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Outcastchanging to a viable resolution?(78 posts)(78 posts)
(78 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 20, 2010
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MacReiter: This resolution patch can play in WinXP normally. (may be with compatility mode or something i can't clearly remember) + Update Patch
http://outcastii.free.fr/FTP/loaderp_eng.zip
Outcast loader + (159 KB) - Now you can play to Outcast in 640x480. VB6 runtime is needed : vbrun60.exe. << DEAD LInk for VB6

This one works. At first I was disappointed. Now I'm happy. Thank you so much.
Just a heads up everyone you can rename and replace the LOADER.exe with the LoaderP_eng.exe and still use GOGs wrapper. So you don't have to change the compatibility settings of any of the files.
Posted April 20, 2010
Does anyone know how to get an actual lower resolution? What I mean is that currently it seems that to fill the screen on a modern monitor you have to bump the outcast.ini to
[Display]
VideoWidth=640
VideoHeight=480
ScreenWidth=640
ScreenHeight=480
Which is all that the patch someone linked earlier actually does (which seems odd as it means the resolution was in the original game engine - however they never properly implemented it). However this of course screws up the HUD.
What I want, is to be able to drop the resolution to:
[Display]
VideoWidth=512
VideoHeight=384
ScreenWidth=512
ScreenHeight=384
To match the original games resolution; have a non-screwed text, and get rid of the blackbars that GOG seems to have put on as they set the video res at 640x480. However this crashes the game with a message from directdraw saying that the application requires exclusive mode. Which I assume is why GOG forced the blackbars to make the game compatable.
Anybody know any way around this though?
Post edited April 20, 2010 by partially
Posted April 20, 2010
Done what Post 24 said and it's working at 1280*1024 with minor black bars. BTW, no need to re-modify loader.ini each time, did it just once and even though it was restablished by loader.exe the resolution stood still.
Plus I've been working with Xpadder and controls.ini and now Xbox360 pad works perfectly for the game ;)
Post edited April 20, 2010 by pakoito
Posted April 20, 2010
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corto1976: First of all, thanks lexic0n777 and Cyphox for all your trouble trying to give us a solution to the black bars around the game screen. And although your solution could make the game unstable I guess that saving often could help with that. If I reach any catastrophic bug I will revert to the cpu.ini tweak that made playing the game much more pleasant even if with the bars.
Once again thank you guys, and thanks GOG for giving us this gem.
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doginarocket: EDIT - Add using the portals to dying for the list of known things that causes crashes when denying write permissions to get fullscreen...

But consistently? You can't use the portals at all?

Haven't confirmed it's consistent but I assume it is. My "solution" is to take off the write protect, port while there are black borders, save, exit, put the write protect back on for fullscreen, load the save and play fullscreen until i need to port again. I seem to remember you don't port very often so I think I can deal with this but the hassle may not be worth the fullscreen for everyone.
Post edited April 21, 2010 by doginarocket
Posted April 21, 2010
I just remembered this, I found it when I last tried playing Outcast:
http://www.outcast-thegame.com/support/patch.htm
Entry #23 has some info on what needs to be changed for the new resolution. It seems you have to edit ALL the machine config files. Hope it helps :)
Posted April 21, 2010
The instability of the game and the graphical quirks made me revert to the cpu.ini tweak. Playing the game with the black bars is annoying just for the first moments of the game. After a while of playing the brain completely forgets the (small) frame. ;)
Posted April 21, 2010
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hunvagy: I just remembered this, I found it when I last tried playing Outcast:
http://www.outcast-thegame.com/support/patch.htm
Entry #23 has some info on what needs to be changed for the new resolution. It seems you have to edit ALL the machine config files. Hope it helps :)

You only need to edit the file related to your selected CPU. If you have a custom config I don't know what option it is, but you shouldn't need that if you're setting it up in an ini file anyway.
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lexic0n777: Edit:
This crashes the game when you die, possibly other times too. Removed.
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doginarocket: Until I find a crash other than when dying I think your post was still helpful. If you do put it back up a huge disclaimer might be good, but personally I will play fullscreen with the write permissions off unless I find other game-stopping crashes. Saving often is a workable solution for the dying crash IMO. I'll post if I encounter other errors caused by the write permissions thing..
EDIT - Add using the portals to dying for the list of known things that causes crashes when denying write permissions to get fullscreen...
EDIT Again... Add loading a save from within the game to causes for crashes. Loading from launcher when starting the game up is fine though.

