[Realms of the Haunting] image setup assistance (DOS). \ VOGONS

[Realms of the Haunting] image setup assistance (DOS).

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First post, by DoZator

Posted on 2025-04-28, 21:39

DoZator Offline

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I'm about to start playing this game, but right now the image doesn't look very smooth (As if the screen refresh rate doesn't match the FPS a little).

Can you answer some questions:

a) Is it possible to enable FPS display in the game itself?
b) Is it possible to add a resolution higher than 640x480 to the game?
c) What measures can be taken to make the image smoother in this game?
d) Is there a FPS limit in this game (if yes\no, how to remove it\add it)?
e) Is it possible to enable\disable frame synchronization (VSYNC) in this game?
f) What is the best screen refresh rate to set in this game for VGA resolution 320x200, as well as for VESA resolution 640x480?

I use both DOSBOX and real hardware. In the second case, the game now works noticeably better (and this option would be more preferable for me), but still not as good as many other games (Quake, Duke3D, etc.). I would like to optimally adjust the image in this game before starting the walkthrough. But I didn't find any ready-made guides and recommendations for this game. Maybe there are some unofficial fixes/improvements for this engine (True 3D)? Thank you for any tips.

Reply 1 of 6, by Paladin PIP

Posted on 2025-05-07, 03:47

Paladin PIP Offline

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Make sure you have an actual oldschool monitor, Ega compatible type , not an older machine with a new flatscreen. Dos graphics look horrible on any flat screens and they make Dos games lag badly. Check the free stuff on craigslist, but they are getting rare and harder to find.

Reply 2 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2025-05-07, 10:12

leileilol Offline

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An "actual oldschool" CRT is not going to make the delayed lighting updates smooth, speed up lookup table calculations (near transparencies etc) nor improve the caching.

Paladin PIP wrote on 2025-05-07, 03:47:

Make sure you have an actual oldschool monitor, Ega compatible type , not an older machine with a new flatscreen. Dos graphics look horrible on any flat screens and they make Dos games lag badly. Check the free stuff on craigslist, but they are getting rare and harder to find.

long live PCem

Reply 3 of 6, by keenerb

Posted on 2025-05-07, 14:05

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I have played realms of the haunting a LOT, it's one of my favorite games, and it always seemed a little "off" and sub optimal FPS even on CRT back when it was released. Phenomenal game though, one of the most atmospheric horror exploration games I've ever played!

Reply 4 of 6, by wierd_w

Posted on 2025-05-07, 14:30

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It's rare, but I *have* seen issues with poor video performance tied to which monitor was connected. I have seen it *only once*, and I believe it was tied to EIED data being sent back.

For dosbox, 'some' of the issues might be cosmetically plastered over with filters and forced higher res modes. Do note, it just up/down scales the game's original output. It does not make it natively larger. This CAN however, let you run 320x240 modex games on monitors that dont support it, through upscaling.

Filters to help clean up the image, or to re-add artificial scanlines, or other artifacts can be defined in the .conf

Reply 5 of 6, by Paladin PIP

Posted on 2025-05-08, 00:46

Paladin PIP Offline

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I disagree, the 8 bit pallets are made to look pixalated thats the way it was made, and load a certain way, at a certain speed. I just tried this game and was amazed how they made something like this with the primitive tech. I tested it on original crt and flat screen and saw a big difference in color and speed. why force try forcing perfection on artwork like this.

Reply 6 of 6, by leileilol

Posted on 2025-05-10, 03:04

leileilol Offline

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Are you trying to sell a syncmaster?

The only other problem I can think of is a possible classic nvidia-driver-stalling-on-palettes-because-dosbox-is-configured-for-surface-output issue - which by the way, WILL bite "old-school CRT" users, especially as it's a bug as old as the Geforce2.

long live PCem

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