Support for Netbooks (1024x600 Resolution)?

 

I believe this has been answered by the DEVS on these forums before, and if I'm not mistaken there will be  no resolution support below 1024x768.

Try using "windowed" mode, or making changes to the user.setting file.  I believe another user made some changes in the user.setting file which allowed him/her to use a netbook, but it did make the UI in-game somewhat screwy!

 

the Monk

I don't know why they won't support less than 1024x768. I realized that once I get in the 3D game (tab through optoins) everything works great at 1024x600. It's only the 2D main selection screens. Seems like a small fix to allow for support for this resolution. It doesn't affect main gameplay, only the 2D buttons. That should be a very simple fix.

Considering netbooks are quickly becoming popular, it would seem like a good business decision to support this. But who am I but a feeble consumer who bought *TWO* copies and can't use one of them because of lack of support.

Not as easy as you might think.  For them to support a whole new resolution with 2d support they need to make resized icons for every little thing to support it so it fits on the screen.  As I'm a modder who also works with icons, even redoing 4 is a pain in the ass.

Lack of support or lack of reading the system requirements? 

Simple fix?  that's hillarious.

Just because its in the system requirements doesn't mean it isn't a desired feature. Lots of things are listed as system requirements that change later. Just for the record, looking at my game box I see nothing that says "minimum 1024x768 resolution" or to that effect.

And why would you have to resize the buttons? Just move them to a location where they will fit. I've done lots of VB work with databases and moving or manipulating buttons to support different res's at the customers request was the least of my worries. Unless there's other 2D stuff besides setting options, etc in the main menus, what is the big deal? Everything else works.

I seem to have managed to get it to work just by remembering when I tab which button should be activated. Heck, even having a small text in the corner saying what button is highlighted would be enough for me. Add that as a check option.

Just seems silly that you can play a game perfectly fine, but have trouble getting INTO the game becuase of the main interface menu.

A lot of netbooks are 1024x600.

 

My EEE is.  Please consider this.

1024x768 has been a standard for a lot of things for years.  I don't see it getting any smaller.

 

The only notebooks that run lower than 1024x768 are "netbooks" which aren't even designed for gaming and are less than optimal for such.

Umm, I beg to differ.

Visit www.gameeer.com and I also have an Asus N10J which has a nVidia 9300m GS 512MB in it.

Netbooks weren't really on the scene when Sins was under development, but now they're coming forward in force, and appears 1024x600 is the standard res for these machines. I can get games over eight years old to work with 1024x600, why not one relesed recently?

Sins runs fine on Intel GMA950 with minimum graphics settings with 1024x600. Runs great with 9300m GS with medium/high detail.

These days, it seems any time someone asks for support for something not already supported it results in great resistance. It wouldn't be asked if it wasn't really a desired feature. I'll be happy with a constructive response from a dev, and at least a layman's reason why it can't be supported. But at a minimum, they owe an honest owner this response.

So far I don't see resistance from any devs.  I see the community responding.If you want an official response, you should probably go through support. Not sure why you think you are owed something.  You bought a product.  They delivered what you bought.  You want more? Asking nicely is the way to go. 

In order to really support a lower resolution; the entire UI would need to be rearranged or rescaled, at a minimum. And no, that's not trivial, because it'd mean a lot of the art being completely redone.

Bear in mind that currently, the game is designed around the expectation that the user will have x amount of space available on the screen at a bare minimum, and the UI is designed based on that. Knock off nearly a quarter of that screen real estate and you're talking some pretty significant redesign, because the existing UI would then be taking up a lot larger portion of the screen. Not to mention that some segments are already full-screen height on their own (research screen, etc.).

Add on top of that, you now have a UI that is way too small for high-resolution users (who are much more common than netbook users, I'd bet). Some people on high resolutions have even said it's too small as-is.

Figuring that in, you're now looking at having two or three entirely separate UIs for the game (and no, raster rescales by the game engine aren't going to cut it, it'll look horrible). Given that, it should become apparent why this isn't something the devs would be in any hurry to do.

 

However, this is definitely something modders could look into. There are already some that dispose of the backdrops and compact the UI, so it wouldn't be a long leap for someone to take such mods and work on them further to make them friendly to 600px resolutions.

is there  a (split screen/multiple monitor) option in sins like there was in supreme commander? so u could seperate out the strategic map/ui from the zoomed in tactical battle side?

Thank you so very much kryo for your constructive response. I understand and respect your comments about this.

Are you aware of any groups or sites that I can visit that might be working on such a mod or be open to investigating it?

How about my other suggestion to have a small text in the upper right corner that states which button is highlighted so at least if you're tabbing through the UI you can know what's selected even though you can't see it. This could be an option even in a config ini that would turn it on. Wish I had the time and skills to do such a thing myself.

Thanks!

