SPBHM wrote on 2022-04-11, 17:31:

even Doom 3 was not widescreen I think

I definitely remember playing through Doom 3 on a widescreen 34" CRT at 960x540p when it was initially released in the summer of 2004. I probably had to use some console commands to coax it into running at 16:9 and the HUD objects were probably stretched, but the game itself properly ran in 16:9 with a proper FOV.

speeddemon wrote on 2022-04-27, 20:13:

SPBHM wrote on 2022-04-11, 17:31:

even Doom 3 was not widescreen I think

I definitely remember playing through Doom 3 on a widescreen 34" CRT at 960x540p when it was initially released in the summer of 2004. I probably had to use some console commands to coax it into running at 16:9 and the HUD objects were probably stretched, but the game itself properly ran in 16:9 with a proper FOV.

Probably console commands work, but in D3 people generally edited the config file or made their own for wide screen.

Homeworld 2
Warhammer 40k Dawn of War
Max Payne 2
Age of Empires III (I believe the initial 2005 release did not have widescreen support but I could be wrong)
Elder Scrolls Oblivion
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Call of Duty 2
Quake 4

^these would be among my favorites. I'm sure I'm missing some.

I think basically any PC game up t0 to 2007-2008 is designed to be played on 4:3/ 5:4 aspect ratio displays. In 2007 I got a 24" samsung 16:10 monitor and I remember it was pretty hard to find games that would support widescreen without patches or editing / hacks... but in 2008 most games already supported widescreen natively

I have a recollection of some earlier games having a letterbox type mode, black bars top and bottom, merely to give the 3D card less to do, so frame rate was improved. Mostly those would be racing type games and shooters where the playing area was mostly a single plane vs a lot of vertical space.