1. Why is the GOG version set up to display a tiny screen with huge black borders around it? Is that connected to the "Framed" option in the launcher settings? If so, why did they toggle that on? And why can't I seem to toggle it off? It appears other changes I make in the settings are saved, but when I toggle "Framed" off, the game just ignores it and next time I check the settings it's toggled on again ...

2. Has anyone played through the game using the Hi-Res patch? What are your experiences? How stable is it, does it have drawbacks?

3. How does the save system work? From what I remember you can't save everywhere you want? If that's the case, how would I deal with the crashes that are supposedly to occur when using the Hi-Res patch?

Yes, it's awesome and it gets rid of the black borders. Do use. Use the inventory item called 'gamesaav'. Squeeze it long enough, it'll save.

To clarify a little:

1) The original game runs at 512x384 resolution. This is too small for most modern monitors, so what will happen is your monitor will switch to 640x480 mode and it will display the game in the center of the screen at 512x384, with black bars on all sides. There really isn't any way around it, except to use the fan-made high-res patch.

2) I haven't tried the high-res patch myself (I played the game before the high-res patch was made) but I hear good things. Try it out, should get rid of the black bars as Fenixp said.

3) Fenixp already mentioned the gaamsaav, but I'll just clarify that it can indeed be used anywhere. But it takes a little while to kick in, so it's not a good idea to use in the middle of a fight.

1) That doesn't explain why the bars are so big though, there'd still be lots of place for a scaled image. Other games run fine on modern monitors in 640x480 or even 320x200 with black bars only at the sides, not top and bottom of the screen. Why does GOG's Outcast resist scaling? (Btw, did you actually play the game in the tiny window then?)

2) & 3) Cool, thanks to both of you. The patch improves the display a lot. :)

Well technically it's still scaled, but it's scaling the height to 480 pixels and then displaying only 384 of them, so there's black bars on the top and bottom. A 640x480 game would scale exactly the same but would fill the full vertical space of the screen. Unless you're not scaling at all? Do you see the game in a REALLY tiny window in the center, or is it only about an inch or so of black bar on the top and bottom?

You're right about 320x200 games, though, but I wonder if that's because it's a more standard resolution. Maybe 512x384 is so odd that modern monitors think it's 640x480 and scale accordingly?

Anyway, when I played I did indeed play with black bars, but I was still using a 4:3 monitor so they were only about an inch on all sides. Glad that's working. Hopefully it makes the discussion of black bars moot!

I'm not so sure anymore; I'd say something in between. The window wasn't exactly tiny, but the borders weren't just an inch or so either. It was definitely more of a black screen with a window to Outcast's world than an Outcast screen with small black borders around it. Anyway, since I can't check now, I won't rule out the possibility that it was scaled, but it didn't look right to me (and I'm used to playing games in 4:3 resolutions on my 16:10 monitor). Thankfully, as you say, the Hi-Res patch makes the discussion moot, but I'd still consider Outcast among those few GOG releases that aren't perfect without further tweaking / 3rd party patching (Betrayal at Krondor being another one - and that's the reason why I haven't played these two yet despite owning them for quite some time).