System Shock 2 along with Thief 1-2 have been properly updated by the community (NewDark / TFix / TafferPatcher, etc). They now run at 16:9 (and even 21:9 Ultrawide) without stretching, and FOV is fully adjustable. The "UI Scaling" issue in SS2 can be solved by editing cam_ext.cfg in the main game folder and uncommenting / editing the line
;d3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay 64 (remove the ; and change the number to suit depending on resolution).

d3d_disp_force_filter_scale2d allows you to select bilinear resizing vs "pixel perfect"

fov x line changes the FOV (default is 90)

^ The entire file has a lot of comments explaining what everything does but stretching and UI resizing are long solved problems for all three Dark Engine games.

I'm waiting for the new graphics card generation, so I can get an RTX 2070 (Super) for 200€ max. (probably 2nd hand). I consider it the perfect upgrade for a GTX970. right now, 500€+ is way more than I'm willing to spend.

As I've said in my previous post: And won't you know it! As soon as I used AMD's drivers to limit the framerate on Druidstone, all my crashes went away, or at least none in the more than 100 consecutive turns I tested.

So thank you for your venting thread, because I didn't even consider that higher than 60 framerate had anything to do with the crashes I was experiencing! ;)

Yeah, the only reason I upgraded this year was because this new monitor is also 1440p and my 1060 struggled with that. Now I have a 2070 and I bet it has a hard time with new games in 2021 because of the new consoles. We'll see though, depends on how well optimized the PC ports are because I suspect the consoles will be right around the same level of power (rumored to be roughly an AMD 5700).

That's why I often buy some such games on console...they wouldn't likely run on my PC anyways, and it's nice enough even at 30FPS in many cases(for me, at least)

If the NewDark changes don't do it then the SS2Tool one is recommended to add does(iirc).
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And ninjaD by someone much more knwledgable than myself *tips hat*

Questions: What do I set the number for 2d overlay to for, say, 1366x768? What number would be good?
(I mean mine looks ok but is currently a tad small)

What does the bilinear resizing thing do?

What is a good FOV/best FOV for 16:9/1366x768?

There are two separate options:-

d3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay x scales in exact multiples 1x, 2x, 3x, etc according to percentage (the lower the number, the larger the UI). Obviously there has to be enough space on the screen to fit (it won't "overscale" to the point where the UI will get cropped / cut-off). On my 1920x1080, 64 is twice the size of 128 but 16 isn't any bigger than 64. For 4K, 16 is bigger than 64. For 1366x768 I don't think it scales any more using this method and you need the second below option.

d3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay x y is the 2nd method where you can define a fixed resolution that gets scaled and aspect ratio corrected vs your actual resolution. Eg, if you find 1366 x 768 too small, then comment the ;d3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay 128 line and uncomment the one immediately below it and use the figures d3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay 800 600 (slightly larger) or 640 480 (quite a bit larger). This doesn't mean the game will run at that (it'll be native 1366x768), it means it will enlarge the UI in a way that's calculated to be the same equivalent size as if you were running at that resolution.

Bilinear resizing means it will smooth the UI out when it resizes. This allows it to scale to any fractional factor. Think of how photo editors work when you enlarge it and tick a high quality scaling option. The other option is "pixel perfect" / nearest neighbor which will simply double the width / height of pixels without smoothing, it appears less blurred and more blocky and is limited to exact multiples 2x, 4x, etc, but some people prefer that look, eg, 4k vs 1080p is exactly 2:1.

It's really down to personal preference, how big your screen is, how far you sit from it, etc. If it feels too claustrophobic, increase it. If it feels too "zoomed out", decrease it. 80-90 is what most people usually game at on PC's.

Thanks for this and all the other info....it'll be very helpful for me, i'm sure. :)

Question: As to the above, will it only accept certain resolutions for that setting(the hud scaling) or any resolution?

Kudos for your post.

Ever since 3DTV and VR 'crazes' of recent years (i did not get on those hype-trains either), i've decided to ignore all the latest fads in gaming. New games are pants for the most part (vs what we used to get) except for graphics, and pretty much all the tech required to run them well is also.

So yeah i feel sorry you wasted money on a 144Hz monitor and there is no way in hell i'm following any of these modern trends in relation to hardware.

I have a decent rig (with a new Ryzen build ready for New Year to last me the next decade or so) currently and a decent 50" TV/Monitor that is perfect at 1920x1080 @60hz. All the games i play (mostly older titles as they are my preference) run great with no problems at all.

It appears to work with any setting. Eg, you could use something obscure like 737 553 and the UI size difference would be in-between 800x600 and 640x480. It's just an internal scaling calculation rather than a display resolution.

Perfect...and thanks. :)

Thanks for sharing! Did you try to limit the framerate at anything other than 60 FPS? I would be curious if something like 75, 90 or 99/100 FPS will still crash the game.

Blah, doing what most people do is no fun! :) I finally got my new triple-head monitor setup working last night with 3 30" Dell 2560x1600 displays, combined resolution is now 7680x1600, 7 feet wide (~= 2.14m) and approx real world FOV of about 120 degrees. Massive amazing immersion, it's nuts...

Can I say 80-90 deg FOV is for plebs now? LOL

The "Widescreen Gaming Forum" has a calculator that advised around 100 FOV for 16:9 I believe. I tend to use 95.

There is something about over compensation...

I myself would find more than 1 screen(maybe 2) to be too hard to keep track of....especially with faster paced games....too much to monitor(pc humor heh).

Plus the cutoffs between screens would nag at me a bit due to my ocd/etc.