Wide screen monitors

[Mickaleen]

Hi,

I hope some one can help me here. I have a wide screen monitor which has a native resolution of 1600 x 900.
When I run Trainz2006 at full screen, using its native setting, I get a distorted image, flat and wide rolling stock.
When I set my monitor to run using maintain aspect ratio I get black vertical bands either side of the main window.
I am thinking of buying TC3 but I don't want to have the same display problems.
Can the community help me please?

Regards
Mick

 

[alanti]

From the 2006 startup screen select options, then select the display settings tab and select your resolution from the drop down box.

Edit: BTW it is the same in TC3

 

[john259]

Try increasing your monitor's resolution to 1680 x 1050 if possible. That's the only preset widescreen option in TRS2006.

John

 

[Mike10]

Open trainzoptions.txt and add the following two lines at the bottom

-width=1600
-height=900

That will override the options screen.

Mike.

 

[alanti]

Try increasing your monitor's resolution to 1680 x 1050 if possible. That's the only preset widescreen option in TRS2006.

John

Oh really?

Shot at 2009-07-03

 

[Dermmy]

It's not just the height and width that need changed, to get proportions right you should also change the angle of view. See Post #11 in this thread.

 

[john259]

Oh really?

Fascinating. I don't have 1440 x 900 (= 1.6) or 1400 x 1050 (= 1.3333) listed. Perhaps the set of resolution options depends on the video board and/or the monitor? Apologies for the omission.

John

 

[Mickaleen]

Hi

Thank you all for your replies.
I asked this question as I am considering buying TC3 but have concerns for the display settings.
I am running Trainz 2006 at "maintained aspect ratio" which gives me Black vertical bands at either side of the main screen. When I set up my display to 1600 x 900 which is the maximum screen resolution for my Samsung SyncMaster 2033sw I get squashed rolling stock a bit like a doughnut if you like.
I would prefer to run Trainz at full screen but it is looking unlikely. I assume running TC3 will give me the same results?

Regards
Mick

 

[Mike10]

From the manual;

-width=XXX
Manually specify the window/screen width (in pixels). When in fullscreen
mode, this must match one of the available display resolutions, and an
appropriate height must be selected. When in dualhead or surround modes
this is the horizontal resolution across all displays, not across a single display.
-height=XXX
Manually specify the window/screen height (in pixels). When in fullscreen
mode, this must match the Width setting used. Width-to-Height ratios other
than 4:3 are untested. When in dualhead or surround modes, this is still the
vertical height of a single display.

You will be able to set the resolution to 1600x900 and it should shown full screen and undistorted on your monitor.

I don't have a 1600x900 monitor so I can't prove it to you but I'm 95% sure you will be OK.

At the end of the day it is £15 to have a very short odds gamble.

have you tried adding

-width=1600
-height=900

to your trainzoptions.txt file for TRS2006?

Mike.

 

[whitepass]

A lot depends on the monitors aspect ratio controls, some are good at aspect ratio some are very bad.

 

[Mickaleen]

Hi

I placed the two lines in at the bottom of the txt page and I have tried setting the display going through options at the start screen but I am still getting squashed, doughnut like, rolling stock.
I tried the 1440 x 900 setting it improves but I have the vertical black bands.
I don't know how to get a screen capture onto this reply to show clearly what is happening.
It would appear the only setting to use is the 1024 x 768 and have vertical black bands at each side of the screen.
I am grateful for all the help.

Regards
Mick

 

[johnwhelan]

Hi

I placed the two lines in at the bottom of the txt page and I have tried setting the display going through options at the start screen but I am still getting squashed, doughnut like, rolling stock.
I tried the 1440 x 900 setting it improves but I have the vertical black bands.
I don't know how to get a screen capture onto this reply to show clearly what is happening.
It would appear the only setting to use is the 1024 x 768 and have vertical black bands at each side of the screen.
I am grateful for all the help.

Regards
Mick

I'd buy TC3 just for the content. The game engine is better and it may work with 900 by 1600, but I'm also tempted by TRS2009 to resolve the monitor issue so buy both they aren't that expensive. Especially if you download them and purchase in US dollars. TRS2009 is still up at buy one get one free as I type.

