Anything higher than 1024x768 makes the game window way too small. Is there any way to increase the resolution without shrinking everything? A mod perhaps?

To set your resolution manually, go to the DD install directory and find a file name config.div. Open the file with Notepad and look for the following lines –

// display width
Width 1280

// display height
Height 1024

Change the number values only to your monitor resolution. Make sure you put the right sizes in as reversing the inputs will cause problems. Save the file and restart DD. If your res does not display correctly, use a nominal resolution. i.e. A res of 1366 x 768 may not allow the game to display properly, setting to 1280 x 800 will sometimes fix that particular graphics problem.

With the 1.005A patch (GOG version), 16:9 wide screen support was added. AFAIK, the wide screen support will not work on retail boxed releases. (version 1.34 / 1.0034)

For more info check out this post under Resolution . . . =)

Set the window size as described above, that is what the game will render at. 1280 by 800 isn't too far off the game's original window size if you're looking for a 16:10 ratio (common PC widescreen). 1280 by 720 is pretty close if your screen is a 16:9 widescreen monitor. If you prefer a square window, regardless of your monitor then leave it at 1024 by 768.

To 'blow up' the image to full screen, without rendering more of the game world you'll need to open up your graphics card control panel (assuming you have one). Both Nvidia and ATI's control panels offer upscaling options.

For the Nvidia's latest driver this hides under the 'desktop size and position' section. Choose 'aspect ratio' scaling to blow up to screen, while still respecting height by width settings. This will mean black bars to the sides of your screen if you've stuck with 1024 by 768 or similar 4:3 resolution in Divine Divinity's config. 'Full Screen' will stretch the window up, ignoring height by width ratio.

Divine Divinity's graphics are prerendered 2D sprites, there's no way other than gpu upscaling to render at full screen while maintaining original game window size.

Thanks for the replies. Oddly enough, none of the different upscaling options affected the game at all. No matter what I chose, it still dsplayed the same. (GTX 470)

I tried 1280x800, and that didn't seem too bad. The title and load screens are letterboxed at that res, but the actual gameplay screen displays full screen. Things still seem a bit small on my 24" (16:10) LCD though, and I'm wondering if I should just go back to 1024x768.

Also, is there any way to enable vsync in this game? Sometimes I can see a slight flicker when walking left or right, and it's quite annoying.

You may need to go into the Nvidia Control Panel and try setting to "Do not scale". (See attached image)

Divine Divinity has only two Menu sizes (1024 x 768 and 800 x 600) so at resolutions higher than the default size . . . the menus and start screen will display at the default size. If scaling is being used with a lower res selected / input then it may fill the monitor because of the scaling selected in the control panel. Your control panel may be different so you may need to look the option.

The game should always display at the res you select or input in the config.div file unless your graphics card or monitor is scaling. Because the start menu is so small at higher resolutions many folks think the res is wrong. Once you enter the game the res should be as input / selected (if no scaling is used)

For me, the game plays best at 1280 x 1024. Any higher and the text / characters are too small IMHO. Running at a 4:3 res will cause black bars on the sides of the game screen. I suggest you try several resolutions at standard and wide screen finding the one that you prefer.

See the attached image for an example of the small menus at higher resolutions.

I refer you to the link in my first post above and this comment.

If your default res does not display correctly, use a nominal resolution. i.e. A res of 1366 x 768 may not allow the game to display properly, setting to 1280 x 800 will sometimes fix that particular graphics problem.

Even though V 1.005A supports higher resolutions it sometimes does poorly on the odd sizes so . . . it's not a fault with your monitor. Just pick a res that displays well and enjoy the game.

AFAIK, the native resolutions supported by the original release was 640 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 1024. These can be selected using the original config tool or menu config icon. If the game screen appears zoomed out too far, drop to the next lower res.

I usually play it on my XP system at 1280 x 1024 or on my laptop at 1280 x 800 . . . =)

Ah ok, thanks. One more question..

I notice that NPCs will pop into view when I get a certain distance from them, rather than being viewable anywhere on the screen. Is this normal?

I have not notice that during my game but it could happen depending on the system. If running Vista / Win 7, make sure you have right clicked the game shortcut, click Properties, click the Compatibility tab and check mark "Run this program as an administrator". I also suggest check marking "Disable visual themes" and "Disable desktop composition" on the same tab. This may help with the pop-up characters.

Press the M key for the mini map. You should see enemies as red dots, friendlies as green dots and your character as a blue plus sign.

Press the A key to get the "big" map, quests, conversations etc etc . . . =)

This is perfectly normal and is part of the game's mechanics. It is also why having a larger resolution is not much of a cheat.

The game's has two skills for viewing range (ranger's sight, and elven sight). This determines how far away your character notices things.

The higher your skill in Elven Sight (no one uses ranger's sight because they do they same thing but ES is better value) the further away things will 'pop in'. What this means is that around Elven Sight level 4 with a screen resolution of 1280 (width), things will pop in at or just beyond your monitor's edges. If your screen resolution was greater than 1280, things would 'pop in' a little further in.

More points in ES, further away from your character do enemies/npcs 'pop in'. Although the rendered world shows up where you've explored, enemies and npcs are always effected by how much ES your character has.

Thanks, Porkdish. I couldn't remember if I experienced that before because it's been so long since I've played DD.

I always wondered why the developers included both Elven and Ranger sights. Especially since Ranger sight is completely useless. A strange oversight on their part.

Elven sight and Ranger sight stack - in fact ALL sight bonuses stack. So Ranger sight (+1 sight bonus for each level) is not useless.

Ranger sight adds 1 per level, elven sight adds 2 per level. By level 4/5 the vision range is beyond the edge of the screen at the games original maximum resolution. Most likely beyond the mob encounter range too.

If you run at a giant resolution, And demand the ability to gimp mobs from beyond their intended encounter range then I guess you could invest in both sight ranges, but there are countless items and probably even charms that increase sight range, spending limited skill points on both sight skills seems worthless, to me...

Items can have sight bonuses, charms can't.

The major perk is clearing the fog of war during exploration. As you said, it becomes more relevant at resolutions beyond the original max of 1024X768, but it's always useful. Plus, you can't just go for Elven Sight every level - you have to wait til you hit the level requirements. Ranger Sight can be increased while you're waiting.

I see what you're saying. My impression was that you thought Ranger Sight was literally useless, rather than a skill that might eat up skill points or give advantage to the player (that's up to the player, after all). Some people have not been aware the bonuses stack.

Sure, I guess you could look at it that way, even though that's a bit of a stretch. There's far too many skills in DD for it to be practical to spend points in both Sight skills.