Thanks for your response. I guess that didn't come across as I had meant. I just wanted to say that I would prefer to hear from the dev (the horse's mouth), instead of some of the nay-sayers on the forums. I understand there would be complications, but don't feel it is an unreasonable request. I appreciate the response I received.

I am probably older than most of those gamers on here, and always have shields up for the flaming if a request is made that seems even marginally outside the norm. Just habit to expect resistance

The community that is attracted to Stardock, both on the gaming and desktop customizatin sides are, for the most part, more reasonable than I have in most cornerners of teh internet I've travelled.

Around here I assume first that I misunderstood if someone sounds  . . . off.   Glad it seems to be the case here again. 

Sooo, can anyone point me in the right direction as far as a mod team that might at a minimum be able to offer a small text box on the main UI screens to say what's highlighted as I tab through the options? Or better yet, and updated UI for smaller screen res's?

 

Thanks.

Ok, just so I'm clear, here's what I'm saying. Below picture is all I can get with my 1024x600 view running 1024x768. Red box represents my 1024x600 screen. Yellow text in red box in upper right represents my quick fix for possible ini option to display what button is highlighted if you're tabbing through fields, so that if it isn't visible you can at least know what's going on. Once in game, it runs well at 1024x600 res.

 

Here, I cropped and photoshopped what 1024x600 would look like if menus were to adjust accordingly. I think there was one or two screens that would need some finagling to fit, but the rest are all straight forward. 

This is unfortunate, as netbooks are a major market that they have available, which continues to grow. I spend more time away from home that at it, and am probably going to buy a netbook soon so I can compute without carrying much weight. It would be nice to be able to play Sins on it, too. I really love the game, and would love to take it with me. Would you rather me fall back on my DS for portable entertainment? That's going to mean more of my good will going to Nintendo and Square, and less to Stardock. Just something to think about. I am a consumer, and there's alot of consumer who want the same things I do, which is potential money for you guys to make, depending on whether or not I buy future expansion packs for Sins and continue to purchase other games. I could certainly see myself getting frustrated at not being able to play the Stardock games I've purchased while on the go, and ceasing to purchase. I have a demand. Are you going to supply, or let Nintendo do it instead?

That sounded a little more threatening than expected. But anyway, the devs already stated that they are not looking into that type of support soon due to the production issues. There's also the mod's they mentioned. Also, for portable gaming, how could you possibly try to play Sins so sparatically? For only $40 (although it's probably cheaper now) you could get a copy of The World Ends with You and try to 100% it. Those pins should last you about a year if you play as much as you talk like you do. (that was not advertising at all, just stating the facts :P)

Look at it this way.  For them to support your non-standard resolution, IC would have to redo the UI.  In the process of doing this, they will make the UI too small for those of us who run higher resolutions (And I'd bet we outnumber netbook users rather sizeably).  Netbooks aren't made for gaming, they are made primarily for *gasp* surfing the web!  Their capabilities are rather limited.  To those Netbooks that are somewhat robust, it's completely negated by the fact they use a non-standard resolution.  You should not purchase something you know isn't supported and then demand that it be!

/bolded and italized to make my point obvious

 

Just a point outside of the rest of the discussion: He doesn't want to play The World Ends With You, he wants to play Sins of a Solar Empire. Duh.

He said he would settle for a square game if they devs did not support his request, and I gave him a good game incase it came to that.

I wasn't demanding anything.  My "supply" and "demand" language in my post is a matter of economics:  I desire mobile entertainment.   I've purchased from Stardock, so they know I'm willing to buy.   IF THEY WANT ME TO KEEP BUYING FROM THEM THEY'LL NEED TO MEET MY NEEDS.  

Get it?  This is not a whiner demanding free stuff.   This is a legitimate customer who's saying:  If you want to keep my business, you'll include feature X or Y in the next release.  If you don't, my business goes to Nintendo, or Sony, who are right now providing me with better mobile entertainment than you are.

If it sounded threatening, it's because it was meant to.   I'm a real customer, I get a say in this, according to Brad Wardell.   My threat to cease buying from Stardock was not idle, either.

Frankly, the excuse that  its' a non-standard resolution is lame, and also untrue.  It's the standard resolution on netbooks, which are now a large chunk of the PC market.   Furthermore, the only things needed would be a few changes to the UI in only one resolution.   Since the UI must be redrawn at every different resolution size ANYWAY, there's no real reason, other than sheer stubborness on the part of development, why this wouldn't work.

No in-game changes need to be made, the game works fine once play starts.  It's only the menus that need to be altered slightly.    

Slight aside to a previous poster:  I do indeed own "The World Ends With You".   I intend to begin playing it on the go soon, once the other games in the queue are finished.

I just finished version 1.0 of my netbook 1024x600 resolution mod for Sins of a Solar Empire.  Go here to download it and get more info:

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/362608