American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I now running a cheap widescreen monitor with my PC, a 1600 x 900 pixel format, which is a big change from my older 1152x864 screen. The width is crazy, a sign of the times where everyone thinks that bigger, wider is better, so much so that many monitor makers don't even bother with the squarer sizes anymore!

But as soon as I fired up a test screen of the HPS battlescreens I became aware of the fact that one can see that much more of the larger maps at one time! Duh! I don't know what I thought I would see! So I was immediately struck with the fact that in a replay mode I wouldn't necessarily be subjected to the automatic, rapid screen scrolling that occurs when the action takes place out of the current screen's capabilities. Moreover, I can easily study more of the map without the scrolling! Instead of both flicking my eyes about and scrolling, now I can just flick my eyes. Its like getting an extra pair of field glasses already dialed in.

But maybe its just all an illusion to think that by seeing more of the fields at one time that I'll have a different, better overview of the battle. What do you think?

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

I agree. When I play turns with my home computer using my large wisecreen monitor there is a huge difference in what I can see and study when compared to my laptop which I use when I travel.

Bigger is always better.

I use a 1920x1200 and if I could afford the video card it would take to drive larger I would have had even larger. And, not just for games. Windows shines only when you can take advantage of having multiple windows open and actually see them at the same time. When I was still working as a programmer I always had two monitors. Try it sometimes. Get just a cheap 15 inch monitor to place off to the side. It is the handiest thing to have on a computer and Windows easily integrates it into your desk top.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

iam playing with my ipod screen,,i cant see a dam thing

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MG. Vannada
Headquarters:
Red Jackson's Division
Nathan Bedford Forest Cavalry Corp (3rd)
Army of The West

Brutal.

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I remain,

Davis, R., Lt Gen.
VMI Class of 2011
3d Cavalry Brigade, 3d Division, III Corps
'Partisan Rangers'
Army Of Alabama
CSA

I don't play this way often, but here is an HPS Panzer Campaigns game on dual 24" 1920x1200 screens on an ATI video card in Eyefinity:

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1809 ... finity.jpg

The Eyefinity essentially combines the two screens into one running at 3840x1200 resolution. I could also rotate the screens 90 degrees and run at 2400x1920 resolution. The reason I don't use it often is it's not practical to use it for regular PC usage, and I'm too lazy to change resolution just to play the game. It can be useful for large maps of any of the HPS games since the split between screens isn't a real problem for playability unlike first person games where you see this used most often, and with three screens instead of two. You could really fit a lot of map onscreen at 3600x1920 for a fraction of the cost of a 30" monitor.

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Gen. Dirk Gross
2/XVII
Army of the Tennessee

That's Simply Salivating!!..I'm jealous
I thought my 20" flat screen for the desktop was nice

This is Antietam at four levels of zoom:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/636/3dhi.jpg
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/4512/3dlo.jpg
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8010/2dhi.jpg
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3928/2dlo.jpg

You can see that at 2d zoom out the entire map width fits within the screen.

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Gen. Dirk Gross
2/XVII
Army of the Tennessee

Dirk, that is absolutely obscene!

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

Oh but I disagree! THIS is obscene:

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/ATI-Rade ... 6-Edition/

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Gen. Dirk Gross
2/XVII
Army of the Tennessee

Dayumn, you could get the whole eastern theatre on those....

_________________
I remain,

Davis, R., Lt Gen.
VMI Class of 2011
3d Cavalry Brigade, 3d Division, III Corps
'Partisan Rangers'
Army Of Alabama
CSA

I use 1600 X 1200 on a 24". It has been a year and I would not change it for the world. I also have a 19" 1280 X 1024 and do not use it to play games just to have emails and such open. A friend of mine has a 28 " and I am jealous every time I go over. The large resolutions do provide a better view of the battlefield and what is going. Does it give you and edge in play I'm not sure but it is a lot more fun to watch replays. However the higher resolutions do have a drawback for those with poorer eyesight. As we get older it is not an advantage. For example my for mentioned friend decided to reduce his resolution on the big screen because of the reduced eyesight and love it more. Age has some drawbacks.

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Best Regards,

General Pierre D.

5th Bde, IV Cavalry Corps
Army of Northern Virginia
ACWGC President 1997 - 2006, 2012
ACWGC Forum Administrator

Little hardware setup hint. LCD monitors should always be set to their highest resolution. They are digital (versus old CRT's which were analog) and have problems properly pixelating lower resolutions.

If the result makes graphics or fonts to small, Windows 7 (and older OS) have built in ways to modify the display without changing the resolution. Open the Control Panel then Appearance and Personalizaton. Try to get a more readable display first using Display's Make Text Larger or Smaller. If that won't do it for you then go to Ease of Access and see if you can get what you want there. If all else fails then change the Resolution but it will make text "fussier" because the fonts weren't designed for mismatched resolutions.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)