Technical question for laptop users

Scaris

I have a 17" screen on my laptop, I was wondering how TSO handles this in full screen mode, if it does at all. I kinda miss my account and have been considering turning it back on, but I wanna know if it will work on my laptop at 1024x768 considering my screen is disproportail to that res. I THINK its gonna stretch it in a rather ugly manner, does anyone know?

Defect

Ummm...your screen size has nothing to do with your resolution. Your fine...and it wont look any different than a regular 19in monitor er anything else for that matter.

Scaris

it does with a monitor since its shaped like an HD tv, I wasn't clear on what I was asking or you didnt understand, if it was me I apologize. My screen is 14.5 inches wide by 9 inches tall, and that is greatly out of aspect of a "standard" resolution such as 1024, which is the max that TSO runs at, 1024x768 to be exact.

Defect

lol that screen is fuxed. any resolution would be gay looking on that.

Scaris

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Originally posted by Defect
lol that screen is fuxed. any resolution would be gay looking on that.

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??? Um, can I hear from someone that actually knows something please.

Katheryne

My laptop has a 15.4" screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio (1280x800 resolution).  In 1024x768 mode, the TSO screen does look a bit stretched, but it's not that bad.  However, if you do find it unbearable, you have two options:

1. Depending on your laptop model, there may be a setting somewhere that keeps the image from filling the entire screen if its resolution doesn't match your set resolution.  This will result in a sort of letterbox effect, but preserves the correct aspect ratio; or

2. You can play TSO in window mode, in which case it will simply open an 800x600 window on your desktop.  A 1024x768 window is available as well; it just requires tweaking the shortcut target a bit.  If you need to know how to do this, let me know.

Scaris

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Originally posted by Katheryne
My laptop has a 15.4" screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio (1280x800 resolution).  In 1024x768 mode, the TSO screen does look a bit stretched, but it's not that bad.  However, if you do find it unbearable, you have two options:
1. Depending on your laptop model, there may be a setting somewhere that keeps the image from filling the entire screen if its resolution doesn't match your set resolution.  This will result in a sort of letterbox effect, but preserves the correct aspect ratio; or
2. You can play TSO in window mode, in which case it will simply open an 800x600 window on your desktop.  A 1024x768 window is available as well; it just requires tweaking the shortcut target a bit.  If you need to know how to do this, let me know.

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AHA! a real answer, thank you very much. Its a new compaq with a pci express ATI Radeon x600. I THINK I may be able to make it not use the whole screen but I really haven't checked into that yet. I never knew about the window mode tweaking, man I wish I knew I could do that a long time ago, is that documented somewhere?

I will tinker with adjusting my useable screen size, thank you for the tips Katheryne.

Katheryne

There are detailed instructions on how to configure Windowed-mode shortcuts.  These instructions are actually tailored toward running multiple TSO windows (you can have as many instances of the game running at once as you have accounts), but should still help you.  Check them out here:

http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/sims/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tsonewhelp&Number=368949&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&what2=postlist&fpart=

Scaris

Thank you very much, you have been very helpful.

Babe-

As Kat has answered your screen res question well I just want to remind you of a somewhat related issue of making sure you have a real mouse on hand that you can use when the need arrises. (There are just some things that are super hard to do with touch pads - like simball!) lol

Scaris

Roger that, I am picking up a bluetooth mouse in a few days since I have it built into my system. I tried playing EQ II with the touchpad and that didn't last very long, hehe.

Katheryne

A touchpad can be a bit awkward in TSO, but manageable if you're in full-screen mode, or have edge-scrolling turned on.  There are a few games where touchpad use is pretty much impossible, such as Sims 2 (try moving the camera around without a true mouse), or another game I recently picked up - Zoo Tycoon 2 (you can probably tell by now I love simulations ).  For those games, I might look into a wireless hand-held trackball, if such a thing exists.  That I think would be better than having mice hanging off the back of my lappy.