FPS games & high resolutions

Jackal · 27 Jan 2006 at 14:28

hard to tell any difference with the nasty compression those images have

muzzler · 27 Jan 2006 at 14:39

hi,
i had a 21" crt monitor that i would run at no more than 1024x to get a better/bigger image to make things easier to see....however i now have a 19" tft monitor and thought id give the higher resolutions a go.i much prefer the tft/high res to the other! and less eye strain aswell for me

you live 'n' learn.....

Hector · 27 Jan 2006 at 15:01

no, nO}{8.. he's right.

640x480: fov 90
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dabar/ocuk/quake04.jpg

1600x1200: fov 90
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dabar/ocuk/quake03.jpg
the huds smaller thats all.

1600x1200: fov 180
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dabar/ocuk/quake02.jpg
huds not changed with double the FOV.

HangTime · 27 Jan 2006 at 15:07

Bear in mind that standard engines have a limit on the fov. For example in Quake you can't have a higher fov than 170 regardless of what you set, unless using fisheye qauke or similar.

There's no way that 3rd shot is fov 180 - think about it. If it was, you wouldn't be able to see the far wall, because due to perspective it would be 'infinitely' far away.

Hector · 27 Jan 2006 at 15:18

regardless of what the FOV# is, the point was that FOV did not effect the HUD size but the res did.

HangTime · 27 Jan 2006 at 15:25

Indeed

Depends on the game too of course - some let you scale the HUD/console independently of resolution, and some even have it locked at a certain size regardless of what settings you use.

Personally I don't like games where HUD elements get scaled down as you increase resolution, as it means that in 1600x1200 they are often too small to read properly. Area51 is a recent example, even the menus get small, and the little icons that appear to show you were you can interact with computers etc are tiny and very hard to spot.

Hector · 27 Jan 2006 at 16:37

yer i hear that.. text size is the usual reason why i dont go above 1280x1024 and on a 19" that res looks sweet enough. if i had a 24" i think i'd just end up sitting back a foot or so to reduce the my realworld fov.

seems that theres so many pros and cons, it's a game in itself trying to work out if there is any advantage or not

Chandler_90 · 27 Jan 2006 at 17:11

Resolution defines the number of pixels used to create an image..
Not the size of the pixels themselves.

More pixels = More colour variations = More detail

nO}{8 · 27 Jan 2006 at 18:30

Ive taken screens of counter strike source at various common resolutions and it seems like the crosshair scales with the resolution which makes it appear to be easier to hit things(this is only psychological) but there are less pixels to hit the lower the resolution which makes me think that it does make it easier. the way that your able to turn quicker at lower resolutions also benefits you, as the mouse is measured in dpi. The lower the resolution the lower the dpi the quicker it makes it.

geiger · 27 Jan 2006 at 18:56

I think they will have to set standards for future competitive play because turning graphics detail on and off is bound to lend a significant advantage at some point.

Just from shadows, etc you can see this in BF2 now. Didnt someone post a video of the wendell fatality guy where we see him playing with spectrum-like graphics at 100fps

I know though that my score improved greatly (doubled even) when I moved from a TNT2 to a ti4200 when playing cs1.6 but that was due to fps rate rising from 25 to over 50 which is essential for quick turning/shots/reaction.

DaveyD · 27 Jan 2006 at 20:57

geiger said:
I think they will have to set standards for future competitive play because turning graphics detail on and off is bound to lend a significant advantage at some point.

Just from shadows, etc you can see this in BF2 now. Didnt someone post a video of the wendell fatality guy where we see him playing with spectrum-like graphics at 100fps

I know though that my score improved greatly (doubled even) when I moved from a TNT2 to a ti4200 when playing cs1.6 but that was due to fps rate rising from 25 to over 50 which is essential for quick turning/shots/reaction.

Generally with all games, for me anyway, I need a constant framerate, or near enough, to be able to play well, not one that fluctuates constantly when too much goes on etc. Problem is online, some people have advantages, and some disadvantages with running at super low detail and super high detail.

knowledge123 · 27 Jan 2006 at 21:04

personally i can't play a game w/o v-sync on,
i play on a 27" 16:9 1280x720 lcd tv using vga, and i have no probs hitting a small target at a distance of 50meters+

tim_enchanter · 29 Jan 2006 at 21:26

I've been curious about this since I got new gfx, my killrate has improved which I think is probably due to improved fps rather than running high res or high detail.
Getiing a new mouse made just as big a difference to my gameplay.

I think they will have to set standards for future competitive play because turning graphics detail on and off is bound to lend a significant advantage at some point.

Talking of advantages due to detail, you should try playing COD2 against the guy who had somehow turned off bushes etc lastnight. His killrate was double everybody else :mad:

Toothpick · 29 Jan 2006 at 22:30

nO}{8 said:
Ive taken screens of counter strike source at various common resolutions and it seems like the crosshair scales with the resolution which makes it appear to be easier to hit things(this is only psychological) but there are less pixels to hit the lower the resolution which makes me think that it does make it easier. the way that your able to turn quicker at lower resolutions also benefits you, as the mouse is measured in dpi. The lower the resolution the lower the dpi the quicker it makes it.

I see your logic with the mouse movment but its wrong. A 1 unit change in the mouse will produce the same amount of change in a game what ever the res. your mouse is moving and object in a (3d)mathmatical enviroment and there is no scale relative to the real world. Any res or fov used is not connected to it.

What you see on screen is an abstract(window) of what your pc sees of the game world. You dont ever change the game world, but you can change the way you look(or hear) at it.

Also there are not less pixels to hit. Your pc deals only in 3d shapes, its the edges that are altered by screen res. Collison detection is performed in the 3d math world, it does not care about your scrren res, and will yeild the same result no matter the res.