If you set output=ddraw in dosbox.conf it should already work better (or better output=direct3d if you have a patched cvs), and set scaler=none. (that is if you use Windows) That way it can both stretch AND not look bad as you second screenshot. And if you don't want it to strech just set aspect=false.

I followed your steps but it still scales the image across the whole screen, leaving no black borders, so it still "breaks" the aspect ratio.

I think I figured it out: try setting fullresolution=1280x1024 (replace 1280x1024 with your current desktop resolution).

Anyway that's what I do and it works for me.

If that still doesn't work for you, try fullresolution=320x240
but be aware that the textmode is scrambled then (switch to
fullscreen when in-game therefore).

Are you really sure you want that btw.? Looks squashed to
me, i prefer the original look.

ChaosFish, I followed your previous steps along with your new resolution step and now it works perfectly: the image scales until it meets the border at both sides of my screen, and leaves two black borders: one at the bottom and one at the top of my screen. Now I can play in fullscreen without the aspect ratio of those old games being broken. At first the image was a bit too far to the left, but using auto-adjust on my monitor fixed it.

I had to use "fullresolution=1280x1024", though, not 320*240, so wd, try doing that too. Along with scaler=normal3x the image is VERY sharp.
You say you also want it with the original look, then you have to use the black borders too 😀 If you don't then the image is tretched out and that's not the original look 😁

Thanks for helping. Here is how Commander Keen looks now:

As you can see the square of a level I have done is square. Without your help it would be a rectangle, which isn't right 😁

That rectangle is supposed to be a rectangle and not a square.
That's how it looked when they programmed it, and if they wanted
that to be a square they'd have made it a square on the 320x200 mode 😀
And i'm sure the 320x200 modes never had any black bars on top or
below on my old PC.

Setting 320x240 is the only way on my laptop to look it like you describe.

wd wrote:

And i'm sure the 320x200 modes never had any black bars on top or below on my old PC.

Indeed they didn't. While 320x200 was/is a non 4:3 resolution, it still used the whole 4:3 screen, which made the pixels to be tall instead of square.

Best solution I know to make it look like it "should look" without using the original resolution, is to play the game in 1600x1200 with the width*5 and the height*6.

Freddo wrote:

wd wrote:

And i'm sure the 320x200 modes never had any black bars on top or below on my old PC.

Indeed they didn't. While 320x200 was/is a non 4:3 resolution, it still used the whole 4:3 screen, which made the pixels to be tall instead of square.

But I have a 5:4 monitor.

Still rectangles should not be squares then.
But you need some border filling to achieve this on a 5:4 monitor 😀

Guess it's just a matter of liking. Most games were programmed
with the actual output in mind, but some weren't. Hope you finally
got something that pleases your eyes 😀

I wonder why developers of old games didn't start with the correct aspect ratio to begin with? Why make a wrong (squished vertically) version to let the stretching correct it? Seems weird to me 😀

Well mode13 (320x200) was a very easy vga mode that had a simple access to the pixels.
Using a mode with square pixels (320x240) was possible, but somewhat
non-standard so most games used the easier mode.

Don't know what you mean by "wrong version" because it was just what
that mode looked like. If you wanted squares, you couldn't draw something
40x40 because that was a rectangle on-screen.

Hi fellow folk 😀

I recently started using DosBox, and last week I spend trying to make Eye of Beholder to work in fullscreen 4:3 on my 16:10 LCD. I tried many things suggested on this forum, and the only one that works for me was a tip from this topic, hence I necropost 😀

I've done this:

If you set output=ddraw in dosbox.conf it should already work better (or better output=direct3d if you have a patched cvs), and set scaler=none.

and this:

I think I figured it out: try setting fullresolution=1280x1024 (replace 1280x1024 with your current desktop resolution).

and lo and, umm... behold, Eye of the Beholder in all its fullscreen 4:3 glory. But there's a problem that comes with it. While I was using

fullresolution=original
output=surface
aspect=false

I've had horizontally stretched, but clear and sharp picture. Now with dosbox.conf tweaked as

fullresolution=1680x1050
output=ddraw
aspect=true

I'm getting correct 4:3 picture, but it's awfully, terribly blurry. It's fuzzy up to the point that it, literally, pains my eyes to simply look at a monitor (it feels, like, as if watching CRT at 40Hz)! Of all changed settings I believe it's ddraw (huh? what's it?) to blame. Could I do something to alleviate this situation?

Could this help perhaps:

(or better output=direct3d if you have a patched cvs)

and if yes what is patched cvs and where could I get one patched with direct3d? Or, may be, there's other output modes I could use to get 4:3 without degrading picture sharpness?

Thanks in advance 😀

Is fullresolution=1680x1050 the true full resolution of your LCD screen?

In reply to Creepin,

See my FAQ.doc it has a Q&A on this issue.

Q&A : "DOSBox in fullscreen looks blurred."

Erik

Whoa, seems like I made it 😁
I managed to find myself CVS build that has direct3d support. With output=direct3d and other options from this topic it works good so far: 4:3 with black bars on each side and with no blur at all! So, thanks to an authors of DosBox I could finally play my childhood's games once more 😀

P.S. Yes, 1680x1050 is native for my widescreen. BTW, it's Samsung 215TW, very good thing in other aspects but utter crap towards mantaining aspect ratio, so if someone with the same monitor comes around with questions about how to get 4:3 on fullscreen I hope he'll be able to find this topic via search 😉

Direct3D is slightly different from other output modes 😉

aspect=true will scale the image to 4:3 (assuming square pixels) no matter what the resolution (useful for widescreen monitors)
aspect=false will scale the image using only integer factors (this gives as little blurring as possible on an LCD; a 320x200 game will be scaled to 1280 (320*4) x 1000 (200*5) on a typical 1280x1024 LCD)