Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello all:

Trying to pretend to be the Red Baron, I've began to play F1 Challenge (another one of those EA Sports games) and was wondering if there is a good native widescreen solution to it. In actuality, just by setting my 2005 FPW to stretch mode and then fiddling with the fov values in the games config files, the game looks pretty good. The pit crew look a bit chubbier, but the track looks good thanks to the wider fov and the cars look alright.

However, I saw that someone on the Matrox forums hacked the 3dconfig utility for F1C to give it Parhelia surround gaming resolutions (i.e. 3072x768 so that it fits on 3 1024x768 screens). How their last-gen Parhelias manage to run F1C at that resolution I don't know, hell even my GF 6800 chugs a bit at max res, but they seem pretty happy with the results.


I noticed that they still need to adjust the fov values to accomodate the resolution change to make things look good. So my question is: is their method fundamentally better than just using the stretch function on the 2005 monitor, or is their adding a new resolution to the game, then changing the fov basically the same as my stretch it and change the fov method? And if hacking into the 3dconfig to add a new resolution such as 1680x1050 is a better solution, then could someone give it a shot? Pretty please?

It might be easier to ask the guy who already hacked the file, maybe, but I was just lurking on their forums. They seem like friendly enough people, but maybe not when they find out I've got a gfx card made by the evil empire in my PC :lol: Also, this sort of a fix might apply to other EA sports games that everyone is clamoring about all the time.

That's all. Thanks for any comments or help from anyone, and meanwhile I'm going back to learning the Interlagos track before switching on the tube for the inaugral Turkey GP.

Later!

Hello ...
I have a Matrox Parhelia set up with 3-19" tft screens ...
I don't have the game any more but it did run beautifully at 3072x768 ... the card was a lot better than it's reputation suggests.
The only reason I don't use it for games anymore is that most new games won't work on it as Matrox won't or can't implement DX9 drivers for the Parhelia .... :? :cry:
I still use it for my work, surfing and general use ... (the system in my sig is my new gaming machine) ... :D

Here's a pic of my Parhelia setup ...
Click to enlarge...



To your issue ...
Changing/hacking the game to give you your native screen resolution and altering the FOV gives the best results ... :D ... Native resolutions always look better.
Stretching to fit your screen and altering the FOV will give you a better result than just stretching alone ... but the image will probably look a bit soft as it isn't the native resolution for your widescreen.

As an example of native v non-native ... here is a Battlefield 2 screenshot at a non-native resolution stretched to fit my widescreen ...
(I have scaled down the size of the screenshots ... so even when enlarged they are not at the true resolutions) ...
Click to enlarge...
... it looks a bit soft ...

Here is the same picture at the native resolution for my widescreen ...
Click to enlarge...
... as you can see the image is a lot sharper ...

When you increase the FOV it will alter the view so that what you see doesn't look stretched but the resolution will still be non-native and the game will still look a little soft.

It is up to you to decide if you are happy with it looking a bit soft.
The guy you need to ask for a resolution hack is chr79 ...

His email address from the Matrox forum ... [email protected]
His web page ... http://chr79.free.fr/matrox/

I hope this helps ... :D

Hey Paddy:

Thanks for the info, and nice setup! Maybe I should drop that guy a line and see if I could get a native fix for F1C.

I remember being very intrigued by the Parhelia when it first came out, and it's too bad that it never caught on. On the other hand, surround gaming probably is too much of a investment (1 gfx card, 3 monitors) even with today's freefall LCD prices, and with the advent of widescreen monitors, widescreen gaming on one wide monitor is the best solution.

Unless, of course, you favor driving games like me. Having three monitors and superwide fov changes everything in a driving game.

Thanks again for the advice!

Hey Paddy:

Thanks for the info, and nice setup! Maybe I should drop that guy a line and see if I could get a native fix for F1C.

I remember being very intrigued by the Parhelia when it first came out, and it's too bad that it never caught on. On the other hand, surround gaming probably is too much of a investment (1 gfx card, 3 monitors) even with today's freefall LCD prices, and with the advent of widescreen monitors, widescreen gaming on one wide monitor is the best solution.

Unless, of course, you favor driving games like me. Having three monitors and superwide fov changes everything in a driving game.

Thanks again for the advice!

Hi!
Did you find a solution for wide-F1Challenge?
:)