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General discussionMusic and Resolution(24 posts)solved(24 posts)solved
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Posted April 20, 2023
So, I have been playing Eye of the Beholder. The resolution is... not great. I don't expect much, it is 33 years old. But, is there a way to tweak it? I am totally new to DOSBox and GOG. Any tips/tricks would be appreciated

Also, I am quite sure I had the Music as well as sound effects (Tunes and Sound as they are called in the game menu) when I started. Now, even though both are marked 'Yes", I only get sound, no tunes.

When I start the game, I choose VGA (think that is the highest available) and On board sound card..

Thanks for any insights
This question / problem has been solved by teceemimage
Posted April 20, 2023
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ameder: So, I have been playing Eye of the Beholder. The resolution is... not great. I don't expect much, it is 33 years old. But, is there a way to tweak it? I am totally new to DOSBox and GOG. Any tips/tricks would be appreciated
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/eye_of_the_beholder_4

Looks good (OOTB) on my 1920 x 1080 monitor.
- VGA
- Adlib / Soundblaster

Edit:
https://www.gog.com/forum/forgotten_realms_collection?search=eye
Attachments:
eotb.jpg (107 Kb)
Post edited April 20, 2023 by BreOl72
Posted April 20, 2023
Make sure you have the latest version of DOSBox installed, which is a popular emulator for running old DOS games like Eye of the Beholder on modern systems.
And adjust the DOSBox settings to improve resolution. (These are the steps: open the DOSBox configuration file (usually dosbox.conf or dosbox-<game_name>.conf) and try changing the "output" setting to "surface" or "overlay")
Hope these tips help you improve your Eye of the Beholder experience) Happy gaming!
Posted April 20, 2023
The method I use to improve the visuals of low res VGA graphics is to combine a Normal 2X Scaling with Aspect Ratio On and a video output that has a Bilinear Filter like OpenGL. This method produces a sharp display with light filtering that looks clean and undistorted. This works well with DOSBox and ScummVM.
Attachments:
eob1-config-1.png (12 Kb)
eob1-config-2.png (16 Kb)
Posted April 20, 2023
Hm, what do you mean by saying that resolution is not great? A small picture on a large screen? Pixelated graphics?

There isn't a lot of music in the game (https://www.gog.com/forum/forgotten_realms_collection/eob_1_music/post2), maybe there simply isn't any to hear.
Posted April 20, 2023
You can't "improve" resolution. Play around with the dosbox scaling and filtering and pick something you personally like the best.
Me, I hate filters. And I like my VGA games windowed, integer scaling, not too small (x6 on 1440P, for 200P*).

*It's been a while that I played a VGA game, I forgot what the thing was about 200P vs 240P. Dosbox can do aspect ratio correction for rectangle pixels something something...
Post edited April 20, 2023 by teceem
Posted April 20, 2023
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JennyFrancis: Make sure you have the latest version of DOSBox installed, which is a popular emulator for running old DOS games like Eye of the Beholder on modern systems.
And adjust the DOSBox settings to improve resolution. (These are the steps: open the DOSBox configuration file (usually dosbox.conf or dosbox-<game_name>.conf) and try changing the "output" setting to "surface" or "overlay")
Hope these tips help you improve your Eye of the Beholder experience) Happy gaming!
I have no idea which DOSBox version I have. I download through Galaxy and do not see DOS Box as a separate file. (Of course, it opens to open the game(s).
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InkPanther: Hm, what do you mean by saying that resolution is not great? A small picture on a large screen? Pixelated graphics?

There isn't a lot of music in the game (https://www.gog.com/forum/forgotten_realms_collection/eob_1_music/post2), maybe there simply isn't any to hear.
Meaning pixelation... it runs almost full screen. To be honest, after seeing these responses, I am thinking it is a good as it can get. Which, is not a deal-breaker.. it isn't terrible at all, I would like some figures to be crisper is all. But... 33 years is a long time :)
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teceem: You can't "improve" resolution. Play around with the dosbox scaling and filtering and pick something you personally like the best.
Me, I hate filters. And I like my VGA games windowed, integer scaling, not too small (x6 on 1440P, for 200P*).

*It's been a while that I played a VGA game, I forgot what the thing was about 200P vs 240P. Dosbox can do aspect ratio correction for rectangle pixels something something...
I will try this... I have learned most of my comp/software skills via trial and error, so ...
Post edited April 20, 2023 by ameder
Posted April 21, 2023
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ameder:
Low resolution and pixels are an inherent part of these old games. Some players will like it, some not so much. Usually I'll sacrifice some picture size for those nice sharp pixels, I'm like Teceem in this regard. ;)
Attachments:
2023-04-20_23-02.png (67 Kb)
Posted April 22, 2023
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teceem: You can't "improve" resolution. Play around with the dosbox scaling and filtering and pick something you personally like the best.
Me, I hate filters. And I like my VGA games windowed, integer scaling, not too small (x6 on 1440P, for 200P*).

