Want to Play Quake 3 on your Widescreen monitor?
You can, actually, Quake 3 was one of the first games to support widescreen resolutions and FOV aspect ratios.
Why Widescreen
Short answer: Coz it looks so much better and is more natural for the eyes.
"Widescreen" is the term used to describe the new picture format which is supposed to replace 4x3 aspect ratio televisions and monitors. Widescreen aspects of 16x9 or 16x10 is a more natural view for the human using both eyes. You can try it by covering one eye and move your palms vertically and horizontally towards the side of your face until you can just see them. With one eye closed, the "shape" you see should be similar to that of a 3x4 screen, now try the same with both eyes open, a 16x9 field of view is apparent. Incidentally, 4x3 and 16x9 refer to the ratio of the picture width to the picture height.
Select widescreen resolution
If Quake 3 doesn't list your widescreen resolution you can try to set it manually like this:
r_mode -1 - custom resolutions on
r_customwidth 1280 - custom screen width
r_customheight 720 - custom screen height
Set a width and height matching the aspect ratio you have. Here are some examples of resolutions (Width x Height):
852x480 16:9 Widescreen
1280x720 16:9 Widescreen
1365x768 16:9 Widescreen
1440x900 16:10 Widescreen
1680x1050 16:10 Widescreen
1920x1200 16:10 Widescreen
320x240 4:3 Aspect ratio
2048x1535 4:3 Aspect ratio
For more resolutions, check out our extensive list of 4:3 and Widescreen resolutions.
How to setup Widescreen in Quake 3
Type the following into the quake 3 console.
r_mode -1
r_customwidth 640 (replace with your own width)
r_customheight 848 (replace with your own height)
The resolution you have selected will automatically have its horizontal fov adjusted, depending on the ratio between your resolutions width & height, setting your resolution to 1600x900 for example will adjust your fov to fit a 16:9 screen, the same goes for 800x450.
John Carmacks update where he announces Widescreen support
This is the .plan update from id software where Quake 3 Widescreen support is announced.
"I added support for HDTV style wide screen displays in QuakeArena, so
24" and 28" monitors can now cover the entire screen with game graphics.
On a normal 4:3 aspect ratio screen, a 90 degree horizontal field of view
gives a 75 degree vertical field of view. If you keep the vertical fov
constant and run on a wide screen, you get a 106 degree horizontal fov.
Because we specify fov with the horizontal measurement, you need to change
fov when going into or out of a wide screen mode. I am considering changing
fov to be the vertical measurement, but it would probably cause a lot of
confusion if "fov 90" becomes a big fisheye.
Many video card drivers are supporting the ultra high res settings
like 1920 * 1080, but hopefully they will also add support for lower
settings that can be good for games, like 856 * 480.
I spent a day out at apple last week going over technical issues.
I'm feeling a lot better about MacOS X. Almost everything I like about
rhapsody will be there, plus some solid additions.
I presented the OpenGL case directly to Steve Jobs as strongly as possible.
If Apple embraces OpenGL, I will be strongly behind them. I like OpenGL more
than I dislike MacOS. :)
---
Last friday I got a phone call: "want to make some exhibition runs at the
import / domestic drag wars this sunday?". It wasn't particularly good
timing, because the TR had a slipping clutch and the F50 still hasn't gotten
its computer mapping sorted out, but we got everything functional in time.
The tech inspector said that my cars weren't allowed to run in the 11s
at the event because they didn't have roll cages, so I was supposed to go
easy.
The TR wasn't running its best, only doing low 130 mph runs. The F50 was
making its first sorting out passes at the event, but it was doing ok. My
last pass was an 11.8(oops) @ 128, but we still have a ways to go to get the
best times out of it.
I'm getting some racing tires on the F50 before I go back. It sucked watching
a tiny honda race car jump ahead of me off the line. :)
I think ESPN took some footage at the event."
-- John Carmack, id software |
