of late, and one of the features which I really like was the ability to deploy aircraft carriers into floating airstrips. Could we not do the same for our AC's? turn them into 1/2 plane airstrips? what do you think?

[Speeder]

No, cause it will make the Hornets in the air die instantly on its deploy and what would it store anyway? Everything else but Hornets? That's not the point or purpose of the Allied ACC.

[lordoflinks]

No, cause it will make the Hornets in the air die instantly on its deploy and what would it store anyway? Everything else but Hornets? That's not the point or purpose of the Allied ACC.

I think it would allow a closer air pad to the enemy base. 

[Solais]

That could be a different unit.

[Damfoos]

Is it possible for repair units to get veterancy based on amount of HP they restored, so they will get better repair weapon with each veterancy rank?

[Speeder]

No.

[edumm]

 

How about a new game mode called "Giant Ant Wars"? The mode was basically a battle between players, however it would be necessary to exterminate Giant Ants around the map in order to gain additional resources.

The Ants would appear in "spots" (Larvas) around the map, then the player should exterminate them in order to gain resources (the idea is that players fight to control spots and hunt ants); each type of Ant (Scout Ant, Warrior Ant and Fire Ant) would give a certain amount of money when exterminated.

The Larvas could not be destroyed (indestructible neutral structures), so as you kill an Ant comes more Ants!

For reference:http://cnc.wikia.com/wiki/Giant_Ants

Edited by edumm, 17 October 2016 - 11:11 AM.

[Atomic_Noodles]

A Faction composed entirely of giant mutated insects and creepy crawlies in a game mod... where have I heard or seen this before? Either way I don't think its planned for MO to have such a game mode at all like this.