Cheerio John

 

[Mickaleen]

Hi John,

I have looked at the spec for displaying Trainz2009 and it is 1024 x 768.
Cant do anything about this.
I am still hoping the help desk will respond to my enquiry.
I might wait for TX, with a new graphics engine hopefully, to see if that caters for wide screen.
I watched the TC3 video of Britannia collecting water on the run and the display is 1024 x 768. At this setting there are vertical black bands.
Any way thanks to all for your views.

Regards
Mick

 

[johnwhelan]

Hi John,

I have looked at the spec for displaying Trainz2009 and it is 1024 x 768.
Cant do anything about this.
I am still hoping the help desk will respond to my enquiry.
I might wait for TX, with a new graphics engine hopefully, to see if that caters for wide screen.
I watched the TC3 video of Britannia collecting water on the run and the display is 1024 x 768. At this setting there are vertical black bands.
Any way thanks to all for your views.

Regards
Mick

My copy of TRS2009 is running quite nicely at 1440 by 900 and I strongly suspect you can change this with the trainzoptions.txt file.

Cheerio John

 

[Mike10]

Have you tried adding

-width=1600
-height=900

to your trainzoptions.txt file for TRS2006?

Mike.

 

[Mickaleen]

Hi

John, yes you can set up as 1440 x 900 but there is distortion.

Mike 10, Yes I added the 2 lines as you suggested in "trainzoptions.txt" but the result is the same, distortion.

I had a reply this morning from Zec at Auran Games;---


Hi Mick
Depending on the settings, you will 'natively' get either the black bands or the distortion on the wide screen monitor. However, you may be able to go into the trainzoptions.txt file and change the FOV. This may or may not work in TS2009, as some commands in this file have been obsoleted.

It is recommended that you ask on the forums, to see what other users are doing in terms of this.

Zec Murphy

Customer Support Rep
Auran Games

Having tried all your suggestions Trainz will only work best at 1024 x 768 with black bands.
Thanks again to all for your help.

Regards
Mick

 

[llebrez]

Now my grain of salt: After setting the trainzoptions to the point where you see a full screen (albeit distorted), go to Heigth and width options and change the angle of view (this was suggested earlier). At some point you should see a perfect aspect. Remember the test screens used by TV stations? they had a central circle ( and four others at the corners). This was, and still is used, to calibrate screen linearity. Perhaps Auran should include a test pattern in the program to calibrate the screens..?

 

[Dermmy]

Now my grain of salt: After setting the trainzoptions to the point where you see a full screen (albeit distorted), go to Heigth and width options and change the angle of view (this was suggested earlier).

Way back in post #6 of this thread where I posted a link to the solution for the distortion problem. I've suggested it, Zec has suggested it, now Ilebrez has suggested it.

If you only specify height and width Trainz APPEARS to still draw a 4-3 aspect based on the specified height then stretches it to the specified width. To get a 16-9 or whatever aspect you must change the field of view.

This may not be the case on all vid card/driver/monitor/Trainz combos, but it does appear to be the case with some. If you get correct proportions on a wide screen monitor specifying only height-width you seem to be in a lucky minority....

andy

 

[backyard]

I took another way...almost...

I tried the pinpoint settings in Trainzoptions & had to go to a recent backup to reset to default(cabin & surveyor settings).

I had trouble with one of the view-dialogue boxes in Trainz Objects & figured by jiminy if I could just get a VGA monitor I'd get the full view(I was in '04 back then).

I got a new 17" flat pannel VGA monitor & the expected 1024x768 res quickly turned into 1280x1024...didn't help the TO box problem but I wouldn't do without a second monitor.

I'm thinking that to swap my 19" widescreen(DVI) for the 17" as primary screen #1.

I hope maybe that would help...

 

[Ross59]

I have a Samsung 2253BW resolution set a 1680 x 1050 and trainz 2009 with the following Display options OpenGL Display Res=1680 x 1050 bit depth= 32 and Aspect ratio=Autodetect and it all runs sweet.