Missing 1400x1050 and 1280x960 resolutions and adjusting refresh in Mac version

[Blanka]

As oldfashioned CRT gamer I'm mostly working in 1400x1050@100hz, and sometimes at 1280x960 @100hz.
OpenArena does not offer any large 4:3 resolutions, except 1600x1200. But as the refresh rate is copied from the system res, 1600x1200@100hz gives a blacked out monitor with missing sync error, thus forcing a hard reset of OSX.

Total weirdness:
Why do game developers NEVER EVER copy the screen resolution/refresh of the OS by default? Since most are using LCD screens, they want to use the native resolution anyway. Why is it that 800x600 crap still shows up? Not only here, but every modern game suffers from this stupidity.
Second: why fo game developers NEVER EVER give refresh-rate options in the setup? That way I could have choosen 1600x1200@85 hz, which works perfect.

Questions for Open Arena:
- Can I manually ad 1400x1050 and 1280x960 to the Mac version?
- Do you want to become legend by being the first game developer to incorporate refresh-rates into their game setup?

[pulchr]

try setting r_customwidth 1280, r_customheight 960, r_mode -1

not sure but you might wanna try r_displayrefresh 85.

[jackoverfull]

- Can I manually ad 1400x1050 and 1280x960 to the Mac version?

yes, try to do what pulchr wrote.
i too play at 1440x900, wich isn't in the menu...

- Do you want to become legend by being the first game developer to incorporate refresh-rates into their game setup?

it's not so easy.

back in the '90s apple adressed this (and others) issues with a set of libraries called gamesprockets. It was extremely easy for developers to take the resolutions list from gamesprockets and make their games support any present, past and future resolutions.

but apple didn't port gamesprockets to os x (they released the whole sources some years later, but i still haven't see a working implementation on any os). :-(

[pikaunforgiven]

Why is it that 800x600 crap still shows up? Not only here, but every modern game suffers from this stupidity.

why? because not everyone is willing to spend 2 grand on a new computer every time a new game shows up. its not stupid, its called expanding your potential market by supporting older hardware.  also there is no point copying the desktop's resolution because some games wont run very well using the insane resolutions ive seen for desktops. my friend's desktop is set to 2048x1280 or something crazy like that and there's no way in hell he'd be able to run quake 4 at that resolution at an optimal framerate even with a geforce 8800GTX.
also keep in mind that open arena is free, therefore in order to survive has to support older hardware that people without a lot of money have. otherwise OA would end up like nexiuz, a free game a lot of people dont play because its way too much for older hardware.
btw, "most" people arent using LCD's, LCD's are a relatively new technology still so crt's and crt resolutions are still king, otherwise you would see a lot more websites on the internet using goofy widescreen aspect ratios.

there have been plenty of games that implement refresh rates in the UI. most good mmo's like guild wars and WoW implement it, and ive seen a few older games that do as well. no real point implementing refresh rates in the UI anyway, since in a few years crt's will be more or less obsolete and LCD's only run with a 60hz signal anyway.

oh and my personal preference is 640x480 for OA, despite having relatively modern hardware. its what Q3 was designed for, and since OA uses the q3 engine, its what seems to work best for me. i'd like to see more resolutions supported as well actually, if not for me but for others who are using laptops and such. i would imagine it would be pretty trivial to implement too. refresh rate would also be kinda nice, but like i said earlier, the importance of it will become less and less as more people get cheap lcd's.

[jackoverfull]

also there is no point copying the desktop's resolution because some games wont run very well using the insane resolutions ive seen for desktops. my friend's desktop is set to 2048x1280 or something crazy like that and there's no way in hell he'd be able to run quake 4 at that resolution at an optimal framerate even with a geforce 8800GTX.

you're right, but he'll probably be able to run oa at that resolution...

anyway, since the engine theoretically support any resolution (i suppose that there is a -very hight- limit, but it's irrelevant here) it would be nice to have an interface that autodetect the supported ones.

also keep in mind that open arena is free, therefore in order to survive has to support older hardware that people without a lot of money have. otherwise OA would end up like nexiuz, a free game a lot of people dont play because its way too much for older hardware.

well, about nexuis...

someone has to explain me why i was never able to get a decent (playable...) framerate until i chose to compile it by myself. the sources are the same, what went wrong with their builds??!
and the same applies to darkplaces: the last binary frozes for a bit every 4 seconds on my ibook, the same sources compiled here does not. O_o

there have been plenty of games that implement refresh rates in the UI. most good mmo's like guild wars and WoW implement it, and ive seen a few older games that do as well. no real point implementing refresh rates in the UI anyway, since in a few years crt's will be more or less obsolete and LCD's only run with a 60hz signal anyway.

i agree.

i'd like to see more resolutions supported as well actually, if not for me but for others who are using laptops and such.

the good thing is that other rezs are supported by the game, they are only missing in the menus...

[Blanka]

Kind of weird to support 800x600 to keep support for people with old hardware. 800x600 is a resolution that was uses back in 1995. There was not even OSX back then. With OSX the usefull minimum has always been 1024x768.
And I don't know why people would get bad refresh-rates. I even get playable rates on my G4-800 with Radeon 7500 or my MacMini with Radeon 9200 at 1280x960.

I guess the tip for adding a res worked (thanks puicher), seems like the res is 1400x1050 now, but it does not show up in the menu. Is that correct?

[fromhell]

Kind of weird to support 800x600 to keep support for people with old hardware. 800x600 is a resolution that was uses back in 1995.

800x600 is still widely used. OA isn't going to drop support for less-than-GHzs just for you.

[jackoverfull]

anyway...

1440x900 is present in the config screen on my mac...

[MilesTeg]

some ideas:
resolution reviews:
856x480 widescreen, 400x300, 960x720
can't think of any popular device that supports this. suggestion: drop it

320x240
very common resolution in the old days. maybe interesting again for mobile devices? suggestion: keep it

512x384, 1152x864
just useful as a compromise between 320 and 640 (1024 and 1280) for performance. can't think of anything that supports it. suggestion: drop it

640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200
very popular old resolutions. suggestion: keep them!

2048x1536
was never really that popular except high end. suggestion: drop it

New recommenend resolutions:
2560x1600 widescreen
For new 30" TFTs

1920x1080 widescreen
HDTV and 24" TFTs

1280x960
for the last 20+ CRTs (IMHO this is optional because there is already 1600x1200)

1680x1050 widescreen
22" TFTs - because they are currently pretty popular and cheap.

1280x720 widescreen, 1440x900 widescreen
common widescreen resolution (for notebooks)

[jackoverfull]

i don't see why a resolution should be dropped at all...

in a perfect world the resolution should come up directly from the ones supported by the os, anyway, there is a reason if those "uncommon" resolutions are here: windowed playing!

while playing windowed on my old 1024x768 (eg because i'm chatting with someone that is having problems connecting) i often used 856x480...

[ralph]

i don't see why a resolution should be dropped at all...

in a perfect world the resolution should come up directly from the ones supported by the os, anyway, there is a reason if those "uncommon" resolutions are here: windowed playing!

while playing windowed on my old 1024x768 (eg because i'm chatting with someone that is having problems connecting) i often used 856x480...

yea I have to agree to that,those resolutions are perfect for windowed playing.
This can be very handy in some cases.......like checking email while in game without the need to disconnect........or chatting....or whatelse

Using widescreen resolution in windowed mode gives also small models,is also good for your aiming

[iLeft.bye]

is it the latest ioq3. when I tried there was no r_custom[width|height], or r_mode
only r_height and r_width