Higher than 4K no longer works

[xanthus]

This is an issue that goes back to the 64-bit release. I'm not sure what changed, but I'm no longer able to play at higher than 4K resolution. This would presumably be as easy as adding a (missing?) flag or something...? I'm not asking for UI support or special scaling or anything, I just want it to work the way it did before, where I could run the game at any resolution (like almost every other game in existence).

[KardehK]

I have no help for you just questions...what vidcard and monitor are you using for higher than 4K and how much of a difference does it make for you (and not just for WW2)?

 

[xanthus]

@KardehK I'm using an Nvidia 1080 GTX, the monitor is a BenQ EL2870U.

Higher resolution makes an *enormous* difference, even if you don't have a 4K monitor (let alone an 8K monitor). Both Nvidia and AMD now have supersampling options built into their video drivers, so that you can run games at resolutions higher than your monitor resolution.

Why would you do this?

Because the graphics card would still be rendering 4K or 8K pixels, regardless of your monitor res, immensely improving your visuals. This has been in use for nearly 10 years as video cards get more powerful and people continue to play older games where they can afford the performance offset. Many recently released games now have this feature in their in-game settings as well, usually as "supersampling" with a slider for render resolution (eg 2x, 3x, etc) so you can render the game higher than your monitor resolution.

This thread is a good explainer. https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4fvttf/every_pc_gamer_should_know_downsampling_is_a/

There are tons and tons of articles, screenshots comparisons, videos, etc that you can find. Just google "gaming downsampling comparison" or something like that.

 

Okay, so why do this for WWIIOL?

This game was practically MADE for downsampling. AFAIK, WWIIOL has the furthest view distances of almost any game on the market, and you often see enemy units as far as 1+ km away. As a dedicated rifleman, engagement ranges are often 300+ m.

I use a combination of techniques (especially downsampling) for crystal clear, realistic visuals ("realistic" in the sense that it simulates actual human visual acuity in our virtual environment).

This is what my game looks like (I'm locked at custom res just slightly over 4K, cannot go higher than that):
NOTE: The original wwiiol screenshot bmp format gives me a 34 mb file (like I said, it's a lot of pixels), so I had to degrade the images somewhat by converting them to png)

Don't just left-click on these; right-click and open in new tab to see at full resolution.

 

Again, these images introduce some compression artifacts; the originals were 34 mb each....but you get the idea.

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by xanthus