Widescreen Gaming Forum

So is anyone else getting the problem where after you've gone to the world map part of the world map shows up in the black area in the bottom right side of the main screen?


Or is it just me?

Is this normal?

Is there any one to fix it?

It's normal

It "should" be possible to fix if Jackfuste revisits the pharaoh/zeus fixes at some point. But it really isn't a critical issue - the game just isn't built to stretch out like that as you can easily tell from the "world" map and the mission screens.

But it beats having to play the game at 1024 ^^

New guy question... how do the Widescreen tweaks for games like Emperor get distributed?

I assume that the folks who work on the patches don't just distribute an edited .exe do they? Is it a file containing a script of hex edit locations to apply ourselves?

They do actually - a compressed archive with an executable for each resolution.

I suppose it solves the problem of "I followed your instructions (sort of) and it doesn't work!".

I presume that the version of the .exe will be something like Emperor (Sierra) 1.0.1.0 English with localised versions appearing at the modder's whim?

Pharaoh and Zeus uses the GOG (Good old Games) releases, which have had their copy protection removed and have the latest official patch. (So yeah that'd be 1.10)

As for emperor, I believe (hope really) that an unofficial copy protection removed executable is used as I don't have a DVD drive anymore. :bigsmile:

Given how popular these City Builder games still are, I wonder if anyone has approached Overhaul Games to see if they could officially pick up the titles? They have just done Baldur's Gate and re-engineered it for modern monitors after all.

Doubtful - Given how hard it has been for GOG to even get two of four games on their store, I doubt it. The rights holders are a stubborn and greedy bunch.

It'd be much easier to just develop a new franchise from scratch.

Having had a look inside Emperor.exe myself with a hex editor, I have the greatest respect for folks like Jackfuste who can make these games jump through widescreen hoops!

I would have absolutely no idea how to identify the anchor points for the UI elements, let alone sorting issues like the World Map Scroll problem.

Hats off to you, guys!

Jackfuste - are you in the position of needing testers for any of the Emperor widescreen resolutions yet?

While I am 16:9 myself at 2560x1440, I would be more interested in playing the game slightly stretched, say at the 1080p level of zoom. Part of the charm of Emperor for me is the slightly chunky figures rather than pixel-sharp tiny ones.