Aspect ratio of an old game looks squashed on widescreen?

Question

I have a win7 PC with a wide screen monitor, and an old XP game, it looks fine in 4:3 ratio, but it is a bit of a faff to set it each time when I want to just mess about with a game for 5 minutes, is there a way to automatically set the game to run in that ratio?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Old games that do not support resolutions of 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 for example will not be able to go beyond the normal 4:3 ratio. This is exceptionally common among old games, to mention a few that do not run in the 16:9 ratio of my monitor, the list is:



Cossacks: Back to War

Age of Empires II

Empire Earth I and II

Battlefield Games (1942 etc)

Various others



Most of these games will simply use pillarboxing, the method of planting two black areas on each side of the unfilled screen, thus leaving you with the aspect ratio the game supports. You can change the resolutions in game, but unless they fit the dimensions of your monitor there is nothing you can do about it. If the game supports Windowed mode, it is advised you run the game in a Window as it looks better and doesn't get blown up and pixelated on bigger screens.

Answer 2

Empire Earth 2 Widescreen

Answer 3

On some games it is easier to uncheck the option to play in full screen



I was able to do that with History Channel "Battle of Britain" and with the similar iEntertainment "World War II Air Combat" on my 1680x1020 monitor.



It leaves me with a chunk of screen that the game doesn't use where I can see my Desktop, but atleast the game doesn't distort



AD

Answer 4

Right click on the icon of the game.

Set the compatibility according to your needs.



Also, Maybe the game might have the configuration settings in it.

Open the game and then search for the Video Resolution settings

Answer 5

Hello,

You can download Age of Empires III for free here: http://j.mp/1p0vQFE



no surveys, no scams, just the full game!

Enjoy it.

Have a nice day