[Vestas]

It should be noted the difference between these two.

First, "Resolution" is the screen resolution (i.e. 1024x768) this is the most common setting in all games, i.e. most games allow you to change resolution.

"Background Resolution" is something that seems common in PS2 ports. The is the resolution the graphics engine will render the 3D objects in memory before drawing them on your screen in the resolution you've chosen.

So, if you choose a background resolution way below your screen resolution the graphics card will have to scale the 3D object to meet your current screen resolution. This has the same distortion effect that taking a very small but detail image into photoshop and doubling its size. It gets blocky, pixelated and distorted.

So you want a background resolution that is near or similar to your screen resolution at least. NOTE this is NOT texture resolution as others have said, it is 3D model render resolution (not something most PC games have controls for).

The higher background resolution you set the more 3D card memory you will need to support the higher detail but the better the polygons will look.

However if you run at a 640x480 or 800x600 screen resolution there will be little benefit to using a background resolution higher than 1024x1024.

On the same hand, if you run at 1280x1024 using a 256x256 background resolution will still make things look blocky, going with the "registry edits" mentioned here to up it to 2048x2048 makes noticeable improvements but requires one beefy card.

For the record, running at 1280x1024 res and 2048x2048 background on a GeForce 5900 ultra (256mbs RAM) on a 3.0ghz hyperthreaded CPU runs great and looks incredible!

[Uchiha Sasuke]

I keep trying to set my values on them to 500 for a background res of 12x12 but everytime i go to the config it resets it, is that because its already loaded, or do i have to go into config and change it?

[Cadd]

lol...wow.

Definitely works.

However, i'm running a p4 2.4 512 with an o\c'd 4400 ti 128 and incurred major slowdown after doing this. (Ansio is set to 8 with AA turned off on the card).

It looks fantastic at 1600x1200 - background set to 2400x2400.

Those that can handle the res. change without sacrificing game performance are in for a treat if they do this. I'll have to try the 640 or 500 value and see what happens.

[Jittanx]

Im using 1280x1024 with the texture reso edited to the same, and it really does make a world of difference.

[Veraticus]

If I'm running on 1280x1024, would I want to increase my background resolution all the way up to 2048x2048? It seems me that the renderer will render the models at incredible depth and then have to downgrade them back down to 1280x1024 anyway. I don't want to increase the screen resolution, as 1600x1200 would be far too small for me to be comfortable with, but I do want maximum model-rendering goodness. SShould I just go to 2048x2048?

[Silvia]

What is a good, moderately priced video card that would allow me to run high resolutions with no adverse gameplay?

[Rychiar]

^^ you can increase background res. to 2048x 2048 and leave forground set to whatever you like. It prolly wont look as 1600x1200, but will def look better that the original 1024x1024.

[Xenobyte99]

When you edit the registry key just change the key to Decimal then you can edit it as an actual resolution.

[Sanhime]

Originally posted by Rychiar

2048 x 2048 = 800 and 800
1600 x 1600 = 640 and 640
1280 x 1024 = 500 and 500

Shouldn't it be "1024 x 1024 = 500 and 500"? Not "1280 x 1024 = 500 and 500".

[shader_hacker]

All:

Ok, I'm going to explain a few things about the graphics settings in hopes that it would clarify a few things. Since this game was developed in Japan, I believe they have different settings for video boards than we do.

The game seems to be rendered in 2 seperate frame buffers. One rendering target is the overlay text screen where you see the menus, text, etc.. The other one is the rendering buffer. This is where you render to the characters, textures, background buildings, all objects, etc..(i.e. a typical game).

The Screen Resolution is the Overlay resolution of the game. So therefore changing that only changes the size of the text and menus.

The Background Resolution (should be called Game Resolution) is the resolution of the actual game and it's objects (as mentioned before).

North America doesn't support square size resolutions in their rendering cards or monitor resolutions. This is because we use an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 1.33. So our video cards are picking what resolution in the game to use based on the horizontal number. For example, the default in the game was 512x512. The video card would just render the game at 512x384. When you switched to 1024x1024, the video card would choose 1024x768.

This hack is very interesting because it allows the NA people to switch the game resolution to a resolution that won't be trunctated across the vertical scanlines. Therefore instead of going to 2048x2048, which would get truncated, try values of 1280x1024 by switching on the horizontal and leaving the vertical alone. For example, using 500 and 400. I've found that now I can get that resolution (which is my most common res for playing games) and you will see a world of difference.

Hope this clears some things up.

-ShaderHacker

[Hattori Hanzo]

I'm rather ignorant about computer performance so maybe someone could assist me:

I'm running a P4 2.4 with hyper threading, 512 of kingston hyper-x, and an eVGA 128 5200 Ultra. What do you think my system could handle for the background resolution?

[Rychiar]

hmmm... Good point. So you are saying a value of 1600x1200 would be better(higher) than 2048x2048? Wouldn't it default to the 1600x1200 if what you are saying is true? :confused:

So basically if I can run the game at 1600x1200, is there any difference whatsoever if I set things to 1600x1200 or 2048x2048?

[shader_hacker]

I'm not sure what would happen if that were the case. If I were programming it, then it would revert to the highest resolution supported by *both* your video card and you monitor.

If your monitor can support 1600x1200 and the video card has enough memory for that, then go for it! I suspect that what people are seeing is 1600x1200 instead of 2048x2048.

-Shaderhacker

[Rychiar]

I have tried both and they work great either at 1600x1200 or 2048x2048. I personally cant tell any difference to be honest at that high of a resolution. I was just wondering would both of these settings be equal or one better than the other. My monitor can support 1600x1200.

[Hattori Hanzo]

So 1600 X 1200 would be 640 and "XXX"? What would X be?