There's a 640x480 launcher mentioned at http://www.gog.com/en/forum/outcast/hi_res_patch which works as described. All that it really does is alter the Outcast.ini file after the game loader has attempted to set it so you still have the game crash out at the same points. However, it is less hassle than altering file permissions and manually setting resolutions if you're changing it regularly so you may as well use that. If you launch without the loader you get the usual bordered window that doesn't crash.
There is an option for Framed that is true/false in the .ini files and a checkbox on the setup utility. It seems to imply that will cause the black border appearance by running the game at a lower res than the main screen, but I can't set it to anthing other than true / on. The game seems to set to framed mode at runtime regardless of what is in the files. The instability from manually setting 640*480 (with widescreen mods or read only files) suggests there's a good reason for this.
Post edited April 21, 2010 by lexic0n777
Posted April 21, 2010
To make things more fun, using the widescreen launchers / readonly permissions to set the outcast.ini sizes works perfectly on a Vista 32bit machine I've tried it on. My main pc is Windows 7 64bit which either refuses to run if you drop both down or crashes on death if you raise both up.
Post edited April 21, 2010 by lexic0n777
Posted April 21, 2010
If you use the "Edit all the CPU.ini files" method, does that need to happen EVERY time you play the game? Will the game revert the resolution with every playthrough?
And does that method cause the crashes that everyone is talking about that occur on death and/or portal use?
Posted April 21, 2010
Years ago I had the same problem with resolution luckly I kept the infogrames reply from 16 August 2001, from a mister Eric Young. They said they could get it running at 1280x1024.
Here were the steps they gave me.
1) instal game
2)run outcast setup and set up your keys and sound.
3) Change all graphic options to maximum if using P3 or Athlon. Leave Dof and Antialiasing at medium. (that was then this is now) Leave setup ring open.
4)edit Loader.INI and Outcast.INI files and change any lines to do with resoultion to the new resolution. Save and exit. Change properties on both files to read only.
5) Run Outcast. DO NOT use set up utility again. You may need to repeat the file editing and changing proerties each time.
A final note from then. You may get serious corruption on loading screen, but the game should be ok. They had it running at 1280x1024 on a P2-400 128mb Ram and it Ran well.
Best Regards from
Erik Young at infrogrammes from 2001.
Hope this helps
Persus :)
Post edited April 21, 2010 by Kirin_Persus
Posted April 21, 2010
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Teflon.Djinn: If you use the "Edit all the CPU.ini files" method, does that need to happen EVERY time you play the game? Will the game revert the resolution with every playthrough?
And does that method cause the crashes that everyone is talking about that occur on death and/or portal use?

You don't need to edit all of them, only one. You only need to do it once, the talk of files getting reset each time you load only relate to a few core ini files. It won't cause the mentioned crashes.
You should try the widescreen mods to see if they crash your computer. From the start of the game you can drown yourself in a nearby pond; if you crash then it doesn't work for you, if not it works and you should be able to carry on. If it breaks at a future point you can always remove the fix and continue your game without it.
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Kirin_Persus: Years ago I had the same problem with resolution luckly I kept the infogrames reply from 16 August 2001, from a mister Eric Young. They said they could get it running at 1280x1024.
Here were the steps they gave me
...
Hope this helps
Persus :)

I couldn't get this to work. At 640x480 res it was fullscreen but crashed out on death and such. At higher resolutions the screen size actually got smaller; 640 was full, 1600 was a couple of inches across, the rest inbetween.
Windows 7 or 64 bit systems seem to have their own set of problems with the resolutions and I suspect most of the mentioned fixes will work on other operating systems without problem. I've tried another Win7 64bit system here and it has the same problems but Vista 32 can use any of the fixes on these forums to get fullscreen.
Post edited April 21, 2010 by lexic0n777
Posted April 21, 2010
Just to clarify some things:
The VideoWidth, VideoHeight settings determine the size of the game's output resolution. The ScreenHeight, ScreenWidth determine the size of the game's actual rendering window.
So:
VideoWidth=640
VideoHeight=480
ScreenWidth=512
ScreenHeight=384
Results in the game rendering in a 512x384 window on a 640x480 output screen. For those of you that have 1:1 pixel scaling turned on (also called "Do Not Scale" mode in drivers), this means the game will render in an exact 640x480 area in the middle of your screen. So first you're getting the border from the game's output settings, then the border up your native res due to the lack of scaling.
Note that something people might miss (I know I did) is the Framed option on the second page of the general game settings. The tooltip for that option describes what it does:
"Mark this box if you have the game running in low resolution and don't want to have large pixels on the screen. This will launch the game in the next higher available resolution and the rending will be done in the center of the screen.
Note the size of the game screen will be reduced"

