Season 1 and Screen Resolutions

[Ridah]

I have just purchased the complete season 1 on steam and have one question about the screen resolutions. There is no support for widescreen gamers. I have a 24" wide screen monitor, this game does not offer any wide screen resolutions so I am stuck playing this game in 1024*768 in windowed mode. Are there any plans to offer wide screen resolutions, or is there a command line switch I can use?

[rip3rs]

hmm there is a way on steam to override this , right click on it S&M go properties and then Lounch options and write this: -w 1024 -h 768

1024 for the width
768 for height

hope this helps :D

[Emily]

We started supporting widescreen with Season Two, and will support it with all our new games. We probably won't go back and update Season One for widescreen, though.

[Flo]

So despite the new engine being used for the new versions of the Season 1 episodes (as per today's email) the resolution support is still the "same old"?

(Not a complaint, merely checking before I uninstall and reinstall ;))

[Will]

That is correct. There are no changes to graphics or interface or running or anything. This is all entirely back-end stuff.

[Flo]

Is the 104 "free" version already on the new engine or will there be a separate download for that one, btw? The email and my account page only contain links to the other episodes.

[Emily]

The free version is now the only version, and it has been updated along with the others.

Abe Lincoln Must Die (with a link to the free version) should show up on your purchases page, but I think it isn't since you bought the individual episode and not the season bundle. That's a bug, we'll look into it!

[Flo]

The link isn't hard to find (or guess, even), so I was just wondering! :D

[tabacco]

It should be fixed now! (hopefully)

[Flo]

Shows up for me now!

[Emily]

Great, thanks for letting us know about the problem.

[Sir Lemming]

Why can't you use 1280x1024? That resolution should be in there.

Also, does your widescreen monitor have anything that lets you use the original (or "normal") aspect ratio? Mine does. Maybe that's just because mine is so awesome. :D

[Flo]

Why can't you use 1280x1024? That resolution should be in there.
Because 1280x1024 is a 5:4 aspect ratio and Season 1 only supports 4:3 resolutions. The next closest 4:3 resolution is 1280x960.

[Jake]

The version of the engine that is now powering season one could technically do widescreen properly, but none of the camera angles were set up for widescreen, so if we suddenly expanded out the aspect ratio, you would see environments disappearing into space, characters popping in and out at inappropriate moments, UI that fades off into a mess of textures, etc. Unless something wacky happens, expect Season One to remain 4:3, because going back and tweaking shot compositions and game scenes to display properly on wider screens would take some time ... time that we'd rather spend on making new episodes!

[Sir Lemming]

Because 1280x1024 is a 5:4 aspect ratio and Season 1 only supports 4:3 resolutions. The next closest 4:3 resolution is 1280x960.

Right -- that's what I meant. I forgot about season 1's quibble with 1280x1024.


But yeah, what about 1280x960?

[Jake]

1280x960 is supported in season one. It can run at 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200. Mileage may vary depending on your choice of monitor, video card, and video card driver.

[Flo]

I just replaced my old copies with the new versions and I have to admit I'm slightly disappointed that preferences (especially resolution and volume) still aren't carried over from episode to episode the way it works in Season 2. Definitely a minor issue, but an annoying one nonetheless.

[jmm]

Maybe by the time Telltale starts selling The S&M Collection (A package containing 3 DVDs with seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus comentaries, a S&M Poster signed by Steve Purcell and a Telltale's Hold'em 2.0 demo with a 25% off coupon for $125) they'll update season 1.

Anyway.... the update was never made to support new features. In fact, the main reasons given were: Windows Vista compatibility AND to replace the old activation procedure.

[Flo]

Anyway.... the update was never made to support new features. In fact, the main reasons given were: Windows Vista compatibility AND to replace the old activation procedure.
I know, and it really is a minor issue. But since the new versions already dropped backwards-compatibility with the old ones, this seems like a small thing to add. Especially since, with the full season out, new customers are more likely to buy the package rather than individual episodes.

[tabacco]

'Seems like' and 'Actually is' are two very different things I'm afraid :)

[Flo]

'Seems like' and 'Actually is' are two very different things I'm afraid :)
Understandable, but as the code for storing preferences in the registry is already there (Season 2) and it's a once-per-game change (not like widescreen support which would require every single camera angle to be checked manually), it's still a shame ;)

[Jake]

It may happen someday, but don't hold your breath. In an ideal world we would have plenty of time to just move the exact Season Two options screen and everything that goes with it into Season One, but there isn't enough time in the day to do everything you want to do!

[NickTTG]

I just replaced my old copies with the new versions and I have to admit I'm slightly disappointed that preferences (especially resolution and volume) still aren't carried over from episode to episode...

if only our office time machine held more than three people in it at a time, we would totally go back and make that quick change. there would probably be some high fives exchanged :)

[Flo]

I'm not complaining! I've done enough beta testing and such to know that it's not feasible to implement every feature request. But I figure a bit of feedback or constructive criticism can never hurt :)

[AllenB]

if only our office time machine held more than three people in it at a time, we would totally go back and make that quick change. there would probably be some high fives exchanged :)

"Of course it's too late! That's why I've got to do it YESTERDAY! To the time machine!"

[InvaderJim42]

"Of course it's too late! That's why I've got to do it YESTERDAY! To the time machine!"

"What's that? The clock's running backwards!"
"That means lunch won't be 'til yesterday!"