I guess you need to start setting fullresolution=original or fullresolution=WIDTHxHEIGHT so DOSBox knows how big your fullscreen is.

Next, aspect=true so it won't overstretch the graphics.

And finally fullscreen=true

Maybe.........

thank you. that kind of worked. it centered everything at some resolution with correct aspect ratio centered on the desktop. just have to find out how to zoom it in now, while keeping the aspect.

Zooming... I think you need to select a scaler for that. Like scaler=normal3x. I many cases the scaler will not 'kick in' if the game is already running in one of the (back then) hi-res VGA modes like 640×480. In that case you can force the scaler to be active by appending a 'forced' to the setting, e.g.

scaler=normal3x forced

well, I don't know what to say. in the .dosboxrc file, the possible output options written are: surface (default), overlay, opengl, openglnb. The only one that respects the aspect setting is overlay. all the other ones stretch the image to the 16:10 panel. The scaler=normal2x or scaler=normal3x do not work under "surface" output. Thank you very much for your help. I suspect a video bios or driver hickup (because activating opengl output automagically stretches the thingie, not respecting the aspect setting, neither the scaler setting).

If you have any other ideas, I will gladly try them. Should I mark the topic as solved? (I consider more than half of the problem solved, though I wouldn't want others that are interested in "zooming" their games respecting the aspect to be disappointed)

p.s. I'm using dosbox 0.71 (that's the latest in the Ubuntu repositories and I don't really have the guts to compile the last version by myself.)

Overlay is my preferred method too. I don't know much about Ubuntu/Linux so.... Give the thread a few days before you mark it solved. Who knows, someone on an Ubuntu box with the same graphics card might come by.

I find with widescreen and my pc in general DDraw is basically the only solution. Not only does it stretch (or not stretch depending on the resolution/aspect option) but it also doesn't skip like a bitch in CD games.

ddraw on ubuntu?

I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Overlay doesn't respect the aspect ratio either. The only one that seems to draw 4:3 is surface. overlay, opengl and openglnb are stretching to 16:10. The scaler parameter is ignored by all four options in my configuration.

avatar_58: the directx libraries are proprietary to microsoft, they cannot be used by linux based operating systems. as far as I know, the linux version of dosbox makes use of the SDL libraries.

depends on the target graphics modes you tried of course,
might even try to force using the scalers

wd wrote:

ddraw on ubuntu?

No no, I meant in general. For Linux you can't use it obviously.

localhost_ro wrote:

I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Overlay doesn't respect the aspect ratio either. The only one that seems to draw 4:3 is surface. overlay, opengl and openglnb are stretching to 16:10. The scaler parameter is ignored by all four options in my configuration.

Welcome to my world. I have to fight with dosbox non stop to get it to behave with widescreen, or even LCD's in general. It seems like every option only adds to the confusion.

I have not found a single way to get "aspect correction" working. At all. It doesn't force stretching and it doesn't respect the original ratio - so what the hell DOES it do? Nothing thats what.

Games that use 640x480 or higher will respect your aspect ratio if you feed them your native resolution (or any widescreen one in between). In fact you cannot force it to fill the screen - unless of course you use "original" or a 4:3 resolution. Then it will stretch.

However anything below 640x480 will stretch no matter what you do it to. Thats what I've discovered. DDraw, Overlay, OpenGL.....doesn't matter. They will not behave.

I still argue (and I would do it myself if I knew how to program this stuff) that dosbox needs proper aspect options.

*Fill the screen
*Stretch but keep the aspect
*Original resolution (aspect and size)

As you might have already noticed it's impossible to get information
about what the graphics card exactly does. Of course everybody wants
it like "start up dosbox, everything works". But repeatedly posting about
it without doing something obviously doesn't fix it (see that lengthy thread
some time ago).

Most people don't want to have DOSBox fixed to do the right thing. All they want is to have to do what they believe is the right thing for their game on their display with their graphics adapter using their version of SDL on their OS.

