Theme Resolution question.

[denmiclaw]

I wanted to ask, has anyone had any success displaying 16:9 themes on a 4:3 monitor?

My max resolution is 1280x1024, on a normal 4:3 monitor.

I tried setting up Gameex to run the wonderful GameroomEX theme, with the following settings..

I set Don't Switch Resolution to Set Resolution to Below

X Resolution = 960

Y Resolution = 540

Window/Full Screen = Window

Full Screen Windowed = Disabled

When I first set it to this, it came up in a window, and I thought it was working but then discovered things misaligned. When I closed and reopened the program, my window went to about 2 inches high.

Is it possible to run a 16:9 theme on a 4:3 monitor, and I'm just missing a setting?

Most of the newer ones seem to run in that resolution.

Thanks!

[DazzleHP]

Unfortunately themes will in most cases scale down badly when forced to a ratio they were not designed for. The reasons are a bit technical but if you could try to imagine forcing a rectangular object through a square hole It can be done but only if you squash the rectangle into shape. Essentially when trying to display a 16:9 theme using a 4:3 monitor that is what you are doing, but most importantly it is doing it to individual elements of the theme rather than as a whole and can result in some bizarre looking layouts.

The general rule is to use themes that were designed to your monitor/screen aspect ratio as they will scale down much cleaner

I would also recommend going true fullscreen to make sure you are seeing the theme as it is intended.

[denmiclaw]

I guess I should upgrade my monitor if I wanna use those themes heh.

Thank you for the response!

[Adultery]

As 4:3 becomes less and less used, designers tend to lean to 16:9. There are, however, some nice looking 4:3 Themes out there though. :-)

[DazzleHP]

As 4:3 becomes less and less used, designers tend to lean to 16:9. There are, however, some nice looking 4:3 Themes out there though. :-)

Agreed! And if you are particularly set on a theme you've seen or tried and it doesn't have a 4:3 version, you could always have a stab at converting it to 4:3 yourself That's the great thing about GameEx, you get all the tools needed to make it your own

[denmiclaw]

Thanks guys! One other question, then.

I tried Blackglass and Blueglass. Blueglass looks great. Blackglass shows my game snaps about 1/3 the size that Blueglass does, and my game list is in the middle of the screen, not the righthand box. I took a stab at looking in the themeeditor, and the List box seems to be where it should be.

Here's the Blueglass.

This is what Black Glass looks like

I tried the simple things - like uninstalling and reinstalling the theme

[Adultery]

It's more a matter of the size of the snap box in the editor and where the list box is located. You would have to physically change those things to see a difference, as these locations and sizes are determined by the theme.ini itself.