[SOLVED] Play a 1280x720 game in a 3840x2160 window -- How?

[markfilipak]

===== SOLUTION =====
See: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 6683457680
=====

I apologize for posting so much here. This is a fast-changing, evolving issue -- a rapidly moving target, if you will.
I've cross posted in the NVIDIA forum and in the Microsoft Answers forum. I apologize for cross posting. I don't usually do that. But this problem is shared by the 3 programming domains and it's difficult to see the boundaries of those domains from a distance and from a perspecive of ignorance. I feel that this forum is my best bet, if I can attract the attention of ResidualVM developers. (Aside: It's obvious that Microsoft has made a mess of things -- no surprise there, eh?)

My graphic processor is NVIDIA GTX 980M
My display resolution is 3840x2160.
My Windows is Win-10 v.1803.

The game is Myst 3. The settings file is named 'myst3.ini'. 'myst3.ini' has 2 directives of interest:

fullscreen=true // ...... or false
fullscreen_res=1280x720 // ...... or anything else I want, but 1280x720 is best.

What currently happens: The 1280x720 game image is black-matted to 3840x2160. This means that the game is not scaled up, and it also means that the mouse cursor is not scaled up. That leaves the mouse cursor so small that it can't be seen. That makes the game unplayable.

Win-10 settings of interest are:

residualvm.exe 'Properties', _/Compatibility\_, [Change high DPI settings], 'Program DPI'
residualvm.exe 'Properties', _/Compatibility\_, [Change high DPI settings], 'High DPI scaling override'

I have not found a combination of settings that will cause the 1280x720 game image to be scaled up to 3840x2160.

Is Windows High DPI broken?
Can you suggest a next thing to try?

Related: Does the following have anything to do with this problem?

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Store]

"C:\\GOG Games\\Myst 3\\residualvm\\residualvm.exe"=hex:53,41,43,50,01,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,28,00,00,00,0e,20,9c,00,92,0e,9d,00,01,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0a,61,20,00,00,bf,a2,13,9d,ed,d1,d3,01,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,05,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,80,02,00,00,00,68,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,10,00,00,20,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,63,11,84,00,00,00,00,00,3c,00,00,00,1b,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,53,\
af,05,00,00,00,00,00,1d,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,a0,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,78,7e,1a,00,00,00,00,00,23,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,10,00,00,a0,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,1a,4f,00,00,00,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,10,\
00,00,a2,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,ee,32,02,00,00,00,\
00,00,07,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,12,00,00,a0,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,6d,22,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,22,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,8c,\
22,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,a2,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,70,3e,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,6b,1d,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

Is the format of the binary metadata of this registry key documented anywhere?

Warm Regards,
Mark.

PS:

1 - Here are the combinations -- I tried them all.

• Program DPI
  [_] Use this setting...
  
  
  
  High DPI scaling override
  [_] Override high DPI...
  [Application]
  [System]
  [System (Enhanced)]

2 - This did work one time, then Windows spontaneously changed something and broke it the next time I tried to play the game.

3 - This may have broken when I added 'residualvm.exe' to NVIDIA Control Panel, 'Manage 3D settings', _/Program Settings\_. Doing that added 'residualvm.exe' to 'Applications running on this GPU'. Since my 1280x720 game worked in 3840x2160 at one time, as part of trying to replicate that, I added 'residualvm.exe' to the NVIDIA Control Panel, and then removed it when it didn't help. Though it has been removed, 'Applications running on this GPU' shows that 'residualvm.exe' is still being run in the NVIDIA GPU (as opposed to the Intel GPU). This must be an NVIDIA bug and it is further complicating an already complicated problem. Much of the complication results from a lack of clear documentation regarding what 'residualvm.exe' does, what Windows does, and what the NVIDIA graphics driver does ...what their roles are in the process of getting a legacy game to run in a UHD display and where their roles begin and end in this chain: scaling game images, displaying game images, and reporting mouse events & coordinates back to the game from the game's perpective.

[Nitrus]

I see you've found a solution, which is great.
I'd like to add that there seems to have been a recent fix that may perhaps address your issue, if you get it again in the future.

I'd like to point you to the Daily builds, which contain the most bleeding edge changes and fixes, and are not official releases per-se. (they're generated by a buildbot from most recent code)
The downside with daily builds is that it may break compatibility between savegames with official releases, though that depends on the severity of changes between the release the saves were made on and the current one. You have been warned

[markfilipak]

I see you've found a solution, which is great.
I'd like to add that there seems to have been a recent fix that may perhaps address your issue, if you get it again in the future ...

Well, the problem was not with ResidualVM. True, I'm getting 1280x720 scaled up to 3840x2160 -- a little fuzzy -- but it still looks awsome. ... I should write: A little fuzzy when compared to native 3840x2160 but still pretty sharp. The problem is the fixed size of the mouse-pointer ('finger') that appears to not be generated in concert with a game-internal scaling but that does scale up in Windows ...I hope I'm being clear. Perhaps a beta version would fix this, but I'll wait for release versions. 1280x720 scaled up to 3840x2160 works well enough for now.

Warm Regards,
Mark.