I just started playing HoMM5 (original - not Tribes of the East), and although I can select a 1920x1080 resolution from the game menu, all it does is stretch the screen.

I don't mind playing with black bars on sides; that's how I play all old games, but I'm just wondering if that's the way the game dealt with widescreen, or if I'm doing something wrong.

From the surprisingly few posts I found on the internet, Tribes of the East gives "real" widescreen support? Is it true?

I just answered a similar post: try this. Tribes of the East should work fine with wide screens. This is a port of the campaigns in the original game and Hammers of Fate into the engine of Tribes of the East. It was done with the blessings of the copyright owners.

Also, there are some fan-made scenarios and an alternate EXE that features a modified AI. They claim that this alternative changes the way the scenarios play, and is more challenging in general.

https://forum.rockpapershotgun.com/t/the-homm5-content-combo-pack-from-good-to-great-in-a-single-490mb-download/410

Thanks. I actually prefer (on my first runthrought at least) to play without custom mods. I don't mind black bars.

Could you just confirm then: without any usermade mods, the vanilla game offers "stretchy" widescreen, while Tribe of the East offers "real" widescreen. Is that correct?

Also, thanks for the link. If I ever try play the game again (single maps or higher difficulty) I'll be sure to use it.

I just started playing Tribes of the East, and although it does offer "proper" widescreen support (i.e. without stretching) it does so by decreasing the vertical field of view.

As such, for me it's still better to play with 1600x1200 resolution (on my 1920x1200 monitor). I'll take black bars over decreased field of view anytime.

On a 1920x1080 monitor it might have been different, since the highest 4:3 resolution would be 1280x960, so it might be worth it to sacrifice the horizontal FOV in exchange for higher resolution and pixel perfectness.

You can choose 1440x1080 for a FullHD monitor inside the game. But you have to add support for this resolution manually, with a program like "Custor Resolution Utility".

I came here for the same reason. After playing base and HoF having giant black bars and minuscule text is horrible. Looking it up online there are almost no mentions of this or if there are any solutions for it.

The suggestion by kardaw does work and you don't need external programs, just edit the user_a2.cfg and set the field:

setvar gfx_resolution = 1920x1440

then go to the Nvidia Control Panel (or whatever AMD equivalent) and under Display > Adjust desktop size and position > Scaling mode, set to Full-screen. This will stretch the resolution effectively undoing the black bars/stretching the image just like in the previous games, but in hardware. Do note however this does not work in windowed mode, only fullscreen. Playing windowed uses the actual window size as its internal resolution, ignoring whatever you set under video options in-game, thus, the viewport is no longer properly stretched and suffers the same issues as before.

The only "elegant"/software solution i can think of for this issue is using DXWind and finding the right settings to force this behavior while maintaining your native screen resolution. I have managed to get *some* results by using the above 4:3 cfg resolution and enabling the following inside DXWnd:

Main:
No banner (duh)
Window initial position and size X 0 Y 0 W 1920 H 1440
Desktop center

Video:
Force win resize
No Taskbar Overlap
Initial resolution 1920 x 1440

"Win resize" is the key which allows you to effectively stretch the window freely, and it just so happens that this does not cause the game to update its internal resolution, so given the initial resolution is set right (4:3), you can manually stretch it to your 16:9 ratio. Avoid making the game window fullscreen as that WILL update the internal resolution and undo your work. When/if this happens the game config updates with the new "gfx_resolution" and "gfx_window_size" and will most likely lose your 4:3 "desired" resolution. Setting it as read-only does nothing, so make sure to overwrite it before every test.

Overall this is very finicky and the game tends to crap the bed and reduce its internal resolution to 800x600 (minimum) if you look at it funny, not to mention the fact that you are now playing windowed and so far any attempts to make it borderless have failed. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can obtain something better than i have managed, but it's a start.

Still a shame we can't enjoy ToTE in the same visual style as the previous two versions. Someone mentioned on another forum that at this point seeing the graphics not stretched feels wrong and i agree whole-heartedly.

what you say in first words looks like you have issue exactly with driver settings. TotE initially support wide-screen very well.

For both games, for EVERY games goto GFX Control panel and set KEEP ASPECT RATIO with checkboxes to enforce it by driver and integer scaling, if there is such checkboxes there.
Next do the same in OS screen resolution and Display driver/OSD settings (if there is such options there,depend on OS build and what Monitor model you have, for notebooks displays it can be available by OPTIONAL or pre-installed settings tool from PC manufactor eg Dell provide some tools with powersave and display settings but it can be not pre-installed).

