Screen Size on Newer Computers

[jetnova16]

My new laptop has finally arrived (last Friday evening). I have installed all of my games that I had on my Windows Vista Home Premium to my new Windows 7 Home Premium x64-Bit Edition laptop.

All my games that I have had for years actually work, which has me very happy.

• 1) Star Trek Armada II
  2) Star Trek Legacy
  3) Star Trek Armada I
  4) Battlestations: Midway

Well unlike Star Trek Legacy where I didn't notice this problem, both Star Trek Armada I and II have a Screen Size Problem. Setting up the screen size in the games doesn't appear to fix this problem either. On either sides of my screen there are Black Areas well about in the middle the game plays. My Toshiba had a big screen but my new laptop is .3" inches bigger in length well in width, it is .3" inches smaller (think its actually like a Widescreen TV). So what I am saying is the Toshiba never did this and used the entire laptop's screen to place Star Trek Armada I and II.

So I am wondering, what do I need to do to actually get my full 17.3" screen to actually totally fit the game without showing these Black Areas on both sides (Left & Right) of my screen? In other words, when playing Star Trek Armada II, I want my entire screen to be used for the game, not just part of it.

From the HP Website for my new laptop since I can't find it on the box or "Getting Started Guide", this is what they say the Screen Display Size is:

17.3 diagonal High Definition+ HP BrightView LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900)

EDIT/ADDITION:

Is there by any chance a file in the game's "Main Directory" for Star Trek Armada II that I could edit/mod that will change the Screen Size so that it is always set before I even start the game?

[MajorPayne]

jetnova. Both stock A1 and A2 screen resolutions don't fit ANY "strange" laptop or monitor resolution. Its an unfortunate problem. I do believe that the patch project that the Flops team has worked on should give you greater flexibility over the resolution but be warned. The A1 version does cause some stretching problems on wide screen monitors. 1024*768 is your closest match in the regular game. It shouldn't damage your laptop when the screen changes resolution in this fashion.

Other than trying that, I don't think theres much else you can do.

[jetnova16]

jetnova. Both stock A1 and A2 screen resolutions don't fit ANY "strange" laptop or monitor resolution. Its an unfortunate problem. I do believe that the patch project that the Flops team has worked on should give you greater flexibility over the resolution but be warned. The A1 version does cause some stretching problems on wide screen monitors. 1024*768 is your closest match in the regular game. It shouldn't damage your laptop when the screen changes resolution in this fashion.

Other than trying that, I don't think theres much else you can do.

Oh, ok, I'll try it, but changes that I made to setting up a game in Instant Action didn't except my changes when the game loaded. I do have the Fleet Ops' Patch Project 1.2.5 Patch for Armada II and also the newest Patch that they created for Armada I.

I have noticed that with my Toshiba's screen size that their was some stretching problems for Armada I. I may not edit the screen size for Armada I for that reason and live with it being a small screen, I am more interested in changing it for Armada II because I play that game more than I do Armada I.

Is there by any chance a file in the game's "Main Directory" that I could edit the the Screen Size so that it is always set?

[MrVulcan]

Your old laptop may have stretched the game to fit the whole screen. This makes circles look like ellipses, and faces look grotesquely fat However, if a game does not support the screen aspect ratio (ratio of horizontal to vertical size), and you want the image to fill the whole screen, there may be an option in the graphics card settings that will let you do this.

My alternative has always been to hook up the laptop to a desktop monitor with a sane aspect ratio (16:10, or 4:3). Anything wider is just plain silly for anything other than watching HD movies. Unfortunately, its been too easy for companies to market these ultra widescreen monitors cause the're "full HD!!!", when in fact they are just saving costs by cutting 1/10th of the screen height.

Yours is 1600x900, or 16:9 aspect ratio, but it doesn't stretch the image to fit the whole screen. In my opinion, that is actually better than stretching the image. You'll have black bars on the sides, but the image does not get distorted (does not stretch horizontally).

Edit: the game automatically saves the game settings such as resolution, and graphic details, and so on. However, that file is not meant to be edited, and entering values that do not appear in the settings can end up resetting all game settings. In A1, the file is "ARMADA.PRF", and is located in the root folder.

[jetnova16]

Your old laptop may have stretched the game to fit the whole screen. This makes circles look like ellipses, and faces look grotesquely fat However, if a game does not support the screen aspect ratio (ratio of horizontal to vertical size), and you want the image to fill the whole screen, there may be an option in the graphics card settings that will let you do this.

My alternative has always been to hook up the laptop to a desktop monitor with a sane aspect ratio (16:10, or 4:3). Anything wider is just plain silly for anything other than watching HD movies. Unfortunately, its been too easy for companies to market these ultra widescreen monitors cause the're "full HD!!!", when in fact they are just saving costs by cutting 1/10th of the screen height.

Yours is 1600x900, or 16:9 aspect ratio, but it doesn't stretch the image to fit the whole screen. In my opinion, that is actually better than stretching the image. You'll have black bars on the sides, but the image does not get distorted (does not stretch horizontally).

Edit: the game automatically saves the game settings such as resolution, and graphic details, and so on. However, that file is not meant to be edited, and entering values that do not appear in the settings can end up resetting all game settings. In A1, the file is "ARMADA.PRF", and is located in the root folder.