*It's been a while that I played a VGA game, I forgot what the thing was about 200P vs 240P. Dosbox can do aspect ratio correction for rectangle pixels something something...
So... do you adjust your monitor settings? 200P is the game and 1440p your screen? Do you pick 6x to get the 200p closer to 1440? Or am I misunderstanding?
Thanks!
Posted April 22, 2023
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ameder: So... do you adjust your monitor settings? 200P is the game and 1440p your screen? Do you pick 6x to get the 200p closer to 1440? Or am I misunderstanding?
Thanks!
I never adjust monitor settings (you mean resolution right?). A flatscreen monitor only has one real resolution, the native one. If software (games here) has a low amount of pixels, it will be displayed very small (relatively, real size depends on your monitor's dpi).
You can make the game display bigger by 'scaling' it. Most emulators, like dosbox have that functionality built-in, but you can also let your graphics card do the (full screen only) scaling.
6x 200p would be 1920x1200, so it's a bit smaller than the vertical size of a 1440P screen. (= you're not misunderstanding ;-) )

6x scaling means that one original pixel will use 36 of a monitor's physical pixels. This is called 'integer' scaling. Values in between are also possible (let's say 6.3) - then interpolation will be used (fuzzier pixels).

Ps. How sharp* a monitor (TFT) displays at native resolution is dependent on 3 factors: resolution, size, and viewing distance. The first two can are the DPI (dots (pixels) per inch).
*with 'sharp' I mean the opposite of 'pixelated', whether one is able to differentiate individual pixels. It could also refer to the opposite of fuzzy/interpolated.
Post edited April 22, 2023 by teceem
Posted April 24, 2023
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ameder: So... do you adjust your monitor settings? 200P is the game and 1440p your screen? Do you pick 6x to get the 200p closer to 1440? Or am I misunderstanding?
Thanks!
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teceem: I never adjust monitor settings (you mean resolution right?). A flatscreen monitor only has one real resolution, the native one. If software (games here) has a low amount of pixels, it will be displayed very small (relatively, real size depends on your monitor's dpi).
You can make the game display bigger by 'scaling' it. Most emulators, like dosbox have that functionality built-in, but you can also let your graphics card do the (full screen only) scaling.
6x 200p would be 1920x1200, so it's a bit smaller than the vertical size of a 1440P screen. (= you're not misunderstanding ;-) )

6x scaling means that one original pixel will use 36 of a monitor's physical pixels. This is called 'integer' scaling. Values in between are also possible (let's say 6.3) - then interpolation will be used (fuzzier pixels).

Ps. How sharp* a monitor (TFT) displays at native resolution is dependent on 3 factors: resolution, size, and viewing distance. The first two can are the DPI (dots (pixels) per inch).
*with 'sharp' I mean the opposite of 'pixelated', whether one is able to differentiate individual pixels. It could also refer to the opposite of fuzzy/interpolated.
Excellent! Thank you Teceem. Does DosBOX 'auto window' or do you set it for windowing?
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ameder:
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InkPanther: Low resolution and pixels are an inherent part of these old games. Some players will like it, some not so much. Usually I'll sacrifice some picture size for those nice sharp pixels, I'm like Teceem in this regard. ;)
Oh yeah... I am ready for the graphic quality of an aged game. But, I do want it as good as can be. :)

I asked Teceem this as well... does DosBox window on its own? is it a setting thing?

Thanks much! Everyone has been very helpful
Post edited April 24, 2023 by ameder
Posted April 24, 2023
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ameder:
Yes, you can change it from fullscreen to windowed.

You can either edit configuration files to always start windowed/fullscreen, or change it while the game is running by hitting Alt + Enter.

GOG games come with DOSBox and configuration (*.conf) files, they're all installed in the same location. .conf is a text file, you can easily edit it to change various values to get your preferred results. And those changes will affect only this particular game.



Generally I don't like windowed gaming so I use DOSBox Staging (another version/fork of DOSBox) which provides integer scaling in fullscreen.
Posted April 24, 2023
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ameder:
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InkPanther: Yes, you can change it from fullscreen to windowed.

You can either edit configuration files to always start windowed/fullscreen, or change it while the game is running by hitting Alt + Enter.

GOG games come with DOSBox and configuration (*.conf) files, they're all installed in the same location. .conf is a text file, you can easily edit it to change various values to get your preferred results. And those changes will affect only this particular game.

Generally I don't like windowed gaming so I use DOSBox Staging (another version/fork of DOSBox) which provides integer scaling in fullscreen.
In the .conf, am I free to set values? I.E. set the integer scaling to 6x? (In the configuration, 3x is the highest value in the dropdown)

Can one set the window size?
Posted April 24, 2023
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ameder:
If you set values not supported by dosbox it should use defaults, so you can't break anything. Helpfully, configuration files contain list of possible values in comments. If you feel unsure about your changes, you can always make a backup copy of the .conf file before you start tinkering with it.

Normal6x scaler doesn't seem to be supported, perhaps Teceem is using a different version of dosbox. You'd have to ask them.

Yes, you can set window size in the .conf file.
Posted April 26, 2023
To all who have answered questions here THANK YOU. I have figured out a bunch about DOSBox and various settings.

I just posted a new question about All Seeing Eye. I have installed it, but the ASE cannot seem to find my saved game or characters in EOTB.
Any thoughs? Thanks
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Community
General discussionMusic and Resolution(24 posts)solved(24 posts)solved
(24 posts)solved