LCDs aren't perfect, but DOSBox is excellent for 320x200 games if your native screen resolution is 1280x1024. DOSBox (yhkwong's build at least) can stretch the screen ratio by 5x4, turning a 320x200 screen into a 1280x1000 screen, almost completely filling the screen with razor-sharp pixels. Also, I believe it can also completely fill a 1920x1200 screen by a 6x6 ratio, even though the pixels will not be square. Also, the video hardware should be able to scale a 640x480 resolution screen 2x2 to a 1280x960 resolution.

The same would work for an 800x600 resolution on a 1600x1200 screen and a 1024x768 resolution on a 2048x1536 screen (but I don't believe that such a creature exists.)

Great Hierophant wrote:

LCDs aren't perfect, but DOSBox is excellent for 320x200 games if your native screen resolution is 1280x1024. DOSBox (yhkwong's build at least) can stretch the screen ratio by 5x4, turning a 320x200 screen into a 1280x1000 screen, almost completely filling the screen with razor-sharp pixels. Also, I believe it can also completely fill a 1920x1200 screen by a 6x6 ratio, even though the pixels will not be square.

I see. My concern is actually preserving the original aspect ratio, so when it goes to 320x200, for example, I'd rather have 1280x800 (with black horizontal bars) instead of a "streched", out-of-proportion 1280x1000.

Great Hierophant wrote:

Also, the video hardware should be able to scale a 640x480 resolution screen 2x2 to a 1280x960 resolution.

You mean the VGA card or the monitor? IIRC newer nVidia cards can "upscale" lower resolutions to fill the LCD monitor, but video cards I'm using is an old Voodoo5.

I see. My concern is actually preserving the original aspect ratio, so when it goes to 320x200, for example, I'd rather have 1280x800 (with black horizontal bars) instead of a "streched", out-of-proportion 1280x1000.

I think there is a setting in DOSBox by which you can do that too. However, a 320x200 screen on a CRT monitor would most likely be stretched to fill the whole screen as well, and the resulting picture is very close to what I described above.

You mean the VGA card or the monitor? IIRC newer nVidia cards can "upscale" lower resolutions to fill the LCD monitor, but video cards I'm using is an old Voodoo5.

Yes, newer nVidia cards work, but in your case you will probably have to rely on the monitor. Some do better than others.

Great Hierophant wrote:

Yes, newer nVidia cards work, but in your case you will probably have to rely on the monitor. Some do better than others.

I see.

I just happened to find this page though; it's about turning a PC into a high-end video scaler. Alas, the solution seems to accept only S-Video input, so I guess no hope for an old PC (for old games) with VGA output.

This is also an interesting video scaler, but the specs says the VGA input is "pass-through", so does it scale VGA signal or not? 😢

If you want to turn a 320x200 screen into a 1280x1000 screen use the following settings:

fullresolution=1280x1024
output=direct3d
scaler=none

Instead, if you want to turn a 320x200 screen into a 1280x800 screen, use these settings:

fullresolution=1280x1024
output=direct3d
scaler=normal2x

I don't know why it works, but it will display truly and wondorously sharp pixels in each case, without fail.

On the other hand, I don't understand the need for a separate video scaler when the monitor can do all the work.

Great Hierophant wrote:

If you want to turn a 320x200 screen into a 1280x1000 screen use the following settings: […]
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If you want to turn a 320x200 screen into a 1280x1000 screen use the following settings:

fullresolution=1280x1024
output=direct3d
scaler=none

Instead, if you want to turn a 320x200 screen into a 1280x800 screen, use these settings:

fullresolution=1280x1024
output=direct3d
scaler=normal2x

I don't know why it works, but it will display truly and wondorously sharp pixels in each case, without fail.

I see. Thanks for the tip!

Great Hierophant wrote:

On the other hand, I don't understand the need for a separate video scaler when the monitor can do all the work.

I guess that depends on the monitor though, but it seems most modern LCDs today have pretty good built-in video scaler, am I correct?

I haven't found any "official" confirmation, but it is my understanding that 320x200 is a 4:3 resolution (with the pixels slightly stretched). A 320x200 game is supposed to fill full screen, so in this case a 1280x1000 is closer to the original aspect ratio. But I guess anybody can set it just the way s/he wants it 😀
Just to add a small thing to Great Hierophant's settings...this works if the aspect is set to false. If set to true, direct3d will stretch to 4:3 AR (making it 1280x960) in both cases and the pixels will be slightly blurred.