Widescreen Gaming Forum

Sorry to piecemeal this, but can you post a little write-up I can copy as well, or I can create the Wiki page and let you edit it.

Looking forward to the video. Hopefully you will let us include it in our collection.

That's my plan. :) I might even send it by your "desk" prior to posting just to get your feedback.

I can work on a write-up while producing the video since they will be most effective presented together. If you set up a Wiki page I'm fine editing it myself.

The Surround version of the mod will be forthcoming, though it will take a bit longer since more tweaks are required.

_________________
VirtualDub Game Recording Guide | BFME2 & RotWK Widescreen/Triplehead Mods

Tested one two-player map in both the original and the expansion last night. Worked flawlessly. One caveat, though: The performance hit when building units is exponential the further out you zoom. 10 squads at max zoom (600) had me hovering at around 20fps on an 8800GT. This can't be helped, but I thought I would just mention it.

Thanks for all your hard work, GeneralAdmission.

I think I'm going to go into the game assets and try to find the static images for the hud elements so I can adjust them. They aren't much of a problem on 16:10 or 16:9, but I don't see this as playable on TH2G due to the stretching.

Created this Wiki page - http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/Battle_For_Middle_Earth_2_Camera_Fix

If we get new HUD elements, I will add them as well.

Yeah, about that...I realized after about 5 minutes that changing the appearance of the elements wasn't going to be the problem. The real problem is how am I going to reprogram the interface so they work correctly, since everything that is important to gameplay is interactive.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the report, Mergatroid. Glad it's working correctly, and you're welcome. :D

Yes, there is certainly a performance hit--that's one of the things I'll be sure to note when I flesh out the wiki page/readme. Moderate framerate drops in RTS games don't bother me too much. I once played a game of Zero Hour against 7 AI opponents that had my rig chugging along at 5fps at certain points and the game latest 8+ hours! That said, I know it will be an issue for some more than others, so I plan to provide warnings and tips on the wiki.

I've thought about modifying the HUD elements as well. I agree that 16:10 and 16:9 don't warrant a fix because the stretch is not horrible. Triplehead does spit out one fat HUD, though :shock: :lol:. Since most of the Palantir interface would be on the left screen I don't think it's that bad. If you learn the keyboard shortcuts you could probably just turn off the HUD with F9 much of the time--the minimap is actually not as valuable in TH2Go since the modded FOV gives you 5-6 zipcodes onscreen at once! :D

The graphical HUD elements shouldn't be too difficult to change, but as for getting things to match the coded on-screen interactivity, I currently have no idea how that works. I would probably start by doing a number of searches through the ini files for keywords like screen, hud, palantir, menu, etc., to see if the data is even available in the config files. Maybe looking online for a sage engine mod that features a modified HUD could help. If one exists, the changes could be found by digging through their data files. I might look into this more after completing the Triplehead tweaks, but if you want to run with it, I won't stop you. :wink:

Thanks for setting up that wiki page, Ibrin. I hope you don't mind, but I planned on naming the mods "Widescreen Enhanced" and "Triplehead Enhanced", respectively. Simple names that get to the point, while also self-advertising as a 'superior gaming experience' that will hopefully attract more attention than just calling it a fix. :wink: :) What do you think?

_________________
VirtualDub Game Recording Guide | BFME2 & RotWK Widescreen/Triplehead Mods

I think I found the files that need to be edited to change the interface. I'll let you know what I come up with on Monday.

I think I found the files that need to be edited to change the interface. I'll let you know what I come up with on Monday.

Very cool.

Do you need a sample map with my TH2Go camera tweaks for testing purposes?

FYI-I'm guesstimating 1-2 weeks to complete the map changes, so you don't need to rush your work. I also need to work on the wiki page and demo video, so it may take longer.

_________________
VirtualDub Game Recording Guide | BFME2 & RotWK Widescreen/Triplehead Mods

I have no problems on the names. It's all your work. I think "Enhanced" or "Enhancement" is a great title. I believe you have a Wiki account. Now that the page is up, feel free to edit as you like. We can change the title as well. If possible, let's make the Wiki page 100% to go along with the TripleHead fixes.

Made an interesting discovery while modding. The SAGE engine ties the game speed directly to the framerate. The engine caps the framerate at 30fps, which is 'normal' speed. Take a look at what happens with the FPS uncapped:

http://generaladmission.home.comcast.net/files/RotWK_fastFPS.avi (Go, builder, go! :) )

Unfortunately I don't think there is any performance gain to be had by unlocking the framerate. I tested a complex battle scene and found that performance was the same capped or uncapped if the graphics demands forced fps below 30. And at higher FPS the game speed ramps up dramatically and unpredictably:

http://generaladmission.home.comcast.net/files/RotWK_PoorTroll.avi

I am very curious as to why they would tie game speed to the framerate. Surely the game speed could be independent of FPS, and it might yield decent performance gains during moderately complex scenes. Any designers in this forum with insight on this?

_________________
VirtualDub Game Recording Guide | BFME2 & RotWK Widescreen/Triplehead Mods