Set keep ratio everywhere when possible. If you use TV as PC monitor display there is chance it have some predefined aspects/size but no stretch or keep options. Chose 16:9 then or something close to accurate. this one is less important same as normal PC monitor OSD settings.

Next go to included wrappers like dgvoodoo or GOG DXCFG and set keep ratio + integer scaling there. Depend on game release (GOG sometimes bundle games with own wrapper, ZOOM with dgvoodoo).

And then go to game settings and set proper resolution. Depend on game and its original native aspect ratio.

Heroes 5 actually DO support wide-screen. That's why there is resolutions for it. But it apply 16:10 aspect ratio. 16:9 is supported by next game TotE.
You still no need fiddle with CFG files. Set resolution in ingame menu. Probably chose 16:10 a bit lower than your display (since 16:10 is higher) and play WITH BLACK BARS.
Trying to remove black bars in 16:10->16:9 is EXACT THE REASON you have issues with screen quality. You can't stretch it and keep same quality level and proportions.
At 16:10 you got tiny bars since its still wide-screen. At least tinier than with 4:3. For 4:3 you can use Display OSD to stretch A BIT if it's supported. As in TV I mention above. In this case gaming monitor with full control of it even worse than TV which just have some TV/DVD/Movies output standards to chose. Set 16:9 in TV for 4:3 game make its a bit wider with black bars remain to balance in Aspect.
Same balance remain with GFX Keep ratio and 16:10->16:9. Full stretch should be never an option. Whatever device.

With Keep ratio both game have NO issues with screen (and text) quality. Set video driver to stretch lead to blured image along with broken proportions. not matter which resolution you chose.

Another issues come by Windows. UI scale option never work properly. Set 125% maximum. Then go to exe file Properties and at compatibility experiment with disabling desktop themes, fullscreen optimisation and DPI scaling.
Use GOG Galaxy or third party launchers to apply such options to every games exe's by editing Launcher exe Properies only.

Blured text issue come from stretching by video driver, desktop settings applied to games (some apply in both windowed/native fullscreen). Or if you set some filters/aliasing methods by 3rd party wrappers. GOG DX Wrapper do that good. Others may not. In any way accurate set level of visual enchantments there in DXCFG too.
DxWnd, dgvoodoo, GOG, differ platform emulators. Maximize out all settings there make even textures looks awful. And never improve text visual.

By the way. Remind for 1280x1024. It is 5:4 resolution only for office 5:4 displays and still worse even on them. Better set 1024x768. It is NOT maximum of 4:3. Applied to some older games than Heroes 5. Like Heroes 4. Maximum resolution there is 1024x768. And 1280x1024 never accurately fit any wide-screens. So today is more important to stay on 1024x. Its not just principal. IT IS higher quality resolution in Heroes 4.
As I know 1280x never be native aspect for any game. Let's say should be never used. In general which one resolution to chose depend on exact game.
‐‐---------
So Heroes 5 you need to chose between some 16:9 or 16:10 Ingame available resolutions.
For TotE chose any between.
For H4 1024x.

For better support of 16:9 H5 require addition tweaks and CANNOT be fixed by driver or else General solution. Game specific modding (exe editing probably) only. If you really want avoid black bars entirely.
It never be better in older version. It was improved in TotE. And solution for H5 suggested on forums is use converted campaigns to TotE with non-original balance. Exactly because of 16:9 support in TotE. Black bars definitely better than wrong campaign balance.
Probably there is other solutions. Including CFG editing. Because they are Game specific and not video driver general tweaks. Driver never will solve this issues. It was made to make full stretched with quality loss and for force black bars. What you prefer. 1 or 0. True or False. Good and bad. No average.

I'm back with what I consider to be the final solution to having widescreen ToTE without faffing with driver settings or game INIs.
(in fact i believe the game INI settings related to the effective viewport and window rendering like gfx_fullscreen, gfx_resolution and gfx_window_size are completely ignored when using this method)

The end result will be effectively a stretched borderless-fullscreen mode for the game.

This method uses DXWnd so it can be easily packed with the game itself and launched from it to have an effectively "always fixed" game, no matter where you run it. Steps and explanations behind every setting are as follows:

(Download DXWnd, open and create a profile for the game. Right-click the profile and select Modify.)

