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are game graphics worse on notebooks?

post #1 of 17
12/3/04 at 11:51pm
Thread Starter 
I'm playing a game that is supposed to have great graphics, but to me they aren't so good. There are blocky patches and they aren't sharp or clear. This can't just be from using a notebook graphics card, can it? Are there other options I can change to make the graphics better?

One thing I've noticed: When I uncheck "Scale Image," the graphics are clear and sharp, but only because the entire game screen is a small rectangle in the middle of my monitor. When I check "Scale Image" and choose "maintain aspect ratio", it expands but then I get blockiness and blurry images.
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post #2 of 17
12/4/04 at 12:54am
Why do people persist in leaving important info out of a thread question?

John,
What game are you playing? I play Call of Duty full screen on my WUXGA screen, and it, too, looks comparitively more blocky than HL2, but that has less to do with the screen and more to do with the game companies graphics choices. These screens are pretty sensitive to catching detail. Are you sure the game doesn't just look blocky because the screen size shows up the true resolution of the game? Have you tried increasing the anti-aliasing settings of the game? How about the advanced graphic settings? Your using an ultra 9600. The game, by default will set your graphic settings for the appropriate level of prettiness required to let the game run smoothly. Your's may be set on medium.? I can play Doom3 on high settings at native resolution (1920 x 1200)and if I look reeeeal close, I can see blockiness because the screen gives away that level of detail.

Well... OK... I can't... um... what game are you playing?! I babbling on and I'm missing the keystone of this whole conversation, and continue to discuss it with myself!
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post #3 of 17
12/4/04 at 1:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanFortH
Why do people persist in leaving important info out of a thread question?

John,
What game are you playing? I play Call of Duty full screen on my WUXGA screen, and it, too, looks comparitively more blocky than HL2, but that has less to do with the screen and more to do with the game companies graphics choices. These screens are pretty sensitive to catching detail. Are you sure the game doesn't just look blocky because the screen size shows up the true resolution of the game? Have you tried increasing the anti-aliasing settings of the game? How about the advanced graphic settings? Your using an ultra 9600. The game, by default will set your graphic settings for the appropriate level of prettiness required to let the game run smoothly. Your's may be set on medium.? I can play Doom3 on high settings at native resolution (1920 x 1200)and if I look reeeeal close, I can see blockiness because the screen gives away that level of detail.

Well... OK... I can't... um... what game are you playing?! I babbling on and I'm missing the keystone of this whole conversation and continue to discuss it with myself!
It's an adventure game called Schizm, and it's also the DVD version, which is supposed to look beautiful.

So far I haven't changed any settings, because I don't know what to change. Other games look ok, but I really doubt the graphics I'm seeing in this particular game are what other people call 'stunning.' Something's got to be wrong.
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post #4 of 17
12/4/04 at 1:37am
Change the resolution of the game to your native resolution so it doesn't stretch and it doesn't have to scale the image. It should be perfectly fine if you do that...
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post #5 of 17
12/4/04 at 1:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmelzer2004
Change the resolution of the game to your native resolution so it doesn't stretch and it doesn't have to scale the image. It should be perfectly fine if you do that...
You can't change the resolution of the game.
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post #6 of 17
12/4/04 at 1:55am
Make sure you have turned off the power saving option in the ATi graphic card settings. Also, are you using the latest Omega drivers, or the Dell ones?
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post #7 of 17
12/4/04 at 1:59am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Akumas
Make sure you have turned off the power saving option in the ATi graphic card settings. Also, are you using the latest Omega drivers, or the Dell ones?
What is the power saving option? I don't see that.

I'm using Dell drivers.
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post #8 of 17
12/4/04 at 2:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanFortH
Why do people persist in leaving important info out of a thread question?

John,
What game are you playing? I play Call of Duty full screen on my WUXGA screen, and it, too, looks comparitively more blocky than HL2, but that has less to do with the screen and more to do with the game companies graphics choices. These screens are pretty sensitive to catching detail. Are you sure the game doesn't just look blocky because the screen size shows up the true resolution of the game? Have you tried increasing the anti-aliasing settings of the game? How about the advanced graphic settings? Your using an ultra 9600. The game, by default will set your graphic settings for the appropriate level of prettiness required to let the game run smoothly. Your's may be set on medium.? I can play Doom3 on high settings at native resolution (1920 x 1200)and if I look reeeeal close, I can see blockiness because the screen gives away that level of detail.

Well... OK... I can't... um... what game are you playing?! I babbling on and I'm missing the keystone of this whole conversation, and continue to discuss it with myself!
I see ya Dan.
Roided
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post #9 of 17
12/4/04 at 2:10am
John,

Breathe deep. There's nothing wrong. Just go into your control panel and look at the advanced options. ATI has a bunch of tabs to choose from. Look for your OpenGL tab and the DirectX tab. The power save options may also be there, but your drive may not support it; try updating from Dell, Anyway, you can adjust all your graphic preferences there. If you're not sure about some of the multipliers, there are a few tabs that have simpler prompts saying "medium" or "high" settings. Just adjust them to the highest setting available.