Ok, I guess I will have to live with the screen size the way it is then.

I checked in Star Trek Armada I and I couldn't find a file named: "ARMADA.PRF" there is a file named: "Armada.pal" though, but I don't know how to open it and I haven't tried to open it with NotePad either/yet.

I think when you say "Root Folder" you mean the game's main directory since I also can not find a folder named: "Root".

Please note, that both Star Trek Armada I and Armada II both have the file named: "Armada.pal". Is this the file that you are actually talking about?

[MrVulcan]

Yeah, "root" folder is the main program directory. So, the same folder as where the Armada.exe is located.

I'm not sure why you don't have the PRF file. I have the .pal file as well, but I am referring to the .prf. The contents of the file are:

Short sample:

Code: Select all

9404509
2 3 1 6 1 1 0
10 10 10 8 1 1 1
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150
0.5 0.5 5 5 5 3 1024 768 16 1 1
....

In any event, this file merely stores the game settings like sound levels, graphics details, resolution, graphics adapter, etc. Also, A1 GUI could be moved around with alt+click+drag. So, the prf file also stores the custom locations for the GUI components, should someone want to rearrange the GUI (ie, swap the locations for the minimap and command menus)

It is not necessary, or advisable to modify this file. However, if it does not exist, and the game does not remember the settings you set last time you played, try creating a blank file called "ARMADA.PRF" in the root (main) directory to see if that helps.

[jetnova16]

By any chance, isn't: "NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150" a type of processor or graphics card? My computer doesn't have any NVIDIA installed or part of its hardware. That might be a possible reason why I don't have the file, also the the fact that my computer is a Windows 7 x64-Bit Edition could be the reason. The other thing is that my Armada I install isn't directly installed on my new HP computer, its file directory was transered over from my Toshiba which was a Windows Vista x32-Bit Edition. It too didn't have any NVIDIA installed. Star Trek Armada I runs just fine without that file, and actually can play off of the Armada II disc as well.

Here is an image of my Star Trek Armada I's main directory. As you can see, there is no: "ARMADA.PRF"

[MrVulcan]

You're right, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 is the graphics chip in my laptop. This name also appears in the graphics setting screen where you can supposedly choose the graphics adapters to use. I only ever had one listed there, but the name would indeed be specific to your graphics chip/adapter. You said you had an Intel 3000 HD chip, so that is what should appear there.

I'm really not sure why you don't have the .prf file there. I presume that you have loaded the game into instant action, or a mission. After a game, that file is always updated for me (always the latest modified file, even though I don't manually edit it). Anyhow, don't worry about this file, if it runs fine without it, then great. I can be mistaken as to its purpose.

Just out of curiosity, I will try running armada on another computer later and will see whether this prf file appears. I'm almost 100% certain that this file can not be related to NVIDIA, but it could be behaving differently on Win7 as you suggest.

[jetnova16]

My Armada I game is just a copy of the Armada I install from my Windows Vista laptop, it too never had that file (ARMADA.PRF). I think it copied over like that so Vista never needed it either for my install.

Do some games install special files if something extra is needed in the game?

[Blake00]

Yeah, "root" folder is the main program directory. So, the same folder as where the Armada.exe is located.

I'm not sure why you don't have the PRF file. I have the .pal file as well, but I am referring to the .prf. The contents of the file are:

Short sample:

Code: Select all

9404509
2 3 1 6 1 1 0
10 10 10 8 1 1 1
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150
0.5 0.5 5 5 5 3 1024 768 16 1 1
....

In any event, this file merely stores the game settings like sound levels, graphics details, resolution, graphics adapter, etc. Also, A1 GUI could be moved around with alt+click+drag. So, the prf file also stores the custom locations for the GUI components, should someone want to rearrange the GUI (ie, swap the locations for the minimap and command menus)

It is not necessary, or advisable to modify this file. However, if it does not exist, and the game does not remember the settings you set last time you played, try creating a blank file called "ARMADA.PRF" in the root (main) directory to see if that helps.

I've been having no luck getting Armada 2 to run just in simple HD 1920x1080. When I used the Armada 1 1.3.0 fan patch on that game I got all the lovely newer resolution options yet the popular Armada 2 1.2.5 fan patch doesn't seem to do that and I'm stuck with old smaller resolutions up to 1280x960. I've been hunting through many forums for help on this issue and I can see a few posts here and there but no working solutions. So I'm guessing either no one cares OR the game just doesn't like my built in Intel graphics chip and people with better graphics cards are getting more options. Is that whats happening here? Are you guys all getting access to HD resolutions in Armada 2?

I tried the above advice too and edited the prf file to be 1920 1080 instead of 1280 960 but as soon as I start the game it reverts it back to default 800x600.

My prf file:

Code: Select all

9704529
2 3 1 2 0 0 1 0.28 1 1 0 
20 20 20 20 16 1 1
Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 (Primary)
0.5 0.5 5 5 5 4 1280 960 32 1 0 1 0 0.625 
1 0 1 0 150

I have fleet opps which is great for multiplayer and I've even tried the Armada 2 mod for Fleet ops that puts the campaign in there however its pretty buggy. I want to play the campaign in HD and would rather do it in the original game if I can!