From the "Main" tab > Generic:
* untick Early hook - this otherwise prevents the game from launching, complaining another instance is already running.
* tick No Banner - obvious reasons.
* tick Run in Window - this is essential to "fake fullscreen" the game since the "proper"/in-game fullscreen detects the actual resolution of your monitor, preventing you from stretching it.

From the "Main" tab > Position:
* tick Keep aspect ratio - leaving this unticked makes the game run at a minuscule resolution, no matter the in-game setting or any windows size defined within DXWnd.
* select Desktop instead of X,Y coordinates - this makes the window be effectively treated as a fullscreen application would, appearing on top and ignoring any desktop elements that would otherwise limit a window max size like the taskbar.

From the "Video" tab > Window size & position
* select Free instead of Floating - this allows you to stretch the window as big as the screen, disregarding the aspect ratio difference.

Finally, since there is no window frame visible, fullscreen the game via Win + Up Arrow and NOT via the more common Alt + Enter combination, as that won't work. And that's it!

Note: While the only settings that matter are the aforementioned, dxwind comes with a few things enabled by default like "Emulate Win Maximize" or 800x600 window resolutions in Main and Video. While intuitively you would want to/need to change them to suit your needs, from my testing with the setup above those seem to make no difference, so you can safely ignore them.

I very much appreciate this, have been looking for a solution for this since back when ToE released, bloody ell, only issue I ran into when doing this though is that the win+up arrow nor alt+enter combination did not seem to want to work and I can only get it to a max resolution of 1600x1200 even though I'm on a 1920x1080 screen, anyways for anyone else who gets this issue, I've solved it by getting another program ontop of this called "Borderless Gaming" which streched this baby to my full screen, sadly I think this makes you lose some visual clarity, but it is what it is.

You are not up to 1600x1200 on FullHD 16:9 display, cause 1600x1200 if waaay higher than 1080p. Obviously. And 16:10 is higher than 16:9 (and games designed to 16:10). So avoid using 5oo much high 4:3 and 16:10 resolutions. Lower them step lower of maximum possible to make you video driver scale it with hlack bars (video driver must be switched to Keep Aspect ratio).

1280x1024 is also resolution to avoid. Never ever.


16:9 widescreen is worst one. Lower one aspect. And require at least 4k to properly support older full-screen standarts like 1600x1200. 16:12/4x3 become 16:10 redused in size and then 16:9. They are never be increased. And this is seen by their resolutions digits.

I finally got around to trying the solution posts by VL4DST3R in post #10 of this thread, but after I followed all of the instructions, and then loaded up the first HOF mission (but I'm running it through the TOTE launcher, not the vanilla HOF launcher), I always get black bars on the cutscenes still.

Is VL4DST3R's solution supposed to fix that?

Or is it only supposed to be fixing the issue of the shrunken interface, but not the issue of the black bars during cutscenes also?

Is there way how I can full solve both the shrunken interface issue and the black bars during cut scenes issue too?

EDIT: When I set the in-game resolution to 1600x1200, that is the only resolution I've found so far that removes the black bars during cutscenes.

But when I run the game through DXWND, the first several times, after I did that, then the in-game settings listed no resolution stats at all, yet now when I run the game through DXWND again, suddenly the in-game settings do list resolution stats. I have no idea what that means, and/or if it means that the in-game settings are now overriding my DXWND settings?

I will have to do more testing later on to see whether or not my current configuration is fixing the shrunken interface, as I haven't played these games for quite some time.

Ancient-RedDragon
For campaign mod for Tribes of the East you no need any tweaks. TotE initily support 16:9 aspect ratio. Thats why such mods exist.

Mods are not accurate, because they are mods. Some videos missing, some old aspect. If it is game engine should be 16:9, but if prerendered (looks exactly like video) it will stay 4:3.

If you install campaign mod - you have only tweak you need to get 16:9 in old campaigns. Reminder it is not the Heroes 5 but separate game TotE, and not supposed to be played in this way. TotE are not expansion, but stand-alone expansion - that term can be confusing it mean separate unrelated game, made on modified old engine while new engine+game are in development. And ofc no balance changes tweaked for old campaigns.

There is alternate solutions for Heroes 5 probably (more tweak steps, worse result?). Hex-editing maybe. Google will not help - it suggest campaign mod or Heroes 5,5 mod. All for TotE, not for Heroes 5. PCGW article probably remain "authentic" since they did split Tribes of the East to separate article. Campaign modnor Heores 5,5 are easier indeed. If you did played H5 in past years and want re-play.