Quick FOV Question

[Alita]

I'm guessing that the following is due to the age of the game engine and that nothing can be done.

 

I changed my configuration to run ET in 16:9 widescreen. I then changed my FOV to 106 per the calculation. Everything works fine. However, ET seems to do both Hor+ and Vert+ widescreen such that the effect is a zoomed out image, with everything smaller. I find it harder to see distant enemies because of this. Is there a way to make ET do only Hor+ like most newer games do?

 

Thanks.

[SunLight]

how did you get that number? which calculation? you should take into account the size of your previous and current monitor as well.

 

If you calculated it correctly players shouldn't be smaller, only the aspect ratio would be different

[Alita]

I used the one from here.

[Haruhi Suzumiya]

Try setting a custom resolution to match your OS.

 

r_mode -1

r_fullscreen 1

r_customaspect 1 (double check that one)

r_customwidth xxxx

r_customheight xxxx

[Alita]

Thanks. I have that in my configuration; that's what I used to make it go widescreen. I even made an FOV toggle in game so that it was easy to see the difference.

[10Tacle]

at work atm, but I can change the behaviour of that in my Catalyst Control Center (some option about fixed ratios / fixed screen in display settings). before I activated it, any lower resolution would just be a window on my large 24'' screen.

[SunLight]

just to add one thing, you say:

the effect is a zoomed out image, with everything smaller. I find it harder to see distant enemies

What you describe is exactly the point of raising the field of view.

 

It's like using a wide angle lens, so it's obvious that everything is smaller, but if your monitor is bigger, then it will compensate for that. Vertical fov doesn't play a role in this. At most it's useful if you don't like 'fat' players

 

Did you change monitor? For instance when I started ET I played on a 4:3, 17'' screen, the base of the screen was 34 cm (not the diagonal)

 

Let's assume I used 90 fov, now what's the fov for a 16:9 monitor with a base of  50 cm? (note that I don't even care about the resolution here, if I want the same size, resolution doesn't play a role)

 

90/2 = 45, so 45 degrees are 34/2 = 17cm in my old monitor.

 

I want in the middle of the new screen the same size as the old. 50cm/2 = 25cm, this is the half of the new screen.

 

So if 17cm is 45 degrees, how many degrees is 25?

 

the tangent of 45° is 1, 25/17 = 1.4705882352941178, so I want an angle whose arctangent is that.

 

here is a website where you can do the calculation but you can use a spreadsheet or calculator, jsut pay attention to the fact that angles are usually in radians not in degrees

http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/math/Arctan_Calculator.htm

 

arctan (1.4705882352941178) = 55.78429787 it was half the screen so I multiply *2

and I get FOV = 111.56

 

this way I will have the same horizontal size as my old monitor, plus 2 extra parts at the sides

[-=HipKat=-]

Geez Sunlight, can you explain that again in English?

[Alita]

Hmm, for some reason I can't quote in IE11.

 

Thanks, SunLight. I did change monitors although I don't have the old one anymore. It was a 22" CRT; now I'm on a 22" widescreen. I looked up the specs of my old monitor to do the above calculation. In doing so I also realized additional the error in what I wanted. For example, in Oblivion, which is also on this computer, if I chose a widescreen resolution I have the extra sides but the same horizontal view as in an old CRT resolution. I realized that the game engine is likely doing this calculation for me to just give me the extra sides because it natively supports widescreen monitors. In ET, I am already in a widescreen resolution when do the FOV change which is why it's doing the wide lens effect. Also, my new monitor is slightly shorter vertically than the old monitor which makes things smaller if I wanted the same horizontal view as before.

 

Thanks a lot. After that fun bit of math, I have my new FOV to try.