Question about screen resolution

[Bullman]

As much as I want to play TW:M2 DE I just won't even bother if the game can not be displayed in standard 1920x1080 resolution. I have yet to see a video of screenshot of the game running in that resolution. If you think that this video is an example of the game running at 1920x1080 res you are wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhKmj1IciuI

What you see in that video is distorted 4:3 graphics STRETCHED sideways to fit on a 1920x1080 screen. It is a distorted abomination to look at.

So my question is quite simple: Can TW:M2 DE be played on a native 1920x1080 monitor at 1920x1080 without distortion?

[HazardHawk]

Yes, look at my screenshots. Set graphics to 1920x1080 and set use_widescreen to true. Without the true set it will be stretched.

[Bullman]

Hi HazardHawk,

Thanks for the reply but your screenshots are not exactly "a game with true 1920x1080 graphics running at 1920x1080 res". I think perhaps the main view screen might be undistorted but the interface/menu boundaries definitely are not....it is a UI designed to be 4:3 aspect ratio and STRETCHED sideways (or vertically squashed) to fit a 1920x1080 resolution which just distorts everything. eg. Things that are meant to be circles are instead now ovals (look at the buttons at the bottom of the battle and campaign screens for example). It just looks terrible to me.

I have been able to find (old) screenshots of MTW2 running at 4:3 res and you will see how how much more normal/nicer the UI is: https://www.mobygames.com/images/promo/l/30688-medieval-ii-total-war-kingdoms-screenshot.jpg

I have just noticed as well that ALL the screenshots at the Steam page of TWM2 DE are at 4:3 resolution! Not even CA would showcase their game in a distorted manner.

If you are still are trying to tell me that MTW2 DE can still be displayed without the distortion I refer to, let me know.

[HazardHawk]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/27357670813290509/1C584E2DCE38505625FD3208A6C43EF9EE82933F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

I cannot do anything about the HUD being slightly stretched. No one can. It is docked to the borders and hard coded. It is also the ONLY part stretched. I apologize if I misunderstood you were not complaining about the main game itself and only the HUD. You are 15 years late on that complaint.

[Bullman]

Thanks for replying. Its actually not just the HUD that is distorted (stretched to fit sideways). Its also things like all the city/town info boxes and names on the campaign map. I actually thought TWM2 DE perhaps was a DE because it addressed all these issues so it could PROPERLY be displayed at 1920x1080 res on the more modern widescreen monitors. It really is a shame they hardcoded that damn interface at 4:3. I curse the UI programmer at CA who thought stretching a 4:3 UI to fit 16:10 screens was an acceptable idea. Messing with aspect ratio of images is a terrible terrible amateur design decision.

I know some people don't seem to mind, but I guess they are the same people who would watch a 4:3 video broadcast on a widescreen TV and select "fit to screen" and tell themselves it looks better because "its in widescreen" and there are no "annoying black sidebars".

[Gigantus]

Here is the answer to your prayers: https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=399622

Easiest way to implement that is to install my Bare Geomod set up and then enable the relevant lines in the mod's CFG file by removing the hash sign in front of them:

#battle_resolution = 1920 1080		# enter your desktop resolution
#campaign_resolution = 1920 1080	# enter your desktop resolution
#tga_width = 1920	# enter width of your desktop resolution
#tga_aspect = 1.9	# enter value of width\height of your desktop resolution

Download BG: https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=352216

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=864032919

[Gigantus]

Anything beyond 19:10 (which is the highest preset) would be expecting a bit much from a game that was released when the higher resolutions didn't exist.

[FARE AVCISI]

did you find a way to fix that streched screen?

[FARE AVCISI]

768p looks more full hd than 1080p, even 768p looks more 4k than 768 compared to 1080p