If people really wanted DOSBox to be fixed, they would start to narrow down the problem. Identify 1 particular game, identify 1-2 screen sizes, and then start collaborating and tabulating which settings work and which doesn't.

All I can say is that it seems to work nicely for me on 2 different WinXP laptops using Alien Carnage (Halloween Harry). On one system I run it on a 1920x1200 wide screen, on the other on a 1680x1025 screen, both using overlay and aspect correction. I get a fullscreen display with black bars on the left and right side of the game screen.

wd wrote:

As you might have already noticed it's impossible to get information about what the graphics card exactly does. Of course everyb […]
Show full quote

As you might have already noticed it's impossible to get information
about what the graphics card exactly does. Of course everybody wants
it like "start up dosbox, everything works". But repeatedly posting about
it without doing something obviously doesn't fix it (see that lengthy thread
some time ago).

From my experience it isn't related to the graphics card at all. The GPU has drivers which simply ask you the same questions I did - scale, scale w/ aspect, do not scale. Now - regardless of what is chosen here should I not be able to do the same in dosbox?

If I run dosbox at my native 16:10 resolution - then it uses the default Nvidia/ATI method of filling the screen. Now explain to me why I cannot then choose whether to fix the aspect or not.

This is not GPU depentdant, otherwise the 5 different PCs I've tried wouldn't exhibit the same results (and they have). It's resolution dependant. All LCDs behave the same way with dosbox as I've found. The problem is there is no working "fix aspect" or "fill screen" options and you have to use resolution tricks to make it work.

For me personally I use ddraw + my native if I want aspect correction (for 640x480 or higher) or I use "original" if I want it to stretch. Now if I want aspect correction with a game less than 640x480 I am screwed. Theres no way. The game must either run in a window, or I must manually force *everything* to aspect correct itself using the Nvidia/ATI panel. Thats really not a good idea, as I do not have to do this for any other program but dosbox.

You cannot tell me dosbox is the only application where scaling is impossible. That makes no sense. I've seen plenty of multiplatform programs that respect LCD technology and offer scaling + aspect correction. The trouble is finding someone who knows how to program it.

we are probably capable of programming it. We just don't know what is wrong.

The GPU has drivers which simply ask you the same questions I did - scale, scale w/ aspect, do not scale.

So what should i answer to the GPU now? Why is the GPU asking me questions?

Now explain to me why I cannot then choose whether to fix the aspect or not.

Yeah dunno why you can't. Don't remember the details of your graphics
card, driver behaviour, screen resolution, game resolution, scaler-processed
resolution etc.

as I do not have to do this for any other program but dosbox.

So you compare some app which runs at a fixed resolution to a system
emulator that requires handling a huge lot of nonstandard resolutions? Well.

You cannot tell me dosbox is the only application where scaling is impossible.

Scales fine for me.

If you want to help out:

take a game (alien carnage a good one)
Tell us what is exactly wrong in your opinion. If possible make screenshots/paint drawings of what dosbox is doing and what it should be doing according to you. (and include the settings used)

Yeah, avatar_58 - your post is just a silly rant that makes no sense at all. In your post, you're talking about "resolution tricks", "LCD technology" and other stuff i don't quite understand. Why not post examples? If there's a DOSBox problem, and you want it fixed, just provide as much details as you can, and i'm sure the devs will do their best to fix the problem. Doing so would be much more efficient than writing incoherent mumbo-jumbo.

I'm running DOSBox under XP on a Radeon 1650 (with a LCD, FYI), and i've never had aspect ratio or resolution problems. Since i've started using DOSBox, i've tested a lot of output/scaler/resolution/aspect combinations, and all of them did what they were supposed to do.

The trouble is finding someone who knows how to program it.

I'm afraid in this case, it's about finding someone with the brains to use to provided functionality correctly, to achieve the wanted result.

Ok fine, when I have time I'll make up an official "what the heck is going here" post with screenshots. However the last time I tried to explain it all I got was aggressive "stfu" behavior from many users here or the classic "well go fix it then" which I've already explained I can't.

I'll promise that i will take that post seriously. To find out what is wrong.