Aha! That setting is what causes the VideoHeight/Width to be changed to 640x480. partially, this is the setting you're looking for so you get run the game with both a render and output of 512x384! Turn it off. You other guys might want to check this out too.
However, it seems that if you run the game from GoG's launcher (start.exe) the Framed option is always reset to on regardless of what you last set it to. If you want to keep the Framed option off, you have to start the game by running LOADER.exe directly.
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Note that before I discovered the "Framed" option, I too tried changing the write permissions on the Outcast.ini file, but to set 512x384 as the Video resolution as opposed to 640x480 as the Screen resolution - and I did not have any crashes when dying or going through a portal. I suspect that changing the screen resolution to 640x480 is what's actually crashing the game and it's not related to the write permissions. It's just that without changing the write permissions the value is always being changed back to a valid resolution.
---
Other than that I'll just note that while all PC displays must support 640x480, some modern displays might not accept 512x384 as a valid resolution (mine, which is an HDTV doesn't). However you can get around this, at least on nVidia cards, by creating a "virtual" custom resolution.
With nVidia drivers, you do this by going the Custom Resolution Utility (Change resolution -> Add Resolutions -> Create Custom Resolution). When you get the create window, it should be defaulted to setting that match your native resolution. Expand then timing section, then choose Manual. Don't touch anything else in the timing section , then go back up to the top and enter 512x384 then test/accept. This may or may not work, it can be finicky. This should make 512x384 a custom resolution that is scaled to and output at your native resolution.
Post edited April 22, 2010 by Sweetz
Posted April 22, 2010
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Sweetz: Just to clarify some things:
The VideoWidth, VideoHeight settings determine the size of the game's output resolution. The ScreenHeight, ScreenWidth determine the size of the game's actual rendering window.
So:
VideoWidth=640
VideoHeight=480
ScreenWidth=512
ScreenHeight=384
Results in the game rendering in a 512x384 window on a 640x480 output screen. For those of you that have 1:1 pixel scaling turned on (also called "Do Not Scale" mode in drivers), this means the game will render in an exact 640x480 area in the middle of your screen. So first you're getting the border from the game's output settings, then the border up your native res due to the lack of scaling.
Note that something people might miss (I know I did) is the Framed option on the second page of the general game settings. The tooltip for that option describes what it does:
"Mark this box if you have the game running in low resolution and don't want to have large pixels on the screen. This will launch the game in the next higher available resolution and the rending will be done in the center of the screen.
Note the size of the game screen will be reduced"

Aha! That setting is what causes the VideoHeight/Width to be changed to 640x480. partially, this is the setting you're looking for so you get run the game with both a render and output of 512x384! Turn it off. You other guys might want to check this out too.
However, it seems that if you run the game from GoG's launcher (start.exe) the Framed option is always reset to on regardless of what you last set it to. If you want to keep the Framed option off, you have to start the game by running LOADER.exe directly.
---
Note that before I discovered the "Framed" option, I too tried changing the write permissions on the Outcast.ini file, but to set 512x384 as the Video resolution as opposed to 640x480 as the Screen resolution - and I did not have any crashes when dying or going through a portal. I suspect that changing the screen resolution to 640x480 is what's actually crashing the game and it's not related to the write permissions. It's just that without changing the write permissions the value is always being changed back to a valid resolution.
---
Other than that I'll just note that while all PC displays must support 640x480, some modern displays might not accept 512x384 as a valid resolution (mine, which is an HDTV doesn't). However you can get around this, at least on nVidia cards, by creating a "virtual" custom resolution.
With nVidia drivers, you do this by going the Custom Resolution Utility (Change resolution -> Add Resolutions -> Create Custom Resolution). When you get the create window, it should be defaulted to setting that match your native resolution. Expand then timing section, then choose Manual. Don't touch anything else in the timing section , then go back up to the top and enter 512x384 then test/accept. This may or may not work, it can be finicky. This should make 512x384 a custom resolution that is scaled to and output at your native resolution.

thanks for this tip, my hero :-)
finally, on my win7 prof. 64bit, outcast without ANY black borders and without any crashes when i die/mission fail etc., and i didn't even have to use a patch :-)
what i did ...
in outcast.ini changed resolutions to ...
VideoWidth=512
VideoHeight=384
ScreenWidth=512
ScreenHeig ht=384
(when i set video width and height to 640x480 i still had some smaller black borders and when i tried to set screen width and height to 640x480 game crashed instantly)
after that i took away write permissions for any users to the outcast.ini file (otherwise it was set back to normal resolutions)
then i added a custom resolution (512x384) via nvidia control panel like you suggested
started the game with the loader.exe, disabled the "framed" option before and ... tadaaa ... everything is fine.
THANKS!
Posted April 23, 2010
Man I would love to play the game like this: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a22/twonha/DSC00065.jpg
Instead I have huge black bars on every side of the screen. It's really annoying :( So far none of the fixes were heloing :( Any suggestions?
Posted April 23, 2010
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Loengard: Man I would love to play the game like this: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a22/twonha/DSC00065.jpg
Instead I have huge black bars on every side of the screen. It's really annoying :( So far none of the fixes were heloing :( Any suggestions?

Oh man... part of me really hopes this is a photoshop because getting rid of the borders took enough effort, getting it running in widescreen would be a huge pain in the ass and I KNOW I'd go through whatever I had to in order to get it working.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
Outcastchanging to a viable resolution?(78 posts)(78 posts)
(78 posts)