Halo 3 widescreen problems

[Fortyseven]

I know this is probably mentioned in a Halo 3 thread but I just tried to play local co-op and the game is not in widescreen but the cutscenes and menus are. Is there any way to change this?

My 360 is connected using VGA and set to 1920x1080.

 

[darkcinder]

Nope.

 

[Buffman]

Sadly not, unless you change to a 5:4 or 4:3 aspect ratio

 

[KNiVES]

It's to keep the widescreen aspect ratio correct. If horizontal splitscreen took the whole HDTV up, you'd end up with fish-eye field of view which warps everything. Halo 1 splitscreen slightly suffered from this; in fact the second player had a field of view that was roughly 110 degrees!

 

[Kreeeee]

It's to keep the widescreen aspect ratio correct. If horizontal splitscreen took the whole HDTV up, you'd end up with fish-eye field of view which warps everything. Halo 1 splitscreen slightly suffered from this; in fact the second player had a field of view that was roughly 110 degrees!

It's also for performance issues too.

 

[KNiVES]

It's also for performance issues too.

Not really no. A wider field of view has a neglible impact on performance.

 

[Kreeeee]

Not really no. A wider field of view has a neglible impact on performance.

It most definitely does, it's outputting a lot lower resolution. I'm surprised at you for making a stupid comment like that tbh =/

Full screen halo 3: 1138*640 = 728320 pixels

2 player split screen: 854*640 = 546560 pixels

= 181760 less pixels

 

[KNiVES]

It most definitely does, it's outputting a lot lower resolution. I'm surprised at you for making a stupid comment like that tbh =/

Erm... field of view has nothing to do with resolution. I suppose you think the human eye can't see beyond 30fps as well, amongst other console user myths and misconceptions that us PC users have been subjected to for years upon years now. *chortle*

 

[Kreeeee]

Erm... field of view has nothing to do with resolution. I suppose you think the human eye can't see beyond 30fps as well, amongst other console user myths and misconceptions that us PC users have been subjected to for years upon years now. *chortle*

The big ass black bars down the side do though.

Think we got our wires crossed. You seem to really grab the field of view point when I'm saying the black bars were also implemented to help with performance otherwise they may as well have done what was done in Halo 1, 2 and GoW and make it fit the whole screen.

You know full well I'm not an idiot.

 

[KNiVES]

The big ass black bars down the side do though. Are you being ignorant on purpose to wind me up or is this genuine?

Oooh, a little bit of both.

But seriously now, field of view has a neglible effect on frames per second. What you just said about a lesser resolution, that's a byproduct of Bungie keeping the aspect ratio in place. It's obviously a boon on performance. But many other games have alternating fields of view, with no impact on performance. Bioshock even had its field of view increased, with no side-effects. There are games such as Half Life 2 that plays with field of view on certain special effects, and has absolutely no impact on performance. There are racing games like Burnout that stretch and distort field of view to emulate the feeling of going very fast. Even Team Fortress 2 has an adjustable FoV option, from 75 degrees to 90. All those games, in fact, pretty much every other game apart from Halo 3 ever with changing/alternating fields of view has the same resolution at all times. I could go on and on and on and such.

And I know you're not an idiot.

 

[Kreeeee]

What you just said about a lesser resolution, that's a byproduct of Bungie keeping the aspect ratio in place. It's obviously a boon on performance.

Bungie were struggling with split screen performance in development and resolution decrease has helped a lot. I'm glad you agree with me

 

[Jonnycoupe]

It most definitely does, it's outputting a lot lower resolution. I'm surprised at you for making a stupid comment like that tbh =/

Full screen halo 3: 1138*640 = 728320 pixels

2 player split screen: 854*640 = 546560 pixels

= 181760 less pixels

But its not generating more geometry when which a correct aspect ratio full screen halo would.

Would put you at an advantaged if anything aswell being able to see more.

Unless your saying changing from 720 to 1080p puts more load on the Xbox?

 

[Kreeeee]

Would put you at an advantaged if anything aswell being able to see more.

Which is only one of the reasons for adding the black bars, the other being it greatly improves performance.

Unless your saying changing from 720 to 1080p puts more load on the Xbox?

No, as that just uses a scaler. Are you saying that you get no performance increase on a PC when going from 1280*1024 down to 1024*768 despite no change in geometry?

 

[KNiVES]

I think there is a slightly confusing air around this thread regarding resolution and field of view. I am not saying anyone is wrong here, but I just thought I'd like to clarify some points in this thread;

- The black bars on Halo 3 keeps the aspect ratio and field of view in splitscreen the same as single player.

- The black bars also mean the game is at a lower resolution than single player (854*460 as Kree points out). This helps keep performance running smoothly.

- Thusly, resolution has a major impact on any game's performance, 1280x720 stresses the system noticeably more than 854x460.

- Field of view increases however do not tax systems as much as an increase in resolution will. If Halo 3 ran splitscreen using all the HDTV up, it will slow down due to increased resolution, not increased field of view (would also have fish-eye lens view due to massive field of view distortion, hence the black bars keeping aspect ratio in place).

- Resolution and field of view are not tied to each other.

Please don't yell at me too much, I am only trying to avoid any potential further confusion.

 

[Kreeeee]

Thanks KNiVES, that's exactly what this thread needed.

Except Halo runs at 1138*640 normally, upscaled to 720p/1080i/p

I was purely trying to debate the resolution point and not the FOV/aspect ratio but I messed it up.