Also, look for a setting called "Game Preference". Make sure to uncheck that as the in-game advanced graphic settings will override your new applied settings.

Now I'm telling you this using the MR9800 ATI control panel, so don't flame me if you don't have the same tabs; if you can't find them their, head to your game and fiddle with the advanced settings. There may be similar options.

If schizm is a DVD "follow the movie action" type of game like the old "D", you may be out of luck with these settings, as the graphics card will run the DVD on it's own predtermined software support.

GL!
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post #10 of 17
12/4/04 at 2:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanFortH
John,

Breathe deep. There's nothing wrong. Just go into your control panel and look at the advanced options. ATI has a bunch of tabs to choose from. Look for your OpenGL tab and the DirectX tab. The power save options may also be there, but your drive may not support it; try updating from Dell, Anyway, you can adjust all your graphic preferences there. If you're not sure about some of the multipliers, there are a few tabs that have simpler prompts saying "medium" or "high" settings. Just adjust them to the highest setting available.

Also, look for a setting called "Game Preference". Make sure to uncheck that as the in-game advanced graphic settings will override your new applied settings.

Now I'm telling you this using the MR9800 ATI control panel, so don't flame me if you don't have the same tabs; if you can't find them their, head to your game and fiddle with the advanced settings. There may be similar options.

If schizm is a DVD "follow the movie action" type of game like the old "D", you may be out of luck with these settings, as the graphics card will run the DVD on it's own predtermined software support.

GL!
I think I have most of what you're referring to. I'll fiddle with it, at least there's a button to restore defaults.

Schizm is a first-person adventure game like Myst. Unfortunately it has no options other than sound and music settings.
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post #11 of 17
12/4/04 at 3:40am
Thread Starter 
Well, I turned up all the settings and the game still looks the same. Maybe I'm stuck with that.
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post #12 of 17
12/4/04 at 6:44am
From 'Schizm' website:

"Breathtaking, highly detailed, photorealistic, 3D prerendered graphics presented fullscreen in high resolution (640x360) and high color."
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post #13 of 17
12/4/04 at 8:34am
It is that game Schizm I have it and only played for 15 min or so .. Lousy graphics.
Not even close to the quality graphics in DOOM3, HL2, FarCry, or Painkiller.
Sorry but their stuff just cuts way to many corners.

Daley
M505x
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post #14 of 17
12/4/04 at 11:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kinsman
From 'Schizm' website:

"Breathtaking, highly detailed, photorealistic, 3D prerendered graphics presented fullscreen in high resolution (640x360) and high color."

I think Kinsman has your answer. The game designers are still living in 1994! Your 15.4" native screen resolution is showing off the game as if you're playing it close up! Just uncheck Scale image again and play the thing in a window. I play HL2 in a large window and I love it! And I've got the MR9800, I should be able to play that game Hi-Rez on a Sony Diamond Vision!
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post #15 of 17
12/4/04 at 3:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanFortH
I think Kinsman has your answer. The game designers are still living in 1994! Your 15.4" native screen resolution is showing off the game as if you're playing it close up! Just uncheck Scale image again and play the thing in a window. I play HL2 in a large window and I love it! And I've got the MR9800, I should be able to play that game Hi-Rez on a Sony Diamond Vision!
Is there any way to enlarge this window at all though? It's so small with scale image unchecked, that I can't see anything.

Do you think playing it on a different monitor makes a difference, or is it just the game?
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post #16 of 17
12/4/04 at 5:52pm
One other thing that people need to remember that use the 15.4" widescreens. Some games dont support the odd resolutions that they use.

Example, I play C&C Generals and the game resolution is capable of going up to 1600x1200. However, Since my monitor can only got up to 1280x800, the game maxes out at 1024x768 for me since it doesnt support the 1280x800. So far it is the one and only downfall I have found with this beautiful screen.
ANd btw, if the max res on that game is 640x360, its time to buy another game maybe cause you beating a dead horse trying to make it look good. Remember Crap in = Crap out.
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post #17 of 17
12/4/04 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyros
One other thing that people need to remember that use the 15.4" widescreens. Some games dont support the odd resolutions that they use.

Example, I play C&C Generals and the game resolution is capable of going up to 1600x1200. However, Since my monitor can only got up to 1280x800, the game maxes out at 1024x768 for me since it doesnt support the 1280x800. So far it is the one and only downfall I have found with this beautiful screen.
ANd btw, if the max res on that game is 640x360, its time to buy another game maybe cause you beating a dead horse trying to make it look good. Remember Crap in = Crap out.
Yeah, I didn't realize what the game's resolution was. It's from 2001, so I didn't think it'd be that bad. And there's no way to change resolutions.
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