Big Picture's Aspect Ratio Support

[BenM64]

I was curious about Big Picture Mode, so I tried it out…but immediately noticed it's missing one of the most basic things I can think of: standard 4:3 (or 5:4) aspect ratio support.
Currently, while Big Picture does indeed run, it has enormous black borders on the top/bottom of the screen, as if I'm viewing it from the inside of a postbox. Nothing in the "Target resolution" list matches up with my monitor's native resolution (1280 × 1024). It's like Big Picture's hardcoded to a TV's aspect ratio; fair for when the hardware actually is connected to anything widescreen, but doesn't take into account those who still prefer standard aspect ratios for whatever reason.

Consider that plenty of PC game engines support 4:3 and 5:4 flawlessly. Like Wolfenstein II's gigantic-budget id Tech 6, or Miasmata's home-made, no-budget-to-speak-of Milo engine; they both smoothly handle whatever screen-res/aspect ratio you throw at them whilst also rendering realistic 3D graphics. With that in mind, standard aspect ratios should be a picnic for Big Picture Mode to support, right?

I personally find it a little amusing how Valve supposedly stopped working on the Half-Life series to focus on Steam, yet in doing so, somehow forgot about the existence of 4:3 monitors when working on Big Picture Mode. (I daresay the number "3" in the 4:3 ratio turned them away? *chuckle*)

Yeah, so if the Big Picture programmers could kindly implement support for aspect ratios other than 16:9, it would mean a lot for people who, for example, want to get a Steam Machine running on a VGA/DVI monitor, or want to try out Big Picture on their Windows PC but don't have a TV-size monitor, or simply resent using anything widescreen for any reason, etc.
Thanks for reading.

[ KARR™]

Didnt seem to be resolved back in 2013
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/bigpicture/discussions/1/828939163598132456/

or in 2016
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/458605613412161288/

Probably due to the fact that less than 2% of users apparently use 1280x1024 and over 90% use widescreen resolutions.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

[BenM64]

Publicado originalmente por  KARR™:

Didnt seem to be resolved back in 2013
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/bigpicture/discussions/1/828939163598132456/

or in 2016
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/458605613412161288/

I know, right? Weird how Valve hasn't even tried to solve such a basic feature for several years, LOL. Like, how hard is it to support our native resolutions?
It's hilarious how their own games, like Half-Life 2 (2004), are better at rendering in different aspect ratios than their own Big Picture Mode is.

Probably due to the fact that less than 2% of users apparently use 1280x1024 and over 90% use widescreen resolutions.

True, true. There may be fewer 4:3/5:4 users, but they do still exist. Someone out there might be heavily devastated by Big Picture Mode's lack of support - or even acknowledgment - for standard aspect ratios. I mainly posted this suggestion more on behalf of them than myself.

Besides, consider that Wolfenstein II was developed with every high-end PC gaming standard in mind…including 4:3 aspect ratios.
https://www.vortez.net/news_story/pc_specssettings_and_features_for_wolfenstein_ii_the_new_colossus.html

Aspect Ratios
With such a wide range of tastes in aspect ratios among PC gamers, MachineGames tried to cover as much as possible including 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, and 21:9 (ultra widescreen).

(Emphasis added.)
Since multiple aspect ratios - not just 4:3 - are common sense for id Software and Bethesda, shouldn't they also be common sense for Big Picture Mode's programmers?

All the same, Big Picture's lack of support for anything other than 16:9 might've just been an innocent mistake by Valve or something.
After all, it's not like they'll deliberately pull another Idea Factory and go "uhh let's just pretend it's all the player's fault that they personally dislike widescreen monitors", right?
Whatever the case, it should be easy to implement more aspect ratios into Big Picture Mode. It is, like I said, one of the most basic things I can think of.

[Auraxium]

Hello I am from the future and am sad to say that this is still an issue in 2019. I have a 5:4 monitor and can only use 16:9 display resolutions in the Steam Big Picture settings.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Big Picture is mostly intended for use on TVs.

The number of TVs out there still using 4:3/5:4 is probably even lower than the monitors.

[BenM64]

Publicado originalmente por Auraxium:

Hello I am from the future and am sad to say that this is still an issue in 2019. I have a 5:4 monitor and can only use 16:9 display resolutions in the Steam Big Picture settings.

Same. Apparently Dota card games and blocking us out of the older/working friend list in favour of a buggy Discord clone is easy for Valve, but adapting Big Picture to different aspect ratios (probably by shifting some of the GUI up/down a bit) is such a gargantuan effort that it's still unfixed. Even though their own games do it flawlessly.

(Not entirely sure how you managed to find this old thread of mine…but it's nice to know I'm not alone on this issue! )

Publicado originalmente por AmsterdamHeavy:

Big Picture is mostly intended for use on TVs.

The number of TVs out there still using 4:3/5:4 is probably even lower than the monitors.

Good point. They might be uncommon now, but they do still exist.

[Archie Buttle]

Looking at the hardware stats, it seems as though ~87% of users have a 16:9 screen set as their primary display. It would be neat if the ~13% of users who do not use such an aspect ratio could get better support for Big Picture Mode. I just acquired two controllers to use with my 16:10 monitor (and my sizeable collection of Steam games that support controllers); Steam defaults to Big Picture Mode when the controllers are detected. It is disappointing that other aspect ratios are still not supported, over six years after initial release. I feel bad for anyone using 4:3 or 5:4!

[wuddih]

Publicado originalmente por Archie Buttle:

Steam defaults to Big Picture Mode when the controllers are detected.

no, the overlay is the one from big picture and that you can disable in Steam settings -> in-game 2nd checkbox.

[Archie Buttle]

I know I can disable it; that's not the point. My meaning is that Steam is clearly controller-centric, even on my monitor. It's a shame it doesn't perform better out-of-the-box (aspect ratio adaptive). I do actually want to use Big Picture Mode with my controllers, anyway.