VOGONS

Try a new video resolution scaling technique?

Topic actions

First post, by xifu

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Please forgive me for sounding like an idiot. I have never coded before, so I don't know how hard this would be.

I am using a CRT monitor with a Nvidia 6800GT with Windows XP x64 and the latest drivers. My monitor resolution is 1024x768.

I have tested the various resolutions and scaling options in DOSBox and compared the image quality with PRBoom. I like to use 960x600 windowed in PRBoom, so I did the same in DOSBox using these settings:

windowresolution=960x600
output= i tried all of them
scaler=none

I have also tried:

windowresolution=original
scaler= i tried all of them

I have found that PRBoom's image quality is better.

My questions are:

Would it be hard/impossible to incorporate PRBoom's rendering/scaling technique in DOSBox?

Would incorporating PRBoom's rendering/scaling technique break other things in DOSBox?

The reason I would like to see this in DOSBox is because there are some DeHackEd Doom mods that (so far) do not work correctly in the various Doom source ports.

Again, I apologize for sounding stupid since I am not a programmer.

Reply 1 of 4, by TeaRex

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Not sure if this would be an acceptable solution but here goes.

I have only XP 32-bit so I don' know if this works in Vista 64, but in my NVIDIA settings (I have a 9600 GT) it's possible to define custom resolutions with custom timings. If like me you have a CRT and not an LCD this works very well indeed.

I just defined a 640x400 resolution with the original VGA 70Hz timings. Then I use scaler=normal2x and output=ddraw. DOSBox gladly uses the custom resolution if it is available. The result looks 100% like it would with a real DOS machine connected to the same monitor.

Edit: I should mention that I use fullscreen=true and fullresolution=original for this.

tearex

Reply 2 of 4, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank DOSBox Author
Rank
DOSBox Author

It looks better because PrBoom is a re-worked engine using a higher resolution in the game, it's not just scaled up. When you run the original DOOM program in DOSBox, its 320x200 resolution can't be internally changed to a higher res, it is only scaled up to the output size you request. In other words, the original DOOM program is the limiting factor, not DOSBox.

IMO, ZDoom has better looking high-res support for DOOM-engine games, and can look just like the original, only at a higher resolution. PrDoom scaling smears a bit, and the default gamma is too high. Again, just my opinion. BTW, a resolution of 960x720 would have a correct aspect ratio compared to what you are trying to use.

Reply 3 of 4, by xifu

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
ripsaw8080 wrote:

It looks better because PrBoom is a re-worked engine using a higher resolution in the game, it's not just scaled up. When you run the original DOOM program in DOSBox, its 320x200 resolution can't be internally changed to a higher res, it is only scaled up to the output size you request. In other words, the original DOOM program is the limiting factor, not DOSBox.

Thanks for your reply. I understand now. I didn't remember DOOM looking this bad in DOS (I played it when it first came out 15 years ago.) 😀

ripsaw8080 wrote:

BTW, a resolution of 960x720 would have a correct aspect ratio compared to what you are trying to use.

I just multiplied DOOM's original resolution, 320x200, by 3. That's where I got 960x600. 😀

Reply 4 of 4, by collector

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
xifu wrote:

I didn't remember DOOM looking this bad in DOS (I played it when it first came out 15 years ago.) 😀

And probably on a much smaller monitor, too.

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to DOSBox Development
Close window
Close window